Will be interesting to see if any school districts go back to their original plans or if we stick with the online only in most cases

Paxton is just an opinion. If a school district challenges the local order this has to end up in front of a judge, right?

My guess is districts still hold with their online only now that they've gone that route, but then hopefully don't look to extend it further

As other posters have said...

jenn96 said:

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Yeah at this point they've started working to actually get there - changing plans again would be more disruptive. Hopefully this helps prevent health officials from keeping things closed further, especially if cases locally are trending down.

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I don't think this will change anything, either. In fact, it might make things more complicated.

The damage was done when the Austin Health Authority publicly said that opening schools could kill between 30-1400 kids just in Travis County. That scared people, and I don't see schools districts/superintendents/school boards being the ones who want to say its "safe" to open schools. That's not their "area of expertise". And no district wants to become the poster child for "I told you it wasn't safe to open."

Public Health Authorities should be doing everything possible to get schools OPEN. Closing them should be a last resort. But the opposite is happening.

So, now whose guidance do you use?

I sure hope I'm wrong...

Here's my question on Dora's order:

I don't believe the county grants certificates of occupancy, do they? The big overreach to me was the county requiring each school district submit plans to the county for re-opening. I don't see what authority they have to demand that.

I'd ask her why she's anti-science. Study after study shows that the risk of super spreaders is minimal at the elementary school level and a lot of the world has their elementary schools open. Why is she denying the science?

AgLiving06 said:

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I'd ask her why she's anti-science. Study after study shows that the risk of super spreaders is minimal at the elementary school level and a lot of the world has their elementary schools open. Why is she denying the science?

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Yepp. Even Fauci has leaned more on the side of getting kids back in school. I don't get the angle by Hidalgo and Turner

Nitro Power said:

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CFTXAG10 said:

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AgLiving06 said:

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I'd ask her why she's anti-science. Study after study shows that the risk of super spreaders is minimal at the elementary school level and a lot of the world has their elementary schools open. Why is she denying the science?

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Yepp. Even Fauci has leaned more on the side of getting kids back in school. I don't get the angle by Hidalgo and Turner

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Fear mongering and trying to exert authority

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Bingo. Everyone involved - from the county judges to the mayors to the public health doctors - is fighting over who has the authority to shut down schools. This isn't about the kids at all - it's about people arguing over who should be making that decision.

If it was about the best interests of the children and teachers, all of these "experts" would have started working with the schools back in March, when they first closed.

TXTransplant said:

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Willy Wonka said:

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Here's my question on Dora's order:

I don't believe the county grants certificates of occupancy, do they? The big overreach to me was the county requiring each school district submit plans to the county for re-opening. I don't see what authority they have to demand that.

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In theory, I have no problem with public health reviewing plans for schools to reopen. In my mind, that's exactly what they SHOULD be doing.

In fact, they should have been working with schools since March, providing guidance on how to reopen safely.

Instead, less than a month before school starts they say, "Sorry, you can't open. Send us your plans for what you're going to do when we allow you to open, and we will tell you if they are acceptable".

That's absolutely ridiculous.

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The TEA has come up with those guidelines. The county coming up with some arbitrary criteria is completely bogus. She's even said, "Yeah, don't get your hopes up about Sept 8th, even if you can go back, not everyone's going to go back. " And the health dept reviewing plans as if to say, "we'll know a good plan when we see it."

I thought TEAs guidelines were kind of vague, and that was one of the problems for the ISDs (maybe I'm remembering wrong). And one could make the argument that this is not their area of expertise.

I guess they could have consulted with health/public health experts in developing their plan.

Some of this "working together" very well may be just for show, but if it keeps individuals from getting their egos bruised over not being "consulted" on a decision, then it's worth it.

In my mind, the public health authorities have shown themselves to be completely incompetent and unreliable by the way they have handled this, and that is inexcusable. They are headed up by MDs who should have the expertise to contribute - or at least very least to have intelligent and reasonable conversations about data.

Instead, their behavior is reminding me of the health inspector character in the show Bob's Burgers.

And now we have the problem of, as numbers go down, who is going to be the one to say "it's safe to open"? I don't see anyone with the guts to do that because of all the fear-mongering that's happened the last few weeks.

Geez

tylercsbn9 said:

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What a mess. But as long as it gives the districts the ability to do what they want and not be dictated by people like Lena who basically has zero plans for schools with zero plans on when she'd allow them open then I'm all for it.

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So that basically says that if you go online only because you as the school board decided to you're ok, but if you do it because of the mandate you aren't?

I guess I shouldn't be amazed by 2020 any longer

On top of every non-religious private school

Americas Frontline Doctors. Your opinions about them?

tylercsbn9 said:

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What a mess. But as long as it gives the districts the ability to do what they want and not be dictated by people like Lena who basically has zero plans for schools with zero plans on when she'd allow them open then I'm all for it.

This should be up to the local school boards. The situation in Waller ISD is completely different than that in HISD in a county as big as Harris and Lena and her buddy at the health department shouldn't be the one to speak for all them. Especially if they won't take accountability and have some type of plan as to when they can open. As it stands the reason is because I said so she the qualifications to open is when I say so. That's horse**** and crap leadership. Which I'd expect from someone with zero real world experience like Lena.

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Watching hysteria get so much traction on this thing is disappointing. There's an emotional investment in fear and we've done trillions in economic damage. Those that called for it have zero incentive for people not to be as absolutely scared as they can possibly be. Only by focusing on the downside risk can they keep people from realizing the tradeoff that was made for them without consideration of cost and alternatives. Utter failure of leadership.

I'm glad that there's a way out Hidalgo et. al.'s orders, but we're always just an election cycle away from people being buffaloed into whatever bad idea the backstage minders of a twenty-something translator tell her to force one of the largest counties in America to do.

I'm donating to her opponent next cycle, hopefully I'm not alone.

gougler08 said:

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I'm sure our overlords will still find something to say this is catastrophic, but we're looking good now

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Positivity rate is the new hotness now.

FIFMDA