Anonymous
Post 05/10/2020 20:57     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
Honestly schools are just going to have to open up in normal capacity. All of these restrictions being proposed are absurd. The teachers who are older or have more risk factors will have to retire or find new jobs, just like a lot of the workforce. Schools will be back in session - they are the backbone of society and will need to open as normal.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2020 19:55     Subject: Re:How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
I don't really understand the point of this thread. Parents don't get to choose how schools and classes run in normal situations, why would they now? Other than the 1-2 miniscule items that the PTA directs, truly, parents don't influence how schools run. At least not public schools.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2020 16:21     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our union leadership has already stated that we are not childcare and there is no possibility of all students attending school at the same time. The buildings are too crowded and we will not go back to work packed in like sardines against all common sense and medical advice.

Parents should think about how they will manage this-nanny share, one parent stays home and you downsize, etc. This will likely be our new reality until a vaccine is developed.


Where are you located?


NP. Progressive Democrats like myself are now rethinking support for teacher unions. Unfortunately, the reality is, a major impediment to a high quality and nimble education system are unions. I come from a union family, so it’s significant for me to acknowledge this.

“Nimble” seems to mean “put your life on the line for me, because otherwise I have to make sacrifices I don’t feel like making” and “work more without pay”


The vast majority of the population will be back to work by September, interacting with people as they need to for their job this "putting their life on the line."
Do you think teachers are an exception and they should get to stay home indefinitely, not work, and get paid full salary by tax payers? Distance learning is sub par in most cases and many parents aren't even participating because it just isn't a full education.

As a parent it’s your decision to opt out of learning. It has nothing to do with public policy, though. If you’d prefer to put together your own homeschool curriculum or purchase one then you are welcome to do so.
I do think schools are fundamentally different than offices though. For one, in terms of the number of people gathered together in a school. For another, the lack of hygiene practices among the people it serves. The lack of independence of elementary school students is another factor. If you’re wiping your coworkers noses and holding their hands, then god bless you. Do your coworkers routinely share toys, balls, school supplies, play doh, art supplies, etc? Do your coworkers travel together to work on a crowded school bus? Do you have the ability to wash your hands and distance yourself from other people in your office? Do your coworkers regularly come to work sick and coughing all over you? Because schools are not the same. You can insist that they are but the reality is that they are breeding grounds for germs of all kinds. Every child in my class got the flu last year except TWO. I got it too! Because elementary schools are hands on, germy environments and to do my job effectively I have to work closely with the kids. I hate distance learning. It’s utterly joyless. But I’m not going to shut my mouth and be a good soldier so that you can go back to your own life. If the numbers increase then schools will need to be shut again and teachers will absolutely put pressure on schools, districts, and local governments to do so.


Ok if you don't want to go back to work then you shouldn't get paid.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2020 15:54     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our union leadership has already stated that we are not childcare and there is no possibility of all students attending school at the same time. The buildings are too crowded and we will not go back to work packed in like sardines against all common sense and medical advice.

Parents should think about how they will manage this-nanny share, one parent stays home and you downsize, etc. This will likely be our new reality until a vaccine is developed.


What should we do if it takes 3 years or more to find a vaccine? Just accept that kids of our nation will not have an adequate education?

No one is saying we don’t go back until there’s a vaccine. They’re saying we don’t go back and throw caution to the wind, full capacity and no protections. It’s not “if” that will cause a massive uptick in infections, but how many. The union is demanding masks, testing for all staff and students, temperature checks and a strict sick child policy. If they can’t make those things happen, then going back to the buildings is off the table.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2020 15:41     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
Anonymous wrote:Our union leadership has already stated that we are not childcare and there is no possibility of all students attending school at the same time. The buildings are too crowded and we will not go back to work packed in like sardines against all common sense and medical advice.

Parents should think about how they will manage this-nanny share, one parent stays home and you downsize, etc. This will likely be our new reality until a vaccine is developed.


What should we do if it takes 3 years or more to find a vaccine? Just accept that kids of our nation will not have an adequate education?
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2020 15:28     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our union leadership has already stated that we are not childcare and there is no possibility of all students attending school at the same time. The buildings are too crowded and we will not go back to work packed in like sardines against all common sense and medical advice.

Parents should think about how they will manage this-nanny share, one parent stays home and you downsize, etc. This will likely be our new reality until a vaccine is developed.


Where are you located?


NP. Progressive Democrats like myself are now rethinking support for teacher unions. Unfortunately, the reality is, a major impediment to a high quality and nimble education system are unions. I come from a union family, so it’s significant for me to acknowledge this.

“Nimble” seems to mean “put your life on the line for me, because otherwise I have to make sacrifices I don’t feel like making” and “work more without pay”


The vast majority of the population will be back to work by September, interacting with people as they need to for their job this "putting their life on the line."
Do you think teachers are an exception and they should get to stay home indefinitely, not work, and get paid full salary by tax payers? Distance learning is sub par in most cases and many parents aren't even participating because it just isn't a full education.

As a parent it’s your decision to opt out of learning. It has nothing to do with public policy, though. If you’d prefer to put together your own homeschool curriculum or purchase one then you are welcome to do so.
I do think schools are fundamentally different than offices though. For one, in terms of the number of people gathered together in a school. For another, the lack of hygiene practices among the people it serves. The lack of independence of elementary school students is another factor. If you’re wiping your coworkers noses and holding their hands, then god bless you. Do your coworkers routinely share toys, balls, school supplies, play doh, art supplies, etc? Do your coworkers travel together to work on a crowded school bus? Do you have the ability to wash your hands and distance yourself from other people in your office? Do your coworkers regularly come to work sick and coughing all over you? Because schools are not the same. You can insist that they are but the reality is that they are breeding grounds for germs of all kinds. Every child in my class got the flu last year except TWO. I got it too! Because elementary schools are hands on, germy environments and to do my job effectively I have to work closely with the kids. I hate distance learning. It’s utterly joyless. But I’m not going to shut my mouth and be a good soldier so that you can go back to your own life. If the numbers increase then schools will need to be shut again and teachers will absolutely put pressure on schools, districts, and local governments to do so.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2020 15:08     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our union leadership has already stated that we are not childcare and there is no possibility of all students attending school at the same time. The buildings are too crowded and we will not go back to work packed in like sardines against all common sense and medical advice.

Parents should think about how they will manage this-nanny share, one parent stays home and you downsize, etc. This will likely be our new reality until a vaccine is developed.


Where are you located?


NP. Progressive Democrats like myself are now rethinking support for teacher unions. Unfortunately, the reality is, a major impediment to a high quality and nimble education system are unions. I come from a union family, so it’s significant for me to acknowledge this.

“Nimble” seems to mean “put your life on the line for me, because otherwise I have to make sacrifices I don’t feel like making” and “work more without pay”


The vast majority of the population will be back to work by September, interacting with people as they need to for their job this "putting their life on the line."
Do you think teachers are an exception and they should get to stay home indefinitely, not work, and get paid full salary by tax payers? Distance learning is sub par in most cases and many parents aren't even participating because it just isn't a full education.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2020 14:40     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our union leadership has already stated that we are not childcare and there is no possibility of all students attending school at the same time. The buildings are too crowded and we will not go back to work packed in like sardines against all common sense and medical advice.

Parents should think about how they will manage this-nanny share, one parent stays home and you downsize, etc. This will likely be our new reality until a vaccine is developed.


Where are you located?


NP. Progressive Democrats like myself are now rethinking support for teacher unions. Unfortunately, the reality is, a major impediment to a high quality and nimble education system are unions. I come from a union family, so it’s significant for me to acknowledge this.

“Nimble” seems to mean “put your life on the line for me, because otherwise I have to make sacrifices I don’t feel like making” and “work more without pay”
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2020 14:23     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our union leadership has already stated that we are not childcare and there is no possibility of all students attending school at the same time. The buildings are too crowded and we will not go back to work packed in like sardines against all common sense and medical advice.

Parents should think about how they will manage this-nanny share, one parent stays home and you downsize, etc. This will likely be our new reality until a vaccine is developed.


Where are you located?


NP. Progressive Democrats like myself are now rethinking support for teacher unions. Unfortunately, the reality is, a major impediment to a high quality and nimble education system are unions. I come from a union family, so it’s significant for me to acknowledge this.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2020 13:40     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
I think school will open in the fall per normal. Maybe with a slight delay until mid September.

That is FOUR months from now. In my state cases are down to 1/3 of what they were just one month ago. I think hand washing and sanitation will be stepped up but I don't see any other drastic measures being necessary at that point. If the economy is largely open, schools will be too.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2020 11:17     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
Anonymous wrote:This had a good overview of how schools are reopening around the world:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/schools-are-opening-worldwide-providing-model-us


This article was really eye-opening. School and expectations are clearly very different in the US.

Classrooms here are so crowded that even if you use the gym and outdoors, there wont' be any way to get the kids six feet apart. In my high school classroom, the desks were so close together there was barely enough room for aisles the students could walk through.

In MCPS there is this expectation that students will be able to take the bus or be dropped of at a particular morning hour. How would staggering drop-offs/picks-ups work? And as for individually serving meals at the students' desks.... wow.

Really, if we implement some of these changes it will be expensive, but it might be better for education. School will suddenly be about learning and not about daycare and activities. Start times/end times might be tailored to student and instructional needs. And overcrowding could be reduced...
Anonymous
Post 05/09/2020 21:11     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
This had a good overview of how schools are reopening around the world:

https://www.edutopia.org/article/schools-are-opening-worldwide-providing-model-us
Anonymous
Post 05/08/2020 16:58     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our union leadership has already stated that we are not childcare and there is no possibility of all students attending school at the same time. The buildings are too crowded and we will not go back to work packed in like sardines against all common sense and medical advice.

Parents should think about how they will manage this-nanny share, one parent stays home and you downsize, etc. This will likely be our new reality until a vaccine is developed.


And union leadership should think about how teachers with kids will manage this, what with “one parent stays home.” That parent is likely to be the teacher. Good luck with the reduced ranks.


The teacher parent is likely to stay home because 1) teachers are overwhelmingly female and mothers are more likely to stay home than fathers and 2) teachers are underpaid compared to similarly-educated professionals so it makes sense for the teacher to stay home when his or her income is less than the non-teacher parent.
Anonymous
Post 05/08/2020 16:53     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our union leadership has already stated that we are not childcare and there is no possibility of all students attending school at the same time. The buildings are too crowded and we will not go back to work packed in like sardines against all common sense and medical advice.

Parents should think about how they will manage this-nanny share, one parent stays home and you downsize, etc. This will likely be our new reality until a vaccine is developed.


Where are you located?


DP. PP is not MCPS.

That said, pediatric multisystem inflammatory syndrome is likely to keep MCPS closed next fall or at least close it quickly once kids get sick.

Anonymous
Post 05/07/2020 08:28     Subject: How would you like school and classes to run in Fall?
Anonymous wrote:Our union leadership has already stated that we are not childcare and there is no possibility of all students attending school at the same time. The buildings are too crowded and we will not go back to work packed in like sardines against all common sense and medical advice.

Parents should think about how they will manage this-nanny share, one parent stays home and you downsize, etc. This will likely be our new reality until a vaccine is developed.


Where are you located?