MCPS will now send kids home for ten days based on symptoms only

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why won’t the Health Department take responsibility for the directive? Is it possible Dr. McKnight misinterpreted their guidance? And why not communicate to the public what is going on? When you start quarantining 1000 kids overnight with no warning or explanation, and yoU have different principals sending different notes out and interpreting the advice differently, you absolutely erode any grace the public might have given you if you were transparent. Also, why not do rapid testing? Why not push back against the health department, corral some support from parents if needed. Something doesn’t compute here.

Sounds like the Dept of health is following best practices and doing its job.

It certainly was following best practices when it accepted Gayles' resignation. Let's hope that his replacement is at least halfway competent, which would be a huge step up, in this area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why won’t the Health Department take responsibility for the directive? Is it possible Dr. McKnight misinterpreted their guidance? And why not communicate to the public what is going on? When you start quarantining 1000 kids overnight with no warning or explanation, and yoU have different principals sending different notes out and interpreting the advice differently, you absolutely erode any grace the public might have given you if you were transparent. Also, why not do rapid testing? Why not push back against the health department, corral some support from parents if needed. Something doesn’t compute here.

Because Dr. Gayles is on his way out. This is his middle finger as he leaves. Once he's gone I bet this won't even be an issue anymore. Rapid tests should be done, by the health room nurse or tech, which again is under DHHS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ this just happened to us

And did you force the rest of the class into quarantine or get your kid tested?

Ridiculous question. Nobody is forcing a class to quarantine. Tested and false alarm

At our school, multiple full classes are currently in quarantine based on one student exhibiting one symptom.

Which school?

Every single school. No principal, teacher, superintendent is making health decisions. The Department of Health and by extension the nurses and health techs in the school make all of these decisions.

They're implementing Superintendent McKnight's policy once symptoms are identified by the teacher. There isn't much for the nurses to do once it gets to them.

What makes you think that is Dr. McKnights policy? The community message I received said at the direction of the Department of Health.

Because it was the Superintendent's decision. She got advice from Gayles, but it was her decision whether to follow the CDC or go with Gayles. She chose Gayles.

I know people don't understand things but the CDC says the same thing Gayles says. Call them
and ask they have a hotline. And I doubt any school district is going to go against the recommendation of their county health officer.

Our county health officer didn’t let our schools open last year, remember?

Right that's my point, direct the outrage towards the health department not the school system
That is just following what they were told.

MCPS doesn’t have to listen to Gayles. They should know better by now. It’s a big enough district that it could have hired its own consultant by now. The school board even brought this up after it was clear Gayles was a nut job.

[Anonymous]

Rules are being set by the Montgomery DHHSHowever the Montgomery Council acts as the Board of Health and approves major policies and / or review Policies / procedures.

People should also be directing issues to their council members in their district and at large members. I have noticed that it is now hitting their social media space - questions around why this policy is more extreme than CDC recommendations, transparency, difficulty in relying on individual to be tested, availability or funds for testing in these situations etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rules are being set by the Montgomery DHHSHowever the Montgomery Council acts as the Board of Health and approves major policies and / or review Policies / procedures.

People should also be directing issues to their council members in their district and at large members. I have noticed that it is now hitting their social media space - questions around why this policy is more extreme than CDC recommendations, transparency, difficulty in relying on individual to be tested, availability or funds for testing in these situations etc.

The county hasn’t attempted to assert authority ever since the Gayles/Hogan fight, and the subsequent executive order removing the ability of counties to close schools.

This was not done by the Board of Health or an order from Gayles. Gayles provided it as guidance to MCPS, and McKnight adopted it under her authority as acting Superintendent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What happens in winter when more kids have a bit coughing and stuffy nose /runny nose?

A bit of coughing and stuffy nose aren’t on the list. Persistent coughing will mean you need to test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happens in winter when more kids have a bit coughing and stuffy nose /runny nose?

A bit of coughing and stuffy nose aren’t on the list. Persistent coughing will mean you need to test.

But this the problem. Everybody with decision making authority will say "I don't know...could be anything I guess", and there goes the whole class until that kid proves otherwise. It's impossible to overstate how ridiculous this policy is. They don't have a single peer on this. The only hope is that MCPS quickly ends up looking like the leadership clowns they are, outrage crescendos, and the BOE demands action. That's not much hope, but that's the only hope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^ this just happened to us

And did you force the rest of the class into quarantine or get your kid tested?

Ridiculous question. Nobody is forcing a class to quarantine. Tested and false alarm

At our school, multiple full classes are currently in quarantine based on one student exhibiting one symptom.

Which school?

Rosemary Hills

The student did not test over the weekend?

There are a few students and we have no idea — nobody will answer questions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happens in winter when more kids have a bit coughing and stuffy nose /runny nose?

A bit of coughing and stuffy nose aren’t on the list. Persistent coughing will mean you need to test.

No - the list doesn’t say “a lot of coughing” - any cough counts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reopening groups wanted to open at any cost, no matter what, well, this is the price you have to pay for that.

Unfortunately, the reopening crowd is stuck with the MCPS band of idiots. They could look north, south, east, or west and just copy/paste more sensible policy. Covid is never going away. MCPS has simply decided that they’d like to be an inferior educational district going forward.

MCPS has always been pretty bad but many parents don't bother paying attention to what's going on and just leave the education up to the kids and schools. You wanted it open, you refuse to help get covid under control so stop complaining. We COULD get this under control with behavior and vaccines but with only vaccines and selfish people it is never going away. Its sad how many parents don't care about their kids health as their needs are more important - really, you can skip a vacation or two or stop dining in or large group socializing. Lots of ways to get this under control but we don't have effective leadership or people who care about the community good.

Enjoy covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why won’t the Health Department take responsibility for the directive? Is it possible Dr. McKnight misinterpreted their guidance? And why not communicate to the public what is going on? When you start quarantining 1000 kids overnight with no warning or explanation, and yoU have different principals sending different notes out and interpreting the advice differently, you absolutely erode any grace the public might have given you if you were transparent. Also, why not do rapid testing? Why not push back against the health department, corral some support from parents if needed. Something doesn’t compute here.

Because Dr. Gayles is on his way out. This is his middle finger as he leaves. Once he's gone I bet this won't even be an issue anymore. Rapid tests should be done, by the health room nurse or tech, which again is under DHHS.

Rapid tests aren’t as reliable as PCR

[Anonymous]

Y’all just cannot tolerate it when Black people make decisions. This is ROTFLMAO funny to watch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why won’t the Health Department take responsibility for the directive? Is it possible Dr. McKnight misinterpreted their guidance? And why not communicate to the public what is going on? When you start quarantining 1000 kids overnight with no warning or explanation, and yoU have different principals sending different notes out and interpreting the advice differently, you absolutely erode any grace the public might have given you if you were transparent. Also, why not do rapid testing? Why not push back against the health department, corral some support from parents if needed. Something doesn’t compute here.

Because Dr. Gayles is on his way out. This is his middle finger as he leaves. Once he's gone I bet this won't even be an issue anymore. Rapid tests should be done, by the health room nurse or tech, which again is under DHHS.

Rapid tests aren’t as reliable as PCR

MCPS will NOT be testing so you can discuss it all you want but politics dictates we keep schools open and a major way to do that is no or little testing. If you kids get covid, don't complain. You wanted schools open, they are so stop complaining and find something new to complain about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why won’t the Health Department take responsibility for the directive? Is it possible Dr. McKnight misinterpreted their guidance? And why not communicate to the public what is going on? When you start quarantining 1000 kids overnight with no warning or explanation, and yoU have different principals sending different notes out and interpreting the advice differently, you absolutely erode any grace the public might have given you if you were transparent. Also, why not do rapid testing? Why not push back against the health department, corral some support from parents if needed. Something doesn’t compute here.

Because Dr. Gayles is on his way out. This is his middle finger as he leaves. Once he's gone I bet this won't even be an issue anymore. Rapid tests should be done, by the health room nurse or tech, which again is under DHHS.

Rapid tests aren’t as reliable as PCR

So? It should be about finding the right balance practical procedures that allows us to keep kids in school while managing risk. The speed and cost of the antigen tests are a substantial advantage over PCRs. And they’re reasonably good at catching infectious cases, when the viral loads are higher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why won’t the Health Department take responsibility for the directive? Is it possible Dr. McKnight misinterpreted their guidance? And why not communicate to the public what is going on? When you start quarantining 1000 kids overnight with no warning or explanation, and yoU have different principals sending different notes out and interpreting the advice differently, you absolutely erode any grace the public might have given you if you were transparent. Also, why not do rapid testing? Why not push back against the health department, corral some support from parents if needed. Something doesn’t compute here.

Because Dr. Gayles is on his way out. This is his middle finger as he leaves. Once he's gone I bet this won't even be an issue anymore. Rapid tests should be done, by the health room nurse or tech, which again is under DHHS.

Rapid tests aren’t as reliable as PCR

MCPS will NOT be testing so you can discuss it all you want but politics dictates we keep schools open and a major way to do that is no or little testing. If you kids get covid, don't complain. You wanted schools open, they are so stop complaining and find something new to complain about.

Self-report is the new testing