Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who are angry now must have forgotten what it was like the first year of the pandemic. No one knew what the virus was capable of - what it would do to adults and kids alike. Hospitals were overwhelmed. Our leadership makes decisions based on the information available. It is unfortunate kids were out of school for so long, however, it’s now up to us to come together and help our kids and not expend unnecessary energy on the blame game. If it was your son/daughter who died because schools were open, you’d sing a different tune.

I work with children in a culture and a place where they are taken care of by multigenerational households, often primarily grandparents. A lot of those grandparents died. Sometimes it was because of transmission through the children. I saw a lot of teddy bears perched on top of the body bags coming out of the hospital -- the kids wanted the send what they loved to be a comfort to who they had loved.

Do you want to know what their mental health is like now?

Our community was hit harder than most. Nobody knew that it would shake out that way in the beginning.

So kids learning remotely gave COVID to their grandparents? Huh.

You are ignorant of the situation. That's me using polite language out of respect for the moderator.

Most did not have internet access. The problem was that kids went back and forth from parents (when home) to grandparents. And parents brought it home from their shitty jobs that they couldn't afford to lose, and then the kids took it to their grandparents, who were the only ones who could watch them.

Most of the country was not like this. But it was real, and it takes a helluva toll on children to know people are dead because of them. And guess who reports on abuse here? It's the grandparents, the aunties, the elders.

You don't want to see what it looks like when children have gone through this and have to live with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be honest, I’m really pissed schools were closed for so long. It was done because unions refused to let their teachers return to school. Before anyone says I’m a Trumpie, I am not. I’m a lifelong Democrat! But that’s what happened and we can’t pretend otherwise. It made me change my opinion about teacher unions, for sure. I’m sorry for all the millions of kids who are behind in the US and no one cares. Affluent parents will just say “kids are resilient” - remember that line?

Also a dem here, glad my kid is back in school, but if I were a teacher, or my kids were (grown up) teachers, I'd want to support their choice not to go back into an unvaccinated environment.

My husband is a teacher and went back in August 2020 to a private school. Got vaccinated in January 2021 and he was fine. Even from an educator family, I will always loudly say that Democrats failed kids because we chose teachers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a highly blue school district and with the exception of the spring of 2020 my kids have been doing in-person school and in-person activities this entire time. None of us have gotten covid (at least not that we know) and I don't know anyone personally who had a severe case or died. The red areas around us were even more wide open. Your individual experience does not equate to what the entire country experienced.

New PP and our experience as well. We moved this year from MCPS to a very blue county in CO that was prioritizing schools staying open. I look back and wish we had done it sooner. Our experience here is so much better in every way than when we were in the DMV.

+1
Left dc for a very blue Florida county and it’s like night and day. Our school has never mandated masks, maybe there have been 3 closures since March 2021 for COVID? And closures were isolated to the classroom, not the entire school.

Dems don’t want to admit that red states got some things right. We were/are so desperate to wave our anti trump flags, that we don’t want to consider or say outloud that some republican leaders had decent ideas and priorities. Not saying red states got it all right. Not even close. But some thing were handled incredibly better than in places like dmv.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be honest, I’m really pissed schools were closed for so long. It was done because unions refused to let their teachers return to school. Before anyone says I’m a Trumpie, I am not. I’m a lifelong Democrat! But that’s what happened and we can’t pretend otherwise. It made me change my opinion about teacher unions, for sure. I’m sorry for all the millions of kids who are behind in the US and no one cares. Affluent parents will just say “kids are resilient” - remember that line?

Also a dem here, glad my kid is back in school, but if I were a teacher, or my kids were (grown up) teachers, I'd want to support their choice not to go back into an unvaccinated environment.

Woah I was not aware anyone was chaining teachers inside classrooms. Was very much under the impression they could leave the teaching profession if they no longer wanted to be in the teaching profession, just like I’m able to do with my job. Where is the outrage? This is very serious.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be honest, I’m really pissed schools were closed for so long. It was done because unions refused to let their teachers return to school. Before anyone says I’m a Trumpie, I am not. I’m a lifelong Democrat! But that’s what happened and we can’t pretend otherwise. It made me change my opinion about teacher unions, for sure. I’m sorry for all the millions of kids who are behind in the US and no one cares. Affluent parents will just say “kids are resilient” - remember that line?

Also a dem here, glad my kid is back in school, but if I were a teacher, or my kids were (grown up) teachers, I'd want to support their choice not to go back into an unvaccinated environment.

Anonymous wrote:Schools being virtual in Fall of 2020 was terrible, but let's not put all the blame on the school district or the teacher unions. Parents had a large role in that as well. MCPS was just going with the political climate in Montgomery County at the time. If they had opened in person in the Fall, people would have flipped out. Fact is, MCPS opened up for in-person in Spring 2021, and a large number of parents still chose to keep their kids home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in a highly blue school district and with the exception of the spring of 2020 my kids have been doing in-person school and in-person activities this entire time. None of us have gotten covid (at least not that we know) and I don't know anyone personally who had a severe case or died. The red areas around us were even more wide open. Your individual experience does not equate to what the entire country experienced.

New PP and our experience as well. We moved this year from MCPS to a very blue county in CO that was prioritizing schools staying open. I look back and wish we had done it sooner. Our experience here is so much better in every way than when we were in the DMV.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be honest, I’m really pissed schools were closed for so long. It was done because unions refused to let their teachers return to school. Before anyone says I’m a Trumpie, I am not. I’m a lifelong Democrat! But that’s what happened and we can’t pretend otherwise. It made me change my opinion about teacher unions, for sure. I’m sorry for all the millions of kids who are behind in the US and no one cares. Affluent parents will just say “kids are resilient” - remember that line?

Why were most red states able to open, at least hybrid? Are their teachers unions less powerful?

They are right to work states and do not have unions. They are not protected and can be fired for any reason.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll be honest, I’m really pissed schools were closed for so long. It was done because unions refused to let their teachers return to school. Before anyone says I’m a Trumpie, I am not. I’m a lifelong Democrat! But that’s what happened and we can’t pretend otherwise. It made me change my opinion about teacher unions, for sure. I’m sorry for all the millions of kids who are behind in the US and no one cares. Affluent parents will just say “kids are resilient” - remember that line?

Why were most red states able to open, at least hybrid? Are their teachers unions less powerful?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who are angry now must have forgotten what it was like the first year of the pandemic. No one knew what the virus was capable of - what it would do to adults and kids alike. Hospitals were overwhelmed. Our leadership makes decisions based on the information available. It is unfortunate kids were out of school for so long, however, it’s now up to us to come together and help our kids and not expend unnecessary energy on the blame game. If it was your son/daughter who died because schools were open, you’d sing a different tune.

I work with children in a culture and a place where they are taken care of by multigenerational households, often primarily grandparents. A lot of those grandparents died. Sometimes it was because of transmission through the children. I saw a lot of teddy bears perched on top of the body bags coming out of the hospital -- the kids wanted the send what they loved to be a comfort to who they had loved.

Do you want to know what their mental health is like now?

Our community was hit harder than most. Nobody knew that it would shake out that way in the beginning.

So kids learning remotely gave COVID to their grandparents? Huh.

You are ignorant of the situation. That's me using polite language out of respect for the moderator.

Most did not have internet access. The problem was that kids went back and forth from parents (when home) to grandparents. And parents brought it home from their shitty jobs that they couldn't afford to lose, and then the kids took it to their grandparents, who were the only ones who could watch them.

Most of the country was not like this. But it was real, and it takes a helluva toll on children to know people are dead because of them. And guess who reports on abuse here? It's the grandparents, the aunties, the elders.

You don't want to see what it looks like when children have gone through this and have to live with it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The repercussions of extended online learning for my high school student were significant and will affect his life for years to come. It was clear at every turn in those 18 months that my child’s education and wellbeing was not a priority. I am angry at everyone — school board, admin and teachers — and will not soon forget.

We entrusted our children’s education to these self-centered bureaucrats and they revealed their true colors. About 90% of them care nothing about the children. We’ve been scammed. My best friend’s daughter opted to repeat the 9th grade because she just didn’t learn anything virtually.

These monsters have damaged so many of our children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Folks who are angry now must have forgotten what it was like the first year of the pandemic. No one knew what the virus was capable of - what it would do to adults and kids alike. Hospitals were overwhelmed. Our leadership makes decisions based on the information available. It is unfortunate kids were out of school for so long, however, it’s now up to us to come together and help our kids and not expend unnecessary energy on the blame game. If it was your son/daughter who died because schools were open, you’d sing a different tune.

I work with children in a culture and a place where they are taken care of by multigenerational households, often primarily grandparents. A lot of those grandparents died. Sometimes it was because of transmission through the children. I saw a lot of teddy bears perched on top of the body bags coming out of the hospital -- the kids wanted the send what they loved to be a comfort to who they had loved.

Do you want to know what their mental health is like now?

Our community was hit harder than most. Nobody knew that it would shake out that way in the beginning.

So kids learning remotely gave COVID to their grandparents? Huh.

You are ignorant of the situation. That's me using polite language out of respect for the moderator.

Most did not have internet access. The problem was that kids went back and forth from parents (when home) to grandparents. And parents brought it home from their shitty jobs that they couldn't afford to lose, and then the kids took it to their grandparents, who were the only ones who could watch them.

Most of the country was not like this. But it was real, and it takes a helluva toll on children to know people are dead because of them. And guess who reports on abuse here? It's the grandparents, the aunties, the elders.

You don't want to see what it looks like when children have gone through this and have to live with it.

No, I understand the situation perfectly well. Closed schools ensured that those families most at risk, with in-person jobs and multigenerational households, mixed households as much as possible as without testing or masks. That's not an argument why schools should have been closed, but an argument why using the suffering of at-risk communities to support school closures is BS. We should have focused efforts on protecting families at greatest risk with more testing, free N95s for when a family member had symptoms and continued in-person school that did not require so much mixing of households in crowded, indoor, poorly ventilated spaces.

And no, you are wrong again. Closed schools minimized vectors for these kids. They would have had to stay with both parents and grandparents anyway -- schools just would have added in more contacts.

Again, this wasn't a common situation. But it is and was a real one, and before you make grand sweeping statements, think about your preconceptions. Think about who counts for you, and who doesn't.

And stop beng so wrong all the time.