Sidwell, GDS, Maret: Keep schools open

[Anonymous]

Someone is tired of teaching (again).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Our kid is new to private this year, and spent 18 mo of virtual in MCPS - with significant mental impact. How does one WEEK of virtual - to allow delayed testing on Weds or Thurs - impact our kids' mental health?

Agree. All the people whining about the supposed mental health harms of five days of virtual are either disingenuous or stupid or both.

says someone who hasn't spoken to a psychologist or psychiatrist in the DMV.

Five days is fine.

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.

You sound like you are panicking already. Try to remember- each wave has generally peaked in about 4 weeks. This wave started on the East Coast in mid- December. It will be nose diving by mid-late January.

So, at worst, that is 20 days of school, NOT 50

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

The same staffing constraints are what is driving the 1000's of airline flight cancellations. There simply aren't enough Covid negative pilots left to fly planes or flight crew to staff the plane.

But the good news is that with infections that high, it peaks quickly and then dramatically drops off.

Give it 6 weeks from Mid- December and we will be coming out of this- at least on East Coast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

WTF ??

I don't know ANY DC Private school parents that are writing letters demanding that kids not be vaccinated . NONE

All, the Private school parents I know- whether Dems of GOP were clamoring to be first in line to get the vaccine for themselves and their kids. Many hung out at the CVS hoping to get left over vax, spent hours scouring websites to find early Vax for their kids back this time 1 year ago.

I don't know any educated professionals in DC who are against masking since Delta disabused us that 2 doses of Pfizer were a magic bullet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kid is new to private this year, and spent 18 mo of virtual in MCPS - with significant mental impact. How does one WEEK of virtual - to allow delayed testing on Weds or Thurs - impact our kids' mental health?

Agree. All the people whining about the supposed mental health harms of five days of virtual are either disingenuous or stupid or both.

says someone who hasn't spoken to a psychologist or psychiatrist in the DMV.

Five days is fine.

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.

You sound like you are panicking already. Try to remember- each wave has generally peaked in about 4 weeks. This wave started on the East Coast in mid- December. It will be nose diving by mid-late January.

So, at worst, that is 20 days of school, NOT 50

OR, Moderna or Pfizer apply for approval for an Omicron-specific booster, and then benchmark changes from "get past the peak" to "virtual until teachers and staff all have the new booster," which is probably late spring at best. It's the potential for moving the goalposts that concerns me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

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.

Also, maybe schools could take some reasonable measures like not sending teachers off to conferences (even virtual conferences) for a bit. My child's grade had all three lead teachers out for three days for a conference despite the fact subs were in short supply and the ones we got were below the school's normal standards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

No, I think 5 days is being thrown out there as a realistic time frame it would take to get the covid test results back on all faculty & Staff ( for staffing projections) and students for daily attendance projections.

The way to avoid it is to mandate every student and faculty member:

1) upload a PCR or rapid antigen result by Sunday AM
2) upload their proof of Booster in last 4- 6 weeks by Friday.

In other words, treat each school like a boarding International flight and set the bar for entry just like the airlines set the bar for getting on that plane.

literally saw thousands of people from all over America in line at Newark Airport trying to board International flights where vaccine records of boosters and negative covid tests were required- all clutching their phones showing their QR codes for their negative PCR and their vaccine records right along with their Passports in perfect compliance.

They even have labs set up at the terminals at JFK< Newark, O'haire, Dallas, Dulles and LAX PCR testing people and giving them their result in 45 minutes. Mine took 30 minutes the day of our flight.

Private schools can do this and so can their highly motivated and determined parents

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kid is new to private this year, and spent 18 mo of virtual in MCPS - with significant mental impact. How does one WEEK of virtual - to allow delayed testing on Weds or Thurs - impact our kids' mental health?

Agree. All the people whining about the supposed mental health harms of five days of virtual are either disingenuous or stupid or both.

says someone who hasn't spoken to a psychologist or psychiatrist in the DMV.

Five days is fine.

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.

You sound like you are panicking already. Try to remember- each wave has generally peaked in about 4 weeks. This wave started on the East Coast in mid- December. It will be nose diving by mid-late January.

So, at worst, that is 20 days of school, NOT 50

OR, Moderna or Pfizer apply for approval for an Omicron-specific booster, and then benchmark changes from "get past the peak" to "virtual until teachers and staff all have the new booster," which is probably late spring at best. It's the potential for moving the goalposts that concerns me.

It will absolutely not take until late Spring to get everyone boosted.

You don't need an Omicron specific Booster- you just need a regular Pfizer Booster Now- ideally, you went out and got it in late November/ early December.

It absolutely does NOT take several weeks to get a Covid Booster. Just walk into any vaccine site and tell them its your 1st shot. Just go to a different place than you did for your first 2.

Tell them you have just decided to get vaxxed after listening to Biden on TV. No one is going to argue with you because you are confirming a stereotype and that is a blind spot for most people.

And Boosters work. Moderna is the best, but Pfizer works almost as well. Our DC was boosted mid- November and mid- December his college room mate in his tiny dorm room the size of a prison cell tested positive. The room mate was double vaxxed, but no booster. Our son tested negative despite sleeping less than 6 feet away in a non-ventillated room.

The reason: he was boosted 4 weeks before

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

The same staffing constraints are what is driving the 1000's of airline flight cancellations. There simply aren't enough Covid negative pilots left to fly planes or flight crew to staff the plane.

But the good news is that with infections that high, it peaks quickly and then dramatically drops off.

Give it 6 weeks from Mid- December and we will be coming out of this- at least on East Coast.

There are in fact very many able pilots flying. What percentage of flights was cancelled in last few weeks due to staffing and not weather? I don’t know the number but I doubt it is very high. You might hear that 1,000 flights cancelled on one day seems high, but if over 5 days that is a small percentage of flights and everyone gets on a new flight in 1-2 days it is a frustration but not the end of the world. They are not stopping all flights due to this.

Schools should remain open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:And any child not vaccinated should be forced to stay at home? No excuses, right?

I'd bet that you can count on one hand the number of kids who are eligible for vaccines who aren't vaccinated at these schools (i.e., received "religious" exemption or have a true medical reason for not being vaccinated).
Obviously GDS and Sidwell have 4 year olds in the PK, and they would have to stay at home since they are unvaccinated.

It’s time to shut the schools down. We are at one of the school listed here and about half the class is traveling over break. Good luck everybody!

We know you’re jealous that everyone is traveling but you- because you still don’t “feel safe” - but that is not going to cause a school shut down. Sorry.

Typical shitty Trumper who wants to make this about jealousy. We’re interested in safety for our children, dumbass. Take your political BS somewhere else.

DP and not a Trumper but we also attend one of the schools listed here and travelled to a significant international tourism destination over break. We have taken multiple home antigen tests since returning that were negative and our school will require PCR testing before we return. This is not a reason to close schools and I am not sure why that is an issue or concern for you?

LOL sure. Let’s face it. You could not even stay home during a pandemic. You just had to go to a “significant international tourist destination”. Now you are going to take multiple home test without any symptoms? I do not believe you. You know there are shortages of the home test kits. People with symptoms can not find them but you are just testing away! I bet you would send your kid in if he/she tested positive because it’s all about you.

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.

We picked up 4 free ones today at our DC library. No lines, no fuss.

[Anonymous]

Yeah, try the Public Libraries in the Mayor’s pet wards of 4,5,7& 8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, try the Public Libraries in the Mayor’s pet wards of 4,5,7& 8

Even ward 3 has plenty

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, try the Public Libraries in the Mayor’s pet wards of 4,5,7& 8

W3 has them. Chill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And any child not vaccinated should be forced to stay at home? No excuses, right?

I'd bet that you can count on one hand the number of kids who are eligible for vaccines who aren't vaccinated at these schools (i.e., received "religious" exemption or have a true medical reason for not being vaccinated).
Obviously GDS and Sidwell have 4 year olds in the PK, and they would have to stay at home since they are unvaccinated.

It’s time to shut the schools down. We are at one of the school listed here and about half the class is traveling over break. Good luck everybody!

We know you’re jealous that everyone is traveling but you- because you still don’t “feel safe” - but that is not going to cause a school shut down. Sorry.

Typical shitty Trumper who wants to make this about jealousy. We’re interested in safety for our children, dumbass. Take your political BS somewhere else.

DP and not a Trumper but we also attend one of the schools listed here and travelled to a significant international tourism destination over break. We have taken multiple home antigen tests since returning that were negative and our school will require PCR testing before we return. This is not a reason to close schools and I am not sure why that is an issue or concern for you?

LOL sure. Let’s face it. You could not even stay home during a pandemic. You just had to go to a “significant international tourist destination”. Now you are going to take multiple home test without any symptoms? I do not believe you. You know there are shortages of the home test kits. People with symptoms can not find them but you are just testing away! I bet you would send your kid in if he/she tested positive because it’s all about you.

Is this the emojis the kids are using for the jerkoff motion? I feel like I’m not doing this right.
👋🍆💦

I bought the test kits at CVS genius. Already had a couple boxes of Binax which have two tests in one box from before and then bought 4 single test kits from CVS (limit per customer 4).

I assume that you are just never leaving your house? If it makes you more comfortable, maybe you should stay there? The rest of the world is moving on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, try the Public Libraries in the Mayor’s pet wards of 4,5,7& 8

You can literally go to Fessenden and CT this very moment and get what you need for free. Last time I checked, that was in ward 3.