Delta Variant and APS

[Anonymous]

This might be purely anecdotal but my uber-involved-in-APS neighbor just told me that they are pulling all 3 of their kids from public school and going private because they have zero confidence that school will be 5 days a week next year given the rise of the new variant. I was floored! I am banking on 5 days a week with regular hours… am I naive?

[Anonymous]

Sorry, teacher, you are back to real life.

Extremely believable anecdote when every private school has been full for months.

[Anonymous]

How is any school district going to make 180 days or 990 hours in-person as required by SB 1303 without 5 days a week?

[Anonymous]

I hope one of the things we learned over the last year was that schools should be the LAST things that are closed.

APS couldn't figure it out last year, that part is true. I think there would need to be a significant outbreak in the county for them to even contemplate closing schools again. And it's even less likely if the "outbreak" isn't among children.

Staff can be vaccinated. It's a completely different calculus than it was last year.

[Anonymous]

I think we will be in school 5 days a week. That being said, I just read an article that said in MO there are 12 kids in the PICU and 10 on ventilators. I hope we don't get to that point here.

I haven't really researched much into SB 1303 but I was wondering what happens if there is a virus (not saying it has to be covid) that poses a significant clear and present danger. Something with a high mortality rate. Would the bill prevent schools from being closed?

[Anonymous]

What private school did they find with spots???? That's what I want to know.

Husband and I growing increasingly concerned about the same.

Almost comical, on Monday I saw a friend who was on a very cautious end of the COVID spectrum and quit her job to stay home with her three kids last year. She said to me, "there's no way they can't/won't open schools". I told her, that was what I was saying last Summer, and look how it turned out.

APS set such a crazy precedent last year, I don't know how they will walk it back. People are going to have to learn to live with this thing. It is not going away. With masks in schools, there should be a high degree of safety for unvaccinated kids.

But, we have lost ALL confidence in APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think we will be in school 5 days a week. That being said, I just read an article that said in MO there are 12 kids in the PICU and 10 on ventilators. I hope we don't get to that point here.

I haven't really researched much into SB 1303 but I was wondering what happens if there is a virus (not saying it has to be covid) that poses a significant clear and present danger. Something with a high mortality rate. Would the bill prevent schools from being closed?

That was Mississippi and the guy who tweeted it walked it back to 7 in the ICU and 2 on ventilators by the end of the day. Still bad, but much lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think we will be in school 5 days a week. That being said, I just read an article that said in MO there are 12 kids in the PICU and 10 on ventilators. I hope we don't get to that point here.

I haven't really researched much into SB 1303 but I was wondering what happens if there is a virus (not saying it has to be covid) that poses a significant clear and present danger. Something with a high mortality rate. Would the bill prevent schools from being closed?

That was Mississippi and the guy who tweeted it walked it back to 7 in the ICU and 2 on ventilators by the end of the day. Still bad, but much lower.

Also missing: ages of the children. A 17 year old and a 6 year old are VASTLY different stories. The 17 year old can be vaccinated and should have been.

[Anonymous]

The rates are ticking up even here in Arlington despite 70% of adults having at least 1 dose (and probably more since that doesn't count those vaxxed on federal gov't sites) and Pfizer is saying they don't expect to seek EUA until September for school-age kids. The way to ensure 5 days per week is to be smart. Get vaccinated, keep your kids masked and social distancing for now. Delta is more contagious, so while we don't need to lock back down as we were last year, don't treat it like it's totally gone. I know way too many people who are doing sleepovers and indoor playdates since they don't see Covid as a huge health threat to kids. It might not be, but the case numbers might be a threat to in-person school so do your part.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This might be purely anecdotal but my uber-involved-in-APS neighbor just told me that they are pulling all 3 of their kids from public school and going private because they have zero confidence that school will be 5 days a week next year given the rise of the new variant. I was floored! I am banking on 5 days a week with regular hours… am I naive?

Sounds like BS. You need to apply in January for private school and there aren’t spots anywhere…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think we will be in school 5 days a week. That being said, I just read an article that said in MO there are 12 kids in the PICU and 10 on ventilators. I hope we don't get to that point here.

I haven't really researched much into SB 1303 but I was wondering what happens if there is a virus (not saying it has to be covid) that poses a significant clear and present danger. Something with a high mortality rate. Would the bill prevent schools from being closed?

Right- and if APS (or any other district) closes schools because they are concerned about the Delta variant, what is anyone going to do? Is there any enforcement mechanism? It's just hard for me to envision a scenario where APS says they can't open schools because of Delta variant, and the governor orders them back anyway.

I'm also concerned about the extent to which groups will be quarantined. I'm afraid that if there are any exposures in my kids' schools it will functionally be the same as last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The rates are ticking up even here in Arlington despite 70% of adults having at least 1 dose (and probably more since that doesn't count those vaxxed on federal gov't sites) and Pfizer is saying they don't expect to seek EUA until September for school-age kids. The way to ensure 5 days per week is to be smart. Get vaccinated, keep your kids masked and social distancing for now. Delta is more contagious, so while we don't need to lock back down as we were last year, don't treat it like it's totally gone. I know way too many people who are doing sleepovers and indoor playdates since they don't see Covid as a huge health threat to kids. It might not be, but the case numbers might be a threat to in-person school so do your part.

Also - we probably weren’t going to maintain negative daily cases forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The rates are ticking up even here in Arlington despite 70% of adults having at least 1 dose (and probably more since that doesn't count those vaxxed on federal gov't sites) and Pfizer is saying they don't expect to seek EUA until September for school-age kids. The way to ensure 5 days per week is to be smart. Get vaccinated, keep your kids masked and social distancing for now. Delta is more contagious, so while we don't need to lock back down as we were last year, don't treat it like it's totally gone. I know way too many people who are doing sleepovers and indoor playdates since they don't see Covid as a huge health threat to kids. It might not be, but the case numbers might be a threat to in-person school so do your part.

Also - we probably weren’t going to maintain negative daily cases forever.

I currently know two 22207 kids with Covid right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What private school did they find with spots???? That's what I want to know.

Husband and I growing increasingly concerned about the same.

Almost comical, on Monday I saw a friend who was on a very cautious end of the COVID spectrum and quit her job to stay home with her three kids last year. She said to me, "there's no way they can't/won't open schools". I told her, that was what I was saying last Summer, and look how it turned out.

APS set such a crazy precedent last year, I don't know how they will walk it back. People are going to have to learn to live with this thing. It is not going away. With masks in schools, there should be a high degree of safety for unvaccinated kids.

But, we have lost ALL confidence in APS.

Many $40k schools still have spots. Bonkers to know so many families can pull that trigger in 120k.

Op, people have lost their mind and are super paranoid. Yes it will be five days.

[Anonymous]

It will be 5 days. State law requires it. If one or more schools in a district need to close due to outbreaks, then SB 1303 only allows the district to close the affected school(s) and only for as long as necessary to clear the outbreak. It would have to be a very significant change in circumstances for schools to be widespread closed this coming school year.

A PP said that's what they said at the end of last summer and yet APS still remained closed. IMO, that PP was dead wrong last year. Last summer and this summer are not at all the same because of vaccinations. Last year, it was NEVER a foregone conclusion that APS would open its buildings for fall. This year it's about as certain as anyone can be.