Reply to The prospect of kids not going back to school until 2021

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have really tried to listen and understand both sides.  I think the place I get hung up is with the multi-generational households.  We know that the majority of deaths are occurring in the elderly populations.  [b]So what do we do for families who live with elderly people and have young children in the home?[/b] It's just not as simple as saying that at-risk people should isolate.[/quote]

We provide a distance-learning option for them.[/quote]

That’s a good point.  Allow people to opt-in to distance learning.  We can’t do this forever.  I know it won’t be “forever” and we all hope a vaccine comes later this year or next Spring but those are just hopes.  At this point we don’t know when a vaccine arrives.  As unlikely as it is, it could take five years for one.  Do people want to keep this going for five years?  We can’t structure school and the economy around exceptions.  The exceptions need to have things done for them as much as possible (online school and grocery delivery for instance) and [b]we need to take reasonable precautions to slow the spread[/b] (masks, stay 6 feet apart, don’t have people pack into small rooms) but we cannot function like this for an undetermined time.[/quote]

I totally agree with you but following and observing those reasonable precautions is where you find the issues with schools. Many people packed in small rooms for a long period of time is the perfect definition for a school setting. How are you going to enforce those precautions? Students should wear masks for all seven hours they spend at school. Students should be in classes of no more than 10 students and spend all day in the same class 6 feet apart from each other.  If there is enough room to do that, you are going to need twice or three times the number of teachers to teach those students. Those students that routinely do not follow those precautions or just tell you that they have the right to not wear a mask should stay at home and not allowed to come back. Students should be transported to and from school following social distancing, which may require double the number of buses, …

My point is that I also think  that schools should reopen but we need to be aware that it will be something totally different from what school has been until March. We, as parents, need to support, ask for, and enforce those requirements and do not pretend that our children can keep on doing what they used to do at school before (go to get water and to the bathroom at their will, work in group settings, change classes and be with different students in different rooms, share any materials, or even talk to their best friends at all at school because now they are not in the same class so they cannot see one another at any time). I am okay with that for my middle school child, and I sincerely hope everybody claiming to open schools in September are also fine with that to minimize risks for everybody, specially teachers and school staff.[/quote]

I'm talking about reasonable precautions in public so it's not spread elsewhere.  We can only do so much in schools and that isn't much.  Children need school and Internet school is a poor substitute for real school.  Children are barely affected by the virus.  This could go on for a very long time. [/quote]

So, basically you are implying that we should do nothing and schools should be back to normal because children are not being affected. Are you okay with that if the same happens in your workplace? Are not schools a public space which should follow those same requirements? Which requirements do you propose to minimize risks? I understand that online school is a mediocre substitute, especially for elementary students, but there should be reasonable, science- based requirements in place for everybody´s safety.[/quote]

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