MO School Board Assn's COVID recs for schools

[basilosaurus]

Yep, that's what I was sent, minus the part condescending part asking if everything was ok with me. I ignore trolls, but you outed yourself.

ETA Here's the one missing sentence "Your post didn’t make sense so I am just reaching out to make sure you’re ok and if you need anything." LOFL

[bronxgirl]

May 13, 2020 0:32:18 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Yep, that's what I was sent, minus the part condescending part asking if everything was ok with me. I ignore trolls, but you outed yourself.

ETA Here's the one missing sentence "Your post didn’t make sense so I am just reaching out to make sure you’re ok and if you need anything." LOFL

LOL. How ridiculously obnoxious! But you should have asked her for something that you need. ;-)

[AAM2012]

May 13, 2020 8:14:42 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

May 13, 2020 0:32:18 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

Yep, that's what I was sent, minus the part condescending part asking if everything was ok with me. I ignore trolls, but you outed yourself.

ETA Here's the one missing sentence "Your post didn’t make sense so I am just reaching out to make sure you’re ok and if you need anything." LOFL

LOL. How ridiculously obnoxious! But you should have asked her for something that you need. ;-)

I don’t think it’s obnoxious to reach out to someone when they make a odd post that makes zero sense. Especially when many people are struggling financially, mentally, etc. during these times.

My inquiry was out of genuine concern but clearly the board is going to continue to assume what they think my intent is.

Carry on with the name calling...

[meganew]

May 13, 2020 9:29:48 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

May 13, 2020 8:14:42 GMT -5 bronxgirl said:

LOL. How ridiculously obnoxious! But you should have asked her for something that you need. ;-)

I don’t think it’s obnoxious to reach out to someone when they make a odd post that makes zero sense. Especially when many people are struggling financially, mentally, etc. during these times.

My inquiry was out of genuine concern but clearly the board is going to continue to assume what they think my intent is.

Carry on with the name calling...

Her post made sense though- you might disagree with what she said, but it made sense. 

[AAM2012]

May 13, 2020 9:31:44 GMT -5 meganew said:

May 13, 2020 9:29:48 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

I don’t think it’s obnoxious to reach out to someone when they make a odd post that makes zero sense. Especially when many people are struggling financially, mentally, etc. during these times.

My inquiry was out of genuine concern but clearly the board is going to continue to assume what they think my intent is.

Carry on with the name calling...

Her post made sense though- you might disagree with what she said, but it made sense. 

It was random thoughts, no real sentence structure, no capitalizations etc. not the norm. You can disagree but that’s where I was coming from.

[StrawberryBlondie]

May 12, 2020 21:48:26 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

May 12, 2020 21:46:36 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

LOL I'm not doing your homework for you.

I didn’t ask you to do so, I was responding to your post.

At least a couple people explained it upthread already. If it's obvious by thread title it'll involve kid discussion, no need to use it. If not obvious, or if realistically could delve into kid-related discussion, then use it.

[AAM2012]

May 13, 2020 10:29:46 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

May 12, 2020 21:48:26 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

I didn’t ask you to do so, I was responding to your post.

At least a couple people explained it upthread already. If it's obvious by thread title it'll involve kid discussion, no need to use it. If not obvious, or if realistically could delve into kid-related discussion, then use it.

Ok fine if that’s the rule. My ask was to put it in front of the title so people can quickly avoid reading any of it (even if it’s just to the word school) as it jumps up and down on the main screen, similar to the daily @ threads. If the consideration won’t be made (obviously) so be it.

I did not come in here asking why the thread was about kids and this wasn’t a “gotcha” moment.

[redheadbaker]

May 13, 2020 10:29:46 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

May 12, 2020 21:48:26 GMT -5 AAM2012 said:

I didn’t ask you to do so, I was responding to your post.

At least a couple people explained it upthread already. If it's obvious by thread title it'll involve kid discussion, no need to use it. If not obvious, or if realistically could delve into kid-related discussion, then use it.

Not to mention it was explained to her ad nauseum in this thread: pandce.proboards.com/thread/613631/angryharpy-discussion-symbol-inside?page=3

Plus, ya know, a clearly-labeled thread PINNED TO THE TOP OF THE BOARD FOR OVER A YEAR that explained the guidelines that she could have read if she was so interested in learning about them. 

[VillainV]

May 13, 2020 11:11:57 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

May 13, 2020 10:29:46 GMT -5 StrawberryBlondie said:

At least a couple people explained it upthread already. If it's obvious by thread title it'll involve kid discussion, no need to use it. If not obvious, or if realistically could delve into kid-related discussion, then use it.

Not to mention it was explained to her ad nauseum in this thread: pandce.proboards.com/thread/613631/angryharpy-discussion-symbol-inside?page=3

Plus, ya know, a clearly-labeled thread PINNED TO THE TOP OF THE BOARD FOR OVER A YEAR that explained the guidelines that she could have read if she was so interested in learning about them. 

FYI, as an app user, it is no longer pinned to the top. It used to be. I don’t know when it stopped being pinned in the app. Right now the only pinned post on the app is the COVID-19 data tracker. I’m not sure if this is something that can be easily fixed, but if so, i would recommend it.

[redheadbaker]

May 13, 2020 11:14:40 GMT -5 VillainV said:

May 13, 2020 11:11:57 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

Not to mention it was explained to her ad nauseum in this thread: pandce.proboards.com/thread/613631/angryharpy-discussion-symbol-inside?page=3

Plus, ya know, a clearly-labeled thread PINNED TO THE TOP OF THE BOARD FOR OVER A YEAR that explained the guidelines that she could have read if she was so interested in learning about them. 

FYI, as an app user, it is no longer pinned to the top. It used to be. I don’t know when it stopped being pinned in the app. Right now the only pinned post on the app is the COVID-19 data tracker. I’m not sure if this is something that can be easily fixed, but if so, i would recommend it.

I know. But as I said, we've been having this conversation over and over, and it was there at the time of the convo I linked, so she could have read it then if she was so interested in what the guidelines are. 

[VillainV]

May 13, 2020 11:22:46 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

May 13, 2020 11:14:40 GMT -5 VillainV said:

FYI, as an app user, it is no longer pinned to the top. It used to be. I don’t know when it stopped being pinned in the app. Right now the only pinned post on the app is the COVID-19 data tracker. I’m not sure if this is something that can be easily fixed, but if so, i would recommend it.

I know. But as I said, we've been having this conversation over and over, and it was there at the time of the convo I linked, so she could have read it then if she was so interested in what the guidelines are. 

I’m not disputing that. But if we continue to expect people to know all the rules, it would be helpful to have it pinned on the app.

[basilosaurus]

May 13, 2020 11:54:15 GMT -5 VillainV said:

May 13, 2020 11:22:46 GMT -5 redheadbaker said:

I know. But as I said, we've been having this conversation over and over, and it was there at the time of the convo I linked, so she could have read it then if she was so interested in what the guidelines are. 

I’m not disputing that. But if we continue to expect people to know all the rules, it would be helpful to have it pinned on the app.

I think it only got unpinned in the last week. It's not pinned on laptop or phone, either. 

[seeyalater52]

May 13, 2020 15:29:23 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

May 13, 2020 11:54:15 GMT -5 VillainV said:

I’m not disputing that. But if we continue to expect people to know all the rules, it would be helpful to have it pinned on the app.

I think it only got unpinned in the last week. It's not pinned on laptop or phone, either. 

It got unpinned when COVID happened and the COVID thread (still pinned) and the educators and distance learning thread (not still pinned) needed space. You can only pin two things at a time.

Recently the educators thread was unpinned and the @ thread didn’t get re-pinned, probably bc Pixy has better shit to do with her life than posting reminders for people who have belonged to this board for years and seem intent on “not remembering” this particular rule.

[VillainV]

May 13, 2020 16:27:05 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

May 13, 2020 15:29:23 GMT -5 basilosaurus said:

I think it only got unpinned in the last week. It's not pinned on laptop or phone, either. 

It got unpinned when COVID happened and the COVID thread (still pinned) and the educators and distance learning thread (not still pinned) needed space. You can only pin two things at a time.

Recently the educators thread was unpinned and the @ thread didn’t get re-pinned, probably bc Pixy has better shit to do with her life than posting reminders for people who have belonged to this board for years and seem intent on “not remembering” this particular rule.

I get that Pixy is busy, and I’m not implying that this is anyone’s fault except the one poster. But we do have new posters from time to time, and I have referred to the @ rules post on more than one occasion to make sure I was doing it right (and I still slip up). I think it would be helpful to re-pin. I’m sure it will continue to be an issue no matter what we do, but it is helpful.

[seeyalater52]

May 13, 2020 16:36:38 GMT -5 VillainV said:

May 13, 2020 16:27:05 GMT -5 seeyalater52 said:

It got unpinned when COVID happened and the COVID thread (still pinned) and the educators and distance learning thread (not still pinned) needed space. You can only pin two things at a time.

Recently the educators thread was unpinned and the @ thread didn’t get re-pinned, probably bc Pixy has better shit to do with her life than posting reminders for people who have belonged to this board for years and seem intent on “not remembering” this particular rule.

I get that Pixy is busy, and I’m not implying that this is anyone’s fault except the one poster. But we do have new posters from time to time, and I have referred to the @ rules post on more than one occasion to make sure I was doing it right (and I still slip up). I think it would be helpful to re-pin. I’m sure it will continue to be an issue no matter what we do, but it is helpful.

I agree it should be re-pinned. And that there are new members who might find it useful. Plus also everyone in this joint is getting lazy af about tagging things and posts in the daily random thread, including a lot of people who should know better.

It’s still searchable though so if people really must refer back its not like you can’t. If people feel so strongly about it they might want to ping Pixy directly so she actually sees that people have this request.

[RitzyHeifer]

Thought I would bring up this zombie instead of start a new thread. Indiana released guidelines to schools 6/5 (IN CLASS plan)

It’s a 38-page document but the highlights are:

• Nothing is mandatory, districts given lots of leeway
• Recommendations include screenings, masks, distancing thru alternate schedules
• Starting the year with a plan to suspend/go online if needed
• Having a plan for alternate leadership if key staff get sick
• 7 pages are dedicated to sports, just barely over 4 pages for special education

The three districts in our county are working together, which is not usual but they did so for elearning already, and told us to expect some specifics mid-July. School usually starts here the 2nd week of August.

[jlt19]

Our school district (in MO) just sent out a survey this week asking our comfort levels of sending kids back, if we'd utilize bus services, and if they did stay home, would we need a chromebook. Our district offers a program that is before/after school, on half days, and during breaks that we utilize. It just re-opened on Monday at our elementary. The main differences I've seen are:

Kids are assigned to groups of no more than 10, and they spend all day together in one classroom where they even eat. They do get a few recess breaks, and if they are at recess with another group, each group has an area they have to stick to. Each group has two assigned teachers/staff that is only with them.

All staff wear masks all day long. Drop off and pickup used to have parents going in to sign in/out, but now it's more like a regular car line. A staff member asks a few questions each morning and then in the pm, you show a big paper with your kids' name and they call up to have your child brought down.

I think this will be a good test for the district to gauge on what's working and how many cases start showing up in the next few weeks.

[Dumbledork]

Parson just cut the school budget by over 100 million, so I’m interested to know how this is going to work without any money.

www.kansascity.com/news/politics-government/article243172006.html

“Parson had already withheld more than $220 million this year due to budget shortfalls resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. Monday’s budget restrictions include $131 million from public schools and $41 million from higher education.

In addition to the cuts to education, Parson is restricting $6 million from a state program providing in-home care for seniors and people with disabilities. “

[Jalapeñomel]

Jun 6, 2020 8:06:49 GMT -5 RitzyHeifer said:

Thought I would bring up this zombie instead of start a new thread. Indiana released guidelines to schools 6/5 (IN CLASS plan)

It’s a 38-page document but the highlights are:

• Nothing is mandatory, districts given lots of leeway
• Recommendations include screenings, masks, distancing thru alternate schedules
• Starting the year with a plan to suspend/go online if needed
• Having a plan for alternate leadership if key staff get sick
• 7 pages are dedicated to sports, just barely over 4 pages for special education

The three districts in our county are working together, which is not usual but they did so for elearning already, and told us to expect some specifics mid-July. School usually starts here the 2nd week of August.

Any discussion on parent choice/charter schools?

[RitzyHeifer]

Jun 8, 2020 12:32:44 GMT -5 Jalapeñomel said:

Jun 6, 2020 8:06:49 GMT -5 RitzyHeifer said:

Thought I would bring up this zombie instead of start a new thread. Indiana released guidelines to schools 6/5 (IN CLASS plan)

Any discussion on parent choice/charter schools?

Not in this document, it’s clearly aimed at public schools and school boards. I assume, like most things with charter schools in our state, that they will be able to do whatever they want (within guidelines from their local health department).

A lot of charter schools are based in/around Indianapolis which is also the county with the highest COVID numbers - which makes sense, it’s the most populous county - so it will be interesting to see what they do.

[rondonalddo]

I'm in Indiana, and our school district is putting together a parent task force to discuss going back to school. I'm serving on it, but we don't have our first meeting until later this month. Should be interesting. (They sent out a survey a few weeks ago asking about how remote learning worked or didn't work, comfort level with going back, things they can improve, etc. It ended with an invitation to join the task force by emailing your school's principal.)

[DotAndBuzz]

Our school district released their general plan as well. No specifics on how it would *actually* work, but these are their goals/plans so far include:

-reservations for the school bus, should you want/need to take the bus to school (this is for planning/spacing purposes, they said everyone can still take it if needed, they just need to plan so they can space)

-students who want to stay home and not do in-person classes at all will be able to do so, and they'll have classes of exclusively in-home instruction formed. It will be live lessons, taught by district teachers, but they'll be recorded in case a student isn't able to view them live. But it will NOT be the current dump of worksheets to do over the course of the week.

-blended instruction with in-person and online classes will be the other option. Max class size of 9 at 25% classroom capacity, to I think 18 at 50% capacity. Students would go 1-2 days a week, depending on district/state health department recommendations.

-ability to "turn the dial" and shift between blended and online only instruction, depending on hyper-localized outbreaks/exposures.

-online learning portion of the blended learning classrooms would include live lessons, not busywork worksheets

-every student gets an iPad or Chromebook.

-daily screening for everyone entering the building.

-Non committal on whether everyone would be required to wear a mask, especially the younger kids, and those students with special needs and sensory considerations.

- considering some way to have kids in grades 2 and under to be able to go to in-person classes more often, since they require substantially more parental support to be able to do online learning (operating the technology, logging on, navigating the platforms, uploading work, typing/recording responses, reading instructions, etc).

-figure out a system for elementary students for whom school was a crucial piece of child-care planning for their parents. Like, if both parents have to go back to in-person work, how can school accommodate that family, as they would have with before/after care pre-pandemic?

Now...I have NO idea where this money is coming from, what kind of teacher support will be given (although they did say that teachers will get to request what type of class they teach, and that health concerns/risks will be given high priority), how they'll deal with lunch, recess, physical education, and ALL the other pieces of school that aren't sitting in the classroom and doing schoolwork for a lesson. But I like that they're at least starting the planning now, and thinking through how to approach and solve the problems. For once, I feel like they're actually listening to the parent and teacher concerns and feedback, so props to them for that.

[katfco]

Our superintendant estimates it'll cost an additional $100 million to do a hybrid learning environment. Many schools don't even have air conditioning. It's hard enough to keep pests out of rooms, with many of the buildings being so old, the idea of the custodial staff sanitizing them is a joke.

[mrsukyankee]

The schools in England opened up (primary) and now they are shutting down again...because our gov't are running by the seat of their pants, with little to no planning. It's harmful to everyone who has kids, are kids or are teaching kids.

[RoxMonster]

Well our superintendent just posted on FB yesterday that as long as we are in phase 4 by August (the earliest we can move to phase 4 is end of June, and I think we probably will), we will return to in-person learning with half the student body coming in every other day. We have no details on this yet and he said we probably won't until later in July (we start mid-August). I am very stressed, due to not having any idea what this will look like in a high school classroom. To be truly physically distanced in my room size, I would only be able to have like 8 kids in there. That is....not half my roster. He also said masks for everyone all day every day. Possibly temp checks every day upon entering. I am nervous about the amount of work and short amount of time--like will I have to make every lesson available for in-person and online? That is twice the amount of work because it's not necessarily the same thing. I doubt we will get more planning or prep time. We also just laid off a bunch of people.

Sorry, just rambling and venting and very unsure about this upcoming school year.

[erbear]

(private school, philadelphia) - we are planning for anything. If we're in "green", we'll be on campus, with younger kids getting priority (high school may stay remote so lower and middle can use all the classrooms). Younger kids will be all on if we can be - middle and high might split. We're starting 2 weeks early (end of August) so we can get as much on campus time as possible. 

I love this plan - I can't imagine teaching remotely when I don't know the kids and they don't know me. It only works now bc my kids can be all "oh, that's Erin. She's crazy. there will be a point"). we are talking about tents to create more classroom space and using the outdoors as much as weather permits. We're assuming we'll be off at points of the year.

[RoxMonster]

Here is my question/concern and maybe it's dumb IDK. But there is a thread on ML about how people's jobs (office jobs, mostly) are handling the transition back to work and some are saying they can and are encouraged to WFH through 2020 basically. Others are only allowing 10-25% of staff in office at any given time. Plus other protocols.

If corporate America in general is doing that, then how is it safe to have school in session, even with half of our class? Half of our class can still be 15+ kids in an enclosed, small classroom. Don't get me wrong, I believe education is essential, and I know and understand how huge of an issue child care is for working parents. I want to be back at school. But as a teacher, I've got to be honest. It kind of freaks me out and makes me nervous about going back when I see that most other jobs (obviously aside from essential in-person jobs like grocery, healthcare, etc. etc.) are either severely limiting the amount of people in at one time or not even going back for months, but here we are, going back in two months :/

[AndyCohen]

Jun 10, 2020 12:15:02 GMT -5 RoxMonster said:

Here is my question/concern and maybe it's dumb IDK. But there is a thread on ML about how people's jobs (office jobs, mostly) are handling the transition back to work and some are saying they can and are encouraged to WFH through 2020 basically. Others are only allowing 10-25% of staff in office at any given time. Plus other protocols.

If corporate America in general is doing that, then how is it safe to have school in session, even with half of our class? Half of our class can still be 15+ kids in an enclosed, small classroom. Don't get me wrong, I believe education is essential, and I know and understand how huge of an issue child care is for working parents. I want to be back at school. But as a teacher, I've got to be honest. It kind of freaks me out and makes me nervous about going back when I see that most other jobs (obviously aside from essential in-person jobs like grocery, healthcare, etc. etc.) are either severely limiting the amount of people in at one time or not even going back for months, but here we are, going back in two months :/

I do think a lot of the larger companies are doing it more to look good and save money than actual concern over health. They’re seen as treating their employees well and in the long run it will save them money because they will probably shift some positions to wfh and even Facebook has announced that wfh employees have to tell them if they move and their salary may be adjusted accordingly.

Also a lot of work places can’t demand people come back to work until they are sure schools will be back to regular session so I think that will need to be resolved first before companies will feel comfortable moving in that direction.

[penguingrrl]

Jun 10, 2020 12:15:02 GMT -5 RoxMonster said:

Here is my question/concern and maybe it's dumb IDK. But there is a thread on ML about how people's jobs (office jobs, mostly) are handling the transition back to work and some are saying they can and are encouraged to WFH through 2020 basically. Others are only allowing 10-25% of staff in office at any given time. Plus other protocols.

If corporate America in general is doing that, then how is it safe to have school in session, even with half of our class? Half of our class can still be 15+ kids in an enclosed, small classroom. Don't get me wrong, I believe education is essential, and I know and understand how huge of an issue child care is for working parents. I want to be back at school. But as a teacher, I've got to be honest. It kind of freaks me out and makes me nervous about going back when I see that most other jobs (obviously aside from essential in-person jobs like grocery, healthcare, etc. etc.) are either severely limiting the amount of people in at one time or not even going back for months, but here we are, going back in two months :/

I think there are a few factors.

Some understand that school won’t be in session, or not as it usually is, and therefore they’re anticipating a need for flexibility for working families.

The other thing is, at least in NYC the open concept floor plan has been out of control for years. As rent for higher they decided to use the excuse of “better for collaboration” and “transparency” to get rid of even so much as cubicle walls or half walls so they can cram more people in. H works for a company famous for pioneering this concept, they have literally hundreds of desks per floor , lined up in rows facing each other, edges of desks touching the ones on either side, with no walls or barriers whatsoever, and every desk is full and is about 5’ wide. So he would be breathing the same air for 8+ hours as the several hundred people on his floor. Exposure in a school building is bad, but this would be more like full school assemblies for 9 hours a day every day as far as exposure.

[taratru]

Jun 10, 2020 12:15:02 GMT -5 RoxMonster said:

Here is my question/concern and maybe it's dumb IDK. But there is a thread on ML about how people's jobs (office jobs, mostly) are handling the transition back to work and some are saying they can and are encouraged to WFH through 2020 basically. Others are only allowing 10-25% of staff in office at any given time. Plus other protocols.

If corporate America in general is doing that, then how is it safe to have school in session, even with half of our class? Half of our class can still be 15+ kids in an enclosed, small classroom. Don't get me wrong, I believe education is essential, and I know and understand how huge of an issue child care is for working parents. I want to be back at school. But as a teacher, I've got to be honest. It kind of freaks me out and makes me nervous about going back when I see that most other jobs (obviously aside from essential in-person jobs like grocery, healthcare, etc. etc.) are either severely limiting the amount of people in at one time or not even going back for months, but here we are, going back in two months :/

The bitter angry teacher in me thinks we are seeing first hand just how "important" and "heroic" and "necessary" teachers are... "we care about you but not enough to consider your health and well-being - which you knew already, but thought maybe that was changing. SIKE. Here's a clever meme about how you need more wine."

That said, let's be real. People care more about their ability to make money and take care of their families than anything else, and rightfully so. I wish there was a way to make this work for everyone, but our collective worth as teachers is going to take a back seat for awhile (like always). I have to consciously *not* think about next year before they tell me what we are doing. It's not worth the bad places my mind goes. 

eta: I just got the email from our district. It looks like they're planning on students going either M/W or Tu/Th and Friday is online for everyone/teacher workdays. I just have to have faith that they are going to remember that teachers are going to be at school every day and figure out who is going to be teaching the online learning on students' off days.