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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What can be done to stop pro-virtual parents from faking positive covid tests to shut down the yellow and green schools? Seems like we are screwed! Although green schools will turn red eventually but some parents can speed that up by fake positives[/quote]

Whoa. What?! That is some serious conspiracy theory stuff. I and many other parents are very concerned about covid transmission post holidays,  but people have only talked about keeping their own kids home or hoping for a few virtual days out or precaution. The whole idea that someone would fake a positive to close schools is ludicrous . No one wants to close schools. That is crazy talk.

I am more concerned that families will under report because they don't want to have to get a dr to sign off on reeentry.[/quote]

This is my main concern as well. I am not a fan of virtual learning but as a teacher at a Title 1 school, we have a low number of positive COVID cases but we also have very few kids that are getting tested. If you don’t test for COVID, no one has it, right? It is so frustrating because the step one of the obvious answer is an opt-OUT form parents need to fill out if they don’t want their child tested. For various reasons, many of my school’s parents haven’t filled out the form (very hardworking people but also unaware, too busy, one more thing to have to do, don’t really understand, etc.). For in-person school, there should be weekly testing (not random samples of only kids who opted in). Step two is to switch to virtual learning for all schools for two weeks. This would allow parents to somewhat plan and not be worried about needing to find arrangements at the last minute.

At this point, we have more teachers out - either with COVID, or they are taking leave because their child has COVID (key takeaway is *they got tested*). We have had ZERO classes eat lunch outside so far this year, and have kids eating breakfast in classrooms (with windows that won’t open and very poor ventilation) and classes that rotate eating lunch in the classrooms. Not to mention that classes are combined when there are no subs (very frequently) and the kids that go to Bar T are coming from all different classes and grade levels and eating snack together. Impossible to contract trace. As a teacher and a parent, I am so disappointed in the way MCPS has chosen to handle this situation. The extra vacation for central office and admin is nice for them but a slap in the face to employees like para educators who, with the exception of Christmas Eve and NYE, are not paid for time time off during Winter Break. And paraeducators are always the first ones pulled to cover classes last minute, cover lunch duty, recess, etc. Morale is SO DOWN this year and I am nervous even thinking about next year knowing the number of teachers we will lose at the end of this year. [/quote]

Weekly testing of all 180,000 students and staff is about 2.5 times the PCR testing capacity of the public and private labs in the county. That's not really practical without a lot of time to set up resources and a lot of money.

Rapid tests are slightly more plausible, but there's no staff to administer them at school, and no plausible way to set that up. Remember, MCPS hasn't even been able to do test-to-stay due to those challenges.

If you're serious about trying to identify ways to keep schools open, you need to ground your ideas in reality.[/quote]

MCPS administrators should have been working during winter break to coordinate with DHHS for the need of more tests - PCR and rapid tests.  DCPS came up with a workable plan to a test to stay program.  Couldn’t MCPS ramp up testing if DHHS would set up drive through testing at county high schools to get everyone tested?

My child had a close contact before winter break. There was no testing in school even though I gave permission for testing. Teachers and para educators are regularly exposed but again, there’s no testing. It’s a MCPS administrative and a DHHS failure.  The County Council should have an emergency meeting to improve coordination and transition testing to school populations.[/quote]

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