Parents, will you send your kids back to school in the fall?

[mellowyellowgirl]

I've been the poor child who scrambled to do all my learning from school. The only access to books I had were free ones. I lived in a one bedroom apartment and hid in the bathroom frequently. I had to go to the public library to use a computer.

I'm also the mother of a very privileged kid who has a huge yard, swimming pool, trampoline etc. He will be absolutely fine at home.

I don't think it's right to sacrifice an entire generation of poor kids so we middle class folk can feel safe and comfortable.

***

I wonder if they can open on a "need to go" basis? During lockdown we were told to keep our kids home. And those of us who could certainly did.

School remained fully open for the handful of kids who needed to go. If you need to be there you just show up. I spoke to my son's teacher and she said they had about 50 kids attend. They were taught the same online worksheets, had access to computers and had teachers walking around to help them.

Don't mind me.... just mulling. This topic has has a nerve.

 

[Polabowla]

I'm sorry @mellowyellowgirl that sounds very difficult. Your child is lucky to have such a different life now!

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

I'm sorry @mellowyellowgirl that sounds very difficult. Your child is lucky to have such a different life now!

Thank you. I was hesitant to bring it up because I really don't want to drag a sob story in to make a point.

I'm just hoping to provide a perspective on what it's like to actually be quite poor and the huge role the schooling system played in my life as someone who needed to climb out of poverty. The things we take completely for granted are not so for many other people.

 

[FancyDiamond]

Polka bowler, No need to attack me for making a statement about my choice. The question is will you send your kids to school in the fall. I choose not to, and I do not tell you not to. You make your own choice. Everyone‘s situation is different, and so is everyone’s judgement. I have very bright kids (skipped grade and breezed through top school), but my grandchildren are not. They shall be forever “catching up”, especially with school closed, but so what? Life is never perfect. People just need to learn to deal with life. However, they got to be alive and healthy first.

 

[Slickk]

Nobody Asked Me: A Teacher’s Opinion on School Reopening

Everyone has an opinion about how and if schools should reopen for this coming school year. We’ve heard from the governors, the pediatricians, the parents, the education secretary, and the pr…

mrsteacherlife.wordpress.com

 

[Gussie]

Ugh! I was very pleased with our school district's plan for reopening. The schools were going to be hybrid online/in person. My kids would have gone 2 days a week only. This was the only way for proper distancing. Now, the Texas Education Agency, the governing body for Texas schools, says that it's either online or in person, no hybrid allowed. And they said they absolutely will not postpone opening. Have you seen the numbers in Texas?!? These dumbasses in Austin have no clue. If schools are going to open safely, one size does not fit all. Leave it to the blankety blank government to mess up a good plan. Now, I have to rethink sending them back to school. This is terrible. My kids were so excited to go a couple of days a week. I am livid!!!

 

[LemonMoonLex]

I read half the thread but I dont know what to do and its starting to really weigh on me.

My partner thinks wed be silly to keep our daughter home but since I can stay home with her and teach her through the provided remote resources I truly think that itd be best and so do my parents and extended family.

Our daughter is 5 and will be starting 1st grade and would only be going two days a week and have to wear a mask the entire time. I dont know what theyre going to do when a teacher or a student tests positive?! Quarantine the class or the whole school for two weeks?

Its stressful deciding because my partner doesnt think its that bad and really hates the idea of homeschooling although id be doing it.

She was also born with CDH (long story short shes a miracle with no long lasting complications now but had a less than 9% chance at survival) and has smaller lungs and lung capacity than others her age so that's factoring in also.


I'm trying to make the best decision for her and her health and education but its stressful because we dont agree.

:/

 

[LemonMoonLex]

Ugh! I was very pleased with our school district's plan for reopening. The schools were going to be hybrid online/in person. My kids would have gone 2 days a week only. This was the only way for proper distancing. Now, the Texas Education Agency, the governing body for Texas schools, says that it's either online or in person, no hybrid allowed. And they said they absolutely will not postpone opening. Have you seen the numbers in Texas?!? These dumbasses in Austin have no clue. If schools are going to open safely, one size does not fit all. Leave it to the blankety blank government to mess up a good plan. Now, I have to rethink sending them back to school. This is terrible. My kids were so excited to go a couple of days a week. I am livid!!!

Wow, what idiots. Im so sorry! This decision is so darn stressful!

 

[SallyB]

Nation's Pediatricians Walk Back Support For In-Person School

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@Gussie, I'm sorry, that really stinks that the plans are changing, you know I'm sure they will change another ten times too before August.

@TheGarnetGirl, it's really hard when DH isn't on board with your daughter being homeschooled, what are his concerns?

I know in our district there will be an isolation room and I personally find that scary for little kids.

I've been in the situation of having the other parent not be on board. When our oldest was little, I knew there was something "off" we are talking 10 months maybe even younger. I was trying to get him to see what I was seeing and he came back with "it's almost like you want something to be wrong with him". Yeah fun conversation.

Turned out to be a sensory disorder, I'm a big fan of following your gut so if you feel strongly that she is more at risk and would be better off at home then you might need to have hard conversation with the DH.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

@TheGarnetGirl keep her at home.

If you can and are willing to home school it will be brilliant for her.

I know I've argued passionately to keep school open for kids who have no other options but teaching them yourself is extremely effective.

Our son needs assistance in prepping for a very competitive exam (He's competing against kids who spend all their holidays and weekends at tutoring centres). Hubby and I have decided to forgo the help of tutors and have tackled it ourselves. It is very rewarding and dare I say quite fun. You just need to ferret around for materials and information. Keep charts, track results and development. Pick everyone's brains to get as much information as you can.

Hehe I don't know if we'll be successful in helping him (haven't done the test yet) but the process has been awesome and he gets lots of one on one attention!

Do not be scared to home school!!!

Also when you teach them yourself you become really close and you learn a lot more about them and yourself. I find that there's this trust and communication that we've developed strongly since we started to teach him.

 

[OboeGal]

It's in the children's best interests

Not necessarily.

That is a blanket assessment that doesn't take into account a ton of complexities and factors involved with individual kids, their families, their communities, their states, or their countries. The majority of the postings on this thread should have made that crystal clear - there is no one-size-fits-all solution, or assessment, to this. There is no good solution, either - only the least bad for each situation. We're in a pandemic of a dangerous virus with no vaccine or good treatment yet, and far too early in the course of it to know enough about what it's long-term affects are. All approaches are going to be distinctly suboptimal - and that's an understatement.

@TheGarnetGirl, based on the information you have provided, in your shoes, I would absolutely, unequivocally keep her home, and wild horses wouldn't keep me from doing so. Just my 2 cents.

All the folks going on about there never being a vaccine - that's overly pessimistic at this point. We have umpteen in development; it may take longer than we'd like, but the odds are very good that we will have one, and even more than one. It may need to be "boostered" on a more frequent basis than we're used to, or it may not provide complete immunity but instead render it to the level of a bad cold, and it's not 100% guaranteed, but the odds are strongly in favor of it. It certainly is not yet time to be making critical decisions about children's well-being on the basis of an assumption that there won't be one and that this will stretch on for years and years to forever, in my opinion and based on the research I'm seeing.

 

[House Cat]

The question I want to ask is what will happen to a child’s learning and development if they become infected and bring that virus home to their parents and one of them dies? That will be childhood trauma. Childhood trauma is a very serious situation that affects a person for the rest of their lives and ultimately shortens their lives due to comorbidity.

This is a likely scenario. Missy just posted an article that states that many cases are spread by children and people under 20.

Another thing, dead kids can’t learn a thing. Children may not die as often as adults but they do die. Some scientists are saying that the reason we haven’t seen many children’s cases is because we put SIP in place in march. We are now seeing a rise in children’s cases. The situation with the daycares and summer camps should clue us in on what will happen this school year. Only, sending kids to school will be much worse because there are more people in the equation.

Understand, I’m not judging anyone. I’m merely stating what I know to be true.

 

[House Cat]

I didn’t care for the school’s remote learning. My son is in high school and he literally had 15 of school work per day. I enrolled him in an established online school so that he can learn his full curriculum this year and not fall further behind.

 

[SallyB]

Kids Feel Pandemic Stress Too. Here's How To Help Them Thrive

 

[Polabowla]

When I wrote it's in the children's best interest, I was referring to my own.

 

[LemonMoonLex]

Thanks for everyone that responded directly to my post.

Yesterday I let the decision get to me and let the anxiety spiral.
I just want whats best for my girl and I agree with my beau that socialization is important but its just so early & I dont want her to be apart of the experiment.

I'm going to stand my ground and have a talk with him tonight as were supposed to do these questionaires about whether we will be sending in our child, doing the provided remote learning, or taking them out entirely to do our own home curriculum by the fourteenth.

I let my SO make many choices concerning our life together as I trust his calculated judgement but he knows that when it comes to our child and something I feel strongly about that I dont budge. He will have to trust my opinion and trust that I will provide just as good of an education for her through the resources they provide. After a few months or the semester if we havent heard of anything intense happening then Im all for sending her back in.

@Yada Yada Yada An isolation room for what? That is terrifying. Poor kids will feel like they did something wrong.

Also yes, a mother intuition is strong. Thats the only reason we caught her CDH in utero @17wks which was life threatening, it was only because I kept demanding an early ultra sound because I had a feeling something was wrong with my baby. Just a feeling but I was right....

I dont trust people who don't believe in mothers intuition although thats a different chat entirely.

@mellowyellowgirl I read your earlier post & you definetely touched on a topic that many of us dont see or even know about. In my area many kids dont receive food at home even and its pertinent that they open the schools for kids that need those resources. Many children dont have a safe, quiet place to learn, an adult to teach them at home, a phone or computer. You are absolutely right that some need the schools.
Also by us that can provide for our children and teach them at home were helping to depopulate the schools and keep them slightly safer for those that must go.

Also good luck on his competition! Whether he wins or not you will have the peace of mind and the beautiful memories of coaching your child.

@OboeGal I agree! Also I just want to make it known that since she was 2 months old she hasnt had any complications from her rough start but shes definetely a miracle. A lot of CDHers have feeding tubes and breathing tubes and severe developmental delays due to months to a year in the NICU. All of those were promised to come with our baby upon birth but she fought and won. She does have smaller lungs and situs inversus where her heart is on the opposite side but thats it. She doesnt get colds easily. Still I want to do what I can & I think for anyone if you can keep them home- do it.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

If I COULD keep my Son home, I would. Absolutely. I think a reasonable way to have socialization and keep your kids as safe as possible is to find other local families that are doing to same and create a small at home school cohort. Keeping it small will keep risk down, even if it's just a few hours a few times a week your child will get socialization. If I could do this I would.

 

[scouty]

Nobody Asked Me: A Teacher’s Opinion on School Reopening

Everyone has an opinion about how and if schools should reopen for this coming school year. We’ve heard from the governors, the pediatricians, the parents, the education secretary, and the pr…

mrsteacherlife.wordpress.com

I liked hearing all the points being made here from an actual teacher’s prospective. My mom is a teacher in NY State and 60 years old. Thinking of my Mom going back to the classroom in September worries me.

I do understand why some parents want their kids back at school, especially if they have to go to work and the school was part of their child care situation.

 

[yennyfire]

@Gussie Same here in GA. Here’s the link to our entire “plan” full of vague language and many unanswered questions. And saying masks “strongly encouraged” is BS! I see tons of people not wearing them at the grocery store, so I know their kids won’t wear them at school.

I have rising 8th and 10th graders who see 7 teachers per day. Umm, what happens when my kid’s teacher tests positive? Are all 150 of her students going to have to quarantine for 14 days and will they just be on their own to keep up with the material? What number of cases have to be present in the school to close it down (a neighboring county had supplied a matrix earlier this summer, but our cases are already triple what would have resulted in a school shutdown according to the matrix—that district has since rescinded the matrix).

Likewise, I don’t see sitting in front of a computer from 8:30-3:30 as a viable option either. How are they going to focus for that long? And the social isolation will be devastating. And saying they can hang out outdoors with friends after school isn’t reasonable, as they usually have 2-3 hours of homework after school.

There is no good solution. Either risk you kid’s long term physical health or risk their emotional health and academic growth. What a nightmare!

https://www.cobblearningeverywhere.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2020-2021-Reopening-Plan.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3j2zr22tzhK6bSHOHI6L3HxWaRvInJ4yB2PLXQUBCvdfGO5xe8arnux8E

 

[OboeGal]

I'm posting a link to something I saw on Facebook today that is really relevant to this discussion. The author is referring to the question of opening schools in a district in the US. I want to be clear that I don't post this in judgement of anyone here; I know that everyone commenting here who is a parent loves their children dearly and wants the best for them and is agonizing over these choices.

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[Matata]

My DH is a pediatrician and his advice to parents who are worried about their kids' emotional well-being should they have virtual schooling this year is: use common sense, choose a small circle of friends, say 3-5 max, for you kid to interact with. There's still risk, but the risk is to a small number, easier to contact trace if one becomes ill with covid-19, and allows your kid some social interaction. Compare that scenario to the risk of sending your kid to school with hundreds of others and determine what's best for your situation.

 

[SallyB]

I'm posting a link to something I saw on Facebook today that is really relevant to this discussion. The author is referring to the question of opening schools in a district in the US. I want to be clear that I don't post this in judgement of anyone here; I know that everyone commenting here who is a parent loves their children dearly and wants the best for them and is agonizing over these choices.

Đăng nhập Facebook

Hãy đăng nhập Facebook để bắt đầu chia sẻ và kết nối với bạn bè, gia đình và những người bạn biết.

www.facebook.com

What great points, and a great writer. Everyone should read this, not just parents!

 

[Matata]

Posting the FB post here for those who don't have a FB account:

Joe Morice
22 hrs
·

To our fellow FCPS families, this is it gang, 5 days until the 2 days in school vs. 100% virtual decision. Let’s talk it out, in my traditional mammoth TL/DR form.

Like all of you, I’ve seen my feed become a flood of anxiety and faux expertise. You’ll get no presumption of expertise here. This is how I am looking at and considering this issue and the positions people have taken in my feed and in the hundred or so FCPS discussion groups that have popped up. The lead comments in quotes are taken directly from my feed and those boards. Sometimes I try to rationalize them. Sometimes I’m just punching back at the void.

Full disclosure, we initially chose the 2 days option and are now having serious reservations. As I consider the positions and arguments I see in my feed, these are where my mind goes. Of note, when I started working on this piece at 12:19 PM today the COVID death tally in the United States stood at 133,420.

“My kids want to go back to school.”

I challenge that position. I believe what the kids desire is more abstract. I believe what they want is a return to normalcy. They want their idea of yesterday. And yesterday isn’t on the menu.

“I want my child in school so they can socialize.”

This was the principle reason for our 2 days decision. As I think more on it though, what do we think ‘social’ will look like? There aren’t going to be any lunch table groups, any lockers, any recess games, any study halls, any sitting next to friends, any talking to people in the hallway, any dances. All of that is off the menu. So, when we say that we want the kids to benefit from the social experience, what are we deluding ourselves into thinking in-building socialization will actually look like in the Fall?

“My kid is going to be left behind.”

Left behind who? The entire country is grappling with the same issue, leaving all children in the same quagmire. Who exactly would they be behind? I believe the rhetorical answer to that is “They’ll be behind where they should be,” to which I’ll counter that “where they should be” is a fictional goal post that we as a society have taken as gospel because it maps to standardized tests which are used to grade schools and counties as they chase funding.

“Classrooms are safe.”

At the current distancing guidelines from FCPS middle and high schools would have no more than 12 people (teachers + students) in a classroom (I acknowledge this number may change as FCPS considers the Commonwealth’s 3 ft with a mask vs. 6 ft position, noting that FCPS is all mask regardless of the distance). For the purpose of this discussion we’ll say classes run 45 minutes.

I posed the following question to 40 people today, representing professional and management roles in corporations, government agencies, and military commands: “Would your company or command have a 12 person, 45 minute meeting in a conference room?”

100% of them said no, they would not. These are some of their answers:

“No. Until further notice we are on Zoom.”
“(Our company) doesn’t allow us in (company space).”
“Oh hell no.”
“No absolutely not.”
“Is there a percentage lower than zero?”
“Something of that size would be virtual.”

We do not even consider putting our office employees into the same situation we are contemplating putting our children into. And let’s drive this point home: there are instances here when commanding officers will not put soldiers, ACTUAL SOLDIERS, into the kind of indoor environment we’re contemplating for our children. For me this is as close to a ‘kill shot’ argument as there is in this entire debate. How do we work from home because buildings with recycled air are not safe, because we don’t trust other people to not spread the virus, and then with the same breath send our children into buildings?

“Children only die .0016 of the time.”

First, conceding we’re an increasingly morally bankrupt society, but when did we start talking about children’s lives, or anyone’s lives, like this? This how the villain in movies talks about mortality, usually 10-15 minutes before the good guy kills him.

If you’re in this camp, and I acknowledge that many, many people are, I’m asking you to consider that number from a slightly different angle.

FCPS has 189,000 children. .0016 of that is 302. 302 dead children are the Calvary Hill you’re erecting your argument on. So, let’s agree to do this: stop presenting this as a data point. If this is your argument, I challenge you to have courage equal to your conviction. Go ahead, plant a flag on the internet and say, “Only 302 children will die.” No one will. That’s the kind action on social media that gets you fired from your job. And I trust our social media enclave isn’t so careless and irresponsible with life that it would even, for even a millisecond, enter any of your minds to make such an argument.

Considered another way: You’re presented with a bag with 189,000 $1 bills. You’re told that in the bag are 302 random bills, they look and feel just like all the others, but each one of those bills will kill you. Do you take the money out of the bag?

Same argument, applied to the 12,487 teachers in FCPS (per Wikipedia), using the ‘children’s multiplier’ of .0016 (all of us understanding the adult mortality rate is higher). That’s 20 teachers. That’s the number you’re talking about. It’s very easy to sit behind a keyboard and diminish and dismiss the risk you’re advocating other people assume. Take a breath and think about that.

If you want to advocate for 2 days a week, look, I’m looking for someone to convince me. But please, for the love of God, drop things like this from your argument. Because the people I know who’ve said things like this, I know they’re better people than this. They’re good people under incredible stress who let things slip out as their frustration boils over. So, please do the right thing and move on from this, because one potential outcome is that one day, you’re going to have to stand in front of St. Peter and answer for this, and that’s not going to be conversation you enjoy.

“Hardly any kids get COVID.”

(Deep sigh) Yes, that is statistically true as of this writing. But it is a cherry-picked argument because you’re leaving out an important piece.

One can reasonably argue that, due to the school closures in March, children have had the least EXPOSURE to COVID. In other words, closing schools was the one pandemic mitigation action we took that worked. There can be no discussion of the rate of diagnosis within children without also acknowledging they were among our fastest and most quarantined people. Put another way, you cannot cite the effect without acknowledging the cause.

“The flu kills more people every year.”

(Deep sigh). First of all, no, it doesn’t. Per the CDC, United States flu deaths average 20,000 annually. COVID, when I start writing here today, has killed 133,420 in six months.

And when you mention the flu, do you mean the disease that, if you’re suspected of having it, everyone, literally everyone in the country tells you stay the f- away from other people? You mean the one where parents are pretty sure their kids have it but send them to school anyway because they have a meeting that day, the one that every year causes massive f-ing outbreaks in schools because schools are petri dishes and it causes kids to miss weeks of school and leaves them out of sports and band for a month? That one? Because you’re right - the flu kills people every year. It does, but you’re ignoring the why. It’s because there are people who are a--holes who don’t care about infecting other people. In that regard it’s a perfect comparison to COVID.

“Almost everyone recovers.”

You’re confusing “release from the hospital” and “no longer infected” with “recovered.” I’m fortunate to only know two people who have had COVID. One my age and one my dad’s age. The one my age described it as “absolute hell” and although no longer infected cannot breathe right. The one my dad’s age was in the hospital for 13 weeks, had to have a trach ring put in because she could no longer be on a ventilator, and upon finally getting home and being faced with incalculable time in rehab told my mother, “I wish I had died.”

While I’m making every effort to reach objectivity, on this particular point, you don’t know what the f- you’re talking about.

“If people get sick, they get sick.”

First, you mistyped. What you intended to say was “If OTHER people get sick, they get sick.” And shame on you.

“I’m not going to live my life in fear.”

You already live your life in fear. For your health, your family’s health, your job, your retirement, terrorists, extremists, one political party or the other being in power, the new neighbors, an unexpected home repair, the next sunrise. What you meant to say was, “I’m not prepared to add ANOTHER fear,” and I’ve got news for you: that ship has sailed. It’s too late. There are two kinds of people, and only two: those that admit they’re afraid, and those that are lying to themselves about it.

As to the fear argument, fear is the reason you wait up when your kids stay out late, it’s the reason you tell your kids not to dive in the shallow water, to look both ways before crossing the road. Fear is the respect for the wide world that we teach our children. Except in this instance, for reasons no one has been able to explain to me yet.

“FCPS leadership sucks.”

I will summarize my view of the School Board thusly: if the 12 of you aren’t getting into a room together because it represents a risk, don’t tell me it’s OK for our kids. I understand your arguments, that we need the 2 days option for parents who can’t work from home, kids who don’t have internet or computer access, kids who needs meals from the school system, kids who need extra support to learn, and most tragically for kids who are at greater risk of abuse by being home. All very serious, all very real issues, all heartbreaking. No argument.

But you must first lead by example. Because you’re failing when it comes to optics. All your meetings are online. What our children see is all of you on a Zoom telling them it’s OK for them to be exactly where you aren’t. I understand you’re not PR people, but you really should think about hiring some.

“I talked it over with my kids.”
Let’s put aside for a moment the concept of adults effectively deferring this decision to children, the same children who will continue to stuff things into a full trash can rather than change it out. Yes, those hygienic children.

Listen, my 15 year old daughter wants a sport car, which she’s not getting next year because it would be dangerous to her and to others. Those kinds of decisions are our job. We step in and decide as parents, we don’t let them expose themselves to risks because their still developing and screen addicted brains narrow their understanding of cause and effect.

We as parents and adults serve to make difficult decisions. Sometimes those are in the form of lessons, where we try to steer kids towards the right answer and are willing to let them make a mistake in the hopes of teaching better decision making the next time around. This is not one of those moments. The stakes are too high for that. This is a “the adults are talking” moment. Kids are not mature enough for this moment. That is not an attack on your child. It is a broad statement about all children. It is true of your children and it was true when we were children. We need to be doing that thinking here, and “Johnny wants to see Bobby at school” cannot be the prevailing element in the equation.

“The teachers need to do their job.”
How is it that the same society which abruptly shifted to virtual students only three months ago, and offered glowing endorsements of teachers stating, “we finally understand how difficult your job is,” has now shifted to “screw you, do your job.” There are myriad problems with that position but for the purposes of this piece let’s simply go with, “You’re not looking for a teacher, you’re looking for the babysitter you feel your property tax payment entitles you to.”

“Teachers have a greater chance to being killed by a car than they do of dying from COVID.”

(Eye roll) Per the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), the U.S. see approximately 36,000 auto fatalities a year. Again, there have been 133,420 COVID deaths in the United States through 12:09 July 10, 2020. So no, they do not have a great chance of being killed in a car accident.

And, if you want to take the actual environment into consideration, the odds of a teacher being killed in a car accident in their classroom, you know, the environment we’re actually talking about, that’s right around 0%.

“If the grocery store workers can be onsite what are the teachers afraid of?”

(Deep breath) A grocery store worker, who absolutely risks exposure, has either six feet of space or a plexiglass shield between them and individual adult customers who can grasp their own mortality whose transactions can be completed in moments, in a 40,000 SF space.

A teacher is with 11 ‘customers’ who have not an inkling what mortality is, for 45 minutes, in a 675 SF space, six times a day.

Just stop.

“Teachers are choosing remote because they don’t want to work.”

(Deep breaths) Many teachers are opting to be remote. That is not a vacation. They’re requesting to do their job at a safer site. Just like many, many people who work in buildings with recycled air have done. And likely the building you’re not going into has a newer and better serviced air system than our schools.

Of greater interest to me is the number of teachers choosing the 100% virtual option for their children. The people who spend the most time in the buildings are the same ones electing not to send their children into those buildings. That’s something I pay attention to.

“I wasn’t prepared to be a parent 24/7” and “I just need a break.”

I truly, deeply respect that honesty. Truth be told, both arguments have crossed my mind. Pre COVID, I routinely worked from home 1 – 2 days a week. The solace was nice. When I was in the office, I had an actual office, a room with a door I could close, where I could focus. During the quarantine that hasn’t always been the case. I’ve been frustrated, I’ve been short, I’ve gone to just take a drive and get the hell away for a moment and been disgusted when one of the kids sees me and asks me to come for a ride, robbing me of those minutes of silence. You want to hear silence. I get it. I really, really do.

Here’s another version of that, admittedly extreme. What if one of our kids becomes one of the 302? What’s that silence going to sound like? What if you have one of those matted frames where you add the kid’s school picture every year? What if you don’t get to finish the pictures?

“What does your gut tell you to do?”

Shawn and I have talked ad infinitum about all of these and other points. Two days ago, at mid-discussion I said, “Stop, right now, gut answer, what is it,” and we both said, “virtual.”

A lot of the arguments I hear people making for the 2 days sound like we’re trying to talk ourselves into ignoring our instincts, they are almost exclusively, “We’re doing 2 days, but…”. There’s a fantastic book by Gavin de Becker, The Gift of Fear, which I’ll minimize for you thusly: your gut instinct is a hardwired part of your brain and you should listen to it. In the introduction he talks about elevators, and how, of all living things, humans are the only ones that would voluntarily get into a soundproof steel box with a potential predator just so they could skip a flight of stairs.

I keep thinking that the 2 days option is the soundproof steel box. I welcome, damn, beg, anyone to convince me otherwise.

At the time I started writing at 12:09 PM, 133,420 Americans had died from COVID. Upon completing this draft at 7:04 PM, that number rose to 133,940.

520 Americans died of COVID while I was working on this. In seven hours.

 

[Calliecake]

Thank you for the post Matata.

 

[mellowyellowgirl]

@TheGarnetGirl thank you!!! We've reached a minute a question. We have a year to get to 45 secs a question (it seriously is the meanest, nastiest test that's shrouded in secrecy lol)!

Best of luck to you too! It will be so much fun I promise. In a sense I think we are lucky that our kids are younger and we can still deliver the syllabus easily to them. Plus primary school stuff is fun and you get to read all the awesome kids books.

I really feel for parents of teenagers. The thought of trying to teach the high school syllabus makes me want to cry.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@TheGarnetGirl, the isolation room will be for kids exhibiting symptoms of COVID. It should be interesting how they are going to differentiate between COVID, cold, allergies or the slew of other things that can represent the same way.

 

[House Cat]

@TheGarnetGirl, the isolation room will be for kids exhibiting symptoms of COVID. It should be interesting how they are going to differentiate between COVID, cold, allergies or the slew of other things that can represent the same way.

I can see it now, a kid with hay fever is going to be put in a small room with a kid who has Covid.

The CDC just released information on new symptoms that weren’t previously thought to be coronavirus. Runny nose is one of them.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

@House Cat, yup, total nightmare. What's worse is although I've already decided to distance learn with our youngest, our state is doing distance learning "temporarily".

So that could be one month or two or weeks, or maybe whenever they decide they need more funding and force as many kids back as they can

 

[nala]

Well. Looks like my county thinks kids are safe in school with no masks or social distancing!

OC Board of Education Panel Calls for a Fall Return to Classes with No Masks or Distancing

On Monday, the panel is expected to recommend guidelines to schools that run in direct opposition to guidance from the California Department of Education.

voiceofoc.org