I found out the local hs district (bay area) will be remote, partially because of the AAP reversing positions and saying, they’re not confident kids should go back in the fall, paraphrasing, but that’s the gist.
This is exactly right.
If we can drive down the cases, much is possible. If we can’t, nothing will be.
We have to take our medicine now, as a society, to get things on the right track for the fall.
There is room for optimism here (i.e., vaccines), but we must take fairly drastic actions to knock down the amount of circulating virus today.
If I can wash my hands in any temperature water with ordinary soap to kill the virus why would the CDC recommend soaking a cloth mask in bleach that disinfects(not necessarily the types of bleach used to protect the colors of clothing) for 5 minutes?
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-to-wash-cloth-face-coverings.html
My area is about to make the difficult decision on whether to reopen schools. Because there is a surge in my area, I am thinking they will be all-online (there are different cities and school divisions, and one has already as much as said school will be all-online). I consider optimal f2f education just part of the collateral damage that is happening because a group of people refused to follow the guidelines (and my state has weak enforcement). It’s not more important than other damage that’s been done (and certainly not more important than the illness and deaths that have occurred). Teacher unions are really scared to go back, and I can’t blame them.
It didn’t have to be this way. Many people have followed the rules, but the obnoxious group that hasn’t been have ruined it for everyone.
those vulnerable kids are a majority of the US public school population (though not on CC). Millions of kids, for whom, f2f isn’t just optimal, but essential.
Public health is the most important consider (IMHO). If there are states/places where transmission has been controlled enough, sure – open the schools! Those would be the best places to try the grand experiment. And maybe it will work. I hope it does!
But in the places where surges are out of control? Absolutely not. But if they are determined to open, anyway, well, we’ll see the results of the Grand Experiment, and those places are where the results will be tragic.
It’s kind of ironic, as the leaders in the out-of-control states/places proudly proclaim that the schools will be open. They know the importance of f2f education! But, really, see, they don’t…or they would have done a better job of controlling the spread in their areas/states. F2f schooling won’t last long in those places, and then maybe their citizens will know the truth.
Public health (in this case, community spread of covid-19) is a higher priority than f2f schooling.
Unfortunately, studies have indicated that closing schools was not a major help in slowing spread of COVID, and nowhere near as important as social distancing among adults or isolation of eldercare facilities in minimizing transmission. I wish it had more impact, like it would for influenza, but for COVID, it did not. Perhaps I take a different view than you do of public health which encompasses the physical safety and mental health of the young.
@“Cardinal Fang”
I would certainly be interested in opening up schools f2f in places that have taken control of the virus. I would also be willing to take steps to take control of the virus to reach that point. What is that point? What level makes it acceptable? That’s the $1,000,000 question. In many areas apparently there is no acceptable level of risk.
In my home state of Maryland we have done extremely well in flattening the curve. Our governor said we “crushed it” actually. Even so counties are now starting to announce their plans for school in the fall. Even rural counties with very limited active cases are going to 100% virtual instruction. I’m not sure there is an acceptable level that is attainable here. Hopefully other areas of the country experience something different. In the end many millions of needy children will get mostly inadequate distance learning this fall. I’m not sure the reason to exclude the areas that are handling things well from providing a better service.
So, what is the acceptable level? Is it a certain number of new cases per capita? Is it low hospitalizations? Will the teacher’s unions allow any level of risk to be acceptable?
I feel for our children. This is devastating to many. And yes, most here have the resources to offset this but millions and millions out there with fewer resources are suffering while we debate about private schools and top boarding schools and elite colleges.
No major studies were undertaken in places where the virus was so poorly-controlled. I guess we’ll see, as we watch the states that are making the decision to fully reopen schools where the virus is surging.
Perhaps we do take a different view of public health. My over-arching concern is the health of all, not favoring one group (vulnerable students) over any other group.
In so doing, you are sacrificing the futures of the young for the old. That may be a tradeoff some are willing to make, but not me.
You’re in Maryland like me right? I’m in a more rural area I believe.
Have the urban areas where the vast majority of the cases and the highest per-capita numbers been where the “rule breakers” are that have ruined it for everyone? Maryland’s governor says we have “crushed the curve”. Why are our rural areas with limited numbers of active cases choosing to open to 100% virtual learning? What levels would be acceptable for the teachers union? We have done a great job in Maryland and still we can’t have nice things like in-person school. Do we have to totally eradicate the virus to get there? What level would get us there? In the end our children get to suffer through another inadequate experience this fall and it’s not because we haven’t flattened the curve, because we have “crushed it”. It’s because the state’s biggest and highest paying lobbying force, the teacher’s union, has decided that they are not going to do their “essential jobs”. Sad really.
I talked to a friend last night who has a D at BC. She said parents were going a little crazy on a town hall this week asking why the kids are allowed to go home for Thanksgiving and then come back. She thinks having all students back is completely untenable. Said she doesn’t want to be in the room when her D hears that BC turns on a dime and tells everyone, forget it, we aren’t having everyone on campus and class is all remote. She’s just surmising but more and more it’s looking like the plan just will not work. We’ve seen a few smaller schools change their plan. I wonder if any of the bigger ones will.
And this morning, probably because of this conversation, I woke up with a sense of dread for all freshmen. I think there are going to be a lot of kids in masks in tears out there when they realize their reality is nothing like the dreams they had six months ago. Hope those mental health professionals are ready on campus.
Really, mental health professionals because a semester wasn’t what they hoped? I can understand grieving for a little while and some tears for college students, but they are, or should be, adults who can have some perspective on the situation, not vulnerable little children. Adults should plan to overcome adversity, for worse will likely happen in their future college careers.
On the flip side, a tiny bit of good news here in this house. S received an email saying that all kids who deferred will be able to return in the semester that they want. Also, they changed the dates for spring housing lottery and for class registration so that those who deferred this semester will now be able to be a part of both of those at the same time as enrolled students. Bowdoin’s typical deferral plan usually has deferring students enrolling in class and housing after everyone else so their options were more limited. I don’t think this policy was such a big deal before because so few kids took a break but, this time, they changed the calendar for those two things. We don’t know how many students asked for a deferral.
So now we will just see what happens this fall and how the plan for spring starts to shape up. I know a lot of us don’t see spring being any better but none of us really know yet. We will have to cross that next bridge sometime in November when S’s readmittance paperwork would be due.
@roycroftmom Well, I don’t know about you but I had very little perspective as an 18 year old. I wish you would stop saying “they are adults”. 18 is a pretty young adult. Many of them turned 18 very recently. Something magic doesn’t happen when kids turn 18 and their brains are different. You know the brain isn’t fully formed until some time in the early 20s. Of course they will be sad. I’m sad for them and I’m 52. This pull-yourself-up and just deal attitude is terrific but, if you think these freshmen are all going to suck it up and trudge through these back to school plans we’ve seen without any sadness, I think you’re wrong. And I’m not even mentioning the loneliness and increased homesickness they might feel.
I think attitude goes a long way here. Yes there has been a year full of disappointments, great sadness, and a lot of real tragedy.Wearing a mask and having to socially distance at school is not a tragedy. It is being a good citizen. I think how we talk to our young adults and how we frame things in our families matters. Resiliency is taught and modeled. Our word choices matter.
It is our job to role model an appropriate reaction, @homerdog, and yes, they are and will be adults if we just alllow them. Tens of millions of people throughout the world aged 18-22 are highly responsible, mature and capable adults, and our students could be too-literally tens of thousands of such women worldwide are nurses or mothers taking care of not only themselves, but others too, quite capably. Ours are no less intelligent. I understand and agree there should be time to mourn what was lost, but then place it in perspective, evaluate the options and move on. They can do that.
@homerdog, I have been so disappointed with BC. I feel completely comfortable sending my S back to Colby, they have a well thought out plan and are in a favorable location. BC seems to be pretending like it is business as usual. Sending kids home for Thanksgiving is a recipe for disaster. I haven’t been able to attend the last few on line parent orientations, but I will watch the recordings today.
I agree. But this isn’t just about wearing a mask. It’s about entering a new part of their lives and, in many cases, not knowing any other students and then living in a situation with way fewer ways to connect to young people their age or to professors. It will be lonely. So, many of these freshmen will feel alone at a time when they need emotional and academic support. College class is not like high school class and many of these freshmen will be sent off to take remote college classes remotely from their single. That’s not a good start. How do they even find study groups? Friends to lean on? TAs or professors who are having office hours? It’s definitely not as bad for sophomores and up. They have the lay of the land. They can find their friends and social distance and study together and socialize even though it won’t be the same.
If we don’t get the virus under control, all others don’t matter. Schools can open, but they’ll be shut down again. The same with the economy.