Call to Action: Help create a safe learning environment for medically fragile students

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It really is a critical time for their social development. Imagine if you were in OP’s shoes and had to hear so many people telling you that the best solution is to keep an “eager student” at home.

And at the same time - isn’t empathy and compassion an important part of social development? Kids want to help others, and they understand more than we give them credit for. If it’s approached as “here is this thing we can do to protect a friend in our community” and they make it part of the daily routine and make it fun with little songs, etc, like we do with hand washing and listening, it could work and not be traumatic.

That doesn't change the fact that masks obscure people's faces and studies have clearly shown that affects children's ability to interpret emotions.

I sympathize with OP and her child. I think it's a really tough situation. But other people's children matter too, so there needs to be a very clear, dramatic benefit to masking 5 year olds. Compassion and empathy extend to everyone. I am not convinced there is one.

There are studies showing that kids learn fine with masks. Brains are plastic and plasticity is highest at younger ages. How do you suppose blind people learn to speak and socialize?

And kids are generally awesome. If you asked your kid if they would mind wearing a mask at school *to protect a vulnerable classmate* so that classmate could also be at school to learn and play with them, what do you think he might say?

I’m stuck by the comment that “compassion and empathy extend to everyone.” Does it? Or only to those who don’t need anything? Compassion literally means “to suffer together.” I imagine OP’s kiddo doesn’t t like masking either, but it sounds like it’s necessary for her safe access to society right now.

I would happily ask my kid to mask in a classroom with OP’s kid. I would enjoy the reduced illnesses and relish the opportunity to show my kid what love and compassion really look like.

If you don’t share that perspective, then ok, but why try to shut it down for them? Why not just ask for your kid to be in a different classroom?

I will send an email expressing support for better avenues to bring vulnerable kids in-person.

The OP seems to believe that universal masking is necessary to provide a "safe" environment, but there is no reason to believe that is factually correct. Besides a lack of evidence regarding mask efficacy, most young kids (and adults, for that matter) do not keep high quality masks on appropriately for extended periods of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It doesn’t sound horrible, it sounds ridiculous. “DEVASTATED.” You have trauma from
this. You should deal with that trauma instead of pointing it at other people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

Yup my kids spent a couple years masked at daycare and kindergarten and it was all cost and no benefit at that age. Asking that age group to mask was one of the stupidest decisions during the pandemic. My family in Europe was aghast, masking young kids was never a thing there.

Plus have any of you been in an elementary school classroom lately? My kids school is relatively new and supposedly has good ventilation but it’s still stuffy, particularly since the policy is to keep the classroom doors closed. Seems like OP would need a dedicated building for her cohort idea.

If your kiddo’s room is stuffy, it sounds like you might want to submit a complaint to the IAQ team. They are supposed to be achieving 4-6 air changes per hour.

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/facilities/default/674569/

DP. The facilities dept does nothing to ensure it’s reaching this goal, and/or will not share the results of post-testing when they have modified systems to try to achieve it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It doesn’t sound horrible, it sounds ridiculous. “DEVASTATED.” You have trauma from
this. You should deal with that trauma instead of pointing it at other people.

DP. I wouldn't use the term "devastated", but I'd be angry, concerned, and frustrated if my child ended up in a classroom there they tried to institute a masking requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It doesn’t sound horrible, it sounds ridiculous. “DEVASTATED.” You have trauma from
this. You should deal with that trauma instead of pointing it at other people.

DP. I wouldn't use the term "devastated", but I'd be angry, concerned, and frustrated if my child ended up in a classroom there they tried to institute a masking requirement.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It doesn’t sound horrible, it sounds ridiculous. “DEVASTATED.” You have trauma from
this. You should deal with that trauma instead of pointing it at other people.

DP. I wouldn't use the term "devastated", but I'd be angry, concerned, and frustrated if my child ended up in a classroom there they tried to institute a masking requirement.

OP isn't asking for anyone's kid to "end up" in a classroom with a mask requirement. She's asking that the county identify a group of children who have documented medical reasons to mask, and whose parents choose to have them wear masks consistently, and to place those kids in the same classroom, presumably including allowing kids to transfer schools to make this happen.

Kids frequently transfer schools for disability related reasons. This would be one more reason a child might transfer schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It doesn’t sound horrible, it sounds ridiculous. “DEVASTATED.” You have trauma from
this. You should deal with that trauma instead of pointing it at other people.

DP. I wouldn't use the term "devastated", but I'd be angry, concerned, and frustrated if my child ended up in a classroom there they tried to institute a masking requirement.

OP isn't asking for anyone's kid to "end up" in a classroom with a mask requirement. She's asking that the county identify a group of children who have documented medical reasons to mask, and whose parents choose to have them wear masks consistently, and to place those kids in the same classroom, presumably including allowing kids to transfer schools to make this happen.

Kids frequently transfer schools for disability related reasons. This would be one more reason a child might transfer schools.

Like the County has resources for this!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It doesn’t sound horrible, it sounds ridiculous. “DEVASTATED.” You have trauma from
this. You should deal with that trauma instead of pointing it at other people.

DP. I wouldn't use the term "devastated", but I'd be angry, concerned, and frustrated if my child ended up in a classroom there they tried to institute a masking requirement.

OP isn't asking for anyone's kid to "end up" in a classroom with a mask requirement. She's asking that the county identify a group of children who have documented medical reasons to mask, and whose parents choose to have them wear masks consistently, and to place those kids in the same classroom, presumably including allowing kids to transfer schools to make this happen.

Kids frequently transfer schools for disability related reasons. This would be one more reason a child might transfer schools.

And how would they deal with transportation? Special buses that pick up kids across wide areas where the kids will be required to mask?
What about lunch? Will the school need to set up a separate room for them? What about group services? Will SLPs, etc., need to keep the masking cohort separate from the non-masking students? And how would you deal with the kids in those classes that ultimately wouldn't be willing or able to keep a mask on all day?

There's no way to do what the OP is asking that would be both practical and meaningfully effective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It doesn’t sound horrible, it sounds ridiculous. “DEVASTATED.” You have trauma from
this. You should deal with that trauma instead of pointing it at other people.

DP. I wouldn't use the term "devastated", but I'd be angry, concerned, and frustrated if my child ended up in a classroom there they tried to institute a masking requirement.

OP isn't asking for anyone's kid to "end up" in a classroom with a mask requirement. She's asking that the county identify a group of children who have documented medical reasons to mask, and whose parents choose to have them wear masks consistently, and to place those kids in the same classroom, presumably including allowing kids to transfer schools to make this happen.

Kids frequently transfer schools for disability related reasons. This would be one more reason a child might transfer schools.

In general, given the size of MCPS, there are "clusters" of self-contained classrooms. So MCPS would need to believe there is an entire grade level in each "cluster" who wants and needs this accommodation in order to move forward, but once they do they are on the hook for transportation.

I think this idea is a nonstarter, given that immunosuppressed kids attended MCPS before, during, and after COVID-19.

But, if this were being given serious consideration, I'd focus on the following questions:

1) How would those kids integrate with the rest of the school? Most classes have "specials" with other classes, at least some of the time.

2) What about lunch and recess (including indoor recess when classes are combined)

3) What lifestyle expectations would there be for the famlies? Every family is different, and has different professional responsibilities and sibling activities, at the very least. Masking means very little if your family is crammed into a crowded gymnasium twice a week for the older child's basketball games.

4) What lifestyle expectations would be in place for the teacher? Teachers have their own lives and responsibilities. Would you tell the teacher that she had to quit the church choir to teach that class?

5) Finally, which ES in MCPS has SIX additional unused classrooms, one for each grade level. Certainly not any of the schools near OP.

[Anonymous]

I just don't see how this would be practical. You might be able to have 1 classroom (mixed grades) of medically fragile kids for the entire school but at every grade level there just wouldn't be enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It doesn’t sound horrible, it sounds ridiculous. “DEVASTATED.” You have trauma from
this. You should deal with that trauma instead of pointing it at other people.

DP. I wouldn't use the term "devastated", but I'd be angry, concerned, and frustrated if my child ended up in a classroom there they tried to institute a masking requirement.

OP isn't asking for anyone's kid to "end up" in a classroom with a mask requirement. She's asking that the county identify a group of children who have documented medical reasons to mask, and whose parents choose to have them wear masks consistently, and to place those kids in the same classroom, presumably including allowing kids to transfer schools to make this happen.

Kids frequently transfer schools for disability related reasons. This would be one more reason a child might transfer schools.

We know, we're responding to another PP's idea of having a class in the child's home school be a class where masks are required.

Putting immunocompromised children together in one class places them all at higher risk as they can still get sick and are more likely to be infectious for longer periods of time due to their compromised immune systems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It doesn’t sound horrible, it sounds ridiculous. “DEVASTATED.” You have trauma from
this. You should deal with that trauma instead of pointing it at other people.

I'm just being honest. The last time we had to put masks on DD, the results were horrible..You'll have to excuse me for not providing.more details given the number of abusive posters like yourself on these boards.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It doesn’t sound horrible, it sounds ridiculous. “DEVASTATED.” You have trauma from
this. You should deal with that trauma instead of pointing it at other people.

DP. I wouldn't use the term "devastated", but I'd be angry, concerned, and frustrated if my child ended up in a classroom there they tried to institute a masking requirement.

OP isn't asking for anyone's kid to "end up" in a classroom with a mask requirement. She's asking that the county identify a group of children who have documented medical reasons to mask, and whose parents choose to have them wear masks consistently, and to place those kids in the same classroom, presumably including allowing kids to transfer schools to make this happen.

Kids frequently transfer schools for disability related reasons. This would be one more reason a child might transfer schools.

And how would they deal with transportation? Special buses that pick up kids across wide areas where the kids will be required to mask?
What about lunch? Will the school need to set up a separate room for them? What about group services? Will SLPs, etc., need to keep the masking cohort separate from the non-masking students? And how would you deal with the kids in those classes that ultimately wouldn't be willing or able to keep a mask on all day?

There's no way to do what the OP is asking that would be both practical and meaningfully effective.

I would gladly drive my kid to a masked classroom if it would keep OP and all our kids healthier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It doesn’t sound horrible, it sounds ridiculous. “DEVASTATED.” You have trauma from
this. You should deal with that trauma instead of pointing it at other people.

I'm just being honest. The last time we had to put masks on DD, the results were horrible..You'll have to excuse me for not providing.more details given the number of abusive posters like yourself on these boards.

Maybe you were the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know this sounds horrible but I would be devastated and not really onboard if I were asked to mask my kindergartener. 5 year olds don't mask very well, it would be super distracting for the teacher to enforce, and this age is such a critical time in kids' social development. We had a really bad experience with masking our child when she was 2. She is older now but has been through a lot.

It doesn’t sound horrible, it sounds ridiculous. “DEVASTATED.” You have trauma from
this. You should deal with that trauma instead of pointing it at other people.

I'm just being honest. The last time we had to put masks on DD, the results were horrible..You'll have to excuse me for not providing.more details given the number of abusive posters like yourself on these boards.

Maybe you were the problem.

Here we go lol