It was announced on the Firstie Zoom webinar, and was on a previous version of this page: https://www.smith.edu/student-life/cci according to my post on the Smith Parents FB page.
The link to sign up was emailed directly to students.
The letter from the principal in post 12582 is horrifying to me. Sure, it is a difficult problem to try to balance the needs and concerns of staff and parents and students. But this principal thinks so little of students and parents. Facing the wall, getting no meaningful interaction from the staff overseeing them in their room. The children are like dogs in a low-quality kennel. Saying that the only reasons for needing in-person instruction is spotty internet and a need for safety. Where is the concern for the concept of child development and the real concerns that some parents might lose their jobs if they can’t go to work.
I think calling them ‘suites’ might be stretching it a little. The school would have to throw out everything in the room between students, like tissues, TP, bottles of soap or lotion. I think they are going to be furnished like a hospital room more than like a ‘suite’ except no TV, no little soaps and lotions, no extra blankets and fluffy pillows.
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AFAIKS there is little more than lip service about the safety of teachers. And little of that. Teachers, admin, bus drivers, custodians, lunch ladies, so little concern is spread in this direction.
They are essential workers, so we are concerned. Like for all essential workers.
Article-
Multiple people have referred me to this story in The Atlantic, written by a New York City nurse who is married to a New York City teacher, where she argues, convincingly, that teachers need to show up. It’s go time. :
I can understand that teachers are nervous about returning to school. But they should take a cue from their fellow essential workers and do their job. Even people who think there’s a fundamental difference between a nurse and a teacher in a pandemic must realize that there isn’t one between a grocery-store worker and a teacher, in terms of obligation. People who work at grocery stores in no way signed up to expose themselves to disease, but we expected them to go to work, and they did. If they had not, society would have collapsed. What do teachers think will happen if working parents cannot send their children to school? Life as we know it simply will not go on.
But, seriously – what is this country going to do with its kids this fall?
https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/05/politics/what-matters-august-5/index.html
When online provision is adequate and a kids home life is safe and stable then face to face exposure to a teacher isn’t essential. Home schooling has been going on since, and before physical schools where Invented. At the moment there isn’t any alternate option for grocery store workers. Some of the more successful brands have automated tills but a person still has to stock the selves and assist the Elderly and disabled who are struggling.
Prioritize face to face schooling for kids of essential workers and the vulnerable, for babysitting and ask everyone else to homeschool.
SUZYQ7: Very true, well said. But its not even so much the parents working or not, if you don’t educate the children, who are the next generation, and who for better or worse, will have to be working to pay for our generation – how long do they continue with sub par education? What if there is no vaccine until 2 years from now? (I know in reality, parents and other creative/smart/thinkers will find a way to educate the kids despite the government)
Also, if parents can’t work and don’t pay taxes, who will pay to support the schools and the salaries of all of these workers (lunch ladies, custodians etc who are not at work since school is close). Will they be laid off? Guaranteed job for however long because union says so? How is this sustainable?
BTW for those who think no one is concerned about the school workers – a lot of other essential workers showed up too - those working at the toilet paper or orange juice factories, the meat plants, the truck drivers, gasoline station workers, custodians at hospitals, the list goes on. A lot of unsung workers who got us through this to now. Bless them all!
(edited to say: I’m definitely not saying F2F instruction without precautions – but other countries experiences and best practices can help with figuring out a way forward as well as experts in medical/logistics/etc).
With classes starting on August 17 and no clearance from the county or state to move forward with their limited in-person and hybrid instructional plan, USC moves to almost all online and severely limits on campus housing. Can’t say this was much of a surprise. Below are excerpts of the letter from the USC Provost.
Full letter … https://we-are.usc.edu/2020/08/05/8-5-fall-semester-update-from-provost-zukoski-and-david-wright/
The health department in the town where Purdue is located just granted health officers the authority to more tightly control bars and restaurants.
The highlights are extending capacity restrictions that were set to expire at the end of the month, closing dance floors and game rooms, and requiring people to be seated at tables and not standing at the bar.
https://www.purdueexponent.org/city_state/article_24a3b586-d724-11ea-bfe4-a35846c459af.html
Personally I think this is super smart in a college town and I like that the university is working so closely with the health department and local government.
From Erin Bromage in the CNN article cited above: "I’ll borrow two things from Bromage to close out.
We should have done better: He writes: “In the months since the novel coronavirus pandemic began largely shutting down our communities, we have also squandered the opportunity to plan for how to safely resume some of the most critical aspects of society.
Since many schools closed in March, there has not been nearly enough discussion of how to reopen them in a safer fashion this fall. If we truly wanted schools to open, we would have collectively worked to lower community transmission and allocated the money and resources needed to reopen schools as safely as possible.”
We have to figure this out. He writes: “The infection rates we have seen among lower income essential workers and their families could now become the infection rates we see in children attending school. And those infected children will come home to their community and mix with each other in neighborhoods and sports. And they will spend many hours with their parents, siblings and extended family.
We now know that children can be infected. While the evidence is currently mixed on how easily they can be infected – ranging from half as likely to as likely as adults (especially for those children over 10 years old) – the data is robust that children can be infected.”
The country has voted and the winner in many states is…Bars over Schools!
Catchy slogan but it doesn’t match reality. Even in communities with extremely low transmission rates, school aren’t opening. Some teachers unions (CA) have lists of demands which have nothing to do with contagion.
It does match reality in many places. Note I did use “in many states” as a qualifier.
In MANY places, teacher union concerns have everything to do with contagion. One issue that is becoming more obvious now that aerosolization of the virus is known is the aging and poorly-maintained school facilities in many parts of the country. How many schools can meet the criteria outlined in this guidance specifically regarding schools from ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers)? See the link for the 41-pg. document in the second paragraph at this link: https://www.ashrae.org/about/news/2020/ashrae-introduces-updated-reopening-guide-for-schools-and-universities
It looks like we are trying to fill a bucket full of holes. Smith college goes remote why exactly? The other colleges in the area (Umass, Moho and Amherst) are not. Also all Boston area colleges are bringing at least some students back. Some are bringing all students back. And so many students that are not invited back are already moving in to their privately rented apartments. So people are moving around anyway. Every single apartment in North Hampton is rented. So at this point it looks to me that whatever Smith (which by the way had only single rooms and most if not all of the classes remote anyway) is trying to prevent happening it will happen anyway.
I guess the good news is with so many colleges not opening for f2f this year, it will accelerate the inevitable shakeout of the industry and permanent closures will happen sooner rather than in a more drawn out manner. Perhaps that is better for all concerned if it is inevitable.
Totally true. Is Sweet Briar college still open? Many colleges like this will close, and with Covid being the final nail in the coffin, perhaps alumni won’t throw good money after bad to try to keep them open. This model does not work.
@3SailAway wrote:
Yes, that last URL is a copy of Broad’s Emergency Use Authorization for its CRSP diagnostic assay. It was issued in early July. So, that may explain some of the confusion since a lot of the NESCAC schools plus Harvard and MIT were on board even before they received approval.
FWIW, I searched this thread for the Michael Mina citation listing CRSP among many “PCR lite” test tube shortcuts and couldn’t find it (- it might have been deleted.) IIRC, CRSP had an 80% accuracy rating.
@roycroftmom --This is exactly what Prof. Galloway thinks. On Monday, Galloway was recently interviewed by Andy Slavitt on Andy’s “In the Bubble” podcast. Galloway said he thinks that once Fall tuition is paid, more colleges will pivot and backtrack from having an in person experience. Galloway thinks a lot of what he considers “low value high tuition” colleges SHOULD permanently close because they are “selling a Hyundai for the price of a Mercedes.” He considers it an “overdue reckoning” and further that “a crisis is a terrible thing to waste.” I think Galloway’s pre-existing opinion has definitely colored his analysis.
[I’m not sure if it’s okay to post podcast links so if this doesn’t work just look for Andy Slavitt’s In the Bubble podcast on your favorite podcast app. ] https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/should-colleges-open-with-scott-galloway/id1504128553?i=1000486939340
I was reading about Sweet Briar and ironically they are in a good position to reopen with social distancing. The campus is huge and was built for many more students than the 330 they currently have. Dorms have gone to singles. But the problems they had attracting students before the pandemic haven’t gone away.
@momofsenior1 Is your student having the saliva test administered by Vault Health? I thought I read that Purdue was using the same tests that our college is using. Our test kit arrived on Tuesday and my kid had to spit into the testtube during a Zoom session with the lab and show ID. Hoping to get results by Friday – scheduled to fly out to college on 8/13. Is your procedure similar?
Our county had over 36,000 elementary students sign up for 100% online- I would say it’s more than teachers who are concerned about in person school. Their parents must have some kind of childcare or ability to work from home. Our YMCA and other organizations are working to provide childcare- but if you weren’t willing to send a kid to school, I doubt you would send them to group childcare.