@one1ofeach Yeah, we heard that too. DD was holding her breath for a couple of scrimmages. I was holding my breath to be allowed to campus and visit her outside from 6ft away! Oh well, at least the term seemed to fly by.
She’s serious about her sports, so she did go through the agonizing decision process if she should go remote or even go at all. When she ultimately decided to sacrifice the competitive play to go to BS, she didn’t know the extent her club would be playing. She definitely didn’t think the LPS would get in a season. If she knew at the time just how much others would be playing this Fall, she might have made a different decision.
No regrets after the fact, though, because she loves BS so much. On the other hand, she will be crushed if she loses two Spring seasons.
My son has already had to make the decision about spring. His coach said he needed to know now and my son said he will play (if he misses spring season he will not play in college, unless he miraculously gets a walk on spot). That means if the school continues restrictions my son will be virtual. I am pretty upset. I basically think enough is enough. There’s enough data. Let’s go by the data and not every fear we had back in March. I’m also 100% unclear about how school will work virtually since things like class participation cannot be accounted for and virtual kids can’t ask questions. I will need to have a serious talk with a dean I think about making sure this doesn’t impact his grades.
@one1ofeach , totally agree with you and support you! Sorry for you and family to have to deal with this.
Generational theft is in motion right now. Schools with too much endowment $ acting like bureaucrats, catering to faculty, abandoning the country’s future.
Please have safe travels this weekend! Sending congratulations to you and your kiddos for making it through this first term!!
BTW @one1ofeach - we feel your pain…we have pretty much given up on recruiting and will pray for a walk on spot in college. There is no way my kid can compete with fellow club team members who are able to practice, travel, attend showcases and prospect camps. Even though D1 for gals has extended their “no go” period, we know D1’s who have their bench full already. My kiddo made a choice to return to school and feels it was the right choice.
FWIW, am not even going to try to speculate @ why so many parents are gambling with their health and their kids’ health this weekend by traveling to tournaments. There are some big ones with hundreds of kids. I am rather disappointed in the organizers of these event$ and the club teams who are participating.
My kid’s club team cancelled last spring/summer season due to travel restrictions in our state. His school was fully remote so no season there either. Our state prohibited travel to most of the locations where showcases were held, and while I know many families ignored this, we could not. This fall, his school is in person but kids are not allowed to leave campus so he couldn’t attend any of the showcases, etc.
Bottom line, he will not play in college unless he is able to walk on - which seems remote since he won’t have played competitively in over a year. Very sad.
The one thing we are thankful for is that his school practiced his fall sport and did play 3-4 games against neighboring schools with similar “bubbles” in place. They tested extensively all fall and only had 1 positive case, an adult. Teachers taught in person 90% of the time and 90% of the students were on campus, although classes were also streamed for those that needed to Zoom.
His school, SPS, is 100% residential with most teachers living on campus as well so they were able to create and maintain a pretty tight bubble. They are home now and resume classes 11/30, returning to school 1/20. The return process will be the same as their fall process - 14 days quarantine (at home or hotel depending on travel method), neg test in hand, onsite testing multiple times the first few weeks and strict restrictions on socializing outside of class. Despite a solid plan, I wouldn’t be surprised if they postpone the return to March and just do the full trimester online.
A lot of kids/families have done it the entire fall, and if my kids were home we would be in the same boat. Around here the school philosophy has been that if someone deserve to be in school it is the little ones so K-5 and even MS has been prioritized over HS and so the kids barely went to school or not at all. And our school sports were cancelled too (well technically just postponed, but the odds of them playing football or soccer in January were always pretty non-existent) and so the kids had absolutely nothing to do otherwise.
My son’s BFF has been in school all of one week since March, as his private decided HS kids can learn remotely just fine. And while he is doing fine in school he was going crazy from lack of socialization and physical activity so the fact his AAU team started up again was a life saver according to his mom. We can’t play any games in NY so all the kids playing soccer, baseball/softball, lacrosse etc have to travel out of state for games. For a lot of families it’s the only activity they do as everyone works remotely too. Unless they are going to have grandparents over for Thanksgiving I really don’t think it is terrible.
And as for the tournament organizers, like so many other businesses they are just trying to stay afloat I imagine. Yes we may all be safer if everything closed (and here in NY we certainly have vocal people wishing for that) but there is a massive economic as well as human cost associated with that, too. Also it has been pretty good fall weather wise and much like with everything else, people are taking advantage of being able to do it. Besides, down in the swamp near you the football stadiums look pretty packed for college as well as HS games. Football was never allowed here at all.
Yes - I think MA did a better job of managing the football season IMHO - but will probably get bashed for saying it by some football parents on here. Sorry. But, it has been impressive watching the games on TV from MA with just photos of folks in the stands. Think it was a good way to go to control the spread of the virus. I think MA just handled it in a safer way by enforcing the rules. Yes -we are concerned about the tournaments down here and the football games that have been going on. Some schools have allowed football, but not parents or fans in the stands. Other games will have many folks watching. There has been inconsistencies between counties. There were some huge gatherings earlier in the season - people not abiding by county mandated safety rules. The high school playoffs have started - but I think a couple of teams south in the state have cancelled their games due to COVID. A bunch of kids and coaches have tested positive.
Football is big here - especially for folks on the FL/GA line. When kiddo was about 8, we went into a 7-11 near Savannah and she saw all the big G signs on the windows and G banners hanging in the store. She said loudly , “Why are there so many Green Bay fans in Georgia?” We left real fast.
Most of our public/parochial schools have been hybrid down here - but the number of COVID cases has shot up dramatically in the past couple of weeks. There are many visitors down here now - took a drive to JAX beach and it was super crowded. Kiddo & friends told us the airport was the most crowded they had seen. So, at least down here lots of people traveling. There are so many people that travel here and cases rising, we are not having kiddo play in tournaments down here. Not worth it and I can’t take the risk of having a particularly vulnerable family member get sick.
I don’t know about where you are @Golfgr8 but here, other than hockey, we’ve been having tournaments all summer and fall and no covid clusters have been attributed to them. We went to a tournament last weekend. Parents limited, on our x. It was well organized - I wouldn’t see a need to prevent my kid from going. I wish we had been going all summer. I didn’t think it was safe but in hindsight, it was, and he missed out.
@one1ofeach I PM’ed you before the big CC platform change. I agree and feel similarly about missing out on things in hindsight. But so far, we have been healthy. I now have some regrets but also just couldn’t manage the cost of it last summer. We just are trying to plan for next term. Our school sent an email stating we would be advised by Dec 28 if there would be a delay in returning in January.
In terms of the various BS plans to return in the New Year, I think those that have kids remote learning through January and going back in mid to late February make a lot of sense. January can be bleak, especially with COVID restrictions, and there will be less back and forth travel by keeping kids on campus from later in February to the end of the year. Here is a link to Bill Rawson’s letter to the Exeter community on their rationale.
@Golfgr8
I kept getting notified that you pm’d me but couldn’t get to your message! I haven’t figured out the new format but I think your message is gone.
Hi there @one1ofeach - I hope you get this reply. This new format is most challenging to navigate. I had responded last week to your question - but the PM must not have been delivered. All of my PM’s and my avatar were lost. So, I made another photo for myself.
To answer your question @ where we are: We are in the FL/GA line for much of the year - but then I also spend time in CT. Most of the time, I am down south. There has been club teams and high school teams practicing down here for certain sports throughout the Fall. It has not been as strict as in NE. Yes - there were football games down here with crowds of parents and students watching. Lax got most of their season in down here last Spring because it starts so early - like in January. Our kiddo missed out on Spring sports. We chose to keep Kiddo off the field and away from tournaments most of the summer and all of the Fall. DA had very strict rules to keep kids on campus. Kiddo made the choice to abide by the rules and miss out on recruiting.
To me going back mid to late February does not make a lot of sense, not for a trimester school where the winter term ends first week in March anyway. Academically speaking, it is a big disruption for not a lot of reward if you are not doing in person classes until spring term anyway. And weather can still be quite bad, as could covid (Biden administration could well bring another round of serious restrictions in February). The only thing you know you will have is more daylight. If you can’t go back in January, I think Andover plan of bringing just seniors in February and having everyone else finish winter term remotely and come for the spring seems more sensible, in terms of giving the kids best chance for academic success. Also, longer time at home allows you to check other things off the to-do list, be it SAT prep/testing, drivers ed, or throwing yourself in your extracurricular for 3 months. It is very interesting how all over the places schools are in their plans at the moment. How much choice they will end up having in the matter in the end is another story.
I’d choose Exeter’s plan over PA’s in a heartbeat.
Well today I would as well, as DS is pushing all the buttons 
. Realistically though, unless something dramatic happens very soon to change the current trajectory I don’t think any school will have an option to go back in January, and spring term will end up being the best we can hope for.
Even here in NY where people should know better, so many are just done with the pandemic and the amount of private socializing is staggering. We got away with it in the summer but now that the numbers are rising you would think people would dial it back but so many are just not willing to.
It’s interesting to learn about the different plans. I think SPS is going back late in January? Will they also give up a Spring break?
As some of you know, DA has a block schedule this year to de-density. I think some students & faculty really like it, while others don’t. The pro’s from this term: Students get to take more classes per year - at least 6 and sometimes more. You only have 2 courses to study for at a time. More time to immerse yourself each day in a subject and more time with you class. Here are the con’s: Very fast pace. Imagine an entire year of APChem or APUSH in 9 weeks. If you have APSpanish during the Fall term, you now have to figure out how to score well on the AP test in May. Yes - some of you don’t need to stress @ AP tests, but we do. Next, Kiddo felt that the material was just too rushed and not sticking to the ribs. It’s like the difference between taking a jet ski along the surface and scuba diving through material. There is a lot of work each night - and for Seniors, it meant cramming through accelerated courses and finishing college applications. Overall, I think my Kiddo enjoyed the block schedule - done with a couple of courses now and can move onto others. If you are from another school that did this schedule, please add your insights.
Interested in your comment that some don’t have to stress the AP test but you feel that your kid does. Can you add more? I have been puzzled about what to recommend to kid about the AP tests. Teachers seem to expect kids to study on their own? WHAT? Why are we paying the very big bucks for you to tell the kids to self study for an AP? I was super confused by this. People are probably tired of me saying this but…even in my tiny, not prestigious high school, the teachers busted their butts to help us study and do well on the AP tests.
@Golfgr8
I would have tagged you above but I thought maybe it happened automatically since it says I am replying to you. Still don’t get the new format.
In ChoatieKid’s experience, the regular BS curriculum more than prepared him the AP exams he took. For APUSH, his history teacher held two evening sessions to go over peculiarities of that particular exam. For the other two, no additional prep sessions needed. The “self-study” was the same study necessary for passing any term exam in those courses.
I think the concern with the block schedule is the length of time between the end of an earlier course and the later/end-of-school AP exam date which might require refresher self-study.