Anonymous wrote:I agree with the science here.

However, hard choices need to be made. It is interesting that there has been little to no interest in the media of the fact that over 45% of COvid deaths are from nursing homes. Epic failure across the board to protect those folks.

The same with school children - epic failure to protect them against the broad threat of failing behind in school and in life because they are at home.

If you, as a teacher or as a parent of a child with preexisting conditions - pulmonary issues, obesity, diabetes - please stay home and be safe.

Those of us not in a high risk category need to be allowed to make the decision to move forward.

Complete BS. Of course the nursing home stats have been "in the media." A lot.

And your comment about kids falling behind in school and life??? Homeschooled kids do just fine in life. I get people may not WANT that experience. But instead of whining and being overly dramatic, how about channeling that energy into what you can control: making the at home experience the best you can for your kid.

Finally, YOU may not be high risk. But you returning to "normal" puts others at risk. Others who need to go out, for example, to the dr., to get groceries, to pick up medicines, just to name a few. There is some social responsibility that needs to be understood here. "I want to do what I want" is not that. It's selfish. If you can't weather a few more months of that, you suck.

Anonymous wrote:I agree with the science here.

However, hard choices need to be made. It is interesting that there has been little to no interest in the media of the fact that over 45% of COvid deaths are from nursing homes. Epic failure across the board to protect those folks.

The same with school children - epic failure to protect them against the broad threat of failing behind in school and in life because they are at home.

If you, as a teacher or as a parent of a child with preexisting conditions - pulmonary issues, obesity, diabetes - please stay home and be safe.

Those of us not in a high risk category need to be allowed to make the decision to move forward.

My concern is not just dying it's hearing stories about Long covid and long-term organ damage. It's a novel virus so we don't really know what the long-term consequences.

My grandmother got polio at 19. She survived but she had health issues that plagued her for the rest of her life.

As a teacher, I don't see that parents, when faced with the opportunity, are choosing to send their children in. I think when it comes down to it, parents are balking at what schools currently look like. My school is doing hybrid. The current percentage of my class that has opted to come in to the building? 15%. Fifteen! At first it was half, and just yesterday three more of my students opted out of the hybrid. Some of the parents have told me that they are essential workers but they don't trust that their children will be able to follow the kind of safety protocols that they have been working under. They don't want to expose their families. I had a parent tell me that she has opted to work nights so she can supervise remote learning for her four children. Now, I have to teach that fifteen percent of my class in person as well as teaching the rest of the kids online. I can't live stream (we don't have the bandwidth in the school building) so they're ultimately going to have a really bare bones experience-just because there are fewer students doesn't mean that I have any extra time. I'm still expected to teach the "in person" students live every period of the day. I'm not working all day, commuting, and then going home and working all night to create content for the remote students. It's a mess. We aren't being provided with any curriculum or any additional resources.
Parents need to know that a hybrid system is going to deprive their children of a lot of access to their teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most parents do NOT want schools to open. They are well aware of the risks! Many parents are voicing sadness and frustration that their children's lives are still upended for the upcoming school year, but it doesn't mean they WANT schools to reopen with the pandemic uncontrolled as it is.

Inaccurate- the FCPS survey showed that over 50%, that's the majority, opted for having their kids in-person for as long as was on offer, 2 days.
It was the teachers' associations that held the kids to ransome.

Not really. The survey was self-selecting and therefore the results are inherently biased. Families that really needed the child care responded because, well, they needed the child care. I think most of the DL preferred families didn't respond because they knew that would be an option anyway.

It’s pretty impressive how you twisted the survey results in your mind to fit your own narrative.

Very clearly 60% of families wanted in person learning. Very clearly another large percentage of those who chose distance learning only chose distance learning because their child would get 4 days a week instruction rather than just 2 days for the hybrid option. A lot of them actually wanted in person learning.

There are certainly some teachers in high risk groups that are scared. I was always vey surprised at how many obese teachers were in my child's elementary school, including the principal. Many of these teachers were also older and closer to retirement so they had the extra risk of age. For the younger teachers, some would get pregnant or be pregnant so that is a high risk group.

Many teachers do not trust their school systems to actually provide a safe environment. They know how bad the HVAC systems are in their buildings. They know that their school is under funded and can't afford Kleenex or supplies for their classrooms so why would they trust that there would be plentiful PPE. Teachers in public school systems know that it is difficult to remove a child that is being extremely disruptive so why on earth would they believe that mask wearing would be enforced for students. Teachers in low income areas know that the parents need to go to work, live in high density multi family home and are less likely to respond to contact tracing.

Other teachers have their own kids at home in school systems that are closed or if they are open what are they supposed to do if there is a temporary closure of their child's school? Hybrid schedules for their own children are unlikely to match up with their school so this is why so many lower risk teachers are "afraid" of hybrid options.

Going back to in person but offering students the choice of being virtual or any hybrid teaching automatically makes any teacher's mind go to doubling their work load. If teachers have to be flexible with student absences due to quarantining or COVID then this means extra re-teaching or tracking missed assignments- something teachers hate, hate doing. Its far easier for them to be 100% distance or 100% back to normal with no flexibility for student absences.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most parents do NOT want schools to open. They are well aware of the risks! Many parents are voicing sadness and frustration that their children's lives are still upended for the upcoming school year, but it doesn't mean they WANT schools to reopen with the pandemic uncontrolled as it is.

Inaccurate- the FCPS survey showed that over 50%, that's the majority, opted for having their kids in-person for as long as was on offer, 2 days.
It was the teachers' associations that held the kids to ransome.

Not really. The survey was self-selecting and therefore the results are inherently biased. Families that really needed the child care responded because, well, they needed the child care. I think most of the DL preferred families didn't respond because they knew that would be an option anyway.

The pro-DL families are by far the most vocal. This shows up in surveys and also anecdotally.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most parents do NOT want schools to open. They are well aware of the risks! Many parents are voicing sadness and frustration that their children's lives are still upended for the upcoming school year, but it doesn't mean they WANT schools to reopen with the pandemic uncontrolled as it is.

Inaccurate- the FCPS survey showed that over 50%, that's the majority, opted for having their kids in-person for as long as was on offer, 2 days.
It was the teachers' associations that held the kids to ransome.

Not really. The survey was self-selecting and therefore the results are inherently biased. Families that really needed the child care responded because, well, they needed the child care. I think most of the DL preferred families didn't respond because they knew that would be an option anyway.

Doubtful- most of the pro-DL folks I know want everyone to be in DL and are pretty vocal about it. That's one reason the original MCPS plan was scrapped so quickly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most parents do NOT want schools to open. They are well aware of the risks! Many parents are voicing sadness and frustration that their children's lives are still upended for the upcoming school year, but it doesn't mean they WANT schools to reopen with the pandemic uncontrolled as it is.

Inaccurate- the FCPS survey showed that over 50%, that's the majority, opted for having their kids in-person for as long as was on offer, 2 days.
It was the teachers' associations that held the kids to ransome.

Not really. The survey was self-selecting and therefore the results are inherently biased. Families that really needed the child care responded because, well, they needed the child care. I think most of the DL preferred families didn't respond because they knew that would be an option anyway.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't get all the people screeching hysterically that kids have to be in school. It is like the virus hasn't affected their lungs but their brains instead. Until 70-90 years ago large school settings wasn't even the norm. Think about that...for over 2,000 years most people learned in small groups at home. These are the same groups of people who built pyramids, built elaborate cathedrals, built ships used to cross oceans, explored and mapped newly discovered continents, built airplanes and developed penicillin. History is not bunk.

The most significant difference in households from 70-90 years ago is that many middle class households have 2 parents who work and there are a lot more single parents. It's those two groups who you hear screaming, the people who need childcare. I'm sympathetic because both of us work, too, but I think we've been able to satisfy our needs so that it isn't an issue. Logic and common sense will always prevail over hysterical running about like chickens with your heads cut off.

In the meantime it is important to watch the science. We are in the early stages of discovery about the virus, the way it mutates, and its long-term consequences on the health of children and young people who are carriers or become ill with the virus. It behooves us as a society to take our time and get this right. The long-term health consequences for kids, as yet undetermined, far outweigh the need for children to be in school.

It’s different now because previously only the elite could get an education. The other people did unskilled labor.

But now we have all this technology and there are lots of supports. Even the poorest families in our school district now have WiFi hotspots and chromebooks provided by the school system as well as 2 or 3 meals a day provided for each child as well as free healthcare. That is a lot more than my Depression-born dad ever had.

Anonymous wrote:Most parents do NOT want schools to open. They are well aware of the risks! Many parents are voicing sadness and frustration that their children's lives are still upended for the upcoming school year, but it doesn't mean they WANT schools to reopen with the pandemic uncontrolled as it is.

Inaccurate- the FCPS survey showed that over 50%, that's the majority, opted for having their kids in-person for as long as was on offer, 2 days.
It was the teachers' associations that held the kids to ransome.

Anonymous wrote:I don't get all the people screeching hysterically that kids have to be in school. It is like the virus hasn't affected their lungs but their brains instead. Until 70-90 years ago large school settings wasn't even the norm. Think about that...for over 2,000 years most people learned in small groups at home. These are the same groups of people who built pyramids, built elaborate cathedrals, built ships used to cross oceans, explored and mapped newly discovered continents, built airplanes and developed penicillin. History is not bunk.

The most significant difference in households from 70-90 years ago is that many middle class households have 2 parents who work and there are a lot more single parents. It's those two groups who you hear screaming, the people who need childcare. I'm sympathetic because both of us work, too, but I think we've been able to satisfy our needs so that it isn't an issue. Logic and common sense will always prevail over hysterical running about like chickens with your heads cut off.

In the meantime it is important to watch the science. We are in the early stages of discovery about the virus, the way it mutates, and its long-term consequences on the health of children and young people who are carriers or become ill with the virus. It behooves us as a society to take our time and get this right. The long-term health consequences for kids, as yet undetermined, far outweigh the need for children to be in school.

It’s different now because previously only the elite could get an education. The other people did unskilled labor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kids. Your responsibility. Don’t put them off on teachers just cause you tired of dealing with em.

This is so laughable. It is like a grocery store worker saying, you're hungry? Your problem. Go grow some food.
Or a utility company saying "You want electricity?" "Go find some"

Thought this analogy was right on! So witty and on point!

It's not "right on,' "on point" and sure as hell isn't "witty."

It's been explained 500,000,000 times on these boards in the past months why a teacher enclosed in a poorly-ventilated enclosed classroom for 6-7 hours a day (even worse for MS and HS teachers who are in that enclosed, poorly-ventilated space for 6-7 hours a day for hundreds of different kids) with kids who will NOT follow rules, wil NOT distance, will NOT keep their masks on (and administrations will not allow them to be removed) is NOT THE SAME as the utility person working ALONE in their truck or with one other compliant adult or a grocery store worker where masks can be enforced and required, with plexiglass shields, who have contact with each person for 5 minutes at a time.

Say it with me, children. Prolonged. Indoor. Contact. Is. The. Highest. Risk. For. Transmission.

You people are such sheep. "Yeah!" "Right on!" Puh-lease.

Lol. But it’s okay for the YMCA to provide daycare for the children you won’t teach IN THOSE SAME “poorly ventilated” schools, as long as the precious teachers assume zero risk ever?! I guess it’s okay to put the lower paid, mostly POC daycare workers in that situation, as long as it isn’t you, right? And it’s clear you are disgruntled and hate both your job and the children you are supposed to teach, since you assume they’re incapable of following basic instructions. You’re a disgrace to the profession, please leave.

Well to be fair, most of these posters are probably shaming the parents for making to that choice to begin with. Why do you hate spending time with your kids, why did you even have them, you’re going to kill grandma, etc.

I don't get all the people screeching hysterically that kids have to be in school. It is like the virus hasn't affected their lungs but their brains instead. Until 70-90 years ago large school settings wasn't even the norm. Think about that...for over 2,000 years most people learned in small groups at home. These are the same groups of people who built pyramids, built elaborate cathedrals, built ships used to cross oceans, explored and mapped newly discovered continents, built airplanes and developed penicillin. History is not bunk.

The most significant difference in households from 70-90 years ago is that many middle class households have 2 parents who work and there are a lot more single parents. It's those two groups who you hear screaming, the people who need childcare. I'm sympathetic because both of us work, too, but I think we've been able to satisfy our needs so that it isn't an issue. Logic and common sense will always prevail over hysterical running about like chickens with your heads cut off.

In the meantime it is important to watch the science. We are in the early stages of discovery about the virus, the way it mutates, and its long-term consequences on the health of children and young people who are carriers or become ill with the virus. It behooves us as a society to take our time and get this right. The long-term health consequences for kids, as yet undetermined, far outweigh the need for children to be in school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kids. Your responsibility. Don’t put them off on teachers just cause you tired of dealing with em.

This is so laughable. It is like a grocery store worker saying, you're hungry? Your problem. Go grow some food.
Or a utility company saying "You want electricity?" "Go find some"

Thought this analogy was right on! So witty and on point!

It's not "right on,' "on point" and sure as hell isn't "witty."

It's been explained 500,000,000 times on these boards in the past months why a teacher enclosed in a poorly-ventilated enclosed classroom for 6-7 hours a day (even worse for MS and HS teachers who are in that enclosed, poorly-ventilated space for 6-7 hours a day for hundreds of different kids) with kids who will NOT follow rules, wil NOT distance, will NOT keep their masks on (and administrations will not allow them to be removed) is NOT THE SAME as the utility person working ALONE in their truck or with one other compliant adult or a grocery store worker where masks can be enforced and required, with plexiglass shields, who have contact with each person for 5 minutes at a time.

Say it with me, children. Prolonged. Indoor. Contact. Is. The. Highest. Risk. For. Transmission.

You people are such sheep. "Yeah!" "Right on!" Puh-lease.

Lol. But it’s okay for the YMCA to provide daycare for the children you won’t teach IN THOSE SAME “poorly ventilated” schools, as long as the precious teachers assume zero risk ever?! I guess it’s okay to put the lower paid, mostly POC daycare workers in that situation, as long as it isn’t you, right? And it’s clear you are disgruntled and hate both your job and the children you are supposed to teach, since you assume they’re incapable of following basic instructions. You’re a disgrace to the profession, please leave.

So your laughing out loud as you skewer the poster and tell them to leave their profession because they are attempting to argue a scientific point.

DP, but they’re not arguing a scientific point, at least, not credibly. They’re ignoring the intersection of science and politics, and claiming that keeping schools closed indefinitely is solely about the former when it’s really more about the latter (at least for elementary kids; high school is a different story).

\

And for that “mistake” they hate their job, all children, and are a disgrace and should leave. OK then.

I didn’t post that and I don’t agree with it. But that doesn’t mean we can keep young kids out of school indefinitely.

I agree with the science here.

However, hard choices need to be made. It is interesting that there has been little to no interest in the media of the fact that over 45% of COvid deaths are from nursing homes. Epic failure across the board to protect those folks.

The same with school children - epic failure to protect them against the broad threat of failing behind in school and in life because they are at home.

If you, as a teacher or as a parent of a child with preexisting conditions - pulmonary issues, obesity, diabetes - please stay home and be safe.

Those of us not in a high risk category need to be allowed to make the decision to move forward.