I know some schools have started back/are starting back soon. We have a good 6 weeks + left of summer break here, but I am wondering what 2021-2022 is going to look like. I live in an area that straddles 3 school districts. I believe all 3 are going back to full-time in person with no virtual option. One has already announced that masks will be optional for all students and they will not require proof of vaccination. The other 2 have not announced plans.
My kids (Catholic school) were in full-time (masks required) last year and it was an overall success. Their school is taking away the virtual option for next year, we know that. I am wondering if masks will be required and how they will handle vaccinations. I have a very foreboding feeling - anecdotally we sell masks at work and we were literally giving them away and had marked down the prices 75%+ up until last week. Now the prices are back up I am not feeling very good about being out of the mask and I suspect both I (at work) and my kids will be in masks soon.
What are your kids' schools doing, and teachers, what are your districts doing? Is there discussion about changing plans if they've already been announced?
No remote option, and they haven't said anything about masks yet. I'm sure there will be a requirement, but I'm wondering if that is only for the younger kids.
Do the older kids who could have been vaccinated still need to wear one? I hope not, but we haven't gotten any guidance yet.
No remote option, and they haven't said anything about masks yet. I'm sure there will be a requirement, but I'm wondering if that is only for the younger kids.
Do the older kids who could have been vaccinated still need to wear one? I hope not, but we haven't gotten any guidance yet.
My unvaccinated 10-yo still wears a mask outside the house so I def think (want) her in a mask at school. The thing is, I don't trust the parents of the older kids. The same people squawking about masks are the ones resisting the vaccinations. So I kind of hope they make everyone wear a mask. It'll def suck for the older kids but really it's the only way to prevent passing it around, IMO.
We don’t start back until September 1. There’s no remote option this year and that’s all we know so far. I would be shocked if masks aren’t required for the younger kids. At the high school I don’t know - we live in an area of very good vaccination rates but we also tend to err on the conservative side with masking/Covid regulations in general. I won’t be surprised either way. I’m not sure what the teachers Union is requesting at this point either.
We start back August 18th. Nothing has been announced yet. I think our district will do their best but there isn't exactly much they can do without risking funding. Our governor has made it to where districts cannot mandate masks and is back on the "personal responsibility" train. There is also no virtual option. I don't see Abbott back tracking on that but stranger things have happened I suppose.
Last year was very successful from a Covid standpoint. We had very few cases in the school and no spread but the kids spread out 10 feet for lunch and wore masks at all other times. This year none of that will be happening so I expect a disaster. My only hope is that this current wave will peak before the majority of kids start back at school. Then hopefully kids can get vaccinated before the winter peak (assuming there is one).
We don't go back until August 30. The state just put out guidance leaving it up to the local school divisions. I really hope masks are required for the under 12 and anyone not vaccinated.
If you want a virtual option you will be referred to the statewide virtual. I don't know if that's just our county or the whole state. So you won't have a local "home" school like they did last year.
Post by ProfessorArtNerd on Jul 22, 2021 8:50:10 GMT -5
My 13 year old needs her vax still, but I think she’s going to wear a mask forever. She’s just anxious in general. She also attended (catholic) school virtually last year. I’m worried about her going back.
My six year old willingly wears his mask when we are out. I believe right now masks are encouraged in his school, but I wont be surprised if they mandate masks again really soon.
No online option and masks are optional. They both went back full time wearing masks.
I’m planning on sending both with masks, but not expecting either to really wear them the whole day. I’m hoping with youngest more parents will send kids with them, so they will be more likely to keep it on, but I’m not holding my breath.
Post by mcppalmbeach on Jul 22, 2021 9:05:40 GMT -5
We start back 8/11. Full time in person, masks optional. I feel very very uncomfortable. My kids were mostly virtual last year (ds1 went back for testing and last two weeks of school and ds2 went back around spring break). This year my ds3 will also be in preK. I really don’t know what to do. Ds1 does have his vaxx..he is in middle school and I feel like sending him in a mask in our red county will become a major thing. Ds2 will be in 4th grade and he is probably most likely to need a mask and he is also the worst in the family about wearing one because he is a fidgeter and by end of the year he would be at carline with it half pulled down over his nose). And then ds3 is actually amazing about wearing a mask but he is a bit hard to understand with it on so that worries me for him interacting in his first school experience...I seriously doubt any other 4 year olds will be wearing them. I have the same big sense of trepidation.
It is too early to tell but I think our district is leaning towards masks even for kids who are vaccinated. I am unclear on teachers -- if they can unmask if they are vaccinated. Schools here are tight -- we will not be able to do 3 feet of spacing in many cases. Cases are already trending up and we're a city with a decent vaccine rate. I could see the case for different rules for very young kid (under 5 maybe) or smaller groups but in such a large system having clear and simple rules is easier than having a ton of exceptions. We start late so hopefully the heat will not be a concern. I think they are masking in summer school and parents and kids are struggling with that.
I am fine with no masks outside so I hope recess can be a break for kids.
We also go back in abut 6 weeks (sept 1) and they released their plan back in June.
- Masks for all students regardless of vaccination status, until the county is 70+% vaccinated which is considered herd immunity/. I suspect they'll just keep them with the Delta variant anyway. I don't think the state will budge with masks. - 3 foot distancing in all classrooms - Still cohorting - No remote option - Back to our regular schedule 5 days. Last year they shortened the days and were remote on Wednesdays. We are back to the usual school day as well. - Sports are happening from what i hear but there wasn't a lot of info on that however fall HS sports already started. - kids will still be quarantining if exposed to the virus. There may be classes that'll go remote if the entire class is out.
thats pretty much the jist.
I'm fine with most of the plan BUT I am annoyed with the quarantining plan. My oldest High Schooler had a cold last year, we kept him home and tested (neg) and he zoomed into class. Totally fine. The middle school forced DS2 home (understandably) BUT he was not given the zoom option. So he missed 2.5 days until his test came back. I think missing classes is a terrible plan. They should allow them to zoom.
I'm starting to freak out. My kids were virtual by choice most of last year with the district's virtual option, for various reasons. Our district dropped masks the last couple weeks of school and hasn't had them for summer programs. The plan for this fall is to go back as usual with no real precautions/no virtual options. I had hoped/anticipated that I would be okay with that by fall, assuming cases continued falling, and people were getting vaccinated. Well, now we have Delta, cases are rising, and our vaccination numbers don't seem to be increasing.
I don't know how I'm going to go from not taking kids into restaurants and fully masking if we go to stores, to just sending them to school with hundreds of kids and no protections.
My kids really need to be back in-person, but I hope the district creates some kind of new plan for fall. I'm not feeling great at all about the current situation. We don't go back until late August/early September so who knows what things will be like at that point.
We go back August 16. They haven’t said for sure but I don’t think masks will be required since they ended up dropping them at the end of last year.
I feel pretty stuck. I’m honestly not sure what we can do, there are no schools here that would require masks. The public school was better than the privates in that regard. We don’t really have a choice and it’s tough to ask a 6 and a 9 year old to wear their mask all day every day when no one else will.
Well I think Im in the the neighboring school district you are talking about, but I will answer anyway.
We are fully back to pre-covid normal. They made masks optional in school and on busses beginning with the last week of school in June which was bizarre (why not finish out the school year?)
They are "still investigating" the feasibility of a virtual option for elementary only since those kids can't be vaxxed. No proof of vaccination required for older kids.
I am pulling my younger one for unrelated reasons. I'm pretty sure her private school will remain masked, at least until vaccines are widely available for elementary ages.
My older kid will stay in public school. He's fully vaxxed.
We start back mid-August, and thanks to our asshole state legislature districts cannot legally require masks for any reason. Our positive case rate has shot up to February levels again as of yesterday, which is making me incredibly anxious. My boys go to a very liberal independent charter school where I imagine most of the students and staff will willingly mask up, but I teach at a large public high school where virtually no one will be masked unless they're forced to.
We are back. There is a virtual option but it's full year commitment and appears to be struggling to find teachers. We were virtual last year but opted for in-person 2nd grade, and the kids are masked. There is a very vocal parent group protesting this "abuse," but so far they are not getting their way. If they somehow manage to get mask requirements removed before my child can be vaccinated, we will pull him out which I really don't want to spend too much time thinking about because I'll explode.
My district has already said they will not be requiring masks for the fall.
I’m so upset about it. My three unvaccinated kids will be attending school in masks, but I’m so angry that they are putting us in this position. The live virtual program that we attended last year is no longer available, and quite frankly I feel as though my kids have already given enough. They deserve to have an in-person school experience this year, and I need to get back to work - both paid and unpaid.
I feel so sad for the families who feel as though they cannot send their kids safely to school due to the lack of masks. We are lucky that our kids have no underlying health conditions but I know so many are not that fortunate.
I just cannot believe we are in a place where every knowledgeable person and entity (CDC, AAP, etc) is saying that masks are necessary for the unvaccinated and we still have people refusing to do it and pitching fits about it.
Post by gretchenindisguise on Jul 22, 2021 9:27:01 GMT -5
We are in CA - we have mandated masks statewide.
We start back 8/17. There is a virtual option, but it is being outsourced as opposed to being a district-led thing with district teachers.
Last year we ended the year with 5 days in school but only partial - 8-12:40 with no lunch on campus. This year we are going back to full schedule 8-2:40 with lunch. Our kids mostly eat outside, unless it rains, which is pretty rare.
Regarding proof of vaccination (which I am all for); how do you think they go about this? MMR and chicken pox etc. are required and nobody bats an eye. So why is this different? And is it a slippery slope that could lead to requirements being lifted for others? And where does the flu shot fall into all of this?
Post by Leeham Rimes on Jul 22, 2021 9:28:59 GMT -5
I live in Florida. We’re a hot spot for the delta variant (and my county specifically is super bad) and nobody gives a shit or wears masks anymore.
There is no virtual option (which was awful anyway so that’s not a big deal. There are state provided options for virtual)
There will be no preventative measures taken in schools in our district, masks are optional regardless of vaccination status. Vaccinations are not mandatory for teachers, so conceivably an unvaccinated teacher (of which I unfortunately know of a few) could be teaching my children without a mask.
I have a shitton of anxiety sending my kids to school bc there’s not even a promise that teachers are vaccinated.
I’m so angry at America and Florida right now. So. Angry.
ETA: of course *my kids* will wear a mask but I worry (1) will it be enough and (2) will they be bullied.
Last Edit: Jul 22, 2021 9:35:11 GMT -5 by Leeham Rimes
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Regarding proof of vaccination (which I am all for); how do you think they go about this? MMR and chicken pox etc. are required and nobody bats an eye. So why is this different? And is it a slippery slope that could lead to requirements being lifted for others? And where does the flu shot fall into all of this?
I think because they’re so “new,” still under emergency authorization, and unavailable to the under 12 crew. I think once that is lifted and it’s available to younger kids - they can be required like other ones.
We go back 9/1. Last year we had full in person all year, masks were required, cohorts by grade, and plastic shields on all desks and lunch tables. This year they've announced that masks are optional, they're removing all the shields, and will no longer do cohorts so all grades will mix on the playground. I'm so mad that they've completely done away with every mitigation technique we had last year. Last year went so well for us - very few quarantines and cases in our school, my kids were never a close contact, and we made it the entire school year in person every day. Now it feels like they're just throwing all that away to get back to "normal." They claimed that the masks could come back "as needed" but I don't think it will go well to try to roll that back if they need to. Once parents heard "no masks" they're not going to be happy about masks being implemented again. Making the elementary kids wear masks was really such a non-issue in the grand scheme of things, I cannot figure out why they're doing away with it.
We're back in school and there is no virtual option that is analogous to in person, but that was the case last year as well. The virtual option has always been the homeschool, online academy option that is mostly self paced and really not all that great; I opted to send her in-person all last year. Our governor issued an order a few weeks ago that masks cannot be mandated in any schools in the state, so there are no masks whether vaccinated or not. My DD is 11 so she can't get vaccinated so she has some masks in her backpack that she can wear, but I'm not forcing her to wear them. She would be the only kid in her class that does and I know the bullying or othering she would get would be too much for her, she struggles with anxiety and social issues enough already so I'm weighing her mental health against her physical health at that point. That may change in the future based on case numbers, but for now that's what I'm choosing to do for my kiddo.
Post by fivechickens on Jul 22, 2021 9:36:19 GMT -5
ETA: We go back at the end of of August. Our district is basically doing nothing. No mask requirement. No plexiglass dividers. No social distancing. Which admittedly would difficult with 20+ kids in class.
There was a virtual option that we were made to choose in April but we had to commit to an entire year. So they didn’t have enough parents wanting their kids to do another year of virtual learning and that option was taken away.
I am really not happy with our district handling of this pandemic. They have done a shit job the entire time. Back in February/March, I went to the school to pick up my kids school pictures and the secretaries did not have a mask on nor did they make any attempt to put a mask on. One of them even walked out of the building without her mask to help the mail carrier bring some mail into the school. This was during a time when our state was getting thousands of positive cases daily and hundreds of deaths daily. When the principal was told about it, she responded with in a ‘that’s weird…. they ALWAYS have masks on’ way. Not surprisingly, about a month later they had to be quarantined because one of them had covid.
Post by expectantsteelerfan on Jul 22, 2021 9:41:45 GMT -5
We start back in person full-time. There is a virtual option, but it's not nearly as flexible as the virtual option was last year. You have to opt in for the whole semester. As of right now, there is no plan in place for extended closures, and there is no option for a kid who has to stay home sick/while quarantining to log in virtually if they are normally in person. They also announced that masks will be optional. But this was all decided at the beginning of the summer, so I am still holding out a little bit of hope that they will require masks at the elementary schools. I'm having a hard time feeling ok about dd (who is 9) attending in person things where masks are not required again. She desperately needs a hair cut but I've been putting it off.
of course *my kids* will wear a mask but I worry (1) will it be enough and (2) will they be bullied.
My friend and I were just talking about this. Our kids will be wearing masks but concerned that other kids will be jerks about it and teachers/administration will not respect the parents when it comes to the kids wearing the mask. We have a couple teachers in our school that have the ‘this is my classroom and you follow my rules even if they go against what your parents want’. Which I respect until it involves my kids health.
We go back after Labour Day so still lots of summer left. The message to staff at the end of June to staff was that there would be very minimal Covid requirements for the coming school year - no cohorts, no masks for students or staff. Canada as a whole is at 70% first vax, 50% fully vaxxed and our local numbers are a little higher. Our provincial positivity rate had continued to decline to the point where we are seeing ~50 new cases a day out of 5 million people. Unless we start to see a major spike here I don't expect our district to reverse course.