Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Studies in Sweden and Norway showed us by the end of 2020 and before vaccines that it was safe to open schools with some basic precautions. But many school districts in blue states kept out school closed until late 2022 despite the plethora of empiric evidence saying it wasn’t necessary as well as growing evidence of harm from the school closures.
None of these people have been held accountable for this malfeasance.
This conversation is about Virginia schools, where schools had an in-person option by March 2021 (per the governor's orders) and every school was open full-time in September 2021 (
https://www.wavy.com/news/education/all-virginia-school-districts-open-full-time-for-in-person-learning-gov-northam-says/).
Our school was still teaching "in person" students virtually. The fully vaccinated teachers were afraid to be in the same classroom with the kids so they sat elsewhere and the kids used their iPads with headphones from in person classrooms.
Even though it was spring and the weather was mostly lovely, they even did virtual PE and kids watched the PE teacher exercise from their desks with the suggestion they try the exercises at home later. The teachers had decided that kids doing exercises in the classroom was too dangerous because kids would exhale more and it was too dangerous to take them outside because they'd have to pass other kids in the hallway.
Was this all ridiculous? Absolutely yes, but I don't consider that spring 2021 to be in person education. My 7 yo didn't get any in person instruction from a teacher. Only classroom aides supervised the class.
Even fall of 2021 was crazy. Teachers weren't allowing kids to do work on paper and turn it in because they considered the work to potentially transfer COVID. They also couldn't get up out of their seats to get a book or paper because that would disturb the 6' spacing and someone could get sick. Then there was also the weekly COVID testing, with kids missing class regularly. Not at all normal school.
This was APS, btw. Not all APS schools were like this, but the Duran let each principal choose what they wanted to do and Ventilation Lady's kid went to my kid's school, so we ended up with terrified teachers and a crazy plan.