I am honestly floored that so many districts are making teachers simultaneously teach in person and virtually. That is so unfair to everyone. our district, not wealthy by any means, has separate teachers for virtual and in person.
I am thankful EVERY SINGLE DAY that our MOU for switching to hybrid clearly states that no teacher will ever have to teach in person and virtually at the same time.
it's the worst thing I've been asked to do in 20 years of teaching.
"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.”
Our teens are 13 and 15 and are getting screened next week to be in the Moderna trial for 12-17
I am waiting on an time for the same for my 13 year old. I am hoping he will get picked since he is in school in person full time, and he is excited to be a part of it. I guess we will see.
I just signed my kids up for camp this summer. I am so unbelievably excited. I think I might be more excited than the kids who jumped up and down and screamed hurray.
hocus2, I think the comment about sports has been interesting. My kids have resumed sports but only outside ones. I think most schools resumed HS sports because colleges needed them to in order to continue the pool of candidates. How would you even recruit kids that hadn't played since last March? (as was the situation here).
Kids who are really great athletes get offers the summer before senior year often. But honestly, it doesn’t matter if they can play this year because college leagues are allowing athletes to extend their playing time for another additional years within certain boundaries so now there is a ton of movement of collegiate level athletes. If you can get an athlete who has collegiate experience or an 18 year old for the same scholarship, you aren’t going with the 18 year old no matter how long ago they played.
How would you even recruit kids that hadn't played since last March? (as was the situation here).
or, here’s a crazy idea - colleges could opt out of an admissions scheme that is demonstrably anti equity and favors rich white kids whose families can buy all the sports extras for a decade and therefore get junior into a school for which he otherwise wouldn’t qualify as a fencing/polo/lacrosse/field hockey/football punter athlete. Some colleges were already starting to move away from that model before covid and I hope this hastens the demise.
Our district is also doing hybrid and virtual model at the same time. And they DO have enough for virtual classrooms. In the beginning of the year we started virtual. Made class lists etc. then once we transitioned to hybrid in October parents chose the learning model. Parents were pissed that teachers may change. Because the original idea was a virtual only class. So Mrs Smith in 4th grade would be the virtual 4th grade. All the virtual kids would go to her and her hybrid kids would go to different teachers. Parents were in an uproar so now teachers teach both at the same time. We have about 6-10 virtual kids per class too. So they could have made it work. They didn’t.
The same thing happened here. Parents FLIPPED at the idea of their kids being given a different teacher than previously assigned if they went full virtual (even before school started, and we started virtual with the intent of moving to hybrid), especially because the teacher COULD have been from a different elementary. I live in a region with a ton of small neighborhood elementary schools; there are 7 in my town of 200-500 kids, which are at MAX 4 miles apart. So teachers have been teaching everyone. In the end it hasn't mattered much since we were only hybrid for a couple of weeks (but maybe changing?). It's a real disservice to everyone, and I suspect is going to be really painful for the teachers if we actually do open for 3 months in hybrid like they're talking about. About 30% of the kids opted full virtual (which is 8ish/class, give or take, in elementary).
Post by dutchgirl678 on Jan 27, 2021 16:13:41 GMT -5
I am super sad and disappointed at the moment. We are in OR where the case counts have been low relative to other states. We have been doing CDL (comprehensive distance learning) since March. The state is starting vaccinating teachers and school staff in the next few weeks and cases have been trending down for the last week or so. Today we get an email from the school district saying that elementary schools will start offering hybrid education for those students who want to (survey says 75%) no earlier than April 5. I really was hoping for my son who is in 4th grade to be able to go hybrid sometime next month. My daughter who is in middle school might not be able to go back to hybrid at all this school year.
We have been really struggling, esp. my DD who was behind on so many assignments because her middle school teachers never said anything until last week, and now she is frantically doing lots of her homework to catch up before the end of the semester next week. My kids don't have play dates, no sports currently (they were swimming before and DD did track). We both WFH FT and thought our kids were pretty motivated and independent enough.
Well, here's what is happening right now. On our schedule, I was to have 5 students in class today. One of the five is going to stay remote no matter what. Three of them decided to learn from home today and join the meet. I have ONE student in my room right now.
There is *no* accountability for this kind of stuff. And even if I try to teach only kids in front of me, giving the scheduled at-home kids work to do independently, there will always be kids who stay remote all the time. I will end up killing myself to teach to inclass and online all. the. time. in hybrid because they can just stay home. This is SO MUCH HARDER than fully remote, both on me and the students.
I am super sad and disappointed at the moment. We are in OR where the case counts have been low relative to other states. We have been doing CDL (comprehensive distance learning) since March. The state is starting vaccinating teachers and school staff in the next few weeks and cases have been trending down for the last week or so. Today we get an email from the school district saying that elementary schools will start offering hybrid education for those students who want to (survey says 75%) no earlier than April 5. I really was hoping for my son who is in 4th grade to be able to go hybrid sometime next month. My daughter who is in middle school might not be able to go back to hybrid at all this school year.
We have been really struggling, esp. my DD who was behind on so many assignments because her middle school teachers never said anything until last week, and now she is frantically doing lots of her homework to catch up before the end of the semester next week. My kids don't have play dates, no sports currently (they were swimming before and DD did track). We both WFH FT and thought our kids were pretty motivated and independent enough.
Same situation here. I'm in North Clackamas district and they recently announced k-1 could start hybrid on 3/29, with 2-3 following two weeks later. I don't believe there is a plan to bring back any other grades. I have a 5th and 8th grader and they're both devastated at the prospect of never returning to their current school. It's depressing as hell.
How would you even recruit kids that hadn't played since last March? (as was the situation here).
or, here’s a crazy idea - colleges could opt out of an admissions scheme that is demonstrably anti equity and favors rich white kids whose families can buy all the sports extras for a decade and therefore get junior into a school he for which he otherwise wouldn’t qualify as a fencing/polo/lacrosse/field hockey/football punter athlete. Some colleges were already starting to move away from that model before covid and I hope this hastens the demise.
It is a problem here as quite a lot of kids get College track scholarships. To the extent that loads of scouts come to our major national high school track meet. But here, it is nearly entirely kids who otherwise couldnt afford to go to College - especially not in the US. The schools and the government are trying to figure something out currently.
I am super sad and disappointed at the moment. We are in OR where the case counts have been low relative to other states. We have been doing CDL (comprehensive distance learning) since March. The state is starting vaccinating teachers and school staff in the next few weeks and cases have been trending down for the last week or so. Today we get an email from the school district saying that elementary schools will start offering hybrid education for those students who want to (survey says 75%) no earlier than April 5. I really was hoping for my son who is in 4th grade to be able to go hybrid sometime next month. My daughter who is in middle school might not be able to go back to hybrid at all this school year.
We have been really struggling, esp. my DD who was behind on so many assignments because her middle school teachers never said anything until last week, and now she is frantically doing lots of her homework to catch up before the end of the semester next week. My kids don't have play dates, no sports currently (they were swimming before and DD did track). We both WFH FT and thought our kids were pretty motivated and independent enough.
Same situation here. I'm in North Clackamas district and they recently announced k-1 could start hybrid on 3/29, with 2-3 following two weeks later. I don't believe there is a plan to bring back any other grades. I have a 5th and 8th grader and they're both devastated at the prospect of never returning to their current school. It's depressing as hell.
It really is depressing. At least they are talking about including 4th and 5th grade, but not middle and high school. My DD is in 7th.
Post by breezy8407 on Jan 27, 2021 17:07:26 GMT -5
taratru sounds like what is going to happen to H when the kids go back in hybrid. I guess they aren't required to attend in person. But even when they were in the fall, so many just didn't show up or said I am going to stay home today. Which, for some, they have valid reasons or concerns and I get that. But its a disaster trying to keep track of who is coming and going. Hybrid is awful. I'm sorry.
The change will mostly impact the fall 2021 school year as most teachers won't be fully vaccinated until (at the earliest), April.
Which is why I keep saying the key to keeping schools open is vaccinating teachers. It's not because they are getting sick. It's because they are getting exposed, which forces them into quarantine, and there aren't enough adults to keep the buildings open.
Are you going to follow this guidance? Are health departments going to come out with specific guidance for specific jobs? Just curious because we also have kept track of who has been vaccinated in order to keep up when the quarantining recommendations change. I assume health departments would make general recommendations, but didn't think they were going to get more specific for each job. I wonder when the cdc will change it's guidance. It'll definitely be helpful to not interrupt things so much while keeping people healthy/safe.
Are you going to follow this guidance? Are health departments going to come out with specific guidance for specific jobs? Just curious because we also have kept track of who has been vaccinated in order to keep up when the quarantining recommendations change. I assume health departments would make general recommendations, but didn't think they were going to get more specific for each job. I wonder when the cdc will change it's guidance. It'll definitely be helpful to not interrupt things so much while keeping people healthy/safe.
We work directly with school epidemiologists at our local health department and they're supposed to have an answer for us on Friday. We have been really fortunate that they have spent hours and hours on calls with us and know our school and our mitigation efforts really well. I don't know that they will publish anything on it, but they'll give us their recommendation for teachers.
Heard on the news this morning that Charlotte public schools percentage of chronic absences in remote learning in black and hispanic students is about 50%. Middle school is around 58% with chronic absences. But they decided yesterday that extracirricular activties will start back up in the next two weeks. All schools still remote until 2/15.
New Article from the Atlantic today that provides a good summary of what all the studies have said thus far about whether kids are likely to transmit the virus (even if they're mostly asymptomatic):
Ends with this (I thought the description of why younger kids might be less likely to transmit the virus to be especially interesting):
Nobody should claim that children cannot transmit this virus, or that schools are “safe” during the pandemic the same way that, say, talking on the telephone with a sibling who lives 2,000 miles away is safe.
But people under 18, and young children especially, are less susceptible to infection, less likely to experience severe symptoms, less likely to be hospitalized or die, and less likely to transmit the disease than older teenagers and young adults. Scientists aren’t entirely sure why, but one theory is that it has something to do with the way the virus docks with our cells. Coronaviruses are covered by a halo of spike-shaped proteins (that’s where the name comes from: corona, as in crown). These spikes are thought to attach to another protein on the surface of our cells called ACE2. Children have lower levels of ACE2 in their nasal tissue than adults do. That suggests that, under this theory, kids would provide fewer open ports for the virus to dock, invade, and ransack the rest of the body.
Overall, school cases are a reflection of their environment. If COVID-19 is running rampant through your town and you throw a bunch of kids and adults into a building without any safety protocols, the odds are pretty high that you’re going to exacerbate an outbreak. But as cases fall across the country we have to adjust the risk calculus. The choice before us is not between “Keep the schools closed until COVID-19 is eliminated, smallpox-style, from the face of the Earth” and “Open every school immediately.”
Instead, the United States needs a focused framework, guided by science and common sense, for how to open schools as safely and as soon as possible, considering the risk to students and parents from closed classrooms, while keeping teacher fears front of mind. That plan would look something like this.
Reopen the lower schools. Start with day cares and elementary schools, given their reduced transmission risk.
Enforce COVID-19 protocols both within schools and throughout the community. That means mandatory mask wearing in public and social distancing. It also means public officials should encourage “library rules” in public space—keeping quiet, or talking in whispers.
Accelerate vaccination procurement and distribution. The U.S. could be well below 100,000 daily COVID-19 cases by the middle of February, at the current rate of decline. The faster we vaccinate, the faster we can get back to normal
Distribute high-quality scientific information. Most important, educate teachers about the lower transmission risk of young students—and the ongoing necessity of COVID-19 protocols—to get their enthusiastic buy-in, which will naturally be contingent on our success at reducing community spread and accelerating vaccination.
I don’t blame teachers for keeping schools closed—yet. I blame the government and the media. Public communication about this disease has been horrendous, and the Trump White House was a fount of nonsense. Meanwhile, some journalists and professionals, in an attempt to fight back against Trump’s disinformation, leaned too heavily into COVID pessimism and clung to outdated fears about secondary spread among young kids. That’s made a lot of people unnecessarily concerned that kids are silent vectors for this disease, and made teachers feel like they were being thrown to the wolves in a country that has failed in just about every pandemic test. If I were a teacher relying on information from the mainstream press—especially a teacher in a pandemic pod that included immunocompromised relatives—I might be pretty scared of going back to school.
Under the banner of safety, too many people have passed along alarmist information that has contributed to a lot of misery. Americans have to learn, and accept, that the preponderance of evidence simply doesn’t support the fears that govern school policy today.
But the testing data shows kids are getting it - at least around here. 10-18 year olds are getting it at the same rate as their percentage of the population. And at a higher rate than older adults (because of their precautions, I'd guess). Younger kids are getting it slightly below their population rate, but still higher than the elderly.
This line of thinking feels pretty outdated from before wide spread asymptomatic testing and kid testing.
sonrisa , I don't think the point of that article is that kids aren't getting Covid - obviously they are. The point is how likely kids are to spread it in a school setting that's taking appropriate precautions/strictly following safety protocols. And more and more data comes out on that point that is encouraging, particularly for younger kids.
Obviously, the rate of community spread has a huge impact on schools. If community spread outside of school is super high, that will have an impact on schools. But if community spread is low, schools that are taking strict precautions don't seem likely to be sources of outbreaks themselves. (The discussion of the Israel study in the article is on point here).
It says they are less susceptible to infection - which, for the 10-18 set at least, is demonstrably false. It was even something you highlighted.
I don't think schools should stay shut indefinitely. My kids' schools are currently open with precautions. However, misrepresenting the facts isn't helping.
Sure, if strict protocols are followed. NE has been open the whole time, and school districts by and large are just ignoring mask and distancing guidelines (https://nebraska.tv/news/local/nsea-files-petition-to-require-schools-to-follow-strict-health-and-safety-criteria). My niece and nephew keep getting bounced in and out of school due to spread in the school, and not enough teachers to cover positions as they get sick. It seems to be slowing down now because literally everyone has had it now in the community. There's no one taking that data because it's fucking Nebraska. No one cares what happens there.
Post by formerlyak on Jan 28, 2021 12:35:12 GMT -5
I'm stuck laughing at "the Trump White House was a font of nonsense."
My first grader goes back Monday with masking and distancing and a 10 kid cohort - two mornings a week, no lunch on campus. I am nervous, but this article actually made me feel better. Our schools have been inspected by the local public health department and were told with the huge windows, ample outdoor space for each classroom (each room has a large patio space) and the upgrades to ventilation our district did over the summer, we are the gold standard of what they want to see in terms of a safe return plan. Yet, I am still nervous.
I hope it all goes well, formerlyak ! And I hope your teachers have the PPE/etc. they need to feel safe as possible as well.
It appears they do. And we send $200 in Amazon and Target gift cards to our teacher for her to buy whatever she needs/wants to make her return smoother.
Post by aprilsails on Jan 28, 2021 12:58:07 GMT -5
My City just got the all clear to send elementary and high school students back next week. Our rates have been sustained for two weeks below our highest peak in the fall during which schools remained open. They have done large asymptomatic testing sweeps in schools with known cases (all PCR tests) and have never once come up with cases of community spread other than between teachers in the lunchroom.
Now teachers are scrambling because they’ve been given 2 days notice to go from virtual to in class after 6 weeks at home. That is messy.
Post by aprilsails on Jan 28, 2021 13:08:32 GMT -5
melmaria teachers were given two days notice when we went to virtual as well. That also coincided with the Christmas break for most schools so it wasn’t as bad, but I had a friend who’s school was already on break and who couldn’t go into her office in the school to grab her second monitor to help her teach remotely. She had to buy one. Super annoying.
DD is bouncing off the walls with happiness about seeing her friends though. That’s nice to see.
Sure, if strict protocols are followed. NE has been open the whole time, and school districts by and large are just ignoring mask and distancing guidelines (https://nebraska.tv/news/local/nsea-files-petition-to-require-schools-to-follow-strict-health-and-safety-criteria). My niece and nephew keep getting bounced in and out of school due to spread in the school, and not enough teachers to cover positions as they get sick. It seems to be slowing down now because literally everyone has had it now in the community. There's no one taking that data because it's fucking Nebraska. No one cares what happens there.
Yeah I think we’re obviously seeing that outside of schools. There are places that in general just don’t care. I’m not sure what the answer to that is since many policies and laws are locally led.
I think the articles that are coming out regarding data in schools and safety are aimed at the districts that have been closed for almost a year now. It seems that places that have been extra cautious by being closed will follow guidelines of masking, trying to distance, etc, so this data is helpful for those areas.
It is a shame that people aren’t reasonable everywhere and I really don’t know the answer to get schools to comply to recommendations. That’s problematic.
I'm stuck laughing at "the Trump White House was a font of nonsense."
My first grader goes back Monday with masking and distancing and a 10 kid cohort - two mornings a week, no lunch on campus. I am nervous, but this article actually made me feel better. Our schools have been inspected by the local public health department and were told with the huge windows, ample outdoor space for each classroom (each room has a large patio space) and the upgrades to ventilation our district did over the summer, we are the gold standard of what they want to see in terms of a safe return plan. Yet, I am still nervous.
I enjoyed that line too.
If it makes you feel better, our elementary school has been back since mid Sept with mask wearing, social distancing, and all the recommended protocols. They are half days, the kids are sent home at lunch and then grades 1-5 have a remote session in the afternoon. It has gone really well. There have been cases, but they've all been from community spread, not in school spread. The policy is that any classroom with a positive case goes remote for 10 days. The whole district went fully remote for a week after Thanksgiving (proactively), but we've been in person otherwise (hybrid for the MS and HS). It has been really amazing and I feel so lucky that our district pulled it off when so many around us didn't even try. My DD1 started K this year and loves it and is officially reading! It is amazing.
We are lucky though that in general, our area has taken Covid pretty seriously. The highest rates have gotten is about 8% positivity and ~80 cases/100K population, and that was during the post holiday surges (Dec - early Jan). Mask wearing compliance is pretty good in public, it is private gatherings plus the cold weather than pushed us higher.
ETA: I just looked up metrics for covid cases in the our district. The entire district has averaged about 2 cases per week except for spikes after Thanksgiving and Xmas break, which were around 6-8 cases for the 2 weeks following each holiday. Our specific elementary school has had a total of 6 cases in the 20 weeks we've been in school.
Sure, if strict protocols are followed. NE has been open the whole time, and school districts by and large are just ignoring mask and distancing guidelines (https://nebraska.tv/news/local/nsea-files-petition-to-require-schools-to-follow-strict-health-and-safety-criteria). My niece and nephew keep getting bounced in and out of school due to spread in the school, and not enough teachers to cover positions as they get sick. It seems to be slowing down now because literally everyone has had it now in the community. There's no one taking that data because it's fucking Nebraska. No one cares what happens there.
This is insane!! Even our district in Texas has very strict rules in place. Masks at all times, lunches are spread out and students are 10 feet apart, one way hallways, etc. I forget there are places that just flung the doors open and pretended like it was 2019. I know distancing can be hard for some schools to apply but masks should be in 100% compliance.
I am obviously team schools can open safely BUT I do think there needs be national guidance around mask wearing and all teachers should have the opportunity to have the vaccine.
Post by fancynewbeesly on Jan 28, 2021 22:30:35 GMT -5
I definitely think districts should be more forthcoming to general public about logistics of opening. Things that need to be considered. That the general public and many parents may not considered.
Not make teachers the bad guys. Our district is one of the top ten largest in our state and out of those 10 districts we are the only one open for hybrid. Everyone else is virtual.
I see parents go all the time my niece goes to (insert super small district here) and they are full time why can’t you be.
I was talking to one of DD’s good friend’s mom. She is fully open school. And I get it. She has a senior in hs. A fourth grader. So she was questioning why we couldn’t do full days but hybrid. I was saying they have to figure out lunch. She goes couldn’t the teacher eat in the classroom with the kids. Not even thinking. I was like well when would the teacher go to the bathroom. Make phone calls. Heat up lunch. Make copies. Or get a small break. She honestly never thought about it.
I really think it needs to be emphasized that teachers WANT to go back. At least in our district we aren’t the ones holding it up. But our classrooms have 25-30 kids in elementary per class so something has to give.