Sidwell, GDS, Maret: Keep schools open
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Anonymous
Home test kits aren't really that hard to come by with a little planning. Sure, it can be hard to find them immediately available in stores (though my experience is even that is doable with some persistence, a lot of phone calls, and wilingness to drop everything to immediately head to a store when you find them), but there also are a number you can order (in bulk even) and have within a week or so. So with some advance planning it's really quite feasible. |
Anonymous
says someone who hasn't spoken to a psychologist or psychiatrist in the DMV. |
Anonymous
Five days is fine. |
Anonymous
I don't think most people are actually that worried about five days. Heck, I wouldn't even both with virtual for five days - just extend the break and call it good. They're worried that once you go virtual for five days, it's very, very easy to see the benchmarks get moved and five days become 15, become 25, become 50. Going virtual without clear metrics for why and for returning feels like the path to another virtual year. Whether it really is is obviously open to debate (and only time will really tell), but I think that's the real concern. |
Anonymous
| So quit complaining about 5 days virtual, and lock your kids down in the interim. That way, we won’t have to make it 10, or 20, or 50 days. It’s the refusal to take basic precautions - vaccines, masks, avoiding indoor gatherings - that is prolonging this nightmare. |
Anonymous
1) I'm not complaining about five days virtual. 2) We are fully vaccinated and boosted, wear mask, avoid large indoor gatherings, etc.. My child is lucky if she sees the inside of even a grocery store for five minutes once every few months. I'm not sure what more lockdown you want - I'm not going to stop her from going to her (outdoor, masked) activities, nor will we stop seeing (vaccinated, boosted) family members. 3) That said, we're pretty resigned that we're going to get omicron - if you look at the numbers I don't see how it's possible to not, short of total isolation, which is not a trade-off we're willing to make for the comparatively low risk. We've reach the point of accepting we're going to be moving forward with the virus. 4) I'm deeply concerned that five days will stretch to longer because the goal posts will be moved by people who think we somehow can still eradicate the virus, which clearly isn't feasible. 5) Look at places that pretty universally applied strict protocols - they're still seeing sharp Omicron spikes. The only way out is, apparently, though. |
Anonymous
Gah, stupid typo. The only way out is through, not though. |
Anonymous
| If you won’t stand up for in person, you deserve what you get. |
Anonymous
| I teach at a local private. We are lucky to have a few long-term subs on campus everyday. However, we still don’t have enough subs to cover for everyone who’s been sick, experiencing mild symptoms but awaiting PCR test results (3-4 days in DC), or home with a sick or quarantined child. Our division heads and admin staffers are covering classes and duties. It’s meant that we don’t always have people available when a child needs to be sent to the office or school counselor. It’s meant canceling parent meetings or attending them for just a few minutes so that teaching staff can substitute for absent staff. That’s sustainable for a week or two, but if post-break absences are any higher than they were throughout December, sustaining operations will be difficult. We can’t magic up more personnel, no matter how many angry letters the HoS gets. |
Anonymous
If you do insist on in person, you deserve the illness you get. |
Anonymous
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I have to chuckle a bit every time I see a thread on this board where parents hype each other up to “demand” something from their private school. There has been a lot of insistence that families won’t stay enrolled at a school that requires a vaccine, that requires masking, that closes, etc. Yet, last enrollment season few schools lost more than 1 percent of their enrollment over Covid restrictions. With the brisk demand for private admissions, they easily made up the attrition.
Renew your contract or don’t. But understand that a lot of schools are numb to parent threats after these past two years. |
Anonymous
These are real problems, but there are also solutions to some of them that I hope schools are using. For example, tell parents that all but essential parent meetings need to be suspended until February. Supply all teachers with a home molecular test like Lucera, Cue, or Detect and accept those highly accurate results in place of a PCR test when there is a testing backlog. For that matter provide them with tests for their families, too, to avoid unnecessary quarantine. Hopefully the shortened quarantine periods will help, too. And in general, communicate these constraints to parents. I believe most people want to be helpful and understanding, if given the opportunity and an explanation. |
Anonymous
OP. Actually spoken to both during 18 mo of virtual and learned a lot about the mental health journey. Which, per the medical professional, did not happen after 5 days. I was genuinely asking folks here who were concerned about a week of virtual what went into their thinking. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
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What I never, ever see from the parents demanding closures is metrics for return that would explain why five days will have any impact whatsoever.
Five days is theater. You are either advocating for a return to DL through March at a minimum, or you are advocating for useless theater. |