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I think it's criminal to send children -- who have no say-so -- into classrooms that we have no clue are safe. No actual data or proof based on past results that these classrooms will be safe for kids to occupy together during this pandemic. Sending them into classrooms now is beyond criminal. It's tragic no matter what the outcome.
They won't be able to stop the virus from spreading.
Every single school year come Sept someone gets a cold and it spreads through the school like wildfire.
I used to hate the first couple of months of school.
Then you get the winter flu and other mysterious illnesses that sometimes shut down schools for a week.
Yet we can "contain" a novel virus from spreading ?
Who is kidding who here ?
I'm gonna say it folks..."The emperor has no clothes on"
The other day I was thinking how glad am (as a retiree) not to be returning due to the covid, because it seems like I always catch everything. But as I thought more about it, I used to catch everything going around...but that has not been true since retiring. Schools are a breeding ground for disease.
When did we start talking about children’s lives, or anyone’s lives, like this? I don't understand how people can even begin to use a stat like that as a data point as part of their argument. "Only 1%"? My school district has ~189,000 students. 1% of the would be 1,890. We wouldn't say, "Only 1,890 students will die" and think that's ok, would we? I recently read that .0016 die. Even that would be 302 students. Would we say, "Only 302 students will die"? Of course that's if every student became infected.
So lets say 30% of the students get infected. That's 56,700 infections in my school district. 1% dead would be "only" 567. .0016% would even be "only" 91 students. Who would actually think that that's acceptable?
I taught high risk children with special needs for forty years. During that entire time I had two students die while in my class ( one who was extremely medically fragile & homebound and one in a house fire) and another former student (also severely medically fragile) die due to illness.
These deaths were extremely upsetting for everyone, teachers, therapists, fellow students in the class and school, parents of other students in the school and even the general population of the neighborhood. I know many, many other teachers who have gone their entire careers without having a student in their class, or even in their school, die. I can't imagine a situation where it would be "acceptable" to have a plan where the death of children is an expected outcome.
Last edited by germaine2626; 07-11-2020 at 12:16 PM..
I taught high risk children with special needs for forty years. During that entire time I had two students die while in my class ( one who was extremely medically fragile & homebound and one in a house fire) and another former student (also severely medically fragile) die due to illness.
These deaths were extremely upsetting for everyone, teachers, therapists, fellow students in the class and school, parents of other students in the school and even the general population of the neighborhood. I know many, many other teachers who have gone their entire careers without having a student in their class, or even in their school, die. I can't imagine a situation where it would be "acceptable" to have a plan where the death of children is an expected outcome.
And I’m not even sure about the statistics. 1% is surely high. It’s more the calloused attitude that bothers me.
I think we should just face the fact that the year 2020 is a disaster. Yes, kids will be set back academically and socially. There is just no good way to fight it.
The ripple effect from the year 2020 will probably continue on down through the generations, just like the effects from the Great Depression in the 1930s or WWII. People back then didn't enjoy it any more than we are, they suffered. Some of them probably emerged the better for it however. In times of travail, people with ingenuity and creativity can often find their own ways to gain and come out okay.
Schools can't start up this year. Besides all the issues with masks and cleanliness, most teachers were never trained in how to deal with remote teaching. And, as for requiring the teacher to design lessons for in class plus online lessons, there aren't enough hours in the day. This would mean two different teaching styles and bouncing back and forth from one to the other, different assignments, different strategies...it wouldn't work.
It's mostly a lost year for regular schooling. There's no way to force it to be normal.
No formal school, but how about a time for reading?
K-8 is impossible for online learning. Maybe high school--maybe. But K-8, no. Let's just chalk it up that 2020 is a lost year. Maybe some kids will gain something from this year though--maybe more time with family. It might be helpful for the school to send home a suggested reading list. A lot can be learned by reading; the importance cannot be underestimated. They'll be better readers, better spellers, maybe better thinkers, and with well chosen books, the kids will be learning subject matter as they read. Make it a mixture of "fun" books and adventure books and some of the usual required reading. The principal of the school or one appointed teacher or the school librarian could be in charge and that person could also advise the parents, maybe urging the parents to read along with the kids or to read the same book and discuss it with the kid. Reading is basic/fundamental. It's one thing the kids don't have to miss out on.
Just make sure there are some wonderful, fun books on that list because there are always kids who just hate to read. Throw in a book about airplanes for some third grader who is in love with airplanes and you may just hook him on reading. Get the school librarian (if there is one) involved and maybe there could even be phone calls or online conversations about the book the kid just read--pleasant, fun conversations, not scary quizzes that the kid will dread. Match the kid with the book and also include some books that would be more educational but don't force it. Here's an opportunity to use all that spare time to develop and nurture the kid's love of reading.
It's hard to make kids do school work without a teacher or a classroom and that's why I say--make it fun! Ask for a list of that kid's interests and then select books that he/she would love. Just an idea, but it's one way in which all would not be lost and something could be gained.
I think we should just face the fact that the year 2020 is a disaster. Yes, kids will be set back academically and socially. There is just no good way to fight it.
The ripple effect from the year 2020 will probably continue on down through the generations, just like the effects from the Great Depression in the 1930s or WWII. People back then didn't enjoy it any more than we are, they suffered. Some of them probably emerged the better for it however. In times of travail, people with ingenuity and creativity can often find their own ways to gain and come out okay.
Schools can't start up this year. Besides all the issues with masks and cleanliness, most teachers were never trained in how to deal with remote teaching. And, as for requiring the teacher to design lessons for in class plus online lessons, there aren't enough hours in the day. This would mean two different teaching styles and bouncing back and forth from one to the other, different assignments, different strategies...it wouldn't work.
It's mostly a lost year for regular schooling. There's no way to force it to be normal.
Those children already attending virtual schools will be able to continue uninterrupted.
Not every child will suffer and be set back.
Yes the Great Depression devastated the majority of Americans. But did you know that the largest number of millionaires got created during the Great Depression.
If my son was still school age he would be attending virtual school next year and possibly longer.
Those children already attending virtual schools will be able to continue uninterrupted.
Not every child will suffer and be set back.
If my son was still school age he would be attending virtual school next year and possibly longer.
I agree that not every child will suffer and be set back because of virtual classrooms. We had a positive fourth quarter this past academic year and expect it to continue throughout most, if not all, of the coming academic year. I must say, however, my children go to a private school which was well prepared and the public school system had already been offering online options years before the pandemic emerged. Moreover, I work at home.
In fact, if this continues longer than a year, then we may ditch the private school and do a public or private online school option permanently.
And that's exactly what some private schools may be fearing, but they have to walk a fine line between maintaining revenues and seeming to care about their customers' health. As a result, for this year at least, they will most likely offer options.
I do agree with the previous poster that it will be a nightmare for the teachers, among other nightmares, to manage a hybrid system and that we are probably better off committing this academic year to online only.
Harvard University, and probably many others, has already done so. Who is smarter than they?
Better one lost year of socialization and perhaps a sub-optimal academic experience than some 80 years of lost life or permanent disability.
I'm fortunate to live in a fairly isolated Alaska community that's been pretty much spared the pandemic thus far. Only a handful of cases and they were successfully quarantined. Local leadership has been pretty aggressive about testing as well as limiting access by outsiders, and it's made a huge difference. So they're currently planning on opening the schools basically as normal this autumn, with a lot of precautions, such as daily temp checks, no one being allowed in the building who's traveled recently, extra cleaning, staggered start times, etc. Right now contingency plans are in development in case there is a local outbreak. I guess our schools actually did comparatively well this spring during quarantine, so it's just a matter of developing that further - there was already a pretty robust e-learning platform in place because of inclement weather issues (school seldom gets called off, but it's common for parents who live outside of town to keep kids home when it's below -30 not counting windchill or the roads are especially bad) and because when kids travel for sports and activities they're gone for days. So most teachers were already in the habit of at least posting assignments online for absent students.
There aren't a lot of 9-to-5 type jobs here so the issue of school-as-daycare is maybe less of an concern - most families are already working around odd schedules and are pretty adaptable.
We already have a distance ed program and I imagine more parents will be taking advantage of that than usual this year.
No formal school, but how about a time for reading?
K-8 is impossible for online learning. Maybe high school--maybe. But K-8, no. Let's just chalk it up that 2020 is a lost year. Maybe some kids will gain something from this year though--maybe more time with family. It might be helpful for the school to send home a suggested reading list. A lot can be learned by reading; the importance cannot be underestimated. They'll be better readers, better spellers, maybe better thinkers, and with well chosen books, the kids will be learning subject matter as they read. Make it a mixture of "fun" books and adventure books and some of the usual required reading. The principal of the school or one appointed teacher or the school librarian could be in charge and that person could also advise the parents, maybe urging the parents to read along with the kids or to read the same book and discuss it with the kid. Reading is basic/fundamental. It's one thing the kids don't have to miss out on.
Just make sure there are some wonderful, fun books on that list because there are always kids who just hate to read. Throw in a book about airplanes for some third grader who is in love with airplanes and you may just hook him on reading. Get the school librarian (if there is one) involved and maybe there could even be phone calls or online conversations about the book the kid just read--pleasant, fun conversations, not scary quizzes that the kid will dread. Match the kid with the book and also include some books that would be more educational but don't force it. Here's an opportunity to use all that spare time to develop and nurture the kid's love of reading.
It's hard to make kids do school work without a teacher or a classroom and that's why I say--make it fun! Ask for a list of that kid's interests and then select books that he/she would love. Just an idea, but it's one way in which all would not be lost and something could be gained.
I don't disagree with you, but don't most schools already do this anyway? How do you foresee it working better in the absence of daily contact with teachers for accountability and support purposes?
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