OK to open schools?

posted by Spock

WTF?????  Just send them to school.

No, you can only get sick at school and church, not in a child care facility.

LOL

posted by friendfromlowry

I’m not against reopening necessarily but Fab does have a good point in what’s the policy for someone testing positive? Because it’s not a if but a when. Is that teacher automatically out for 14 days? What about anyone they came into contact with? Will the testing be sufficient and quick enough? 

I feel like these questions are hard to answer in a way that’s safe but also practical. I mentioned on the other thread about restaurants closing down for two weeks when employees test positive. So what happens if another employee tests positive immediately after they reopen. Do they close down again for another two weeks? 

Yeah. A definite plan does need to be in effect and it'd have to be a plan that's far more lenient on positive testing than what we currently have for athletics. Like, I saw that one of the local schools is shutting down all volleyball activities for two weeks because one girl tested positive. If that is still the guideline when it comes to being in school, it'd be impossible to have actual school because if one person tests positive, that could mean any number of students and teachers having to disappear for two weeks due to being in the same classroom.

Exactly. I'm not against schools opening. I'm for having a comprehensive plan in place. I've yet to see that from most districts.

posted by friendfromlowry

I’m not against reopening necessarily but Fab does have a good point in what’s the policy for someone testing positive? Because it’s not a if but a when. Is that teacher automatically out for 14 days? What about anyone they came into contact with? Will the testing be sufficient and quick enough? 

I feel like these questions are hard to answer in a way that’s safe but also practical. I mentioned on the other thread about restaurants closing down for two weeks when employees test positive. So what happens if another employee tests positive immediately after they reopen. Do they close down again for another two weeks? 

From what I have seen, once a teacher or student becomes positive, the local health boards will do all the contact tracing and anyone in contact will be quarentined.  Right now that is 14 days.

The problem schools are gonna have is if they get to many teachers out, there wasnt enough subs as it was.   Now who would want to be a sub?  

Schools shut down from lack of supervision.

Yeah , there needs to be a plan for teachers to protect them if they test positive. But, also what happens to a school is one kid or a teacher tests positive? How much is shutdown and for how long? Are teachers tested daily or weekly?  But, I'm all for kids heading back as it is a key metric for things to open back up. But, it depends on how hot the area is and how many cases are in any area. 

The South Koran study over the weekend showing that the virus may spread easily from kids 10-19 is interesting and concerning. 

Also, while yes the survival rate is 99% overall, teachers are probably in a demographic that the rate is a little lower for survival as they may be older and have prexisiting health conditions. 

^^^^^Districts arent testing anyone from what I have seen.  

posted by Spock

From what I have seen, once a teacher or student becomes positive, the local health boards will do all the contact tracing and anyone in contact will be quarentined.  Right now that is 14 days.

The problem schools are gonna have is if they get to many teachers out, there wasnt enough subs as it was.   Now who would want to be a sub?  

Schools shut down from lack of supervision.

Right. And while this is the safest route, is it really sustainable? It's a school, everyone comes into contact with everyone at some point. 

The other thing is I don't think we fully understand the timeline. Suppose the English teacher tests positive on a Thursday morning. Well she was at a family function the previous weekend and was exposed then it turns out. So, everyone she came into contact with over the previous three schooldays needs to be tested? 

My XC team is the only team left practicing at my school. Our jr high volleyball coach and his wife were planning to travel to Maine but were told a negative Covid test was required to travel there....both tested positive for Covid, neither has a symptom but they’ve been in contact with virtually every other team so they are shut down for 2 weeks.....waiting to hear same for XC.

And 45 min later I got the email to shut it down until further notice 

damn

Idk. I really think until the vaccine is rolling out, how does life go on. It’s good and fine that people are asymptomatic while having it, but you can’t really tell them to keep going about life normal with it. Odds are they’ll eventually give it to someone who won’t be fine. 

posted by friendfromlowry

Idk. I really think until the vaccine is rolling out, how does life go on. It’s good and fine that people are asymptomatic while having it, but you can’t really tell them to keep going about life normal with it. Odds are they’ll eventually give it to someone who won’t be fine. 

That goes back to my point about 30% of teachers being 50 or over. To me, that is one of the main issues with reopening, along with having enough substitutes for when teachers get sick.

Toledo Public does not think so.  Society waiting on this vaccine that will have no side effects whatsoever to reduce the risk from that 99.96% recovery rate.  Can't have the .04% non-recoverable, push the vaccine now, someone needs to make money off of this

Funny that teachers don’t think they need to be online 40 hours a week. So what are you getting paid for? 

posted by friendfromlowry

Idk. I really think until the vaccine is rolling out, how does life go on. It’s good and fine that people are asymptomatic while having it, but you can’t really tell them to keep going about life normal with it. Odds are they’ll eventually give it to someone who won’t be fine. 

At some point, we are going to have to accept the risks to society of COVID - much like we do many other things.  No one wants anyone to die.  But the human condition is such that there are going to be things that come along and get some of us.  But we collectively weigh the cost / benefit of avoiding said risk.  In the case of COVID, the costs of keeping kids out of school is going to cost our society immesurably for years to come.  Online learning is not even close to an adequate substitute - even when carried out flawlessly (which it is not).  We are punishing our children by not only retarding their educational progress,  but by showing them the example of not fighting through something that is challenging, yes, but not something we can work through collectively.

I really hope that all these schools closing cause the teachers unions to lose power.  There are plenty of us back doing our jobs and working closely around others.  You know what?  That's life - that's part of providing for others.  Are there risks in that?  Sure.  Specifically from COVID they are very, very small.  Life ain't risk free though.  No one is asking teachers to make any greater a sacrifice than many, many other professions have been making these months. 

posted by iclfan2

Funny that teachers don’t think they need to be online 40 hours a week. So what are you getting paid for? 

This doesn’t even make sense. Unless you actually believe you work all 8 hours in your day. 

But regardless, the do not need to be online to make lesson plans, grade papers and have meetings/conferences.

posted by iclfan2

Funny that teachers don’t think they need to be online 40 hours a week. So what are you getting paid for? 

Few work 8 hour days ever

posted by Ironman92

Few work 8 hour days ever

I think the point is they'd be in a classroom 6-7 hours a day, normally.  And, IMO, if not giving a lecture should be available and responding to emails for that time period.

Could be a glimpse of the future.  Kids go to school twice a week for socialization, and then learn from a computer program the rest of the week that runs circles around every teacher out there. 

Better education at 1/3 of the cost?  Hell yes, sign me up!

posted by gut

I think the point is they'd be in a classroom 6-7 hours a day, normally.  And, IMO, if not giving a lecture should be available and responding to emails for that time period.

Could be a glimpse of the future.  Kids go to school twice a week for socialization, and then learn from a computer program the rest of the week that runs circles around every teacher out there. 

Better education at 1/3 of the cost?  Hell yes, sign me up!

I could see one day a week with a computer but not 3, 

posted by Laley23

This doesn’t even make sense. Unless you actually believe you work all 8 hours in your day. 

But regardless, the do not need to be online to make lesson plans, grade papers and have meetings/conferences.

I wasn’t clear, but essentially the kids need teachers in front of them for the majority of the day. You can’t expect parents to teach them when it’s your job. From an article about Chi teachers: “ And, McDade said, the district will establish clear expectations for teacher participation in virtual learning. She told the board that about 80% of high school teachers logged on to the district’s Google digital learning platform at least three days a week last spring, and 55% of elementary teachers did — numbers the district would like to see increase.”. 

55% of elementary only logged on 3 days a week??? What a gig.