S/O Coronavirus School Closing considered in your area?

[tcufrog]

This is a timely thread because I just got the following email from the head of DS9's private school.

"
Dear "School" Community;

We understand parents' concerns about the spread of infection, especially in light of current COVID-19 headlines. As always, our goal is to ensure students are safe while they learn.

Here is what we are doing to reduce the risk of infections at "school". As always, we are instructing students in the behaviors recommended by health experts to keep everyone healthy: frequent handwashing, covering coughs, promptly disposing of dirty tissues, and other common-sense measures. We keep surfaces clean and disinfected. These measures are known to be effective and are among health experts’ top recommendations at this time to reduce the spread of coronavirus.

We are confident these efforts will do much to keep any infections--flu, strep, or COVID-19--from gaining a strong foothold at our school. Of course, we are monitoring the situation closely and staying up to date on the advice of health experts.

We are also exploring distance learning alternatives in case they become necessary. We would comply with any government agency’s directive to close the school, and any situation that requires action to halt the spread of infection, along with recommendations from health officials, will be carefully reviewed by school leadership. Know that every effort will be made to continue instruction while keeping students safe from infection.

As parents and guardians, you can help us. Keep sick children at home, especially until they have been free of fever for 24 hours, knowing that our student-focused teachers will aid any student who needs to be absent for any length of time. Remember that adequate rest and hydration helps to keep immune systems working well. You can stay up-to-date on coronavirus news by following a trusted source of information, such as the CDC, the Texas DHS, and "county health dept".

As of March 1, the coronavirus web page of the Texas Department of State Health Services stated that “The risk for all Texans remains low.” We sincerely hope that remains the case.

Finally, know that we welcome your questions. Please don’t hesitate to contact myself, Associate Head of School, or Head of Lower School.

Sincerely,
Head of School"

While I appreciate the email, it doesn't raise a ton of confidence given what they said about when you should bring your kid back to school. Doesn't work for this illness, unlike other illnesses.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Glad so many schools are keeping caregivers in the loop!

Went to DGD's school this afternoon and the biggest news is all students must upload a new program/app to their laptops and it will only be available free of cost on two devices per student. A baseline price has been set up for additional devices but the price will go down depending on how many want it. The program is proprietary software and will better allow remote learning and teacher/student interaction. Discussion was also had on the possibility of extending the school year if need be with 2 times (beginning and end of vacation time) available to allow families to keep their already planned vacations. A provisional list of 3 teachers per course was given to ensure if one is ill the class won't be abandoned. A good hour or so spent in my life.

 

[bushdianee]

The nearby districts had a big meeting last week. Our superintendent mentioned something about the possibility of schools closing in 2-4 weeks. They are looking at remote learning. We have the hospital where 15 people who tested positive from the cruise ship are in quarantine and there are 2 active cases. They did release 2 people from quarantine today. I have 4th grade, 6th grade and 8th grade nieces and nephew that I will probably be helping if the schools do close,

 

[Colleen27]

So what happens if a school is shut down? Do staff still get paid? Do the kids need to make up the time during summer? I am a staff member at a school and haven’t heard anything at the school I work at.

I think that's the point of school boards having meetings about this now, when it is all still theoretical - to figure out the answers to some of the questions and decide what kind of contingency plans would be least disruptive for both students and staff. At our school, it is likely that we'll implement our distance learning protocol if quarantine or school closures become an issue, so that means staff will still get paid (because they're required to be available during the school day to facilitate the online assignments and monitor chats/video lectures or other real-time activities) and the days don't have to be made up. But we have that plan in place because we live in a snowy climate and set it up to prevent having to add days to the end of the year when we go over the built-in snow day allowance, so it shouldn't be difficult to apply it to other circumstances. Other schools might be building a plan from scratch.

 

[wgeo]

Confirmed cases in our city as of this morning --- email from the schools at the end of the day saying - everything going on as normal, wash your hands, eat well and get good sleep. All pending to change as the week goes on. I think they are desperately hoping to get to spring break next week without having to shut down the school.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Do you live in an area with active cases?

Yes

 

[MillauFr]

No schools in Seattle are closed but many of the suburban districts have closures.

 

[lifesavacation]

Our district must be getting a lot of concerned calls. Our boys basketball team played the team from Jackson HS, which is the school of the 15 year old boy who tested positive. They sent out a notice today letting parents know the exposure risk is low.

 

[xipotec]

This social media panic really needs to end.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I thought this was at least a somewhat appropriate thread given the topic but Italy has closed all schools and Universities from tomorrow until March 15th at this time. Sounds like for at least some schools will be doing remote teaching (probably a decent amount of schools depending on their resources).

I def. am not suggesting the U.S. would do this nor am I suggesting an individual state would do this BUT it's a situation maybe schools here watch for response. What I thought was good for information purposes is Italy's education department is using a website for information on how to deal with the outbreak and remote learning.

 

[pezgirlroy]

My biggest question about schools closing is how in the world does this work were there are families with two working parents. I am not saying that maybe it shouldn't happen but there are potential huge ramifications of this.

 

[Disneylover99]

My biggest question about schools closing is how in the world does this work were there are families with two working parents. I am not saying that maybe it shouldn't happen but there are potential huge ramifications of this.

Parents would need to take turns and or rely on other friends and family members to help out. Things they would do if their own child was sick and couldn’t attend school.

I’d imagine the licenced daycare centres would also close if schools were closed. So it would also be a good idea to network with stay at home moms/dads. Some might offer temporary childcare to make a few bucks. Or you could trade off childcare favours with other working parents.

 

[MrsCobraBubbles]

I work in a school and we were informed by administration that there isn't much risk to children from the coronavirus, so they were not planning to close us. My problem with that is there are a bunch of adults teaching the children, so what happens when our adorable little germ factories pass it to the teachers? I have no doubt we will all get it.

Let me tell you a story that proves my point: Yesterday I was working one on one with a student who loves to stim off people's eyes. So he zoomed his face real close to mine when I sat down next to him, so close that our noses were almost touching. Then he did it one more time and laughed, so I opened my mouth to say "hi" and then he coughed directly into my open mouth, from about an inch away. This is a pretty normal occurrence, I'm coughed and sneezed upon regularly and kids wipe their runny nose on their hands and then touch my face, hair, hands or clothes. Sometimes students will wipe their runny noses directly on my clothes. I think my school district's plan only makes sense from the viewpoint of the administration, who have little daily contact with students, and it stinks for everyone else.

 

[Disneylover99]

I work in a school and we were informed by administration that there isn't much risk to children from the coronavirus, so they were not planning to close us. My problem with that is there are a bunch of adults teaching the children, so what happens when our adorable little germ factories pass it to the teachers? I have no doubt we will all get it.

Let me tell you a story that proves my point: Yesterday I was working one on one with a student who loves to stim off people's eyes. So he zoomed his face real close to mine when I sat down next to him, so close that our noses were almost touching. Then he did it one more time and laughed, so I opened my mouth to say "hi" and then he coughed directly into my open mouth, from about an inch away. This is a pretty normal occurrence, I'm coughed and sneezed upon regularly and kids wipe their runny nose on their hands and then touch my face, hair, hands or clothes. Sometimes students will wipe their runny noses directly on my clothes. I think my school district's plan only makes sense from the viewpoint of the administration, who have little daily contact with students, and it stinks for everyone else.

I completely understand and agree with what you’re saying. And when you say “coughed directly into my open mouth” as a kindergarten teacher I totally relate. It’s the norm for me.

I just keep telling myself, my immune system has to be crazy strong to endure this day after day without getting sick.

 

[DisneyHardin]

We got the first email from the school district where I work about it. It was pretty basic and just told us that the district has a Pandemic Plan in place and gave us a link to look at those.

 

[Renarr]

I'm in Washington state, and there's definitely a lot of fearfulness happening here. My district has been working on making plans for what to do in the event of a closure (those plans strike me as extremely messy), but I suspect there's not going to be a closure of a building unless a student or staff member tests positive. The district probably won't close unless we hit a critical mass of schools closed for extended periods of time. And our feeling around here is that within a couple of weeks, we're either going to know this is better contained than we thought or that it's already past containment, and either way, not really any more closures at that point.

The Northshore SD in Washington state is closing for two weeks, effective today. Geographically, they're just north of the Kirkland facility with all the cases, and just south of Snohomish county, where most of our state's other cases have been. You can read more from the Superintendent at the Northshore SD webpage.

 

[holden]

My DD17 attends a small private school in Philadelphia. Many students take the train to school from center city. They are prepared to close of the virus comes to Philadelphia.

 

[NYCgrrl]

My DD17 attends a small private school in Philadelphia. Many students take the train to school from center city. They are prepared to close of the virus comes to Philadelphia.

If the school closes will they institute a remote learning program or is it too close to spring break?

 

[Farro]

Chicago Public Schools announced they will send home any student showing symptoms of virus, no exceptions.

 

[holden]

If the school closes will they institute a remote learning program or is it too close to spring break?

They do use Google classroom, so they could have the students continue to work remotely on some things. Spring break is in April so not too far away.