We're in private in NoVA and have been in school since August. One DC's class cohort is doing virtual school this week and will go back on Monday. Rest of the school is operating like usual. I'm fully expecting that to occur repeatedly this year. It doesn't seem disruptive at all; on the contrary, I suspect the teachers are actually getting through more material than they planned thanks to the handy mute button, and it was a nice break for DC to sleep in a little.

I agree that it sounds like OP's district and charter school do not have good COVID protocols in place. I hear few complaints from anyone back to school, even under a limited hybrid model.

Initially, I bought into the "you have no idea how terrible school will be" line of thinking. In person school does not feel like a prison to most kids, even with masks, distancing, lots of hand sanitizer and washing, and silent lunches.

We are hybrid in PA...one two week all virtual for the MS...not disruptive at all bc school is prepared for all virtual. I’m thankful for every in person day we get, my kids are so happy at the end of the day when I pick them up.

I have friends all over the country with kids in person 5 days a week (mostly private, but some public). First disruption among my friends was just reported last week. It does sound like it's a big deal for their family, because their school didn't have DL stuff set-up at all. For districts doing hybrid/concurrent I can't see how it would be that bad.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, all virtual is much better since there is no disruption.

I also don’t think people realize that any in person schooling happening isn’t like it used to be. The social distancing guidelines actually mean virtual learning is better. In person the teacher can’t be near a student, but online you can at least see their work virtually and provide feedback.

You either have older kids or no job or both. No one who is trying to work with young elementary school kids wants their kids at home.

My third grader is doing fine with virtual because she's in a pod. Without that, I'm certain she would be depressed right now due to the lack of social interaction. My daughter's teacher said my daughter is doing well, but mentioned that about 1/3 of the students cannot pay attention in the virtual format. She said she doesnt have this issue in person because she has various methods to hold everyone's attention that just dont work online. She also mentioned that there are several students at home alone (8 year olds!!). Sounds to me like any in person school would be better for those kids at home alone or unable to pay attention.

Also, OP's school district closure policies are lame. The disruptions arent happening everywhere.

My kids started hybrid a couple weeks ago at an NYC private. The remote program was pretty good, and my kids actually weren't very enthusiastic about hybrid because they thought remote was good and they thought all the restrictions in in-person would make it no fun. But after the first week, we all agreed hybrid was better. They are in first and 4th, and that probably has something to do with it. Everybody is more engaged, everybody is happier, even remote days are better because they have that interaction and connection they made in school.

No cases that I know of and no shutdowns so far.

I truly don't see how hybrid with some interruptions would be worse for my family than all virtual. All virtual sucks.

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t what you think it will be.
I live in PA. Two kids, different schools:
One public middle. School year started with hybrid - A-K go Mon & Tue, L-Z go Wed & Thur. Everyone virtual Friday.
Shut down for two weeks at the end of September due to COVID. And then when they were to return, no bussing for a week due to COVID, so we had to do drop off and pickup... which meant 45 minutes in line because they aren’t set up for it. There’s been a couple days where they decided to close for a deep clean. We just received notification of another case, but the testing time was so long (last time in school over 2 weeks ago) that it’s past the time for quarantine, so they are not shutting down. That said, my son is sick, took COVID test Friday, (last in school Tuesday), waiting for results. If he’s positive, I know they will shut down.

Other son goes to a charter elementary school. They started the year all online, but moved to 4 day in person (Wednesdays virtual for deep clean) in early October. They just announced return to all virtual due to COVID.

Honestly, all virtual is easier to deal with than back and forth.

Questions: Do you work? Do you work at home? Do you have other parents or caregivers in the household? Do they work? Do they work from home?

If you would do all virtual, would you hire help? How much would it cost for both kids?

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t what you think it will be.
I live in PA. Two kids, different schools:
One public middle. School year started with hybrid - A-K go Mon & Tue, L-Z go Wed & Thur. Everyone virtual Friday.
Shut down for two weeks at the end of September due to COVID. And then when they were to return, no bussing for a week due to COVID, so we had to do drop off and pickup... which meant 45 minutes in line because they aren’t set up for it. There’s been a couple days where they decided to close for a deep clean. We just received notification of another case, but the testing time was so long (last time in school over 2 weeks ago) that it’s past the time for quarantine, so they are not shutting down. That said, my son is sick, took COVID test Friday, (last in school Tuesday), waiting for results. If he’s positive, I know they will shut down.

Other son goes to a charter elementary school. They started the year all online, but moved to 4 day in person (Wednesdays virtual for deep clean) in early October. They just announced return to all virtual due to COVID.

Honestly, all virtual is easier to deal with than back and forth.

LOL. This sounds good, in relation to what we experience.

Anonymous wrote:Isn’t what you think it will be.
I live in PA. Two kids, different schools:
One public middle. School year started with hybrid - A-K go Mon & Tue, L-Z go Wed & Thur. Everyone virtual Friday.
Shut down for two weeks at the end of September due to COVID. And then when they were to return, no bussing for a week due to COVID, so we had to do drop off and pickup... which meant 45 minutes in line because they aren’t set up for it. There’s been a couple days where they decided to close for a deep clean. We just received notification of another case, but the testing time was so long (last time in school over 2 weeks ago) that it’s past the time for quarantine, so they are not shutting down. That said, my son is sick, took COVID test Friday, (last in school Tuesday), waiting for results. If he’s positive, I know they will shut down.

Other son goes to a charter elementary school. They started the year all online, but moved to 4 day in person (Wednesdays virtual for deep clean) in early October. They just announced return to all virtual due to COVID.

Honestly, all virtual is easier to deal with than back and forth.

You need to find a better in person charter school.

My child has been on campus since August. No shutdowns or issues. Her school doesn’t close for one Covid19 case. They have cohorts and have the class stay home if someone is positive in the class cohort (which hasn’t happened) and not the entire school.

Your school has terrible Covid19 policies. Regardless, your child has benefited from some days on campus. Virtual learning doesn’t work for every child and those days are vitally important for those who are struggling. Consistency would be effected if schools went between virtual and in person but for so many kids, consistently ineffective instruction isn’t better than inconsistent effective teaching.

Our school district (Palm Beach County, FL which is pretty close to Fairfax in size) has both and parents with both DL and in person are happy with their choices, though everyone admits that neither is perfect. The school district originally wanted to do hybrid but the governor shut that down by tying state funding to 5 day in person schooling. Luckily only about 50% of students are back in person so social distancing is possible in the classrooms. Elementary schools have higher percentages of students who are back in person and we had some teacher swapping as the administration tried to adjust class sizes as schools opened up for in person in September but things have settled down now.

There aren't enough bus drivers so a bus route for some kids that it would have been 20 minutes in previous years has been combined with other routes and now takes an hour. Many teachers wanted remote positions but only a few were able to get them so quite a few of the veteran teachers have retired/resigned or taken leaves of absence. The district reporting of cases in schools has gotten better and there does not seem to be much if any transmission occurring in schools though community transmission outside of schools is on the rise in our area.

Schools do not shut down for covid cases. The health department does contact tracing and there have been teachers and students who have to swap from in person to virtual to quarantine while waiting for negative test results but it's on a small scale. For example, my son's middle school has 1280 students and 480 are back in person and 800 are at home doing DL. There has been one case of a teacher testing positive and one set of 3 siblings but no other known cases at the school.

Teachers aren't loving synchronous teaching, but some of them are doing a great job with it. All of my kids teachers are managing pretty well.

I guess this assumes good virtual programming. Our school made a to-do about staying all virtual for continuity and safety and the slides have gotten pretty crappy and the content less and less. We had a half day last week where they watched one 5 minute video and the school took credit for providing a half day of education. Such a mess.

I live in Fairfax County and fwiw there have yet to be any disruptions at my daughter’s school. She started at the end of August.

Yes, all virtual is much better since there is no disruption.

I also don’t think people realize that any in person schooling happening isn’t like it used to be. The social distancing guidelines actually mean virtual learning is better. In person the teacher can’t be near a student, but online you can at least see their work virtually and provide feedback.

Isn’t what you think it will be.
I live in PA. Two kids, different schools:
One public middle. School year started with hybrid - A-K go Mon & Tue, L-Z go Wed & Thur. Everyone virtual Friday.
Shut down for two weeks at the end of September due to COVID. And then when they were to return, no bussing for a week due to COVID, so we had to do drop off and pickup... which meant 45 minutes in line because they aren’t set up for it. There’s been a couple days where they decided to close for a deep clean. We just received notification of another case, but the testing time was so long (last time in school over 2 weeks ago) that it’s past the time for quarantine, so they are not shutting down. That said, my son is sick, took COVID test Friday, (last in school Tuesday), waiting for results. If he’s positive, I know they will shut down.

Other son goes to a charter elementary school. They started the year all online, but moved to 4 day in person (Wednesdays virtual for deep clean) in early October. They just announced return to all virtual due to COVID.

Honestly, all virtual is easier to deal with than back and forth.