Reopening Schools

222,960 Views | 2236 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by AustinAg2K
rojo_ag
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Jebber said:

Are you sure you want to end the thread?
Not at all. Just want to have productive conversations not a thread to indict teachers and the public school system. Probably, in my opinion, not the best timing to reform the system.

Had a moment of overreaction when I assumed a poster was calling me out for being insincere.
LB12Diamond
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I was messing bc you made three posts in a row after stating you wanted to end the thread.

I agree

No reason to attack schools or teachers.

The ones causing the mist trouble are using the schools and our kids as pawns which I'm not a fan of.
planoaggie123
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rojo_ag said:

Certainly don't want to stir the hornets' nest, but please chime in with your thoughts:

https://news.yahoo.com/over-100-quarantined-school-district-162332816.html

I realize that those infected will (more than) most likely survive especially the children. What would you do if you were superintendent of a district about to reopen?

In addition, I'm wondering about the teachers that are protesting? Are they concerned about returning to campus or just want a extended break?

Do you support teachers' protesting and support those who protested mask mandates?


I am not sure I follow all your questions.

7 people got the virus. 100+ people quarantined. Seems like they over quarantined unless they are having daily lap dances. The standard our company has used is within 6 feet for over 15 min at any one time. Using this method we have not had any spreading of the virus while having 6 different people have COVID while working in office. One of them worked an entire week thinking his symptoms were something else (he was wrong).

There is a risk. If you don't like it, collect unemployment/FMLA or find a way to work remote (new job, beg school, etc).

cc_ag92
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planoaggie123 said:

rojo_ag said:

Certainly don't want to stir the hornets' nest, but please chime in with your thoughts:

https://news.yahoo.com/over-100-quarantined-school-district-162332816.html

I realize that those infected will (more than) most likely survive especially the children. What would you do if you were superintendent of a district about to reopen?

In addition, I'm wondering about the teachers that are protesting? Are they concerned about returning to campus or just want a extended break?

Do you support teachers' protesting and support those who protested mask mandates?


I am not sure I follow all your questions.

7 people got the virus. 100+ people quarantined. Seems like they over quarantined unless they are having daily lap dances. The standard our company has used is within 6 feet for over 15 min at any one time. Using this method we have not had any spreading of the virus while having 6 different people have COVID while working in office. One of them worked an entire week thinking his symptoms were something else (he was wrong).

There is a risk. If you don't like it, collect unemployment/FMLA or find a way to work remote (new job, beg school, etc).


That six feet standard is what is going to impact schools. Most school classrooms do not have room for six feet of spacing between desks. Students and teachers will be inside that six foot mark for more than fifteen minutes quite often unless the vast majority of families have chosen remote learning.
planoaggie123
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That policy is if unmasked.

If they have masks they are fine. 6th grade and up should wear masks so they are safe.

Elementary will not but most what I see says they are low transmitters anyways.

Your distance risk is severely mitigated with masks.
HowdyTexasAggies
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They will be wearing masks when less than 6
88planoAg
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The pushback about our district opening for in person school has informed us that no, masks without 6ft distance is NOT ok. It must be both.

They scour social media, and if the ISD posts pics they tear them apart because there isn't BOTH social distance AND masks.

District is opening anyway.
cc_ag92
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planoaggie123 said:

That policy is if unmasked.

If they have masks they are fine. 6th grade and up should wear masks so they are safe.

Elementary will not but most what I see says they are low transmitters anyways.

Your distance risk is severely mitigated with masks.
TEA has changed that description three times in the last two weeks.
LAST week, they said that six feet with masks is fine. At the beginning of this week, they changed it to within six feet for 15 cumulative minutes is defined as close contact. (They dropped the reference to masks.)
Today they changed it to "being within 6 feet for a cumulative duration of 15 minutes; however, additional factors like case/contact masking (i.e., both the infectious individual and the potential close contact have been consistently and properly masked), ventilation, presence of dividers, and case symptomology may affect this determination." Who even knows what that actually means?

Also, elementary students will not be six feet apart from each other and many of them will not be wearing masks. Teachers are still expected to conference and teach in small groups. They will be within six feet of unmasked students.

I am not saying that schools shouldn't be open, but it's not as simple as you suggested above.
planoaggie123
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I 100% realize it's not you but they are making it more complicated than it needs to be. They are almost trying to make it a virtual year.

The kids shouldn't be the concern. It should be the teachers. If kids are going to school, parents know the risk. Kids are a low risk anyways.

The teachers are the concern. They can certainly organize their room and construct their interaction to be 6 ft apart and less than 15 min increments with kids. It's not hard.

Even if their is an outbreak in a room the teacher can keep their risk very low with obvious protocols.

Nobody is changing anybody's minds and even if we all agreed on Texags it wouldn't matter to those who make the decisions.

I am going to bow out for a few days. Look forward to hearing updates as administrators make more decisions.
HowdyTexasAggies
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Yep, I have been reading all that nonsense, the one ringleader is a real piece of work.
HowdyTexasAggies
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" Also, elementary students will not be six feet apart from each other and many of them will not be wearing masks. Teachers are still expected to conference and teach in small groups. They will be within six feet of unmasked students."

Daycares have been operating like this all summer. Haven't seen ANY news on this being an issue anywhere.
rojo_ag
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Jebber said:

I was messing bc you made three posts in a row after stating you wanted to end the thread.

I agree

No reason to attack schools or teachers.

The ones causing the mist trouble are using the schools and our kids as pawns which I'm not a fan of.
I deserve to be ribbed a bit. Totally understand.
rojo_ag
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planoaggie123 said:

rojo_ag said:

Certainly don't want to stir the hornets' nest, but please chime in with your thoughts:

https://news.yahoo.com/over-100-quarantined-school-district-162332816.html

I realize that those infected will (more than) most likely survive especially the children. What would you do if you were superintendent of a district about to reopen?

In addition, I'm wondering about the teachers that are protesting? Are they concerned about returning to campus or just want a extended break?

Do you support teachers' protesting and support those who protested mask mandates?


I am not sure I follow all your questions.

7 people got the virus. 100+ people quarantined. Seems like they over quarantined unless they are having daily lap dances. The standard our company has used is within 6 feet for over 15 min at any one time. Using this method we have not had any spreading of the virus while having 6 different people have COVID while working in office. One of them worked an entire week thinking his symptoms were something else (he was wrong).

There is a risk. If you don't like it, collect unemployment/FMLA or find a way to work remote (new job, beg school, etc).


Sounds like you have a problem with the protocols that are being put into place every where in the country. Did they over quarantine, perhaps. Is that going to change? Nope. Seems like your office is making sound decisions regarding adults in a small space.

My next question is What would you do if you were a superintendent in light of students and faculty in others states and districts having to send students and teachers home for 14 days? How concerned would you be to return to campus?

Additionally, I want to know if you think that teachers who are protesting opening of schools are concerned about their safety or really want a extended summer break?

Finally, I want to know your thoughts about people who were protesting mask mandates. Were they justified?
rojo_ag
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https://www.austinisd.org/announcements/2020/08/07/sept-8-start-school-las-clases-empiezan-el-8-de-septiembre

With a petition to not start on-campus learning until November.
nai06
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jenn96 said:

One thing that is also clouding the conversations is that we're talking about "school." There is a world of difference between elementary and high school, and we're (myself included) dumping them all together as though the students and teachers have identical needs and capabilities.


This is a great point and I'm just as guilty of falling into that trap as anyone else. By default I think it terms of high school because that's what I teach. I've got over 3k students and my average class size is 32 students. So when I think about social distancing and space, it's hard to see how I will maintain that 6ft guide during the day. My room is 734 sq ft. Take away the space occupied by bookshelf's and counters and it drops to 515. That makes it pretty difficult to keep my distance from my students or for them to keep away from each other. That doesn't even consider passing in the hallways. Unfortunately we just didn't design schools with this in mind. We try to stuff as many kids into a building as humanly possible.
jenn96
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Exactly. But at the same time, high school kids will probably have the highest percentage of online students, since it's a lot easier to do online classes when you're academically sentient and the need for constant supervision is a lot lower. So the distancing may be easier than expected.

Heck, I hated high school and wasn't bullied or picked on, just a quiet kid who made good grades and was mostly invisible. I would have LOVED online school back then. I just don't want it for my 7 year old..
aTm papi
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RojoAg, where do you teach? I'm at Bowie.
cc_ag92
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Oddly enough, that's not what we've seen in our local district. The high schools seem to have a higher percentage of on-campus than the district anticipated. Final numbers haven't been officially released, but that's the information that I've heard discussed by people who should know.

Editing to add: I know an 8th grade teacher (not high school obviously, but close) who has 60% of his students online, but his class sizes are still sitting at 30+. He's the only teacher on his campus qualified to teach his advanced subject, so they can't move the students to another teacher. The classroom size is as described above. There will definitely be no social distancing other than masks.

JYDog90
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I'm getting the sense that Klein may give the ol' "up yours" to Dora on Sept 8th. I think they're going to announce in person.
LB12Diamond
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I heard last night board is voting to do the same as Tomball. Move start date to Sept 8 and go with original plan of in school or online.

Also SAC starting back up thankfully. We were one of the few districts not going because a Karen caused all kind of problems.

My guess is after the first 9 weeks many kids that started online will switch to in person. Going to be headaches with the online teaching.
3rd Generation Ag
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Our school had 60 percent want online and 40 percent in person. A high school campus. We are all online the first 4 weeks. Will see after that. We have an extremely good online delivery system that we are spending this week getting ready to roll out to the kids. And when we go face to face, it is still exactly what they will be doing, but in the classroom.

District wide 55 percent want online, 45 percent want in person.

The goal is that if and when we have short shutdowns due to cases in the school, we shift easily from in class to online and back.
coconuthead
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The in person model is obviously the better educational environment, but even before COVID, subs, let alone effective subs, were hard to come by. Finding a single sub who could cover a two week absence was an ordeal, let alone finding several at short notice. How much of a factor is this issue playing in schools' decisions about being in-person vs online? Custodial worker shortages or workload concerns may be another unspoken factor.

As much as teachers outnumber administrators, by and large their contributions to the decisions being made now (and in the spring) are not that significant. That is what leads me to believe other fundamental systemic issues may be driving some decisions.
rojo_ag
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aTm papi said:

RojoAg, where do you teach? I'm at Bowie.
Hi papi,

You're at Bowie! Mark Robinson is your principal. In an effort not to be doxxed (not a lot of redheaded Aggie teachers in the Austin area), I will say that I teach in the same district that Mr. Robinson was principal before coming to Bowie. He may not know my name, but he would know my face.

Would love to hear your thoughts about AISD and your school's strategies for mitigation.
3rd Generation Ag
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I know in my district a number of non teaching postitions are not going to be needed if the in school numbers stay the same. The presentation to the board said these people would be assigned other duties..and one that was mentioned was to be subs.
74OA
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Is it my imagination or is the number of infected children growing quickly? Just a function of increased testing? Anyway, how can we expect them not to infect other kids, faculty and staff at school and them bring it home to vulnerable elderly and those with underlying conditions?

97,000
88planoAg
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74OA said:

Is it my imagination or is the number of infected children growing quickly? Just a function of increased testing? Anyway, how can we expect them not to infect other kids, faculty and staff at school and them bring it home to vulnerable elderly and those with underlying conditions?

97,000
I think this has been discussed here, but my understanding is that kids, esp young kids, haven't acted as vectors for wider community spread in countries that have reopened schools.
74OA
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88planoAg said:

74OA said:

Is it my imagination or is the number of infected children growing quickly? Just a function of increased testing? Anyway, how can we expect them not to infect other kids, faculty and staff at school and them bring it home to vulnerable elderly and those with underlying conditions?

97,000
I think this has been discussed here, but my understanding is that kids, esp young kids, haven't acted as vectors for wider community spread in countries that have reopened schools.
The studies said very young kids are less infectious, teens more so, but with daily school contact with each other and their families it is inevitable that even with a lessor infection rate they eventually transmit the virus to each other and others at home.
Charpie
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Honestly, I think elementary schools should just open up. Middle and High schools should proceed with caution
3rd Generation Ag
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Charpie, there are so many issues. I wish TEA had left it up to schools to be more innovative so that we could have something like safe spacing. I think especially early grades should have the in school option, PK to 3 are so important. If they could have them at school and keep 4th and above at home, then safe spacing could happen.


And those of us in old buildings don't have enough sinks, no faculty bathroom and our halls make the pictures from Georgia look like nothing. At least pre covid. We are built as a grid with cross halls and it sort of looks like the Aggie bands four way cross without the grace and precision at class changes.

We have a great plan to online and I have to hope that they are giving equal care to return to school. But we have no information on what that will look like.
WorthAg95
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Jebber said:

I heard last night board is voting to do the same as Tomball. Move start date to Sept 8 and go with original plan of in school or online.

Also SAC starting back up thankfully. We were one of the few districts not going because a Karen caused all kind of problems.

My guess is after the first 9 weeks many kids that started online will switch to in person. Going to be headaches with the online teaching.
I figured this would come almost immediately after Tomball's announcement last week. Heard this rumor from my neighbor this afternoon, too. Have you all heard from district peeps or just thinking out loud?

I personally would rather start in person than online and change a few weeks later.
gvine07
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Dallas County has 540 cases, down from over 1,000 two weeks ago.

I'm a teacher hoping we can gradually get schools going. I think 0-100% would be unnecessarily risky. I'm guessing at some point new cases/hospitalizations are going to flare up and it'll be back to online learning. Just hoping we get to establish a productive rapport with students before that happens.
3rd Generation Ag
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gvine, I am lucky in one way. I am moving up to all Eng III. Last year is was half 2 and half 3. I will at least KNOW some of the kids and even the ones I did not have would have seen in the classrooms next to me. I was where 2 and 3 meet. Plus I have three coteach sections. I will have had all the sped kids except someone new to the district this year. , and so far my co teacher is someone I worked with in the past and have an excellent team approach with.

But for the ones I have never had, I wish we started face to face for even a week.
AgLA06
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https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pupils-pose-no-risk-of-spreading-covid-27q6zfd9l

88planoAg
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https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/511212-9-people-test-positive-for-coronavirus-at-georgia-school-where-viral?fbclid=IwAR1R7KSoGhqw833lf7dUiBPUe3NuSBHc9_Y3SS0tkYVYhJ_TfO5Y1xPbuBY



This should be good news, right? After this crowd with few in facemasks, only 9 positive tests are the result?
Complete Idiot
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88planoAg said:

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/511212-9-people-test-positive-for-coronavirus-at-georgia-school-where-viral?fbclid=IwAR1R7KSoGhqw833lf7dUiBPUe3NuSBHc9_Y3SS0tkYVYhJ_TfO5Y1xPbuBY



This should be good news, right? After this crowd with few in facemasks, only 9 positive tests are the result?


I don't think most would find 9 positives in one school, after only one week (I believe) of class, to be a positive. If in two weeks they can show it didn't spread much more and that these 9 all have mild illnesses and are recovering, I think that should be taken as a positive.
 
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