OSSE keeping cohort/student caps for Fall?

[Anonymous]

The below was in a private school’s acceptance letter

“The guidance we have received from the DC Department of Health is that the COVID prevention protocols in place today (12-13 people per classroom, 6 feet of distance between desks, and wearing masks) will remain in place at the start of the next school year.”


Ugh. That would conclusively mean no full-time school opportunity in the Fall. Beyond angry and frustrated right now

[Anonymous]

You were living in a fantasy world. It will be a hybrid school year. It’s a pandemic, OP.

[Anonymous]

One of my kids attends a very covid-conservative private school that has followed all the DOH/OSSE guidance even though I understand that it's optional for private schools. My guess is that no one knows with any amount of certainty what the guidelines/requirements will be in the fall, but that the private school doesn't want to promise anything, and then have parents complaining in the fall. Better now to keep expectations low and blame someone other than their own decision making.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You were living in a fantasy world. It will be a hybrid school year. It’s a pandemic, OP.

There is nothing about it being a pandemic that requires a hybrid school year. There is nothing that requires the pandemic to be over for kids to be in school. There is nothing that requires the risks to be zero because the risk never was zero. Go troll somewhere else.

OP: the private school has an incentive to send mixed messages about this. They don't know what OSSE guidelines are going to be anymore than we do. And quite possibly OSSE doesn't either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You were living in a fantasy world. It will be a hybrid school year. It’s a pandemic, OP.

There is no sound, rational reason why schools should not open full time in the fall for real school while maintaining a city-wide distance learning option for those who prefer that.

All people 16 and up who want a vaccine will have one before school starts in the fall. There may or may not ever be a vaccine for younger kids. That cannot be a benchmark for educating children in person if those children’s parents elect that option. I won’t presume to make that decision for any other parent, just as other parents should not presume to insist on distance learning for everyone just because they still want it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of my kids attends a very covid-conservative private school that has followed all the DOH/OSSE guidance even though I understand that it's optional for private schools. My guess is that no one knows with any amount of certainty what the guidelines/requirements will be in the fall, but that the private school doesn't want to promise anything, and then have parents complaining in the fall. Better now to keep expectations low and blame someone other than their own decision making.

Exactly. And a lot changes if the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are approved for 12-17 yos by early summer, which seems likely.

[Anonymous]

I hear what you are all saying about private school incentives to say this and I agree, but do you actually think that a private school would put in writing on their letterhead a claim about what a government entity has said if it weren’t true?? I strongly believe they would not which means OSSE said this, which is the problem to me

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You were living in a fantasy world. It will be a hybrid school year. It’s a pandemic, OP.

No.

[Anonymous]

UK, France, Italy, Israel, all report the B.1.1.7 variant exploding in the school-age population, and affecting kids more than the original virus.
I know a lot of you on these boards these days continue to yell "CORONALARMISM! HYSTERIA!" until it kills your relative, and to those, DCPS did you a "favor" this week already, by drastically cutting its commitment to routine testing of students, from "all who want, every 10 days" to "10% of students, every week." You'll be able to scream "HYSTERIA! Fake NEWS" in the dark from actual school case figures, longer than if we had the originally promised testing regimen, but I know I won't want my kids in there full time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Must we have a different thread on this topic every single day? No one knows what school will look like in the fall.

Yes, we do. In the fall, coronavirus rates will be close to zero in DC and a pediatric vaccine available for all children will still be years away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You were living in a fantasy world. It will be a hybrid school year. It’s a pandemic, OP.

Why? There is a vaccine for adults. COVID does not spread in school. We need to weigh the the tolerance for zero risk (ridiculous) against the damage keeping schools closed is having on our children (academic, emotional) -- especially ES kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Must we have a different thread on this topic every single day? No one knows what school will look like in the fall.

Yes, we do. In the fall, coronavirus rates will be close to zero in DC and a pediatric vaccine available for all children will still be years away.

What do either of those things have to do with school? Can you predict the future?

[Anonymous]

they are going to HAVE to do a/b groups and get rid of asynch weds if that’s the case. all kids need at least a half day in scholl.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:they are going to HAVE to do a/b groups and get rid of asynch weds if that’s the case. all kids need at least a half day in scholl.

Of course they are going to have to get rid of asynch Wednesday. A whole day of asynchronous learning is absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:they are going to HAVE to do a/b groups and get rid of asynch weds if that’s the case. all kids need at least a half day in scholl.

Of course they are going to have to get rid of asynch Wednesday. A whole day of asynchronous learning is absurd.

yep.

honestly I think a focused 3 hrs of academics might be superior to a 6-hr school day with a ton of wasted time.