I wouldn’t call, say, several month delay until returning to the classroom an ‘uneducated generation’. Five years? Yes.
So this happened.
https://www.sltrib.com/news/education/2020/07/15/packed-meeting-utah/
I’m so freaking done.
Once kids drop out of school, they rarely return. That is why even UNICEF is panicky about closed schools. School disruption is one of the most adverse events that can happen to a child. Schools that do not open now are likely to remain closed for the school year. They will reopen in fall 2021 with many fewer students.
What is wrong with these people? Anyone have a education higher then grade school in the room? OK, that wasn’t nice but why don’t some people understand what a pandemic is?
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If these kid did not study when there was face to face meeting, why would they study when they are on internet. No direct supervision and parents are busy making ends meet. or put food on the table. Is it a good idea since it is public money? Probably to some extent. But will it work? I highly doubt it.
@iluvnaples , I live in an Asian country where people routinely wear masks during flu season and are also routinely wearing them now during COVID-19. We have had a very low occurrence of the virus, and it seems that this use of masks has a lot to do with it. I think that, because people in the US are not accustomed to masks, in some cases they are making things more difficult than they need to be. People here use many different types of masks, depending on what they are comfortable with - surgical masks, cloth masks, polyurethane - and they all seem to work. It’s a good idea to dispose of surgical masks regularly and keep washable masks clean, but I don’t think there’s any real magic about taking off and on, storing in plastic bags, etc. I mean, maybe there’s some incremental value there, but the main thing is to wear a masks that’s comfortable for you (or your child) and use it without obsessing about it. It really does work and once you get used to it, you feel safer wearing one and seeing that others around you are wearing one.
I’m not sure if it was posted above as I haven’t read through the last couple pages. Here is where Maryland schools stand.
About one quarter of our counties have come out and announced plans for online k-12 learning for the first half of the next school year. I fully expect the majority, if not all of the rest of the state, to do the same. I do not look forward to seeing my S24 suffer through more inadequate distance learning like the sad excuse for learning that was attempted in the spring. SAD.
UMD as of yesterday reposted their class offerings with just a very few offered in person. The majority, probably 95%, are online. They are welcoming kids back to campus for the fall semester though. Nothing says greed more than bringing students in to take online classes from their dorms and eat grab and go meals. My S20 has decided to stay home and do online from the comfort of his bedroom and not deal with being on lockdown at school.
Haverford has identified 21 usable classrooms of all the spaces on campus… including a triple wide trailer they’re parking for the occasion. This is why lots of my daughter’s friends have all-online course schedules for fall.
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Utah’s numbers are a bit of a shock today, so it won’t take long before the come to jesus moment arrives. The anti mask meeting was Utah county, right, it’s own brand of special. It wasn’t Salt Lake.
@tkoparent thanks for the info. As with @Knowsstuff I am looking for helpful information and not snide remarks. Can you comment on this research? It is still giving me pause about cloth masks but the surgical mask issue (on/off, left on a desk etc. getting contaminated) bothers me as well. Not sure which is the better answer for my daughter. I would love your comments: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4420971/
Thanks.
I listened to Denison’s TownHall this morning. It was impressive how much work they have put into developing the plan for the fall. The logic of it all made sense to me, although, of course, everything is dependent on what happens from here. The school is inviting everyone back and the kids will stay in normal housing - from singles to six-person apartments. They feel that they can do this because of the small size and relative insularity of the school. The school will not require mass testing before the kids arrive on campus, although they are requiring the kids to input health data for about a week before they arrive. The theory on mass testing is that they would capture only a moment in time, in any event, and would be subject to false negative/false positive issues. Once the kids are on campus the school will signal test slices of the population each week, and they will also be able to test anyone who is symptomatic and their contacts. They will use two different types of tests, one a quick 15-minute test that is reliable on the positive side, and a test from Ohio State (Denison is working closely with Ohio State on these issues) that is highly accurate but takes more time. There will be dorm space set aside for kids in quarantine or isolation as well as for those awaiting test results. From an academic perspective, the professors have been given freedom in structuring their classes. About 15% may be fully remote, but the rest will be various hybrid forms - things are designed so that students who can’t return to campus or elect not to will be able to fully participate, along with anyone in isolation or quarantine. They also have plans in place for situations where a teacher becomes ill and cannot teach. And finally, they have a contingency plan for a full lockdown of the campus as a potential alternative to sending everyone home if things get worse. The school is also trying to go forward with fall sports on a limited basis, but that may become harder as other NCAC schools give it up, as Oberlin and Kenyon already have. In any event, the school seems quite serious about bringing everyone back and confident they can pull it off. We are going to send S19, who wants to go, although, of course, we are quite nervous given we will be 20 hours away in Asia and it will be hard to go and help him if things go south. At the moment, I would not be permitted to reenter the country where I life if I visit the US, so it would be up to my husband to go if necessary.
@iluvnaples , I read the research as suggesting that surgical masks are more protective than many cloth masks, although the usefulness of cloth masks will depend upon the material, number of layers, how carefully they are cleaned and dried, etc. The research also seems to indicate that either form of masks is better than going without. That is consistent with what I have read elsewhere. In the country where I live, gauze masks were the norm in the past but people have largely gravitated towards surgical masks, which are more convenient because they are disposable. I don’t like to wear surgical masks for long periods because the fibers irritate my nose and I start sneezing (worst thing you can do in a pandemic!). So I have a bunch of different types, including silk and polyurethane - polyurethane is my favorite from a comfort/ease of breathing perspective, although the material is relatively porous unless there are additional layers or a filter. For your daughter, it may be just as important to determine what she will be comfortable using as what sort of mask is scientifically more effective. Denison, where my son will be a sophomore, will require face masks everywhere, either cloth masks or surgical masks and will provide each student with seven cloth masks. My son has been using a sports bandana/gaiter while at home, but those will not be accepted by the school, so he’ll have to give some thought to an acceptable (to him) alternative.
I was watching a video of Dr. Fauci, who is a generally cautious man, the other day, and I watched as he took his cloth Nationals mask on and off a couple of times - he didn’t tough the inside of the mask at all but didn’t otherwise seem to be overly cautious in handling it, setting it down, etc. I looked for that just now but unfortunately couldn’t find it.
@roycroftmom, the tradeoff between education for vulnerable students, and health for the general population, is a real one. And it’s difficult.
I would not open a school if I believed it would result in a prompt outbreak. An outbreak would be dangerous for the population, obviously, but also the school would then have to be swiftly shut, so the opening would be almost useless. And I fear that in the current situation, with widespread cases, that’s what would happen if LA Unified opened.
IMO, we should work to be able to open schools. Shut bars, indoor restaurants, churches, gatherings. Maybe do another shelter in place. Nothing comes easy, but it would be worth it if we could get cases down to a low enough level that we could mostly resume life.
@NYCasdfgh _ I am in Westfield and we were doing a pretty good job and had very few cases if any the weeks leading up to HS graduation. The senior class is about 500 kids and they held graduation outside without parents. They practiced in the morning and graduation was in the afternoon, some kids were not taking it seriously and not wearing mask during grad practice, each grad was given a 2020 WHS mask, it seems there was no pushback about the kids not wearing masks at all times, They brought all the kids back in the afternoon , on a day it was supposed to pour in the afternoon and sure enough it did before the first kid got their diploma , so they divided the kids about 250 each into the gyms in near by schools, no social distancing there. They Cancel graduation, but they change their mind and bring all 500 kids back the next day 90 degree heat. At least 2 kids did not feel well but waited to be tested after graduation and surprise , surprise they were positive , so know a large majority of kids have been tested, my son waited 6 hours in line to test negative. I really blame this outbreak on the school, they could have done graduation in the AM and been done with it, but they had 500 kids close to each other 3 times over 2 days. I will say the only bright spot seems to be the kids who tested positive did a good job reaching out to kids to let them know. Can not wait to see how the schools handle k-12 in about 6 weeks here.
@“Cardinal Fang” , you are so right. If people can give up some things for now - indoor restaurants, bars and clubs, church, etc. - it will be possible to open the schools. In the country where I live, we are living a relatively normal life now, after having shut down for two months. The case numbers are starting to creep up again, and the restaurants and clubs are being encouraged to close again. as most of the new cases seem to track back to those kinds of activities. But the schools are in session, and there haven’t been many school-related outbreaks. The video from Utah that was linked above made me completely crazy, with parents insisting their kids can’t wear masks. Here, all the kids are wearing masks, and they deal with it fine, it’s really no big deal.
Love the positive attitude ?. Let’s first see who these kids are since your making generalizations. CPS is Chicago Public Schools. Not private yet they have the top 6 schools out of 10 in Illinois. Hmmm. Yes these are selective enrollment test in schools. My son needed a 99.6% just to be considered at the top school in his year. They all get chrome note books that year as a freshman.
So there are about 3,400 accepted out of about 17,000 applications from all over Chicago. One of my sons friend took a train to 2 busses 2 hours each way(5 years ago that is) . My sons school was about 25% white, then mostly Asian, Hispanic, black, mixed and other… These kids go to just about every kind of college you can think of. My son’s year MIT, 25 to University of Chicago, 30 to Northwestern and like everyone gets into UIUC. But many go to other schools since they get crazy merit numbers and financial aid.
They are the very lucky few.
There are a multitude of other really good schools.
But there are definitely families and schools that don’t have this. But yet students still go on to college. I think the first attempt is getting them what they need. Second is going to be making them accountable. Not sure what software they will use but it won’t be like the spring and they just kinda give up. It’s the start of a new year. There won’t be pass /fail classes. Will it be challenging? You bet it will be. Both our new Mayor and Governors are serious about education. I am hoping that the kids that want to learn will.
So tons of masks articles out there https://www.healthline.com/health-news/best-materials-for-covid19-face-masks
Consult your doctor if she has a respiratory issue for suggestions… Plain and simple. Masks work. Use one. Lol.
Also there are better threads on here. One is unmask me (I think it’s called) also a medical thread but read it first. Lots of information there.
I know it’s early but have any schools talked about spring and summer sessions for next year? I’m specifically thinking about schools that will limit attendance in the fall to specific cohorts. Have any talked about expanding their summer sessions next year? Just curious.
Here’s the magic of taking off and putting on your masks. Also think storing in a paperbag is more benificial then plastic. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-to-wear-cloth-face-coverings.html
Also my daughter in college traveled through out southeast Asia. She said wearing a mask is just part of the culture and you do it to protect each other. She doesn’t understand (actually she does), why it’s so tough for American to do so.