Anonymous wrote:I’m not trying to get into the open school debate, but am more genuinely curious why schools in say suburban Chicago or suburban NYC/CT are open. These are also heavily democratic areas. I at first thought it was a red state/blue state thing. Just trying to understand what’s so different about our schools.

NY and CT suffered greatly from the virus, and so people have been much more willing to take the measures that keep the numbers down. Their positivity rates are very low, VA's about 3 times higher than that of New York, for example.

Last spring I just didn't believe that people would tolerate schools opening in some states and districts while others were all virtual. I was very wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not trying to get into the open school debate, but am more genuinely curious why schools in say suburban Chicago or suburban NYC/CT are open. These are also heavily democratic areas. I at first thought it was a red state/blue state thing. Just trying to understand what’s so different about our schools.

I am from NY. The districts are small. So less kids to deal with. Secondly, all of K-12 is not back fully. My home district they prioritized K-5. They saw only way they could make this happen was if enough people drove kids to school. Parents agreed. Middle and High School have been hybrid and DL. Very few middle and high school are back full time in those states. My cousins kids are middle and ES in upstate NY and both are in person 2 days a week.

When you have a smaller population, it is easier to problem solve.

That's doesn't explain why large urban districts like St. Louis, Dallas and Houston have all been operating in person for nearly 4 months. They take the kids' temperature, have them wear masks, the desks are separated by plexiglass, etc etc. All the normal precautions. Hence, no widespread illness and deaths. The same thing could be happening in DC, MD and VA if administrators weren't being held hostage to teachers unions' crazy demands.

The number of Covid deaths in Texas is 5x that of Virginia. You want to open up and live in 2021 like its 2019 - move.

And yet Iowa is also open, had a big spike, and now returned to lower case incidences than VA. The world is not simple.

Studies are coming out showing schools with proper mitigation have less COVID than their surrounding communities. Kids and staff can actually be safer at school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not trying to get into the open school debate, but am more genuinely curious why schools in say suburban Chicago or suburban NYC/CT are open. These are also heavily democratic areas. I at first thought it was a red state/blue state thing. Just trying to understand what’s so different about our schools.

I am from NY. The districts are small. So less kids to deal with. Secondly, all of K-12 is not back fully. My home district they prioritized K-5. They saw only way they could make this happen was if enough people drove kids to school. Parents agreed. Middle and High School have been hybrid and DL. Very few middle and high school are back full time in those states. My cousins kids are middle and ES in upstate NY and both are in person 2 days a week.

When you have a smaller population, it is easier to problem solve.

That's doesn't explain why large urban districts like St. Louis, Dallas and Houston have all been operating in person for nearly 4 months. They take the kids' temperature, have them wear masks, the desks are separated by plexiglass, etc etc. All the normal precautions. Hence, no widespread illness and deaths. The same thing could be happening in DC, MD and VA if administrators weren't being held hostage to teachers unions' crazy demands.

The number of Covid deaths in Texas is 5x that of Virginia. You want to open up and live in 2021 like its 2019 - move.

Per capita or total deaths?

I know that in NYC they have a robust coronavirus testing program. That's why they've been able to open up in the way that they have.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not trying to get into the open school debate, but am more genuinely curious why schools in say suburban Chicago or suburban NYC/CT are open. These are also heavily democratic areas. I at first thought it was a red state/blue state thing. Just trying to understand what’s so different about our schools.

I am from NY. The districts are small. So less kids to deal with. Secondly, all of K-12 is not back fully. My home district they prioritized K-5. They saw only way they could make this happen was if enough people drove kids to school. Parents agreed. Middle and High School have been hybrid and DL. Very few middle and high school are back full time in those states. My cousins kids are middle and ES in upstate NY and both are in person 2 days a week.

When you have a smaller population, it is easier to problem solve.

That's doesn't explain why large urban districts like St. Louis, Dallas and Houston have all been operating in person for nearly 4 months. They take the kids' temperature, have them wear masks, the desks are separated by plexiglass, etc etc. All the normal precautions. Hence, no widespread illness and deaths. The same thing could be happening in DC, MD and VA if administrators weren't being held hostage to teachers unions' crazy demands.

The number of Covid deaths in Texas is 5x that of Virginia. You want to open up and live in 2021 like its 2019 - move.

Anonymous wrote:Here’s one in-depth look: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/maplewood-new-jersey-school-reopening.html?fbclid=IwAR0NdkQI-5U0lzcqxAg6pTbQjHrQxqMR4WGH686-QZKl1BmOwl1OsxiG5wY

NP: Some interesting quotes from this article:

"The nation’s schoolchildren have been conscripted into a vast improvisational experiment, marked by geographic disparities that don’t seem to correlate to any calculation of risk. "
.....
"A board member whose term expired in January, Anthony Mazzocchi, questioned why the administration was unable to open the schools in some fashion during the fall, when numbers were relatively low. “You can always figure out a reason why it can’t work,” he later told me. “Why did they wave the white flag? In my opinion, they waved the white flag because it’s easy to. You can say, ‘Look we don’t want to get anybody sick.’” Now, as a consequence of the “perceived lack of will and vision in the early stages,” he adds, “there is little trust during what now is an even higher-risk environment.”

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not trying to get into the open school debate, but am more genuinely curious why schools in say suburban Chicago or suburban NYC/CT are open. These are also heavily democratic areas. I at first thought it was a red state/blue state thing. Just trying to understand what’s so different about our schools.

I am from NY. The districts are small. So less kids to deal with. Secondly, all of K-12 is not back fully. My home district they prioritized K-5. They saw only way they could make this happen was if enough people drove kids to school. Parents agreed. Middle and High School have been hybrid and DL. Very few middle and high school are back full time in those states. My cousins kids are middle and ES in upstate NY and both are in person 2 days a week.

When you have a smaller population, it is easier to problem solve.

That's doesn't explain why large urban districts like St. Louis, Dallas and Houston have all been operating in person for nearly 4 months. They take the kids' temperature, have them wear masks, the desks are separated by plexiglass, etc etc. All the normal precautions. Hence, no widespread illness and deaths. The same thing could be happening in DC, MD and VA if administrators weren't being held hostage to teachers unions' crazy demands.

Because they made it a priority.

Look in The NY Times education section. They wrote a series about the different choices made by schools to open for in-person instruction or to go with virtual learning. There is an article on Rhode Island schools that you will find interesting. It talked about the role of the Governor and the fact that so many parents were in jobs that required them to be in-person. They had no ability to oversee kids doing distance learning. The series is very interesting.

Anonymous wrote:Here’s one in-depth look: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/maplewood-new-jersey-school-reopening.html?fbclid=IwAR0NdkQI-5U0lzcqxAg6pTbQjHrQxqMR4WGH686-QZKl1BmOwl1OsxiG5wY

I really appreciated reading this article. Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous wrote:I’m not trying to get into the open school debate, but am more genuinely curious why schools in say suburban Chicago or suburban NYC/CT are open. These are also heavily democratic areas. I at first thought it was a red state/blue state thing. Just trying to understand what’s so different about our schools.

I am from NY. The districts are small. So less kids to deal with. Secondly, all of K-12 is not back fully. My home district they prioritized K-5. They saw only way they could make this happen was if enough people drove kids to school. Parents agreed. Middle and High School have been hybrid and DL. Very few middle and high school are back full time in those states. My cousins kids are middle and ES in upstate NY and both are in person 2 days a week.

When you have a smaller population, it is easier to problem solve.

Here’s one in-depth look: https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/01/maplewood-new-jersey-school-reopening.html?fbclid=IwAR0NdkQI-5U0lzcqxAg6pTbQjHrQxqMR4WGH686-QZKl1BmOwl1OsxiG5wY

Look at the decision makers. Often it’s the Governor or mayor and not a rookie school board like we have here.

I’m not trying to get into the open school debate, but am more genuinely curious why schools in say suburban Chicago or suburban NYC/CT are open. These are also heavily democratic areas. I at first thought it was a red state/blue state thing. Just trying to understand what’s so different about our schools.