My kids went back to in person learning the last week of August. So far, there have been no positive Coronavirus cases in the school, but lots and lots of Strep throat cases both in the high school/middle school wing and the elementary. There’s been a few unknown cases of an illness as well that isn’t coronavirus, just a general nasty cold. (We have a K-12 school).
That being said, the school requires masks at all times except when eating, sanitizer stations and sinks/soap everywhere. They have parents do wellness checks before sending kids to school and again before entering their first classroom, these include temp checks. No one is allowed in the school but staff and kids. If parents have to come to the school for any reason, they go to an anti room right outside the office, pick up the phone and then the child is escorted in or out and backpacks and forgotten lunches and placed in the anti room and picked up by staff. New filters for air movement were installed over summer and open windows in classrooms. The school has admitted that social distancing is impossible, but they do the best they can. At lunch, it’s only 2 kids per table. The halls and locker areas are crowded, so they are relying on masks and hand washing.
We are in the middle of Fall Break right now. Ask me again in 2-4 weeks how things are going since so many families took off for some /all of break. So far though, our school is doing well.
The district my wife works in started hybrid. Most of the schools (I think all but 2) have had at least one cohort go remote for at least two weeks, a few have had the whole school. She just got notified of the first student positive at her school since school started. The kid is an athlete, so we are waiting to see how many more tests start bouncing back positive in the next few days. They are on fall break, so there may be a delay. The teachers polled the kids before break and something like 40% of them said they were traveling for break. FL, CA, Mexico…
everal other districts in the same boat. My district was one of a few to opt for all online for quarter one, and our board just voted to stay remote for quarter two in the face of rising cases in the Denver metro area, especially in the city the district is in. The numbers in a couple other districts are trending high enough that they might not have a choice but to shift back to online learning.
So it’s been two months. How are things going? How do you (or what will do) deal with kids who seem sick? Hope it’s all going well.
The reason I ask is that my little man is in first grade in a Kansas City suburb and he’s been back in school a month. He goes M-Tu on-site at school then W-F online. The other half of his class does M-W online and Th-F at school. They deep clean the school on Wednesdays. He came down with a fever and cough Monday and before he can go back to school, he has to get a COVID test and test negative.
He and his dad (my nephew) went to the drive up testing center and he got the swab that “poked my brain.” He thought no big deal regarding a COVID test until later, when he heard his dad talking about “Marshall having to get tested for the cornavirus.” At that point, he freaked out and started crying, not putting COVID = corona together. “Dad, people DIE from corona!! I don’t want to die!” Bless his heart. Once dad explained that the vast majority of people who die have an underlying condition, he was fine. And, is back to normal, calling my Facetime 4 times this morning. Luckily, no corona, so it’s back to school next week.
His sister is on an IEP and attend on-site 5 days per week, but they can close that part of the school off to the rest of the school/kids.
It’s going much better than expected. We have been face to face with a full class every day. I had 1 remote learner but he has decided to come back face to face also. I was worried we would all be sent home for remote learning after a week but here we are, finishing the first quarter and still in school. I have not had any students test positive or quarantine due to contact with someone who tested positive. Students are very cooperative about wearing masks. I’ve been trying to get us outside as much as possible for lessons. Simple things like a lesson on singular and plural nouns turns out to be really fun when your looking for singular and plural nouns on the playground.
Our school is really small - average of around 40 students per grade level so it’s probably a little easier to manage than a bigger school. We’re really in our own little bubble.
It is hard for these little ones to understand but my class overwhelmingly stated they did NOT like remote learning in the spring and never want to have to do that again!
I can’t even imagine how difficult the hybrid schedule is!
I can’t even imagine how difficult the hybrid schedule is!
On the online learning days, they get lesson modules preloaded onto an iPad that they picked up at the beginning of school. He usually gets them finished really quickly and then doesn’t have any other work to do the rest of the day. He does play Minecraft and is learning to program and watched a lot of Discovery Kids.
I’m working at a middle school, our students come to campus either Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday, or not at all. All classes are live-streamed via Zoom or Google Meet. Wednesday- 1 hour “tutorial “ class -SEL lessons mostly, then office hours from 10-12. Students are assigned 30 minutes of asynchronous work for each class on Wednesday’s. The school’s only positive case so far was from before we started in person—6 weeks into school year. It’s interesting, I am tending to get more work from some students who are now in person, but didn’t turn much if anything I. When we were all online.
Aaand queue angry “not my job†email from parent early this morning that has my wife very upset.
“I can take her phone or ground her but thats all I can do. Its YOUR job to make sure shes not failing.â€
“YOUR education system is failing her. We have to work two jobs. I am not a teacher but YOU are.â€
“YOU have to keep her accountable to make sure shes not failing. “
“Instead youre messaging me asking about what we’re doing at homeâ€
“Shes a slow learner and she needs more.â€
My wife teachers middle school math. The amount of time she spends emailing parents and messaging students is alarming so much so that the union has had to tell teachers to not work past contracted hours, or email back in the evening. Which brings me to my point about teacher’s unions being one of the big issues.
The system sucks. The scheduling sucks. Parents suck. Some teaches suck. Its broken.
But fuck this parent for lacing into Mrs. Yeeper. “All I can do is ground her†The fuck you can. I dont even have kids but I was one and I know that’s not what you do.
It was only a matter of time before this school year went south, but the timeline will be adjusted for everyone.
We have a hybrid schedule where I teach (High School). Half the students in one week, other half the following week, for a 4 hour day. In the afternoon we have all virtual classes for those that did not meet “live” in the morning.
Mask wearing is a PITA but in general everyone follows the rules with the occasional put your mask on reminder you little moron (I mean wonderful child…).
We go to our normal half day schedule (Almost 5 hours) in about two weeks but still with the Cohorts attending each week.
We have had one teacher test positive. We are still in school (Teacher was in a self contained classroom). A couple of kids also tested positive - but, ironically they were already all virtual.
On the other hand, we just go word last night that my son (a Senior) is back to all virtual for the next two weeks at least after having just two weeks of hybrid. One student out of about 2000 at his school tested positive and they are shutting the whole fucking thing down. Uggh.
Two other personal thoughts:
Hybrid blows. We should either be all in or all out. Not this half way nonsense. It’s just a pain in the neck from a teaching perspective having students on my computer and in the classroom and trying to reach both at the same time.
My wife hates the term cohort. Like “What the fuck is a cohort?” Call it a group or some such other word according to her. I just remind her that we in education love our high falutin’ words.
Just my opinion. In metro areas where there are cases of Covid, School should be virtual for now. Period!!!
In areas of the country where there are not cases of Covid, if they want to try in person, go for it. If there is a case, then virtual it is.
I think that we should not risk the children. Pretty simple. My daughter is attending virtual, and they have actually done a very good job. She is doing well (this is HS, so maybe would be harder with younger children) with it, writing papers, doing homework, taking midterms. All seems pretty normal, minus social interaction with others in person. Definitely has removed a lot of the BS social stuff that typically occurs. She still zooms with friends and they have had virtual events with each other. It is sad that they can’t hang out together and see each other in person, but this is temporary. As adults, we are in the same situation. Work is all WFH. Haven’t seen my friends since February. My elderly mother is getting depressed as she is alone and other than seeing some friends a couple of times has been by herself. She doesn’t trust that others are taking it seriously. Probably a good bet. Hopefully we will have a treatment and vaccine in the upcoming year and we can relax these measures, but until then, I think we should stay holed up and safe if at all possible.
Just my opinion. In metro areas where there are cases of Covid, School should be virtual for now. Period!!!
In areas of the country where there are not cases of Covid, if they want to try in person, go for it. If there is a case, then virtual it is.
Why when studies show that having schools opening has little or no contribution to spread of covid – even in areas with covid cases?
NPR Article regarding coronavirus risk and schools.
Interesting, thank you for posting.
We have finished the first quarter all face 2 face at my school. So far so good. It’s going much better than expected and I’m thankful for every day that we are all healthy and learning together.
My wife hates the term cohort. Like “What the fuck is a cohort?” Call it a group or some such other word according to her. I just remind her that we in education love our high falutin’ words.
It’s a Roman military formation consisting of multiple centuries. What’s her position on decimation?
Why when studies show that having schools opening has little or no contribution to spread of covid – even in areas with covid cases?
It seems like it’s only a matter of time before this is no longer the case.
Why?
Because outbreaks are popping up. As weather gets colder everyone will be forced inside. My wife’s school allows mask breaks while everyone is inside.
One teacher in her district had it and is still quarantined. And a few other kids had it. They didnt come back in.
I can imagine just about anything, but science looks at what has actually been happening in classrooms.
Sure there are cases arising in schools – like anywhere. My daughter, an elementary school teacher, caught it and how she go it is a mystery. No other cases in class nor among her roommates. Back to work after quarantine. But that is an anecdote.
So far no alarming evidence that schools are big spreaders. The NPR piece contains a roundup of studies and experiences from around the world. I’m sure some folks have been following the data more closely and can report if the NPR piece presents false hopes.
Fair enough. I guess I spoke too fast. I didnt mean I agree its just a matter of time, more that I agree I wouldnt be surprised if it happens and I could see it happening easily.
As rates go up, I suspect we will eventually see outbreaks in school(s).
If you look at activity risk on a spectrum, I think schools are in the middle to lower end. On limited case study reports that we know, transmission among kids seem to be mainly from social gatherings outside of schools.
My colleague has been analyzing test results from our medical practice (3rd largest medical group in chicagoland) and my discussions with her confirm much of what was said in NPR article. She also happens to have a weekly Q&A and COVID update on our local NPR station.
My wife hates the term cohort. Like “What the fuck is a cohort?” Call it a group or some such other word according to her. I just remind her that we in education love our high falutin’ words.
It’s a Roman military formation consisting of multiple centuries. What’s her position on decimation?
Ha! That genuinely made me laugh. She’d probably think decimation was some sort of new fangled math or something to do with getting rid of the Dewey decimal system…
Higher than the 80K and 70K cases over last few days. Either school children have super immunity or they are generally asymptomatic and maybe not spreading.
For some states MD, there will be children who have not been to school for a year, mean while private schools are open? Over 100K active cases in that state. Come January what else are they going to do except say lets go back to school: