Reply to Sidwell, GDS, Maret: Keep schools open

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I teach at a local private. We are lucky to have a few long-term subs on campus everyday. However, we still don’t have enough subs to cover for everyone who’s been sick, experiencing mild symptoms but awaiting PCR test results (3-4 days in DC), or home with a sick or quarantined child. Our division heads and admin staffers are covering classes and duties. It’s meant that we don’t always have people available when a child needs to be sent to the office or school counselor. It’s meant canceling parent meetings or attending them for just a few minutes so that teaching staff can substitute for absent staff. That’s sustainable for a week or two, but if post-break absences are any higher than they were throughout December, sustaining operations will be difficult. We can’t magic up more personnel, no matter how many angry letters the HoS gets.[/quote]

These are real problems, but there are also solutions to some of them that I hope schools are using. For example, tell parents that all but essential parent meetings need to be suspended until February. Supply all teachers with a home molecular test like Lucera, Cue, or Detect and accept those highly accurate results in place of a PCR test when there is a testing backlog. For that matter provide them with tests for their families, too, to avoid unnecessary quarantine. Hopefully the shortened quarantine periods will help, too.

And in general, communicate these constraints to parents. I believe most people want to be helpful and understanding, if given the opportunity and an explanation.[/quote]

Also, maybe schools could take some reasonable measures like not sending teachers off to conferences (even virtual conferences) for a bit. My child's grade had all three lead teachers out for three days for a conference despite the fact subs were in short supply and the ones we got were below the school's normal standards.[/quote]

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