Opening schools safely

[Deleted User 310]

wanted a thread dedicated to opening schools safely....

Have any parents of school aged children made a decision what their plan is in regard to sending their kids back to school at the end of next month?

What steps are your local school districts taking (if any) to ensure the safety of students / teachers / parents?

[jhawks99]

My youngest will be a senior at UK this year, so no school age kids here. Here is the first paragraph of Fayette County's plan.

Fayette County Public Schools is looking at welcoming students back to school the week of Aug. 24 with a new model of on-campus, face-to-face instruction, Fayette County Public Schools Superintendent Manny Caulk announced July 1. “This is later than our school district normally starts, but this change allows us to take advantage of the flexibility afforded in state law to have a shorter school year, which could prove crucial if intermittent closures are required,” Caulk said.

[kubowler99]

Our kids are split between parochial (middle school - 6th & 8th) and public (high school - Soph). The public high school has offered the option of distance learning, and we plan on utilizing it. The parochial school has not yet finalized their plans, but ourselves and other families have stressed the need to provide an option. We can accommodate all of our kids being home during the day, but we also understand others aren't so lucky, especially those with kids younger than ours.

The parochial school has no way to enforce social distancing in the classroom, given that all of their classes in each grade (K thru 8) are at or close to max capacity. I'm also fairly certain you aren't going to get most of the kids to keep any type of masks on for the majority of the day. Our hope is they do offer an option, and enough families take advantage of it to allow the school to implement social distancing measures in each of the classrooms.

There is no great answer here. You put kids at risk as well as teachers/administrators. But the kids need to be around their peers; they need that mentally and emotionally in a bad way.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Very sore subject right now. If KU goes full online (a very nonzero chance), because of the Trump admin's infinite wisdom, my household will just uproot our lives and careers and be forced back to our home country. No problem.

Wonder if we'll get paid back on the bill for the 100's of 1000's of dollars of tuition paid, grant money secured on behalf of a public institution, and of course, tax dollars paid.

[japhy]

Never have I been so happy to say my kids are both out of school as I am today. Trump and DeVos have sunk to a new low in the war on public education and in their craven desire to abuse power. Using kids as cannon fodder during a pandemic to further their personal gain is as despicable as anything I can think of. But for all of you Trump supporters; this is just Trump being Trump and at least you don't have to see Hillary's face on Fox News as your kids step into the breach.

I do have one daughter who is a teacher in KS. Her school is well funded and they have capabilities to teach everything on line already. As of last week no one knew if they were going to teach in person or remote. The administration didn't want to commit because they were waiting for health officials and politicians to weigh in. They will have to create the next semester on the fly instead of having all summer to prepare.

I have a tenant in Denver who is a teacher and they are in pretty much the same boat. Covid rates are surging in his district and they have been waiting for direction.

Then there is the neighbor who teaches out in Western CO in one of the poorest rural districts in the State. His students have less than 50% access to a computer or internet. He told me that last semester he figured he had about 10% participation of students in his classes. He felt that the Spring semester was a complete loss for his students. He also is waiting for direction from school administration as the semester was up in the air as of a week ago.

There is no time left to retrofit classrooms for social distancing or get other protections in place before school starts. Kids are going back into the crowded classrooms they left in March.

All three teachers believed the next semester will be a shitshow for the students, teachers and parents and that was before Trump declared everyone had better get back to school or else. Of course he is restricting the CDC in putting out guidance for how that can be done safely because, they believe that is best decided by the locals. Translation; whatever you do is your fault and the Trump administration is going to shame you publicly for everything that goes wrong, or if you make a decision that makes him look bad.

Prediction; a lot more people are going to get sick in the Fall and a lot of students whose parents can afford it will move to private schools in the next year. A big win for DeVos and more of the chaos Trump enjoys.

Something to think about as you go to the polls in November.

But you should definitely weigh all of this against my tax cuts. My third house isn't going to pay for itself. And there are is my retirement to think about as well. How am I going to feather that nest without more tax cuts? You can always have more kids, but my retirement is permanent.

Is it too much to ask for just four more years of my tax cuts?

Now get your kids out there to take one for the team!

By "the team" I mean "me" of course.

[jhawks99]

Very sore subject right now. If KU goes full online (a very nonzero chance), because of the Trump admin's infinite wisdom, my household will just uproot our lives and careers and be forced back to our home country. No problem.

Wonder if we'll get paid back on the bill for the 100's of 1000's of dollars of tuition paid, grant money secured on behalf of a public institution, and of course, tax dollars paid.

That sucks, I've never seen an administration revel in cruelty. I hope it works out for you and your family.

[jfish26]

I've got a middle schooler, an elementary schooler and a toddler.

My wife and I both work full time, so these last few months have been very challenging.

The problem is compounded because (a) we decided to pull the toddler from daycare because we saw pictures of her teachers out partying after lockdown, and (b) my family collectively decided my mom (who is our backup) shouldn't be around anyone. She's in her late 70s and smoked for 30 years.

We simply can't have the toddler out of daycare for much longer before it would start to force very hard decisions about jobs.

So - and I know there are gaping holes in this logic - it's very hard not to fatalistically conclude that if the baby has to go to daycare (because my mom can't be here), the die is cast and the older kids might as well get back to a normal education and social life.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Very sore subject right now. If KU goes full online (a very nonzero chance), because of the Trump admin's infinite wisdom, my household will just uproot our lives and careers and be forced back to our home country. No problem.

Wonder if we'll get paid back on the bill for the 100's of 1000's of dollars of tuition paid, grant money secured on behalf of a public institution, and of course, tax dollars paid.

That sucks, I've never seen an administration revel in cruelty. I hope it works out for you and your family.

Thanks. I do see some options for us including working loopholes.

Some of our friends aren't so fortunate and that feels awful. Had a friend text last night saying he's scared shitless b/c if he gets sent back, he will be conscripted into the military on arrival.

Cruel is the correct word.

[Deleted User 318]

Very sore subject right now. If KU goes full online (a very nonzero chance), because of the Trump admin's infinite wisdom, my household will just uproot our lives and careers and be forced back to our home country. No problem.

Wonder if we'll get paid back on the bill for the 100's of 1000's of dollars of tuition paid, grant money secured on behalf of a public institution, and of course, tax dollars paid.

That sucks, I've never seen an administration revel in cruelty. I hope it works out for you and your family.

Thanks. I do see some options for us including working loopholes.

Some of our friends aren't so fortunate and that feels awful. Had a friend text last night saying he's scared shitless b/c if he gets sent back, he will be conscripted into the military on arrival.

Cruel is the correct word.

Gah, I'm so sorry for the extra stress that this policy is placing on you and yours. Wishing the best and hope it all works out.

[jhawks99]

NPR did a piece on this yesterday. There is an attempt to block this in court. Not sure how successful it will be. They also interviewed a guy from Nepal. He said he could very well get deported, but Nepal has closed its boarders and not allowing anyone to come in.

[CrimsonNBlue]

That sucks, I've never seen an administration revel in cruelty. I hope it works out for you and your family.

Thanks. I do see some options for us including working loopholes.

Some of our friends aren't so fortunate and that feels awful. Had a friend text last night saying he's scared shitless b/c if he gets sent back, he will be conscripted into the military on arrival.

Cruel is the correct word.

Gah, I'm so sorry for the extra stress that this policy is placing on you and yours. Wishing the best and hope it all works out.

Thanks, just adds on to the immigration/travel stress of 2020, but I feel worse for the parents abroad re: stress level.

[Deleted User 318]

NPR did a piece on this yesterday. There is an attempt to block this in court. Not sure how successful it will be. They also interviewed a guy from Nepal. He said he could very well get deported, but Nepal has closed its boarders and not allowing anyone to come in.

I figured with the recent court cases that a stay can be put in place that will give time for the next administration to reevaluate, or at the very least a vaccine could be closer.

Want schools to open, wear a mask and stop going to the Ozarks.

[CrimsonNBlue]

NPR did a piece on this yesterday. There is an attempt to block this in court. Not sure how successful it will be. They also interviewed a guy from Nepal. He said he could very well get deported, but Nepal has closed its boarders and not allowing anyone to come in.

The policy has absolutely no basis in reality and was pushed forward by mostly people that are completely out of touch with reality--funny how that works. Harvard/MIT sued yesterday.

Affects way more than just people in our position, and US citizens. A lot of F-1's teach upper level courses at every university. Someone in PhDHawk's position likely heavily relies on F-1's. The contribution is literally billions of dollars to universities and governments.

And, yeah, again, the cruelty. "Just go back and then you can re-enter when you have a live course." No basis in reality.

[Deleted User 318]

My jaded self puts the current administration's twofold goal with the "schools must reopen or else," as 1. to kick out more immigrants even though they came here legally and with the understanding coming in the right way they will have certain rights (thank you Stephen Miller), and 2. a way to try and gut federal public school funding, and revert those funds to private institutions that "remain open" (thank you Betsy DeVos).

Everyone wants schools to be open, but the administration is using it as an excuse to circumvent immigrant rights, and attack public schools. It has no end.

[pdub]

Sorry CnB.
It's a mess, hope that it never reaches the point where you have to leave.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Thanks.

And NiceDC, Harvard/MIT seems to agree with your jadedness.

[jfish26]

My jaded self puts the current administration's twofold goal with the "schools must reopen or else," as 1. to kick out more immigrants even though they came here legally and with the understanding coming in the right way they will have certain rights (thank you Stephen Miller), and 2. a way to try and gut federal public school funding, and revert those funds to private institutions that "remain open" (thank you Betsy DeVos).

Everyone wants schools to be open, but the administration is using it as an excuse to circumvent immigrant rights, and attack public schools. It has no end.

Maybe these are his puppeteers' goals.

I would guess that Trump's, as usual, are more Candyland then even checkers: he rightly perceives that schools staying closed will be even worse for the economy, in the short term (being the only term he knows), so that's that.

[shindig]

Times like these I'm glad I don't have kids and wish the best to all those that do who are forced to make these tough decisions. Vote this clown out in November!

[sdoyel]

Trump and the Feds are huffing and puffing about this, turning it political... Meanwhile (again) putting all blame on state and local government to implement a plan.

[sdoyel]

I put this in another thread, but look what we are dealing with:

https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1281 ... 01856?s=21

Fortunately my 4yo son doesn’t start Kindergarten until Fall 2021. Still, he lost half of his preschool year last year. I’m concerned for him, but he’s in the same boat as everyone else.