The problem I have is that this virus is, what? 9 months old? We have NO way of knowing what the long-term effects might be.
COVID seems to potentially affect a lot of organs. Already, there is some indication of at least temporary male infertility. Viruses can lead to cancers. We are taking the view that whatever bad consequences might lurk in the future are not relevant for any consideration NOW.
I believe strongly that education is essential. But I also think that those demanding that everyone get back into the classrooms sans masks, sans adequate (and fully supported by students, administrations, parents) protective measures and plans are being rather unreasonable.
For those who are wondering what level of impact the public will accept before shutting back down, know that for some of the public there is no upper bound. We ought to be well aware of that by 2020. Ignore the dead and dying, they will go away eventually.
Like everything in life, it’s give and take. Unfortunately some seem to only recognize one side of the equation. Not every teacher/professor is unwilling to teach in person ( at all). I have a close friend who was planning the online shift at a local college in person in March and April. Met with many professors IN PERSON. Many were older. They just wanted to know what the options were and then they decided how to teach. Some people just want to live their lives and wear a mask.
I guess there is a wide variety in planning. In MA, in my town the superintendent of schools announced a plan back in March ( 1st week). Apparently the school board is still working in it. Lol. Funny thing is, news has been the paper so there is no way that anyone perceived it would be over by September( even if they were living under a rock). To imply that in our area is disingenuous. Maybe in a state that had low cases.
OHSA is not going to help here. Neither are stalling tactics. Someone is going to have to decide to teach in person or there will, sadly be fallout. I give it til Jan ( mac). Most parents can’t homeschool and need to work. They might be willing to Let the teachers push back but pretty soon it will a huge issue. For colleges, if there are fewer cases kids will also be pushing to get back to the “new normal”
It’s funny how mindset makes you think you can do amazing things or makes you think you are stuck with a single choice. So glad to see some school admin’s going with how do we do this.
We shall see.
For the wealthier the small homeschool model is happening. I see it again. A parent today posted that they will pay someone to educate their 4 year old! Neighborhoods using their clubhouses and hiring a teacher to come in. This is mostly for the K-5 set and some middle school aged. Also hiring unemployed college grads to oversee the virtual schooling . Once schools return to F2F I bet many will be sticking with this small homeschool groups instead. Almost like mini private schools. For the older kids, the private schools are thriving . Many have the space and resources for those who want F2F.
For the have nots, the unschooling will continue. AS unpopular as this is, this is mostly in minority communities. Colleges years from now will be stretched to have diversity. I am also afraid of high school dropouts that will have too much time on their hands. But there are no real answers. As a Country Education is not a top priority, or we would have had this under control enough to make it. In Denmark, before restaurants opened the K-5 schools did.
We do know the long term affects of some viruses, @sylvan8798 . We know that over 500 school aged kids will die from influenza every year, and that they are major vectors of transmission. We know that mumps also can cause infertility, that the vaccine is far from effective, and that there were major outbreaks on college campuses last year. We know meningitis killed kids on college campuses in 2009 and 2014. We know, or should know, all these risks and more. Your level of risk aversion may differ from mine, but we do accept these very real risks right now.
@CTTC I wonder if the “loud voices” in your town pushing for f2f education are just asking to get what they are paying for. They pay property taxes and they get police, fire and public schools. If they could opt out perhaps some would until their kids could get an education. In our high property value town, some people moved their for the education of their kids. They are running out of options if kids can’t get educated and they have to stay home from work.
In our town, folks have been quite respectful and understanding about the Covid situation. Not sure how long that will last. Maybe some will become loud voices here too.
Parents of a private school in my area have organized learning pods with private tutors to supplement the online learning provided by the school. People want their kids to be taught and everyone acknowledges that online learning is just not as effective.
In the poor neighborhoods, with both parents working, kids will just go feral. There will be no learning and the gangs will be able to recruit the young to do god knows what.
Not every year, do over 500 kids die of the flu. In fact, last year (2018-19) only 187 deaths were counted, albeit flu deaths are sometimes under-counted - for likely the same or similar reasons Covid-19 deaths are under-counted.
Also, Public Health Officials close schools which have influenza outbreaks to reduce the exposure.
In addition, there is an annual flu vaccine available and recommended even if not everyone avails themselves of it.
People are misunderstanding what I wrote. I do not think there is any dilemma when considering “schools shouldn’t reopen until there is zero risk to students and teachers” and “teachers should teach in person no matter how big the risk is, because they should be willing to sacrifice their lives.”
I don’t think these two extremes present any dilemma; they’re both superficial takes driven by emotion instead of reason. The area between them is the area of careful, thoughtful policymaking. We can’t ignore the enormous benefits of returning to face-to-face schools. Nor can we ignore the risks of covid to children, teachers and the community.
Because children need to return to school if it’s at all possible, and parents of young children need the daycare school provides, because those benefits are so enormous, we ought to be willing to spend a lot of money to make it possible, if necessary.
In some areas, covid is presently out of control. In those areas, schools will have to remain closed.
I see that others in this thread are with me in trying to figure out how and where kids can return to school.
Yes, there is talk about, “Can I stop paying taxes if there is no school?” Also a lot of anti-teacher sentiment, because the teacher union is against f2f school (well, it’s against if it can’t be safe, and of course there are no assurances that it will be).
My question is what kind of teaching is getting done when it is not in person?What are the standards? Where is the accountability? I’m drowning in bad reports. Can someone please post a string of successes from last spring?
@roycroftmom wrote “We know that over 500 school aged kids will die from influenza every year.” We don’t know this because it is not true.
But this is a misleading tangent. The danger in reopening schools is not a danger to children, but to the rest of the community. That danger can be mitigated, and in some cases, probably many, the danger is not big enough to justify school closure.
The school I teach in has announced a plan to teach half the kids in the am and the others in the pm. This allows kids to go to school every day and avoids unsafe times like lunch and recess. Every child will work remotely during the session they are not in school, which I take to mean doing their work and submitting it online. I think the kids can tolerate wearing masks for half a day. I know that this is really hard on working parents, but it seems like a safe way to begin. If the numbers stay low, then the school will increase contact time. I am in a state that has good compliance with mask wearing,
In my school, supposedly test results showed that we made about 90% of the progress we would have made pre pandemic. I think that is based on surveys, AP scores, practice test scores, etc.
The teachers in my district think that we can do even better with planned instead of emergency remote.
Some kids did worse. (Some kids did better.)
This is a wealthy district with high rates of virus.
I don’t understand the 1/2 the kids in the morning, 1/2 in the afternoon plan, only because it doesn’t limit the staff’s exposure time. Do the adults are stuck in the building all week for 8 hour days?
If half the kids come in the morning and the other half in the afternoon, that doesn’t limit the staff’s exposure time, but it does limit everyone’s exposure, because students and teachers can be at a distance in the classroom.
We just heard a rumor that our high school will go for half a day with 35 minute classes and then home by 1:00 so no lunch at school. Two days on and three days off. I’ll know more later this week. I could see that being better than whole days with lunch periods…
New York adds to the list of states requiring a quarantine upon arrival. How are schools going to handle this?
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that 10 additional states meet the metrics to qualify for the travel advisory requiring individuals who have traveled to New York from those states, all of which have significant community spread, to quarantine for 14 days. The newly-added states are Alaska, Delaware, Indiana, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Virginia and Washington. The quarantine applies to any person arriving from a state with a positive test rate higher than 10 per 100,000 residents over a 7-day rolling average or a state with a 10 percent or higher positivity rate over a 7-day rolling average.