xctsclrx, no one in my area or friend group, but I definitely see those memes and such out there in the greater internet.
It ignores the fact that it totally took away the safety net (school) of most families. Also, I didn't realize how much public school was a safety net until now.
waverly definitely agree, i didn't really comprehend the impact until this.
mustardseed2007 I don't get it. I think twinmomma said the same thing. I don't understand the logic there. Was this from the CDC? I'm WFH until Jan 4th so I haven't worried about it and will do what the school recommends.
I don't think the 14 days after the kid get better is reasonable, maybe not a complete over lap.i could understand 5 extra days since I think please don't quote me, most people start showing syptoms 5 days after exposure.
Does the original kid have to quarantine for 14 days past the second kid if that one gets sick? For a family with five kids that could be 2.5 months.
Quarantining from the world is not enough, if you have Covid you need to self isolate from family members. However, back to my how do I tell my 7 year old to self isolate?
That being said, from the person that went through contact tracing the health department and her doctor released her from quarantine. So there is additional help and guidance on that from your county health department. In her case, her teenage daughter was exposed on Saturday and self isolated at some point after that. Tested that Thursday, positive results back Sat or Monday, and the following Monday (2 weeks from the original Sat exposure) her family was released from quarantine- they tested negative.
k3am, DD 2nd grade teacher was like that. DD saw her throwing the homework papers into the recycle without looking after that. This teacher also told DD that spelling wasn't important and talk to type would do everything for them. DD got the who cares it doesn't matter attitude before winter break and basically sat in her desk watching the clock the whole school year. Fast forward to 3rd grade where homework was graded and spelling was important and it was really hard to regain the I need to do a good job mentality.
Our district cancelled the meal box pick up Tuesday due to air quality which was way over 300. So many people up in arms. Food box pick up are Tues/Fri between 11-1 and must be picked up by an adult so not very helpful for working parents.
xctsclrx, our unofficial school district FB page has people saying it right and left. If you are unhappy that the school district isn't reopening, then it's some combination of you're killing teachers and grandparents, stop complaining - this is what's best for everyone, or a story about how blessed they are to have this time with their children.
One teacher hailed the decision and a parent asked "At what point are you comfortable being in the classroom with students again?" and the answer was "when there is a viable vaccine." The current rates of our county mean nothing without a vaccine to some people.
I know that these parents/teachers comments only reflect THEIR opinions, and not the opinions of all, but these are the LOUDEST comments, and it falls into squeeky wheel territory.
186momx, in 1st grade, our teacher didnt' grade homework. I asked the teacher why papers weren't being taken out of the folder, and she said they don't review it, it's just practice for the kids (it was literally "practice writing these spelling words" so in generally I agree), but that since multiple parents had asked about it, she decided it was important enough to collect it.
k3am , interesting since the CDC just said masks are more effective than a vaccine of 70%. Might be just to get people to wear masks though.
And a vaccine isn't going to solve all the problems. The problems will be helped by a layered approach of masks, vaccines, effective (earlier) treatments, and public health interventions. It's not just "vaccines" although vaccines are helpful. So we still need to figure out the masking, treatments, and interventions which for a school involve social distancing when you have hundreds of kids. You can't just pretend that problem is going to go away solely with e-learning. Eventually they will be back and still need to social distance, no? So you need a plan to do that because when it is time to open and you have no plan everyone is going to say well you had 7 months or 9 months, what were you (school district) doing this whole time?
And if I see one more post about how parents should stop complaining and feel "blessed" to have this time at home with their children, I'm going to scream.
YES I went off on someone recently who posted something along the lines of "yes, it's tough to do remote learning, but if you love your kids you will keep them home and safe." I LOST IT. You do not tell me I don't love my kids just because I am choosing to send them back to school, when I am a full time working single mom who has to solely support them. I love them plenty, thank you very much. That's why I need them in school - so I can keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
Interesting on quarantine rules. For our school going back hybrid next week, the rules are if kids have any symptoms, they need a negative test plus 72 hours symptom free, or 10 days out with no test. They don’t say anything about what happens with exposure if a positive test - except that then it’s up to the health department.
I feel like a lot of the policies create a disincentive to get tested. Kids are out the least amount of time if you just keep them home with any symptoms and hope they go away soon...
Also, our district keeps sending out surveys. Parents are picking and chosing how they interpret.
The most recent was a combo survey - if we opened schools, would you feel safe sending your kids? combined with do you think we need police presence on campus?
So the parents hail.. SIXTY PERCENT OF PEOPLE WOULDN'T GO BACK! We shouldn't go back, that's what the majority says!
But also, 70% of respondents said yes, we need police presence on campus. But the response to that is.. well based on statistics of who responded to the survey, it was a majority of white people from nicer neighborhoods, so clearly this survey is flawed.
twinmomma, k3am, I would be unimpressed if someone said that to me. Yes, my kids are important to me, which is why I want to send them back to school (if ours ever open again, who knows), and why I am working at my job to provide for them. My kids are both e-learning right now, with a variety of babysitters (when you hire college students, you need to hire a few to get enough coverage), and I would love to have them be back in school. However, our 7-day positive average for tests is 10%, and with a recent daily max of 16% positive. So, things aren't looking good here anytime soon.
Post by mustardseed2007 on Sept 17, 2020 17:58:50 GMT -5
Fun follow up fact on the 24 day quarantine - if you can self isolate away from the ill person/child I BELIEVE you can shorten your quarantine to the last day of contact with them. BUT if you cannot self isolate, the only option to shorten your quarantine is for you to get sick or you to get a positive covid test (which will then mean your quarantine is 10 days+24 hrs symptom free from the date of the onset of your symptoms or 10 days from positive test if you are asymptomatic).
Negative tests aren't accepted for return to work because of the high rate of false negatives.
And yes, most people experience symptoms within 2-7 days from the date exposure if they are going to have symptoms. Although some people are asymptomatic the whole time and some people take longer. FUN FACTS!!
DH emailed the teacher again after our news that we're remote for the rest of the semester came out. We could tolerate sending her into the abyss if we thought there was a chance of being in person in the next few weeks, but we can't tolerate months of this.
Unlike prior emails, we got an immediate (for her) response, and she called him directly last night since he completely offended her - that was her opening line. Unfortunately, it was more of the same. Expect her to work on one math section a day and two writing assignments per week. No direction as to how to tell WHAT math section or what she should be writing about. DH said it's clear that she does not understand how to utilize our learning management system to make this easier on everyone.
So at this point... I'm done. I'm not checking her work, I'm not following up on anything. DH has agreed that he'll "handle it" (whatever that means). We're also expecting that we'll chat with our neighbor (teacher in our district, her son is in our class) and get her thoughts.
FWIW, I've had a couple people read the email he sent her, including my sister (also a teacher), and no one thinks the email was offensive. (My sister brought up he addressed it to Sue, vs. Mrs. Smith, and that was the only part she could imagine someone finding offensive, depending on the teacher.) My take on it is that she's not comfortable with the technology and overwhelmed (like everyone is these days).
Some of the parents in our district raised money for the teachers and sent several lunches over for the entire buildings and got them $10 Amazon gift cards.
So, if you have that kind of community I would suggest it. It wasn’t my idea, and I didn’t coordinate. I just thought it was a a positive and good idea in this time when many communities are upset at school, and taking it out in the teachers.
Our superintendent sent an email yesterday titled “District Update” which always causes me to panic when those come in. It’s been two weeks of hybrid school here so far. His two points were: 1. After the lunch break for high schoolers, school is still mandatory from 1-2:30. That is not optional time. 2. They know synchronous learning is not working well at the elementary level and are considering other options for the lower elementary grades.
I don’t care about #1 though it does make me laugh a bit that enough high schoolers have been shutting down at 11:45 and calling it a day.
For #2, I wonder what they’re thinking. Not sure if 3rd grade counts as “lower elementary” so it may not apply to DD anyway. DD’s teacher is doing as well as anyone could expect with this but it’s still pretty chaotic. On her remote days, DD has to have an adult sitting next to her or she just turns her camera off, leaves the zoom class running, and wanders off to make slime.
DD2 is struggling with her re-entry. She gets in trouble most days at school. Nothing serious - just being too chatty - but the punishments are escalating. She’s losing recess time, which is the very LAST thing that an active kid like her should lose. They’re stuck in their chairs all day - kid needs to MOVE. But I understand. The teacher needs to keep control of the class.
She’s also struggling to keep up. She seems to understand everything, but she’s just soooo sllloooowwww. So she doesn’t finish her work. She will admit it when she can’t finish because she’s talking and fooling around - she said she just can’t work fast enough.
She told me she’s having trouble staying focused and paying attention. Her frustration level is rising. I’m so sad. I want to give her a little more time to settle in, but I’m not sure it will get better without intervention. I don’t think I can rely on her teacher to intervene. She seems great, but this is only her 2nd year with her own classroom.
On a broader topic, out public school district went back mid-week for 3 remote days. Parents said it was a total mess. Kids didn’t have links for classes, middle school and high school still dont have schedules.
Hybrid is supposed to start on Monday, and there is a rumor that the teachers are refusing to go into the buildings. There is no information on buses. People literally don’t know if their kid has access to transportation, or where the bus will pick them up.
mae0111- it has been a really long time since kids have had to sit still and concentrate. I’m sure a lot of them are out of practice. So I wouldn’t worry too much about it yet. Some kids work more slowly, and that’s okay. I would give it through the first grading period. Put it in a box and do not think about it for this first grading period.
However, I would tell the teacher taking away recess needs to be off the table. That’s such a stupid, outdated way to run a classroom. It’s counter-productive. Put your daughter in a desk facing a wall. Or butted up to the teacher’s desk. But don’t take away her chance to burn energy.
mae0111 my DS (K) is having the same issue. I think it is because he is excited to be back around kids his age and isn't used to working in a certain time table. His teacher wanted to bring it to my attention, but isn't concerned because she has only had my kid a week in class.
shakinros I also panic whenever I get an update or call from either the school district or the YMCA (where DS2 is in preschool and the older kids do afternoon activities). I used to panic that someone had hurt themselves but now I worry about an outbreak or other changed plans.
Our county is widely expected to slip back to the worst state tier on Tuesday because of the college outbreak that’s 30 miles south of us. A cluster of 700 cases in a county of over 3 million people. And the numbers are based on a week lag - if they were real time, we wouldn’t change tiers.
The state has said that schools shouldn’t reopen if we’re back in the worst tier, but if they opened while we were still in the better tier, they can stay open. We’re expected to slip to the worst tier Tuesday, the day my kids go back. The school district says it shouldn’t impact our reopening.
DD2 is struggling with her re-entry. She gets in trouble most days at school. Nothing serious - just being too chatty - but the punishments are escalating. She’s losing recess time, which is the very LAST thing that an active kid like her should lose. They’re stuck in their chairs all day - kid needs to MOVE. But I understand. The teacher needs to keep control of the class.
She’s also struggling to keep up. She seems to understand everything, but she’s just soooo sllloooowwww. So she doesn’t finish her work. She will admit it when she can’t finish because she’s talking and fooling around - she said she just can’t work fast enough.
She told me she’s having trouble staying focused and paying attention. Her frustration level is rising. I’m so sad. I want to give her a little more time to settle in, but I’m not sure it will get better without intervention. I don’t think I can rely on her teacher to intervene. She seems great, but this is only her 2nd year with her own classroom.
So I guess we will see...
Is she diagnosed with ADHD? That’s how my daughter presented in elementary. We put her on meds in 5th grade and it’s made a huge difference.
"Hello babies. Welcome to Earth. It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter. It's round and wet and crowded. On the outside, babies, you've got a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies-"God damn it, you've got to be kind.”
erbear, she does not have any diagnosis, but my other daughter has been diagnosed with ADHD. DD1 was very smart and a quick worker, but very sloppy. She was able to (and honestly would still be able to) skate by without issue because she was never a behavioral problem. Her teachers were very surprised to hear that she'd been diagnosed.
I'm thinking that she will also be diagnosed, but I feel like I need to give her just a little more time to settle back into the routine before I start pushing for testing... but maybe I'm wrong... I don't know, and I don't think I'll get any help from her school. Like with DD1, I'll have to do it all myself and get her tested privately.
Welp, I have confirmed with several parents in our district and our school, and a teacher at her school and.. DD's teacher is basically doing the least. I was chatting with one of DD's former teachers and it kind of came up organically. She apparently has been teaching for long enough that she just kind of wings it, which doesn't really work so well with distance learning.
I've pulled the district guidelines for teachers, and she's.. not meeting them. She's supposed to be putting out an agenda (no specifics on the format or frequency) and she doesn't do that. She's supposed to be providing specifics about the assignments they have and the "instructions for success" and she doesn't do that. She's also supposed to collecting all work that they do through the LMS, and she doesn't do that. She's also supposed to respond to emails/texts within 24 hours (weekends not included), and responses are typically closer to a week or more.
My insider information from multiple folks who know our school and principal say don't bother going to the principal. I don't know what do at this point.
Yesterday I sent her a request that she provide us either daily or weekly a list of math sections she's supposed to be working on and instructions for any in person assignments. (I phrased it as.. she may be engaged in class, but she is NOT doing the work she is supposed to be doing, and without knowing WHAT she's supposed to be doing, we can't follow for it and I'm not willing to just let her coast by doing the least for months on end.) We are still within the 24 hour period, but no response.
Basically, I just want to cry. Just another minimum 3 months of this, but more likely the full school year.
k3am , I would still go to the principal. And provide the guidelines and why you don't think that they are being met, and project that you are a genuinely caring parent trying to help your child learn.
It's been a cluster here and I feel like I'm on a sinking ship. Received a call Friday from daycare that two teachers tested positive so DD3 is quarantined for two weeks and we needed to pick her up pronto. A class at the Y virtual program was also put on quarantine over the weekend. There are only three classes there so thankfully our two girls are in the other two and can go today. Cases at the college are exploding and most of the teachers at all programs are college students. We already pulled the girls from after care due to a quarantine shut-down and now I'm considering pulling them from the Y program. We can't have them get quarantined from in person school days due to care on the virtual days. Also for my sanity of not having to figure out care at a moments notice.
Our district also sent out a letter that we will be going all virtual soon given the rising cases and quarantines here.
Post by twinmomma on Sept 21, 2020 12:54:24 GMT -5
k3am I would definitely escalate to the principal, in writing. It'll give you documentation that you followed the chain of command. Then you will have more to stand on if you escalate further. Can you go up to the superintendent if the principal ignores you?
If the teacher is blatantly ignoring the criteria, then someone has to call her on it.
twinmomma, I doubt trying to go to the superintendent would do anything. She has too many students in her district to even consider responding to a single parent.
k3am, I've had way more luck getting answers when I escalate up the chain. I also find if I point out concrete dates and rules that have been broken that our principle will response just super slowly.
1st day went well here. The 2 hour zoom flew by and they got 3 movement breaks. Lots of getting to know you, how to use stuff, and the teacher read them a book. DD already did her sentence reflection from the book. Her slides for getting to know me have disappeared so she messaged the teacher to see how to get them back. There are only 10 kids in her AM cohort!
Post by sandandsea on Sept 21, 2020 13:55:22 GMT -5
k3am you might try going to the principal with a suggestion that all the same grade teachers put out a joint weekly newsletter since they’re all working on the same types of things and your network may be more grade level and not classroom specific with distance learning. Our school has had success grouping by grade level. All third grade classes are reading x book, doing math 2.10, multiplication table x 4 and science lesson 4 this week or whatever they are doing. It at least gives you an idea and isn’t so specific that it only applies to one class so the 3-4 grade level teachers can work together on it.