Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:did you take out extra life insurance on the kids- you know just incase

0% of deaths have occurred in individuals under 19

Way to dodge the question!

How is that dodging the question?

OP - Do AMA in a month or two months. And I do hope it goes well. But doing AMA now, before you have started, is offerring no important information

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are starting next week also, in the Midwest too. Small private school, so no bus issues and a lot of available space for distancing.

Students are being divided into pods of ten or less, with only one pod in a classroom at any given time. Lunch will be eaten outdoors, with a shelter for rainy days. A significant amount of instruction will occur outdoors as well. Masks will be worn by everyone except the two year olds who are totally separate from everyone anyway.

A private school with two year olds?

Haha! They have a daycare pod.

Um, yeah, I guess. I don't get why this is so controversial. Is it unheard of in the DC area for private schools to have preschool or toddler classes? It's quite common in my Midwestern city. I have two elementary students and a preschooler, but the school's youngest class is a toddler class.

Can you talk more about the precautions the school is taking? How big are the cohorts? Are your kids in elementary school (probably lower risk) or are they older? Do specials teachers travel to different cohorts of kids? Do the kids travel through the building throughout the day? How much teaching is outside? Are you trusting the community to engage in safe behavior outside of school, or do you feel like you're mainly relying on the school to keep everyone safe regardless of community behavior? What is the availability and turnaround time for testing in your area?

Our school is also opening but we opted for virtual for now. We can easily switch our kids in, but this feels like a giant experiment and I want to let it proceed for awhile first (since others seem happy to participate, and I understand that) before joining in. I think the risk to kids is minimal but the risk to many adults is not.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What state? Do you know about how many teachers/students opted out for the year? How did your district and school board logistically deal with any staffing shortages?

Wisconsin
About 85% of district families opted for in person per our building principal
No staffing shortages

Wisconsin's test positivity is low, and you guys have about 5 new cases per 100,000 per day.

That means you can reopen schools with lots of masks and distancing rules (I.e. not back to normal) but there WILL be more than a few clusters that sprout up. The trick is, will your health department be proactive in shutting these clusters down, or will they let them spread "because kids aren't affected much?" It isn't crazy to reopen schools at your level of spread, with extensive precautions especially in areas of low population density.

All these cases mean nothing. Kids arent getting sick, just like at colleges.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:did you take out extra life insurance on the kids- you know just incase

0% of deaths have occurred in individuals under 19

Way to dodge the question!

My kid is back at school. Is there a bit of worry, yes. But he, and the rest of the nation's youth, need to be in learning and engaging.

DL is garbage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:did you take out extra life insurance on the kids- you know just incase

0% of deaths have occurred in individuals under 19

Way to dodge the question!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are starting next week also, in the Midwest too. Small private school, so no bus issues and a lot of available space for distancing.

Students are being divided into pods of ten or less, with only one pod in a classroom at any given time. Lunch will be eaten outdoors, with a shelter for rainy days. A significant amount of instruction will occur outdoors as well. Masks will be worn by everyone except the two year olds who are totally separate from everyone anyway.

A private school with two year olds?

Haha! They have a daycare pod.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9,000 kids in Florida have tested positive in 15 days if school being open.
Hard pass for me

So schools out forever? Just for another year? Do you think education should be optional?

I bet this is what Betsy DeVos believes. All schools Should be private - with as much space as you are willing to pay for!

If you want to break the public school system — this is how to do it! If you want to divide people who can and cannot afford it, this is how to do it!

Imagine a voucher system where everyone could afford it!! We don't have the money either and it's so unfair that rich people get to have in-person schools. We should all be able to choose private with our tax money. Public schools are a waste!

There's no way a voucher would pay the 40,000 for tuition for the big 3. You'd get 10,000 to attend a parochial school

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9,000 kids in Florida have tested positive in 15 days if school being open.
Hard pass for me

So schools out forever? Just for another year? Do you think education should be optional?

I bet this is what Betsy DeVos believes. All schools Should be private - with as much space as you are willing to pay for!

If you want to break the public school system — this is how to do it! If you want to divide people who can and cannot afford it, this is how to do it!

Imagine a voucher system where everyone could afford it!! We don't have the money either and it's so unfair that rich people get to have in-person schools. We should all be able to choose private with our tax money. Public schools are a waste!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How confident are you that your district is opening because they believe it’s safe and not because of political pressure? Why do you feel this way?

Extremely confident.

Does anyone in your household have a preexisting condition?

Nope, that’s why we are sending them to school! If they did, we would’ve done virtual. The choice is left up to families to make their decision and do what works best for their individual circumstances.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How confident are you that your district is opening because they believe it’s safe and not because of political pressure? Why do you feel this way?

Extremely confident.

Does anyone in your household have a preexisting condition?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What state? Do you know about how many teachers/students opted out for the year? How did your district and school board logistically deal with any staffing shortages?

Wisconsin
About 85% of district families opted for in person per our building principal
No staffing shortages

That’s great that there were no staffing issues. It sounded like here, half the teachers were willing to quit instead of teach in the schools. Is your teacher pay pretty high? Do the students who chose virtual get teachers from your local school system, or from an online charter school?

Teacher pay is OK. I think the average teacher in our district makes $55k. But is a lower COL area.

Yes, virtual learners are with actual district teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:9,000 kids in Florida have tested positive in 15 days if school being open.
Hard pass for me

So schools out forever? Just for another year? Do you think education should be optional?

I bet this is what Betsy DeVos believes. All schools Should be private - with as much space as you are willing to pay for!

If you want to break the public school system — this is how to do it! If you want to divide people who can and cannot afford it, this is how to do it!