Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This obnoxious quote has been repeated 10,000 times on here. If all of our children were learning so beautifully from distance leaning and google classroom, would this really be a 35 page thread? This and in person learning do NOT equate. Whomever doesn't comprehend this simply does not want to.

I have to say, my kids have been doing pretty well with distance learning, and I was thinking overall it was not so bad. But then we watched my 5th grader's virtual promotion ceremony last night, and all the pictures of all the things they did the first 2/3 of the year...there is NO COMPARISON. There is just no comparison between the baseline something they are getting from distance learning and the incredibly enriching and stimulating and fun experience they were getting before. There's no comparison.

I understand, but don't miss the fact that they aren't going to get the enriching, stimulating, and fun experience they were getting before if in-person school returns in the fall either. Regardless of what we do, this isn't going away and the new normal is going to be different from last fall.

There is no reason for it to be different. If numbers are still continuing to decline by then-there is no reason to have it be "so different" in the fall. Daycares have been doing just fine and operating for months. Those kids literally lick each other and touch each other constantly and the providers have to change diapers etc...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

This obnoxious quote has been repeated 10,000 times on here. If all of our children were learning so beautifully from distance leaning and google classroom, would this really be a 35 page thread? This and in person learning do NOT equate. Whomever doesn't comprehend this simply does not want to.

I have to say, my kids have been doing pretty well with distance learning, and I was thinking overall it was not so bad. But then we watched my 5th grader's virtual promotion ceremony last night, and all the pictures of all the things they did the first 2/3 of the year...there is NO COMPARISON. There is just no comparison between the baseline something they are getting from distance learning and the incredibly enriching and stimulating and fun experience they were getting before. There's no comparison.

I understand, but don't miss the fact that they aren't going to get the enriching, stimulating, and fun experience they were getting before if in-person school returns in the fall either. Regardless of what we do, this isn't going away and the new normal is going to be different from last fall.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Masks in school...from an anonymous person.

By fall, kids will have been wearing masks at stores etc. all summer.

Not to mention that kids in other countries can wear masks at school. There's no reason our kids can't, too.

I don’t think they will. We’re not really seeing young kids do it in 20910.

I am in 20901 and see it here.
Maybe not kids in their own yards or areas without a lot of people in closer proximity. But when we go to the park or on walks/biking in Sligo Creek Parkway, kids have masks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Masks in school...from an anonymous person.

By fall, kids will have been wearing masks at stores etc. all summer.

Not to mention that kids in other countries can wear masks at school. There's no reason our kids can't, too.

I don’t think they will. We’re not really seeing young kids do it in 20910.

So? Get started. I'm seeing young kids do it in 20874. If kids in Germantown can do it, kids in Woodside can too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Masks in school...from an anonymous person.

By fall, kids will have been wearing masks at stores etc. all summer.

Not to mention that kids in other countries can wear masks at school. There's no reason our kids can't, too.

I don’t think they will. We’re not really seeing young kids do it in 20910.

Because our kids are spoiled and overindulged.

Anonymous wrote:

This obnoxious quote has been repeated 10,000 times on here. If all of our children were learning so beautifully from distance leaning and google classroom, would this really be a 35 page thread? This and in person learning do NOT equate. Whomever doesn't comprehend this simply does not want to.

I have to say, my kids have been doing pretty well with distance learning, and I was thinking overall it was not so bad. But then we watched my 5th grader's virtual promotion ceremony last night, and all the pictures of all the things they did the first 2/3 of the year...there is NO COMPARISON. There is just no comparison between the baseline something they are getting from distance learning and the incredibly enriching and stimulating and fun experience they were getting before. There's no comparison.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Masks in school...from an anonymous person.

By fall, kids will have been wearing masks at stores etc. all summer.

Not to mention that kids in other countries can wear masks at school. There's no reason our kids can't, too.

I don’t think they will. We’re not really seeing young kids do it in 20910.

Anonymous wrote:Opening schools will provide the perfect vector to increase the spread of COVID-19, with students infecting each other and their teachers, and then bringing it home to their parents, like every other bug that circulates in the germ factory that is a public school building.

Fortunately, "how much do schools contribute to the spread of covid?" is a question we can use science to answer. We don't have to just make anonymous guesses on an internet message board.

Anonymous wrote:Masks in school...from an anonymous person.

By fall, kids will have been wearing masks at stores etc. all summer.

Not to mention that kids in other countries can wear masks at school. There's no reason our kids can't, too.

Anonymous wrote:Smith just said "no decision has been made for the Fall". He also said "the rumors that the Fall will distance learning is 100% not true".

Something can be a rumor in June because a decision hasn’t been made yet and still be on the table at this time. It can be a rumor in June and be the truth in August

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No inside info, but until there’s a vaccine, 100% back in the classroom will not happen. There’s just not enough space, teachers or busses. No school system was designed to support the constraints that will be in place until a vaccine is widely available.

Sorry to be a down, I just don’t think it’s going to happen.

Well, the Universities will bringing students back.

They have no choice

They have become tuition dependent and sports revenue dependent corporations and our life savings is their cash cow

Would love to see them fail

A college education is why I’m not working a job at Mondawmin Mall in West Baltimore at almost 50. It’s how all my cousins and siblings clawed our way out of poverty.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No inside info, but until there’s a vaccine, 100% back in the classroom will not happen. There’s just not enough space, teachers or busses. No school system was designed to support the constraints that will be in place until a vaccine is widely available.

Sorry to be a down, I just don’t think it’s going to happen.

Well, the Universities will bringing students back.

They have no choice

They have become tuition dependent and sports revenue dependent corporations and our life savings is their cash cow

Would love to see them fail

Anonymous wrote:No inside info, but until there’s a vaccine, 100% back in the classroom will not happen. There’s just not enough space, teachers or busses. No school system was designed to support the constraints that will be in place until a vaccine is widely available.

Sorry to be a down, I just don’t think it’s going to happen.

Well, the Universities will bringing students back.

They have no choice

They have become tuition dependent and sports revenue dependent corporations and our life savings is their cash cow

Masks in school...from an anonymous person.

"Here's how I think requiring masks might work in elementary.

Please don’t snap Billy's mask in his face.

Your mask is not a necklace, bracelet, or any other form of jewelry.

You should not be using your mask as a slingshot. Please put it back on your face.

Please do not chew on your mask.

Your mask should be on your face, not on the back of your head

I’m sorry your mask is wet, but that's what happens when you lick the inside of it.

I’m sorry you sneezed. Here's a tissue. Wipe out the snot as well as you can.

No, you may not blow your nose in your mask.

Why is your mask soaking wet? You just came back from the bathroom?

And you put it back on your face after you dropped it?

I’m sorry you broke the elastic on your mask by seeing how far the band would stretch. Now you'll have to hold the mask on your face ... or use this duct tape.

Please take the mask off your eyes and watch where you're walking. I don’t care if you have X-ray vision.

Please take the mask off of your pencil and stop twirling it.

I know the mask fits over your pants like a knee pad, but please take it off of your leg and put it on your face.

What do you mean you tried to eat your lunch through your mask?

Please don't share your mask or trade masks. I don’t care if you like Ingrid's mask better than yours.

I’m sorry, but your mask is not school appropriate.

We're not comparing our masks to other kids' masks… everyone’s mask is unique and special.

No, you may not decorate your mask instead of doing your work. I don’t care if you have a Sharpie.

You're not a pirate, please take your mask off your eye.

Try to get the gum off as much as you can.

Please don't use your mask to pick your nose.

I’m sorry you tripped, but that’s what happens when you put your feet inside the elastic of your mask.

No, your mask doesn't make it hard to get your work done.

Your Mom will need to get you a new mask since you chewed a hole in that one.

Why is there a shoe print on your mask?

No, you cannot eat the snow through your mask.

I don’t care if you were in art class and being creative; we do not decorate our masks.

We do not beam other kids in the face with balls. No, their masks don’t make it not hurt.

Please don't plug your nose holes with your mask.

Who's making that noise?

I’m sorry your ponytail is stuck, that’s what happens when you see how many times you can wrap it around your mask.

I’m sorry to tell you, but your child thought her mask made her a superhero. She tried to fly off the jungle gym at recess …

I’m sorry your breath stinks in your mask, maybe we should all try to brush better.

Please take those cookies out of your mask. No, you are not a chipmunk."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why everyone thinks this is so simple. “Ugh, why is this so hard!” “Duh, they just have to go back to school!”

I am a parent and a teacher and I am here to tell you that this is complicated. It’s not simple. Putting 500-3000 wiggly, non-rule following humans in a tight space every day in the middle of a pandemic is a challenge. Even if they tend to be asymptomatic. Even if you have to go to work. If we are going to have a real conversation about what needs to happen to open, people on both sides need to agree on the basics.

But we won't be "in the middle of a pandemic". The numbers are declining everywhere despite things opening up.

We just don't know this yet. Things have only been opening for a couple weeks. I am hesitantly optimistic since we are now 2 weeks out from Memorial Day and the numbers are still trending steadily down but the lag between actions and changes to the data in this disease seems to be closer to 1 month than to 2 weeks. We will not know until end of June/early July. If numbers are still going down then, that's a lot different than if they stagnate or go back up. We just don't know and that is frustrating and makes it very hard to plan for the fall. And I do expect a second wave with flu season. I don't see how it is at all avoidable. Also, even if we don't get COVID, if I have to keep my ES kid home every time she has a cough or runny nose, she's going to miss half the winter anyway.

One would hope that this could be avoided by readily available testing.

Even at its best testing currently requires: an appointment with a health care provider/pediatrician to get swabbed (1 day out of school) and at least 3 days for them to send the test out to the lab, receive the result back, and contact you. That is 4 days out of school for 1 test, and then really, if you have continuing symptoms, how do you know when to get re-tested? If you have a cough that is NOT COVID, how do you know if you pick up a new cough that IS COVID? Especially if the symptoms in kids are very mild. And if you don't immediately quarantine at the slightest appearance of symptoms, how many people do the ones who have COVID infect before it gets "bad enough" to get tested? It's a mess, and that is why the schools decision is so difficult. Our elementary schools bring ~700 kids together every day. Our middle schools more like 1000-1200; high schools up to 3000. If there's any significant degree of COVID circulating when cold/flu season comes, there's going to be a LOT of missed school even if schools are open for "normal" in person instruction. Because you don't know for at least 3-4 days if that cough is COVID or not. And every time you develop a new/different symptom you should probably be re-testing and quarantined until you get the results. Little kids get sick a lot. They will miss a lot of school.

But that is still better than keeping the schools closed entirely. Maybe this happens to your kids twice (gets a cough and needs to be tested). Even if they miss 2 weeks of school it's still better than an entire quarter. And since they know how to use google classroom and mcps classroom now they can do the work for the days they personally miss anyway. Plus the rapid testing is getting much more readily available. (I just had one and my results came back in 3 hours). So likely the 3 days for the test result won't even be an issue months from now.

Just curious - how will kids excluded from school for sickness get caught up? Is everything done in person going to be available through google classroom?

Last year, my teenaged son probably would have misssed 1 -2 months of high school if he were excluded from school for runny noses and/or a cough. He had a cough for more than a month, and tested negative for the flu.

If everything is created to be easily made up through Google Classroom, why take the risk of F2F school at all, other than free childcare?

This obnoxious quote has been repeated 10,000 times on here. If all of our children were learning so beautifully from distance leaning and google classroom, would this really be a 35 page thread? This and in person learning do NOT equate. Whomever doesn't comprehend this simply does not want to.