Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it makes sense to revisit masks once numbers come down - which should be soon.

But it was a total dick move for Youngkin to force it mid-surge.

Why does he want to pick this particular fight with NOVA right out of the gate? He could throw it to local control and move on. Federal disability law is on FCPS’s side. He will lose. And in so doing, he scare a bunch of moms and will remind everyone in NOVA right before the midterms that Rs are morons right before the midterms.

HAHAHAHAHA!!!! Oh my…thank you. That one was rich. Nice try on narrative creation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it makes sense to revisit masks once numbers come down - which should be soon.

But it was a total dick move for Youngkin to force it mid-surge.

Why does he want to pick this particular fight with NOVA right out of the gate? He could throw it to local control and move on. Federal disability law is on FCPS’s side. He will lose. And in so doing, he scare a bunch of moms and will remind everyone in NOVA right before the midterms that Rs are morons right before the midterms.

I agree. I've said before that local control is good by me, but saying that and in the same breath telling people they don't have to follow the decision made by a locally elected board is the part with which I have issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A friend who lives in Alabama is facing their second virtual week since the start of the month. They may not have to wear masks but now they all have to stay home. I would much rather my kid be able to be in person for school with a mask on.

A number of (fully mask wearing) schools in the DMV have already gone virtual this month as well. And masked or not, I’m guessing your friend’s Alabama school has been in person for a much greater portion of the last 2 years than the average school in the DMV.

PG Co went preemptively (and stupidly). DC took a couple days to test. MoCo had crazy standards, took 11 virtual, then realized they f—-kid up and back tracked. Who else in public schools?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it makes sense to revisit masks once numbers come down - which should be soon.

But it was a total dick move for Youngkin to force it mid-surge.

Why does he want to pick this particular fight with NOVA right out of the gate? He could throw it to local control and move on. Federal disability law is on FCPS’s side. He will lose. And in so doing, he scare a bunch of moms and will remind everyone in NOVA right before the midterms that Rs are morons right before the midterms.

Maybe he thinks most parents in NOVA know the data on the (barely there) impact of Covid on children and the data on the effectiveness of vaccines—and are ready to stop pretending that the vaccines don’t work. All this insistence on masking is just more science denial.

Well, he’s missing the part where my senior has 18 weeks of high school left and 4 weeks of robotics build season (after two full seasons were scratched) and even if she gets mildly ill, that’s another two weeks she can’t be in school. And APs and senior sports seasons and prom and school plays and graduation. All of which get paused or cancelled or moved virtual with unchecked spread.

My older kids’s SLAC had good surveillance testing. They went from 4 cases of Omicron to 156 in 48 hours before Christmas break. Freshman dorms mostly, because the upperclassmen had learned the deal in 2020-2021, while the freshmen had been DL seniors and never really took masking seriously (so says my kid anyway). And the campus is 99% vaxxed and was about 80% boosted. If your second grader wants to unmask, Go with God. But good luck keeping teachers in a cesspool.

My HS kids need to do everything they can to salvage one year. It ice to see my kid running in and out of the house on her way to this event and that meetup. If the mask gets her to graduation amd saves her senior year, I’ll take it.

The executive order is contravened by an actual state law, passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. He’s going to lose in court and he knows it. So why is this governor, who campaigned on spending tax dollars wisely, wasting all of this taxpayer money right out of the gate?

Anonymous wrote:A friend who lives in Alabama is facing their second virtual week since the start of the month. They may not have to wear masks but now they all have to stay home. I would much rather my kid be able to be in person for school with a mask on.

A number of (fully mask wearing) schools in the DMV have already gone virtual this month as well. And masked or not, I’m guessing your friend’s Alabama school has been in person for a much greater portion of the last 2 years than the average school in the DMV.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a Democrat who voted for Youngkin. I am glad that he is putting pressure on the school systems to eliminate the mask mandate. It is a shame that he will enact other policies that I strongly oppose, but I felt that those issues had to be sacrificed for the moment. I am an FCPS high school teacher with high school-aged kids.

For fighting against mask mandates? It was worth it to you? And you know it's just going to be performance--FCPS will be able to keep them as long as the CDC recommends it (and that's how long they would have kept them anyway) or the legislation changes--which isn't the governor anyway. I hope you think about your voting a little more carefully rather than impulsively in the future if this really is your thought process.

I do think my voting for Youngkin will be worth it to me and my family. I am hoping that FCPS will bend to the pressure sooner rather than later. We shall see. FWIW, I care mostly about protecting the environment in meaningful ways, enacting strict gun control, and balancing the budget. Not like the Democrats are getting any of that done for me.

I think it is a shame that Youngkin is pushing back against the vaccine mandates, but considering the Supreme Court decision, it isn't like McAuliffe would have been able to enforce them either.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it makes sense to revisit masks once numbers come down - which should be soon.

But it was a total dick move for Youngkin to force it mid-surge.

Why does he want to pick this particular fight with NOVA right out of the gate? He could throw it to local control and move on. Federal disability law is on FCPS’s side. He will lose. And in so doing, he scare a bunch of moms and will remind everyone in NOVA right before the midterms that Rs are morons right before the midterms.

Maybe he thinks most parents in NOVA know the data on the (barely there) impact of Covid on children and the data on the effectiveness of vaccines—and are ready to stop pretending that the vaccines don’t work. All this insistence on masking is just more science denial.

A friend who lives in Alabama is facing their second virtual week since the start of the month. They may not have to wear masks but now they all have to stay home. I would much rather my kid be able to be in person for school with a mask on.

Anonymous wrote:The sense of entitlement is amazing. The people cheering for this irresponsible mandate are probably the same people that bully anyone that gets in their way. I think these are probably the same parents that let their children down but are quick to blame everyone else for that. They probably shout out loud that the decision to wear masks should be made by them. Yet, they are the first to blame everyone else when something goes wrong.

+1

Anonymous wrote:I think it makes sense to revisit masks once numbers come down - which should be soon.

But it was a total dick move for Youngkin to force it mid-surge.

Why does he want to pick this particular fight with NOVA right out of the gate? He could throw it to local control and move on. Federal disability law is on FCPS’s side. He will lose. And in so doing, he scare a bunch of moms and will remind everyone in NOVA right before the midterms that Rs are morons right before the midterms.

The sense of entitlement is amazing. The people cheering for this irresponsible mandate are probably the same people that bully anyone that gets in their way. I think these are probably the same parents that let their children down but are quick to blame everyone else for that. They probably shout out loud that the decision to wear masks should be made by them. Yet, they are the first to blame everyone else when something goes wrong.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it makes sense to revisit masks once numbers come down - which should be soon.

But it was a total dick move for Youngkin to force it mid-surge.

If he had said March 1st, then it would just delay the lawsuits, right? Many parents are very scared of Covid and are insistent that we finish out this school year in masks. (And some of them want to require masks beyond that.) By Youngkin starting the fight now, hopefully, we might have a chance to get rid of the mask mandate by April. Fingers crossed.

He probably could have avoided lawsuits altogether if he waited until a reasonable time.

Unnecessary conflict.

I think we differ on what constitutes a reasonable time. I can compromise and say March 1st. Our numbers should be coming down by then as was noted in the first post.

Or I also like this idea from the Other VA Schools board:
How about this for a metric... If a school has more than 2% of students/staff/teachers that have Covid at any given time, then that school requires masks for everyone. And perhaps has to get masks on for at least a 2-week window. But if the percentage of positive cases is below 2% of the school population, then masks can be optional for staff and students.

A lot of schools meet that metric now. (Probably most.)

How about the county metric--the community has low community transmission for a 2 week window? We're still at extreme btw.

I think school metrics should be considered separately from the community metrics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it makes sense to revisit masks once numbers come down - which should be soon.

But it was a total dick move for Youngkin to force it mid-surge.

If he had said March 1st, then it would just delay the lawsuits, right? Many parents are very scared of Covid and are insistent that we finish out this school year in masks. (And some of them want to require masks beyond that.) By Youngkin starting the fight now, hopefully, we might have a chance to get rid of the mask mandate by April. Fingers crossed.

He probably could have avoided lawsuits altogether if he waited until a reasonable time.

Unnecessary conflict.

I think we differ on what constitutes a reasonable time. I can compromise and say March 1st. Our numbers should be coming down by then as was noted in the first post.

Or I also like this idea from the Other VA Schools board:
How about this for a metric... If a school has more than 2% of students/staff/teachers that have Covid at any given time, then that school requires masks for everyone. And perhaps has to get masks on for at least a 2-week window. But if the percentage of positive cases is below 2% of the school population, then masks can be optional for staff and students.

A lot of schools meet that metric now. (Probably most.)

How about the county metric--the community has low community transmission for a 2 week window? We're still at extreme btw.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it makes sense to revisit masks once numbers come down - which should be soon.

But it was a total dick move for Youngkin to force it mid-surge.

If he had said March 1st, then it would just delay the lawsuits, right? Many parents are very scared of Covid and are insistent that we finish out this school year in masks. (And some of them want to require masks beyond that.) By Youngkin starting the fight now, hopefully, we might have a chance to get rid of the mask mandate by April. Fingers crossed.

He probably could have avoided lawsuits altogether if he waited until a reasonable time.

Unnecessary conflict.

I think we differ on what constitutes a reasonable time. I can compromise and say March 1st. Our numbers should be coming down by then as was noted in the first post.

Or I also like this idea from the Other VA Schools board:
How about this for a metric... If a school has more than 2% of students/staff/teachers that have Covid at any given time, then that school requires masks for everyone. And perhaps has to get masks on for at least a 2-week window. But if the percentage of positive cases is below 2% of the school population, then masks can be optional for staff and students.

A lot of schools meet that metric now. (Probably most.)