Are you sending your kids to school next month?

[Renarr]

Wow! This is the exact scenario that school staff is afraid will happen! All it takes is one irresponsible person, or even one person who didn't know they were or might be infected. Now what are these exposed teachers and kids supposed to do? Isolate from their families? Disrupt their entire households? For how long? How many people might they have infected without knowing? Getting tested the day after exposure won't tell the whole story. They'll need to wait a prescribed number of days before they'll test positive (if they contracted the virus). If only that person had kept their child home until their test results came back, a lot of people could have avoided the amount of anxiety, stress and possibly illness or worse.

Exactly this.

And here's the other thing, for all the people citing that schools need to open up so that people can go to work: that need isn't going to go away suddenly just because a coronavirus test needed to be taken. Delays in testing are going to cause parents to send their kids to school before the results come in. Just because you might not be a parent that does this doesn't mean that others won't.

People talk about how schools need to be open as if they're going to be open more than a few weeks anyway. And then what? We've spent all this time and energy focused on how to open, and not on how to do the remote that we know we're going to need to do at some point with fidelity.

 

[wvjules]

PG County announced it last week. I know Anne Arundel is also doing virtual only. Not sure who else, but I would expect most of the state to follow.

Oh. I missed that. I see that Baltimore County voted for all virtual this evening.

 

[Luv Bunnies]

Exactly this.

And here's the other thing, for all the people citing that schools need to open up so that people can go to work: that need isn't going to go away suddenly just because a coronavirus test needed to be taken. Delays in testing are going to cause parents to send their kids to school before the results come in. Just because you might not be a parent that does this doesn't mean that others won't.

People talk about how schools need to be open as if they're going to be open more than a few weeks anyway. And then what? We've spent all this time and energy focused on how to open, and not on how to do the remote that we know we're going to need to do at some point with fidelity.

Right! If I get exposed, the scenario in my house would not be pretty. I work with autistic kids, and have an autistic son of my own. Even though he's 25 and very capable of understanding and processing pretty much anything, his anxiety level about Covid is through the roof. His greatest fear is me going back to work and getting the virus. Even if I was merely exposed, he would be a mess until I tested negative. I don't even want to think about what it would do to him if I tested positive. People keep saying that kids need to get back to school for their emotional health. What about the emotional health of my son? My going back will affect him deeply, whether I have a Covid scare or not. It's because of my experience with my own son that I consider myself to be very effective at my job. I understand the kids and I totally empathize with their parents. I've been down that road, and I'm still on it. I love my students, but my son comes first. Why do I even have to consider being put in the position of choosing? Let's just keep classes online until we know it's safe. We can eliminate all these scary scenarios.

 

[MrsPete]

You're exactly right. Teachers are in a uniquely awful situation with schools reopening.

Yes, schools are not like other businesses. Schools are always unique.

One very real concern that no one seems to mention is that schools "touch" more of society than any other institution in our society. In my county, which may or may not be typical, I'm told that 20% of the population is in/out of a school building on a regular basis. So one person out of five is either a student, a teacher, a parent, a lunch lady, a bus driver ... you get the point. Opening schools means that a HUGE percentage of the population is reducing its social distancing.

Can someone please explain how they're going to open the schools safely?

No. No one can answer that question. We can only come up with ways to make it MORE SAFE. Not SAFE.

I don’t think any teacher ever though they had it easy ...

In my almost three-decades, I've seen lots of teachers who entered the profession thinking it'd be an easy little mom job. Those are the people who leave after a year. Or, in some cases, those are the people who leave mid-day in tears.

Seriously, though, three out of every five new teachers leave the profession within five years. I do think that's changing: colleges are responding to this by putting students into the classroom to observe /teach 15-minute lessons early in their college years. Teaching looks very different from my side of the desk, and too many people don't realize that until they've invested years into preparing for the job.

As far as I know masks are mandatory.

I was entering the pet grocery store the other day, and I encountered a no-mask man who had just been denied entrance. He was sputtering his complaints, saying it's all ridiculous, etc., etc., etc. He wanted me to agree with him, but I took the store's position (quickly -- I don't want to talk to no-mask people).

 

[monsterkitty]

When people compare daycares to schools, they're not taking the staff to child ratio into consideration.

Daycare ratio child:staff
The ratio for children aged 3 is 7:1 maximum group size of 12
The ratio for children aged 4-5 is 8:1 maximum group size of 12
The ratio for children aged 6-8 is 10:1 maximum group size of 12
The ratio for children aged 9-12 is 12:1 maximum group size of 12

Schools have 1 teacher with a classroom of 25-35 students for core classes. Elective classes are even larger. Forget social distancing in a school setting as there isn't room in the classroom.

Schools are not going to have the proper PPE. They will have the masks they either were given by the districts to wear or masks they bought off Etsy or made themselves. They will have no plastic partitions to protect themselves and neither will the students. Many districts are not requiring students to even wear masks.

My DH received an email from the district today stating that when returning home, staff should remove shoes before entering the house and disinfect; disinfect any bag you may have taken to school with you that day, such as lunch bag, grading bag, etc.; remove clothes and wash them immediately; shower immediately.

For us that won't be a problem. For teachers with small children, that will be hard.

Students will not be allowed to share any items. We must provide each student with their own pencils, pens, crayons, calculators, etc. ELA classes cannot even share books they are reading and the districts won't provide money to purchase digital copies of the books. Art teachers are trying to figure out how they can get enough supplies for projects when nothing can be shared. Best of all, budgets have been greatly scaled back so where are those resources going to come from?

I never thought I would see the day when teachers had to take students temperatures as they entered the building, a few hours in to the day, and then again after lunch. Best was when admin was asked if they were providing the scan thermometers. The response was that they were asking teachers to supply their own for the class.

Yes, every profession has been hit hard by COVID. Teachers are aware of that. They are also aware that everyone has to work together.

 

[Caseheidi]

Our school districts basic plan came out last week (we are in Oregon) for opening after Labor Day. We have three choices:
1) Join the existing Online Academy - around for several years and many love it
2) Comprehensive Distance Learning
3) Hybrid model - K- 2 will go 5 days a week, all others 2 days a week in cohorts

The district did some virtual meetings, and seems to be pushing the Online Academy in order to lower the number of kids attending the hybrid model. I believe the Distance Learning will just be added onto the Hybrid group just not attending school, so basically busy work at home. DH and I are leaning toward the Online academy as she would actually be learning, Also, our numbers are increasing, and the Gov. has been threatening that if they don’t improve there will be no in person school. I am thinking choosing the online school will be more consistent for my 6th grader. We have to commit for a semester at a time, but at least she will be learning.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Updates from today in Louisiana:

Phase 2 order extended to August 7, which is 3 days before school opens in our parish.

East Baton Rouge parish has decided to delay again and rumor has it they will be virtual only until after Labor Day. Official announcement tomorrow. They are our next door neighbors, so to speak.

Still no word from our school about any details on equipment pickup, bus schedules, which kids go on what days, etc.

It’s so hard to be patient, but I’m trying!

 

[mom2rtk]

I ran into a friend who is the parent of a senior in our district this year (ours have all graduated). He says parents have to commit on all virtual or all in person. Here's the catch. If they are involved in any sort of extra curricular and have hopes of participating, they need to choose the in person option. Not sure if they'll have flexibility to change one's mind. I hope so since this all seems so fluid.

 

[Pucks104]

"active pandamic" wasn't in contracts for grocery store workers and fast food workers. If we all stay home what will happen to the economy. People are dying from depression and lack of health care since they fear going out in public. These children are going to have a hard time catching up having had little to no education the last 4 months of school and all next year if this continues as virtual learning. Students need social interaction, they need to have the academic education that can only be achieved in classrooms. I'm a nurse and if teachers/schools are using proper PPE the spread of this virus will decline. Daycares have opened up and those children in daycare and the providers have remained safe. The same can be done for school.

I work in the early education field and with our regions child care programs. There have been several child care programs that in-spite of following the COVID19 safety protocols have had to close because a child has come into the program with the virus. One child care provider is in the hospital with it and her adult pregnant daughter expecting twins in the next month is sick with CoVid - quite ill but still at home. All the families in the program are having to deal with their child care program closing, testing and quarantining. The provider will have to pay for a deep clean (a shave the other child care programs that have experienced exposure) as well as hospital expenses once she recovers. Praying that she will. Reopening schools and child comes with significant risks and school systems shouldn’t dismiss those risks just because young children don’t spread the infection as much as adults.

 

[HeatherC]

Not quite sure what your point is here.
Since their job responsibilities are different are we supposed to not expect teachers to do them?
Or are you saying that teachers thought they'd have it easy in that profession but it turns out they have a lot of responsibilities and we should let them off the hook because it's more than they bargained for?
What other professions do you feel shouldn't be expected to do what the job entails? I'd love to know.

It should at least be safe for teachers and kids to go back. Right now they cannot say it is.

Most districts are doing Zoom meetings to decide whether to send teachers and kids back in person. They don’t even feel safe enough to hold these meetings in person which speaks volumes about the safety of classrooms. Keep in mind many schools are also old with outdated ventilation systems and some rooms with no windows. That fact alone says they can’t guarantee it is safe.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Exactly this.

And here's the other thing, for all the people citing that schools need to open up so that people can go to work: that need isn't going to go away suddenly just because a coronavirus test needed to be taken. Delays in testing are going to cause parents to send their kids to school before the results come in. Just because you might not be a parent that does this doesn't mean that others won't.

People talk about how schools need to be open as if they're going to be open more than a few weeks anyway. And then what? We've spent all this time and energy focused on how to open, and not on how to do the remote that we know we're going to need to do at some point with fidelity.

This exactly! We are spending all this time trying to make opening schools safe. But once the virus gets going and students and teachers get sick, the schools will close. We’ll move back to remote learning with little preparation. I’ve been saying this to my school’s admin since June, but they are so hell bent on in person learning that it’s falling on deaf ears.

I’m just going to protect myself the best I can with PPE, make the kids in my room wear masks at all times, disinfect my room regularly, wash my hands constantly and pray I don’t get sick. When the school closes, I’ll do distance learning the best I can. This year is not going to be normal, and there’s no way we can make it so.

 

[JM23457]

Come move to NJ, the teachers make $100K+ and they don't want to go back to work. My thoughts on teachers not wanting to go back to work, is to compare yourselves to nurses, cashiers and thousands of grocery stores/home depot workers etc. MANY worked thru the pandemic with precautions. Precautions and guidelines are being offered for the schools BUT the teachers still don't want to return. They have been getting full pay since March, many not even having to do anything. I don't hear medical workers/store employees/restaurant employees complaining like they are!

Don't assume most teachers are complaining or resisting going back to work. I'm a teacher and there is nothing I want more than a return to the classroom this fall, for the students' sake, for my son's sake, and for my own sake- I love (real) teaching.

Yet I keep seeing headlines saying that teachers in my area are against school reopening. When you read the articles, they just quote the leaders of teachers' organizations (we don't have real unions here) that most teachers don't even belong to. And that is portrayed as the sentiment of most teachers. They don't bother finding actual teachers to interview or give us any surveys to collect real data to share with their readers. Keep that in mind before believing everything you read or hear in the news.

I'd love to make $100,000 per year, but that's just a fantasy for a teacher in this part of the country. I started teaching for $25,000 per year, and after 20 years of devoted service have worked my way up to about $50,000 per year. And this is not a cheap place to live.

 

[Kestryl]

Today was day 2 of a greatly reduced band camp. Students are outside and in small groups of like instruments. Practice is only 4 hours and arrival/departure times are staggered by group. We received an email from the band director tonight that a student had tested positive! This means the kid and their parents knew they had taken the test but chose to attend camp anyway! Now several kids and 4 teachers have been exposed. This is only the start of what the school year is going to be like all over the country

Why am I not surprised?

Something else I came across today: a busboy working at a Michigan restaurant claimed they had COVID-19. The restaurant closed and did a deep cleaning. They lost thousands in sales from being closed. The busboy LIED about having COVID-19 so he could get the weekend off.

When I was in high school, we had students make bomb threats weekly, either to be funny or try to get out of a test.

There will be kids that lie about getting sick. Imagine the chaos that will cause.

 

[FigmentSpark]

Why am I not surprised?

Something else I came across today: a busboy working at a Michigan restaurant claimed they had COVID-19. The restaurant closed and did a deep cleaning. They lost thousands in sales from being closed. The busboy LIED about having COVID-19 so he could get the weekend off.

When I was in high school, we had students make bomb threats weekly, either to be funny or try to get out of a test.

There will be kids that lie about getting sick. Imagine the chaos that will cause.

I assume that busboy is now unemployed and has every weekend off?

 

[kandb]

One thing to remember though is that grocery workers are also not in sustained contact for a long period of time with customers. They ring up the purchase and people pay and leave. Teachers and students would be in a room...some with no windows and poor ventilation for hours. Scientists have said the risk goes up during prolonged contact in an indoor setting.

All our classrooms in our schools have windows for fresh air to be brought in

 

[Kestryl]

I assume that busboy is now unemployed and has every weekend off?

It wasn’t explicitly stated, but I assume he is gone. The owner also said something about it being a matter for the police now, Whatever that means.

 

[kandb]

How long someone is in contact with an infected person is a huge factor. Passing through a checkout line is nothing like spending an hour or more with a group of people in the same, much smaller, room.

Students temps will be taken before they are allowed to enter school. Did all those people who passed the cashiers in a grocery store have a temperature check??? Those grocery clerks were exposed to alot more people then a teacher would be exposed to. Follow safe precautions, like medical professionals and everyone else that has to go to work.

 

[kandb]

You're exactly right. Teachers are in a uniquely awful situation with schools reopening. I'm in NJ too, and in my county there's a spike in cases. I just heard about it today from my sister. Apparently, after the "outdoor graduation ceremonies"....a lot of these kids got together for "up-close and maskless" after-parties. We had 22 positives just last Friday, and there's a backlog in NJ on testing....7 days, and we have one of the lowest tallies in the nation right now. So, in my town they shut down fall sports practices for 2 weeks. Not because any of the kids even tested positive, but because some had been exposed.

Can someone please explain how they're going to open the schools safely?

As you pointed out, the students had parties that were maskless. Schools are NOT going to allow that and they are going to take temperature checks. The group you just pointed out that are ill, had neither of those done!

 

[gwynne]

Students temps will be taken before they are allowed to enter school. Did all those people who passed the cashiers in a grocery store have a temperature check??? Those grocery clerks were exposed to alot more people then a teacher would be exposed to. Follow safe precautions, like medical professionals and everyone else that has to go to work.

Our grocery clerks are basically enclosed in plexiglass. Small slot in the bottom for any transaction that requires brief touching.
Teachers in a classroom? No comparison.

 

[monsterkitty]

All our classrooms in our schools have windows for fresh air to be brought in

My classroom had no windows and would get over 90 degrees on warm days and 100 on hot days. Basically, if it was above 80 outside, it was 90 in my room.

Students temps will be taken before they are allowed to enter school. Did all those people who passed the cashiers in a grocery store have a temperature check??? Those grocery clerks were exposed to alot more people then a teacher would be exposed to. Follow safe precautions, like medical professionals and everyone else that has to go to work.

How can schools follow safe precautions like medical professionals when many schools aren't even requiring students to wear masks? Thankfully my old district is requiring masks for everyone and if a parent doesn't agree then they go 100% remote. If student refuses to put the mask on or wear it correctly they get sent home.