Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you look back now and think that your fear was unwarranted? Do you feel you made the choice based on politics and not wanting to be viewed as supporting Trump?

Personally I regret being too cautious for way too long. I look at friends who traveled, whose kids went back in person to private school, played sports and so on and nothing happened. Not a single one so much as for a sniffle or a cold. I think I just wasted time sitting at home for nothing. And the last couple of months I really regret that my child isn’t in school at least four days a week

I call BS on this. You don't sound like you were ever in the "stay closed" camp. You sound like an Open Schools Now person who is trying to stir the pot with your push for 4 days a week.

When you say "nothing happened," that does not ring true with our experience. I too know people who traveled, whose kids did sports and went to in-person school (we all do). It's not true at all that "nothing happened." Some of them got Covid. Many of them have been in quarantine, sometimes more than once, so were in and out of school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. If they’d offered surveillance or rapid testing in schools, I would have felt differently as both a parent and a staff member. They didn’t, and most of us who were in person with students before the vaccine was available have a pretty good idea why. I know people don’t want to hear this, but my personal experience is that schools have not been honest about reporting or contact tracing.

what schools weren’t doing any testing at all? and contact tracing is generally the responsibility of the health department. I was able to read the research and see that frequent asymptomatic testing wasn’t necessary for safety, and also be reassured by the lack of spread in open schools. We knew that as early as October if not earlier. people are really trying to rewrite history and wish we would forget that privates, parochials, and **all of NYC** successfully and safely reopened well prior to vaccines.

Anonymous wrote:Do you look back now and think that your fear was unwarranted? Do you feel you made the choice based on politics and not wanting to be viewed as supporting Trump?

Personally I regret being too cautious for way too long. I look at friends who traveled, whose kids went back in person to private school, played sports and so on and nothing happened. Not a single one so much as for a sniffle or a cold. I think I just wasted time sitting at home for nothing. And the last couple of months I really regret that my child isn’t in school at least four days a week

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

That wasn’t the choice most people were making.
Doing virtual school didn’t have to mean no socialization.
My 8 year old did virtual school and played outside on hikes and with kids in the neighborhood with masks. We did less in the winter but still did some. I don’t regret the choice - of course now i can see how much better things are but as parents we are also fully vaccinated now so it is different. We made the right choice at the time. We also sent my 5 year old to an in person kindergarten. And she played outside.

Everyone I know chose middle grounds, some a bit different than others. Last year was terrible in many ways but we made choices because we were rational and had to. And many many people did get covid last winter. Had one family been less cautious it wouldn’t have been much different for that family. The reality is though that if every or a large number of families had been less cautious it would have been worse. I am glad the majority of people in my community worked together to be reasonably safe. I am so happy to enjoy the time now with friends given that.

I mean - you had the option to send your 5 year old to in person K. that makes you very lucky compared to many of us! and also on the less cautious side. hopefully you can see that your family had many many more advantages than those of us stuck with only online learning and without all the social opportunities your kids had.

Where are you that your K kid never had the opportunity to go in person?

Not PP but there are still some school systems that are 100% virtual.
https://info.burbio.com/school-tracker-update-may-10/

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

That wasn’t the choice most people were making.
Doing virtual school didn’t have to mean no socialization.
My 8 year old did virtual school and played outside on hikes and with kids in the neighborhood with masks. We did less in the winter but still did some. I don’t regret the choice - of course now i can see how much better things are but as parents we are also fully vaccinated now so it is different. We made the right choice at the time. We also sent my 5 year old to an in person kindergarten. And she played outside.

Everyone I know chose middle grounds, some a bit different than others. Last year was terrible in many ways but we made choices because we were rational and had to. And many many people did get covid last winter. Had one family been less cautious it wouldn’t have been much different for that family. The reality is though that if every or a large number of families had been less cautious it would have been worse. I am glad the majority of people in my community worked together to be reasonably safe. I am so happy to enjoy the time now with friends given that.

I mean - you had the option to send your 5 year old to in person K. that makes you very lucky compared to many of us! and also on the less cautious side. hopefully you can see that your family had many many more advantages than those of us stuck with only online learning and without all the social opportunities your kids had.

Where are you that your K kid never had the opportunity to go in person?

Anonymous wrote:
If schools had stayed closed for a bit longer, we would have prevented thousands of deaths. Not children’s deaths, but mortality in the community stemming from viral spread at school.

So I regret that schools opened, but I realize that Homo Sapiens has apparently not evolved much in the delayed gratification and impulse control parts of their brain.

Now with vaccinations progressing apace and new cases plummeting, it’s a different story. I look forward to fully open schools in the fall!

Anonymous wrote:
If schools had stayed closed for a bit longer, we would have prevented thousands of deaths. Not children’s deaths, but mortality in the community stemming from viral spread at school.

So I regret that schools opened, but I realize that Homo Sapiens has apparently not evolved much in the delayed gratification and impulse control parts of their brain.

Now with vaccinations progressing apace and new cases plummeting, it’s a different story. I look forward to fully open schools in the fall!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

That wasn’t the choice most people were making.
Doing virtual school didn’t have to mean no socialization.
My 8 year old did virtual school and played outside on hikes and with kids in the neighborhood with masks. We did less in the winter but still did some. I don’t regret the choice - of course now i can see how much better things are but as parents we are also fully vaccinated now so it is different. We made the right choice at the time. We also sent my 5 year old to an in person kindergarten. And she played outside.

Everyone I know chose middle grounds, some a bit different than others. Last year was terrible in many ways but we made choices because we were rational and had to. And many many people did get covid last winter. Had one family been less cautious it wouldn’t have been much different for that family. The reality is though that if every or a large number of families had been less cautious it would have been worse. I am glad the majority of people in my community worked together to be reasonably safe. I am so happy to enjoy the time now with friends given that.

I mean - you had the option to send your 5 year old to in person K. that makes you very lucky compared to many of us! and also on the less cautious side. hopefully you can see that your family had many many more advantages than those of us stuck with only online learning and without all the social opportunities your kids had.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

Yes. Exactly and this attitude is exactly why schools stayed closed. What is the harm in buying batteries for your smoke detector or wearing a seatbelt? I only see upside. Closing schools has been disastrous for many, many children and some will never recover.

I’m the poster you’re replying to. OP asked if those of us who agreed schools should be closed had any regrets. I don’t. That doesn’t mean that I don’t realize, with hindsight, that we could have safety opened last fall. Over the summer, I was on the fence about sending my kids to in-person school in the fall, but then the choice was taken away from me because MCPS went 100% virtual. By October, I wished we’d opened since it appeared to be safe for the schools that did open. Then in November, cases started rising sharply and I was thankful we were virtual over the holidays. In December, I filled out a parent survey indicating that I was interested in in-person instruction for my kids in the spring because there was no downside (you could change to virtual at any time). Due to my kids’ ages, they just happened to be in the very last group MCPS brought back. One kid chose to remain virtual to avoid a long bus ride to a magnet. That kid has been fine with virtual learning. My other kid has some special needs and really struggled with distance learning. That kid attends our home school, so has gone back in-person. It was easier to send dc back at the end of April because I was only a week away from my second shot.

I don’t regret how things worked out. It’s been a roller coaster ride and it sucked at times, but I’m high risk and I never got covid. My kids never got covid. Instead of regretting all the days they could have received in-person instruction and didn’t, I’m choosing to be thankful that we didn’t experience covid and any long term effects.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

That wasn’t the choice most people were making.
Doing virtual school didn’t have to mean no socialization.
My 8 year old did virtual school and played outside on hikes and with kids in the neighborhood with masks. We did less in the winter but still did some. I don’t regret the choice - of course now i can see how much better things are but as parents we are also fully vaccinated now so it is different. We made the right choice at the time. We also sent my 5 year old to an in person kindergarten. And she played outside.

Everyone I know chose middle grounds, some a bit different than others. Last year was terrible in many ways but we made choices because we were rational and had to. And many many people did get covid last winter. Had one family been less cautious it wouldn’t have been much different for that family. The reality is though that if every or a large number of families had been less cautious it would have been worse. I am glad the majority of people in my community worked together to be reasonably safe. I am so happy to enjoy the time now with friends given that.

I mean - you had the option to send your 5 year old to in person K. that makes you very lucky compared to many of us! and also on the less cautious side. hopefully you can see that your family had many many more advantages than those of us stuck with only online learning and without all the social opportunities your kids had.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

Yes. Exactly and this attitude is exactly why schools stayed closed. What is the harm in buying batteries for your smoke detector or wearing a seatbelt? I only see upside. Closing schools has been disastrous for many, many children and some will never recover.

I’m the poster you’re replying to. OP asked if those of us who agreed schools should be closed had any regrets. I don’t. That doesn’t mean that I don’t realize, with hindsight, that we could have safety opened last fall. Over the summer, I was on the fence about sending my kids to in-person school in the fall, but then the choice was taken away from me because MCPS went 100% virtual. By October, I wished we’d opened since it appeared to be safe for the schools that did open. Then in November, cases started rising sharply and I was thankful we were virtual over the holidays. In December, I filled out a parent survey indicating that I was interested in in-person instruction for my kids in the spring because there was no downside (you could change to virtual at any time). Due to my kids’ ages, they just happened to be in the very last group MCPS brought back. One kid chose to remain virtual to avoid a long bus ride to a magnet. That kid has been fine with virtual learning. My other kid has some special needs and really struggled with distance learning. That kid attends our home school, so has gone back in-person. It was easier to send dc back at the end of April because I was only a week away from my second shot.

I don’t regret how things worked out. It’s been a roller coaster ride and it sucked at times, but I’m high risk and I never got covid. My kids never got covid. Instead of regretting all the days they could have received in-person instruction and didn’t, I’m choosing to be thankful that we didn’t experience covid and any long term effects.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

Yes. Exactly and this attitude is exactly why schools stayed closed. What is the harm in buying batteries for your smoke detector or wearing a seatbelt? I only see upside. Closing schools has been disastrous for many, many children and some will never recover.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.

That wasn’t the choice most people were making.
Doing virtual school didn’t have to mean no socialization.
My 8 year old did virtual school and played outside on hikes and with kids in the neighborhood with masks. We did less in the winter but still did some. I don’t regret the choice - of course now i can see how much better things are but as parents we are also fully vaccinated now so it is different. We made the right choice at the time. We also sent my 5 year old to an in person kindergarten. And she played outside.

Everyone I know chose middle grounds, some a bit different than others. Last year was terrible in many ways but we made choices because we were rational and had to. And many many people did get covid last winter. Had one family been less cautious it wouldn’t have been much different for that family. The reality is though that if every or a large number of families had been less cautious it would have been worse. I am glad the majority of people in my community worked together to be reasonably safe. I am so happy to enjoy the time now with friends given that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My house hasn’t caught on fire, but I don’t regret having working smoke detectors. I’ve never been in a serious car accident, but I don’t regret decades of wearing a seatbelt. I’ve never had an unintended pregnancy, but I don’t regret having used birth control. I took precautions to avoid covid. Maybe I wouldn’t have contracted it even if I wasn’t cautious, but that doesn’t make me regret the precautions. I make the best choices I can based on the information I have.

Occasionally buying batteries for a smoke detector or buckling a seatbelt when you’re driving isn’t quite on par with asking a 5 year old to spend a year of learning sitting in front of an iPad and having no socialization with peers.