Are you sending your kids to school next month?

[spiders]

Asking to be waived harmless in the event of negligence would be the tipping straw for me. That's fine, don't even worry about the virtual -- give me the withdrawal forms. They're homeschool now. You can reduce your headcount which will reduce your funding. Have a great year!

 

[Praying Colonel]

IMHO this is the nightmare scenario--unfortunately also a very likely scenario, and one where I don't think there's a good response:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1282360852390313987

 

[mi*vida*loca]

IMHO this is the nightmare scenario--unfortunately also a very likely scenario, and one where I don't think there's a good response:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1282360852390313987

I’ve already had dentist appointments and orthodontist appointments changed about 3-4 times. For myself and my kids. Each time they had to shutdown for about a week. I assume due to someone testing positive to covid but they never came out and said it. So I can only imagine how this is going to work with schools.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

IMHO this is the nightmare scenario--unfortunately also a very likely scenario, and one where I don't think there's a good response:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1282360852390313987

It might taks as long as 6 weeks but yeah, pretty much this.

 

[spiders]

I’m okay with teachers who refuse to show up because they aren’t comfortable. I fully support them using whatever PTO/sick leave they have and then being furloughed until such a time they feel comfortable.

 

[TipsyTraveler]

 

[momz]

ok, I have to share this. After listenint t

I’m okay with teachers who refuse to show up because they aren’t comfortable. I fully support them using whatever PTO/sick leave they have and then being furloughed until such a time they feel comfortable.

Where I work, refusing an assignment is the equivalent of resigning. I work in healthcare. School is safer.

 

[EveDallas]

I’m okay with teachers who refuse to show up because they aren’t comfortable. I fully support them using whatever PTO/sick leave they have and then being furloughed until such a time they feel comfortable.

Awesome! So does that mean that the rest of is who feel uncomfortable get the same treatment? Being furloughed generally means your eligible for unemployment. I'd love to be able to do that. Because I live with high risk family and worry about bringing this home to them. But if I don't work, I don't get paid.

 

[spiders]

ok, I have to share this. After listenint t



Where I work, refusing an assignment is the equivalent of resigning. I work in healthcare. School is safer.

No, no, no, no, no.

You misunderstood. Everyone in an essential field has been perfectly comfortable since the beginning! Essential worksites banned COVID. So it’s cool. Please continue going to work so those who aren’t comfortable don’t have to.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Austin announced their school year will also start virtually.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Even if the guidelines look good on paper it will be so hard to actually follow in real life. Then there are exposures that happen outside of school so it’s not a bubble. As others have mentioned, the experience will be different with less ability to actually socialize. But most of all, it will be disruptive if a school has to open and close or if some have to quarantine etc.

I hate to say it because I so badly want my kids back in school but there would be much more consistency if they would just go online full time. This way we can just have a plan and know what to expect for the year. There has been so much uncertainty since this all started. I think it would be good for everyone to just come up with one plan vs not know if the kids will be in or out of school on a day to day basis as the virus spikes or declines etc. It would be easier for working parents to have one plan they can figure out before school starts and count on it. If teachers and families know ahead of time, they can plan for it. Maybe the schools could set up after school care type programs during the school day for students/families that need that option (child care, technology etc) and they can do their online schooling there. It would be smaller groups of students and not a whole a school full. I feel like a lot of time has been wasted this summer with planning for every possible scenario leaving teachers and parents up in the air. Even if they decide that school reopens, one little outbreak will send everyone scrambling again. I think students, parents, and teachers need something consistent when it comes to schools. Either they go and don’t shut down for outbreaks (obviously not realistic) or go online.

I’m a middle school English teacher. I agree with what you’ve said 100%. Our admin keeps saying we’ll be so much better off next year because we’ve had the whole summer to plan for it, but in reality, we haven’t really planned for anything because we still don’t know WHAT to plan for. When I’ve asked specifically, I’ve been told to plan for all eventualities (a buckshot approach). I’m sorry, but that kind of planning is a colossal waste of time. Make a decision and then let us plan.

It’s like no school wants to be the first to admit everything needs to be online next year. Added to that, we are a small private school, so we have more flexibility than some larger public schools. But I’m afraid our admissions people are overselling our school or setting the new folks up for bait and switch. We’ve been told we are doing in person learning next year. We are opening on August 24th. So families, who don’t like the public school plans, are flocking to our little school. They are going to be very upset when kids, teachers and families start getting sick, and we have to switch to all online learning.

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

I’m okay with teachers who refuse to show up because they aren’t comfortable. I fully support them using whatever PTO/sick leave they have and then being furloughed until such a time they feel comfortable.

As a teacher, I can't just take PTO/sick leave as I please. The teachers that do not feel comfortable, they are either retiring earlier than planned or taking a leave of absence for the year which is unpaid.

 

[Jennasis]

There just isn't any good answer here.

The kids need to go back to school...

Going back to school isn't safe...

I believe both of those things, and i have no answers. I'm so sorry for everyone stuck in this mess. The kids, the parents, the teachers. Whatever your school decides to do, best of luck and try to stay safe and make the best of the situation.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

There just isn't any good answer here.

Going back to school isn't safe...

It's hard for me to understand why any option of going back to school would be ok, if the above is true. If it isn't safe, why are we supposed to send our kids back? "Going back to school isn't safe" should override everything else, in my opinion.

 

[Jennasis]

It's hard for me to understand why any option of going back to school would be ok, if the above is true. If it isn't safe, why are we supposed to send our kids back? "Going back to school isn't safe" should override everything else, in my opinion.

You'd think that...but here we are.

 

[anniemae]

It's hard for me to understand why any option of going back to school would be ok, if the above is true. If it isn't safe, why are we supposed to send our kids back? "Going back to school isn't safe" should override everything else, in my opinion.

Its so true. Unfortunately people are pushing for kids going back saying they NEED to be back in school with friends, they NEED to socialize, they NEED the normalcy. I agree they need all that, but it just is not possible right now with this virus raging. Just because we can send them back doesn't mean we should. I think it will be a mess if they go back and it will be far from normal with masks, social distancing, no recess, lunch in classroom, possible rotation schedule etc.

 

[choirfarm]

nm

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

To answer OP's question, Yes we are sending our kids back to school this fall.

 

[monsterkitty]

Because it also isn't feasible for a single mom or parents to stay home with particularly elementary students. My school district has 68 percent free breakfast and lunch. We also have a high Hispanic population where parents do not speak English. Where do these children go if there is no school? Daycare..no can't afford it. So home alone or a neghbor watches a big group. Generations live together. The housing is cramped. Basically the only children that will be safe in all of this are parents that have the financial means and willingness to homeschool properly. (Not everyone can). There are no good options. There just aren't. The most vulnerable will be left behind.

We're a 95% free and reduced district but everything else is the same.

Parents have two options for their students: 100% in-person learning or 100% online learning with the established curriculum our district has used for years for expelled students and homebound students.

If a parent picks in-person, they are signing an agreement with the school that their child will wear a mask all day long. If they refuse then they are told to do online. If a student becomes ill at school or gets to school with a temperature the parents must immediately come and get their child.

If a teacher or student tests positive, all students in their cohort will be quarantined for 14 days. If 5 or more students or teachers in the school test positive, the school will close for 3 days for a deep-cleaning. The students who are in the cohorts of the positive teacher or students will continue to quarantine for 14 days but the rest of the school will return after the 3 day deep clean.

Teachers and staff who can't work in-person because of health factors were given the option of being one of the on-line teachers or taking a year leave with no pay.

A friend in another state is a middle school teacher as well. Her union has asked the district if they will support a teacher if the teacher becomes ill with COVID, a student in their class then tests positive and the parents sue the teacher.

Yes, now teachers are having to worry about being sued for possibly exposing students to a virus.

 

[3threebabies]

A school district in Missouri is requiring parents to sign a waiver in case children become infected with COVID-19 and die.
The “waiver of liability” from Hazelwood School District was shared on Tuesday by attorney Natasha Scruggs.
“I feel sick reading it,” Scruggs said.
The document asks parents to acknowledge that COVID-19 is a public health crisis and to relinquish their rights to hold the district responsible even if a student’s death is “caused by the negligence of carelessness” of school staff.

Both federal and state governments have codified malpractice waivers for medical professionals and facilities. I know I have signed a Covid specific waiver at several medical appointments and when ds’s fall sports practices resumed at school. Even WDW reminds MDE users they tacitly agreed to liability waivers. More than likely anytime we have signed on a line or checked a box virtually or in real life we released some entity from Covid liability.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/Pandemic-leads-to-unthinkable-in-medical-15208926.php
ALBANY – Every day, doctors, nurses and other health care professionals across New York risk potentially deadly exposure to COVID-19 as they work the front lines to treat coronavirus patients.

But they do not risk exposure to medical malpractice or other legal liability under New York state law -- even if they make errors that lead to fatalities -- unless they erred in a way that was grossly negligent, reckless, willful or criminal in nature.

Those protections, which apply to hospitals, nursing homes and other health care facilities, were enacted in the new state budget earlier this month and in an earlier executive order that Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued March 23,

The objective in implementing the protections is to encourage doctors, retired health care professionals and others in health care to join the fight against COVID-19 and not be dissuaded because they fear they will be sued for conditions beyond their control.

"In normal circumstances,, it would be unthinkable to confer immunity in this fashion," said Henry Greenberg, president of the New York State Bar Association."But now, in the midst of a global pandemic in which New York state is the epicenter, in which our health care providers are every day heroically putting themselves, their health and safety in harm's way, it's understandable that the governor would act in such fashion."

All physicians, physician assistants, specialist assistants, nurse practitioners, licensed registered professional nurses and licensed practical nurses are immune from civil liability for any injury or death allegedly sustained directly as the result of an act or omission by the person while providing medical services in the state’s response to COVID-19, according to Cuomo's order. The exceptions are if the injury or death was caused by the person’s gross negligence.

While the executive order is set to end April 22, the exemptions in the budget continue until the disaster emergency ends -- and date back to March 7, when Cuomo declared a disaster emergency in the state.

The budget made any health care facility or health care professional immune from civil or criminal damages that were the result of an act or omission or if their error was made in good faith. The exceptions are for acts involving "willful or intentional criminal misconduct, gross negligence, reckless misconduct, or intentional infliction of harm by the health care facility or health care professional.”

If the error was the result of a staffing shortage, it cannot be considered an exception.

At the federal level, the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act signed into law by President Donald Trump on March 27 provides similar immunity from legal liability for volunteer health care professionals...

The article continues with more on the Cares Act provisions. PA has similar (EO link below). Most likely all states followed suit. Schools act in loco parentis, and we sign various waivers every year for our school district including for co-curricular activities and field trips. It is not unexpected that schools would treat Covid-19 the same.

https://www.governor.pa.gov/newsroo...ide-civil-immunity-for-health-care-providers/