When should DC drop its school mask mandate?

[Anonymous]

DC leaders are such hypocrits. So much for following the science.

[Anonymous]

It's a start, I'll take it. My kid gets to smile at her friends during recess tomorrow! It's crazy that we're at this point but -- that's a huge win for her and for me and I'm really excited for these children. I hope as cases continue to decline and jurisdictions that have already eliminated indoor mandates don't see outbreaks, DCPS will change the indoor rule as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Well, apparently we can at least drop masks outdoors now.

Should have never been doing this in the first place. Absurd bit of COVID theater. At least it’s over.

[Anonymous]

Might I suggest that you write to your council members, the mayor, and Dr. Nesbitt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Might I suggest that you write to your council members, the mayor, and Dr. Nesbitt?

LOL I have done that for MONTHS. NO response from any of them.

This is seriously ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some parents are advocating for school walkouts on another thread, but parents (particularly of middle school and high school students) should just email their school principals to inform them that going forward, their children will not be masking in school, in compliance with CDC recommendations and the mayor's own directive for much higher-risk adults. Then tell your kids to take off their masks. I actually have consulted a lawyer and parents would have a decent case against a school system for arbitrary and capricious behavior here, given that higher risk populations are now allowed indoors without masks, that transmission rates are low and vaccination rates high, and that this is a medical intervention with documented ill side-effects for children's education.

Don't send them with a mask. If the school insists, and gives them one, have your kid (if he or she is comfortable engaging in legit and necessary civil disobedience) to put the mask on but pull it below their face. We need resistance, otherwise the minority of scaredy-cat forever COVID people in DC will keep our kids masked in perpetuity.

All this does is put teachers, who have no say over the policies, in a position where they will either have to damage a relationship with an adolescent, potentially face pushback from other students who still want masks, or face discipline from their superiors for not enforcing DC policies. Not a very kind or respectful plan

What's not "kind" or "respectful" is ignoring scientific guidance to cater to fear mongering. It's teaching children that they can be sacrificed for what is now clearly political pandering to COVID anxiety. It's disgusting. Given how little respect DCPS has for parents, children, or now the advice of the CDC, and how unbelievably disrespectful it was to keep schools closed for more than a year, this seems like a reasonable thing for teachers and administrators to have to deal with. As for students who still want to mask, no one is stopping them from wearing one! Just don't make the vast majority of low risk vaccinated kids have to wear a mask any longer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some parents are advocating for school walkouts on another thread, but parents (particularly of middle school and high school students) should just email their school principals to inform them that going forward, their children will not be masking in school, in compliance with CDC recommendations and the mayor's own directive for much higher-risk adults. Then tell your kids to take off their masks. I actually have consulted a lawyer and parents would have a decent case against a school system for arbitrary and capricious behavior here, given that higher risk populations are now allowed indoors without masks, that transmission rates are low and vaccination rates high, and that this is a medical intervention with documented ill side-effects for children's education.

Don't send them with a mask. If the school insists, and gives them one, have your kid (if he or she is comfortable engaging in legit and necessary civil disobedience) to put the mask on but pull it below their face. We need resistance, otherwise the minority of scaredy-cat forever COVID people in DC will keep our kids masked in perpetuity.

All this does is put teachers, who have no say over the policies, in a position where they will either have to damage a relationship with an adolescent, potentially face pushback from other students who still want masks, or face discipline from their superiors for not enforcing DC policies. Not a very kind or respectful plan

What's not "kind" or "respectful" is ignoring scientific guidance to cater to fear mongering. It's teaching children that they can be sacrificed for what is now clearly political pandering to COVID anxiety. It's disgusting. Given how little respect DCPS has for parents, children, or now the advice of the CDC, and how unbelievably disrespectful it was to keep schools closed for more than a year, this seems like a reasonable thing for teachers and administrators to have to deal with. As for students who still want to mask, no one is stopping them from wearing one! Just don't make the vast majority of low risk vaccinated kids have to wear a mask any longer

DP. Oh, I completely agree. I still won't do this to my kid and their individual teachers. I'll tell the principal I want the masks to go, but I'm not creating a confrontation for kids and teachers to fight out in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Parents, please write to the Mayor, Schools Chancellor, DC Health Dept, and your City Council rep and ask them for an explanation for why DC is now one of the only school systems in the country openly flouting CDC recommendations for masking in schools.

I just wrote and will continue to do so every day until I receive a response.

The WaPo story about the continuation of the indoor mask mandate I schools has the mayor claiming the city has received no complaints from parents about the mandate, which is patently false. Please make your voices heard!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know some parents are advocating for school walkouts on another thread, but parents (particularly of middle school and high school students) should just email their school principals to inform them that going forward, their children will not be masking in school, in compliance with CDC recommendations and the mayor's own directive for much higher-risk adults. Then tell your kids to take off their masks. I actually have consulted a lawyer and parents would have a decent case against a school system for arbitrary and capricious behavior here, given that higher risk populations are now allowed indoors without masks, that transmission rates are low and vaccination rates high, and that this is a medical intervention with documented ill side-effects for children's education.

Don't send them with a mask. If the school insists, and gives them one, have your kid (if he or she is comfortable engaging in legit and necessary civil disobedience) to put the mask on but pull it below their face. We need resistance, otherwise the minority of scaredy-cat forever COVID people in DC will keep our kids masked in perpetuity.

All this does is put teachers, who have no say over the policies, in a position where they will either have to damage a relationship with an adolescent, potentially face pushback from other students who still want masks, or face discipline from their superiors for not enforcing DC policies. Not a very kind or respectful plan

What's not "kind" or "respectful" is ignoring scientific guidance to cater to fear mongering. It's teaching children that they can be sacrificed for what is now clearly political pandering to COVID anxiety. It's disgusting. Given how little respect DCPS has for parents, children, or now the advice of the CDC, and how unbelievably disrespectful it was to keep schools closed for more than a year, this seems like a reasonable thing for teachers and administrators to have to deal with. As for students who still want to mask, no one is stopping them from wearing one! Just don't make the vast majority of low risk vaccinated kids have to wear a mask any longer

DP. Oh, I completely agree. I still won't do this to my kid and their individual teachers. I'll tell the principal I want the masks to go, but I'm not creating a confrontation for kids and teachers to fight out in the classroom.

Ty for showing the nuance that the incredibly obnoxious PP above you can’t understand

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents, please write to the Mayor, Schools Chancellor, DC Health Dept, and your City Council rep and ask them for an explanation for why DC is now one of the only school systems in the country openly flouting CDC recommendations for masking in schools.

I just wrote and will continue to do so every day until I receive a response.

The WaPo story about the continuation of the indoor mask mandate I schools has the mayor claiming the city has received no complaints from parents about the mandate, which is patently false. Please make your voices heard!

Thank you for this, I agree you. Which WaPo article are you talking about? I don't think I saw that one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents, please write to the Mayor, Schools Chancellor, DC Health Dept, and your City Council rep and ask them for an explanation for why DC is now one of the only school systems in the country openly flouting CDC recommendations for masking in schools.

I just wrote and will continue to do so every day until I receive a response.

The WaPo story about the continuation of the indoor mask mandate I schools has the mayor claiming the city has received no complaints from parents about the mandate, which is patently false. Please make your voices heard!

Thank you for this, I agree you. Which WaPo article are you talking about? I don't think I saw that one.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/03/01/dc-schools-mask-mandate/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a start, I'll take it. My kid gets to smile at her friends during recess tomorrow! It's crazy that we're at this point but -- that's a huge win for her and for me and I'm really excited for these children. I hope as cases continue to decline and jurisdictions that have already eliminated indoor mandates don't see outbreaks, DCPS will change the indoor rule as well.

I’m trying to say this with as little snark as possible because I agree with your comment and not trying to attack you.

However, it’s statements like these that makes things bad. Let’s stop celebrating table scraps and demand our leaders to follow the science and the CDC including isolation periods and masking. When we are thankful for scraps, our government treats us as such. We need to demand all of it!

[Anonymous]

The Washpost article says:

Just 25 percent of D.C. children between the ages of 5-11 are fully vaccinated, according to city data. There are wide disparities in vaccination rates between wards, so in many schools the youth vaccination rate is likely far lower than that.

Why does this even matter in light of the Pfizer news today that the vaccine is basically ineffective in kids?? It's a big blow, I get it, but seems that this shouldn't even be a factor now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Washpost article says:

Just 25 percent of D.C. children between the ages of 5-11 are fully vaccinated, according to city data. There are wide disparities in vaccination rates between wards, so in many schools the youth vaccination rate is likely far lower than that.

Why does this even matter in light of the Pfizer news today that the vaccine is basically ineffective in kids?? It's a big blow, I get it, but seems that this shouldn't even be a factor now.

Oh god that's not what the Pfizer study says. I realize the title of the thread in the Health forum says that, but the study shows the vaccine sucks at preventing infection but still is effective at reducing severe illness.

Anyway, I agree that vaccination kind of is a bad way to look at it when the baseline risk is so low to begin with. Plus masks in school setting have even more questionable efficacy in school settings.

This is just people being wildly unable to assess risk.

[Anonymous]

Edit: Plus masks in school setting have even more questionable efficacy than vaccines.