# Back to School...



## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I'm anxious to see how back to school goes this month. What does back to school look like where you live?


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## M311att (May 22, 2017)

Me too. We're in Lakeland TN just outside of Memphis. Our 7th grader starts on Monday.


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## CenlaLowell (Apr 21, 2017)

Daughter going to the 11th she's doing online only for the first nine weeks. We will see how it all this plays out.


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## BobLovesGrass (Jun 13, 2020)

CDC website has I believe 76 kids under 18 total in this thing.
Which is horrible but for perspective 675 under 12yo killed per year in car accidents.

We chose full time in school for our kids. Were offered online option.


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## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

Homeschooling.

Preview of what's to come:

https://www.cherokeek12.net/Content2/covid-letters-archive


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## Gilley11 (Nov 3, 2019)

We are choosing 100% in classroom if at all possible. Online is a last resort option for us. Having someone watch the kids if they are home is not a problem, if needed.

Kids need social and emotional growth. It's hard enough growing up as a child these days, keeping them at home for months on end isn't helping them any. Also, online learning is tough stuff for most children, I am of the firm opinion that learning via online is doing then a great disservice for their education.

Here, school starts 8/20. Maybe it'll only last a month, but I hope not.


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## BobLovesGrass (Jun 13, 2020)

@Gilley11 agree completely, our district, I think they will work hard to stay open. 
Going forward online option is going to be a classroom livestream rather than a few assignments like last spring, that way kids would at least benefit from questions other kids ask, or maybe even help explain things to a friend differently than the teacher.

I think accomodations need to be made for families that for instance have grandparents in the home or as regular caregivers, but in person is best.

Just like the flu this thing is with us forever, we have to cope.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Life is not zero risk, so lets assume some risk from covid is OK to balance education, social development, economic costs, etc. The issue with returning to school is not really the children themselves. The children's risk from COVID is very low, though not zero. The bigger concern is that they will contract COVID and spread it. Children are terrible at hand washing, mask wearing, social distancing, etc.

We also need to remember that 10-20% of people who get COVID will be very sick (these people may need hospitalization and some will need a ventilator), 20-40% will be mildly sick, and 40-60% will have no symptoms. Those percentages are also changing as we understand the disease better. Children are more likely to have no symptoms, but still be able to spread the virus. How many people in higher risk populations will contract COVID because their granddaughter didn't have symptoms?

The risk of serious illness also increases with age and other health problems. Children are low risk because they are young and don't generally have serious other health problems. If you are under 60, your risk of death is below 0.5-1% (younger is lower with under 10 being nearly zero). 60-70, the risk is ~2%, 70-80 the risk is ~8%, and over 80 the risk is ~15%. If you have other health problems such as lung problems, obesity, diabetes, or hypertension, the risk is higher.

We also need to consider that for districts and families with access to reliable internet and computers, online learning is much more accessible. Many children don't have reliable internet access. This is especially true in poor and rural areas. Many children don't have a computer they can use for online learning. What happens to them? Many children live in families where both parents work. How do they learn online?

My school district is online only for at least the first quarter of fall 2020. We are lucky/privileged that we don't have a lot of issues restricting home access. The district is loaning computers to students who don't have one, and companies are donating internet access for students who don't have any.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

^+1 teachers, cafeteria workers, bus drivers getting sick is the real problem to keeping school open. Not even getting sick, just quarantined for 2 weeks every time they are exposed. There aren't enough substitute teachers to keep the things going. My kids elementary was designed for 600 students. It hosts 900. Lunch starts at around 1030 for the first wave and the last wave gets there at 1:30. This was before any restrictions. They started all online, but I don't see how they can sustain anything but a hybrid approach.


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## bradleymichael (Jun 3, 2020)

And people claiming "social interaction and emotional health"..... sending your kid to school for it to be ran like a prison... what do you think that is going to do to your child? "Look little Timmy there is your friend Billy! But don't get close to him and stay at least 6' feet away." This is not going to be normal school where they get to let loose on the playground or anything.


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## Gilley11 (Nov 3, 2019)

bradleymichael said:


> And people claiming "social interaction and emotional health"..... sending your kid to school for it to be ran like a prison... what do you think that is going to do to your child? "Look little Timmy there is your friend Billy! But don't get close to him and stay at least 6' feet away." This is not going to be normal school where they get to let loose on the playground or anything.


Yeah that's way off. No, it's not normal school but it's not going to be any where like a prison either. That's not even a remotely close comparison. There is still interaction within the classrooms and outside activities. The main difference will be in the hallways and class transitions.


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## FlowRider (Apr 7, 2019)

The school age kids in my neighborhood are actually bored out of their minds, from what I see....

The latest thing to do is riding around in circles on golf carts in groups of four or five (legal here).

That got boring, so now the big thing is locking up the brakes to slide to a stop at stop signs. Wee!


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## BobLovesGrass (Jun 13, 2020)

I apologise for posting a link that will be viewed as political, but if we are honest Breitbart is no more right wing than CNN, MSNBC or the like are left wing, heck the article includes some criticism of Trump.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/07/29/nolte-media-hysteria-convinced-americans-30-million-died-of-coronavirus/

The media hype has people not processing the numbers at play. People hear the 150k dead and they might know the population is 330m but then when asked what percentage of the population has died they pick 9% so only off by 2000% and think 20% have had coronavirus so they think almost half die again because they aren't processing the numbers they already know. Making guesses and worse yet DECISIONS based on media panic not cold hard numbers.

Daycares have been open, please post the links to the mass outbreaks associated.

On the schools run like prisons, maybe the conversation should be if those tactics are too heavy handed.


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

Politics are off topic. Please stay on topic.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Our district is offering 4 options:

- Regular school
- Blended learning (mix of regular school and virtual)
- Virtual
- Online Academy (a third-party online curriculum that is not led by our teachers)

My wife and I both work, so we plan to send our daughter (1st grade) to regular school as long as they are able to remain open.


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## pennstater2005 (Jul 17, 2017)

My kids are already homeschooled. I do believe our school district is doing a blended approach.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

If our daughter was older (more self-sufficient), we would maybe consider the virtual option. I'm really anxious to see what it looks like, but at this moment I just feel like there is a lot she would miss by not being in front of a teacher at her age. Unfortunately my wife and I are just not in a position to be able to take on that role.

I also feel like the virtual option will be a better product if we can get teachers back in classrooms, at least to start the year so they can get a better feel for how to make virtual learning look/feel more like their in-person instruction - compared to what we saw back in the spring when everyone got sent home.

Our younger daughter is two. We held her out of daycare while my wife and I were both working from home all day every day, but she went back after Memorial Day. As @BobLovesGrass mentioned, all of our local daycares have remained open throughout the pandemic with no issues to speak of, albeit with lower numbers.


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

Our schools offer online or in person.

We chose in person.

Tennis and golf are mildly impacted.

This virus isn't going anywhere soon. Gotta live with it for a while.

Everybody knows the risks of being around other people at this point. You can choose not to put yourself in that position.


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## bradleymichael (Jun 3, 2020)

Gilley11 said:


> bradleymichael said:
> 
> 
> > And people claiming "social interaction and emotional health"..... sending your kid to school for it to be ran like a prison... what do you think that is going to do to your child? "Look little Timmy there is your friend Billy! But don't get close to him and stay at least 6' feet away." This is not going to be normal school where they get to let loose on the playground or anything.
> ...


Well I guess the school district that my wife and mother in law work with are way off then..... the kids have to wear masks in the classroom and have to remain 3 to 6 feet away from each other inside the classrooms... on recess they will not be allowed to play like normal as they still must remain away from each other... you are right... prison is a lot more lenient as they still allow close interactions with people...


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## BobLovesGrass (Jun 13, 2020)

I am not an epidemiologist but I suspect that if the flu were brand new today it would be a LOT worse than what we have come to expect of it, these days everyone has a long term repeated exposure to flu and yeah it mutates but still similar.
On the flip side IMO as the population is exposed to this and a background herd immunity is developed this thing is going to burn down to a simmer. It will NEVER go away it is going to kill some people every year from here on, like the flu does.

2017-18 flu season was 60k dead, nobody bats an eyelash at that because it is an unfortunate part of life.
Today's 160k number is bad, but is it really as apocalyptic as it is being pitched? Those deaths are also heavily concentrated in 3 states. NY which we are told did well with heavy handed lockdowns stands at 168 dead per 100k, FL and GA we are told did horribly due to not locking down so hard and opening up more stand at 36 and 38 per 100k no I did not forget the 1 in front of those numbers. Look up the numbers. 
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1109011/coronavirus-covid19-death-rates-us-by-state/
https://data.cdc.gov/NCHS/Provisional-COVID-19-Deaths-Among-Ages-0-18-Years/nr4s-juj3

I don't watch any news, I read, I feel it helps you to focus on the data and not be as drawn into the narratives.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

@BobLovesGrass stay on subject on Back to School. This is your second post not on subject.


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## Cory (Aug 23, 2017)

Our middle and high are starting online only and will re evaluate later in the year. Our middle schools student population is around 1,200 kids and the high school is around 2,200, both are over capacity, there is no "social distancing" in our schools. We have an 8th grader and an 11th, I'm pretty sure they will do better online than in school. There is so much distraction and wasted time during their regular days, they complain about it all the time. There will be no distractions at home so they will be able to do what the need to do and be done with it. We were actually looking into an online academy last year for them because of all the wasted time and bs they have to deal with at school so we are pretty happy with the decision to do online only

The younger kids are gonna have a harder time with it however. Our elementary schools are doing a modified schedule. They are splitting them into two groups. A group goes to school Monday and Tuesday, B group goes Thursday and Friday, the other days will be at home learning, Wednesday is a "cleaning day". All I can say about that is I'm glad my kids are teenagers now because that's gonna be pain to deal with for parents.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

There was one district in our state that announced the alternating days thing as their "in-school" option, but I think the state department of education made them change it.

The virtual or blended option is a good way to keep kids in the district whose parents are uncomfortable sending them and/or considering homeschool, but I think staggered days almost alienates parents of young children who have 8-5 jobs outside the home.

I think virtual only for kids who are old enough to stay home and navigate curriculum by themselves makes a lot of sense though.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

It will be interesting for sure. I serve on our local school board and the Executive Director of the Arkansas School Board Association summed it up well on a conference call we had a few weeks ago - he said not only do we not know all the answers, we really don't even know all the questions yet.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

My wife just told me one of the local school districts that started in person 1.5weeks ago just sent a txt to go 100% virtual for the high school. They have positive cases and need to figure out what to do.


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## Wiley (Dec 2, 2019)

g-man said:


> ^+1 teachers, cafeteria workers, bus drivers getting sick is the real problem to keeping school open. Not even getting sick, just quarantined for 2 weeks every time they are exposed. There aren't enough substitute teachers to keep the things going. My kids elementary was designed for 600 students. It hosts 900. Lunch starts at around 1030 for the first wave and the last wave gets there at 1:30. This was before any restrictions. They started all online, but I don't see how they can sustain anything but a hybrid approach.


I totally agree. My wife teaches in a school district where extra help and substitutes are almost non existent.

School is supposed to start on 8/17. As of now we still don't know if it's in person, hybrid or distance.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

g-man said:


> My wife just told me one of the local school districts that started in person 1.5weeks ago just sent a txt to go 100% virtual for the high school. They have positive cases and need to figure out what to do.


I think we'll see a lot of that.

I know the state guidance here in Arkansas has been to plan for in-person school, but with the ability to pivot between the traditional and virtual options as needed.


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## Jacob_S (May 22, 2018)

My two started today, will go today then not again till Friday, they are doing a staggered start through this week. They are both excited to be getting back, I am too, I like routine.


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## BobLovesGrass (Jun 13, 2020)

Ware said:


> It will be interesting for sure. I serve on our local school board and the Executive Director of the Arkansas School Board Association summed it up well on a conference call we had a few weeks ago - he said not only do we not know all the answers, *we really don't even know all the questions yet.*


That is a very good statement, but to expand on it, are the questions being asked today the right ones?

This morning I took our kids and a couple of the neighbor kids to " summer school" which are kind of like day camps, sewing, art, computer stuff, started last week. YMCA has been running a daycare program out of the elementary school since the beginning of June. Kids didn't have to wear masks till last week. Capacity was I believe 85 kids and they are broken into 4 groups. They are serving snacks all has been good sofar haven't even had a scare.
For two months kids in Y-care had no masks and a lot closer contact that will be allowed at school in the same building.


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## Getting Fat (Dec 31, 2019)

What an incredibly difficult decision for everyone.

Let me first say, thank you teachers and god bless you. For what they're paid, NO WAY I would do it. No matter what you think about the virus, you have to recognize the tremendous risks and sacrifices they're making.

I'd love to send my kid to kindergarten. Love to. I fear what will happen is that school will open then quickly close down. Then, because my kid was exposed, grandparents cannot help with childcare. Without grandparent help, it's either TV or mom/dad's job is no more.

We're lucky we have grandparents help. Not risking that for a week of in-person school.

Also, school here pushed back opening and will start with online only. So, that kinda takes the decision away from us.

I'm in Texas, so football is a big deal. They've told the big schools they cannot play until 8 weeks later than scheduled. However, small schools can start on time. I also see the football season being a start, stop, and (maybe?) start again.


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## BobLovesGrass (Jun 13, 2020)

I know a lot of folks are lucky enough to have parents around and involved in routine child care, that is great, and definitely plays into a families decision making.

For those doing online, is it list of assignments and a periodic zoom meeting or is it expected to be "normal" classroom type instruction via 6-7 hour livestream?

Spring here was assignments and periodic zoom for our 2/5th graders. 2nd grader is on the older end of the scale and being just 2nd grade breezed through in 30-40minutes and I would assign extra math or reading. 5th grader is youngest in her class and were getting into math that is harder and I spent a fair amount of time with her but still probably averaged only 2 hours a day. There was a tantrum about "never going to use math" now mind you her mother who works for a BANK was working from home in the next room and while I don't have the "higher education" on paper I rose to an engineering position at work. So being told math wasn't a useful skill was hilarious. That is a homeschooling memory I will never forget. Telling the banker and engineer math is pointless :lol:


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## Rig2 (Sep 3, 2018)

We live in rural low-income area of Northern California. At my daughters middle school They shut down school in late February On orders of the governor. They handed out computers to all students. It seemed like they had a plan.

They didn't. Kids didn't log in, some didn't have internet connection, and most just logged in and did other stuff during online classes. Some teachers didn't do the online classes and just sent out pages you had to print out and return at the end of the year. None of it worked.

What ended up happening was your grade at the end of February was your grade. All work after that was considered extra credit and could only help out your grade. No kids cared. They just want to play fortnight or make tic-tocks.

My wife is a para-educator In elementary who works with English as a second language and non-nons. Don't speak Spanish or English good enough to know which language is best. These kids need help. Parents can't help because they don't understand the language. It's usually up to the older kids at home to help, but they don't care. It's a bad situation.

I don't know what the solution is. But trying to hold the kids accountable with online schooling doesn't work where we are. I feel the kids are going to lose a year of schooling and it's a shame.


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## BobLovesGrass (Jun 13, 2020)

I can see the full day online not working, I hadn't considered the points you made. 
At the same time the handful of assignments wasn't great even with our very fortunate situation where I switched to 3-12s Fri-Sun shift and my wife was working from home Mon-Fri. She just worked a little over each day to account for the time the kids needed help on Friday.
8-10yo girls can be pretty self sufficient on meals long as an adult is around, and could stay on task somewhat so Friday wasn't a big deal for me to be gone.
However I feel many boys would have been a much bigger handful, at least judging by those in our neighborhood.

I know I would have been a lot less interested in school without science labs, technologies classes where we built things for competition, and drafting class, yes I am old enough they taught us on paper and then let us play on a computer a little.

There are things that can't be done online. Egg drops, mousetrap powered cars, chemical experiments. My 8th grade science teacher loved to have us do chemical experiments where we knew the inputs but had to test the product to figure out what it was.

Think back to your favorite classes, projects and teachers, think you could make the same memories online? Think a teacher could get you as excited about a topic via zoom?


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

Our spring semester was OK here. They had pre-recorded online lectures and homework assignments. My daughter is smart enough that it was not a problem for her - she never needs help with homework. My middle was a senior and it was similar for him. This fall, the plan is for online lectures over video chat. Fortunately, most of the kids in our district are high performing and motivated so they will do the work. I can see how it would be difficult without family support and high expectations.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

I had the first full remote learning day. The 5th grader was fine. He attended all the zoom meetings and had meetings with group of 6 kids to get to know each other.

The kindergarten one frustrated me. The school basically expects the parent there the whole time to mute and unmute the kids, to keep them focus on the call, to make sure the get there in time to deal with the crying kids that wants to watch tv. Then to help do videos and attach them to the app writing their names. I feel this is pointless and a burden on parents (or grandparents). I cant work and homeschool my kid. The daycare center won't deal with the iPads/zoom calls either. I don't mind doing lessons in the evening, but having to dialing into zoom meetings is not going to work for me.


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## bosox_5 (Jun 20, 2018)

g-man said:


> I cant work and homeschool my kid.


So we had a meeting with our neighbors who we are effectively quarantining with. Our plan is to hire a tutor to come over for 2-3 hours a day and help our 4 kids with making sure their school work is organized and getting done. We are fortunate enough to be able to throw money at the problem.


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## BigBoxLawn (Jul 8, 2020)

My Fiance is going back to school next week as a teacher here in NC. They were essentially told to be ready for 2 weeks of in person teaching and to expect things to be shut down after that. Essentially "Hey lets try going back knowing we are puytting everyone at risk. Once something bad happens we will pull out". Unreal


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## BobLovesGrass (Jun 13, 2020)

For all those convinced children will be super spreaders, what data are you basing that on?


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## abstract (May 31, 2020)

Our school is offering all virtual, or a partial in-person where they have one day in school every other week - this is for a high school. The spring semester post-lockdown was a bit of a mess, as the teachers were totally unprepared to engage in remote learning, and they really relied on the kids to keep up with their work and teach much of the material to themselves. The plan for the fall seems much more structured, with more virtual real-time engagement from the teachers and more focus on the digital tools to make it work.

We chose partial in-person for our daughter, but still have some residual misgivings. We think the district is doing their best, but the HS is a really old building with not great ventilation, though they will be requiring masks, and there should be fewer students in the building at any one time. Our biggest concern is extracurriculars - our daughter is a theater/chorus kid, and both those activities look risky based on some of the transmission studies, so not sure how much she'll be able to participate in those, which will be a big loss for her. Kids who play sports have it better so far - at least for now in NJ, practices have started, though sure there will be some changes.


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## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

BobLovesGrass said:


> For all those convinced children will be super spreaders, what data are you basing that on?


It doesn't matter whether or not children are "super spreaders" because mere exposure will trigger quarantining policies which will drive in-person absences. I posted a link to anecdotal data above, see https://www.cherokeek12.net/Content2/covid-letters-archive

My wife has informed the school system she will not be working in-person; they haven't even decided if they want to keep her on for distance education support or just part ways. School starts in 13 days. As usual for Florida, we're headed toward a CF. The good news is pretty much anybody with teaching credentials can earn decent money tutoring individual students or small groups; @bosox_5 is just one of many, many folks looking for better options.


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## BobLovesGrass (Jun 13, 2020)

That brings us back around to @Ware and the post about if the right questions are being asked or variants of that idea.
Seems like lockdowns are the answer waiting for the slightest excuse.
In which case we all need the be ready for remote learning sooner rather than later.


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## bernstem (Jan 16, 2018)

BobLovesGrass said:


> For all those convinced children will be super spreaders, what data are you basing that on?


I'm going to ignore "superspreaders" since it seems inflammatory and not helpful to the discussion. So far, the best information we have is:

- Cases are increasing among children. The rate of positives has almost doubled in the past month:
https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/children-and-covid-19-state-level-data-report/
- Children are relatively less affected, but some still get critically ill to the point of needing ICU care and ventilation. 
- Black and Hispanic children are 10-50 times more likely to be seriously ill from COVID.
https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6932e3.htm?s
- While children 9 and under under don't seem to spread the virus as much as adults, children from 10-19 seem to spread the virus just as well as adults
https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/10/20-1315_article

We should remember that most of our school age children are 10-19. Extrapolating daycare data where children are under 10 will lead to significantly underestimating the rate of transmission in middle and high school children.

Not surprisingly, this is all early data and may change as our understanding of the virus changes. Just because something is published does not make it accurate, but these references seem to be consistent with the preponderance of the data and our current understanding of COVID.

TLDR: children under 10 don't seem to spread COVID as much as adults. Most school children are 10-19 and they seem to spread nearly as well as adults. While a smaller percentage than adults, some young children still get critically ill from COVID.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

*There are plenty of other places to engage in debates about the virus itself. Please stay on topic, or this thread will be locked.

The topic of this thread is:*



Ware said:


> I'm anxious to see how back to school goes this month. What does back to school look like where you live?


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## HoosierLawnGnome (Sep 28, 2017)

g-man said:


> My wife just told me one of the local school districts that started in person 1.5weeks ago just sent a txt to go 100% virtual for the high school. They have positive cases and need to figure out what to do.


I saw that.

We had 1 case supposedly on the news but i never hear anything else, no school email or text. They track everything now, kids have to sign in for lunch and bathroom breaks. That allows the school to notify any of the people thayve been in contact with.

Frankly i think the news misreported it or we just werent in contact.

Anyways, infind it highly irresponsible that a school system wouldnt have a plan in place and would need to shut down while they figure it out. Ill prepared. Of course there are going to be cases. I find it much more probable their plan was to shut down at the first sign, which is in fact what they've done.


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## Wiley (Dec 2, 2019)

Our local school board voted (4-1) last night to start school with formal onsite learning starting next week. About 20% of students have opted for distance learning. I have two students in the district as well as my wife being a teacher.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Wiley said:


> Our local school board voted (4-1) last night to start school with formal onsite learning starting next week. About 20% of students have opted for distance learning. I have two students in the district as well as my wife being a teacher.


That is interesting to hear that it was local decision. Here the public schools are taking directives from the Governor, in collaboration with the state Department of Health and the Department of Education.


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## Wiley (Dec 2, 2019)

Ware said:


> Wiley said:
> 
> 
> > Our local school board voted (4-1) last night to start school with formal onsite learning starting next week. About 20% of students have opted for distance learning. I have two students in the district as well as my wife being a teacher.
> ...


We live in a rural county that is not on our states "watch list" which means we have a low percentage of positive tests to tests taken. With that criteria met we were able to make our educational decisions locally with guidance from the state office of education and county health director.

We are currently on the bubble with our three day average of positive tests increasing. If we reach the "watch list" threshold schools will be closed and distance/virtual learning will be implemented. So it will be interesting to see how things play out in the next couple of weeks.


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## thangkhungdien (Aug 14, 2019)

In my local, 5 weeks trial for online (virtual class) then goes from there. Prior this week, some ISDs already had 1-2 staff tested positive then they need to stay home for 14 days and must report to district until test negative then go back to their campus/school.

Three of my kids are not in school yet since I am WFH, they are with me all the time.

There are 4 options:

- Home school
- In class
- Virtual class
- No school (it's up to parents)

College, mix of virtual and blended starting 08/24/2020. Back in June, few UTs (University of Texas) has decided in class but they backed out recently. Now, few UTs doing half and half. My nephew's in law and cousin are doing blended.


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## The_Beast (Jul 23, 2020)

BigBoxLawn said:


> My Fiance is going back to school next week as a teacher here in NC. They were essentially told to be ready for 2 weeks of in person teaching and to expect things to be shut down after that. Essentially "Hey lets try going back knowing we are puytting everyone at risk. Once something bad happens we will pull out". Unreal


That's what I think will happen too. Dumb and unsafe for everyone involved, especially "just to see if it works"

You would think that teachers would have good heath insurance, well, I certainly do not. If I get Covid, it will cost me $4400 out of pocket ($7400 if my insurance rolls over another year), plus any long term effects it has.

There's already a teacher shortage in my state and who is going to want to sub for $125 a day with a room full of kids who meetup outside of school anyways.


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## cavince79 (Jun 18, 2019)

We started with choice of remote learning vs in person learning, but that was before the case count in Georgia started to increase. My school district shut down in person learning before we started and went fully remote, while the districts nearby did not, and quickly became national news stories due to the packed halls, no masks, etc.

Today was Day 1 for my kids. Some hiccups, but in general, my school district made up A LOT of ground from the Spring in their online learning tools. My youngest is online from 8-12, with Zoom meetings sprinkled in, and independent learning at the end of the day. My oldest is the opposite, so it works well, with independent learning from 9-12, and online learning from 12-4.


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## ionicatoms (Mar 8, 2020)

cavince79 said:


> Today was Day 1 for my kids. Some hiccups, but in general, my school district made up A LOT of ground from the Spring in their online learning tools. My youngest is online from 8-12, with Zoom meetings sprinkled in, and independent learning at the end of the day. My oldest is the opposite, so it works well, with independent learning from 9-12, and online learning from 12-4.


When I was in high school, I contracted mononucleosis and was required to stay at home for a few weeks. All of my assignments were sent home for completion. On my first day back in-person, it so happened that we had a British lit test; I got the highest score in the class (which I assure you was unusual). I suspect many secondary students will realize, like I did, that they are learning more effectively and efficiently from home than they would in-person at school. I was fortunate to have a dedicated place to study/work (in the formal dining room my parents never used) and no reading impediments.

Best wishes to everybody!


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## cavince79 (Jun 18, 2019)

ionicatoms said:


> cavince79 said:
> 
> 
> > Today was Day 1 for my kids. Some hiccups, but in general, my school district made up A LOT of ground from the Spring in their online learning tools. My youngest is online from 8-12, with Zoom meetings sprinkled in, and independent learning at the end of the day. My oldest is the opposite, so it works well, with independent learning from 9-12, and online learning from 12-4.
> ...


We did take the extra effort to designate learning spaces for both kids. I also picked up a new capable laptop so that they can retreat to a quiet space if necessary, but we're all trying to be mindful of each other in this new environment. I fully suspect my daughter will do better this year without all of the distractions that happen in the classroom.


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## Schreibdave (Aug 15, 2020)

I am soooo thankful that my kids are in their 20s and we don't have the challenges that k-12 parents are dealing with. Most districts here in NY are doing a hybrid model of 2 days in school and 3 days doing remote learning. This is necessary so that classes can be smaller and kids can be kept at least 6 ft apart.

Someone earlier referenced schools resembling prisons. I am afraid that this will be the case for a lot of kids. One local district will have high school kids in a classroom of 12. The kids will not leave the room all day except for bathroom breaks and the teachers will rotate. So if a kid doesnt have friends in that class he may not see them at all. That will be miserable.


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## Powhatan (Dec 15, 2017)

The county school board where I live voted recently to switch from hybrid model to all virtual instruction for all grades PK-12 citing increased contact risk along with a rise in confirmed positive virus cases in the county.

Some of our local friends with school age children don't have reliable high speed internet so my wife & I offered for them to come to our house and use our high speed internet cable WiFi.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Munson said:


> ...Someone earlier referenced schools resembling prisons. I am afraid that this will be the case for a lot of kids. One local district will have high school kids in a classroom of 12. The kids will not leave the room all day except for bathroom breaks and the teachers will rotate. So if a kid doesnt have friends in that class he may not see them at all. That will be miserable.


I think it's all relative. Given the choice, our daughter would probably choose being in a classroom with 11 of her classmates over being stuck at home all day with working parents constantly asking her to be quiet because we're on the phone or in virtual meetings. She would call that miserable. :lol:


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## cavince79 (Jun 18, 2019)

That's why I end up hiking down the hallway for my conference calls. I'll work in the kitchen so I'm close enough in case they need me, but when I have to take a call, I head down the hall so as not to interfere with their schooling.


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## rob13psu (May 20, 2018)

My kids are still young. 2 and 4. Both are back at daycare full-time. My oldest will begin preK at 2 days a week, with some in-home instruction.

It has been a scramble for most of the school districts to come up with a plan. It seems most are doing A-B days for 2 days a week with Wednesday being an at home day for everyone while a deep cleaning is being performed. Per NY state guidelines, if the positivity rate increases above 5%, all schools will go remote.


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## Factor (Oct 10, 2019)

Ware said:


> I'm anxious to see how back to school goes this month. What does back to school look like where you live?


My kids are old and grown. If I had to chose I would have picked Homeschooling. I hope everyone stays safe.


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## rjw0283 (May 11, 2020)

It's all online here. Me and my wife both work full time so they are doing their online school at daycare. The daycare is doing as best as they can to help the kids through it. It's been a challenge. My kids are 9 and 5. A 5 year old with a laptop for kindergarten is crazy to me. The daycare has basically become a school for kids that have full time working parents. I drop the kids off at the front door, they never let me in the building. When I pick them up, they bring them to the door for me, so they have some safety measures in place. The part that hurts is that instead of paying part time daycare during school I am now paying full time daycare for both kids, which equates to about 900 bucks more a month. So, I'll be happy when school starts up again.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

We just finished our second week of in-person school. I think 15-20% of our district opted for the virtual or blended options, so that helps some with the numbers. They've changed the way they do a lot of things, but our daughter is really glad to be back. She was genuinely disappointed when we told her this is a 3-day weekend. &#128514;


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## thebmrust (Jun 29, 2020)

I know a lot of teachers. Almost all of them are desperate to be back in their classrooms with their students. They dislike remote teaching and miss the kids. Those who are apprehensive are the medium to high risk, or those who have immediate family that are.
I know one high schooler living in a trailer at his house because the family has public facing workers. I know of a teacher who's spouse died from Covid and did not have ANY symptoms. They were not in the classroom when he passed away. 
Everyone here is/has been wearing masks for months. Schools are online until possibly Nov. Then, depending on the local Covid counts they will go hybrid (1/2 of the kids go two days a week and 1/2 go two days with a teacher day for lesson preparation).
Many parents here are opting for online until masks are not required.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

We're still in school and while anything is possible, I do not currently see a scenario where we would be forced into mass closure for an extended period. They are currently quarantining (shifting to remote learning) positive cases and any of their probable close contacts, and that seems to be keeping the number of cases manageable.


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