The CDC does not have good data on this, therefore conclusions cannot be trusted.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's so funny to me that now WaPo is on board with opening schools. Why, I wonder?

Let's be clear about something here. The Washington Post is reporting on a new report by the CDC. It didn't just make up something and decide to run it today. This was by the news staff. It is a story that ran because there was a new development in this debate. This was not an editorial or op-ed.

Seriously, how do people not understand this? The Post reports news in news articles. Adams jumping the line to get her vaccine? Very newsworthy. New research on how safe schools are? Also newsworthy.

Did the post finally report on Adams? Link?

Anonymous wrote:The problem is that parents won't allow the schools to enforce the rules. IF the rules for social distancing and masks are in place then it is safe; however, if parents are going to refuse to allow their child to be corrected and a consequence administered for violation of the rules then the return to school will be a disaster and people will get sick.

If you want a return to school then we as parents must abide by the rules and regulations. If you won't agree then your kids won't go back.

To me that’s a given. My kids health and therefore our households depends on that too. If the school tells me my kid was non-complaint with mitigation after all the effort to get back to real school, he11 hath no fury like what would happen at my house. First offense and your iPhone is mine for the rest of the school year. Second offense, I will put them back in DL myself. This will be communicated clearly before my kid returns. You are lucky to get some in person this year. It’s a privilege you will not abuse. Putting other peoples health and education at risk is a very serious offense.

My other kid is in college with strict mitigation and in person classes in a concurrent structure, which makes me more comfortable about my HS kid going back. His school sends kids home for serious violations, and he knows the drill too. I have great kids. I don’t have to spend a lot of time being a disciplinarian. Amd I go to bat for them. When they are right. Endangering other people and in person education is never right.

Anonymous wrote:The CDC team reviewed data from studies in the United States and abroad and found the experience in schools different from nursing homes and high-density worksites where rapid spread has occurred.

“The preponderance of available evidence from the fall school semester has been reassuring,” wrote three CDC researchers in a viewpoint piece published online Tuesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “There has been little evidence that schools have contributed meaningfully to increased community transmission.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/cdc-school-virus-spread/2021/01/26/bf949222-5fe6-11eb-9061-07abcc1f9229_story.html

The only discussion we should be having now is how fast we should be opening.

Please email this to all SB reps!!!!

I really feel like we are in fact-free zone when it comes to school decisions. THis was not even referenced in today's message from the APS superintendent. I feel like no one cares and they are all happy to use COVID as an excuse to keep schools closed for as long as they can get away with it.

Anonymous wrote:Really? Which states? I have FB friends who have been teaching all year who haven't been vaccinated yet.

+1. Where? Don’t know any teachers outside this area who expect to get them this school year.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's so funny to me that now WaPo is on board with opening schools. Why, I wonder?

I think the switch flipped for many people when it became clear that most of us will be waiting 6 months for a vaccine, and our parents can’t get a vaccine, but they started vaccinating teachers. And, FEA was giving interviews and saying teachers should still be remote until kids were vaccinated too. And also saying that full return to school couldn’t happen next fall. While teachers were getting the entire vaccine supply. Almost no other state is prioritizing teachers as high as VA. Because it’s objectively less risky than many jobs prioritized lower.

That’s the red line for so many of us. 40 year old teachers getting this lifesaving vaccine that our 80 year old parents can’t get, and then hearing more stalling on return to school? Just no. We have done this for a year. We can’t still be doing it a year from now. We must let our kids lead their lives, despite COVID.

Agree with this. Even my nicest friends are grumbling in public now. I think it was the combination of seeing teachers all over SM with their vax cards---even teachers scheduled for all DL and FCPS staff who don't work with kids--AND the drumbeat of bad news about vaccine availability for everyone else. A vaccine right now is a ticket to living your real life. Or not catching COVID and dying, for old peop;e. The rest of us have to wait 6 months for our golden ticket. And old people who should have been prioritized were bumped below every FCPS employee.

Yeah, well, I will be vaccinated soon. Let’s get all staff vaccinated ASAP and then open schools. Do a week of mass vaccinations, not this 4 week micromanaged Braband schedule, and get things rolling. This is ridiculous.

I don't think there are enough doses.

I think there might be, but it would mean delaying all scheduled 65+ appointments and appointments for those with underlying health issues.

Do teachers and the teacher unions realize what the optics would mean if that happened?

A scenario that would give you intense pleasure because or the amount of schadenfreude you will get to feel? Yeah, most of you are just indulging your ids, here. This is gross. Grow up and learn how to fight for your kids the way adults need to. It is not with these stupid bitch slapping wars you are starting.

NP. It seems like you are doing a bit of bitch slapping yourself.

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Anonymous wrote:This also says that if we want to open safely, some indoor sports without masks, like wrestling, should not take place. Chantilly has had indoor sports outbreaks. Please also tell the SB that Brabrand can and should choose not to follow VSHL, like Arlington did, and should immediately stop the indoor sports that are causing outbreaks so that school can reopen safely. It’s ridulous that kids are indoors wrestling without masks in FCPS while the littles try to learn to read on laptops at home.

Northam and VA said schools were good to open this summer/fall. Its been safe for kids to be in school all along. FCPS has an HR problem, not a Covid problem. I don't have an issue with kids doing OTHER activities that Virginia is permitting under Covid restrictions (sports, clubs, etc). If all kid activities had been shut down all year, we still wouldn't have open schools.

I agree and we would have a lot more kids with mental health problems.

First, only athletes get to meet in person. No one else has the privilege.

Second, this the CDC recommendation based on the fact that some indoor athletics (not all, not outdoor) cannot be done safely and *cause outbreaks in school.* They specifically score wrestling. So, maybe some kids have to stop wrestling so everyone else can get in the building. Wrestling indoors without a mask during a COVID spike is ridiculous. Also, most of the Chantilly freshmen basketball team has COVID. So, there’s that.

I thought HS clubs could meet starting this week? Wasn't that in the RTS schedule? And of course there are private sports and activities all going on in person.

Can and are are different things. My kid has two major activities at Chantilly that qualify. And neither are starting. But hey. Wrestling!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is this: there are so many public health and medical organizations and experts saying that it is safe to return to in person learning--the CDC, AAP, Fauci, etc. As a Democrat I'm disgusted with the SB. These people are no better than Republican science deniers. No better. It's all about politics and stupidity.

The Fauci can manage to convince the NEA? They're having a chat with him on Thursday and Kimberly Adams of the FEA will be there.

https://www.mobilize.us/nea/event/373215/?referring_vol=2053783&rname=Kimberly×lot=2636905&share_medium=copy_link&share_context=signup-form-modal

That poor man. Like Trump wasn't enough of a burden.

Anonymous wrote:The evidence is pretty clear that it is safe to open the schools. But that it almost beside the point. Nothing the CDC says will have any impact on the militant parents and teachers who want to keep the schools closed for the rest of this year and possibly until 2022, nor will anything else.

The CDC says you should mask,distance, and COHORT in this report. Middle and high have NO PLANS to cohort. So are you just cherry picking the parts of the report that came out today that supports your preference?

The evidence is pretty clear that it is safe to open the schools. But that it almost beside the point. Nothing the CDC says will have any impact on the militant parents and teachers who want to keep the schools closed for the rest of this year and possibly until 2022, nor will anything else.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More echochamber material, great.

Yes, I just did a lesson with students today on confirmation bias and media literacy. We discussed this echo chamber idea and many of my students lamented their parents being terrible about just talking/reading to others who had the same viewpoint as themselves. Over 100 families at my school switched from in-person to virtual in the past few months. Obviously everyone is not represented by the DCUM "Open the Schools!" The article points out the need for cohorting---something that is much easier in the high schools in rural Wisconsin where they have fewer electives and course options than FCPS. It also mentions distancing, which means that we are looking at hybrid for now.

Thank you for that. I actually am interested in hearing about people’s experiences and points of view. I do find good posts but I have to wade through a lot of poisonous sludge and it is giving me a dim view of the community. Last year, I loved and admired Fairfax County. I just moved here from a Southern state and loved the neighborhood schools, the sidewalks, the parks, the bike paths, the libraries, the pool clubs people belong to. It doesn’t feel that nice anymore.

Anonymous wrote:More echochamber material, great.

Yes, I just did a lesson with students today on confirmation bias and media literacy. We discussed this echo chamber idea and many of my students lamented their parents being terrible about just talking/reading to others who had the same viewpoint as themselves. Over 100 families at my school switched from in-person to virtual in the past few months. Obviously everyone is not represented by the DCUM "Open the Schools!" The article points out the need for cohorting---something that is much easier in the high schools in rural Wisconsin where they have fewer electives and course options than FCPS. It also mentions distancing, which means that we are looking at hybrid for now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's so funny to me that now WaPo is on board with opening schools. Why, I wonder?

I think the switch flipped for many people when it became clear that most of us will be waiting 6 months for a vaccine, and our parents can’t get a vaccine, but they started vaccinating teachers. And, FEA was giving interviews and saying teachers should still be remote until kids were vaccinated too. And also saying that full return to school couldn’t happen next fall. While teachers were getting the entire vaccine supply. Almost no other state is prioritizing teachers as high as VA. Because it’s objectively less risky than many jobs prioritized lower.

That’s the red line for so many of us. 40 year old teachers getting this lifesaving vaccine that our 80 year old parents can’t get, and then hearing more stalling on return to school? Just no. We have done this for a year. We can’t still be doing it a year from now. We must let our kids lead their lives, despite COVID.

amen.

+1. Adults protect children, not the other way around.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's so funny to me that now WaPo is on board with opening schools. Why, I wonder?

I think the switch flipped for many people when it became clear that most of us will be waiting 6 months for a vaccine, and our parents can’t get a vaccine, but they started vaccinating teachers. And, FEA was giving interviews and saying teachers should still be remote until kids were vaccinated too. And also saying that full return to school couldn’t happen next fall. While teachers were getting the entire vaccine supply. Almost no other state is prioritizing teachers as high as VA. Because it’s objectively less risky than many jobs prioritized lower.

That’s the red line for so many of us. 40 year old teachers getting this lifesaving vaccine that our 80 year old parents can’t get, and then hearing more stalling on return to school? Just no. We have done this for a year. We can’t still be doing it a year from now. We must let our kids lead their lives, despite COVID.

amen.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's so funny to me that now WaPo is on board with opening schools. Why, I wonder?

Let's be clear about something here. The Washington Post is reporting on a new report by the CDC. It didn't just make up something and decide to run it today. This was by the news staff. It is a story that ran because there was a new development in this debate. This was not an editorial or op-ed.

Seriously, how do people not understand this? The Post reports news in news articles. Adams jumping the line to get her vaccine? Very newsworthy. New research on how safe schools are? Also newsworthy.