With teachers vaccinated, why are we still talking about hybrid, and not a full return to school?

[Anonymous]

Are parents going to complain when the teacher needs to take a sick day and their kid has a sub basically watching them in person? Honestly curious about this!! Pretty sure it will happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are parents going to complain when the teacher needs to take a sick day and their kid has a sub basically watching them in person? Honestly curious about this!! Pretty sure it will happen.

Is there anyone on this board who didn’t have a sub fill in for a sick teacher when s/he was in school? This is incredibly normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids teacher is amost fully vaccinated but fighting to remain remote.. infuriating..

Yep and they’re skipping the lines and pushing back people who are borderline high risk. Mostly people who are in borderline age groups, 65-75 year olds depending on your state and who’s eligible. And some people with high risk conditions too. My friend is an organ transplant recipient and can’t get a vaccine in Illinois.

I’ve been teaching in person with a lot of older teachers (many have been teaching between 20-35 years). They haven’t been offered the vaccine yet and it’s in person hybrid/concurrent. Meanwhile, my social worker friends who have been doing virtual therapy and such already got both doses. But my grandparents also just got theirs, so I’m glad my state is prioritizing the elderly! Taught in VA last year and am surprised they’re still virtual. Even more surprised the teachers got vaccines and might still be virtual. If they planned to stay remote they should’ve given vaccine priority to others, especially when a lot of VA teachers are super young (under 35). So interesting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was surprised it was a hybrid/ concurrent model and not just a concurrent one. Couldn’t we have just bought some extra trailers or rented space with the CARES money? Who knows? Unfortunately, leadership just charges ahead with a plan without soliciting feedback from stakeholders, first.

And how to you multiply teachers to put in those extra trailers/ rented spaces?

DP, but what about using the hired classroom monitors? Ask those teachers who put in ADA requests to accept the vaccine as their reasonable accommodation (I understand that not all teachers can take this, but I imagine many can). Yes, you'll still be projecting the teacher to the kids in the trailers half time or something, but you'd at least have them in the building. Or you space the bigger classes way out in the gym, use microphones and the monitors make sure the kids in the back aren't goofing off. Basically this model, which was working even BEFORE vaccines in a public school district:

https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/10/school-openings-covid-19.html

Vaccines do not and will not change ADAs already granted for the school year. No one with an already granted ADA will be compelled to come back n person until the fall, regardless of vaccine status.

ADA is invalid now a vaccine is available, you need to prove you can't take the vaccine moron

ADA’s are in place for rest of school year unless a teacher rescinds it.

The ADA is only in place with the status of no vaccine, now that a vaccine is available the ADA is not valid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:CDC guidance is 6feet. Schools can’t open 4/5 days a week and follow the current guidance. They can’t even get 3ft at full capacity.

NP. Sure, but why would that remain the current guidance after the adults are vaccinated?

Who are “the adults?” Adults in the building? Sure. But o don’t want my kid to bring it home to me either and having that distance seems safer. If they offered 5 days, I’d absolutely take it because it is obviously what would be best for our kids. But I’m not convinced that hybrid isn’t an appropriate in between step. I’ll raise hell with you if they don’t announce 5 days for the fall this summer but I’m okay with this plan.

[Anonymous]

All of you have been saying for months “schools are safe with mitigation, mitigation works.” Now you don’t want any mitigation? Do you care at all about your children’s health? I’m asking seriously. Because to get rid of mitigation is to say “I don’t care if my kids get sick, suffer lung damage, or any other long term effects er don’t yet know of a novel virus we’ve only known for a year.”

The teachers are vaccinated and that’s great, that made reopening safer. It doesn’t mean MY KIDS are at zero risk. Putting your kids in a room of 20+ kids right now with no distance is asking not only for them to contract Covid but to bring it home to YOU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are parents going to complain when the teacher needs to take a sick day and their kid has a sub basically watching them in person? Honestly curious about this!! Pretty sure it will happen.

Is there anyone on this board who didn’t have a sub fill in for a sick teacher when s/he was in school? This is incredibly normal.

Yes. But their child will only be in school 2 times a week. I am expecting people to complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me the idea is that I don't want teachers, who are more susceptible to the virus, to die. But I'd also prefer if kids kept apart from one another and stayed as safe as possible so that unsymptomatic kids who have Covid do not transmit the disease overmuch to one another and to their own households, spreading the disease even more.

This seems very simple to me, not sure what you're not understanding. We shouldn't have all kids back at school right away or the distance and safety regs will absolutely not be in force and transmission rates will increase.

Exactly this. I would prefer not to catch COVID from my asymptomatic (or symptomatic but unlikely to be seriously ill) teenager. This is why distancing and masks will still be necessary. What is it that people don't understand about this?

No one said distancing and masks won’t still be necessary. What is this bizarre strawman??

Distancing can’t happen with 5 days a week though. Were you ever in a classroom pre-pandemic?! They are crowded!

[Anonymous]

Teachers are still getting postponements and cancellations for one or both shot, so this supposition that “teachers are vaccinated” is wrong from the start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For me the idea is that I don't want teachers, who are more susceptible to the virus, to die. But I'd also prefer if kids kept apart from one another and stayed as safe as possible so that unsymptomatic kids who have Covid do not transmit the disease overmuch to one another and to their own households, spreading the disease even more.

This seems very simple to me, not sure what you're not understanding. We shouldn't have all kids back at school right away or the distance and safety regs will absolutely not be in force and transmission rates will increase.

Exactly this. I would prefer not to catch COVID from my asymptomatic (or symptomatic but unlikely to be seriously ill) teenager. This is why distancing and masks will still be necessary. What is it that people don't understand about this?

No one said distancing and masks won’t still be necessary. What is this bizarre strawman??

Distancing can’t happen with 5 days a week though. Were you ever in a classroom pre-pandemic?! They are crowded!

Right. If you agree kids need distancing, you agree 5 days isn’t possible right now. You cannot have a full class of kids in the room AND distance. That’s the entire point of hybrid - it splits the class into two halves to allow for distancing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are parents going to complain when the teacher needs to take a sick day and their kid has a sub basically watching them in person? Honestly curious about this!! Pretty sure it will happen.

Is there anyone on this board who didn’t have a sub fill in for a sick teacher when s/he was in school? This is incredibly normal.

Yes. But their child will only be in school 2 times a week. I am expecting people to complain.

They’re already complaining! We have a solid reopening plan and they’re pissed that it’s not enough days, that teachers will get a couple asynch days to set up classrooms, and a variety of other things. I give it a week of concurrent before they’re starting petitions to reopen fully to Feb 2020 levels.

[Anonymous]

The CDC is supposed to issue new guidance on Wednesday regarding the opening of schools, hopefully addressing the 6 ft distance thing. You can eat in a restaurant without 6 ft between people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of you have been saying for months “schools are safe with mitigation, mitigation works.” Now you don’t want any mitigation? Do you care at all about your children’s health? I’m asking seriously. Because to get rid of mitigation is to say “I don’t care if my kids get sick, suffer lung damage, or any other long term effects er don’t yet know of a novel virus we’ve only known for a year.”

The teachers are vaccinated and that’s great, that made reopening safer. It doesn’t mean MY KIDS are at zero risk. Putting your kids in a room of 20+ kids right now with no distance is asking not only for them to contract Covid but to bring it home to YOU.

5 days a week does not equal no mitigation.
The types of mitigation that can still occur- and fully be in CDC guidance
1. universal masking
2. cohorting- e.g. don't switch classes in elementary school for things like math groups etc.
3. face all desks forward rather then sitting in small groups
4. space desks out to the extent practicable
5. reduce sharing of materials (this is still on the list as a recommended mitigation so I include it, I am doubtful of its effficacy in light of the reduced concerns about fomite transmission.
6. eat lunch outdoors or in classrooms when outdoors is not feasible instead of crowded cafeteria
7. open classroom windows.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some. The fact is the '6 feet' is not a magic number. In some circumstances its not enough, in some its way more than needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The CDC is supposed to issue new guidance on Wednesday regarding the opening of schools, hopefully addressing the 6 ft distance thing. You can eat in a restaurant without 6 ft between people.

You CAN do anything you want if you don’t give a sh*t about getting or spreading the virus

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All of you have been saying for months “schools are safe with mitigation, mitigation works.” Now you don’t want any mitigation? Do you care at all about your children’s health? I’m asking seriously. Because to get rid of mitigation is to say “I don’t care if my kids get sick, suffer lung damage, or any other long term effects er don’t yet know of a novel virus we’ve only known for a year.”

The teachers are vaccinated and that’s great, that made reopening safer. It doesn’t mean MY KIDS are at zero risk. Putting your kids in a room of 20+ kids right now with no distance is asking not only for them to contract Covid but to bring it home to YOU.

5 days a week does not equal no mitigation.
The types of mitigation that can still occur- and fully be in CDC guidance
1. universal masking
2. cohorting- e.g. don't switch classes in elementary school for things like math groups etc.
3. face all desks forward rather then sitting in small groups
4. space desks out to the extent practicable
5. reduce sharing of materials (this is still on the list as a recommended mitigation so I include it, I am doubtful of its effficacy in light of the reduced concerns about fomite transmission.
6. eat lunch outdoors or in classrooms when outdoors is not feasible instead of crowded cafeteria
7. open classroom windows.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some. The fact is the '6 feet' is not a magic number. In some circumstances its not enough, in some its way more than needed.

You are not getting 5 days until fall. Deal with it. Schools are not obligated to be vectors of spread because you want them to be. Every school that has done this even moderately successfully has used MASKS and DISTANCE and ideally cohorting which isn’t possible in secondary which makes distance even MORE important. Reduce sharing of materials? Okay Jan. It’s an airborne virus. That’s theatre. Nobody is getting it by touching staplers.