Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good for MCPS. I was sweating bullets. Glad Dr. McKnight has the courage to do what’s right for the kids for once.

+1
thank goodness mcps is at long last doing what's right. those who are too afraid should stay home or take their kids out during lunch.

It is not what is right. What is right is doing more in terms of testing, social distancing and caution. Parents like you are to blame for this being out of control as you don't care.

No, parents like you are to blame for supporting virtual for a year. That scarred everybody and now people are ready to just burn it down and get it over with.

Of course I supported virtual. We didn't have vaccines and the schools were not set up to handle covid, especially an outbreak with Delta. Now we are seeing the consequences of covid ramping up again. I have zero issue with virtual. Maybe if you'd be more flexible it would have worked for your family.

If you want kids to stay in person school, consider your actions over the next few weeks. What are you willing to sacrifice to keep schools open?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good for MCPS. I was sweating bullets. Glad Dr. McKnight has the courage to do what’s right for the kids for once.

+1
thank goodness mcps is at long last doing what's right. those who are too afraid should stay home or take their kids out during lunch.

It is not what is right. What is right is doing more in terms of testing, social distancing and caution. Parents like you are to blame for this being out of control as you don't care.

No, parents like you are to blame for supporting virtual for a year. That scarred everybody and now people are ready to just burn it down and get it over with.

NP, but you admit you are cutting off your nose to spite your face? And using kids as pawns to do it? This is not what someone who cares about kids sounds like. Adults should do what they can to protect kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Good for MCPS. I was sweating bullets. Glad Dr. McKnight has the courage to do what’s right for the kids for once.

+1
thank goodness mcps is at long last doing what's right. those who are too afraid should stay home or take their kids out during lunch.

It is not what is right. What is right is doing more in terms of testing, social distancing and caution. Parents like you are to blame for this being out of control as you don't care.

No, parents like you are to blame for supporting virtual for a year. That scarred everybody and now people are ready to just burn it down and get it over with.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school will just *individually* shut down, not the whole school district.

Not happening, lady.

I bet you a million pretend dollars that by Thursday Jan 16th, more than 50% of all MCPC middle schools and high schools are moved to virtual learning. Can't be quite so sure about elementary schools.

I think the elementary schools are in good shape for a number of reasons. If I were a teacher I’d actually feel safest in an ES. First, most kids are recently vaccinated unlike 12-15. Second, the kids generally don’t go places without their parents. The majority of moco parents are not hosting gatherings of unmasked 3rd graders. Basically they are in more controlled environments unlike middle and high schoolers. I’m a covid minimized by moco standards but my elementary schoolers are vaccinated and haven’t had an indoor play date in 2 years. They go to school and outdoor stuff and that’s it.

Many parents allow their 3-5th graders to roam neighborhoods and hang out without a lot of supervision.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school will just *individually* shut down, not the whole school district.

Not happening, lady.

I bet you a million pretend dollars that by Thursday Jan 16th, more than 50% of all MCPC middle schools and high schools are moved to virtual learning. Can't be quite so sure about elementary schools.

I think the elementary schools are in good shape for a number of reasons. If I were a teacher I’d actually feel safest in an ES. First, most kids are recently vaccinated unlike 12-15. Second, the kids generally don’t go places without their parents. The majority of moco parents are not hosting gatherings of unmasked 3rd graders. Basically they are in more controlled environments unlike middle and high schoolers. I’m a covid minimized by moco standards but my elementary schoolers are vaccinated and haven’t had an indoor play date in 2 years. They go to school and outdoor stuff and that’s it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school will just *individually* shut down, not the whole school district.

Not happening, lady.

I bet you a million pretend dollars that by Thursday Jan 16th, more than 50% of all MCPC middle schools and high schools are moved to virtual learning. Can't be quite so sure about elementary schools.

Why do you think school transmission will be higher than community transmission? Community transmission is nowhere near 5 percent. Why, contrary to all evidence, do you think that schools are a magical place where Covid spreads more quickly and efficiently than anywhere else?

NP, because my school is 2500 kids who sit together all day in classrooms of 30 (no podding), many of whom wear cloth masks beneath their nose. Because those kids are sitting mere feet from one another with doors and windows closed fro 45 mins. Because a number of them come to school sick. Because they are sitting even closer with masks off at lunch time. Because they are hormonal teens and so they are still hooking up and partying outside school. Basically, high school is a germ pit in the best of times.

In the last 4 days before Xmas break, my school reported 70+ positive kids plus some staff. The only thing that stopped the spread was that parent s stopped sending their kids to school. It was a ghost town the day before break.

I expect it will be worse, because community spread is now much worse.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school will just *individually* shut down, not the whole school district.

Not happening, lady.

We are continuing to monitor cases on a daily basis. As we shared earlier, if 5 percent or more of unrelated students/teachers/staff (minimum of 10 of these individuals) tests positive in a 14-day period, a determination will be made as to whether the school should be closed for 14 calendar days and transition to virtual instruction. Please note that the 5 percent threshold does not automatically result in school closure; the primary factor to consider will be the level of the spread of the virus in the school.

Is Montgomery County some magical place where the omicron variant just doesn't spread person to person the way it has been doing Every. Where. Else?

+100 wave and nod boys

No, it’s moco where the omicron variant is spreading but not hospitalizing and/or killing children or adults.

Of course people are hospitalized and some are dying. We've been lucky with kids so far but at some point our luck will run out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's sad when DCPS has a better plan than MCPS on returning to school. MCPS won't even have tests available for a couple of weeks and does not accurately report cases anyway. Why can DCPS require testing and vaccination, while MCPS is still asking nicely to test if you feel like it and vaccinate if you're willing? Que Sera, Sera.

+1 DCPS is requiring proof of a negative test. The at home test kits are being distributed on Monday. School resumes on Wednesday to give time for distribution and to record results.

MCPS needs another 2 weeks to get test kits from the Montgomery County Government. Even then, it’s the honor code for students to report positive results. Students don’t have to show negative results to stay in school.

And forget about random testing of students. MCPS can’t even test students who had close contact with COVID classmates.

It’s a sh$t show in MCPS. I hope they all enjoyed their vacations.

Home tests aren't very accurate and can be faked. Its a false sense of security.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's sad when DCPS has a better plan than MCPS on returning to school. MCPS won't even have tests available for a couple of weeks and does not accurately report cases anyway. Why can DCPS require testing and vaccination, while MCPS is still asking nicely to test if you feel like it and vaccinate if you're willing? Que Sera, Sera.

+1 DCPS is requiring proof of a negative test. The at home test kits are being distributed on Monday. School resumes on Wednesday to give time for distribution and to record results.

MCPS needs another 2 weeks to get test kits from the Montgomery County Government. Even then, it’s the honor code for students to report positive results. Students don’t have to show negative results to stay in school.

And forget about random testing of students. MCPS can’t even test students who had close contact with COVID classmates.

It’s a sh$t show in MCPS. I hope they all enjoyed their vacations.

Montgomery County is completely devoid of leadership.

Anonymous wrote:Right now we realistically do not have enough testing capacity to have reliable data about “5%” spread. I haven’t been able to schedule a COVID test until Wednesday at the earliest.

Some of it will include private testing.

Right now we realistically do not have enough testing capacity to have reliable data about “5%” spread. I haven’t been able to schedule a COVID test until Wednesday at the earliest.

Anonymous wrote:If the schools open when community spread is so high and just after people get back from holiday travel and gatherings, couldn’t this lead to staffing issues and temporary closings as more students, teachers and staff test positive and get sick? I am looking at the same data that has been posted, along with the regional and Baltimore area hospital alerts. I’m not sure so many people getting ill so quickly is a good idea. The denominator is huge, even if severity for vaccinated/boostered is lower.

Just today, I talked to two local businesses with half their staff out sick. Obviously, I don’t want schools to close, but it seems they could quickly reach the metric for closing. I would be curious if the health department predicted odds and timing on that scenario.

I agree with this. Lots of staff will get sick -- how could they not? Subs won't be clamoring to fill in under these circumstances.

At some point when enough staff are out, they'll close schools. Or, worse, they'll keep them open but kids with no subs or useless subs -- how many substitute teachers for Spanish class can actually teach Spanish? -- will have the kids sit around doing some mindless activity or watching a movie.

Anonymous wrote:It's sad when DCPS has a better plan than MCPS on returning to school. MCPS won't even have tests available for a couple of weeks and does not accurately report cases anyway. Why can DCPS require testing and vaccination, while MCPS is still asking nicely to test if you feel like it and vaccinate if you're willing? Que Sera, Sera.

+1 DCPS is requiring proof of a negative test. The at home test kits are being distributed on Monday. School resumes on Wednesday to give time for distribution and to record results.

MCPS needs another 2 weeks to get test kits from the Montgomery County Government. Even then, it’s the honor code for students to report positive results. Students don’t have to show negative results to stay in school.

And forget about random testing of students. MCPS can’t even test students who had close contact with COVID classmates.

It’s a sh$t show in MCPS. I hope they all enjoyed their vacations.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school will just *individually* shut down, not the whole school district.

Not happening, lady.

I bet you a million pretend dollars that by Thursday Jan 16th, more than 50% of all MCPC middle schools and high schools are moved to virtual learning. Can't be quite so sure about elementary schools.

Why do you think school transmission will be higher than community transmission? Community transmission is nowhere near 5 percent. Why, contrary to all evidence, do you think that schools are a magical place where Covid spreads more quickly and efficiently than anywhere else?

I believe school transmission will be similar to community transmission, which will be explosively high for a couple weeks, and will include teachers' kids and teachers and bus drivers' kid and bus drivers and so on. Just as airline flights had to be cancelled due to lack of staff.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Each school will just *individually* shut down, not the whole school district.

Not happening, lady.

We are continuing to monitor cases on a daily basis. As we shared earlier, if 5 percent or more of unrelated students/teachers/staff (minimum of 10 of these individuals) tests positive in a 14-day period, a determination will be made as to whether the school should be closed for 14 calendar days and transition to virtual instruction. Please note that the 5 percent threshold does not automatically result in school closure; the primary factor to consider will be the level of the spread of the virus in the school.

Is Montgomery County some magical place where the omicron variant just doesn't spread person to person the way it has been doing Every. Where. Else?

+100 wave and nod boys

No, it’s moco where the omicron variant is spreading but not hospitalizing and/or killing children or adults.