so let's say kids/teachers in the fall come down with positive tests, what to do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FWIW I think the Cathedral schools shut immediately when it was learned a member of the National Cathedral staff was a positive case (this was before the citywide shutdown). The kids don't necessarily interact with the Cathedral staff, but it was close enough to warrant an emergency shutdown.

I would suspect the same if a kid or teacher was positive.

So you're saying our schools will be open for approximately a week until we have mass vaccination?

[Anonymous]

I think there's zero percent chance schools will be closed this fall.

If they are, that means businesses will be closed too. And if businesses are still closed in September, then we are headed for another Great Depression.

Few businesses can survive six months with essentially no customers. And the government does not have the resources to prop up millions of businesses will months on end. Which means we will have cascading bankruptcies and most people will lose their jobs.

That's not going to happen. Businesses will reopen, and so will schools and, I predict, everyone will just learn to live with coronavirus. There won't be a vaccine in six months, probably, but I bet there will be treatments by then that will help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hopefully DCPS will do a better job than in March, when they basically left it up to parents to tell whomever they felt like telling.

Although I don't believe the flu comparison is correct, I don't see this going down much differently than a bad flu season at elementary schools. The focus will be on instructing symptomatic kids to stay home until fever resolves (maybe 3-7 days after no fever). The biggest disruption will be all the staff and teachers that get seriously ill/dies. That's what I am dreading -- so many of the amazing teachers & staff at our school are vulnerable.

What are you talking about? How could have DCPS done it any differently? "they basically left it up to parents to tell whomever they felt like telling"? I don't get it.

They should have informed everyone in the child's class, obviously. It's concerning you're even asking this question. Contact tracing means everyone who had sustained contact with the positive gets informed.

It's concerning that you think you are writing/communicating clearly. Still don't understand your point but....ok?

Ok, let me explain again. A child in my child's grade tested positive while school was still in session. Apparently on the advice of the DC health department, DCPS did NOT inform all the children in the class. Those children were all close contacts of the positive case, and should have been informed, per contact tracing requirements. Instead, the parent just decided to tell whomever she deemed she wanted to tell. Unless/until DCPS and the Health Dept provide coherent information on how they are going to address this situation in the future, I have very little confidence in reopening.

This happened in my classroom with a different communicable disease (think previously/typically vaccine eliminated.....) and the school nurse etc. was adamant that they don’t have to inform anyone unless it’s “3 or more students from the same classroom”..... the policies around excluding kids from the classroom (such as requiring a doctor’s note to return), when a kid needs to be picked up, and definitely when other families need to be informed are so vague and I really hope this is clarified before we return.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there's zero percent chance schools will be closed this fall.

If they are, that means businesses will be closed too. And if businesses are still closed in September, then we are headed for another Great Depression.

Few businesses can survive six months with essentially no customers. And the government does not have the resources to prop up millions of businesses will months on end. Which means we will have cascading bankruptcies and most people will lose their jobs.

That's not going to happen. Businesses will reopen, and so will schools and, I predict, everyone will just learn to live with coronavirus. There won't be a vaccine in six months, probably, but I bet there will be treatments by then that will help.

We are going to be in a Great Depression no matter what. The next 5-10 years are going to be hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there's zero percent chance schools will be closed this fall.

If they are, that means businesses will be closed too. And if businesses are still closed in September, then we are headed for another Great Depression.

Few businesses can survive six months with essentially no customers. And the government does not have the resources to prop up millions of businesses will months on end. Which means we will have cascading bankruptcies and most people will lose their jobs.

That's not going to happen. Businesses will reopen, and so will schools and, I predict, everyone will just learn to live with coronavirus. There won't be a vaccine in six months, probably, but I bet there will be treatments by then that will help.

100% agree. I'm not saying it's the RIGHT call (is there even a "right" call at this point?), but this is the most likely scenario.

[Anonymous]

Yeah I think just like we've somehow gotten used to frequent mass shootings and people going bankrupt due to medical bills (things that happen literally nowhere else in the developed world) because a small group of influential people decided their "freedom" and profits were more important than people being healthy or even alive, we're just going to reopen.

A lot of people will die--like 9/11 every day for months and months. Some people will be sad about it. Some people will make a profit off of it or come up with economic reasons why it's justified. Some people will have the resources to keep sheltering in place.

I bet a lot fewer kids show up to DCPSs in Ward 3 next fall than show up in Ward 8. What will be interesting is whether the families that choose not to go will formally withdraw their kids and homeschool (I'd think they'd have to). Then the WOTP schools may have incentives to draw from their waitlists to keep per-pupil funding from declining. This could lead to some increased diversity at the schools that usually are nearly all IB....and absolutely massive overcrowding when the IB families decide to come back.

[Anonymous]

I don’t know anyone who is not praying that schools open on time in the fall. How do you think all these kids you say will be withdrawn are going to get educated?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think there's zero percent chance schools will be closed this fall.

If they are, that means businesses will be closed too. And if businesses are still closed in September, then we are headed for another Great Depression.

Few businesses can survive six months with essentially no customers. And the government does not have the resources to prop up millions of businesses will months on end. Which means we will have cascading bankruptcies and most people will lose their jobs.

That's not going to happen. Businesses will reopen, and so will schools and, I predict, everyone will just learn to live with coronavirus. There won't be a vaccine in six months, probably, but I bet there will be treatments by then that will help.

Sept 1st - 10% chance of closure.
Oct 15 - 40% chance (if cases start to rise)
Dec 1 - 60% chance of closing early for holidays if cases everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know anyone who is not praying that schools open on time in the fall. How do you think all these kids you say will be withdrawn are going to get educated?

I don’t want schools to open in the fall. I’ve been homeschooling my kids while doing distance teaching and it’s working out. I’d prefer we be safe and healthy than do what people want for the wrong reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW I think the Cathedral schools shut immediately when it was learned a member of the National Cathedral staff was a positive case (this was before the citywide shutdown). The kids don't necessarily interact with the Cathedral staff, but it was close enough to warrant an emergency shutdown.

I would suspect the same if a kid or teacher was positive.

So you're saying our schools will be open for approximately a week until we have mass vaccination?

Depends on the Summer, but I think we will be back in lockdown for a part of the Fall and Winter most definitely, barring a SARS-like miracle disappearance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know anyone who is not praying that schools open on time in the fall. How do you think all these kids you say will be withdrawn are going to get educated?

Rich kids will be homeschooled by stay-at-home parents (possibly by telecommuting) or with Zoom tutors. I think homeschool co-ops and remote microschools will become a thing, and some people will hire a governess. If you were a teacher who could make $40k teaching 24 kids and having to deal with germs, IEPs, and bureaucracy, you might prefer to find 3 families each willing to pay $1000/month for remote learning even if it involved a reduction in pay. If you could find 4 families with kids on the same grade level, you might not even lose much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t know anyone who is not praying that schools open on time in the fall. How do you think all these kids you say will be withdrawn are going to get educated?

Rich kids will be homeschooled by stay-at-home parents (possibly by telecommuting) or with Zoom tutors. I think homeschool co-ops and remote microschools will become a thing, and some people will hire a governess. If you were a teacher who could make $40k teaching 24 kids and having to deal with germs, IEPs, and bureaucracy, you might prefer to find 3 families each willing to pay $1000/month for remote learning even if it involved a reduction in pay. If you could find 4 families with kids on the same grade level, you might not even lose much.

The rick kids you speak of go to private school. This will happen with very few DCPS families. Even in the wealthier areas, the families who send their kids to public school are mostly two working parents.

[Anonymous]

Why is it every time someone asks what they think we should do in the fall this because a hateful and rude conversation about people’s personal lives?

This is about the country as a whole, not just your family. I’m not sure why that’s hard to understand...

I think the best solution will be to rotate when we have class in person, like a hybrid class some universities do.

The class sizes need to be smaller, regardless if little Johnny and Suzy have a low chance of getting covid-19 and dying.

Your child will be around adults who are at risk, who are not hospital workers, or essential. Food, clothing, shelter. Childcare is not an overall essential, even if in some families it is. I’m talking about the whole picture.

Also I’d like to clear up that many Americans are actually at risk, being overweight, having diabetes, etc. is a great factor in whether you survive. Simply not having a ‘weak immune system’ in no way means one is safe.

As a teacher and a mom I understand this is really hard. Honestly I’d rather teach my kiddos in person but I also know I need to look at reality and I shouldn’t be so selfish. We all only have this life, it’s not fair to expect people to risk their lives if that was never a high risk, this includes grocers. I hope other stores can take a look at Whole Foods and try to shut down more stores and deliver. Or greatly limit the number of people and make sure they have to have a mask.

I think as Americans we often forget how blessed we are and sometimes that makes us entitled. I hope now with this event our country can actually become better.

[Anonymous]

becomes*

[Anonymous]

New York is starting to see large clusters of COVID kids admitted to ICU on Long Island. Pray this thing doesn't start to attack kids or there is a 0% chance that school reopens next year.