Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God I hope it's the 2 day in-person option....

I'm almost as certain as the teacher friend that it will be the hybrid. All of the districts who have announced already mentioned working with neighboring jurisdictions. If MCPS went against what everyone else is doing I'd be shocked.

The shoe is on the other foot: it's the other districts who will be forced to reconsider their plans. The cautious districts will decide at the last minute, and the way cases/hospitalizations are trending, they will decide for DL.

They're trending down in Montgomery County and Maryland.

You really believe MD can become an impregnable fortress while the rest of the country goes to the dogs?

DP. They are tracking numbers. If numbers get worse, they can reassess—but for now yes I believe they should act on the numbers we have, not numbers in CA or TX.

Anonymous wrote:When China sent kids back to school, the virus spiked. They ultimately closed schools again (and pretty quickly).

Can’t we learn from their example?

If schools do reopen in a hybrid way, it’s in response to the need for childcare so parents can go back to work. That’s clear from the survey.

Oh, you've seen the responses from the survey? Where?

Yes, the childcare part of school is important. So is the school part of school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm sure they're scrambling now that they realize their lack of planning means they're way behind the eight ball and yet somehow will have to get kids back in school at least part of the week. They're going to look pretty darn incompetent if every other district in the area makes it happen and they don't because they dragged their feet too long. I mean, there probably isn't a limitless supply of hand sanitizer machines -- Fairfac and other districts now have a jump on that.

Hand sanitizer is unhealthy to constantly use. They should put in hand washing machines like the disney cruises have. There is no safe way to get them back given people aren't being responsible now and numbers are going up.

I’m aware of a case where a kid washed his hands just like he was told to and the skin on his hands peeled off exposing the bones.

When China sent kids back to school, the virus spiked. They ultimately closed schools again (and pretty quickly).

Can’t we learn from their example?

If schools do reopen in a hybrid way, it’s in response to the need for childcare so parents can go back to work. That’s clear from the survey.

Your risk of contracting the virus in a classroom of 10-15 is only marginally less than in a class of 20-30.

It’s not really safer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God I hope it's the 2 day in-person option....

I'm almost as certain as the teacher friend that it will be the hybrid. All of the districts who have announced already mentioned working with neighboring jurisdictions. If MCPS went against what everyone else is doing I'd be shocked.

I hope so. My kid with ADHD does not learn well at all with the 100% distance learning. I think they can keep things "safer" with half the students in school each day. I know none of it is ideal in any way, shape, or form. It all sucks.

It isn’t “safer.”

How can all you people kvetching about neighbors hosting a play date with a single child all of a sudden feel comfortable sending your kids to sit indoors with 10-15 kids and adults? Do you really think kids will keep their masks on?

How about all the people getting hysterical about anyone taking a road trip and using public restrooms? How clean do you think a mcps bathroom is?

It isn’t safer. Period.

DP. Of course it's safer. it just isn't safe enough for you.

Also, this is an anonymous forum. There is no way for you to know about the overlap between people who complained about one-child playdates in April and people who will feel comfortable sending their children back to school in August.

How is it safer?

How will it magically be safer than it is now in July come September?

We’re supposed to avoid gatherings now. Stores and restaurants and outdoor pools have strict limits, yet come September it’s totes cool to throw half a class (whatever that number might be) into one room and half a bus route (whatever that number might be) on a bus? There’s no way to practice social distancing in a classroom or on a bus. If it’s totally cool to stop doing everything we’ve been doing since March come September, then why wait? Candidly, it would make far more sense to let folks get sick over the summer to decrease the number of new cases when kids go back in the fall.

You know plenty of parents send sick kids to school, right? They give them Tylenol an hour before putting them on the bus and send them to school to avoid missing work.

Once kids go back, your office will call you back in. Telework as we know and love it will come to a dramatic halt for those offices that are only doing it now since they realize parents have no safe place to send kids.

Anonymous wrote:It won't be hybrid for the Whitman cluster - because Pyle is at double its capacity.

Also the bus situation. Those buses transport ES / MS and HS kids each day. Sometimes they are overcrowded - that completely defeats the purpose of hybrid school.

Also cleaning between bus routes will take too much time.

Its a no brainer. It will be DL til January - and that will be confirmed once vaccines are rolled out.

Everything else is just noise.

Bussing

Encourage alternative modes of transportation for students who have other options.
Ideally, for students riding the bus, symptom screening would be performed prior to being dropped off at the bus. Having bus drivers or monitors perform these screenings is problematic, as they may face a situation in which a student screens positive yet the parent has left, and the driver would be faced with leaving the student alone or allowing the student on the bus.
Assigned seating; if possible, assign seats by cohort (same students sit together each day).
Tape marks showing students where to sit.
When a 6-foot distance cannot be maintained between students, face coverings should be worn.
Drivers should be a minimum of 6 feet from students; driver must wear face covering; consider physical barrier for driver (eg, plexiglass).
Minimize number of people on the bus at one time within reason.
Adults who do not need to be on the bus should not be on the bus.
Have windows open if weather allows.

https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/clinical-guidance/covid-19-planning-considerations-return-to-in-person-education-in-schools/

Now please explain how you know when the vaccines will be "rolled out."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God I hope it's the 2 day in-person option....

I'm almost as certain as the teacher friend that it will be the hybrid. All of the districts who have announced already mentioned working with neighboring jurisdictions. If MCPS went against what everyone else is doing I'd be shocked.

I hope so. My kid with ADHD does not learn well at all with the 100% distance learning. I think they can keep things "safer" with half the students in school each day. I know none of it is ideal in any way, shape, or form. It all sucks.

It isn’t “safer.”

How can all you people kvetching about neighbors hosting a play date with a single child all of a sudden feel comfortable sending your kids to sit indoors with 10-15 kids and adults? Do you really think kids will keep their masks on?

How about all the people getting hysterical about anyone taking a road trip and using public restrooms? How clean do you think a mcps bathroom is?

It isn’t safer. Period.

DP. Of course it's safer. it just isn't safe enough for you.

Also, this is an anonymous forum. There is no way for you to know about the overlap between people who complained about one-child playdates in April and people who will feel comfortable sending their children back to school in August.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:God I hope it's the 2 day in-person option....

I'm almost as certain as the teacher friend that it will be the hybrid. All of the districts who have announced already mentioned working with neighboring jurisdictions. If MCPS went against what everyone else is doing I'd be shocked.

I hope so. My kid with ADHD does not learn well at all with the 100% distance learning. I think they can keep things "safer" with half the students in school each day. I know none of it is ideal in any way, shape, or form. It all sucks.

It isn’t “safer.”

How can all you people kvetching about neighbors hosting a play date with a single child all of a sudden feel comfortable sending your kids to sit indoors with 10-15 kids and adults? Do you really think kids will keep their masks on?

How about all the people getting hysterical about anyone taking a road trip and using public restrooms? How clean do you think a mcps bathroom is?

It isn’t safer. Period.

Anonymous wrote:It won't be hybrid for the Whitman cluster - because Pyle is at double its capacity.

Also the bus situation. Those buses transport ES / MS and HS kids each day. Sometimes they are overcrowded - that completely defeats the purpose of hybrid school.

Also cleaning between bus routes will take too much time.

Its a no brainer. It will be DL til January - and that will be confirmed once vaccines are rolled out.

Everything else is just noise.

Do you seriously think that safe, effective vaccines will be available en masse in January 2021? Seriously? That borders on delusion.

It has been telling that there has been no training offered for hybrid. I want to be back in school, but it seems like it is too complicated.

It won't be hybrid for the Whitman cluster - because Pyle is at double its capacity.

Also the bus situation. Those buses transport ES / MS and HS kids each day. Sometimes they are overcrowded - that completely defeats the purpose of hybrid school.

Also cleaning between bus routes will take too much time.

Its a no brainer. It will be DL til January - and that will be confirmed once vaccines are rolled out.

Everything else is just noise.

Even is we are hybrid it would not last long before we get COVID in schools or flu season arrives. Anyone who gets a fever needs to quarantine for two weeks at this point because testing is still bad and unreliable.

Anonymous wrote:The board proposed a sample schedule of elementary school distance learning in the June 29th meeting which was approximately 3.5 hours of learning each day. (Obviously each school will have to adapt it). To some degree they are planning but it's difficult to make a definitive plan until MCPS decides on hybrid or full DL

Who came up with the term "distance learning" and why? I mean, besides that it's a euphemism.

The board proposed a sample schedule of elementary school distance learning in the June 29th meeting which was approximately 3.5 hours of learning each day. (Obviously each school will have to adapt it). To some degree they are planning but it's difficult to make a definitive plan until MCPS decides on hybrid or full DL