The only world class middle and high school math textbook series in the United States.
DS24 was super excited to meet Richard Rusczyk at the National MathCounts last year. As was I 
Won’t happen. Too much money is made in this country through lawsuits. By lawyers in particular, and that’s what most Congressmen are. And this pandemic has shown, money speaks more than human lives in this country.
Just read this article about the future of Wisconsin privates to survive this pandemic. This was the closing :
"So, what are parents and students to do in picking a college in these final weeks? Look past the beautiful campus videos, the overseas exchange programs, the ethnic and cultural diversity, and a host of other pluses a college puts forth in their sales pitch. Those things might ultimately come, but probably not now.
The colleges that are likely to survive and flourish are those colleges that have best handled the pivot to online learning, that have a plan in place no matter what is thrown at them. Education is likely to dramatically change; we are not going back to the old normal, and colleges must respond".
@gwnorth International universities (even those in Canada) are operating on a very different business model than American universities.
While I don’t disagree, how are parents to gauge which “colleges that have best handled the pivot to online learning, that have a plan in place no matter what is thrown at them.” It’s not like we have Covid-response rankings. Yet 
Oh we will… Lol. USNWR ranking on which schools have the best online teaching and plans for CV19.
I just received this very helpful and pragmatic set of FAQs on re-opening. It’s not strictly limited to college issues, but it is from Yale and the issues discussed include many that have been discussed on this thread. https://www.yalemedicine.org/stories/covid-country-reopening/?utm_source=YaleToday&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=YT_Yale%20Today%20-%20Best%20of%20the%20Week%20-%20Alumni_5-23-2020
The students have other choices too, why should the schools, already bend over backward to give students options, be liable for the student ‘s choices? Most schools already said whichever way they go, students will have the option to take online classes. Shouldn’t the students take responsibility for their choices?
And how do you know “other choices” are the right one for the schools to not get sued? Some schools are already being sued for shutting down in person classes, or bad zoom lectures. You really think that somehow if only school does x then it’s “the right thing” and won’t be liable?
I hope that congress passes something to stop people from covid related lawsuits, period. People need to take responsibility for their action.
Think it will include infection rates among faculty? Death rates? Number of students with Covid symptoms at the campus clinic?
That’s never stopped litigious parents before. And it won’t now, as we’ve already seen.
What about people who don’t attend the college, but live in the area and get sick/die as a result of living near a massive hotspot? What about janitors who have to choose between their job and their safety? The same politicians pushing for corporations to have COVID liability protection also don’t support workers being able to collect unemployment if they quit an unsafe job. The ethos of “personal responsibility” breaks down when you’re talking about something like a pandemic, where all of our actions affect each other.
My school district is a bit larger than yours. The percentage of free/reduced lunch is about 40%. The plan for '20-'21 is one of three scenarios – regular opening (w/social distancing, cleaning protocols, etc.) hybrid scenario (which seems to be too complicated), and all online. In other parts of the state, the expectation seems to be that the coming school year will be online.
I volunteer for some activities in high schools, and I won’t be doing it for at least the coming school year, if schools even have those activities (which I doubt they will).
@taverngirl wrote:
A pretty good summation of this thread!
Another k-12 article. Why can other counties put education first . Many kids in the US have has no education sunce march
https://www.edutopia.org/article/schools-are-opening-worldwide-providing-model-us
I’ve posted this on the general Covid Thread (where it has apparently been flagged for moderation, probably for a swear word, so not sure when and if it’s going up), but want to post it here, too, because I believe it’s relevant.
Germany’s states have recently opened up restaurants and places of worships; the regulations vary but all include rules about social distancing, under which circumstances (ie when moving as opposed to when sitting and eating) and for whom (ie servers vs patrons) masks are required, how to sit, whether to sing…
The outbreak after a Baptist mass which caused (so far) 40 infections/six hospitalisation has already been mentioned a few pages back.
I haven’t seen the outbreak in a restaurant mentioned. 18 infections so far, expected to rise with 118 people in quarantine. In a County that hadn’t had new cases for several days!
In both cases, those responsible insisted all the rules had been observed.
I call bovine manure. As far as the restaurant is concerned, testimony has surfaced that it was an opening party with invited guests rather than table service, with hugs and maskless mingling going on. Not the sit down service with desks spaced apart that is required.
As far as the service is concerned, the denomination concerned is German Baptists, a tiny fringe denomination recently swelled by Russian immigrants. I posit that what they have in common is rather less trust in authorities and rather more trust in a God than the very “established” (not in law, but in fact) main denominations (Lutherans and Catholics , who have shown themselves extremely compliant so far. Without any positive evidence, I’d bet there was a lot more mingling than admitted.
It’s not that hard to take away what’s important. Don’t have parties. Don’t meet up in large groups (all states are now allowing two households and relatives in the direct line meeting) in ways that are like parties. Bars, restaurants, family events, spectator sport events, funerals and other services with lots of hugging, handshaking, loud enunciations (responses, singing, shouting…).
Most everything that usually happens on campuses can happen in ways that minimise risks for individuals and the risk of spread in the community, but at this point, you can’t have parties.
^In regard to the Edutopia article about K-12 schools in other countries, can you imagine Americans following all those rules? You’re going to have a significant minority protesting that masks are bad for your kids, that no one’s taking THEIR kid’s temperature, that they will be bored staying in one room, etc. etc. As a people, we can’t handle Costco rules. There WILL be protests and failure to adhere to protocol when it comes to schools. I am so discouraged by this recent culture of “you’re not the boss of me.” I look at the way we as a people apparently cooperated and adhered to shared sacrifice during WW2, and I am sad about how we have changed in the last few years.
@CTTC Public schools considering staying closed for the entire 2020-2021 academic year? WHAT? How is that possible? As someone else mentioned earlier in this thread, parents need schools to reopen after summer so they can go back to work (not calling BS or anything on you, just shocked). Would there be a daycare option for kids?
Sad but not surprised. The reason is the social media and all the alternative channels of “information”. There’re all kinds of opinionated personalities trying to influence you. Once you become attached to certain viewpoint, you regard everything else that doesn’t conform to this viewpoint as biased or falsehood and restrict yourself to only this one viewpoint of the world. You look to sources of “information” to reinforcement your own biases. The society splinters and we’re losing our common ground. This is happening not only in the US, but all over the world, as the social media and alternative sources of “information” are a global phenomenon.
I work in a small, public elementary school in a wealthy suburb. Classes are small, as is the student population. Many of our families have live-in help so daycare is not an issue for those who work. That being said…some of our families have children with asthma, diabetes, etc.
What about families in our state who need consistent childcare? And what about families who live with grandparents? Many different situations are common.
They are planning now for a possible reopening, but they won’t know if it’s permitted until mid to late August. They are planning for a few different scenarios. I said this earlier but it’s worth repeating…opening is a tremendous undertaking.
-It took years of research, practice, working with local law enforcement agencies etc to come up with plans for active shooter drills. We are trained throughout the year, the state comes in, the local police dept comes in to discuss revisions and what they learned etc…that entire process now has to be revamped. We can’t cram everybody into a closet for a drill. We can no longer keep our doors closed and locked (obviously if there is a real emergency we will do whatever it takes to keep safe).
- Parents send their kids to school sick. Moving forward, kids will be interviewed before walking into the building. Temperature checks will be provided for students and staff. Arrivals will be time consuming. Protocols for sending kids home will need to be revised...and adhered to.
- disinfecting stations are currently being placed outside of every classroom
- what about pre-k? What will that look like and how can it be done safely?
- no group sports with close contact, no assemblies, no lunch room etc
- AM/PM classes are being considered, as are cycles for every other day. Desks will be 6 feet apart, no sharing of anything...nothing. Every student has their own box of supplies.
- the school will be cleaned repeatedly throughout the day. Frequent hand washing will be implemented.
- masks will be required for everybody over a certain age. Yesterday I was out and saw kids wearing masks...several were in the 3-5 year range. This won’t be easy with young kids...but we can try our best. The masks are to protect others...we all have a right to a safe learning environment.
- not only do we need to protect our students, but we need to also protect staff to the best of our ability. We also need to protect the families that these kids go home to each day.
So…how will K-12 open safely? I suppose we will soon see how it pans out.