I wish my daughter was going back full time (HS) she’s part time now, 3 day one week, 2 days the other. Was supposed to be full time after Columbus day but governor pushed it back until November. I don’t think there have been any cases in her school.
Going back, even partially, has been a total change in her personality. Looking back over last spring into the summer, she probably had a mild case of depression which seems to have reversed itself since school started.
Funny we’re discussing this. My wife just got the email that 1 student in their high school building (my wife is middle school) just tested positive and 29 students and 6 faculty were determined to have been in close contact inside. So they’re all home for 14 days. At my mother in law’s district, one of the elementary kids tested positive and now everyone there is home. Just found out about that last night.
Feel for the children. I took them to Australia as we could just so they can go to school. Think the kids were depressed, think I was as well. Lock down is horrible and required.
With the level of community spread and not much in the way of travel restrictions its hard to see how we can make this work, but we have to. Kids need to be in school, how we get them there safely is another question.
Can’t see how there can be anything other than a nationwide lockdown to curb spread set the baseline and get schools going and sensible opening.
Funny we’re discussing this. My wife just got the email that 1 student in their high school building (my wife is middle school) just tested positive and 29 students and 6 faculty were determined to have been in close contact inside. So they’re all home for 14 days. At my mother in law’s district, one of the elementary kids tested positive and now everyone there is home. Just found out about that last night.
Wow the whole elementary? We only quarantine whoever is determined to be a close contact.
Update
Following up and curious how other children/schools are managing COVID at this point.
My class has remained F2F since I originally posted. I have had 4 students quarantine due to a family member testing positive. No students in my class have tested positive. I have remained healthy, my family has also (we’re all in the same school). The end of November-December were difficult for the school as many teachers were testing positive and we were frequently short staffed but that seems to have settled down.
I found out last week that our 2nd graders went from 68% high risk in reading at the start of the year down to 17% high risk after mid-year testing. That is more growth than any other grade in our entire elementary. I’m kind of proud of that in case you can’t tell ha.
We’re still wearing masks, desks are still spaced apart as far as I can manage, sanitation procedures are still in place. There are many things I’ve implemented due to the COVID restrictions that I find work a lot better and I will probably continue.
I was really worried to start the year and not very confident we would make it F2F for one week much less all of these months!
My younger son’s high school has no plans for allowing regular students back on campus.
They do have plans to have a few special needs students back in about two months.
We were hybrid in November but all went back to virtual (except special needs) after Thanksgiving when the community numbers went through the roof. We were set to go back to hybrid two weeks ago, but then the governor announced teachers would be on the 1b priority for vaccinations. So the district decided to hold off until the bulk of the teachers have gotten both shots. So now hybrid on the 23rd of February.
All the districts around us are less likely to have F2F than we are. In one the parents are pissed because the union is saying vaccinating the teachers isn’t enough and they won’t go back in until the kids are vaccinated.
We were hybrid in November but all went back to virtual (except special needs) after Thanksgiving when the community numbers went through the roof. We were set to go back to hybrid two weeks ago, but then the governor announced teachers would be on the 1b priority for vaccinations. So the district decided to hold off until the bulk of the teachers have gotten both shots. So now hybrid on the 23rd of February.
All the districts around us are less likely to have F2F than we are. In one the parents are pissed because the union is saying vaccinating the teachers isn’t enough and they won’t go back in until the kids are vaccinated.
Wow. Here teachers were offered the first dose of the Moderna Vaccine in January. I can’t imagine not going back until all the kids are vaccinated. I am not in the union but locally I have not heard any kind of push back from the union about being in person. It’s so different everywhere.
I was just talking to the husband of one of the teachers. She is schedule to go back to in person in March and has said that she won’t go back. Willing to loser her job over it. I asked why not given that she has had the vaccination? Her argument is that she does not feel like there is protection enough to prevent her from being able to bring the virus back into her home and infect her family. She might change her mind if they show that the vaccine is effective at stopping transmission as well as preventing illness. They are both very concerned about the long term effects of Covid and less concerned about the fatality risk.
My wife has been back in person since the first of the year. Initially it was hybrid for the lower grades and she received her first show on Jan 4th and the second on Jan 23. All teachers who wanted vaccinated have been and were some of the first in our area to get the shot. Now all schools in our country are back in person. They have had some quarantining but overall it’s been pretty good.
I get my second shot on the 15th.
My kids have been in school all year.
We have had regular positives amongst students and staff, but the vast majority were community spread. My understanding is there were one or two elementary classrooms that were assumed to be classroom spread, but that’s it.
Guidance was originally quarantine for 2 weeks for anyone who was within 6 feet of a positive case for 15+ minutes, even if both parties were masked.
It then was reduced to a 1 week quarantine for close contact.
Now there is no quarantine for any close contact provided both parties were masked.
If the close contact was at lunch, band, choir or sports and they were within 3 feet for 15 minutes, then there is a 1-week quarantine.
I was concerned when our kids first went back to school, but I’m actually quite happy with how they have handled it at this point.
The public school teachers in CA are dragging their feet. I truly believe that public schools won’t go back to normal instruction until 2022.
Private schools have been open for face to face since Sept (??) and doing fine. They publish their positive figures, quarantine the close contacts, and generally go about the business of teaching.
Hugely disappointed in California’s approach.
Update
Following up and curious how other children/schools are managing COVID at this point.
My class has remained F2F since I originally posted. I have had 4 students quarantine due to a family member testing positive. No students in my class have tested positive. I have remained healthy, my family has also (we’re all in the same school). The end of November-December were difficult for the school as many teachers were testing positive and we were frequently short staffed but that seems to have settled down.
I found out last week that our 2nd graders went from 68% high risk in reading at the start of the year down to 17% high risk after mid-year testing. That is more growth than any other grade in our entire elementary. I’m kind of proud of that in case you can’t tell ha.
We’re still wearing masks, desks are still spaced apart as far as I can manage, sanitation procedures are still in place. There are many things I’ve implemented due to the COVID restrictions that I find work a lot better and I will probably continue.
I was really worried to start the year and not very confident we would make it F2F for one week much less all of these months!
Good for you! It’s been similar for my kids and ex wife (teacher). All has gone pretty damn well, and I’m happy to be in a place that had the courage to do it this way.
The public school teachers in CA are dragging their feet. I truly believe that public schools won’t go back to normal instruction until 2022.
Private schools have been open for face to face since Sept (??) and doing fine. They publish their positive figures, quarantine the close contacts, and generally go about the business of teaching.
Hugely disappointed in California’s approach.
My kid is in a small private school here in Los Angeles county and they can’t re-open for f2f. They are truly starting to panic now that they are realizing that the local health authorities might not want to let ANY schools re-open because of the pressure from the local teachers unions. The school stands to lose a lot of students to the boarding schools out of state - not many people will pay the regular tuition for the DeVry level schooling.
The selfishness and the cowardliness of the local public school teachers is truly insufferable. The pull that their unions have on the local politicians rivals that of the Chicago mobsters of the 1900s.
I live in Mountain View, and I don’t want my 16 year old to go back to school this semester.
I live in Mountain View, and I don’t want my 16 year old to go back to school this semester.
I respect your desire to be cautious. I wish that my family was given a choice, but sadly the unions of teachers are not the unions of students.