....I really hope your kids are back to school in person! They really need to social aspect.....many kids have suffered depression, and they need/want to get to class!

I live in a state that has taken a thoroughly sensible approach to the pandemic. It shut down promptly in mid March and has reopened only gradually. Local counties have responded promptly when numbers start rising by curtailing activities. Masks are required on everyone when out and about in public. Our governor has done an outstanding job of leading during the pandemic.

All school districts in central Maryland are starting virtual/online-only. Most of those districts will be virtual for the first half of the school year, if not longer. At best, some more rural districts might opt for a hybrid return with only half of the school body showing up on any given day, masks, social distancing, etc.

I can tell you that Maryland teachers are watching the unfolding situation in Georgia and Florida schools with concern and horror. Georgia already appears to be going down. This is not a surprise to us.

A school is a germ factory on a good day. These are not good days.

Suicide

The government of Alberta recently announced that school will start in September with “near normal” conditions. Meaning introducing protocols for hand washing/sanitation, social distancing etc, but with no limit on class sizes.

That pretty much makes social distancing next to impossible. I retired from teaching a couple of years ago, and I know how much space kids and their desks take up in a typical classroom. There has been quite a lot of concern expressed over social media and directly to the minister of education from worried parents, and the other day the minister “blinked” and mandated masks for grades 4 and up. But I fear it will not be enough.

I’ll have three grandchildren in elementary school this year and I am really worried. I wish they had decided to start with dividing up the classes and having the kids attend half time.

My 7 year old granddaughter is staying home thus fall (SE of Edmonton). Her 15 year old brother is going into grsde 10. Hoping he'll be ok. But I wouldn't bet the farm on it not coming crashing down if numbers spike.

Yup. What the world needs is more happy corpses.

POTUS vs. Science.

I never had strep, a sore throat, anything like that UNTIL my kids started school. I got chronic strep which lasted a year. I was sick all the time. Amazing, they got out of especially elementary, and I quit getting sick all the time.

My sister starts meetings in Idaho on the 17th, school starts the 24th. She teaches 1st grade, as does her daughter. My sister is 64 and has diabetes. There have been no deaths in her county in Idaho.

I think we are headed for a disaster. I would never risk my child to this situation.

My strong recommendation to parents is to do virtual/online-only if at all possible. I don't think even hybrid is safe at this point. A full return is lunacy. Children not wearing masks or practicing social distancing is lunacy.

A *very* good year for me is two colds. I've had years, when there is a fresh batch of viruses going around, where I've been sick for most of the early winter through the spring. I have had some truly mysterious illnesses that have kept me sick for 4-6 weeks. My physician felt that I was getting back-to-back illnesses, even when I had a clear arc over the 4-6 week period.

Brand new teachers get slammed the first year or two. Their immune systems are not up to speed.

Plus, my experience is that parents *will* send their children to school sick. They just do. The parents will give their kids a strong dose of Tylenol if that's what it takes to pass muster for a few hours.

This is the year when no one can afford to get sick. No one can bring an illness to school, nor take one home.

Children may be able to withstand the ravages of Covid-19 but what about their teachers? Are we willing to risk their lives? How does social interaction benefit a child with dead parents? Whatever socialization takes place in school is no replacement for a dead parent.

Teachers have it the worst. The thought of 120 kids rotating through a classroom has to be the most dangerous thing possible, all the while and all I hear on the radio is this silly worry about mail in ballots. Seriously voting consists of one day of people standing in a line with masks on, But Teachers and what they face is a very serious problem. I think they should all go on strike and walk out, they aren't being treated like they have any rights or are of any human value. Most other businesses are actually complying with guidelines. Employees in the private sector are being treated with dignity.

Here is a clip of a highschool in Georgia 1st day back, no masks, no social distancing (the teen who posted this got suspended btw)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD7nm8tumlw

After a lot of adverse publicity, the principal walked back the suspension.

I'm in contact with large numbers of teachers from my school system. My read was that at least 5% of them were prepared to walk if we didn't start virtual. For some of them, it's a matter of survival as they have underlying health issues. For others, they have options -- they might be close to retirement, or have a spouse who is gainfully employed.

Five percent is enough to take down a major school system. A Georgia school district had to go virtual when 5.6% of their teaching staff was quarantined just days into the new school year.

Central Virginia is going virtual. Even the systems that were planning hybrid are falling on a daily basis.

Fairfax in NOVA, Virginia’s largest, originally planned hybrid but was forced to backtrack.

My district admin sat on their @sses for 4 months before releasing their initial plan which included 50% in, 25 kids plus siblings (another 10-25) per bus, teachers as custodians, no mask mandate, no temp checks, parents charged with not sending sick kids. Not one dime of extra funding beyond hand sanitizer stations in high traffic areas, despite crumbling schools after 4 decades of underfunding.
After teachers rose up along with major increase in cases, they backed down and we’re going virtual. Community is VERY angry.

>>Community is VERY angry.

I was out shopping today, and I overheard a grandmother on the phone, complaining loudly to someone-or-other. She is evidently in charge of supervising online learning for her grandson, who has ADD or ADHD, and "can't pay attention for more than a second." She was outraged that he would not be back in the school building, because evidently teachers have some sort of magic cure for kids who can't pay attention for more than a second. lol

It took all of my self control not to laugh at her. For the first time parents, grandparents, etc. are seeing what we see every working day. Yes, teachers have a lot of tricks to get students' attention, but if a family member can't do it in a 1:1 situation, then what makes them think we can do it in a class of 30 children?

I see some interesting IEP meetings down the road. "So, how did online learning go? Not so well? Your child has a difficult time sustaining attention? I'm seeing the same thing in the classroom. Your child has had great difficulty with focusing, has been struggling with the assigned work, and his/her grades have suffered as a result. Is this something that you would like to pursue?"



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/13/2020 06:55PM by summer.

How does an IEP even work in these circumstances? The schools have the obligation to give a kid the accommodations necessary for a solid education but the children aren't in schools. Are the parents now required by the ADA to perform the school's legal obligations?

What a disaster.

IEPs are being adapted for online instruction, but it's a huge headache all around. I feel really, really sorry for special educators right now.

The one thing that I wish I could convey to parents is that accommodations are not a cure-all. Many accommodations are things we would do anyway based on close observation of our students. The one thing that IEP mandated accommodations can do is to give them official weight when it comes to testing and grades.

Absolutely agree.

But instead of parents waking up and realizing all we do for their kids and showing one iota of grace, they’re even more pissed at us—accusing us of shirking our responsibilities.

As far as IEPs are concerned, in the weeks before we shut down, special ed went crazy with the iep revisions putting in a qualifier that services couldn’t be guaranteed if we weren’t in school.

"Masks must always be worn indoors, on school grounds, in the faculty lounge, and on school buses by administrators, faculty, teacher aides, janitorial staff, visitors, students, bus drivers, and grounds keepers.
· Masks must be N95 respirators or professional-grade surgical masks.
· Surgical mask must be changed every two hours.
· On entering school, a monitor must check students wearing surgical masks to verify that they have four masks on their person.
· To isolate mask changers from other students, a monitored, dedicated room must be established for changing masks after the two-hour limit. Only one student in the changing room at a time.
· Since hundreds of contaminated masks must be disposed of daily, the school must contract for daily removal by a certified hazardous waste disposal company.
· All removed masks must be deposited in a sealed trash container equipped with a foot lever.
· Trash cans, bathrooms, and school grounds will be constantly surveilled for improperly discarded masks.
· Children choosing to eat lunch must wear a face shield to be positioned in place prior to the removal of the mask.
· Parents should be instructed to pack lunchboxes with finger food that can fit under the shield without lifting.
· Paper straws for drinks must be disposed of as hazardous material.
· Teacher aides should assist in mask discipline, and volunteers must be restricted to valid mask supporters.
· Teacher aides must affirm daily that during the previous twenty-four hours they have worn a mask at all times when outside their domicile and to their knowledge have not come in proximity with an individual who tested positive for Covid-19.
· All cell phones that leave school grounds must, on return, be sanitized with ultraviolet light.

Remember, we're all in this together.
"If it saves one life..."

Which district published these guidelines?

Oh yeah, none did.

Why don't you be honest and tell us where this came from.
This is NOT from any school district. Rather it is an opinion piece from one of your right wing websites.

Yes, thank you for saying that.

This past spring, New York City was slow to close its public schools. They ended up losing at least 74 school-based staff members, of whom 30 were teachers.

No teacher is joking about this. We know what will happen if/when schools fully reopen.

You need more faith in the prophets of the state.