Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More info will be sent out later, but here's the list from the current MCPS press conference:

Rock Terrace
Cannon Road
North Chevy Chase elementary
Hallie Wells
Monocacy
Roberto Clemente
Forest Knolls
Waters Landing
Rosemont
Seneca Valley
Sherwood elementary

Given the spread and sheer numbers of cases, a prudent thing to do. I guess MCPS is taking responsible actions to keep the students and teachers safe. I guess all need to relax until this wave passes in next few weeks.

Keep kids safe from what? The whole language of keep kids safe is poisonous. It is emotional not logical. It is destructive to close schools to prevent vaccinated kids from catching what will be a cold….a cold they will be at risk of getting every winter forever. The lunacy has to end in 2022.

I agree! The metric needs to be "If you're sick, stay home." And that's it.

Glad smarter minds than yours prevail.

No evidence of that yet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More info will be sent out later, but here's the list from the current MCPS press conference:

Rock Terrace
Cannon Road
North Chevy Chase elementary
Hallie Wells
Monocacy
Roberto Clemente
Forest Knolls
Waters Landing
Rosemont
Seneca Valley
Sherwood elementary

Given the spread and sheer numbers of cases, a prudent thing to do. I guess MCPS is taking responsible actions to keep the students and teachers safe. I guess all need to relax until this wave passes in next few weeks.

Keep kids safe from what? The whole language of keep kids safe is poisonous. It is emotional not logical. It is destructive to close schools to prevent vaccinated kids from catching what will be a cold….a cold they will be at risk of getting every winter forever. The lunacy has to end in 2022.

I agree! The metric needs to be "If you're sick, stay home." And that's it.

Glad smarter minds than yours prevail.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More info will be sent out later, but here's the list from the current MCPS press conference:

Rock Terrace
Cannon Road
North Chevy Chase elementary
Hallie Wells
Monocacy
Roberto Clemente
Forest Knolls
Waters Landing
Rosemont
Seneca Valley
Sherwood elementary

Given the spread and sheer numbers of cases, a prudent thing to do. I guess MCPS is taking responsible actions to keep the students and teachers safe. I guess all need to relax until this wave passes in next few weeks.

Keep kids safe from what? The whole language of keep kids safe is poisonous. It is emotional not logical. It is destructive to close schools to prevent vaccinated kids from catching what will be a cold….a cold they will be at risk of getting every winter forever. The lunacy has to end in 2022.

Nope. Sorry. You can always homeschool though!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's probably no real pattern to these schools because it's such a small number-- better testing? more reporting? actual outbreak among a geographic or demographic group?

But I plotted them out on a map to at least get an idea.

This might work-- I could only add 10 here-- I'm missing Sherwood ES in Olney

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Cannon+Road+Elementary+School/Forest+Knolls+Elementary+School/North+Chevy+Chase+Elementary/Rock+Terrace+School/Rosemont+Elementary+School/Roberto+Clemente+Middle+School/Waters+Landing+Elementary+School/Hallie+Wells+Middle+School/Seneca+Valley+High+School/Monocacy+Elementary+School/@39.1144777,-77.3331571,11z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m62!4m61!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b7c543c42bddb1:0xd2a84447424691b0!2m2!1d-76.9943994!2d39.0687916!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b7cf65e1371b47:0x78db13e513b53cee!2m2!1d-77.0203899!2d39.0336879!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b7c93bdc873e47:0x1f5d39fe3709c810!2m2!1d-77.0730537!2d38.9989746!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b7cd70175a43ab:0x2379fe14b940c44d!2m2!1d-77.1600719!2d39.0932441!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b7d2b6e52d8ca5:0xd76073f712b51197!2m2!1d-77.1858649!2d39.1248122!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b62c5a79e01aff:0x4fd1af6ada87d71e!2m2!1d-77.2476655!2d39.1655849!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b62c120435f31b:0x3e08b20b849078b3!2m2!1d-77.2684843!2d39.1889705!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b62b0735840c73:0xdef71f9339502584!2m2!1d-77.2399467!2d39.2323039!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b62c3f68382f17:0xa6f2ec92ae7c0041!2m2!1d-77.2641458!2d39.1744841!1m5!1m1!1s0x89b62611b4aee1ed:0x1ea23f535b2cb1d7!2m2!1d-77.3930382!2d39.2242571!3e0

It looks like:

3 Downcounty
1 Rockville
1 Gaithersburg
1 Olney
5 Germantown and points north

Again, probably means nothing, but almost half the schools are in ~Germantown, which has about 10% of the MoCo population.

I teach in Germantown and not surprised. There is a lot of shared housing up there with multiple families under one roof. Many parents who don't have jobs that allow for sick leave. We are always hit hard by the flu so I'm not shocked that COVID is spreading. We have had a few kids who just don't show up for school and parents can't/won't get them tested for COVID so numbers are always a little skewed.

I don't think you can read in to the numbers like that. I have a child at a Potomac area school and I can tell you half of her friends' families all have covid right now. I don't see any of that information reflected in the official numbers for the school although maybe it's in the spreadsheet that will be shared later today. I don't think it's just a coincidence that DD has friends whose families have the virus now but I think it's just that there's a 25 plus percent positivity rate in the community so it's just everywhere.

I think what you are seeing right now is mostly STAFF numbers and if a school has done a good job of getting the word out about how to report you may be seeing some of that too.

I want schools to remain open but I think their data is wrong and they are making ill informed decisions.

25% positivity rate in Montgomery County? That is crazy high. If true, I would support all schools go virtual for two weeks

This doesn't mean 25% have COVID. It means 25% of people testing for COVID have COVID. Which is bad bad bad. But not as bad as a lot of people assume. Im any case, yeah, going virtual for this surge makes sense either way, especially since unlike March 2020 this is relatively short-lived and therefore unlikely to have the massive learning-loss and social impacts that a 18 month closure did.

What? Over FIVE percent positivity rate is bad (and means actual case rates are significantly higher than reported) and calls for additional community restrictions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:actually, she's not. but thanks caitlynn for advertising yourself.

PP here (and not Caitlynn). You're right, she wasn't live-tweeting - my mistake. She is a good source of this information, though, and is the first place I saw the list of schools posted.

She is also a great hard working reporter. Routinely tries to juggle five stories a day.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope our district doesn’t follow the stupidity, but if they do, I would be most mad for the fact they didn’t announce it beforehand! We could have stayed at our destination longer and traveled in the off peak days

Ahh yes. If only the entire community would sacrifice even more so you could save a little more money on your vacation.

Allow me to apologize on behalf of the world that you traveled during the holidays amid a pandemic and didn’t get the best deal.
The rest of us will stay home so it’s safe when you get back from your discounted holiday.

Is there anything else we can do for you? I’ve kept my kids home for 2 weeks so they would be safe and wouldn’t bring Covid to school.
We will just suck it up when your germy kids float back in from your cheap vacation. So glad to be of service.

The comments on here reflect why this won’t end.

Give it a rest, scarlet.
- different poster

No.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope our district doesn’t follow the stupidity, but if they do, I would be most mad for the fact they didn’t announce it beforehand! We could have stayed at our destination longer and traveled in the off peak days

Ahh yes. If only the entire community would sacrifice even more so you could save a little more money on your vacation.

Allow me to apologize on behalf of the world that you traveled during the holidays amid a pandemic and didn’t get the best deal.
The rest of us will stay home so it’s safe when you get back from your discounted holiday.

Is there anything else we can do for you? I’ve kept my kids home for 2 weeks so they would be safe and wouldn’t bring Covid to school.
We will just suck it up when your germy kids float back in from your cheap vacation. So glad to be of service.

The comments on here reflect why this won’t end.

Summed up perfectly.

Anonymous wrote:I don't think most people are terrified of the new variant but are well aware that they can't come to work if they get sick. Ask any teacher, most of us have come to work dragging ass because we couldn't get a sub or it was just easier than writing sub plans. With COVID, there's no "pushing through it". You test positive, you're home and can't come in. If your kids get it, you have to stay home with them. Add the sub shortage to the equation and we're screwed.
Schools are going to end up going virtual because there won't be enough teachers able to work when their own children get sick or have their schools switch to virtual. I can't leave my 7 year old home alone for 14 days.

And yet, this is the dilemma this asinine policy creates for non-teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard it is going to be ALL. Not yet announced.

Yup seems like that’s what the plan is.. no way the red schools will be yellow or green after 14 days. If anything the yellow and green will be red soon. Its all virtual for everyone. MCPS ruins another year of learning for our kids. Especially the younger elementary and special needs students.

What kind of looney tune wants to send a kid into a school with that much COVID? Weirdo. COVID is ruining things, not MCPS.

No, MCPS is a mess. Other parts of the country have successfully (eg Florida) kept schools open throughout this pandemic.

I’m fine sending my kid to school and we are yellow. If you are concerned, you probably should try to sign up for Virtual. So many kids have already had Covid or have it now. Same with teachers.

School is important for kids.

Doesn’t Florida have a much bigger death rate though? Even if Covid was only spreading silently through the schools, the kids surely brought it home to their parents and grandparents.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard it is going to be ALL. Not yet announced.

Yup seems like that’s what the plan is.. no way the red schools will be yellow or green after 14 days. If anything the yellow and green will be red soon. Its all virtual for everyone. MCPS ruins another year of learning for our kids. Especially the younger elementary and special needs students.

What kind of looney tune wants to send a kid into a school with that much COVID? Weirdo. COVID is ruining things, not MCPS.

What kind of idiot thinks COVID is more of a threat to kids than mental illness resulting from nearly two YEARS of chronic stress?

Clueless people are ruining our kids. Not COVID.

NP.

I don't know. What kind of big brain genius thinks that 2-4 weeks of virtual will do more long-term damage on a population level than even "only" an extra 10% of kids getting COVID because schools all stayed in-person?

What kind of beautiful mind thinks that we wouldn't soon all be forced to go virtual from staffing shortages alone, no matter what the policy is?

What kind of galactic superintelligent being thinks that everyone getting COVID all at once will be less stressful to the mental health of kids than a few weeks of home instruction?

You can be as cute with the terms as you want, but I can't fathom how people still trust MCPS to return to in-person after two weeks only of virtual. Come on, people. I'm not even going to touch how cavalier you are about kids' mental health.

I can't fathom how they expect families to find childcare solutions in two-week increments. And two-week increments that can apparently start/stop midweek.

The after care programs will operate in the closed schools (thank goodness). Let that sink in. We will once again be paying $1200 a month for the privilege of setting foot in a public school building

Well, no. $1,200 a month for the privilege of having someone care for you kid.

$1200? Our provider promptly raised rates and we were paying $2000 a month. Imagine all the families for whom that would be completely out of reach. It was a stretch for us. We did that for almost a year. It’s hell.

I understand January and probably February are going to be disrupted, with some schools (or perhaps granularity down to classes at elementary level in some cases) needing to occasionally go virtual for staffing reasons. Ideally with some sort of care for the most vulnerable students who have no options. The rest of us, well, I basically expect to be screwed as a working parent during the omicron wave. I've accepted my fate.

But closing 14 days at a time? That is extremely, unnecessarily conservative.

And based on community spread! Why does it matter how many students are positive or quarantining, unless you get to something like the 20-25% level, where some argument could be made for virtual? They need to separate these numbers out and report staff and students separately. How can they even make informed decisions about whether they can run a school? (The answer is that they are closing because of "community spread", not because they can't run a school.)

This is completely silly and not scientific, but I don't have the energy to fight it anymore. Let's hope this wave is short and painful...

I don't think most people are terrified of the new variant but are well aware that they can't come to work if they get sick. Ask any teacher, most of us have come to work dragging ass because we couldn't get a sub or it was just easier than writing sub plans. With COVID, there's no "pushing through it". You test positive, you're home and can't come in. If your kids get it, you have to stay home with them. Add the sub shortage to the equation and we're screwed.
Schools are going to end up going virtual because there won't be enough teachers able to work when their own children get sick or have their schools switch to virtual. I can't leave my 7 year old home alone for 14 days.

How can we vote out these bastards that keep closing schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard it is going to be ALL. Not yet announced.

Yup seems like that’s what the plan is.. no way the red schools will be yellow or green after 14 days. If anything the yellow and green will be red soon. Its all virtual for everyone. MCPS ruins another year of learning for our kids. Especially the younger elementary and special needs students.

What kind of looney tune wants to send a kid into a school with that much COVID? Weirdo. COVID is ruining things, not MCPS.

What kind of idiot thinks COVID is more of a threat to kids than mental illness resulting from nearly two YEARS of chronic stress?

Clueless people are ruining our kids. Not COVID.

NP.

I don't know. What kind of big brain genius thinks that 2-4 weeks of virtual will do more long-term damage on a population level than even "only" an extra 10% of kids getting COVID because schools all stayed in-person?

What kind of beautiful mind thinks that we wouldn't soon all be forced to go virtual from staffing shortages alone, no matter what the policy is?

What kind of galactic superintelligent being thinks that everyone getting COVID all at once will be less stressful to the mental health of kids than a few weeks of home instruction?

You can be as cute with the terms as you want, but I can't fathom how people still trust MCPS to return to in-person after two weeks only of virtual. Come on, people. I'm not even going to touch how cavalier you are about kids' mental health.

I'm the PP who posted those "cute terms" (and would never blame families for lack of childcare, nor am I cavalier about mental health-- though it's true that I care less about it in a temporary situation with serious competing risks).

And I can't fathom how people think that if only MCPS vowed never to utilize virtual instruction, we'd be just fine.

You are setting up a world in which, if MCPS pivots to virtual for any reason, they will "not be trusted" to return for months or years. Thus, if they want to keep your "trust" they should only pivot to virtual, when? Never? At 50% positivity? Or would it be acceptable to do so when there literally are not enough staff available to keep the school running safely-- which is not a metric we are far from meeting?

The thing is, even if you say there were an acceptable time in your eyes, I don't "trust" that you would not move the goalposts if we reached them.

That's largely what's already happened. A couple of weeks ago, most pro-in-person folks seemed to think the 5% metric was reasonable enough. At least acceptable. Not all pro-in-person folks, but seemingly most.

Now all that has changed is that we're meeting or exceeding that same metric, and now it's unreasonable.

Literally no way to win.

Please. There's been plenty of goalpost-moving on both sides, so don't try to claim superiority on that front.

If MCPS wants to earn my trust, personally, when so many staff are out with Omicron that they can't function, they won't offer virtual at all, because it's a farce. They should admit that, due to the pandemic, they cannot provide the services they are literally paid to do, and shut their doors.

And then, once Omicron has subsided in, what six weeks? Eight? They'll reopen for in-person and deal with the learning loss they claim is fake.

As for mental health, again, anyone who thinks it's a less serious risk *specifically to children* than Omicron and its additional prolonged school closures either isn't paying attention or doesn't care.

I didn't claim superiority because I'm not interested in winning any sort of game here.

You're right that I am assuming virtual won't last more than a month. To that end, I'm comparing the mental health impact of that marginal (additional) amount of virtual schooling to the impact of marginal long-term disabilities among other things (that I don't necessarily expect to show up right away-- see 1918 flu and Parkinsons). Going virtual would slow the spread which would, contrary to popular belief, lead to a decreased number of total cases, even if it only slows it a bit. It would also lead to fewer deaths and disabilities caused by overloaded hospitals. It also gives kids and others who haven't been fully vaxxed more time to catch up and reduce the risk of poorer outcomes (even if we imagine no one dies). It also reduces everyone's viral load, which leads to better outcomes.

The difference between, say, 10% and a 15% rate of certain disabilities in the future is actually highly significant.

But we can all play the conjecture game. No one knows with anything remotely like certainty who is right, but I'm not being cavalier about mental health or learning loss. I'm simply judging other consequences to be greater. And yes, I'm making an assumption about the length of virtual-- but so are you. Your conclusions are based on indefinite or many months of virtual, and mine on a few weeks at most. So of course they're likely to have different imagined consequences.

The part of my argument no one seems to be touching is that I don't think there's as a wide a range of choices as people are imagining. Virtual to some significant degree is inevitable. So some of these arguments are for just kicking the can down the road.

Regardless, you showed some of your cards (or whatever) when you said that, given more extreme circumstances, you'd rather schools shut down completely than have them go to virtual. What effect does that have on mental health? And do you realize that by being less proactive at lower rates of viral spread, you actually potentially hasten that outcome? The one where everything shuts down completely?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ve heard it is going to be ALL. Not yet announced.

Yup seems like that’s what the plan is.. no way the red schools will be yellow or green after 14 days. If anything the yellow and green will be red soon. Its all virtual for everyone. MCPS ruins another year of learning for our kids. Especially the younger elementary and special needs students.

What kind of looney tune wants to send a kid into a school with that much COVID? Weirdo. COVID is ruining things, not MCPS.

What kind of idiot thinks COVID is more of a threat to kids than mental illness resulting from nearly two YEARS of chronic stress?

Clueless people are ruining our kids. Not COVID.

NP.

I don't know. What kind of big brain genius thinks that 2-4 weeks of virtual will do more long-term damage on a population level than even "only" an extra 10% of kids getting COVID because schools all stayed in-person?

What kind of beautiful mind thinks that we wouldn't soon all be forced to go virtual from staffing shortages alone, no matter what the policy is?

What kind of galactic superintelligent being thinks that everyone getting COVID all at once will be less stressful to the mental health of kids than a few weeks of home instruction?

You can be as cute with the terms as you want, but I can't fathom how people still trust MCPS to return to in-person after two weeks only of virtual. Come on, people. I'm not even going to touch how cavalier you are about kids' mental health.

I'm the PP who posted those "cute terms" (and would never blame families for lack of childcare, nor am I cavalier about mental health-- though it's true that I care less about it in a temporary situation with serious competing risks).

And I can't fathom how people think that if only MCPS vowed never to utilize virtual instruction, we'd be just fine.

You are setting up a world in which, if MCPS pivots to virtual for any reason, they will "not be trusted" to return for months or years. Thus, if they want to keep your "trust" they should only pivot to virtual, when? Never? At 50% positivity? Or would it be acceptable to do so when there literally are not enough staff available to keep the school running safely-- which is not a metric we are far from meeting?

The thing is, even if you say there were an acceptable time in your eyes, I don't "trust" that you would not move the goalposts if we reached them.

That's largely what's already happened. A couple of weeks ago, most pro-in-person folks seemed to think the 5% metric was reasonable enough. At least acceptable. Not all pro-in-person folks, but seemingly most.

Now all that has changed is that we're meeting or exceeding that same metric, and now it's unreasonable.

Literally no way to win.

Please. There's been plenty of goalpost-moving on both sides, so don't try to claim superiority on that front.

If MCPS wants to earn my trust, personally, when so many staff are out with Omicron that they can't function, they won't offer virtual at all, because it's a farce. They should admit that, due to the pandemic, they cannot provide the services they are literally paid to do, and shut their doors.

And then, once Omicron has subsided in, what six weeks? Eight? They'll reopen for in-person and deal with the learning loss they claim is fake.

As for mental health, again, anyone who thinks it's a less serious risk *specifically to children* than Omicron and its additional prolonged school closures either isn't paying attention or doesn't care.