Covid and School This Fall (2 Viewers)

[acarey50]

Orange County is a day or two away (if numbers stay down) from coming off the watch list, then it is 14 days sustained at that level and in theory things can start opening up. They started approving waivers (so far only private schools, and only up to 6th grade that I have seen).

The infection rates are still 100 per 100,000 - while I am hopeful any type of school reopening is successful, the logical part of me looks at how quickly not just other districts (and colleges, etc.) across the US have had to shut back down, but how other countries fared when opening up with infection rates magnitudes lower than us currently.

 

[trader jake]

My kids, 9th and 12th start today (preK-12 private). Pretty good plans in place, IMO. Handwashing/sanitizing and temp checks for all kids before entering. No parents allowed inside at all. One-direction hallways. No locker use. Portable desk shields (  ). Lunches will be in the classroom during inclement weather, outside at scattered picnic tables at other times. Water refill stations and everyone brings their own water bottles. Masks to be worn during class transitions.  And plans in place for any positive tests that arise. 

About everything that can be done, IMO. 

How is airflow within the school being managed?  To me, that seems like the biggest hole in most back to school plans.  All of the above is great, but one single case can result in an entire school being shut down in short order if the air isn't being proactively managed...and that will only become a bigger issue in many areas as Fall turns to Winter.

 

[culdeus]

Locally a few school districts have moved forward.  The most full send was probably Prosper ISD whom has had a handful of cases so far.  

My SIL school she teaches at in Fort Worth went back for grades k-8 and hybrid for those above.  So far so good.

My Kids go back ostensibly on the 9th.  

Things are very quiet in Dallas, 0 deaths yesterday and under 100 cases reported.  Can't see kids being held out much longer if they want to go back.

 

[Nathan R. Jessep]

How is airflow within the school being managed?  To me, that seems like the biggest hole in most back to school plans.  All of the above is great, but one single case can result in an entire school being shut down in short order if the air isn't being proactively managed...and that will only become a bigger issue in many areas as Fall turns to Winter.

They didn't mention that specifically so not sure, however they did mention installation of automated sanitization aerosol applicators of some sort.

 

[Galileo]

Well kids are scheduled to begin tomorrow in our district.   Five teachers are currently in quarantine from the middle school to start the year.  

 

[Binky The Doormat]

daughter started Monday doing her junior year from home - she spent almost all summer doing the same for debate camp ...she seems fine with it.

 

[gobrowns33]

I have three kids in three different schools, and a wife that works in one of them.  They have all done in-person school since start of August.  they have some measures in place and have reduced co-mingling between classes.  About 20% of students opted to do full virtual, which has cut class size down a bit - and has been great for those in school.  Haven't had any issues in the school district.  For reference, this is in middle GA, city of about 150k, so not rural.

 

[thecatch]

Quick rant about online only "school".  Today, my first grader had: (1) 2.25 hours of live class, across 4 different zoom sessions, (2) 4 other prerecorded lessons totaling about 1.25 more hours, each with an associated homework assignment;  (3) another hour of work on 2 different apps; and (4) separate assigned reading practice.  Parents are expected to make sure they are logged into each zoom class, work with them through the prerecorded classes and assignments, and upload proof of completion for "grading" at the end.  The whole process is a technical nightmare rife with technical glitches with dealing with a bunch of different educational apps, Zoom, etc.  The kids in this age range can't possibly manage any of this independently.

I suppose this is all fine if you have a stay at home parent who has nothing to do other than act as a co-teacher.  But for those of us trying to work from home, this basically consumes my morning and early afternoon.  It's almost impossible to do anything other than a few quick phone calls and emails during that time.

 

[Ilov80s]

Quick rant about online only "school".  Today, my first grader had: (1) 2.25 hours of live class, across 4 different zoom sessions, (2) 4 other prerecorded lessons totaling about 1.25 more hours, each with an associated homework assignment;  (3) another hour of work on 2 different apps; and (4) separate assigned reading practice.  Parents are expected to make sure they are logged into each zoom class, work with them through the prerecorded classes and assignments, and upload proof of completion for "grading" at the end.  The whole process is a technical nightmare rife with technical glitches with dealing with a bunch of different educational apps, Zoom, etc.  The kids in this age range can't possibly manage any of this independently.

I suppose this is all fine if you have a stay at home parent who has nothing to do other than act as a co-teacher.  But for those of us trying to work from home, this basically consumes my morning and early afternoon.  It's almost impossible to do anything other than a few quick phone calls and emails during that time.

Yeah little kids need to be in school in most areas, I don’t know how or why this was never properly addressed. Well I do know why but that’s not really for this thread, too big. 

 

[Doug B]

It seems if they have to do small kids from home ... the lessons have to be stripped WAY down. Maybe 90 minutes of work, including read-along time. Can't really approach normal school if the buildings are closed down, so perhaps "normal school" shouldn't be attempted at all. A whole new paradigm is needed for working parents to "home school" their kids in very brief bursts.

 

[DJackson10]

I have friends who are teachers as well as knowing people with kids. My one friend is a teacher in ARZ doing virtual and we were not just from the same neighborhood (She lived up the street corner on the next block over from me), school from 5th grade to SR year and yeah my first crush. However the hard part for her is parents who are going after her not realizing that she doesn't make the rules. Don't say your kids hate school or other things to discredit them or interrupting class on the virtual. It's hard for everyone. If you have concerns do so privately to the teacher in an email. Her and other teachers are working from 7-8AM to almost 10 at night (Other jobs because of teacher salary ya know) and really don't need you interrupting classes. Go talk to the school board or your local and state Reps on schooling not the teacher. I also think Teachers should be getting hazard pay especially those who have to teach in the class room. They are just as vulnerable as myself who works in a grocery store and their pay is just as bad. 

As for myself I went to finally visit my Grandmother a few weeks ago (same day Space Shuttle landed). We watched the splash landing (My first ever btw) and my grandmother asked my mom an interesting question. My mom's answer was sort of surprising. She asked my mom "If the kids were still in school with this going on would you send them back." My Mom's answer surprised me not because of her answer but more so how she didn't think twice. She told my grandmother no way. Why this surprised me is because my mom has always been big on our education. They weren't strict but my Youngest brother was tested as a certified Very smart kid, my other brother was taking college level classes SR yr of HS and me I had learning disabilities. She always made sure we had school work done before play and other things. I guess I was more surprised because of how quick she was with her no. However it just showed more how much she's always cared about us which I think I really appreciated more.  

 

[thecatch]

It seems if they have to do small kids from home ... the lessons have to be stripped WAY down. Maybe 90 minutes of work, including read-along time. Can't really approach normal school if the buildings are closed down, so perhaps "normal school" shouldn't be attempted at all. A whole new paradigm is needed for working parents to "home school" their kids in very brief bursts.

This is basically what ended up happening last spring in our district.  It was way more workable for parents and in my opinion preferable to what their trying to do now, with the caveat that my kid is pretty scholastically advanced and I wasn't losing sleep about him losing class time.  Kids at or behind in grade level may need this extra education; query whether their parents are likely to be able to take 60% of the workday off to get them through all of this, though.

 

[leftcoastguy7]

The local school district's admins decided to hold a Zoom meeting with the community tonight. They forgot to turn off the ANNOTATE function for all users. Someone in the meeting wrote BLM all over the admins slides. 

Should be interesting to see what the teachers have to deal with soon.

 

[Punxsutawney Phil]

The whole process is a technical nightmare rife with technical glitches with dealing with a bunch of different educational apps, Zoom, etc.  The kids in this age range can't possibly manage any of this independently.

I suppose this is all fine if you have a stay at home parent who has nothing to do other than act as a co-teacher

Just sent my kid back this Monday, but this was my gripe at the end of last year.  All these apps, websites, and logins were a pain to deal with.  All the computer work was just busy work the kids got bored with quickly.  If I had a kid in 2nd grade or lower doing this is hold them back a year.  I feel bad for the low income families without the parental support or resources.  

 

[Punxsutawney Phil]

I wonder if they will dumb down all the standardized test this year?  

 

[culdeus]

I wonder if they will dumb down all the standardized test this year?  

They didn't even do them in Texas.  The places they pay millions and millions to do it may go under.  

 

[need2know]

Some people have finally come to their senses.

 kids in my area will be back in school full time Sept 7

 

[Ilov80s]

They didn't even do them in Texas.  The places they pay millions and millions to do it may go under.  

That would sort of be a good side effect. I hate to see people lose their jobs but the standardized test industry is generally not good for education. 

 

[Ilov80s]

Some people have finally come to their senses.

 kids in my area will be back in school full time Sept 7

I am thinking my district will be in person starting in October. We are doing online only for the first 3 weeks. After that I think it will be in person. About 25% of our families chose online only for the whole semester so that should help with overcrowding a bit. 

 

[MAC_32]

I am thinking my district will be in person starting in October. We are doing online only for the first 3 weeks. After that I think it will be in person. About 25% of our families chose online only for the whole semester so that should help with overcrowding a bit. 

No one will say it in a meeting and certainly not put it in writing, but generally speaking at least some of the larger schools in the area are treating the smaller schools going in-person as guinea pigs. They are beginning to prepare to flip a switch (whether it's hybrid or in-person) in October, but will not announce plans until sometime in September. They want to see how things go first.

 

[Doug B]

I wonder if they will dumb down all the standardized test this year?  

They didn't even do them in Texas.  The places they pay millions and millions to do it may go under.  

Same in neighboring Louisiana. And standardized testing is gigantic here -- schools "teach to the test" here about 1/4 of each school year.

 

[Ilov80s]

No one will say it in a meeting and certainly not put it in writing, but generally speaking at least some of the larger schools in the area are treating the smaller schools going in-person as guinea pigs. They are beginning to prepare to flip a switch (whether it's hybrid or in-person) in October, but will not announce plans until sometime in September. They want to see how things go first.

Oh for sure. Our district said it out loud. We said we wanted to see how things play out at the schools that are opening up in person. 

 

[need2know]

I am thinking my district will be in person starting in October. We are doing online only for the first 3 weeks. After that I think it will be in person. About 25% of our families chose online only for the whole semester so that should help with overcrowding a bit. 

Our numbers have been going down for weeks and were never high to begin with.   There are a bunch of students who have chosen to continue to school from home so class sizes should be a good bit smaller

 

[Ilov80s]

Our numbers have been going down for weeks and were never high to begin with.   There are a bunch of students who have chosen to continue to school from home so class sizes should be a good bit smaller

Wayne County has been a hot spot so I get the precaution on our end 

 

[acarey50]

Is anyone in a district where they are going hybrid - ie part of the class is in person and that is also streamed live for at home kids?

Asking because that is one of the proposals for the next steps in our district. I've heard a few things from administrators that have been talking with their colleagues in districts that are doing this, so I have the administration/teacher perspective on this, was curious about the student/parent perspective, both from an in person and an at home point of view on how that set up is working.

 

[The Gator]

Is anyone in a district where they are going hybrid - ie part of the class is in person and that is also streamed live for at home kids?

Asking because that is one of the proposals for the next steps in our district. I've heard a few things from administrators that have been talking with their colleagues in districts that are doing this, so I have the administration/teacher perspective on this, was curious about the student/parent perspective, both from an in person and an at home point of view on how that set up is working.

That is not the same hybrid plan our district looked at.

Hybrid = kids in school half the time, remote half the time - but not at the same time.

 

[acarey50]

That is not the same hybrid plan our district looked at.

Hybrid = kids in school half the time, remote half the time - but not at the same time.

I know, and I would prefer this - I believe the plan you mention is how our middle school is looking at doing it, though I'm unsure if their plan is to have half the kids in class one day of the week while the other half is online, then switch that the other days of the week, as they are reconfirming preferences to be in person either on Monday/Tuesday or Wednesday/Thursday while being remote the days you are not in person. So basically you would have say 1-3 period on Monday and Wednesday, 1 day in person, the other online, half the class in person on Monday, the other half in person on Wednesday. Unclear if the expectation is that each in person class is also zoomed so the half that is online those days is also "in attendance".

That kind of plan though is a logistical nightmare as it will be next to impossible to have all of the classes, etc. lineup such that each class, each period, only has half the kids in attendance on a particular day to be able to enforce social distancing in the classroom, as the kids change subjects/teachers for each period.

It's a much easier concept to apply to the elementary level as students are in the same class with the same teacher, you can more easily schedule it so half the kids are in person certain days or times, and the other half is on a different schedule - but still a logistical nightmare to try and meet parent requests for their preferred schedule.

 

[OrtonToOlsen]

Our numbers have been going down for weeks and were never high to begin with.   There are a bunch of students who have chosen to continue to school from home so class sizes should be a good bit smaller

Why do you think the numbers have been going down?

 

[culdeus]

Hearing my kids school had 55% opt in for in person starting on the 9th.  

 

[need2know]

Why do you think the numbers have been going down?

Do I look like a covid count numbers expert? Who the hell knows.   One thing is for sure .people going into the hospitals around here for it are definitely down..   got some friends who work there and they have said this for weeks.

 

[DocHolliday]

That is not the same hybrid plan our district looked at.

Hybrid = kids in school half the time, remote half the time - but not at the same time.

My daughter is going to school by this hybrid method. Half the kids go to school two days and the other half another two days. Wednesday is an office day for the teachers.   Since the teachers are teaching the same thing twice each week, they can’t do zoom meetings when kids are home so kids are only being taught two out of five days.   This sucks.   These kids are going to fall way behind.  My wife and I both work, not sure how my daughter is learning much.  

The irritating part is that the school district has decided that HS football and all sports are permitted 100%.   How in the hell can it be safe for 75 kids kids play football but kids can’t sit in classrooms.   

 

[Todem]

My daughter is going to school by this hybrid method. Half the kids go to school two days and the other half another two days. Wednesday is an office day for the teachers.   Since the teachers are teaching the same thing twice each week, they can’t do zoom meetings when kids are home so kids are only being taught two out of five days.   This sucks.   These kids are going to fall way behind.  My wife and I both work, not sure how my daughter is learning much.  

The irritating part is that the school district has decided that HS football and all sports are permitted 100%.   How in the hell can it be safe for 75 kids kids play football but kids can’t sit in classrooms.   

The utter stupidity is incredible.

 

[Todem]

I am in South Florida (Broward County Public Schools)

This was from 8/26

The Florida Department of Health reported 48,730 confirmed coronavirus cases among children 17 years old or younger in new data released Tuesday. That’s 8,995 more cases than at the previous update, which ended on Aug. 9, 15 days earlier.

More than 17,000 of those cases are in children ages 14 to 17, or high-school aged. About 13,000 patients are ages 5-10.

Since Aug. 9, another child has also died, bringing the total to eight.

More than 600 have been hospitalized.

The highest rate of infection exists in south Florida, including Dade County (20.3% positivity), Broward County (17.5%) and Martin County (23.3%).

Yeah.....I have a 15 year old......I am fortunate in that my wife does not need to work. He is not going back to school anytime soon in Broward County. 

I feel for parents who are two income households. This must be incredibly difficult (especially K-5 and to a lesser degree middle school kids). 

But in no way in my good conscience can I send him back to a student population of 3500 students (in his high school). Or even half that. Simply not comfortable putting him in harms way like that. We can wait till this is under control or we have a safe and viable vaccine. And potential vaccines are worrying me too. How safe are they with the speed they are trying to get them pumped out? That is another thing I am not going to be first in line to get.

This whole thing is a nightmare. 

 

[The Gator]

We started back to school on Wednesday.  We have two kids, Freshman, and Junior, two different High Schools, but same district.  But, vastly different expereinces.

Younger daughter met all of her teachers on-line on Wednesday.  They had roughly 30 minutes with each class, and teachers went over the ground rules for each class, where to find the zoom link, and homework assignments, etc.  Thursday started classroom instruction (we use a rotating A/B schedule, as we would in a normal year).  Attendance is taken in each class, and the teachers presented content.  This is more "lecture" than they would like (less interaction with the kids during this time).  There is time for kids to ask questions, and there is a format on Canvas for the kids to leave questions for the teachers.  At least 1 class had breakout sessions, where the kids had their own rooms/videos to work in small groups.  She had homework in most classes.

For us, in our situation, this was about as good as it could get - in terms of getting classroom instruction remotely.  But, I can see where this could be challenging for some kids to keep up, if they have less ideal conditions.

Older daughter, unfortunately had a different experience - and mostly a function of a disorganized school, not helped by a new principal starting July 1.  She also started on Wednesday, but the school used Wednesday to essentially make sure the kids knew how to use computers, Canvas, and Zoom - she was done for the day, including the "homework" by 11:00 am.  She also uses the A/B schedule, and then spent Thursday and Friday meeting her teachers in each time slot, where they all had some variation of the same presentation on what to expect, where to find assignments, etc.  A bit of introduction, but no actual instruction, and no homework.  Starting on Monday, they will begin instruction, but they have a really odd schedule, and only meet via zoom with 2 classes (out of 4) each day, on M, T, Th, F - with Wednesday being a "catch-up" day for the kids. 

This will frustrate me, but I can see where kids in less ideal conditions will not be left behind.

Younger daughter meets with 5 classes daily, and has homework - older daughter meets with 2 classes daily, and I suspect the "homework" will be done on the off days.  I have no idea how my older daughter's classes will keep pace with normal instruction.  It will be interesting to see it play out, since both kids are taking AP Computer Science - so I will have a pretty decent gauge.

 

[Ignoratio Elenchi]

How in the hell can it be safe for 75 kids kids play football but kids can’t sit in classrooms.   

Not an expert so I’m not saying it is safer, but kids playing football outdoors for a few hours seems a lot different than kids sitting inside a classroom all day. As a parent I’d be more comfortable with the former, given what I know about the disease so far.   

 

[Mile High]

Not an expert so I’m not saying it is safer, but kids playing football outdoors for a few hours seems a lot different than kids sitting inside a classroom all day. As a parent I’d be more comfortable with the former, given what I know about the disease so far.   

Aren't those same 75 kids also setting in classrooms inside all day?

 

[Ignoratio Elenchi]

Aren't those same 75 kids also setting in classrooms inside all day?

The person I quoted is asking why they’re allowed to play football but not sit in classrooms all day, so I’m assuming... no?

 

[Mile High]

The person I quoted is asking why they’re allowed to play football but not sit in classrooms all day, so I’m assuming... no?

Maybe. I was assuming since they were a high school football team one of the requirements was going to classes. So the same kids in both solutions. Maybe since it's the same kids maybe they decided the risk wasn't great in larger groups outside. 

 

[culdeus]

How is Florida that bad?  Texas by and large is doing very well opening up so far.  Like a smattering of cases here and there but nothing nearly on the order of 10,20,50k

 

[Todem]

How is Florida that bad?  Texas by and large is doing very well opening up so far.  Like a smattering of cases here and there but nothing nearly on the order of 10,20,50k

Because most of the state simply refuses to wear a mask. Its insane.

 

[DocHolliday]

Maybe. I was assuming since they were a high school football team one of the requirements was going to classes. So the same kids in both solutions. Maybe since it's the same kids maybe they decided the risk wasn't great in larger groups outside. 

Our HS goes two days a week.  The opponent returned back to school full time.    The visiting team were on buses  to the game, mixed it up with kids from a different town and return to their classrooms tomorrow   

When I picked up my daughter from open gym basketball on Saturday afternoon, the girls HS soccer team was boarding a bus to go play their away game.   

My daughters friend is going to day care on the days she’s not in school since both parents work.     This kid is going to be around a different set of kids every other day.  

If numbers don’t shoot up in two weeks in the county, I will be shocked and pretty much over Covid.      

 

[Ilov80s]

Not an expert so I’m not saying it is safer, but kids playing football outdoors for a few hours seems a lot different than kids sitting inside a classroom all day. As a parent I’d be more comfortable with the former, given what I know about the disease so far.   

I don't know, football is a pretty intimate sport. There is a lot of spit particles flying around and guys are constantly in very very close quarters. Running, stretching, passing, etc. can be done pretty safely, same with tackling dummies and sleds I guess. The second there is a live scrimmage with contact and huddles, it's certain the players will be swapping a lot of particles. But that's just my 2 cent opinion. 

 

[JaxBill]

How is Florida that bad?  Texas by and large is doing very well opening up so far.  Like a smattering of cases here and there but nothing nearly on the order of 10,20,50k

Actually Florida has trended down significantly.  Under 5k new cases daily last 2 weeks. Current 7 day average is 3k daily. Texas current 7 day moving average just under 5k.

 

[culdeus]

Actually Florida has trended down significantly.  Under 5k new cases daily last 2 weeks. Current 7 day average is 3k daily. Texas current 7 day moving average just under 5k.

Talking school age kids

 

[gobrowns33]

Our HS goes two days a week.  The opponent returned back to school full time.    The visiting team were on buses  to the game, mixed it up with kids from a different town and return to their classrooms tomorrow   

When I picked up my daughter from open gym basketball on Saturday afternoon, the girls HS soccer team was boarding a bus to go play their away game.   

My daughters friend is going to day care on the days she’s not in school since both parents work.     This kid is going to be around a different set of kids every other day.  

If numbers don’t shoot up in two weeks in the county, I will be shocked and pretty much over Covid.      

Our schools have been in-person for a month in GA, full-time, 5-days a week, and COVID numbers are still trending down.  I don't think schools with decent protocols in place will move the needle for case numbers.  They aren't doing most of the school sports out of what I know though.  My son does ride the bus home, but has to wear a mask, and only like 6 other kids take the bus, so not comparable to whole team getting on a bus.

 

[Ilov80s]

Toughest part this last week was making contact with my families for the first time since the end of the year. Some are mad that school isn't open normally, some are mad that they are even thinking of opening up again in October and some are asking me what I think. I feel like a PR person repeating the same line over and over, "the decision was made by the administration and elected school board. I hope that ultimately their decisions prove to be the best possible balance between the health and education of our students. I hope I can work with you and your student to make the best of this difficult situation." 

 

[eoMMan]

Talking school age kids

Kids are filthy, dirty animals (and that talk back and cost too much money).

 

[Rich Conway]

School opened here Friday in the hybrid model.  Naturally, the technology for live streaming wasn't ready, so the remote kids got the day off.  It quickly came to light that one parent sent her two children to school Friday, even though one of the two had tested positive a week prior after having recently attended a 50-child birthday party.  Going great so far!

 

[The Gator]

Technology:  Every district will be different, but I found that two things have helped - we got both of our kids new Mac BookAirs - not entirely cheap, but not overly expensive either.  Last year, younger daughter has issues with doing zoom on her chromebook, and I am seeing similar problems this year from other parents (and schools have provided most students who requested one, with a chromebook (some are still on order as there is an apparent national shortage).

But, one other thing that is helping - teachers are having the kids turn off their cameras and microphones during the content delivery part of the class, and having them turned on towards the end of class for questions.

That seems to be helping on bandwidth issues, and I suspect video memory issues on chrome books.

 

[culdeus]

Technology:  Every district will be different, but I found that two things have helped - we got both of our kids new Mac BookAirs - not entirely cheap, but not overly expensive either.  Last year, younger daughter has issues with doing zoom on her chromebook, and I am seeing similar problems this year from other parents (and schools have provided most students who requested one, with a chromebook (some are still on order as their is an apparent national shortage).

But, one other thing that is helping - teachers are having the kids turn off their cameras and microphones during the content delivery part of the class, and having them turned on towards the end of class for questions.

That seems to be helping on bandwidth issues, and I suspect video memory issues on chrome books.

I got mine an amazon refurb one and it has been good so far.  Going to probably get another one for my other kid.