Sounds like a preview to what might happen in PA. Although our Supreme Court is Democrat majority so they may side with Governor. But how things shake out once appeals begin is difficult to predict.
1 Like
So in my county here in GA a few weeks ago they offered a Mask optional school for any parents that were interested. For all this âwe dont want masksâ hype, only 10 parents had interest. So now the county has the âproofâ that there are not mask complaints all over the place.
Not a peep from our school today regarding the mask mandate that is supposed to start next Tuesday - with Monday being a Labor Day Holiday. We dismissed early due to getting drenched from Ida, but lots of other emails have made the rounds, including shifting a faculty meeting to next week.
the PSAL has required vaccines for some student-athletes
New York City Public School Athletic League Requiring Vaccine For High-Risk Sports Players, Staff - CBS New York in order to participate in their sport
Right now Iâd say the biggest issue in Hâs school is the lack of subs. Monday, there were 5 teachers, 1 admin out and only 1 sub to cover. There is a rotation for specials to cover full-time. Other specials lose their planning periods, and Iâm not sure what they do with the rest. They used to split up the classes into others, but with covid that isnât supposed to happen. Today, H was happy. It was his day to be in a classroom full-time, but they got out early for Ida. He doesnât know why the teacher was out, just that she went home sick yesterday and saw a doctor. Everything (like my workplace) is so secretive now.
But he DID get a form letter for exposure late Sunday, but only because the tech sent emails to all those she exposed. Within 30 minutes, he got the email which essentially said it was sent because an employee admitted to breaking the covid rules. But, if you felt you wore your mask properly (yes), stayed 3 feet apart (no), and/OR are fully vaccinated (yes), you should disregard this letter. The only people who had to report being exposed were those who werenât vaccinated and also broke one of the covid rules.
I must be in your county 
Thank you for that update as I hadnât followed the news on the âmask optionalâ school. In addition to the limited parent interest, Iâd love to know how many teachers agreed since that was also optional. Time to googleâŠ
News just announced that they will be setting up vaccine sites at all public schools that has students 12+
2 Likes
I thought 3â was only for students, not adult staff members.
My school system: - mask mandate for all k-12. Masks removed for meals, PE, music classes. Vaccinations âencouragedâ but not being tracked by the school system. For quarantine purposes, honor system for vaccination status. Lip service given to social distancing, but with nearly all students returning to in-person, it wonât happen much. Only a very small order of portable HEPA UVC filters came in, and it will be âmonthsâ before they are in all classrooms. No testing, although this might happen for high school athletes (high exposure), but not for students in other high-exposure situations.
Oh, but they are âfollowing the science.â 
After I posted, the HS went to virtual for the rest of the week because of the large increase in positive cases and so they can do a deep cleaning to make the school safe again. Funny how this large increase doesnât show up at all on the official dashboard. The needle for that school has barely moved all week. And cleaning to make it safe? After 18 months they havenât figured out thatâs not the primary method of transmission?
And I spoke with several people yesterday afternoon. One person had 4 positive kids, but only 1 shows on the dashboard. And another personâs kid has friends in school whose siblings are at home positive. And our hospitals are now full as well. They donât have enough staff to take care of existing patients even using managers and directors. Another friendâs family member had a heart attack and he couldnât be seen. They were able to find a bed 1:30 away at least.
And another co-worker on my floor coaches in a nearby district. That team is all quarantined due to positive cases. He asked our powers that be what he should do. He was asked âDo you have symptoms?â No. âThen come to work.â No testing, no quarantining, nothing. This is why my mind is blown at companies that have been WFH this entire time. Nothing like that is the norm here.
Iâm just so frustrated with the secrecy and deception. The sad part is that I likely would be OK with the level of risk Iâm exposed to here if I knew what it was! If they would let me know if we had 1-5 cases, 5-10, 10-50 in the building, thatâs all I ask. But I have no idea other than itâs a lot easier to find a parking place than usual. I am thankful I am vaccinated, otherwise I would really go insane. (end of rant. Breathe)
I think secrecy and deception is common. I have heard that building administrators are told to ease up on quarantines â so no student will ever be found to be closer than 3â or unmasked/not masked properly, so if they are asymptomatic they donât have to quarantine. And of course there will be plenty of lying re vaccination status from the 12&up crowd to escape quarantine if asymptomatic.
I also donât believe our district dashboard is correct.
And public school doesnât start here until next week. I expect there to be an explosion of cases once it does.
1 Like
Covid dashboard for ABQ Public schools thru 8/31.
144 cases (126 students, 48 staff) at 58 sites
So slightly more cases than last week (144 vs 138), but at 10 fewer school sites. No school closures due to reaching their covid shutdown threshold.
So the schools here are doing a pretty good job of keeping students healthy. Weâll see what happens after the Labor Day weekend.
1 Like
From the microcovid.org calculator:
Risk of a vaccinated middle or high school student getting COVID-19 from the teacher is approximately 0.03% per 55 minute class period (note that a student has multiple class periods in a day, so 0.18% for a 6 period day, or 18% for a 180 day school year):
https://www.microcovid.org/?distance=sixFt&duration=55&interaction=oneTime&personCount=1&riskProfile=average&scenarioName=custom&setting=indoor&theirMask=thin&topLocation=US&voice=loud&yourMask=thin&yourVaccineDoses=2&yourVaccineType=pfizer
Risk of a vaccinated middle or high school student getting COVID-19 from other nearby students is approximately 0.1% per 55 minute class period (note that a student has multiple class periods in a day, so 0.6% for a 6 period day, or 66% for a 180 day school year):
https://www.microcovid.org/?distance=normal&duration=55&interaction=oneTime&personCount=9&riskProfile=average&scenarioName=custom&setting=indoor&theirMask=thin&topLocation=US&voice=normal&yourMask=thin&yourVaccineDoses=2&yourVaccineType=pfizer
Risk of a vaccinated middle or high school teacher getting COVID-19 from the 10 nearest students is approximately 0.06% per 55 minute class period (note that a teacher has multiple class periods in a day, so 0.46% for a 6 period day, or 48% for a 180 day school year):
https://www.microcovid.org/?distance=sixFt&duration=55&interaction=oneTime&personCount=10&riskProfile=average&scenarioName=custom&setting=indoor&theirMask=thin&topLocation=US&voice=normal&yourMask=thin&yourVaccineDoses=2&yourVaccineType=pfizer
All of the above assume that class is indoors, everyone is wearing masks (but masks may be low quality cloth masks), the vaccine type is Pfizer (most common, and the only one available for under-18), but others are average people in the US whose vaccine status is unknown. They do not include other possible risks on or off the school grounds.
A good episode of The Daily this week on the education lost to the pandemic which DOES relate to what is going on in classrooms today. The disparities between schools (public and private) when everyone has different rules.
S is a teacher in our urban district. Teachers and kids must be masked. Masking is not the problem - not the biggest problem right now. What is the problem is kids who are out of the swing of being in school and establishing a school routine. Kids are ALL over the place. Discipline has turned into a major problem and disinterest in engaging in classroom tasks.
Area surburban schools who started without mask regulations - only ârecommmendationsâ - have had to change their tune and COVID is pretty rampant.
Feels like teachers and students basically are ârolling the diceâ every day before they set foot in school. 
For the 2nd year in a row, it feels like we - adults - have failed our kids.
2 Likes
my D is also a first year teacher in an Urban district in an elementary school. The first day a child had to be suspended. Not only are these kids over 2 years behind (many never showed up for zoom school last year), but they dont know how to sit still anymore or pay attention. Testing is showing that they are even further behind, when in reality they cant even take the test, more than not having the knowledge. If school goes to virtual at all this year, some of these kids will be completely lost causes . 5th graders on a 2nd grade level. They Need to be in school. The school has a mask mandate. For these Urban schools as much as teachers did not feel safe in the classroom last year, its a sad situation. Very different than suburban schools. I would expect Crime to remain high for at least the next 5-10 years , as many of these kids will likely never be seen again , or be able to have basic knowledge for any employment. This is a horrible situation that many on CC dont see.
5 Likes
Yes kids need to be in school. Yet two junior high teachers in Texas just died. Those kids have no teachers. The school closed. Worse someone they probably loved is gone. And what if those two had families ? I donât know if the teachers wore masks or had other conditions, etc. itâs sad regardless. Hereâs more likely evidence masks work although people want to continue to deny. I mean you can say itâs not statistical blah blah blah. But every human knows the truth; not all want to believe the truth.
I know kids need to be in school. Itâs all evil. But we have to choose the lesser of evils.
While it is sad the Texas teachers died, it is not clear their work had anything to do with it-one only attended the first day of school and was out thereafter, so it seems likely he had covid before school started. The US has closed its schools more than any other country, and I am afraid will pay the price for that.
3 Likes
Well - we already know, you may say anecdotal, but itâs known - that mask wearing works.
We also have seen entire districts in TN because you have a parent opt out (my county is 25% opted out) - entire districts have closed.
The urban districts, which have more minority students who have suffered more, btw, are thumbing their nose at the governor and have better stats.
So if you want to keep kids in school, then your only hope is masking. Iâm not saying itâs the best option.
This thing isnât going to go away until we all do our part. I travel for workâŠin the airports, people have the masks down, the cops donât even wear themâŠflight attendantsâŠ50:50.
We all have to hunker down or let it die itâs own death like it did in 1918.
The sad part is the divide this has caused - no one has asked for it and beyond the infections, itâs really tearing society apart.
1 Like
Since contagious diseases add large negative external effects* to many otherwise typical activities, it is not surprising that political wars are easily triggered between âMY FREEDOM to do what I wantâ versus âMY FREEDOM from the harms you force on me without my consentâ points of view. When society is already pre-divided politically, that only increases the intensity of division.
*Externality is a concept in economics which describes an effect on someone who is not a willing party to an activity or transaction. Pollution is a typical example used for illustration. Many of the rules that societies have, and the politics around what those rules should be, involve the prohibition, regulation, or taxation of externalities.