Author Topic: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...  (Read 9886 times)

20957

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #50 on: February 18, 2021, 09:04:00 PM »
My city is opening in-person school to elementary students in March. Hell no am I sending my 7 year old to school when all the advice is "stay away from indoor gatherings". We'll see people outside or not at all.

Maybe the teachers will be vaccinated (or maybe not, the city clearly doesn't care) but she won't, and while I don't believe she'll die there are still some nasty long-term effects of Covid, comparable to ME/CFS, and I'm not signing my child up for 70 years of misery. Not to mention, all this stuff about "little in-school transmission" fails to mention that almost no schools are doing regular testing of asymptomatic students (many or most childhood cases), so we really have no idea what's going on there.

If the quality of remote school tanks then we will just homeschool for the rest of the year. Honestly I've met almost no parents here who want their kids in-person despite a 14 day case avg of 16/100k which is not too bad. I hate that all the newspaper articles are blaming the unions and burying the lede that less than half of parents are willing to let their kids go out, more like 15% in some groups.

waltworks

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #51 on: February 19, 2021, 08:09:48 AM »
Man, that's weird. I live in a very rich (VERY rich) liberal community, in a very red/conservative state, and parents both locally and statewide are almost universally for in person school. I think maybe 5% of our kids are still remote here.

I think Covid has just kind of broken some people mentally, and they are basically never going to feel safe again. That's a shame for their kids who will be harmed by their paranoia.

-W

jac941

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #52 on: February 19, 2021, 09:27:43 AM »
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area in a very liberal city surrounded by a sea of blue. The last survey that went out, 75% of families said that they would send their kid to school in person as soon as it was offered. The media and the school administration here used spin to make parents think that going back wasn’t the majority opinion. But the survey results in July / August and again now both showed that the majority of  families would go back.

Our area hospitals are seeing massive mental health impacts and numerous suicide attempts in children. The inpatient psychiatric units are at capacity. The number of eating disorders and other serious mental health problems are skyrocketing. There are very real, measurable, currently documented harms to children from extended school closure and isolation. People don’t just recover from mental health issues - it’s a long slog and for many there are lifelong impacts.

Yes, COVID is a risk. But all evidence points to it being extremely safe to open schools with in school transmission uncommon. When in school transmission is documented, it’s typically between the adults and often linked to eating lunch with a colleague or socializing without masks (this is the case in the hospital setting too). And the adults are already working from the school buildings while the kids are at home. The transmission from child to adult in schools is exceedingly rare - there have been about 15,000 kids in (private) school in San Francisco and a similar number of kids in public school just north of there in Marin since September and they haven’t seen a single case where a child transmitted COVID to an adult in that time period. They also haven’t seen a single outbreak associated with school - the in school transmission is uncommon and has been single cases.

It’s one thing to make a decision to keep your own kids in distance learning. But to advocate that everyone else should be forced to do the same thing is harmful. Our children have had to endure serious consequences to protect our elders during this pandemic. We have a moral obligation to begin doing what’s best for them now.

Longwaytogo

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #53 on: February 19, 2021, 09:47:37 AM »
UGGGGGGH

Now we get an email today from DD2's teacher that she is remaining 100% virtual.

So now we have to choose sending our daughter to school but changing teachers or staying Virtual to keep her teacher since September.

What bullshit. I am so F*^KING mad right now after having tried to remain pretty calm about this whole school thing I stupidly got my hopes up when the County made the announcement only to be slapped in the face and now have to discuss this with my daughter with one of us being disappointed no matter what.

Now daughters teacher called and says she will still be her teacher virtually....

So the countys plan is for DD to go to school, wear a mask all day, sit in a room with $15 per hour babysitter the county's hiring, and still "learn" from her Chrome book all day.

My anger has subsided to just sadness and helplessness.

These poor kids man :(

chemistk

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #54 on: February 19, 2021, 09:58:40 AM »
My city is opening in-person school to elementary students in March. Hell no am I sending my 7 year old to school when all the advice is "stay away from indoor gatherings". We'll see people outside or not at all.

Maybe the teachers will be vaccinated (or maybe not, the city clearly doesn't care) but she won't, and while I don't believe she'll die there are still some nasty long-term effects of Covid, comparable to ME/CFS, and I'm not signing my child up for 70 years of misery. Not to mention, all this stuff about "little in-school transmission" fails to mention that almost no schools are doing regular testing of asymptomatic students (many or most childhood cases), so we really have no idea what's going on there.

If the quality of remote school tanks then we will just homeschool for the rest of the year. Honestly I've met almost no parents here who want their kids in-person despite a 14 day case avg of 16/100k which is not too bad. I hate that all the newspaper articles are blaming the unions and burying the lede that less than half of parents are willing to let their kids go out, more like 15% in some groups.

I'll echo @waltworks and toss another one for that being just such a different mindset. In our district, back in July, 87% of families opted for in-person learning. The number rose to 91% after the first two weeks of school.

I'm not saying this to diminish your concerns - they are both real and appropriate, but for what it's worth, we haven't had a single student or faculty member pass away from Covid in our district (if one had, we would have received notifications of grief counseling and support available to all students). My son's bus driver did die of a heart attack though, an hour before he was supposed to make the PM bus run, and the district engaged grief counseling services, so it's not like they're hiding anything. 

waltworks

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #55 on: February 19, 2021, 10:22:03 AM »
There's an interesting NYT article this morning about how public health professionals have just outright failed to communicate effectively with the public, such that people really believe a lot of disproven/paranoid worst-case scenario stuff. We'll be struggling with this for years.

The worst part is that a lot of people don't think the vaccines even work, thanks to inappropriate use of the word "effective" and excessive caution in making official recommendations, ie:
"It's unclear if vaccinated individuals are still contagious."
rather than:
"No, you aren't going to infect anyone else once you're vaccinated, that's not how vaccines work. We haven't finished studying that with this particular vaccine, so it won't hurt anything to keep wearing your mask for now just to be on the safe side, but there's pretty much no chance it's going to be a problem."

Your kids are in much, much more danger in your car on the way to dance lessons than they are at school.

-W

charis

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #56 on: February 19, 2021, 11:33:13 AM »
I feel lucky to live/associate with around a number of doctors and other healthcare folks whose behavior tempered my concerns about children from the beginning. They all take precautions but their children stayed in daycare, played outside with other children, and went back to to school full time where possible.

Two of my children's daycare friends (as well as some staff members)tested positive for covid due to parent transmission and it did not spread at all in the daycare (masked inside but not outside and frequently in close contact).

The teachers union here balks when it's pointed out that the private/suburban schools (where most of their children are) have been in person since Sept because our district is "different." Older buildings, fewer teachers, less space, etc.

BS. This doesn't hold up when you look at the data and the fact that only 25 percent of students are returning. Then they argue that 75% of families don't feel that it's safe enough to return, so why would we reopen? Again, BS, because that is spin and there are other reasons why people stay home or failed to respond, and it shouldn't prevent others from coming back if they want to.

waltworks

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #57 on: February 19, 2021, 01:25:30 PM »
I'm pretty pro-union, but the recent behavior of a lot of the teacher's unions in the US, I'd tentatively support shutting them down. I feel awful about that, because I feel like teachers need a lot more pay and respect (again, my wife is a teacher, so I know just how poorly they're paid) and collective bargaining is a good way to help address those problems - but the reality is that refusing to go back to school now is harming kids, for ZERO benefit. That's despicable. If that's what the unions are going to use their power for, they (or at least their current leadership) should be disbanded.

-W

nessness

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #58 on: February 23, 2021, 06:42:05 AM »
My daughter's district still has yet to release any reopening plan, after cancelling a planned January reopening. I'm feeling really frustrated that teachers are being prioritized for vaccination even without a reopening plan. They shouldn't be able to have it both ways - either reopen schools, or move teachers to the back of the line and let people who can't work remotely go first.


mm1970

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #60 on: March 02, 2021, 05:02:20 PM »
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/03/02/upshot/covid-opening-schools-experts.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage

Warning, paywalled.

-W
That was good.  Our elementary district opened schools yesterday.  They opened hybrid, so two different cohorts, who go on different days.  Mon/Thu and Tue/Fri.  For the 1st two days this week, it was only TK, K and 1st grade, to get everyone used to it.

This week has been like week 1 all over again, as his teacher now teaches a combo 2/3 class.  So, nobody is AT school, she lost 12 third graders to different teachers, and gained 10+ second graders.

Thursday, it will be the full school, and FINALLY my 3rd grader will go to school in person.  He's not excited about it, but I am!  I'm sure he'll do fine. 

Still not eligible for HS, but a friend's son is at a private HS and attends full classes every day.  Has since November I think.

jac941

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #61 on: March 06, 2021, 07:17:10 AM »
My son’s school is finally opening for “struggling” kids next week. Academically he is fine - ahead in reading and math, behind in writing. But he’s been selected for this first group because first he was disruptive on Zoom (which was addressed by the teacher and school therapist). Now he refuses to turn on his camera or participate / answer questions when asked in class. I guess the teaching him to not be disruptive worked too well.

In any case, school is open to him from 1:30-3:30 three days per week. Six hours total. I think we’re going to do it because he needs it, but it means we might have to give up camp which is from 2-6 five days a week. Trying to decide if there’s enough value in school to give up 20 hrs / week of peer interaction. Plus the schedule is terrible and there’s no transportation. I’m just hoping the school will let him leave alone without an adult this year. Otherwise it won’t be workable at all.

I know if we don’t take it, the district will use it as an example that x% of kids didn’t come back when offered. Like offering 2 hrs in the middle of a workday with no transportation is a viable option. So frustrating.

Michael in ABQ

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #62 on: March 06, 2021, 05:58:03 PM »
I'm very happy that our kids have been in school all year since August. It's been worth it to pay for a private school. Just the short time during breaks has been tough with lots of kids getting on each other's nerves (we have a large family). I was deployed when the pandemic started and they shut down school and went to virtual last year. My wife said there was a huge positive improvement in their attitude and behavior once they went back to school and were able to see their friends and not be cooped up at home with just their siblings day after day.


The main public school district here will probably not reopen until next fall at the current rate - even though all the teachers will probably be vaccinated in the next few weeks.

nessness

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #63 on: March 08, 2021, 07:46:10 AM »
My daughter's district still has yet to release any reopening plan, after cancelling a planned January reopening. I'm feeling really frustrated that teachers are being prioritized for vaccination even without a reopening plan. They shouldn't be able to have it both ways - either reopen schools, or move teachers to the back of the line and let people who can't work remotely go first.
Update: after some pressure from the state, they will be reopening in early April. We decided to continue homeschooling through the end of the year though. They'll only be in-person two mornings a week, and it doesn't seem worth it to switch her from homeschool to distance learning for only a few hours a week of in-person school, especially with only two months left in the school year.

lilybluerose

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #64 on: March 08, 2021, 08:05:03 AM »
My city is opening in-person school to elementary students in March. Hell no am I sending my 7 year old to school when all the advice is "stay away from indoor gatherings". We'll see people outside or not at all.

Maybe the teachers will be vaccinated (or maybe not, the city clearly doesn't care) but she won't, and while I don't believe she'll die there are still some nasty long-term effects of Covid, comparable to ME/CFS, and I'm not signing my child up for 70 years of misery. Not to mention, all this stuff about "little in-school transmission" fails to mention that almost no schools are doing regular testing of asymptomatic students (many or most childhood cases), so we really have no idea what's going on there.

If the quality of remote school tanks then we will just homeschool for the rest of the year. Honestly I've met almost no parents here who want their kids in-person despite a 14 day case avg of 16/100k which is not too bad. I hate that all the newspaper articles are blaming the unions and burying the lede that less than half of parents are willing to let their kids go out, more like 15% in some groups.

This is exactly how I feel! I pulled my 6 yr old to homeschool three weeks ago and we are loving it. May continue post covid

mm1970

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #65 on: March 09, 2021, 12:21:11 PM »
Well, my DS2 (3rd grade) started back hybrid last week.  Two days per week in person, two days remote/ asynchronous learning, one day zoom.

It's still early, but so far I LOVE it.  So much better than full remote.  Full remote was always a battle of getting him to pay attention and THEN do his work and THEN do his homework.  Writing especially.

He literally had not seen a single friend in person since last March 13.

So, the 2 days he has been in person so far, he's come home exhausted.

We are on day 2 of "asynchronous learning", which starts with an in person zoom of about 10-15 minutes to go over the day's work.  He has his 3 specials on these days (art one day, PE/music on the other).  Otherwise, he has math assignments to complete, writing to complete, and reading to complete - just like it was when he was in class.

But SHOOT - he just...does it?  Far less arguing than before.  Even his WRITING!!  Okay, getting him to pick a book to read (we have dozens at home) is a challenge.  He also still has homework after lunch time, which is some online assignments and more reading but MAN.

I don't want to jinx it, but it's working so much better for us and I can actually WORK.  I can concentrate on the days he is at school, and even on the days we are sharing the "office" (the kids' bedroom).

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #66 on: March 09, 2021, 02:49:23 PM »
I’m just hoping the school will let him leave alone without an adult this year. Otherwise it won’t be workable at all.

If that's one of the only things stopping you from sending him in person, see if the school will allow him to leave if you write them a letter giving permission for him to leave alone. I did this when my kids were younger to get around the district's ridiculous rule that kids in grade 3 and below wouldn't be allowed off the school bus unless there was an adult or older sibling there to meet them. In fact, I did it several years in a row and now letting your little kid off the bus alone is just a checkbox on the bus registration form.

In other news, DH and I have been trying to get our 14yo to have better work habits at home. She only goes to school half days and the rest of the day she's supposed to work on homework at home. She's not productive alone in her room and it's also not been great for her mental health. It's been a battle that DH and I were losing completely. Today, for unrelated reasons, I shared with her that I've come to hate working from home and am looking forward to going back to the office because I'm so bloody tired of being alone all the time.

She promptly collected her books and sat down at the dining room table with me. Huge improvement for both of us. She's great company and is more willing to ask for help when she gets stuck because I'm already right there.

waltworks

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #67 on: March 09, 2021, 03:49:34 PM »
The school won't let a kid leave without an adult?!? You have to fill out a form? WTF? Is that what happens most places?

Here the kids just stream out the exits. Lots of them get picked up by moms in SUVs/take the school bus of course, but there must be at least a hundred that just scatter in all directions to walk/scooter/bike home. Both our older kids started handling their own school transportation in kindergarten with only occasional assists from us.

-W

Longwaytogo

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #68 on: March 09, 2021, 03:56:02 PM »
Well, my DS2 (3rd grade) started back hybrid last week.  Two days per week in person, two days remote/ asynchronous learning, one day zoom.

It's still early, but so far I LOVE it.  So much better than full remote.  Full remote was always a battle of getting him to pay attention and THEN do his work and THEN do his homework.  Writing especially.

He literally had not seen a single friend in person since last March 13.

So, the 2 days he has been in person so far, he's come home exhausted.

We are on day 2 of "asynchronous learning", which starts with an in person zoom of about 10-15 minutes to go over the day's work.  He has his 3 specials on these days (art one day, PE/music on the other).  Otherwise, he has math assignments to complete, writing to complete, and reading to complete - just like it was when he was in class.

But SHOOT - he just...does it?  Far less arguing than before.  Even his WRITING!!  Okay, getting him to pick a book to read (we have dozens at home) is a challenge.  He also still has homework after lunch time, which is some online assignments and more reading but MAN.

I don't want to jinx it, but it's working so much better for us and I can actually WORK.  I can concentrate on the days he is at school, and even on the days we are sharing the "office" (the kids' bedroom).

So glad it's off to a good start for him (and you) !!

mm1970

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #69 on: March 09, 2021, 04:03:55 PM »
And yesterday, on a whim, I ordered a boxed set of books that one of his classmates moms mentioned.  She'd asked for book advice, bought these books, and her son was hooked.

I dug them out when he said "I'm NOT doing more READING" after lunch.  They literally came this morning.

He sat down and started reading.  DH comes to check on him.  He says "this book is good, and I've read 64 pages!  It feels like I've been reading 30 minutes."  Buddy, it's been 1.5 hours.  "Boy, time flies when you are reading a good book!"  Ha.

StarBright

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #70 on: March 09, 2021, 07:27:51 PM »
@mm1970 - do you mind sharing the book series? you know I'm always looking for new books for StarBoy :)

mm1970

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #71 on: March 10, 2021, 10:47:11 AM »
@mm1970 - do you mind sharing the book series? you know I'm always looking for new books for StarBoy :)
@StarBright

Warrior Cats!

https://www.amazon.com/Warriors-Box-Set-Complete-Prophecies/dp/0062367145

jac941

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #72 on: March 11, 2021, 02:46:31 PM »
The school won't let a kid leave without an adult?!? You have to fill out a form? WTF? Is that what happens most places?

Our kid’s teacher is ok with just letting him leave, so I’m going with it. But to this question, I think the answer is yes, in most places kids under a certain age can’t leave without an adult. Our school doesn’t have any written policy, but generally 3rd graders and younger don’t leave alone. The after school camps used to require kids to be 11 to sign themselves out. That’s 6th grade folks. Ridiculous.

The one silver lining of covid is that everyone has finally gotten way more flexible on this. The camp will allow any kid to leave as long as the box is checked on the form. And now a bunch of 3rd graders are waking to and from camp alone. I think it’s great.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #73 on: March 11, 2021, 03:08:51 PM »
In the bay area, and our kids have been out of school for a year. We just heard yesterday on the high school re-opening plans. They've gotten to 90% vaccinated for their staff, and because only 50% of parents opted to send their kids back in person, they can finally hit the re-opening guidelines. They are going back April 19th, so after spring break. School ends the first week of June, so it will be very limited interaction, but I don't care at this point. I have a 9th grader with ADHD, who desperately needs the structure of school based learning. I'm counting down the days.

My 8th grader is going back April 5th. Instruction time will be very limited for the first few weeks, but they are hoping to change that following spring break. Only 35% of parents opted to send their kids back in person. I'm stunned by these numbers.

mm1970

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #74 on: March 11, 2021, 05:53:12 PM »
In the bay area, and our kids have been out of school for a year. We just heard yesterday on the high school re-opening plans. They've gotten to 90% vaccinated for their staff, and because only 50% of parents opted to send their kids back in person, they can finally hit the re-opening guidelines. They are going back April 19th, so after spring break. School ends the first week of June, so it will be very limited interaction, but I don't care at this point. I have a 9th grader with ADHD, who desperately needs the structure of school based learning. I'm counting down the days.

My 8th grader is going back April 5th. Instruction time will be very limited for the first few weeks, but they are hoping to change that following spring break. Only 35% of parents opted to send their kids back in person. I'm stunned by these numbers.
We are still waiting to get the news, but we could qualify to open as early as next week for our high schoolers.  Spring break is the week after, ha!

Interestingly, we have 3 high schools locally.  The % of families who opted to stay remote are 35.8%, 34.4%, and 28%.  My son goes to the 28% school.  I guess this doesn't really surprise me too much.  Interesting though, as the demographics aren't all that different.


waltworks

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #75 on: March 11, 2021, 07:18:51 PM »
People will send their kids back as they see things going ok. We had something like 10% remote starting in August, and they have pretty much all trickled back in at this point (which isn't so great, because a ton of people with kids moved here, so our school is bursting at the seams).

It's like a lot of things - if all your friends are sending their kids back to school, you probably will too. If most of the people you know are keeping their kids remote, same thing.

I do wonder if in some places this will be the beginning of the end for public schools, though.

-W

Michael in ABQ

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #76 on: March 12, 2021, 05:58:20 AM »
My 8th grader is going back April 5th. Instruction time will be very limited for the first few weeks, but they are hoping to change that following spring break. Only 35% of parents opted to send their kids back in person. I'm stunned by these numbers.

My sister has similar-age elementary school kids to us and has already said that she won't send them back to school until they're vaccinated. At this rate, that's probably not going to occur until this fall since the priority is adults. Kids are pretty much unaffected by COVID - and as a country we are rapidly approaching the point of herd immunity between the tens of millions who have already had the disease and the 64 million (as of today) who have received at least one vaccine dose. I'm looking at the latest county-by-county map here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html and there is a lot of white space. Albeit that's generally in rural counties, but across the board cases are dropping and the vaccines are going to keep that trajectory moving downward.

I think some people have an irrational fear of this virus, at least when it comes to kids. Millions of kids have been in school, in-person, during the 2020-2021 school year and it's basically been fine in all those districts.

MaybeBabyMustache

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #77 on: March 12, 2021, 07:59:34 AM »
My 8th grader is going back April 5th. Instruction time will be very limited for the first few weeks, but they are hoping to change that following spring break. Only 35% of parents opted to send their kids back in person. I'm stunned by these numbers.

My sister has similar-age elementary school kids to us and has already said that she won't send them back to school until they're vaccinated. At this rate, that's probably not going to occur until this fall since the priority is adults. Kids are pretty much unaffected by COVID - and as a country we are rapidly approaching the point of herd immunity between the tens of millions who have already had the disease and the 64 million (as of today) who have received at least one vaccine dose. I'm looking at the latest county-by-county map here: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html and there is a lot of white space. Albeit that's generally in rural counties, but across the board cases are dropping and the vaccines are going to keep that trajectory moving downward.

I think some people have an irrational fear of this virus, at least when it comes to kids. Millions of kids have been in school, in-person, during the 2020-2021 school year and it's basically been fine in all those districts.

I do know people who have health based reasons not to send their kids back (a parent with a very serious underlying health condition, a kid who has a health issue so severe that COVID could potentially be deadly, etc). Unfortunately, the timing of our return coincides with California vaccinating adults who have serious conditions. At the time we had to make a selection, it was unclear if adults with health serious health conditions would be vaccinated in time for the school opening. So, I certainly can understand that. And, in our district, there are no changes. There are only six weeks left (after the return), so you are required to stay with whatever option you've selected.

My 8th grade son's BFFs family have opted to keep him in remote learning. They like the flexibility. No health concerns of any kind on either side, and they went skiing, stayed in a hotel, traveled etc over a recent break. It is harder to message to my own kids, when their friends are not all going back. However, that's a problem I'm willing to solve (it's  non-negotiable in our family). Both of our kids have suffered tremendously - one socially, the one with ADHD academically. I do not think the flexibility outweighs the risks in our family, for this particular age group.

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #78 on: March 12, 2021, 09:17:33 AM »

I think some people have an irrational fear of this virus, at least when it comes to kids. Millions of kids have been in school, in-person, during the 2020-2021 school year and it's basically been fine in all those districts.

Our schools were open on a hybrid schedule at the start of the school year and we went back full time two weeks ago. While it has basically been fine, what feels like constant shut downs haven't been easy either. I appreciate the stability of just knowing that your kids are going to be home.

We shut down again this morning because there weren't enough subs to staff some of the schools. This is the third time they haven't been able to staff the schools this year. We also went totally remote from mid November until mid-January because of outbreaks in the schools that happened before Thanksgiving. They figured if our numbers were so bad before any holiday travel it wasn't worth opening the schools back up until the new year.

marbles4

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #79 on: March 12, 2021, 08:16:03 PM »

I do wonder if in some places this will be the beginning of the end for public schools, though.

-W

Our public elementary is going back in person 4 days a week starting a wk from Monday (hooray!).

Every single neighbor that I know in this well-regarded public school, is of applying for private, parochial, or charter school for next fall, except for us. Honestly, I don’t really get that mindset now that we see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The prevailing sentiment is that they “just don’t trust the district’s board of education anymore.”

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

jac941

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #80 on: March 15, 2021, 07:41:15 PM »
Every single neighbor that I know in this well-regarded public school, is of applying for private, parochial, or charter school for next fall, except for us. Honestly, I don’t really get that mindset now that we see the light at the end of the tunnel.

The prevailing sentiment is that they “just don’t trust the district’s board of education anymore.”

The light at the end of the tunnel might be a train...

When these kids who have been out of school for a year finally come back, they’re bringing their baggage with them. It’s going to be a shit show trying to balance the needs of the kids from disadvantaged backgrounds with those who had parents or professional pod teachers working with them all year. Also lots of kids are coming back with serious mental health impacts that have to be addressed.

There’s also been an exodus from the public schools already. Our district is down 9% this year - no one knows how bad it will be next year. But that’s a lot of funding lost in a year - and a lot of budget cuts coming down the line.

We ended up keeping one kid in public and waiting it out (he starts back in mid April), and we moved the other kid to private (she’s been in person since January). The one in private school is staying there even if schools reopen. She was having panic attacks from the uncertainty and chaos — and I just don’t think that element is going to be any better in the fall. The one in public school will stay there because he is a super flexible child and can deal with almost anything life throws at him. Also money. Yikes!

LiveLean

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #81 on: March 22, 2021, 01:23:35 PM »
We've had in-person school, five days a week, here in Florida since August.

We have two high schoolers. DW is an elementary school art teacher.

We live in the most densely populated county in Florida. The county has not had one COVID death, knock on wood, to a teacher, student or staff member. The national mainstream media will not report on this because it doesn't fit the COVID bogeyman narrative that school is unsafe and we must wait until COVID is completely eradicated.

What a waste of a year for most of the country's children.

waltworks

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Re: What are folks doing about school? Or the lack thereof...
« Reply #82 on: March 22, 2021, 03:09:39 PM »
Not entirely true, the NYT has been doing some reporting about this issue that is pretty critical of districts that did not open in person.

Closing down schools made sense last March. It made none in August.

-W

 

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