Anonymous wrote:I'm in MoCo and I do think the large size (both in terms of student population and in terms of geography) makes it a LOT harder to work through a situation such as the pandemic. I grew up in New England, where schools have mostly stayed open through the pandemic primarily because the schools are run on a town-by-town basis. It's a lot simpler when you're not trying to come up with a one-size-fits-all solution for 165k kids, hundreds of schools and a massively dispersed and complex transportation system. I doubt that will ever happen here since the county government system is how MD and VA are organized overall, but it would enable a lot more flexibility and nuance.

Due to a number of factors, from remote work, to climate change, to education issues, and rural New England is going to be a very popular “exit” for lots of center left people in large urban areas imo.

Just like red people are leaving California for Idaho.

I'm in MoCo and I do think the large size (both in terms of student population and in terms of geography) makes it a LOT harder to work through a situation such as the pandemic. I grew up in New England, where schools have mostly stayed open through the pandemic primarily because the schools are run on a town-by-town basis. It's a lot simpler when you're not trying to come up with a one-size-fits-all solution for 165k kids, hundreds of schools and a massively dispersed and complex transportation system. I doubt that will ever happen here since the county government system is how MD and VA are organized overall, but it would enable a lot more flexibility and nuance.

I really, really want my 14 YO to go to school. It is not good for her to be home with me and only me so much. I moved from NOVA to a small town. And,

I recognize it's a pandemic and sometimes school is going to have to be remote.

I don't see this as politics or some evil conspiracy, it's just a virus that sometimes kills people so we gotta respond accordingly.

If there was a norovirus breakout at my child's school I might expect them to take a break to allow the virus to be contained. Covid is a bit longer of a window but, I see the logic of occassional closures.

I think any kid, any class, any school should be able to switch to instant remote if warranted, and have return to in person ASAP as a priority all the time.

Ahmaud Arbery got killed in a small town w/ strongly conservative politics. So no….maybe a medium-sized college town.

But then again, I have black sons to think about…

DCUM is full of right wing Nazis. Who would have thought?

There are no solutions, just trade-offs.

I grew up in a small Southern town. Today, my HS is 75% FARMs. My HS offered 2 AP classes: Lit and Calc AB. My year, I was the only student to pass either one. By senior year, I was driving to the community college for classes because my HS was out— 45 minutes each way during the school day.

More kids enlisted than went to a 4 year college, and no one in my graduating class left the state for college. The level of instruction was very, very poor.

DH had the same experience at a different HS in a different small town.

Why in the world would we want our kids in one if these environments.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God forbid. The first thing people do when they move to a new town for socio-economic reasons is start voting for the same sort of politician that implemented all the things they hated about their old town.

Not true. Dem all my life but had enough. Moved to Virginia, voted Youngkin! Moving was the best thing ever. Nice, normal people. Cheap/excellent private school, etc.

^^^ epic tax cut for my family too!

What part of VA?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God forbid. The first thing people do when they move to a new town for socio-economic reasons is start voting for the same sort of politician that implemented all the things they hated about their old town.

Not true. Dem all my life but had enough. Moved to Virginia, voted Youngkin! Moving was the best thing ever. Nice, normal people. Cheap/excellent private school, etc.

^^^ epic tax cut for my family too!

Anonymous wrote:God forbid. The first thing people do when they move to a new town for socio-economic reasons is start voting for the same sort of politician that implemented all the things they hated about their old town.

Not true. Dem all my life but had enough. Moved to Virginia, voted Youngkin! Moving was the best thing ever. Nice, normal people. Cheap/excellent private school, etc.

Most schools, even in large districts, are choosing to stay open until they run out of staff Op.

Not sure what you are talking about, assume you may be another right wing troll trying to drum up talking points.

Misleading thread title. This is only happening in Chicago, and it's because Mayor Lightfoot is truly, truly terrible.

God forbid. The first thing people do when they move to a new town for socio-economic reasons is start voting for the same sort of politician that implemented all the things they hated about their old town.

Dems have empowered unions for decades and even this year Biden was heavily supporting workforce unionization. Works out well until they turn against you.

They are less likely to close due to Covid waves, lack of unions, and strongly conservative local politics.