How could a school the size of Blair reopen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Your biggest risk factor isn't the 100 kids from the west side of town, it is the 2000 mostly lower income kids from all over the world who live on top of each other with limited access to Gov Services and healthcare that make up a large part of the Blair community. You are welcome to petition the County to move the magnet program out of the school. I know many who would support that who share in your concern exposing the Magnet kids to the Blair regular population.

Ew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The high school magnets and entire DCC consortium are a big problem in this whole thing as they spread the exposure risk across broader geographic areas. Think of this from a contact tracing standpoint. If you have a kid in a magnet class that is identified as an asymptomatic carrier then you have a far larger web of all the geographic areas and people to trace out.


Why is it harder to trace a magnet kid who lives in a SFH in Bethesda VS a local kid who may live in a cramped apt building often with multiple families. You think the 45 min bus ride is a harder obstacle than a large undocumented community with language and trust barriers?

Because its a larger web of communities. The magnet kids come from Bethesda, Rockville, North Potomac, Potomac. They have the same PE classes with kids who are local to Blair or in caps and elsewhere in the DCC through CAPS or the choice program. Each kid from a different geographic area has a family that has siblings at elementary schools, grocery shops, sees doctors, engages with neighbors in a completely different location. It magnifies the spread.

Lots of magnet kids come from Silver Spring too. Where ever the magnets are they would always be bringing in kids from other areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The high school magnets and entire DCC consortium are a big problem in this whole thing as they spread the exposure risk across broader geographic areas. Think of this from a contact tracing standpoint. If you have a kid in a magnet class that is identified as an asymptomatic carrier then you have a far larger web of all the geographic areas and people to trace out.


Why is it harder to trace a magnet kid who lives in a SFH in Bethesda VS a local kid who may live in a cramped apt building often with multiple families. You think the 45 min bus ride is a harder obstacle than a large undocumented community with language and trust barriers?

Because its a larger web of communities. The magnet kids come from Bethesda, Rockville, North Potomac, Potomac. They have the same PE classes with kids who are local to Blair or in caps and elsewhere in the DCC through CAPS or the choice program. Each kid from a different geographic area has a family that has siblings at elementary schools, grocery shops, sees doctors, engages with neighbors in a completely different location. It magnifies the spread.

Lots of magnet kids come from Silver Spring too. Where ever the magnets are they would always be bringing in kids from other areas.

Lots is a stretch even considering how big Silver Spring is

[Anonymous]

So now we get to the crux of the matter. First OP wanted us to think she was "just asking questions" about the size of Blair, but really this is about people worrying that the racial and economic diversity of Blair will be particularly problematic for their UMC snowflakes.

There's lots we don't know about covid at this point, but there's actually not a lot of evidence of children (or teens) spreading the disease. Because kids rarely get sick with it, and the whole idea of children as "superspreaders" has been debunked, there's increasing evidence to suggest school closures are among the least effective methods of disease prevention.

Moreover, where do folks think the grocery store workers, Instacart drivers, landscapers, housecleaners, nannies, and everyone else that makes their UMC life run live?

They live in multi-family dwellings. Blair (or Kennedy, or Einstein) are not any more dangerous in terms of this virus than any other school, and pretending that your family will automatically be safe if you just don't send your kid to a racially diverse school is ignoring all of the other potential vectors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very few young people get this disease. The risks are to the teachers over 50, janitorial staff, and office staff with conditions and over 50.

Not just teachers over 50. Younger teachers also have underlying health conditions and some teachers younger than 50 are immunocompromised. Not everyone fits neatly into one of your boxes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Very few young people get this disease. The risks are to the teachers over 50, janitorial staff, and office staff with conditions and over 50.

Not just teachers over 50. Younger teachers also have underlying health conditions and some teachers younger than 50 are immunocompromised. Not everyone fits neatly into one of your boxes.

Yep, the last 5 years have seen a huge advancement in medication allowing young people who previously would have died young or been unemployed invalids to live fuller lives and be employed FT. At least some are choosing teaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The high school magnets and entire DCC consortium are a big problem in this whole thing as they spread the exposure risk across broader geographic areas. Think of this from a contact tracing standpoint. If you have a kid in a magnet class that is identified as an asymptomatic carrier then you have a far larger web of all the geographic areas and people to trace out.


Why is it harder to trace a magnet kid who lives in a SFH in Bethesda VS a local kid who may live in a cramped apt building often with multiple families. You think the 45 min bus ride is a harder obstacle than a large undocumented community with language and trust barriers?

Because its a larger web of communities. The magnet kids come from Bethesda, Rockville, North Potomac, Potomac. They have the same PE classes with kids who are local to Blair or in caps and elsewhere in the DCC through CAPS or the choice program. Each kid from a different geographic area has a family that has siblings at elementary schools, grocery shops, sees doctors, engages with neighbors in a completely different location. It magnifies the spread.

Lots of magnet kids come from Silver Spring too. Where ever the magnets are they would always be bringing in kids from other areas.

Lots is a stretch even considering how big Silver Spring is

Regardless...any kind of magnet brings kids from one are to another. If you move the magnet to a Bethesda school (the one that has room for about 400 extra kids) then you will be pulling kids from other areas there.

[Anonymous]

Regardless...any kind of magnet brings kids from one are to another. If you move the magnet to a Bethesda school (the one that has room for about 400 extra kids) then you will be pulling kids from other areas there.

Exactly, take Poolesville as another example. Poolesville is not located in an area with high density low income housing like Blair. Its mostly farms, SFH, some townhomes and a few mobile homes. If Poolesville had an identified carrier and did not have a magnet then there would be a lower risk to areas in Rockville, Darnestown and Gaithersburg. With the magnet though all those areas come into play.

Blair is a little worse than Poolesville in that it is already a hot spot due to the high density low income housing. The outbreak is likely to be higher if a magnet is infected because they would pass it on not only to magnet kids but the local population that lives in high density housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Regardless...any kind of magnet brings kids from one are to another. If you move the magnet to a Bethesda school (the one that has room for about 400 extra kids) then you will be pulling kids from other areas there.

Exactly, take Poolesville as another example. Poolesville is not located in an area with high density low income housing like Blair. Its mostly farms, SFH, some townhomes and a few mobile homes. If Poolesville had an identified carrier and did not have a magnet then there would be a lower risk to areas in Rockville, Darnestown and Gaithersburg. With the magnet though all those areas come into play.

Blair is a little worse than Poolesville in that it is already a hot spot due to the high density low income housing. The outbreak is likely to be higher if a magnet is infected because they would pass it on not only to magnet kids but the local population that lives in high density housing.

It's not high-density housing, unless you consider all apartment buildings to be high-density housing (which I don't).

What's more, it's not the density of housing units that's the issue, it's the number of people who live in each housing unit. The virus doesn't care whether the people in a ten-person household are living in a detached house or in an apartment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So now we get to the crux of the matter. First OP wanted us to think she was "just asking questions" about the size of Blair, but really this is about people worrying that the racial and economic diversity of Blair will be particularly problematic for their UMC snowflakes.

There's lots we don't know about covid at this point, but there's actually not a lot of evidence of children (or teens) spreading the disease. Because kids rarely get sick with it, and the whole idea of children as "superspreaders" has been debunked, there's increasing evidence to suggest school closures are among the least effective methods of disease prevention.

Moreover, where do folks think the grocery store workers, Instacart drivers, landscapers, housecleaners, nannies, and everyone else that makes their UMC life run live?

They live in multi-family dwellings. Blair (or Kennedy, or Einstein) are not any more dangerous in terms of this virus than any other school, and pretending that your family will automatically be safe if you just don't send your kid to a racially diverse school is ignoring all of the other potential vectors.

As the OP, I do not feel it is okay for others to decide my intentions. My question is about any large school, like Blair. The point is the size of the school in a county with many cases; however, even if this was a large school in another part of the country or world, the question stands. What do very large schools do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now we get to the crux of the matter. First OP wanted us to think she was "just asking questions" about the size of Blair, but really this is about people worrying that the racial and economic diversity of Blair will be particularly problematic for their UMC snowflakes.

There's lots we don't know about covid at this point, but there's actually not a lot of evidence of children (or teens) spreading the disease. Because kids rarely get sick with it, and the whole idea of children as "superspreaders" has been debunked, there's increasing evidence to suggest school closures are among the least effective methods of disease prevention.

Moreover, where do folks think the grocery store workers, Instacart drivers, landscapers, housecleaners, nannies, and everyone else that makes their UMC life run live?

They live in multi-family dwellings. Blair (or Kennedy, or Einstein) are not any more dangerous in terms of this virus than any other school, and pretending that your family will automatically be safe if you just don't send your kid to a racially diverse school is ignoring all of the other potential vectors.

As the OP, I do not feel it is okay for others to decide my intentions. My question is about any large school, like Blair. The point is the size of the school in a county with many cases; however, even if this was a large school in another part of the country or world, the question stands. What do very large schools do?

Well, here's Denmark https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/17/europe/denmark-coronavirus-first-school-intl/index.html

Here's Finland https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-finland-schools/finland-to-reopen-schools-and-daycares-gradually-starting-may-14-idUSKBN22B2RG

Here's Japan https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/05/02/national/japan-schools-partial-reopening-coronavirus/

You can google too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now we get to the crux of the matter. First OP wanted us to think she was "just asking questions" about the size of Blair, but really this is about people worrying that the racial and economic diversity of Blair will be particularly problematic for their UMC snowflakes.

There's lots we don't know about covid at this point, but there's actually not a lot of evidence of children (or teens) spreading the disease. Because kids rarely get sick with it, and the whole idea of children as "superspreaders" has been debunked, there's increasing evidence to suggest school closures are among the least effective methods of disease prevention.

Moreover, where do folks think the grocery store workers, Instacart drivers, landscapers, housecleaners, nannies, and everyone else that makes their UMC life run live?

They live in multi-family dwellings. Blair (or Kennedy, or Einstein) are not any more dangerous in terms of this virus than any other school, and pretending that your family will automatically be safe if you just don't send your kid to a racially diverse school is ignoring all of the other potential vectors.

As the OP, I do not feel it is okay for others to decide my intentions. My question is about any large school, like Blair. The point is the size of the school in a county with many cases; however, even if this was a large school in another part of the country or world, the question stands. What do very large schools do?

I don’t think the size of the school really matters. Every school, including the smallest elementary school, still has hundreds of kids and staff all together under one roof.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now we get to the crux of the matter. First OP wanted us to think she was "just asking questions" about the size of Blair, but really this is about people worrying that the racial and economic diversity of Blair will be particularly problematic for their UMC snowflakes.

There's lots we don't know about covid at this point, but there's actually not a lot of evidence of children (or teens) spreading the disease. Because kids rarely get sick with it, and the whole idea of children as "superspreaders" has been debunked, there's increasing evidence to suggest school closures are among the least effective methods of disease prevention.

Moreover, where do folks think the grocery store workers, Instacart drivers, landscapers, housecleaners, nannies, and everyone else that makes their UMC life run live?

They live in multi-family dwellings. Blair (or Kennedy, or Einstein) are not any more dangerous in terms of this virus than any other school, and pretending that your family will automatically be safe if you just don't send your kid to a racially diverse school is ignoring all of the other potential vectors.

As the OP, I do not feel it is okay for others to decide my intentions. My question is about any large school, like Blair. The point is the size of the school in a county with many cases; however, even if this was a large school in another part of the country or world, the question stands. What do very large schools do?

Still unclear why Blair is an exception. Most schools in the area are at capacity or near, and I can't think of a school where kids from different families are not arriving in buses, going to central locations like a main entrance, and filling up classrooms. Blair is not particularly different than any other school in the area. Magnets aside, staff from every school come in from everywhere. And kids at every school are going to have parents who are health care workers or who are going into the office and interacting with others as things open up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now we get to the crux of the matter. First OP wanted us to think she was "just asking questions" about the size of Blair, but really this is about people worrying that the racial and economic diversity of Blair will be particularly problematic for their UMC snowflakes.

There's lots we don't know about covid at this point, but there's actually not a lot of evidence of children (or teens) spreading the disease. Because kids rarely get sick with it, and the whole idea of children as "superspreaders" has been debunked, there's increasing evidence to suggest school closures are among the least effective methods of disease prevention.

Moreover, where do folks think the grocery store workers, Instacart drivers, landscapers, housecleaners, nannies, and everyone else that makes their UMC life run live?

They live in multi-family dwellings. Blair (or Kennedy, or Einstein) are not any more dangerous in terms of this virus than any other school, and pretending that your family will automatically be safe if you just don't send your kid to a racially diverse school is ignoring all of the other potential vectors.

As the OP, I do not feel it is okay for others to decide my intentions. My question is about any large school, like Blair. The point is the size of the school in a county with many cases; however, even if this was a large school in another part of the country or world, the question stands. What do very large schools do?

Still unclear why Blair is an exception. Most schools in the area are at capacity or near, and I can't think of a school where kids from different families are not arriving in buses, going to central locations like a main entrance, and filling up classrooms. Blair is not particularly different than any other school in the area. Magnets aside, staff from every school come in from everywhere. And kids at every school are going to have parents who are health care workers or who are going into the office and interacting with others as things open up.

Yep. Post not about Blair as an exception. Post is about large schools. Some smaller high schools with only a few hundred schools are discussing not allowing more than half the kids in at one time. So if the number of kids in the building is an issue for a 350 student school, what does a 3800 student school do? Not about Blair in particular, just about large schools and whether that changes things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now we get to the crux of the matter. First OP wanted us to think she was "just asking questions" about the size of Blair, but really this is about people worrying that the racial and economic diversity of Blair will be particularly problematic for their UMC snowflakes.

There's lots we don't know about covid at this point, but there's actually not a lot of evidence of children (or teens) spreading the disease. Because kids rarely get sick with it, and the whole idea of children as "superspreaders" has been debunked, there's increasing evidence to suggest school closures are among the least effective methods of disease prevention.

Moreover, where do folks think the grocery store workers, Instacart drivers, landscapers, housecleaners, nannies, and everyone else that makes their UMC life run live?

They live in multi-family dwellings. Blair (or Kennedy, or Einstein) are not any more dangerous in terms of this virus than any other school, and pretending that your family will automatically be safe if you just don't send your kid to a racially diverse school is ignoring all of the other potential vectors.

As the OP, I do not feel it is okay for others to decide my intentions. My question is about any large school, like Blair. The point is the size of the school in a county with many cases; however, even if this was a large school in another part of the country or world, the question stands. What do very large schools do?

I don’t think the size of the school really matters. Every school, including the smallest elementary school, still has hundreds of kids and staff all together under one roof.

This.

My elementary school has over 800 students. Plus staff. It's crowded on a good day. And, impossible to sanitize. Plus, a large amount of kids are on FARMS, so they can't get rid of food service in the cafeteria. It would be IMPOSSIBLE to reopen in the fall.