All schools should offer an all-virtual option

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher. I’ve made my peace with going back to the classroom 5 days a week no matter how bad Covid gets because I did virtual last year and it did not work for 90% if my kids. And I teach older grades not even pre-K-2.
However if I am asked to simulcast I will quit. Simulcasting takes up so much time to prepare and it doesn’t work for either group. Finally, read the science. Covid is no worse than the flu for young kids. I have a 7 year old and I have no issues with sending her back to school. I’m more worried about crime and violence in the city impacting my child than her catching Covid. My husband and I are vaccinated. We could still catch Covid again obviously but chances are high that we will survive and be ok. We need to move on from Covid. Kids need an education otherwise they will be negatively impacted the rest of their lives

thanks teacher. simulcasting is where I am 100% aligned with WTU (and I’ve been a huge WTU critic.) It’s just not tenable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher. I’ve made my peace with going back to the classroom 5 days a week no matter how bad Covid gets because I did virtual last year and it did not work for 90% if my kids. And I teach older grades not even pre-K-2.
However if I am asked to simulcast I will quit. Simulcasting takes up so much time to prepare and it doesn’t work for either group. Finally, read the science. Covid is no worse than the flu for young kids. I have a 7 year old and I have no issues with sending her back to school. I’m more worried about crime and violence in the city impacting my child than her catching Covid. My husband and I are vaccinated. We could still catch Covid again obviously but chances are high that we will survive and be ok. We need to move on from Covid. Kids need an education otherwise they will be negatively impacted the rest of their lives

+1

I am a teacher in a very similar situation and I would quit if I have to simulcast. I have no qualms being back in person and would have done so last year if my school brought more teachers back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher. I’ve made my peace with going back to the classroom 5 days a week no matter how bad Covid gets because I did virtual last year and it did not work for 90% if my kids. And I teach older grades not even pre-K-2.
However if I am asked to simulcast I will quit. Simulcasting takes up so much time to prepare and it doesn’t work for either group. Finally, read the science. Covid is no worse than the flu for young kids. I have a 7 year old and I have no issues with sending her back to school. I’m more worried about crime and violence in the city impacting my child than her catching Covid. My husband and I are vaccinated. We could still catch Covid again obviously but chances are high that we will survive and be ok. We need to move on from Covid. Kids need an education otherwise they will be negatively impacted the rest of their lives

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ridiculous. DCPS only needs to offer/host/launch one virtual school (or better, contract with a company that does this well because that’s all they do). Want virtual? Sign your child up for that school and give up your rights to whatever in-person school you attended previously. It’s absurd to expect every individual school to divvy up its budget between inperson and virtual and expect to do it all well.

Yes - there are parents freaking out and want online school, but they have to give up that they will be connected to their specific school. That connection just makes things worse for everyone students and teachers. Maybe DC could contract with virtual Virginia to give families that option if they want it, but definitely not connected to specific DC schools.

DC won’t do an open enrollment virtual school. Too many kids did not attend virtual school last year and they won’t let parents make that choice because too many parents would choose it and use it as an excuse to not get their kids up and to school. It sounds harsh but it’s the reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ridiculous. DCPS only needs to offer/host/launch one virtual school (or better, contract with a company that does this well because that’s all they do). Want virtual? Sign your child up for that school and give up your rights to whatever in-person school you attended previously. It’s absurd to expect every individual school to divvy up its budget between inperson and virtual and expect to do it all well.

Yes - there are parents freaking out and want online school, but they have to give up that they will be connected to their specific school. That connection just makes things worse for everyone students and teachers. Maybe DC could contract with virtual Virginia to give families that option if they want it, but definitely not connected to specific DC schools.

DC won’t do an open enrollment virtual school. Too many kids did not attend virtual school last year and they won’t let parents make that choice because too many parents would choose it and use it as an excuse to not get their kids up and to school. It sounds harsh but it’s the reality.

I don’t know any state that is doing open enrollment for virtual school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ridiculous. DCPS only needs to offer/host/launch one virtual school (or better, contract with a company that does this well because that’s all they do). Want virtual? Sign your child up for that school and give up your rights to whatever in-person school you attended previously. It’s absurd to expect every individual school to divvy up its budget between inperson and virtual and expect to do it all well.

Yes - there are parents freaking out and want online school, but they have to give up that they will be connected to their specific school. That connection just makes things worse for everyone students and teachers. Maybe DC could contract with virtual Virginia to give families that option if they want it, but definitely not connected to specific DC schools.

DC won’t do an open enrollment virtual school. Too many kids did not attend virtual school last year and they won’t let parents make that choice because too many parents would choose it and use it as an excuse to not get their kids up and to school. It sounds harsh but it’s the reality.

+1

Not all parents make the best choices for their kids. And as this thread shows, that includes UMC parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ridiculous. DCPS only needs to offer/host/launch one virtual school (or better, contract with a company that does this well because that’s all they do). Want virtual? Sign your child up for that school and give up your rights to whatever in-person school you attended previously. It’s absurd to expect every individual school to divvy up its budget between inperson and virtual and expect to do it all well.

Yes - there are parents freaking out and want online school, but they have to give up that they will be connected to their specific school. That connection just makes things worse for everyone students and teachers. Maybe DC could contract with virtual Virginia to give families that option if they want it, but definitely not connected to specific DC schools.

DC won’t do an open enrollment virtual school. Too many kids did not attend virtual school last year and they won’t let parents make that choice because too many parents would choose it and use it as an excuse to not get their kids up and to school. It sounds harsh but it’s the reality.

+1

Not all parents make the best choices for their kids. And as this thread shows, that includes UMC parents.

Oh you mean the ones who don’t care if their child gets COVID? Agreed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ridiculous. DCPS only needs to offer/host/launch one virtual school (or better, contract with a company that does this well because that’s all they do). Want virtual? Sign your child up for that school and give up your rights to whatever in-person school you attended previously. It’s absurd to expect every individual school to divvy up its budget between inperson and virtual and expect to do it all well.

Yes - there are parents freaking out and want online school, but they have to give up that they will be connected to their specific school. That connection just makes things worse for everyone students and teachers. Maybe DC could contract with virtual Virginia to give families that option if they want it, but definitely not connected to specific DC schools.

DC won’t do an open enrollment virtual school. Too many kids did not attend virtual school last year and they won’t let parents make that choice because too many parents would choose it and use it as an excuse to not get their kids up and to school. It sounds harsh but it’s the reality.

I don’t know any state that is doing open enrollment for virtual school.

ACPS in VIrginia - students can choose virtual and they will be doing Virtual Virginia. (I think they had about 1000 students sign up but dont quote me on that.)

https://www.acps.k12.va.us/Page/3694

[Anonymous]

https://www.houstonpress.com/news/at-texas-childrens-some-kids-with-covid-need-ventilators-11610665

https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/atlanta-school-quarantines-more-than-100-students-in-first-week-of-classes/C36L5A6RUJCQFLSS3JLU4LDBXE/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.houstonpress.com/news/at-texas-childrens-some-kids-with-covid-need-ventilators-11610665

https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/atlanta-school-quarantines-more-than-100-students-in-first-week-of-classes/C36L5A6RUJCQFLSS3JLU4LDBXE/

Edited to add:
This is what concerns me:

"Out of all the kids who show up to Texas Children’s concerned they may have COVID-19, “Currently, roughly 10 percent of those children who test positive do require hospitalization,” said Dr. Jim Versalovic, Pathologist-in-Chief and Interim Pediatrician-in-Chief at Texas Children’s Hospital, “and roughly one-third of those may require critical care.”

Among those children who need critical care, “some have required ventilator support,” Versalovic told the Houston Press. “We have seen severe cases of COVID pneumonia and acute respiratory distress in children. And we certainly have used ventilators when appropriate, selectively.” "

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.houstonpress.com/news/at-texas-childrens-some-kids-with-covid-need-ventilators-11610665

https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/atlanta-school-quarantines-more-than-100-students-in-first-week-of-classes/C36L5A6RUJCQFLSS3JLU4LDBXE/

Thank you!
I have a draft post with reports on pediatric hospitalizations in 5 or 6 states, but am exhausted just thinking about the drama thread that would turn into.

Your Atlanta link is super interesting!

An Atlanta charter school will quarantine more than 100 students after two students and two employees tested positive for COVID-19 in the first week of classes.

In the days leading up to the first day of school, Drew tested more than 1,900 students and staff. That resulted in catching three additional positive cases among students before they entered campus, and two more staff cases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher. I’ve made my peace with going back to the classroom 5 days a week no matter how bad Covid gets because I did virtual last year and it did not work for 90% if my kids. And I teach older grades not even pre-K-2.
However if I am asked to simulcast I will quit. Simulcasting takes up so much time to prepare and it doesn’t work for either group. Finally, read the science. Covid is no worse than the flu for young kids. I have a 7 year old and I have no issues with sending her back to school. I’m more worried about crime and violence in the city impacting my child than her catching Covid. My husband and I are vaccinated. We could still catch Covid again obviously but chances are high that we will survive and be ok. We need to move on from Covid. Kids need an education otherwise they will be negatively impacted the rest of their lives

+1

I am a teacher in a very similar situation and I would quit if I have to simulcast. I have no qualms being back in person and would have done so last year if my school brought more teachers back.

Me too, I will start the year expecting full time, 5 days all year because I've made the commitment but will have no reservations about quitting if we go to simulcasting. I did it for about 6 weeks, it was worse than distance learning.

[Anonymous]

I'm sort of amazed that there are this many teachers who have the financial flexibility to just quit their jobs. Are all the teachers who post here just married to very wealthy spouses?

At any rate, I don't begrudge you quitting a job that in intolerable. I have teacher friends in other states that did concurrent last year and talked about how awful, stressful, unfulfilling, time-consuming, and ultimately not productive for education it was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.houstonpress.com/news/at-texas-childrens-some-kids-with-covid-need-ventilators-11610665

https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/atlanta-school-quarantines-more-than-100-students-in-first-week-of-classes/C36L5A6RUJCQFLSS3JLU4LDBXE/

Edited to add:
This is what concerns me:

"Out of all the kids who show up to Texas Children’s concerned they may have COVID-19, “Currently, roughly 10 percent of those children who test positive do require hospitalization,” said Dr. Jim Versalovic, Pathologist-in-Chief and Interim Pediatrician-in-Chief at Texas Children’s Hospital, “and roughly one-third of those may require critical care.”

Among those children who need critical care, “some have required ventilator support,” Versalovic told the Houston Press. “We have seen severe cases of COVID pneumonia and acute respiratory distress in children. And we certainly have used ventilators when appropriate, selectively.” "

Almost all of these kids are medically complicated. Look at the literature. You're talking about kids with tracheas, g-tubes, currently in cancer treatment, etc. And, even then, the death rate is vanishingly low. One single kid in TX (ONE) died of MIS-C; that's actually fewer kids than died form MIS-C NOT associated with COVID. It's fewer kids than died from winter storms in Texas last year. All of this is readily confirmable at :https://www.dshs.texas.gov/. The hysteria is not helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.houstonpress.com/news/at-texas-childrens-some-kids-with-covid-need-ventilators-11610665

https://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta-news/atlanta-school-quarantines-more-than-100-students-in-first-week-of-classes/C36L5A6RUJCQFLSS3JLU4LDBXE/

Thank you!
I have a draft post with reports on pediatric hospitalizations in 5 or 6 states, but am exhausted just thinking about the drama thread that would turn into.

Your Atlanta link is super interesting!

An Atlanta charter school will quarantine more than 100 students after two students and two employees tested positive for COVID-19 in the first week of classes.

In the days leading up to the first day of school, Drew tested more than 1,900 students and staff. That resulted in catching three additional positive cases among students before they entered campus, and two more staff cases.

And no word on whether any of those 100 quarantined students actually were infected by those four? That would be the important information.