Japan just closed schools countrywide until late March.

https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/japan-to-close-schools-nationwide-to-control-spread-of-virus/

Well, the prime minister asked them to. I guess technically the schools have to close by district.

Anonymous wrote:If we were to have an extended school closure (and we won’t) ...

Since this coronavirus outbreak started school closures have been used extensively as a community mitigation measure. (in many cases it was more a delayed reopening of the schools as schools had been closed for Lunar New Year)

All of China has closed schools.

Taiwan closed schools (just reopened today I think.. with rules that is 2 kids at a school were diagnosed with cornoavirus, that school will be shut down for 14 days. They take temperature every morning and twice during the day too)

Hong Kong closed schools -- 2 month closure; everyone doing online school if possible.

S Korea closed schools in certain affected areas; I thought I read they just decided to close schools nationwide (it was a big deal) but I can't find that now.

Vietnam most districts closed for 4 weeks; they are debating now whether to return or stay closed till end of March

Iran just closed all schools

Singapore suspended all intra-school activities, camps, field trips and schoolwide assemblies early on. Singapore has been vigrously testing and doing contact tracing and banning people from all sorts of places -- they haven't closed schools yet and say they dont think they will. But IMO they are now, despite all their hard work, seeing cases with no link to any outside contacts.... true community spread... so I think they will close schools soon.

Japan so far is the other big hold out -- right now they are closing schools in a reactionary way (if a teacher is ill) or case by case basis. FWIW this will do nothing to control the spread of the epidemic. You need to close all the schools in the area for it to really have an effect.

Italy has closed schools in Lombardy and Veneto for at least two weeks I think, but unless the virus just goes awau completely I can't see when they would reopen and I expect more schools in Italy to close.

I'm an elementary ESOL teacher.

I could manage to keep something going online for the vast majority of my kids in Grades 2-5 who are not beginners.

But only if they had internet access and computers or some device at home they could use.

K-1 I don't think I could do anything.

We definitely don't have any kind of plan in our district for this.

Our school district has emailed twice about coronavirus. I would imagine, if a student contacted the virus, they would close for a short time. Not indefinitely. They are generally proactive.

Our elementary school system wouldn’t be easily replicated “online.” The children mostly do group work, and in math the teacher explains various ways to solve problems. Maybe they can teleconference?

Middle and high school levels would be easier to do online, as all students are have school-issued chrome books for home, and most work is done online anyway.

High school teacher - I could switch to online if needed and still keep the class going with videos, discussions, chats and a combination of collaborative and individual online assignments. It wouldn’t be the same as being in the classroom and the motivated students who actually logged on would be okay.

My own elementary aged students would likely not have the same. This would not be practical for younger children.

I’m a university professor. Today my dean casually mentioned this to me in a meeting. Said we’re prepared, which we are. I could easily switch online. Elementary school? Not a chance.

Just in from the FCPS superintendent:

Dear FCPS Community,
In response to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) public comments, we wanted to share the following information about FCPS’s coronavirus (COVID-19) planning.
The CDC is asking school officials, as well as childcare centers and workplaces, to prepare for a possible outbreak. At this time, there are no confirmed cases in Fairfax County, Virginia, or the D.C. region. FCPS is working closely with local and regional health officials in the event that cases of COVID-19 are confirmed in our area.
FCPS is reviewing its existing influenza response plan and making any necessary revisions to respond to COVID-19 scenarios. The plan is dynamic and sections will be revised and updated as new information becomes available. FCPS’s response plan addresses the specific activities necessary to keep schools open and operating while providing a clean and safe environment during an outbreak and the essential functions that must be performed by FCPS, if schools are closed. Other variations of these scenarios could also be considered. While the full impact of an outbreak cannot be predicted, planning for operations under such conditions can mitigate the impact of the event on our students, staff, facilities and mission.
We recognize the growing concern about the possible spread of coronavirus to our region. To date, we have cancelled international field trips and short-term visitations to and from some countries, based on CDC guidelines. We have also updated our web page and will continue to work closely with health officials and monitor this evolving situation. Additional information is available at this link: https://www.fcps.edu/news/coronavirus-update. This link will be updated as we receive new information.
As a reminder, common cold and flu viruses are not unusual during the winter season. Precautions are recommended. We ask that everyone do their part to stay healthy. Wash hands frequently, monitor your health, and stay home when ill.
Thank you for your support and understanding.
Sincerely,
Scott Brabrand
Superintendent, Fairfax County Public Schools


Hot take: No way will schools close unless the CDC insists upon it.

My kids' high school does "e-days" for snow or cold days. I would imagine that this would be the plan for them. But, I teach kindergarten. It would be virtually impossible to offer learning options online for K. But who knows. I'm not overly worried, and I know we could make it on one income if we absolutely had to. (I'm not sure I'd be paid if schools close)

A lot of schools around here, like many FCPS and MCPS schools, will post assignments to Google Classroom and Blackboard on snow days. As well, teachers often record and post lessons for “flipped classes.” It sort of works.

Students love the plausible deniability of technological failures, though. And some students legitimately do not have reliable high-speed internet at home, even in 2020. I’ve had quite a few who, due to financial circumstances, rural location, or temporary outages, need to use a library computer to get online. If we were to have an extended school closure (and we won’t) I imagine that 10-20 percent of the students would do no work at all, and another 20 to 30 percent would have significant gaps in the work they completed. Still more would have done the work but paid insufficient attention to have gotten meaningful learning from it.

Doubt they know what coronovirus is.

Probably not since they can’t even seem to keep toilet paper in stock.

Our school likes to share everything....

Anonymous wrote:I would say that the chances of that happening in the U.S. are extremely unlikely.

Actually the CDC specifically told people to prepare for this today in a conference call.


https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nbcnewyork.com/news/national-international/cdc-outlines-what-closing-schools-businesses-would-look-like-in-pandemic/2301878/%3famp

“We are asking the American public to work with us to prepare for the expectation that this could be bad,” a top CDC official told reporters in a conference call outlining what schools and businesses will likely need to do if the COVID-19 virus starts to spread throughout the U.S.

Schools should consider dividing students into smaller groups or close and use “internet-based teleschooling,” Dr. Nancy Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, told reporters on a conference call.

I would say that the chances of that happening in the U.S. are extremely unlikely.

In Hong Kong, the schools have been closed for nearly a month and will be closed for two more months as the city combats the coronavirus. The kids are not in school but are all taking online courses with their teachers every day under a system the schools set up during the SARS crisis.

Do any schools around here have a similar system set up? Has it ever been used for something like a multi-day blizzard or other long-term closing? Just kind of curious if something like that has been (or is being) considered, given today's CDC warning.