Are you sending your kids to school next month?

[RamblingMad]

To be fair, school still seems more dangerous imo b/c you’re relying on other ppl to take adequate safety measures with your child while you’re not there.

The problem isn’t your kid getting COVID. It’s your kid getting COVID and spreading it to vulnerable people.

 

[LSUmiss]

The problem isn’t your kid getting COVID. It’s your kid getting COVID and spreading it to vulnerable people.

Pp said someone she knows was fine with their kids going all over but thinks school is too dangerous. I was responding to that.

 

[Kimberlyann11]

My daughter is supposed to be student teaching a kindergarten class this year pursuant to getting her teaching certification. She has no clue what is going on yet. Last we heard the parents had a choice, but she hasn't heard anything definitive. I would like her to get some real face to face teaching experience before getting her own classroom and I know she'd like that too.

 

[barkley]

I have been making the Hunger Games reference to my husband also, especially when viewing the “numbers” of deaths and illlness, it’s so gruesome reducing human life to statistics on a screen.

it is very reminiscent to me of my childhood and watching the nightly news reports during the vietnam war. every night would start with a count of casualties

 

[RamblingMad]

My daughter is supposed to be student teaching a kindergarten class this year pursuant to getting her teaching certification. She has no clue what is going on yet. Last we heard the parents had a choice, but she hasn't heard anything definitive. I would like her to get some real face to face teaching experience before getting her own classroom and I know she'd like that too.

But she’ll also learn a lot teaching virtually. It’s a win/win.

 

[siren0119]

So the latest update from my school district is that they are still moving forward with a hybrid opening (2 days in school, 3 days out, all students remote on wednesdays) but they have changed plans with the full remote option. At our school committee meeting ten days ago, they had said the full remote would either be the state sponsored program or a "school in a can" self paced curriculum. I had voiced a lot of opposition to that, and apparently I wasn't alone. Last night they announced that they nixed that plan and would be having the full remote option taught by our town teachers, with coordination between the remote teachers and the in person teachers. This means we can start the year either remote or hybrid, and have the ability to switch between them during the year with little to no disruption in the learning.

We still have many questions that haven't been answered with regard to how the school district will protect and support the teachers and staff, and how coverage will be handled when (not if) a teacher becomes infected and has to quarantine. But this felt like a step in the right direction.

 

[EACarlson]

I found out today the local teacher's union had a closed door meeting with the school board last night. From what I gather, the union wants the elementary students to go on the every other day hybrid plan the middle and high school students are doing. Currently the plan is for elementary students to go back to full time in person. The only way the school board can do that now is to call an emergency meeting and take the power away from the superintendent they just gave her in the last 6 hour meeting they had last week. Two other similar sized cities around me have changed their plans in the last 24 hours.

 

[HeatherC]

All of my son's college classes are labeled as "zoom" on his schedule. He's considering just staying home and doing the work online. No sense going to campus if all of his classes are going to be virtual...

That is what my daughter decided to do. She also realized campus life would no longer resemble a normal campus life. On the plus side, we are saving a lot of money as a result of no room and board. Though I do wish she could have gone back to a normal year.

 

[Kimberlyann11]

But she’ll also learn a lot teaching virtually. It’s a win/win.

So true! I just spoke with her on the phone and the teacher had just emailed her. The class will be a combination of online and in-person so she will get some experience with both. That can only be a plus - and as a mom I will like that she will likely get to be at home when the weather's bad in the winter.

 

[VandVsmama]

My kids are going back. There's a mother in my neighborhood who's refusing to let her kids go. Though ALL summer long she takes them to the water park (aside from a little distancing in lines, NOTHING has changed) , her older DD has gone to San Francisco with a family who's child has cancer to get chemotherapy, has gone on multiple trips, etc...Yeah, you can't get Covid-19 from a hospital or a super crowded water park. It's operating at 50% capacity, but that still allows 2,400 in the park and the park isn't that big. In her eyes, school is the only place you can get it.

I have learned that I really don't like people like this very much. They're hypocritical. I know a mom who preaches all the time on social media about how her kid's life shouldn't be put at risk to go to school in person. One of her children has an immune system that doesn't function well. I understand her concerns given the pandemic and all that.

But good grief...she's posted picture after picture all summer long of all of the trips they've been on. Plus photos of her immune-compromised kid rolling around in creeks and streams and all that. This is a kid who has to go get IV infusions regularly to boost his immune system.

Lady, you can't have it both ways. If you are THAT worried about your child dying, then why has it been a revolving door of vacations for the past 3 months? And we're not talking about social distancing vacations here.

 

[Heather07438]

It all could very well turn out to be a disaster. But I wouldn't base judgment on a few schools that opened with no mitigation efforts.

And if we're mitigating against Covid, we're also mitigating against colds and flu.

Yes! This is exactly my hopes (that the school's that try in earnest to mitigate spread have a different and good outcome). DS' college WPU seems to have put a tremendous amount of thought in their plan. Giving it the best shot to work and that's all I can ask.

We thought the same about cold/flu... at first worried it would exacerbate quarantining and complicate many functions on campus, but then realized with all the measures in place it might be a slow year for those.

Hopefully there are successful schools in all types of scenarios that can provide a path forward for others.

 

[Simba's Mom]

My Grandchildren start school Monday in Northern Texas. Texas-which I've read is rapidly becoming a real hot spot for the corona virus. They're in elementary school and supposed to wear masks all day as well as social distance. Boy, am I glad I retired-I'd hate to be the teacher who has to enforce those rules as well as try to teach.

 

[sk!mom]

It all could very well turn out to be a disaster. But I wouldn't base judgment on a few schools that opened with no mitigation efforts.

And if we're mitigating against Covid, we're also mitigating against colds and flu.

I agree that with mitigation schools might be able to work. However, there are many schools set to open with little to none. The entire state of Texas for one. Some schools are already open more to come next week. Masks are only mandatory for 10 and up.

My school is set to open next Wednesday. PK- 3rd, no masks. Social distancing “as possible.”
Parents did have the option for full virtual and after a very rough July, it looks like a little over a third of my school chose it.

I’m thankful to teach 4th but nervous.

My daughter is supposed to be student teaching a kindergarten class this year pursuant to getting her teaching certification. She has no clue what is going on yet. Last we heard the parents had a choice, but she hasn't heard anything definitive. I would like her to get some real face to face teaching experience before getting her own classroom and I know she'd like that too.

I will have a student teacher starting in my class a few days after school starts. TBH, not looking forward to it. I’m going to try to help her learn a lot and have a positive experience but it’s a weird year to say the least.

 

[kymom99]

My Grandchildren start school Monday in Northern Texas. Texas-which I've read is rapidly becoming a real hot spot for the corona virus. They're in elementary school and supposed to wear masks all day as well as social distance. Boy, am I glad I retired-I'd hate to be the teacher who has to enforce those rules as well as try to teach.

I think we don’t give kids enough credit. My grandson who is 6 wears his mask with no complaints. I took my son to college. All the kids were wearing them, many even outside. Kids are adaptable. You just have to set the expectation.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

I saw this and thought of this thread.

 

[Colleen27]

What I’m seeing locally by me is that the rich areas are home schooling, and the poor areas are sending their kids back to school. Reminds me of the Hunger Games. I guess this is the first annual COVID games.

That makes sense, though. Districts in richer areas can make these decisions without worrying about poverty-related hardships, from lack of school meals to lack of supervision or internet at home, and focus solely on their educational mission, while poorer districts have to weigh the impact of losing all of the other functions they serve for vulnerable families. Of all the things schools do, education is the easiest to translate to an online setting. Meals and showers and a safe space for abused kids and a touchpoint for medical screenings and all the other things that high-poverty school districts do to help kids are a lot harder to offer online.

There doesn't seem to be a clear district-by-district divide along income lines but I definitely see it on a family-by-family level; those who have high speed internet and a parent who is available during the day to facilitate learning or the means to hire tutors are keeping their kids home, while those who have to work or lack internet or struggle financially are more likely to be planning to send them back in person.

 

[JM23457]

The problem isn’t your kid getting COVID. It’s your kid getting COVID and spreading it to vulnerable people.

The problem is not all kids can get a virtual education. Some kids need an in-person option. It's essential to them and to society that they be educated. It isn't some luxury.

 

[RamblingMad]

The problem is not kids can get a virtual education. Some kids need an in-person option. It's essential to them and to society that they be educated. It isn't some luxury.

It won’t do them any good if they catch COVID, bring it home, and take out their parents with it.

 

[JM23457]

I agree that with mitigation schools might be able to work. However, there are many schools set to open with little to none. The entire state of Texas for one. Some schools are already open more to come next week. Masks are only mandatory for 10 and up.

I agree that not mandating masks for the lower grades is completely wrong and lame. We were at WDW this July & saw 3 & 4 year-olds wearing masks all day in 95 degree heat. But a 9 year-old can't handle it while seated in an air conditioned room? B.S.

It also really annoys me that all kids aren't being temp checked. Imo every child should be temp checked by the bus driver before they can get on the bus, & non-busers should be checked at school arrival. Then classroom teachers would check all students right before lunch, to suss out the ones who got in that morning via Tylenol.

I've been touchless temp-checked a zillion times this summer & it's super quick & idiot proof. Every school should be doing it. Making midday temp checks a universal routine would be a very good deterrent for the Tylenol cr@p- parents would know they'd have to come get their kids midday, anyway, so why bother?

I'm a teacher & really want our schools to reopen because a lot of kids don't learn well at home. I just wish our school district were a little more proactive. They are trying (distancing, directional hallways, no shared supplies, masks for older students, etc.), but they could easily do a lot better.

 

[Magical2017]

My previous school had 4 teachers quit this week because they cannot do in-person teaching due to being high risk. Two are Type 1 diabetes, one is undergoing chemo, and the fourth finished chemo last year. The district will not let them be "online" teachers so they were forced to retire or quit. All 4 are amazing educators.

A neighboring district had 300 teachers take a leave due to them being high risk or living with a family member who is high risk.

Wow--how sad and frustrating for those teachers. Here our county has chosen to have virtual instruction through the end of January. After that time, parents my choose a hybrid model if it is safe or they may continue with virtual learning the remainder of the school year. Some parents are very upset that they are not even considering a full return to school, but it is what it is. At least our teachers do not have to worry about taking leave or quitting.