@vpa2019 that you for that U of Chicago document. It’s fascinating. I’m forwarding it to our planning task force where we work.
For everyone running out and buying pulse oximeter on your now healthy children just keep in mind that the ones your getting like $29.00 on Amazon are incredibly inaccurate. If someone finds a great one would love to hear about it. You would have to compare it to the ones in your doctors office. If your kid has asthma or a breathing issue I get it. Sure I know all the reports out there. Are our children really going to use it daily? Don’t want to make kids more nervous then they need to be. Thermometer is a great idea. My son never used his. But I guess that is a good thing.
Thanks for posting that, @Twoin18 . I’m glad that your son and roommate are fine, and it was hopeful to read that your son did not contract the virus! (And a story of two college students playing by the rules).
The link isn’t working, but NACAC says that the CDC is recommending against testing every student in the fall.
I think we are going to see a rash of these announcements…USC goes all online for fall, citing recent spike in coronavirus infections in SoCal.
I’m not sure why the CDC would discourage testing? Even if it doesn’t help much I don’t see how it could hurt? I find that guidance very confusing.
https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/More-than-40-Bay-Area-school-principals-in-15381335.php
Another example of the risks in opening schools.
One issue may be the availability of testing supplies. If all colleges test 100% of students, faculty and staff, that is a lot of testing supplies being used. Seems like CDC is saying sample test and put into place other measures to limit infection/spread. As effective (according to CDC) and preserves testing supplies.
There probably isn’t enough testing capacity in the country for every college to do that amount of testing. The CDC is probably trying to prevent the colleges from tying up all the available tests and leaving none for the rest of the population. Sure, the small LACs that are only bringing back half their students aren’t going to use much, but if all the very large publics that are bringing back everyone start doing the same amount of testing the system could be overwhelmed.
D got yet another email from the chem e department yesterday. Looks like they are adding more lab sections for her separations class and that the one course that was going on line only is moving back to having an in person at least once/week. (They must have been able to negotiate for more space ; )). They told students to expect that their schedules will change but they are guaranteeing they’ll still get all the courses they registered for, just at different times. D had a crummy schedule so she’s hoping she’ll actually see an improvement.
Have to say that I’ve been very pleased with the department communications. They’ve kept in very close contact with their students. They seem to be working very hard to make in person courses work. Now we just need to keep the virus under control!
@shuttlebus Thanks for sharing your family’s Williams experience. It’s very helpful. I’m happy to hear that you’ve been impressed with Maud’s leadership. It looks like my daughter will be taking a gap year which we support. I hope that your son has a great school year.
One of the local school districts announced their plans yesterday. There were specifics for k-5, middle and high school, but all included removing extra furniture from the classroom, no volunteers or parents in the school, no assemblies, no field trips, no using lockers (backpacks only). Books will be given to each student (no classroom set to be shared).
Middle and high schools will switched to block schedules with one class in the morning, one in the afternoon. Some kind of schedule for the hallways.
@twoinanddone OMG on the block schedule. If D has to spend three hours at a time doing Calc, she’ll freak out. Lol.
@homerdog - Yes, Davidson students coming back with lots of changes. They are re-opening course registration b/c they are reducing class density, staggering class schedules, adding evening classes, etc. Many courses will be remote for both on campus students and to accommodate students who can’t or choose not to return to campus. Some will be hybrid and some will be ‘flex’ which I don’t really understand but seems to be a f2f faculty-directed course, maybe kinda like a British-style tutorial?
They are testing all students when they arrive and then targeted testing throughout the semester.
Dorms are, remarkably, staying pretty much the same but students can only enter their own dorm. More info about dining, ECs, sports, etc. to come but they’ve made it clear there will be mask wearing and it will be a very different semester.
Since my D’s not going abroad as originally planned, she found an off campus apartment and will have her own room (and bathroom!). This should be helpful for online courses and if things change and they go all remote again. Her lease starts end of July and she coordinated with friends whose study abroad was also cancelled to be in the same apartment complex so she’s excited to get back.
She’s hoping there’s some in-person ECs allowed – her ideal is they have tents outside for clubs and student groups to use to meet but I’m doubtful. We’ll see…
^Davidson should have gorgeous weather for most of the semester!
@twoinanddone i wish our high schools thought creatively to do a block schedule. It seems like it will allow for fewer classroom changes, enhance learning, and keep the students healthier.
To me, my high school is hoping to get away with what is most convenient. Their plan (though not approved by our state of NY) is pretty much regular schedule and 3 ft distancing and masks.
I am concerned about half the students getting mask exemptions , and kids wearing them under their nose. Add that to the 3 ft apart. Sounds like a hot mess.
I hope NYS doesnt allow this.
In reality it doesn’t give a lot of useful information. It’s like applying to all your reaches with no chance of merit /financial aid and already accepted to the college your going to go to but you stick it out, just to see… Lol…
Plus once the government has tried to sway the CDC of late they lost all credibility from me. I have their guidelines since 1989 and nothing has changed much for our office of course besides wearing masks and having the acrylic sneeze guards and hand sanitizer everywhere. Lol.
I understand your D is still in high school but it’s not uncommon for colleges to offer once a week night classes of 3 hours duration. Last semester DS19 took Calc II that way. He even had tutorial the hour before. He didn’t always go to tutorial but when he did that was 4 hours of calculus straight.
Amherst will have about 1250 students back on campus; first years, sophomores, transfers and some but not all seniors. Hope to have everyone back for spring. Lots of restrictions, singles for everyone, no sports, testing 2x per week.
OK. Not as bad as @ChemAM predicted. But, again, following the general blueprint of Yale, Bowdoin, Williams, and MIT of one person per on-campus bedroom. That’s actually a lot of singles for a small New England college.