Schools and Covid

[Falcon16]

So obviously with school coming back up for a lot of kids, or in some cases already going back in some places I'm wondering how my fellow parents are feeling about sending their kids to school. Do you feel confident in the measures taken by your area and the school administration, are you still wary of sending your children to school but feel given that this is going to be around for a while that we need to learn to adapt, or are you in the boat of saying screw it I'll home school because it's not worth the risk and i don't trust kids or frankly people in general to be able or willing to follow protocols.

I know where I sit but I wonder what the general take on this one is.

[Rainmaker]

No amount of countermeasures/ preparations/etc. will be able to keep a mask on my kindergartner, or keep my preschooler 6 ft away from her friends, or keep my first grader from licking windows and flicking boogers. So yeah, factor that in.

[JonM]

Considering how my son already has respiratory issues, putting him at risk by surrounding him with hundreds of people (many of whom buy into the whole anti-mask BS) isn't very high up on my list of bright ideas. I've enrolled him in cyber school until this COVID business blows over. The school has already stated that they will not require students to wear masks while inside their classrooms. This is completely ridiculous, dangerous, irresponsible, and I'll have nothing to do with it.

[glaman5266]

Do you feel confident in the measures taken by your area and the school administration, are you still wary of sending your children to school but feel given that this is going to be around for a while that we need to learn to adapt, or are you in the boat of saying screw it I'll home school because it's not worth the risk and i don't trust kids or frankly people in general to be able or willing to follow protocols.

I'm not 100% on board with what my district is doing, but we gotta start somewhere. We need to learn to adapt, my kids will have to learn to be safer/more clean, and I feel that social development is way too important to let slide because of a virus. Kids need in-person socialization. Despite what the internet can do for us, it is not a great substitute. I'm 100% in favor of my kids going back to school.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Social development is a huge concern. School work is one thing but losing the valuable social development is very tough. My kids are 3 and 6 and the social aspect is what they missed most in school. My 3 year old is heading into preschool for the first time and is ready to make some friend and be more social. It’s hugely important!

[Falcon16]

Agree with you Cuda, my son who's now 8 misses his school. Our area of town which is about a KM or so from his school doesn't have a lot of kids in it so he's been feeling isolated. I know when he's at school that's primarily where he sees his friends and interacts with kids his own age. Hopefully when this Covid BS is all over he'll be able to go and play at friend's houses and such like we all did as kids and it'll help with his social skills and help with his isolation.

[Falcon16]

Agree with you Cuda, my son who's now 8 misses his school. Our area of town which is about a KM or so from his school doesn't have a lot of kids in it so he's been feeling isolated. I know when he's at school that's primarily where he sees his friends and interacts with kids his own age. Hopefully when this Covid BS is all over he'll be able to go and play at friend's houses and such like we all did as kids and it'll help with his social skills and help with his isolation.

[Interl0per]

Man it's freaking tough my kids are grown but I definitely feel for the parents of school-age kids right now there's no easy answer. Personally if mine were still in school I would send them to class after having prepared them the best I could without catastrophizing while worrying myself sick because honestly a professional is going to do a much better job of educating them than I could and there's some things that are much harder to teach the older you get. That said, it's a very individual decision and I wouldn't presume to tell any parent what the right choice is for their family.

[shadow191]

I'm still on the fence. Was all for sending my son back but then cases here in GA skyrocketed and most of the schools including our district went to online only. So not an option right now for the next 9 weeks or so.

But watching what is going on in neighboring districts that opened makes me understand why our district did what it did. I think in the first 2 days of opening, one district has already had 4 separate schools with positive cases and kids/teachers being sent home to isolate. That's almost worse, you plan for your kid to be in school, and day one they get sent back home for 2 weeks. My nieces go to a nice private school and they know of several kids who tested positive and were hanging out all summer with friends, going to parties, etc. That school is offering in person or online so I'm curious as to the outcome.

I really would prefer son to be in school in person but I'm ok with keeping him home until GA figures out how to better handle things. Seems like every day we make national news for something Covid related.

[Falcon16]

I have family in GA My 2nd cousin just started 7th grade in Woodstock GA and I'll admit I'm scared for him. I see the cases down there exploding and all I can think is WTF?!

[shadow191]

Believe Woodstock is in Cherokee County which is where the schools with positives are. Paulding County is another one that opened and the day before they did multiple players on a HS football team tested positive. Luckily these are smaller districts in lower populated areas that have lower cases so fingers crossed it doesn't get too bad.

All of the big districts are still online. But Gwinnett County which is biggest district in state is planning to start in person next month I believe. Given that they also have some of the highest Covid numbers in state (big population), will be curious to see how it goes. Hopefully well as that would indicate that it's possible to open schools more safely but not optimistic.

[Lazarus78]

yeah, gwinnett county school system has 260 faculty and staff out for covid. lots of people are gonna die. make your kids stay home.

[JonM]

Teaching our own kids to be responsible and follow safety guidelines is all well and good, but we all know that kids will be kids and everyone knows at least a few people who don't care, don't listen, or who would actively rebel against authority. Those are the people who will make things worse for everyone in a situation like this. Kids may not be as likely to die from COVID-19, but they can certainly pass it around to others. Hell, the schools were petri dishes for spreading infections even before COVID-19 existed. To expect anything different during a global pandemic is just naive. I fully expect to see stories in the news about teachers, librarians, janitors, lunch ladies, and so on losing their lives because an outbreak swept through their schools. We have the ability and the technology to educate our kids without exposing them and those around them to a potentially deadly virus. Socialization isn't worth other people's lives.

[Scrapiron]

This is a situation of everyone trying to make their own cost benefit analysis with the caveat that no one has any good data to base their decision off of.

[Falcon16]

Excellent point, nobody has any data to use to figure out if this is a good idea or not and everyone has to wing it and make the choice they think best for themselves.

[Skipdogg]

100% on board with my high school kids going back full time. Unfortunately the school board isn't concerned about my thoughts and have decided for me. So no going back full time for the district.

[Falcon16]

High schools , given their age and understanding of the situation, I feel can more easily go back to full time learning than the elementary school kids.

[sloonan]

My two kids (4 and almost 2) are supposed to go back to daycare in September. The daycare is having staff wear facemasks but the kids are not and forget about social distancing. They will both be in classes of 10 kids each so our risk level for potential infection will skyrocket. I waver between being terrified for them and us and also accepting that if we are able to maintain a low community spreadin in NJ it might be possible for them to safely go back. And if we decide not to send them I don't know how we are suppoaed to work with them home.

[Flounder]

The answer to your working from home is in your signature line.

[Falcon16]

Flounder, you nailed it! LMAO

[Magmoormaster]

I don't have kids, but I am a college student. The 3 classes I'm taking, when I enrolled a month or 2 ago, were to be taught face to face. I just got an email today saying one of our classes will be in person, the others will be online. I'm not happy about that. My specific program is very small; 11-12 in the cohort. We have a large room and we're all mature adults (I think the youngest in the program is 21, most are 24+). We are plenty capable of social distancing and keeping masks on.

I barely made it through last semester with a passing grade when we transitioned to online. I think with the way we're setting these classes up will be better (livestreaming instead of asynchronous) will dramatically help but I hate online learning. I am not good at it. I am, however, incredibly glad the class that is face to face is indeed face to face; it's a 6 credit hour class and pretty much the most important/only important part of my program. The problem is as we get further into the semester, I'm going to be in the classroom before/after these online classes anyway, so what difference does it make?

I'm all for social distancing and mask mandates. And I think by and large the US is not doing a great job at taking this virus seriously. But I think our program, at the very least, is able to function safely in person.

[MrKittyCatMeowFace]

How yall parents doing that gotta work all day and now the school ain't babysitting your kids? Not trying to make light but i never figured out what all the elementary school age kids are gonna do home alone.

[cougar20th]

My town is letting us know in the next week or so what they plan to do. Im mixed. I want my daughter to see friends and have those interactions. But social distancing is difficult for 6 year-olds. But they will be required to have masks and NH is still relatively low for cases.
definitely nervous about the whole thing.


We can choose to have her do completely remote learning with the schools support.

if she has the remote learning then my work schedule is going to be crazy. All my boss wants is for me to get my hours. He doesn't care when I do the work. So I can work at night if needed.

[rathbaster]

Bridgewater State University where I teach is mostly online and all of my classes can be taught online.
Only a handful of labs, art studios, musical instrument classes are being taught face to face, and most of those are either broken down to smaller sections or 'hybrid' (I am still not sure what 'hybrid' means but thankfully don't have to worry about it).

[Cdn_Cuda]

I’ve got young kids, one entering preschool and one entering Grade 1. My province has done well with Covid so far, largely under 50 cases a day for the entire Province. Kids are supposed to be returning to in-person instruction but now the government and teachers Union appears to be moving towards a showdown unfortunately.

Our health officials have been great, so leaning on their expertise over that of the teacher’s union but less than a month to go until school is supposed to start, and it’s touch of parents trying to figure out work and school/childcare with all these unknowns.

[Falcon16]

I wish in Ontario the teachers union would tell Ford to go screw. no cuts to class sizes just shove 30 kids in elementary school back into the classroom no masks mandatory for kids under grade 4. I can see our numbers going back up the way did in some US states. My wife and I are looking seriously at home schooling for this year for my son who's in grade 3 this coming year. Not much is taught in grade 3 that I couldn't get some workbooks and teach him myself or that my wife couldn't teach. The board has also offered online learning as an option which may be the option we choose then we'll do other things as needed to supplement.

Meanwhile the Secondary schools get lower class sizes, a hybrid one day in class one day at home model etc. They get what the elementary kids need because the elementary kids aren't realistically going to social distance etc worth a %&*@