Child refusing to participate in virtual

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are allowing the child to choose doing other things vs. school. Sit down and help with the assignments and not allow it to be an option.

I do this. It’s not working. Do you currently have a five year old?

I have one too (well, just turned 6 but in K), and am having a similar experience. Fall was ok but January has been a downhill slide. We've been trying to make him attend every class and do every assignment, but can't sit next to him and redirect and threaten consequences all day, which is what he needs at this point. We are running out of reward ideas, it's the month after Christmas and it's a pandemic so we cant go a lot of places or see a lot of people.

I have no ideas for you, OP, but we are very much not hearing things like "just skip assignments" or "leave after morning meeting" as being acceptable from our school. We skipped ONE math app activity because the app was down the week it was assigned and we were too busy fighting over the next week's work to do makeup, and he apparently completely ignored his art teacher's instructions yesterday to draw Transformers instead, which I'm not even sure is worth forcing. So much of this feels like it's more about compliance than learning.

Our district is planning to start hybrid Feb 16, and we're debating whether to keep him signed up because even 2 days a week in person would probably help, vs move him to DL because we are nowhere near the metrics from Aug-Oct and the teacher's association came out against it. It sucks so much that this falls on parents to try to be ethical for their own kids and the community at once when the school system is making such arbitrary seeming decisions.

This sums it up so well. DL isn’t working for this age group at all, but this seems like the worst possible time to reopen. I’m so frustrated that they could not find a way to do *some* in person school in the fall, when cases were low, which I think would make it easier to keep the kids home now. Plus they could have figured out some things about logistics. I’ve been advocating for some form of outdoor school (with masks) since last summer, but there is no will to make this happen. It doesn’t help of course that Trump and Congress refused to allocate funds to schools to help make it happen.

It’s an awful situation. I was reading an argument from a teachers advocate yesterday saying it’s not fair to heap all the risk of this situation on teachers, and I agree with that. But they were also saying that instead of in person school , we should be looking for ways to improve DL, to provide mental health services to families, even money to parents who are supervising DL to compensate due list wages and time. The problem is that NONE of that is happening. So while I think it’s unfair to shift the burden onto teachers who feel it is not safe, it is also unfair that families have carried the burden on their own this entire time. I still can’t believe what working parents have been asked to perform over the last year. I feel broken. I’m not trying to put teachers in danger. But I need help, and it’s not coming.

Our private school has been open all year. Not a single case reported. The issue is most certainly the teachers and the union.

With no weekly testing, easy to say that and pretend.

PP here. All I know is my kids are in school, none of the teachers have been out sick, and things are fine. Weekly testing or not, we are in a much better situation than the public schools. Enrollment at our school is up significantly.

Its not just about teachers getting sick. That is not the issue. And, you cannot say everything is fine and the issue is the union but that shows you are really self-absorbed. Its about community spread. Schools are closed to reduce the community spread. Kids go to school, get it, bring it home and share. A responsible school would insist on weekly testing.

Sorry not sorry, grandma and grandpa can stay home.

No, selfish mommy. Your kids can stay home. They Drumpf MT get to be spreaders for "socialization."

Sorry not sorry.

Not PP, but she is right in many ways. Covid is for kids not a big deal (yes yes there are a few exceptions... just like with the flu) so why should they be the ones at home while grandma and grandpa can go to a restaurant? It’s a horrible situation all around, but if we could isolate only those over 60 and with pre-existing conditions, the others could live a more normal life (with masks, social distance, etc). Why should children (and their parents) pay the price when they are not going to be a burden on the system?

It’s unfair... grandma and grandpa stay at home and grandkids go to school

Actually it can be a big deal for kids. And, those who live with kids.

Of course it can, but everything has a risk in life. Kids die of the flu every year, but we don’t stay at home and homeschool because if that small risk. My point is that we have it all backwards. We should definitely isolate those that are more likely to need a hospital or even die. For the rest of us, we should be going back to “a new” normal life. Where we take precautions, don’t have parties or gathering, but where kids go back to school, to learn, to socialize and be happy.

Look, my kids are in private school and are in school in person 4 days a week. Kids and employees get tested regularly (every 2-3 week I believe) and so far there hasn’t been a single case. My kids are happy and thriving. I am able to work 4 days a week uninterrupted. I have no stake in this, but I feel terrible for all those little kids like OP’sthat are struggling. It isn’t fair to them and to those that are much worse than OP’s child.
My SIL in northern Florida has been sending her kids to public school since the beginning in the school year. Not a single case...
There are obviously risks, but kids and parents are paying too high of price for a small chance that on kid or parent could get infected and die. I could have chosen DL for my kids and didn’t. In my DD’s PK class (10 kids) nobody chose DL. In my 1st grader’s class (9 kids) only 1 chose DL and that’s because her sibling has some health issues. Obviously the largest majority of parents (that have nannies and help) still prefer to take a small risk and send their kids to school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Homeschool. I have a K child thriving. If you work, you can still find 60-90 minutes in your day to do it. K is quite easy (I have several kids on four different grade levels and k is the easiest and quickest). Young children deserve better than this.

I’m glad for you. It’s something I would do, but we don’t have a parental consensus. Private is not an option either. (We aren’t $$$).

If the spouse isn't helping with virtual learing, then they don't have a say in it.

I appreciate his point of view. He’s a good parent and kind partner. We’ll continue to try to find middle ground. I am thankful for everyone’s response. It helps me evaluate what’s going on and where we can leave room for tough days.

OP, I'm happy to hear you not bashing your husband like so many other people on DCUM, but it seems like he does need to understand better what is happening here. DL sucks for K (I know, I have twins), and honestly it's just not appropriate for them. Find out what you have to do with the school to meet the bare minimum requirements and see if there are any workbooks or other things (even iPad games can be educational if you find the right ones) you can use on your own time to help your kid learn some stuff this year. Reading and writing are key and it's easy enough to come up with fun math games for them (measuring things around the house, using coins to "buy" food you have to put together a meal, measuring out ingredients for a baked good, etc.). My husband and I both work full-time, so we're not sitting around looking for things to do, but when we saw one of our twins starting to become a different person after being forced to sit on a screen all day we all but called it quits. For library they can read to you odd days, you read to them even days (this can be done any time of the day). PE is an easy one to make up at any point during the day. Math, use the above ideas. Writing, they can pick an idea and then spend some time writing about it. Another thing to consider is letting your kid have some days completely off school. I mean, they're not using up sick days like before and hopefully you're not traveling so they haven't had any other absences. If you can take a day or two off with them, then awesome. Otherwise, have them come up with a way to break their day down (we use 1-hour blocks) so you can still get your work done. I think you can teach a kid all they need to know for K in a few hours a week so I would do only whatever you have to do to keep your kid from being labeled a truant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are allowing the child to choose doing other things vs. school. Sit down and help with the assignments and not allow it to be an option.

I do this. It’s not working. Do you currently have a five year old?

I have one too (well, just turned 6 but in K), and am having a similar experience. Fall was ok but January has been a downhill slide. We've been trying to make him attend every class and do every assignment, but can't sit next to him and redirect and threaten consequences all day, which is what he needs at this point. We are running out of reward ideas, it's the month after Christmas and it's a pandemic so we cant go a lot of places or see a lot of people.

I have no ideas for you, OP, but we are very much not hearing things like "just skip assignments" or "leave after morning meeting" as being acceptable from our school. We skipped ONE math app activity because the app was down the week it was assigned and we were too busy fighting over the next week's work to do makeup, and he apparently completely ignored his art teacher's instructions yesterday to draw Transformers instead, which I'm not even sure is worth forcing. So much of this feels like it's more about compliance than learning.

Our district is planning to start hybrid Feb 16, and we're debating whether to keep him signed up because even 2 days a week in person would probably help, vs move him to DL because we are nowhere near the metrics from Aug-Oct and the teacher's association came out against it. It sucks so much that this falls on parents to try to be ethical for their own kids and the community at once when the school system is making such arbitrary seeming decisions.

This sums it up so well. DL isn’t working for this age group at all, but this seems like the worst possible time to reopen. I’m so frustrated that they could not find a way to do *some* in person school in the fall, when cases were low, which I think would make it easier to keep the kids home now. Plus they could have figured out some things about logistics. I’ve been advocating for some form of outdoor school (with masks) since last summer, but there is no will to make this happen. It doesn’t help of course that Trump and Congress refused to allocate funds to schools to help make it happen.

It’s an awful situation. I was reading an argument from a teachers advocate yesterday saying it’s not fair to heap all the risk of this situation on teachers, and I agree with that. But they were also saying that instead of in person school , we should be looking for ways to improve DL, to provide mental health services to families, even money to parents who are supervising DL to compensate due list wages and time. The problem is that NONE of that is happening. So while I think it’s unfair to shift the burden onto teachers who feel it is not safe, it is also unfair that families have carried the burden on their own this entire time. I still can’t believe what working parents have been asked to perform over the last year. I feel broken. I’m not trying to put teachers in danger. But I need help, and it’s not coming.

Our private school has been open all year. Not a single case reported. The issue is most certainly the teachers and the union.

With no weekly testing, easy to say that and pretend.

PP here. All I know is my kids are in school, none of the teachers have been out sick, and things are fine. Weekly testing or not, we are in a much better situation than the public schools. Enrollment at our school is up significantly.

Its not just about teachers getting sick. That is not the issue. And, you cannot say everything is fine and the issue is the union but that shows you are really self-absorbed. Its about community spread. Schools are closed to reduce the community spread. Kids go to school, get it, bring it home and share. A responsible school would insist on weekly testing.

Sorry not sorry, grandma and grandpa can stay home.

No, selfish mommy. Your kids can stay home. They Drumpf MT get to be spreaders for "socialization."

Sorry not sorry.

Kids are the future. Boomers have had their time, nature is taking them back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are allowing the child to choose doing other things vs. school. Sit down and help with the assignments and not allow it to be an option.

I do this. It’s not working. Do you currently have a five year old?

I have one too (well, just turned 6 but in K), and am having a similar experience. Fall was ok but January has been a downhill slide. We've been trying to make him attend every class and do every assignment, but can't sit next to him and redirect and threaten consequences all day, which is what he needs at this point. We are running out of reward ideas, it's the month after Christmas and it's a pandemic so we cant go a lot of places or see a lot of people.

I have no ideas for you, OP, but we are very much not hearing things like "just skip assignments" or "leave after morning meeting" as being acceptable from our school. We skipped ONE math app activity because the app was down the week it was assigned and we were too busy fighting over the next week's work to do makeup, and he apparently completely ignored his art teacher's instructions yesterday to draw Transformers instead, which I'm not even sure is worth forcing. So much of this feels like it's more about compliance than learning.

Our district is planning to start hybrid Feb 16, and we're debating whether to keep him signed up because even 2 days a week in person would probably help, vs move him to DL because we are nowhere near the metrics from Aug-Oct and the teacher's association came out against it. It sucks so much that this falls on parents to try to be ethical for their own kids and the community at once when the school system is making such arbitrary seeming decisions.

This sums it up so well. DL isn’t working for this age group at all, but this seems like the worst possible time to reopen. I’m so frustrated that they could not find a way to do *some* in person school in the fall, when cases were low, which I think would make it easier to keep the kids home now. Plus they could have figured out some things about logistics. I’ve been advocating for some form of outdoor school (with masks) since last summer, but there is no will to make this happen. It doesn’t help of course that Trump and Congress refused to allocate funds to schools to help make it happen.

It’s an awful situation. I was reading an argument from a teachers advocate yesterday saying it’s not fair to heap all the risk of this situation on teachers, and I agree with that. But they were also saying that instead of in person school , we should be looking for ways to improve DL, to provide mental health services to families, even money to parents who are supervising DL to compensate due list wages and time. The problem is that NONE of that is happening. So while I think it’s unfair to shift the burden onto teachers who feel it is not safe, it is also unfair that families have carried the burden on their own this entire time. I still can’t believe what working parents have been asked to perform over the last year. I feel broken. I’m not trying to put teachers in danger. But I need help, and it’s not coming.

Our private school has been open all year. Not a single case reported. The issue is most certainly the teachers and the union.

With no weekly testing, easy to say that and pretend.

PP here. All I know is my kids are in school, none of the teachers have been out sick, and things are fine. Weekly testing or not, we are in a much better situation than the public schools. Enrollment at our school is up significantly.

Its not just about teachers getting sick. That is not the issue. And, you cannot say everything is fine and the issue is the union but that shows you are really self-absorbed. Its about community spread. Schools are closed to reduce the community spread. Kids go to school, get it, bring it home and share. A responsible school would insist on weekly testing.

Sorry not sorry, grandma and grandpa can stay home.

No, selfish mommy. Your kids can stay home. They Drumpf MT get to be spreaders for "socialization."

Sorry not sorry.

Not PP, but she is right in many ways. Covid is for kids not a big deal (yes yes there are a few exceptions... just like with the flu) so why should they be the ones at home while grandma and grandpa can go to a restaurant? It’s a horrible situation all around, but if we could isolate only those over 60 and with pre-existing conditions, the others could live a more normal life (with masks, social distance, etc). Why should children (and their parents) pay the price when they are not going to be a burden on the system?

It’s unfair... grandma and grandpa stay at home and grandkids go to school

Actually it can be a big deal for kids. And, those who live with kids.

Only 100 kids have died of Covid. Let’s stop pretending that everyone is concerned about kids. If they were, kids would be in school. Kids don’t have lobbyists like old folks do. The vast majority of deaths are from those over 65 years old. There are always going to be outliers like the odd 30 year old with preexisting conditions dying, but we need to look at majority. We prioritize middle aged and older people going out to bars, restaurants, and concerts than we do kids going to school. We live in a shitty system that thrives on consumption. Kids going to school doesn’t help the economy, so we put education on the back burner in favor of throwing children in front of a screen for 6 hours a day and we call that “school”. It’s not school. It’s the last worst option that highlights how little we prioritize learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are allowing the child to choose doing other things vs. school. Sit down and help with the assignments and not allow it to be an option.

I do this. It’s not working. Do you currently have a five year old?

I have one too (well, just turned 6 but in K), and am having a similar experience. Fall was ok but January has been a downhill slide. We've been trying to make him attend every class and do every assignment, but can't sit next to him and redirect and threaten consequences all day, which is what he needs at this point. We are running out of reward ideas, it's the month after Christmas and it's a pandemic so we cant go a lot of places or see a lot of people.

I have no ideas for you, OP, but we are very much not hearing things like "just skip assignments" or "leave after morning meeting" as being acceptable from our school. We skipped ONE math app activity because the app was down the week it was assigned and we were too busy fighting over the next week's work to do makeup, and he apparently completely ignored his art teacher's instructions yesterday to draw Transformers instead, which I'm not even sure is worth forcing. So much of this feels like it's more about compliance than learning.

Our district is planning to start hybrid Feb 16, and we're debating whether to keep him signed up because even 2 days a week in person would probably help, vs move him to DL because we are nowhere near the metrics from Aug-Oct and the teacher's association came out against it. It sucks so much that this falls on parents to try to be ethical for their own kids and the community at once when the school system is making such arbitrary seeming decisions.

This sums it up so well. DL isn’t working for this age group at all, but this seems like the worst possible time to reopen. I’m so frustrated that they could not find a way to do *some* in person school in the fall, when cases were low, which I think would make it easier to keep the kids home now. Plus they could have figured out some things about logistics. I’ve been advocating for some form of outdoor school (with masks) since last summer, but there is no will to make this happen. It doesn’t help of course that Trump and Congress refused to allocate funds to schools to help make it happen.

It’s an awful situation. I was reading an argument from a teachers advocate yesterday saying it’s not fair to heap all the risk of this situation on teachers, and I agree with that. But they were also saying that instead of in person school , we should be looking for ways to improve DL, to provide mental health services to families, even money to parents who are supervising DL to compensate due list wages and time. The problem is that NONE of that is happening. So while I think it’s unfair to shift the burden onto teachers who feel it is not safe, it is also unfair that families have carried the burden on their own this entire time. I still can’t believe what working parents have been asked to perform over the last year. I feel broken. I’m not trying to put teachers in danger. But I need help, and it’s not coming.

Our private school has been open all year. Not a single case reported. The issue is most certainly the teachers and the union.

With no weekly testing, easy to say that and pretend.

PP here. All I know is my kids are in school, none of the teachers have been out sick, and things are fine. Weekly testing or not, we are in a much better situation than the public schools. Enrollment at our school is up significantly.

Its not just about teachers getting sick. That is not the issue. And, you cannot say everything is fine and the issue is the union but that shows you are really self-absorbed. Its about community spread. Schools are closed to reduce the community spread. Kids go to school, get it, bring it home and share. A responsible school would insist on weekly testing.

NP. Our school has been doing weekly testing since August. We have not had a single case of school spread, meaning that every person who tested positive got it from outside of school and did not spread it to any other person at school. Therefore our kids aren't getting it at school. They just aren't. And our school has 1,200 students, so it's not some tiny parochial or anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's kindergarten. Let it go. Tell your kid she can take a break for a few days.

+1

+1

[Anonymous]

This is really challenging. I think our teacher probably think pretty low of my kid because he never attends. I tried initially to get him to attend, but this along with trying to get him to bed on time, up on time, brushing his teeth, eating breakfast, it was overwhelming especially with him attending and not getting anything from it.

We have been more interested in just reading to him, teaching him to read, dancing, and now he's getting better at writing and drawing. He takes his time and tries to copy pictures or write words from the books he loves in his spare time. I'll probably have a talk with his teacher about it this week. We haven't formally withdrawn and homeschooled but that's where we are right now. I mean he's a 3 year old who's reading books and doing addition and subtraction. I don't think he'll be behind in PK4 or Kindergarten.

I do wish he was getting more social time but he wasn't getting that with the screen time anyway.

[Anonymous]

Private school/in person/child COVID risk debate person..kindly take your nonsense to one of the forums that delights in that sort of conversation? It’s off topic for this one.

[Anonymous]

I understand your pain. My DD is 5 and has been back and forth between virtual and in-person school for Kindergarten. It was a disaster when it started virtual and she didn't know her teacher or classmates. She just kept resisting and would hide or refuse to participate or look at the screen. She did a complete flip when they finally went in-person. She loved school and loved to participate. I promise you your child is normal but DL is not fitting her learning style. Focus on the homework.

My idea for how to get her engaged in homework is to use dolls, stuffies, and toys to participate like you are playing school. For each question, you select a character and they get to be a helper. I have a older child in 2nd grade who has no problem with virtual school but LOVES to have stuffies help with homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with these posters. It's school, and it's not optional. Rewards, punishments (hopefully not so she doesn't see school as a chore), whatever it takes. yes, it SUCKS, but it'll be a life lesson for them all.
- mom of wild 1st and 4th grade boys forcing them to learn however is available

Sitting at a computer and staring at a screen is not school. It’s bullshit and totally developmentally inappropriate for young children. Log in for 5 minutes and then go about your day.

Sets a terrible example for little kids. This is what's available right now. You get what you get etc. Then tons of playtime afterwards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with these posters. It's school, and it's not optional. Rewards, punishments (hopefully not so she doesn't see school as a chore), whatever it takes. yes, it SUCKS, but it'll be a life lesson for them all.
- mom of wild 1st and 4th grade boys forcing them to learn however is available

Sitting at a computer and staring at a screen is not school. It’s bullshit and totally developmentally inappropriate for young children. Log in for 5 minutes and then go about your day.

Sets a terrible example for little kids. This is what's available right now. You get what you get etc. Then tons of playtime afterwards.

This is setting a terrible example for the kids. The example is that teachers, the school board, and the government don't care about them at all. All of them have dropped the ball on getting kids back to school in person and are forcing kids to be miserable at home with distance "learning". I put "learning" in quotes because it is pretty clear that not much learning is actually going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I understand your pain. My DD is 5 and has been back and forth between virtual and in-person school for Kindergarten. It was a disaster when it started virtual and she didn't know her teacher or classmates. She just kept resisting and would hide or refuse to participate or look at the screen. She did a complete flip when they finally went in-person. She loved school and loved to participate. I promise you your child is normal but DL is not fitting her learning style. Focus on the homework.

My idea for how to get her engaged in homework is to use dolls, stuffies, and toys to participate like you are playing school. For each question, you select a character and they get to be a helper. I have a older child in 2nd grade who has no problem with virtual school but LOVES to have stuffies help with homework.

This is a really cute idea. Thank you. Worth trying. Pretend play is one of her love languages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with these posters. It's school, and it's not optional. Rewards, punishments (hopefully not so she doesn't see school as a chore), whatever it takes. yes, it SUCKS, but it'll be a life lesson for them all.
- mom of wild 1st and 4th grade boys forcing them to learn however is available

Sitting at a computer and staring at a screen is not school. It’s bullshit and totally developmentally inappropriate for young children. Log in for 5 minutes and then go about your day.

Sets a terrible example for little kids. This is what's available right now. You get what you get etc. Then tons of playtime afterwards.

We're doing the best we can, but 6 year olds are not capable of paying attention all day to an ipad without someone sitting on them (and even that doesn't work sometimes). I don't have any ill will towards my kid's teachers, but as a parent I am done trying. I can't closely monitor kindergarten AND take my kid outside to play every afternoon AND do my job. You get what you get, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is really challenging. I think our teacher probably think pretty low of my kid because he never attends. I tried initially to get him to attend, but this along with trying to get him to bed on time, up on time, brushing his teeth, eating breakfast, it was overwhelming especially with him attending and not getting anything from it.

We have been more interested in just reading to him, teaching him to read, dancing, and now he's getting better at writing and drawing. He takes his time and tries to copy pictures or write words from the books he loves in his spare time. I'll probably have a talk with his teacher about it this week. We haven't formally withdrawn and homeschooled but that's where we are right now. I mean he's a 3 year old who's reading books and doing addition and subtraction. I don't think he'll be behind in PK4 or Kindergarten.

I do wish he was getting more social time but he wasn't getting that with the screen time anyway.

There is a big difference with a 3 year old who doesn't need preschool and a K-12 student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are allowing the child to choose doing other things vs. school. Sit down and help with the assignments and not allow it to be an option.

I do this. It’s not working. Do you currently have a five year old?

I have one too (well, just turned 6 but in K), and am having a similar experience. Fall was ok but January has been a downhill slide. We've been trying to make him attend every class and do every assignment, but can't sit next to him and redirect and threaten consequences all day, which is what he needs at this point. We are running out of reward ideas, it's the month after Christmas and it's a pandemic so we cant go a lot of places or see a lot of people.

I have no ideas for you, OP, but we are very much not hearing things like "just skip assignments" or "leave after morning meeting" as being acceptable from our school. We skipped ONE math app activity because the app was down the week it was assigned and we were too busy fighting over the next week's work to do makeup, and he apparently completely ignored his art teacher's instructions yesterday to draw Transformers instead, which I'm not even sure is worth forcing. So much of this feels like it's more about compliance than learning.

Our district is planning to start hybrid Feb 16, and we're debating whether to keep him signed up because even 2 days a week in person would probably help, vs move him to DL because we are nowhere near the metrics from Aug-Oct and the teacher's association came out against it. It sucks so much that this falls on parents to try to be ethical for their own kids and the community at once when the school system is making such arbitrary seeming decisions.

This sums it up so well. DL isn’t working for this age group at all, but this seems like the worst possible time to reopen. I’m so frustrated that they could not find a way to do *some* in person school in the fall, when cases were low, which I think would make it easier to keep the kids home now. Plus they could have figured out some things about logistics. I’ve been advocating for some form of outdoor school (with masks) since last summer, but there is no will to make this happen. It doesn’t help of course that Trump and Congress refused to allocate funds to schools to help make it happen.

It’s an awful situation. I was reading an argument from a teachers advocate yesterday saying it’s not fair to heap all the risk of this situation on teachers, and I agree with that. But they were also saying that instead of in person school , we should be looking for ways to improve DL, to provide mental health services to families, even money to parents who are supervising DL to compensate due list wages and time. The problem is that NONE of that is happening. So while I think it’s unfair to shift the burden onto teachers who feel it is not safe, it is also unfair that families have carried the burden on their own this entire time. I still can’t believe what working parents have been asked to perform over the last year. I feel broken. I’m not trying to put teachers in danger. But I need help, and it’s not coming.

Our private school has been open all year. Not a single case reported. The issue is most certainly the teachers and the union.

With no weekly testing, easy to say that and pretend.

PP here. All I know is my kids are in school, none of the teachers have been out sick, and things are fine. Weekly testing or not, we are in a much better situation than the public schools. Enrollment at our school is up significantly.

Its not just about teachers getting sick. That is not the issue. And, you cannot say everything is fine and the issue is the union but that shows you are really self-absorbed. Its about community spread. Schools are closed to reduce the community spread. Kids go to school, get it, bring it home and share. A responsible school would insist on weekly testing.

NP. Our school has been doing weekly testing since August. We have not had a single case of school spread, meaning that every person who tested positive got it from outside of school and did not spread it to any other person at school. Therefore our kids aren't getting it at school. They just aren't. And our school has 1,200 students, so it's not some tiny parochial or anything.

Except all those positives can lead to an outbreak and you simple don't care about community spread. Its all about your needs.