Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow so impressive. 12 months after public schools shut down they might reopen . . . for 2 days a week.

Meanwhile crowded Catholic schools have been humming along fine 5 days a week since September with NO DEAD TEACHERS OR CHILDREN, of which we were told to expect plenty.

which catholic school is "crowded", and please define "crowded". Are we talking 30 kids/class?

yes - that is typical for catholics

Anonymous wrote:Wow so impressive. 12 months after public schools shut down they might reopen . . . for 2 days a week.

Meanwhile crowded Catholic schools have been humming along fine 5 days a week since September with NO DEAD TEACHERS OR CHILDREN, of which we were told to expect plenty.

YUP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hogan doesn’t have the power to make the school boards in MD counties do anything. It is just hot air.

I agree that schools should be open but right now we are all being held hostage by these terrible school systems.

Are there no state funds he can withhold, etc.?

Um, no. This is not how people govern first of all.

I’m not sure what you mean - this is how tons of governing is done. Isn’t this how schools were forced to comply with the Labor Day start? My question was whether the funds for this year were already released, if there were funds that could be legally withheld, or similar. In other words, how could he hope to enforce this?

If Northam declares this in VA, does Duran have authority to not follow the order? I'm so worried that the longer everyone stays remote, the more difficult it will be to get back in class.

People are letting fear take over and that's a big problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What an idiot. As if picking an arbitrary date was helpful with an ever-changing viral situation.

It's sobering to think that even with such pronouncements, Hogan is one of the better Governors on this and other issues...

It's sobering to realize how many people like you are willing to overlook all evidence to the contrary and spout off about how dangerous schools are . . . for what reason? So you can enjoy the feeling of living in the middle of catastrophic times? Find a new thrill.

Because I'm an expert in a molecular biology (which, you know, includes viruses), and I KNOW that opening schools shouldn't be done lightly. It's not that it can't be done. It's that I doubt Americans can accept and stick to a stringent plan. Japanese and Koreans? Sure. Europeans? Deplorable effort all over Europe, and cases shot up. Americans? I'm not holding out much hope...

Funny that you're an expert in microbiology, but your post is basically about social science (how people and systems behave cross-culturally). I'm just curious, have you consulted any actual social science publications or experts about this, or do you think it's obvious enough to a smart person?

If #2, that's fine, this is an anonymous internet message board, but you shouldn't expect credentials in microbiology to give you clout in other areas, much like I don't think my PhD in anthropology qualifies me to make public health recommendations just because I can read scientific papers too.

Pp is all over this board claiming expertise but her voice is always overly alarmist and frequently unsupported by data or the opinion of “real” as opposed to anonymous, experts.

What is your particular area of expertise?

“ I never believed that FCPS could enforce strict mitigation measures (I can’t even get the class bully who has weekly temper tantrums out of the room, let alone someone violating mask rules) ”

I think this by far the biggest thing driving there fact that public school teachers have fought return so hard vs private being back - because the schools refuse to enforce rules and discipline the kids for the normal stuff there is absolutely zero confidence that the mitigation measures will be really enforced and consequences applied if they are broken.

Why can’t the state withhold state funds? Wasn’t that the threat with the EO on opening schools before Labor Day? That if the school districts didn’t comply with the EO that they would lose state funding?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know if these parents saying we shouldn’t go back this school year have kids at home crying every day because they don’t want to do virtual school. A seven year old who loved school last year. The year before. And every day of preschool. Hates sitting in front of the iPad for school. Too timid to answer when called upon. Everyday. Crying. And — it goes without saying — not learning anything.

I don’t but I am a teacher and I hear you. I see my students when they turn on their cameras and it worries me. I never believed that FCPS could enforce strict mitigation measures (I can’t even get the class bully who has weekly temper tantrums out of the room, let alone someone violating mask rules) but I will be fully vaccinated soon and that is good enough for me. I think most teachers feel the same, so don’t worry. Distance learning is not much fun.

+1
I'll add that I'm confident my ES students will have little or no problems wearing their masks in school. Around winter break i noticed an increase in the number of students asking about returning to the school. That has increased. It's not a constant ask, but it comes up fairly often now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know if these parents saying we shouldn’t go back this school year have kids at home crying every day because they don’t want to do virtual school. A seven year old who loved school last year. The year before. And every day of preschool. Hates sitting in front of the iPad for school. Too timid to answer when called upon. Everyday. Crying. And — it goes without saying — not learning anything.

I don’t but I am a teacher and I hear you. I see my students when they turn on their cameras and it worries me. I never believed that FCPS could enforce strict mitigation measures (I can’t even get the class bully who has weekly temper tantrums out of the room, let alone someone violating mask rules) but I will be fully vaccinated soon and that is good enough for me. I think most teachers feel the same, so don’t worry. Distance learning is not much fun.

Thank you for the kind words. We have gone from wanting our kids to stay on grade level to wanting them to not hate school. Every day of virtual learning makes that harder. We’d homeschool if one of us didn’t work, but that’s not feasible.

Anonymous wrote:I just want to know if these parents saying we shouldn’t go back this school year have kids at home crying every day because they don’t want to do virtual school. A seven year old who loved school last year. The year before. And every day of preschool. Hates sitting in front of the iPad for school. Too timid to answer when called upon. Everyday. Crying. And — it goes without saying — not learning anything.

I don’t but I am a teacher and I hear you. I see my students when they turn on their cameras and it worries me. I never believed that FCPS could enforce strict mitigation measures (I can’t even get the class bully who has weekly temper tantrums out of the room, let alone someone violating mask rules) but I will be fully vaccinated soon and that is good enough for me. I think most teachers feel the same, so don’t worry. Distance learning is not much fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What an idiot. As if picking an arbitrary date was helpful with an ever-changing viral situation.

It's sobering to think that even with such pronouncements, Hogan is one of the better Governors on this and other issues...

It's sobering to realize how many people like you are willing to overlook all evidence to the contrary and spout off about how dangerous schools are . . . for what reason? So you can enjoy the feeling of living in the middle of catastrophic times? Find a new thrill.

Because I'm an expert in a molecular biology (which, you know, includes viruses), and I KNOW that opening schools shouldn't be done lightly. It's not that it can't be done. It's that I doubt Americans can accept and stick to a stringent plan. Japanese and Koreans? Sure. Europeans? Deplorable effort all over Europe, and cases shot up. Americans? I'm not holding out much hope...

Screw your facts, the Catholic schools are open! /s

Schools are open all over the county.

Nursing homes = Problem
Multi family living = Problem
Bars & Restaurants = Problem

Schools = Not a problem

Anyone telling you otherwise has an agenda.

Correction.
They are open for hybrid. And schools are constantly closing and going back to all virtual because of positive cases and staffing issues.

I just want to know if these parents saying we shouldn’t go back this school year have kids at home crying every day because they don’t want to do virtual school. A seven year old who loved school last year. The year before. And every day of preschool. Hates sitting in front of the iPad for school. Too timid to answer when called upon. Everyday. Crying. And — it goes without saying — not learning anything.

Anonymous wrote:Wow so impressive. 12 months after public schools shut down they might reopen . . . for 2 days a week.

Meanwhile crowded Catholic schools have been humming along fine 5 days a week since September with NO DEAD TEACHERS OR CHILDREN, of which we were told to expect plenty.

which catholic school is "crowded", and please define "crowded". Are we talking 30 kids/class?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What an idiot. As if picking an arbitrary date was helpful with an ever-changing viral situation.

It's sobering to think that even with such pronouncements, Hogan is one of the better Governors on this and other issues...

It's sobering to realize how many people like you are willing to overlook all evidence to the contrary and spout off about how dangerous schools are . . . for what reason? So you can enjoy the feeling of living in the middle of catastrophic times? Find a new thrill.

Because I'm an expert in a molecular biology (which, you know, includes viruses), and I KNOW that opening schools shouldn't be done lightly. It's not that it can't be done. It's that I doubt Americans can accept and stick to a stringent plan. Japanese and Koreans? Sure. Europeans? Deplorable effort all over Europe, and cases shot up. Americans? I'm not holding out much hope...

Funny that you're an expert in microbiology, but your post is basically about social science (how people and systems behave cross-culturally). I'm just curious, have you consulted any actual social science publications or experts about this, or do you think it's obvious enough to a smart person?

If #2, that's fine, this is an anonymous internet message board, but you shouldn't expect credentials in microbiology to give you clout in other areas, much like I don't think my PhD in anthropology qualifies me to make public health recommendations just because I can read scientific papers too.

Pp is all over this board claiming expertise but her voice is always overly alarmist and frequently unsupported by data or the opinion of “real” as opposed to anonymous, experts.

Uh, that wasn’t me. Guess I am your bogey man now, huh? I will repost from your favorite thread so you know who THIS anonymous is:
I concede that children under 10 are less likely to spread COVID and I also believe schools CAN open if they adhere to strict safety and mitigation measures. I also believe you can do that without throwing grandpa under the bus, demonizing teachers’ unions, or threatening school boards and school budgets. People, however, clearly seem to enjoy doing all that stuff.

I also think weekly testing and monitoring is important if this new strain is as virulent as I have read.

Rates in MD are way below what they are in VA, even in the midst of this latest surge. I expect that, plus the fact that there is finally a functioning federal govt with a vaccine plan, has given him the confidence to do so.