How come other states can make it work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister lives in CT. Schools have been open for hybrid since the fall. Of course, they've also been intermittently closed, re-opened, and closed again since fall.

My hometown in CT has been doing hybrid for middle and high school since the fall and half days everyday for elementary. They are now starting plans to fully open back up. It has been very successful. They take COVID seriously but also want kids to learn.

Does your home town CT ES schools have close to 1000 students like here? I grew up in NE and our schools were by towns or small county's.

I have kids at two different FCPS schools, neither has 1000 students. More like 600-700.

I teach at an ES that was just shy of 1000 students last year.

I’m not sure what difference it makes whether a school has 200, 500 or 1000 students. With a hybrid model the individual class sizes will be similar. Even with students all in the structure size corresponds to the number of students. Capacity is capacity no matter the size of the population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Findings ways to get kids in school should be the default liberal position. That's why deblasio prioritized it and I have a lot of respect for him. In this country covid has become insanely politicized by the right and left to the point to the point where it is hurting children and families. There is a group of people, some of them on the school board, for whom return to school is impossible until covid is eliminated. Every news headline about a new variant, transmission with the vaccine, etc. will be a reason to keep schools closed. covid will be treated as a near certain lethal threat to everyone, including children and their 20/30-something parents. Guess what? covid will never be eliminated so we have to find a way to move forward other than sitting on hands. covid is not a one time event and we need to stop treating it that way. The current position is untenable. Scientists say once teachers are vaccinated students can return to school.

I agree with this. The democrats refusing to do in person school is really widening the education gap.

[Anonymous]

"I think the problem is larger districts have a harder time finding a solution. "

+1
unless you're in the super R areas where they just don't care, i think the overwhelming factor is the size of the urban/suburban districts in the areas that remain closed and the different logistics/oversight/scaleability in big districts vs normal size ones. I would be curious to see the % of small districts that are in Dem counties (like throughout NE) that are open - I bet the vast majority area.

[Anonymous]

Also suburban districts are open on a hybrid model where urban schools are fully closed (not true in the DC area I know). But in the Philly and Boston suburbs, this is the case.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They didn’t make it work. They accepted schools rotating constantly in and out of remote and in person, staff and students constantly quarantining, increased viral spread. Teachers have died, oh well. If you’re interesting, rent a house in Tennessee for 2nd semester and enroll your kids.

This. Happened in CO, OH, IN, CA, and other places.

Yes. With a virus with a 99.99% survival rate..some people still get sick and die. Teachers would have died whether they were working, or not. Grocery store clerks died. Nurses died. Postal workers died.

I don't believe that survival rate is accurate. Further, you don't get to decide the risk tolerance for teachers. You just don't.

Grocery store clerks, postal workers, nurses . . . yes, they died. They should not have but people could not be bothered (collectively) to think beyond their own wants and THOSE PEOPLE caused those deaths. Further, teachers are not essential in the same way. They do not need to be onsite to teach, all the bitching and whining to the contrary. There are certainly failings in DL, and I have some complaints, but that is not due to teachers but how the district has implemented in (FCPS).

You are very naive to think all deaths could have been prevented. What exactly did the selfish people do to cause the deaths of grocery store clerks, postal workers, and nurses? Buy food for their families?

I didn't say ALL deaths. And people have to eat. But they don't need to vacation, go out to eat, host picnics and pool parties, go to wineries and breweries, and on and on. That's how things spread. That's how the numbers got out of control, putting other peoples' lives at risks. Do you understand how viruses work? That's pretty standard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you name one of these mythical states where things opened up and community spread didn’t get out of control? It would be easier to sort out why this this is happening with a specific example, but no one ever gives one.

I am from NY and have friends in NY, NJ and CT and all have kids in school.

I am from Long Island and kids have been going back 5 days per week.

And all of those have been in and out of school and quarantine. Bus drivers and teachers have died.

[Anonymous]

"host picnics and pool parties, go to wineries and breweries, and on and on. That's how things spread."

come on. People are not getting Covid en mass from going to these outdoor things. They are getting it from indoor occassions and then spreading it to friends/family that mostly keep socializing indoors because they think the people they are socializing indoors with are safe. If everyone ONLY did outdoors socializing (including friends/family not living in your house), numbers would be far lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister lives in CT. Schools have been open for hybrid since the fall. Of course, they've also been intermittently closed, re-opened, and closed again since fall.

My hometown in CT has been doing hybrid for middle and high school since the fall and half days everyday for elementary. They are now starting plans to fully open back up. It has been very successful. They take COVID seriously but also want kids to learn.

Does your home town CT ES schools have close to 1000 students like here? I grew up in NE and our schools were by towns or small county's.

I have kids at two different FCPS schools, neither has 1000 students. More like 600-700.

Im in a pyramid where all ES are closer to 1000. This year are school which did tip 1000 a few years ago dropped to 800’s over the first two semesters(homeschooling and those that went private/moved) even so most of my friends in MA and CT have ES schools in the 300’s or less. Because everything is by town. They are not all 5 days a week. The ones that are a split half days. Others are hybrid with Wednesdays as asynchronous cleaning days. Friends have said the numbers are a major reason why their schools could do this. Bigger buildings with fewer kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can you name one of these mythical states where things opened up and community spread didn’t get out of control? It would be easier to sort out why this this is happening with a specific example, but no one ever gives one.

Sure. Connecticut. It's also a blue state. And that's why Biden chose their education secretary to be his.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They didn’t make it work. They accepted schools rotating constantly in and out of remote and in person, staff and students constantly quarantining, increased viral spread. Teachers have died, oh well. If you’re interesting, rent a house in Tennessee for 2nd semester and enroll your kids.

+1. I am perplexed by these places making it work. My family in TX, FL, and TN are in our of of school on a regular basis or randomly quarantining and teachers have died. Also, FCPS isn't the only place closed. My friends in NJ have not been to school since March. They were supposed to return last week and the teachers didn't show. So, school is still closed. We're not alone in not being open and those who are open are complaining left and right (teachers and parents) about the back and forth.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can you name one of these mythical states where things opened up and community spread didn’t get out of control? It would be easier to sort out why this this is happening with a specific example, but no one ever gives one.

I am from NY and have friends in NY, NJ and CT and all have kids in school.

I am from Long Island and kids have been going back 5 days per week.

I have friends in NY and NJ who have not been to school since March (everyone not just a choice by my friends' family). Being open or closed is not statewide. Just like schools in VA are open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fairfax is a terrible school system and has been for years, and all of you who buried your heads in the sand about it are finally having your eyes opened. If you think this is bad, imagine how little your kids have been learning when compared to kids in other states. The system has failed you and the only solution is to move, but I doubt any of you will have the courage or care for your kids to do so.

I'm happy with FCPS. My kids are doing fine in DL. I'm not going anywhere. My college kids have been home too and just went back for the first time this school year after Christmas. I'm ok with that too. My kids are smart and highly motivated and will succeed in pretty much any given situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. A bit of the fact that VA laid this all on individual SBs to make the decisions; I think in NY for instance the state had state-wide metrics that dictated whether you should open or close that varied according to certain factors. That was helpful in shifting the decision more up to the state level vs. SB members really unqualified to decide.

2. We have huge school systems. The other NE dem states that have re-opened tend to have very small/local school districts in most cases. There is just frankly no confidence - and rightly so - that FCPS can and more importantly WILL take the steps that health officials say are needed to actually open safely. Dr. Gloria during meetings would keep saying "yes, you can open relatively safely, you just need to ....[do 5 different things that everyone knows are not going to reliably happen in real life]"

I think #2 is the biggest reason our teachers have fought this so hard (many not all) - because they see in real life how what is said on paper does not ever match what happens in practice and how the schools have been stripped of any real enforcement authority to make the thing on paper happen.

#2 is correct. I'm from Fairfield County, CT and my hometown of about 20k people is its own school district. They have strong unions in CT. And yes they're fully in person, I just checked.

All the union bashing on this board this past year has me wondering if there are a few people with an anti-labor agenda just spamming this everywhere. Unions are important!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that it’s politics, sadly. Urban centers or democratic suburban school districts are closed because of politics. I am 100% democrat myself, so I’m not knocking Democrats. But it’s clear the anxiety is THROUGH THE ROOF. I have never seen so much unchecked anxiety. It is parallel to the anxiety & immense distrust the far-right has had about mainstream media. The distrust & fear of returning to school is impossible to stop. It’s an enormous boulder running down a hill.

I'm originally from a very blue suburb of NYC and my hometown's schools have been open for ages.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister lives in CT. Schools have been open for hybrid since the fall. Of course, they've also been intermittently closed, re-opened, and closed again since fall.

My hometown in CT has been doing hybrid for middle and high school since the fall and half days everyday for elementary. They are now starting plans to fully open back up. It has been very successful. They take COVID seriously but also want kids to learn.

Does your home town CT ES schools have close to 1000 students like here? I grew up in NE and our schools were by towns or small county's.

Different CT poster. My hometown has been all in person for a while and each ES is K-4 and has about 600 students.