Are you sending your kids to school next month?

[Orion Nebula]

I don't mean to offend but why are so many people's kids getting destroyed by a "lackluster" year of virtual learning? I keep seeing people saying that due to having to attend online class that their kids will now be both academically and socially stunted. So much so that they are worried for next year and into to the future. How can your kids not handle it? My kids are smart enough to understand the current situation and overcome the adversities of 2020. They are fully capable of dealing with the current inconvienances and I am 100% certain that their academic lives will not be thrown into chaos. AKA they will graduate HS and go onto to college and do fine in life. At one point point this year will be just a memory and a story to tell their children. I highly doubt at age 30 they will be living on the streets and think "wow 2020's virtual learning really screwed up my life".

Give me a break people... kids are highly adaptable and able to overcome much more than you realize. And I am sure they will be able to overcome one year of virtual. It's not like they have been forced to live underground in a bunker for a decade and will come out completely confused on how the world works. Your kids will survive.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Yes I do. Two with very long term effects that cannot go back to work. Two that died. Just found out someone else was diagnosed with Covid and pneumonia. I do not see how our district will go back in person. They just upped the pay for subs. I could sub, but there is no way I am exposing myself.

I amNOT letting anyone scare me. I've seen what this does. I'm glad you don't care if you get Covid and die next week. I'm just not as cavelier about killing someone else for my freedoms.

I am not sure where you saw in my post that I am cavalier about death, but I am not taking offense to being misinterpreted. If you have two teachers who have died from Covid and two teachers with long term effects (Not sure what that could be? Frankly, it sounds like people exploiting the system), you must live in the perfect storm of school districts since the death rate among people younger than 70 is in the .00 realm. I would have to look up the exact stat, but, except for incredibly unlucky situations, which happen every day regardless of Covid, you generally have to have a very serious pre existing condition to die from Covid if you are below 70. And, if those teachers had serious pre existing conditions, your school district should have provided zoom type provisions. We have one teacher that I know of doing this. Peoplewith serious pre existing conditions should be sheltered as much as possible. But, from my vantage point, “shutting down” school is a really extreme measure and should be reserved for more dire situations. That being said, I am not discounting your position, and hopefully you live in a community of like minded people, because you would not be happy living in a community of me s. What is really difficult to endure is when you live among people with whom you vehemently disagree, or suffer leadership that makes no sense to you.

 

[we"reofftoneverland]

Oh, believe me, we did that. Parents were going to the school board meetings regularly, impassioned pleas, presenting actual facts and data, asking for the data the board was using the keep the schools closed in return. We couldn't even get the school board to put "reopening schools" on the agenda - it was only the public comments at the end that the school board, by rule, does not respond to. Even that ended - when the school board meetings also went to Zoom only. They aren't listening - just falling back on the State guidance that lumps us into the same requirements as the 10.6 MILLION other people in LA County. We are just praying that the State puts teachers high on the vaccine priority list at this point. It is our only hope.

I do think the vaccine will change everything. It does for the flu. The flu vaccine is only in the area of 50% effective, depending on the year, but it makes most people feel secure enough to go on with their daily lives. And flu is much more deadly for kids than Covid. LA is beautiful. I love it there. But what is going on with your leaders?

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't mean to offend but why are so many people's kids getting destroyed by a "lackluster" year of virtual learning? I keep seeing people saying that due to having to attend online class that their kids will now be both academically and socially stunted. So much so that they are worried for next year and into to the future. How can your kids not handle it? My kids are smart enough to understand the current situation and overcome the adversities of 2020. They are fully capable of dealing with the current inconvienances and I am 100% certain that their academic lives will not be thrown into chaos. AKA they will graduate HS and go onto to college and do fine in life. At one point point this year will be just a memory and a story to tell their children. I highly doubt at age 30 they will be living on the streets and think "wow 2020's virtual learning really screwed up my life".

Give me a break people... kids are highly adaptable and able to overcome much more than you realize. And I am sure they will be able to overcome one year of virtual. It's not like they have been forced to live underground in a bunker for a decade and will come out completely confused on how the world works. Your kids will survive.

Your point might be better made without the condescending tone and before someone says it no I'm not offended. Not to mention the your kids are so smart comment. Plus how do you know they will go onto college and do fine in life?

Kids can be quite adaptable but it doesn't make them an impenetrable shield either especially those who were already in precarious situations. FWIW globally students falling behind in this subject or that subject or in this stage of life is happening, in places with different structures than the U.S. You might want to read up on that.

 

[Mango7100]

I noticed the same in our district. People refuse to change their habits (parties, gatherings, play dates etc.) Then the virus spreads and the parents go bananas when we go remote. Can't have it both ways. If we want kids in school adjust the behavior out of school.

Totally agree. A decent number of people here are screaming when a school has to go remote temporarily. The they scream about they don’t think kids should wear a mask at school. And want all sports to operate 100 % normal. But refuse to change any behavior and have parties. Kids are handling this way better than most adults..adults are projecting their feelings and attitudes on their children.

 

[Orion Nebula]

I know because once again my kids can handle one year of zoom... I don't know of course if they will do well in life but I know for sure it's not going to be because of temporary online learning. Regardless of how it sounds the "smart" comment was in regards to how people are actually looking at their own kids. I know their kids are smart as well, that was the point. All kids are capable of handing one non "awesome" school year. And I highly doubt anyone posting on WDW boards is in precarious situation. My comment wasn't globally exclusive either, I doubt anyone here is posting from an impoverished area. I just feel like people need to stop stomping around in the midst of a pandemic and using how their kids are going to be wrecked by this.

 

[firefly_ris]

I chose to put my youngest at the private school this year because of the 5 days a week in person. She is in 2nd grade and below grade level for reading (unlike my other 2 who are several grades above). She's not easy to work with at home and reading and comprehension skills are foundationally important and I couldn't allow her to fall another year behind with it. I felt comfortable with the hybrid for the older two but not her. I think she would have fallen way behind with virtual because it happened in the spring when all the schools closed. They did virtual RTI with her which helped, but wasn't the same as the progress she made in person. We had to make some large adjustments to pay for her school for this year but it was important to me. She is still below but making definite improvement since September.

 

[choirfarm]

nm

 

[mrs. magoo]

I know because once again my kids can handle one year of zoom... I don't know of course if they will do well in life but I know for sure it's not going to be because of temporary online learning. Regardless of how it sounds the "smart" comment was in regards to how people are actually looking at their own kids. I know their kids are smart as well, that was the point. All kids are capable of handing one non "awesome" school year. And I highly doubt anyone posting on WDW boards is in precarious situation. My comment wasn't globally exclusive either, I doubt anyone here is posting from an impoverished area. I just feel like people need to stop stomping around in the midst of a pandemic and using how their kids are going to be wrecked by this.

You are coming from a very different place than most of my students. They will not be fine and move on and I feel like next school year there could continue to be issues with Covid. My students do not have reliable internet. They have food issues and depend on the school to feed them breakfast and lunch and while the district is providing food kids have to walk to the sites to pick it up and many are not able to do that since they have to watch younger siblings. My students are already behind academically and losing more time in class is hurting them.

My son is a senior. He will graduate in June and he is planning to attend college. My concern is that colleges and universities are going to have to change the way they teach since kids may not have the skills that they need especially with presenting and group work. I am more concerned about his mental health since he does not have any of his sports and is not able to hang out with friends. Do not tell me about zoom and facetime. Those are poor substitutions for actual social interaction.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I know because once again my kids can handle one year of zoom... I don't know of course if they will do well in life but I know for sure it's not going to be because of temporary online learning. Regardless of how it sounds the "smart" comment was in regards to how people are actually looking at their own kids. I know their kids are smart as well, that was the point. All kids are capable of handing one non "awesome" school year. And I highly doubt anyone posting on WDW boards is in precarious situation. My comment wasn't globally exclusive either, I doubt anyone here is posting from an impoverished area. I just feel like people need to stop stomping around in the midst of a pandemic and using how their kids are going to be wrecked by this.

We here on the Boards are from all walks of live and know people from all walks of life and this is a global community with posters from all over the world. Believe it or not not everyone is actively planning a lavish Disney vacation even though they are a member of the DIS forum. The stories are out there if you want to learn more, that's really all I can say.

 

[Kestryl]

Oh we are in the same region then! Our area is messed up. Don’t ever read the comments from local news online—it is absolutely bonkers how many people still think this is all a hoax as well as having a complete meltdown over wearing a mask. I feel so bad for the teachers and healthcare workers...

Ditto (and I don’t say that just because I’m married to and teacher, ha). Those comments are ridiculous... I’m actually having a really hard time finding local places to support, cause I feel like many have had customers and employees completely disregard mask rules (even though they had the “mask required” sign). We’ve permanently crossed off some places to visit in the future based on behavior and posts. Sigh.

The schools were a total mess before going full virtual. At least a quarter of the teachers were out every day since before Thanksgiving, and they needed other teachers to fill in during their planning blocks. My husband doesn’t have a planning block (he gave that up because they needed someone to pick up an extra virtual class), but they were pulling him from his virtual class to sub for in-person students. It was clearly unfair to his virtual students. Ridiculous.

 

[mom2rtk]

I don't mean to offend but why are so many people's kids getting destroyed by a "lackluster" year of virtual learning? I keep seeing people saying that due to having to attend online class that their kids will now be both academically and socially stunted. So much so that they are worried for next year and into to the future. How can your kids not handle it? My kids are smart enough to understand the current situation and overcome the adversities of 2020. They are fully capable of dealing with the current inconvienances and I am 100% certain that their academic lives will not be thrown into chaos. AKA they will graduate HS and go onto to college and do fine in life. At one point point this year will be just a memory and a story to tell their children. I highly doubt at age 30 they will be living on the streets and think "wow 2020's virtual learning really screwed up my life".

Give me a break people... kids are highly adaptable and able to overcome much more than you realize. And I am sure they will be able to overcome one year of virtual. It's not like they have been forced to live underground in a bunker for a decade and will come out completely confused on how the world works. Your kids will survive.

If your kids are flourishing, you should thank your lucky stars. But it's terribly myopic to assume everyone's kids are just like yours. You referenced in your other post how privileged everyone here must be. Now you're showing your own economic privilege to not be even considering the plight of all those kids out there who don't have reliable wifi, dedicated devices or parental assistance because Mom and Dad are out working to keep food on the table. Many kids aren't even logging in for their online school. This is a mess that will have ramifications for years to come.

 

[amylevan]

I don't mean to offend but why are so many people's kids getting destroyed by a "lackluster" year of virtual learning? I keep seeing people saying that due to having to attend online class that their kids will now be both academically and socially stunted. So much so that they are worried for next year and into to the future. How can your kids not handle it? My kids are smart enough to understand the current situation and overcome the adversities of 2020. They are fully capable of dealing with the current inconvienances and I am 100% certain that their academic lives will not be thrown into chaos. AKA they will graduate HS and go onto to college and do fine in life. At one point point this year will be just a memory and a story to tell their children. I highly doubt at age 30 they will be living on the streets and think "wow 2020's virtual learning really screwed up my life".

Give me a break people... kids are highly adaptable and able to overcome much more than you realize. And I am sure they will be able to overcome one year of virtual. It's not like they have been forced to live underground in a bunker for a decade and will come out completely confused on how the world works. Your kids will survive.

My kids will likely be fine. As will a lot of the “haves”.

It’s the “have nots” that are really suffering. And lord knows we need to further widen the divide between those groups.

 

[monsterkitty]

You are coming from a very different place than most of my students. They will not be fine and move on and I feel like next school year there could continue to be issues with Covid. My students do not have reliable internet. They have food issues and depend on the school to feed them breakfast and lunch and while the district is providing food kids have to walk to the sites to pick it up and many are not able to do that since they have to watch younger siblings. My students are already behind academically and losing more time in class is hurting them.

My son is a senior. He will graduate in June and he is planning to attend college. My concern is that colleges and universities are going to have to change the way they teach since kids may not have the skills that they need especially with presenting and group work. I am more concerned about his mental health since he does not have any of his sports and is not able to hang out with friends. Do not tell me about zoom and facetime. Those are poor substitutions for actual social interaction.

I taught in a 95% free and reduced district when I retired last Spring. We took food to the students via school busses. They provided breakfast and lunch everyday as well as 3 family type meals for dinner. They also put hotspots on the busses for those near the busses so they could have internet. For those who lived outside the area the hotspot reached the district gave those kids hotspots to use at their houses. As most of the students lived in apartment buildings they found that handing out a few hotspots per apartment complex worked.

For those who say bring in subs - from where? There are no subs. Most people who sub in this area are retired teachers like me. When the person who was moved into my former position had to retire the day before school started this fall due to him being in the extreme risk category, they asked me to come in for a few weeks until they found someone. 10 weeks later I ran out of days I could sub for the year and they still had no applicants. We are now a semester into the year and not one person has applied for the position so I will be going back in January when my days I'm allowed to sub start all over. The district is doubling the pay for subs and paying our health insurance.

I am not sure where you saw in my post that I am cavalier about death, but I am not taking offense to being misinterpreted. If you have two teachers who have died from Covid and two teachers with long term effects (Not sure what that could be? Frankly, it sounds like people exploiting the system), you must live in the perfect storm of school districts since the death rate among people younger than 70 is in the .00 realm. I would have to look up the exact stat, but, except for incredibly unlucky situations, which happen every day regardless of Covid, you generally have to have a very serious pre existing condition to die from Covid if you are below 70. And, if those teachers had serious pre existing conditions, your school district should have provided zoom type provisions. We have one teacher that I know of doing this. Peoplewith serious pre existing conditions should be sheltered as much as possible. But, from my vantage point, “shutting down” school is a really extreme measure and should be reserved for more dire situations. That being said, I am not discounting your position, and hopefully you live in a community of like minded people, because you would not be happy living in a community of me s. What is really difficult to endure is when you live among people with whom you vehemently disagree, or suffer leadership that makes no sense to you.

One district here had over 500 teachers request the remote teaching positions due to their own health conditions or the health condition of a family member. Only 200 teachers were granted the remote positions. 300 teachers resigned or took a year leave. When other districts saw this happen they stopped granting leave requests. The person I took over for was told by his doctor that he could not go back into the classroom because he would most likely die if he contracted COVID. He had every document he needed but his request was denied so he retired a year earlier than he planned.

Finally, there have been several teachers and staff members around the country who have died after contracting COVID while in school. The teachers and staff who now have lasting conditions are not "playing the system". That's just offensive to any person who has contracted COVID and has either died or now has a lasting condition. We've had elementary students hospitalized despite "it doesn't affect children!" claims. A custodian in a neighboring district was on a ventilator for 28 days after he contracted the virus while working. He is in his 20s and no underlying conditions. We have a teacher who lives with an elderly relative. Our teacher comes to school and goes home yet she contracted COVID. We have many examples of this in our midsized district in a metro area. Despite doing everything recommended the spread can still happen in a school. We've seen it. It's real.

 

[Lilsia]

You are coming from a very different place than most of my students. They will not be fine and move on and I feel like next school year there could continue to be issues with Covid. My students do not have reliable internet. They have food issues and depend on the school to feed them breakfast and lunch and while the district is providing food kids have to walk to the sites to pick it up and many are not able to do that since they have to watch younger siblings. My students are already behind academically and losing more time in class is hurting them.

My son is a senior. He will graduate in June and he is planning to attend college. My concern is that colleges and universities are going to have to change the way they teach since kids may not have the skills that they need especially with presenting and group work. I am more concerned about his mental health since he does not have any of his sports and is not able to hang out with friends. Do not tell me about zoom and facetime. Those are poor substitutions for actual social interaction.

I'm sorry, I just can't with this post. I wish you could have talked to my Grandma before she died a couple of months ago. Or you can go and talk to my Dad. My grandma(my Mom's Mom) went to school up until 6th grade and then the war started. Over the next few years, her, her siblings, and the other children went to work. They picked wild blueberries to go and sell(which she ate so many of that she hated them until she died), or wild mushrooms, anything that they could sell to buy flour and salt. And let's not forget that the village had to put out lookouts for when the Germans came. And that is when the fun began because then they had to run for their lives and hide in the woods. Talk about stress. Then at 16 she was finally captured and taken away to Germany to be a slave on some German's farm. She did that for over 2 years until the war was over where she met my Grandpa at a refugee camp. Many children went through actual hardships and horrors and grew up just fine. They got jobs, married, and had kids. They had normal, productive, and happy lives. So no, I don't think your son will have any mental or emotional issues from missing a few ball games or "hanging" out with his friends. If you truly feel that way, then you are not giving your child enough credit. My youngest was a senior last year and is in college now. All but her science lab is online. She is doing just fine. Everyone is in the same boat and they have resources if they need it.

 

[DisneyJamieCA]

My kids will likely be fine. As will a lot of the “haves”.

It’s the “have nots” that are really suffering. And lord knows we need to further widen the divide between those groups.

I don’t disagree with you. However in what I’ve seen, both here and in my community, it’s the “haves” who are complaining the loudest.

It’s not ideal and nobody wants this. And I will acknowledge that everybody’s situation is different, but so many went into with the idea it was terrible, it was destined to fail. Attitude won’t solve everything, but it certainly helps make it better.

 

[Heigh-Ho]

I'm sorry, I just can't with this post. I wish you could have talked to my Grandma before she died a couple of months ago. Or you can go and talk to my Dad. My grandma(my Mom's Mom) went to school up until 6th grade and then the war started. Over the next few years, her, her siblings, and the other children went to work. They picked wild blueberries to go and sell(which she ate so many of that she hated them until she died), or wild mushrooms, anything that they could sell to buy flour and salt. And let's not forget that the village had to put out lookouts for when the Germans came. And that is when the fun began because then they had to run for their lives and hide in the woods. Talk about stress. Then at 16 she was finally captured and taken away to Germany to be a slave on some German's farm. She did that for over 2 years until the war was over where she met my Grandpa at a refugee camp. Many children went through actual hardships and horrors and grew up just fine. They got jobs, married, and had kids. They had normal, productive, and happy lives. So no, I don't think your son will have any mental or emotional issues from missing a few ball games or "hanging" out with his friends. If you truly feel that way, then you are not giving your child enough credit. My youngest was a senior last year and is in college now. All but her science lab is online. She is doing just fine. Everyone is in the same boat and they have resources if they need it.

It's also not a competition over people's lives. Your grandmother's experience can be terrible and incomparable experience to those not in that exact situation. It shouldn't be used in some sort of oneupmanship. It should be revered with respect and retrospect but not to say someone else needs to buck up and deal with it.

 

[GreatLakes]

I'm sorry, I just can't with this post. I wish you could have talked to my Grandma before she died a couple of months ago. Or you can go and talk to my Dad. My grandma(my Mom's Mom) went to school up until 6th grade and then the war started. Over the next few years, her, her siblings, and the other children went to work. They picked wild blueberries to go and sell(which she ate so many of that she hated them until she died), or wild mushrooms, anything that they could sell to buy flour and salt. And let's not forget that the village had to put out lookouts for when the Germans came. And that is when the fun began because then they had to run for their lives and hide in the woods. Talk about stress. Then at 16 she was finally captured and taken away to Germany to be a slave on some German's farm. She did that for over 2 years until the war was over where she met my Grandpa at a refugee camp. Many children went through actual hardships and horrors and grew up just fine. They got jobs, married, and had kids. They had normal, productive, and happy lives. So no, I don't think your son will have any mental or emotional issues from missing a few ball games or "hanging" out with his friends. If you truly feel that way, then you are not giving your child enough credit. My youngest was a senior last year and is in college now. All but her science lab is online. She is doing just fine. Everyone is in the same boat and they have resources if they need it.

All the drama over having to go to school online for a year, which isn't even that bad, when compared to what previous generations have had to handle is pretty funny. I wonder if the kids that went to school during the great depression, graduated/dropped out to go to WW2 or Vietnam, or were a part of the Polish classes of 1939 would trade their experience for having to attend school via the miracle of modern technology.

I have actually seen people say, in real life, that the kids dealing with this have it the worst in history. They don't even have it the worst in still-living generations.

 

[Heigh-Ho]

I don’t disagree with you. However in what I’ve seen, both here and in my community, it’s the “haves” who are complaining the loudest.

It’s not ideal and nobody wants this. And I will acknowledge that everybody’s situation is different, but so many went into with the idea it was terrible, it was destined to fail. Attitude won’t solve everything, but it certainly helps make it better.

I think that would be because they have the means and resources to do it. Many of the "haves not" still protest but their stories are often glossed over in favor of the parents going to board meetings upset that winter sports was cancelled. In reality so many are just concerned for their children and the educational system as a whole it's just we tend to still pay attention to one segment who is doing the talking even though they aren't the only ones. I do agree that attitude can have something to do with it, I also think that schools didn't always stick with what they laid out. That can really make one doubt the successfulness of a system when the school says they will evaluate every 2 weeks and then they decide to make long term choices where a student not doing so well is now stuck in the learning mode. That also goes different ways when the metrics laid out ended up being ignored for some other reason too.

 

[Lilsia]

It's also not a competition over people's lives. Your grandmother's experience can be terrible and incomparable experience to those not in that exact situation. It shouldn't be used in some sort of oneupmanship. It should be revered with respect and retrospect but not to say someone else needs to buck up and deal with it.

It's not and you completely missed the point. The point was that children, and people in general, are much more resilient then some of these parents are making it out to be. Your child will not be traumatized because they can't play with their friends for a year. Especially in this day and age where they can actually still communicate, either by phone, text, skype, tweet, snap, play video games together, and on and on. Parents are concerned for their children. I totally get that as a parent myself. But try not to impress your fears and concerns onto your child. Talk to your kids and find out how they are actually doing. I have talked to my daughters and we had a conversation about disappointments, the future, perspective, etc. Life is full of ups and downs and disappointments. Teaching them how to cope with it is the best thing that you can do for your child. If they see that their Mom is upset and freaking out and yelling at the school board, that is not going to help them.