Running thread of the disaster that is the new school year

[Okie State 3848]

I just went out there to get a beer from the fridge. My body thermometer says it's hot as fuck.

[High Plains Drifter 11052]

 

My fifth grader has been back three days. She says all the kids are wearing masks, only a few chose the online synchronous option. Friend's 9th grade son said same thing-- everybody is wearing masks, and staying reasonably spread out as much as possible. (Small district, only three campuses).

I drove by the high school yesterday and saw a bus from another school from a different town there for a volleyball game. Apparently no fans from visiting team alllowed, and each player gets a handful of tickets to give out to family only. Not sure what the mask policy is at the game-- I assume masks are required and the rule is enforced, but I don't know.

 

I disagree with the inperson reopening so soon, and I disagree with traveling for sports, but it sounds like my district is doing a fairly good job with what they got. Also, I learned that the county judge (only one district in the county), will make the decision if and when to shut down and go back to 100% online if/when the infection rate goes up.

 

[Fudge Nuggets 19227]

6 hours ago, Okie State said:

It's probably 120 or so in my garage right now.

When I fired up my chariot inside the garage at 13:00 today the environmental monitoring system read 89 which is the lowest since probably mid May.  It's always about 5 degrees lower than ambient, but trends are your friend.

Had to go make a beer run at 16:00 and same environmental monitoring system read 95.  I'm pretty sure it was just the heat coming off my Mercedes-Benz engine trapped inside a 3-car garage that made the difference, but hey... you never know.

Brag, not humble.  Don't fucking care.

[Fudge Nuggets 19227]

6 hours ago, Okie State said:

I just went out there to get a beer from the fridge. My body thermometer says it's hot as fuck.

Pussy.

[mulletpelini 5216]

Talked with the kiddo tonight, just started 8th grade on the 10th said everythings aok dad.  I'm trying ta told yas, it's worth the money to send em to private schools

[NoRagrets 1127]

1st grader on Teams all day just like me.

[Message Board User 12396]

 

[Message Board User 12396]

 

[Brothahorn 10087]

According to my buddy, one added benefit from setting up his 'garage school' is that he can drink in school without some asshole teacher giving him a hard time.

[RDCanecutter 26476]

On 8/21/2020 at 3:34 PM, Okie State said:

I just went out there to get a beer from the fridge. My body thermometer says it's hot as fuck.

Well of course it's hot-- you got a refrigerator runnin in there.

Get an extension cord and set that bad boy outside by your shootin car.

[Superhero 8848]

Despite my bitchin' and whining. I'm grateful everyday that we still have jobs, a roof over our heads, food on our table, and digital devices that we need for work and kids.

Just read this article on AP News and it is a reminder that there are a LOT of kids out there in dire circumstances - education and opportunity slipping away from them because of covid supply chain, and spat between US and China. 

AP EXCLUSIVE: US faces back-to-school laptop shortage

Quote

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Schools across the United States are facing shortages and long delays, of up to several months, in getting this year’s most crucial back-to-school supplies: the laptops and other equipment needed for online learning, an Associated Press investigation has found.

The world’s three biggest computer companies, Lenovo, HP and Dell, have told school districts they have a shortage of nearly 5 million laptops, in some cases exacerbated by Trump administration sanctions on Chinese suppliers, according to interviews with over two dozen U.S. schools, districts in 15 states, suppliers, computer companies and industry analysts.

As the school year begins virtually in many places because of the coronavirus, educators nationwide worry that computer shortfalls will compound the inequities — and the headaches for students, families and teachers.

“This is going to be like asking an artist to paint a picture without paint. You can’t have a kid do distance learning without a computer,” said Tom Baumgarten, superintendent of the Morongo Unified School District in California’s Mojave Desert, where all 8,000 students qualify for free lunch and most need computers for distance learning.

Baumgarten was set to order 5,000 Lenovo Chromebooks in July when his vendor called him off, saying Lenovos were getting “stopped by a government agency because of a component from China that’s not allowed here,” he said. He switched to HPs and was told they would arrive in time for the first day of school Aug. 26. The delivery date then changed to September, then October. The district has about 4,000 old laptops that can serve roughly half of students, but what about the rest, Baumgarten asks rhetorically. “I’m very concerned that I’m not going to be able to get everyone a computer.”

Chromebooks and other low-cost PCs are the computers of choice for most budget-strapped schools. The delays started in the spring and intensified because of high demand and disruptions of supply chains, the same reasons that toilet paper and other pandemic necessities flew off shelves a few months ago. Then came the Trump administration’s July 20 announcement targeting Chinese companies it says were implicated in forced labor or other human rights abuses against a Muslim minority population, the Uighurs. The Commerce Department imposed sanctions on 11 Chinese companies, including the manufacturer of multiple models of Lenovo laptops, which the company says will add several weeks to existing delays, according to a letter Lenovo sent to customers.

School districts are pleading with the Trump administration to resolve the issue, saying that distance learning without laptops will amount to no learning for some of the country’s most vulnerable students.

“It’s a tough one because I’m not condoning child slave labor for computers, but can we not hurt more children in the process?” said Matt Bartenhagen, IT director for Williston Public Schools in North Dakota, a district of 4,600 waiting on an order for 2,000 Lenovo Chromebooks. “They were supposed to be delivered in July. Then August. Then late August. The current shipping estimate is ’hopefully” by the end of the year.

The Denver Public Schools district, the largest in Colorado, is waiting for 12,500 Lenovo Chromebooks ordered in April and May. The district has scrambled to find machines, settled for whatever is available and is handing out everything they get to students that need them. Still, when school starts Wednesday, they will be about 3,000 devices short, says Lara Hussain, an IT director for the district.

“We were promised devices. Our students need devices. And as a result of not receiving devices we will have students starting the school year unable to participate. It’s unconscionable,” said Hussain.

Lenovo had informed Denver and other districts over the spring and summer of supply chain delays. In late July, Lenovo sent a letter to customers to say the “trade controls” announced by the Commerce Department would cause another slowdown of at least several weeks.

“This delay is a new development and is unrelated to supply constraints previously communicated,” Matthew Zielinski, president of Lenovo North America said in the letter, which referred to the sanctions on a Chinese supplier, Hefei Bitland Information Technology Co. Ltd. The letter listed 23 Lenovo models for education and corporate customers made by Bitland.

“Effective immediately, we are no longer manufacturing these devices at Bitland,” the letter said, adding that Lenovo is working on “a transition plan” to shift production to other sites.

A Lenovo official told California’s Department of Education the company has a backlog of more than 3 million Chromebooks, said Daniel Thigpen, the department’s spokesman.

Lenovo declined to respond to repeated questions from AP seeking confirmation of the backlog and details on the numbers of devices delayed, replying only to deny a question on whether computers were seized by U.S. customs, as some schools were told by suppliers.

U.S. government agencies said they have no knowledge of the computers’ whereabouts and also deny any were seized.

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection does not have any record of detained laptops matching this description,” the agency said in a statement.

The Department of Commerce said it added Hefei Bitland to its so-called Entity List, which restricts the export and in-country transfer of items by sanctioned companies. “It does not apply to the importation of Chromebooks from China,” the department said in a statement, adding, however, “we should all agree that American school children should not be using computers from China that were produced from forced labor.”

There are no nationwide tallies on the numbers of laptops and other devices that schools are waiting for. The Associated Press found that some of America’s biggest school districts are among those with outstanding orders of Chromebooks, other laptops or hotspots for internet connections, including Los Angeles, Clark County, Nevada, Wake County, North Carolina, Houston, Palm Beach and Hawaii, the nation’s only statewide school district.

A recent poll of California’s 1,100 districts showed schools across the state are waiting on at least 300,000 backordered computers, said Mary Nicely, a senior policy advisor to the state superintendent. A survey in Alabama found that about 20 schools were waiting on 33,000 computers, said Ryan Hollingsworth, director of the School Superintendents of Alabama.

Smaller districts in Montana, New York, Indiana, Maryland, Ohio, New Hampshire and elsewhere are also waiting on laptop orders, with delivery dates that have become moving targets.

Some of the school districts, like Los Angeles, say the outstanding orders are for replacement devices and all students who need a computer will have one. Many districts are asking parents with the means to buy devices for their children but realize that’s not an option for many families.

It’s also not an easy task with supplies at commercial stores running out. Best Buy’s website shows 36 models of new and used Chromebooks priced under $500, the low-cost models that are popular for students. As of this week, 33 of those models were sold out.

The backlog and delays have become so widespread that some students will be forced to start the semester without an essential piece of technology for remote learning, said Michael Flood, senior vice president of Kajeet, which works with more than 2,000 school districts in the U.S. and Canada.

Some school administrators told Flood their laptop and Chromebook suppliers hope deliveries will only be delayed by a month or so. But others are being told their machines may not be available until early 2021.

The shortage stems from exceptionally high demand at a time when the personal computer industry is still recovering from pandemic-driven precautions that shut down the factories of major PC suppliers in China during February and March. Just as the supply chain started ramping back up, new orders poured in from huge companies and government agencies with large numbers of employees working from home — in addition to school districts scrambling to secure machines, said Mikako Kitagawa, research director at Gartner Inc., which closely follows the PC industry.

“The bottom line is everyone seems to want a laptop or Chromebook right now and there just isn’t enough supply of it,” Kitagawa said. “It’s a case of very bad timing.”

To make matters worse, many school districts underestimated their needs during spring ordering, assuming that traditional in-person classes would resume in the fall.

In California, most schools were planning for some form of in-person classes in the fall but only learned in July that wouldn’t be possible, when Gov. Gavin Newsom effectively ordered the majority of schools to start with remote learning. It created a mad dash for computers.

Tom Quiambao, director of technology for the Tracy Unified School District in Northern California, said he and his vendor contacted HP directly to ask why his July order for 10,000 HP laptops would take three months to be delivered. He was told, “HP is short 1.7 million units of laptops” because of production shortages in a variety of components made in China, including processors, touchscreens, motherboards and others, Quiambao said.

An HP spokeswoman declined to confirm or deny that number, saying only “we are continuing to leverage our global supply chain to meet the changing needs of our customer.”

Dell offered a similarly brief response to detailed questions about a backlog.

“We can’t comment on demand and supply specifically,” Dell said in an emailed statement, adding the company was seeing increased orders due to virtual learning and trying “to fulfill orders as efficiently as possible.”

With so many customers ordering laptops at the same time, PC manufacturers may be put in the uncomfortable position of deciding who gets them first, said Linn Huang, an analyst for the research firm International Data Corp. Those kind of pecking orders threaten to push small school districts to the back of the laptop line.

That’s part of the problem for the central Texas district of Abilene, where they are waiting for 6,000 Dell Chromebooks, ordered in May and June but not expected until November.

“In Texas, there are over 1,200 school districts and they’re all ordering,” said district spokesman Lance Fleming. Schools are trying to get disinfecting supplies, too. “Who would have ever thought that computers and Clorox Wipes would be on the same level of need in our country.”

 

[Texas Jeff 1945]

Corporations ditch laptops every 3-5 years.  Hard to believe there aren't plenty of capable laptops sitting in storage at various used PC locations.  Kids need a camera, wifi, a browser and maybe a word processor.

[washparkhorn 9939]

High schoolers will start online with 3 ½ hours of live instruction each day. Denver is waiting to see how the openings go before they open. Smart. Some shortage. Design is spotty and needs improvement, but my kids (and most likely yours) have worked through clumsy design most of their lives.

Those who haven't navigated online learning will need help to get up to speed. It's the future we are educating. On a granular level, tech help must provide quick resolution with emphasis on friendliness. Kids have too much fear already. .Some of our big data driven companies need to rally to help our public schools. If they invest in America's tomorrow, they will have a  brighter future as well. 

And kids need to learn net etiquette. This is what I shared with my kids. If you see any glaring holes, let me know.

 

We live in confusing times - there's  too much anger lingering in the air. They need an idea of what is appropriate and what is not. 

Good luck out there. Thank you for figuring out what works and what doesn't. School means something different to every student and family. We can come out the other side better. I hope. 

[washparkhorn 9939]

On 8/21/2020 at 8:29 PM, Fudge Nuggets said:

When I fired up my chariot inside the garage at 13:00 today the environmental monitoring system read 89 which is the lowest since probably mid May.  It's always about 5 degrees lower than ambient, but trends are your friend.

Had to go make a beer run at 16:00 and same environmental monitoring system read 95.  I'm pretty sure it was just the heat coming off my Mercedes-Benz engine trapped inside a 3-car garage that made the difference, but hey... you never know.

Brag, not humble.  Don't fucking care.

Turn off the battery powered automatic cooling and heating. If that keyfob is near the car, the communication system interprets data on ETA and cools or warms the car to preferred temperature using a fairly precise piece of AI.  If your phone is linked, it will monitor everything your phone communicates for patterns indicating you are about to drive. A smart car using the Internet of things (IOT).. 

If we can do that in fine German automobiles, we can figure out how to educate students. It just requires a little motivation to get on with a better future. Only nihilists want a darker future. Or so they say . . . 

Spoiler

 

 

[washparkhorn 9939]

On 8/19/2020 at 2:17 PM, JohnLocke said:

That is a lot of science to be learned in that chemistry experiement. 

There is a school in Denver where a student [K-8] spends a year studying one item - such as the still above - from all facets and perspectives. Education comes in a lot of different flavors. A fine whisky [stet] would make a fine subject for study by any kid. 

[B00M 6471]

On 8/21/2020 at 10:29 PM, Fudge Nuggets said:

When I fired up my chariot inside the garage at 13:00 today the environmental monitoring system read 89 which is the lowest since probably mid May.  It's always about 5 degrees lower than ambient, but trends are your friend.

Had to go make a beer run at 16:00 and same environmental monitoring system read 95.  I'm pretty sure it was just the heat coming off my Mercedes-Benz engine trapped inside a 3-car garage that made the difference, but hey... you never know.

Brag, not humble.  Don't fucking care.

89-95 in the garage? Get some insulation on those garage doors and consider a dedicated AC unit. 

 

[Bevo 13601]

Leander School District just changed the rules. They have decided to go to a delayed rolling start for in school study (Presumably because of all the new cases in Austin). The first kids back to school are the special needs children. The second group of kids to return to school are the children of teachers. I think there are something like 5 groups. Children of first responders are not one of the groups.

Before this change of rules, a teacher on Nextdoor had been working with other teachers trying to get enough signatures to recall a city council member because he said teachers should go back to the classroom. Now the teachers want their kids to be in the front of the line to go back to school. It takes a lot to piss me off but this does it.

I have some workers who are late every day to work now because the teachers want mom with their elementary school children to get on Zoom together with their teachers. The teachers do this with each child in the class separately. So, the workers have to wait for that to happen and then drive their kids to the person watching them. Then, they can come to work. Meanwhile, I have to deal with patients who are angry because of the delays or having to reschedule. I keep seeing all these ads about we are all in this together, but people are more pissy now than ever. And it isn't like the workers can stay longer because they have to go to pick up their kids or pay high late charges. I would think schools would realize that most moms in Austin are not stay at home moms. And many parents especially in less wealthy neighborhoods don't have the ability to work from home.

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

So apparently Nisd (San Antonio) couldn't handle tens of thousands of kids trying to log in at the same time.  All services (Gmail/zoom/LMS) go through th district SSO.  

[Guest Lobo]

Yeah, been hearing over text from multiple friends with kids in S.A. and Austin horror stories all morning from downed networks.  We had our first P.E. class via zoom this morning with 44 kids.  Half the class couldn't log in after us and the P.E. teacher spent the other 25 minutes asking people to mute their devices. But she asked the kids to get up and dance and played the song "Car Wash" Rose Royce...so I like her style.  

Fun fact for Monday/first day of true online group learning for our district.......it would probably take a Chinese hacker 9 minutes to crash all Zoom learning for our nation and cripple our already vulnerable and underperforming public education system in a heartbeat.  I'll give Zoom credit, they were there when we needed them to conduct business meetings, board meetings, civic organizations, et. al.  But I still don't think they have the infrastructure or security protocol in place for a nation of 330mm corner-cutters to host everything now from school to business to commerce to government.  And as stated above, much of that flows through district servers/networks (don't know the lingo)...so that can't be good.  Even though they've had 6 months to upgrade them, but give them some leeway...they had no blueprint from which to work from...couldn't really ask the next district over for best practices advice.  Back to optimism, my youngest one "thinks" she's in class with my kindergartner so maybe she'll grow up looking forward to school because I sure as shit didn't. 

Anyway, first full week for most of us in Austin...best of luck fellow Surly parents.  And remember, Twin Liquor Store dollar sale starts Wednesday!  That can't be a fucking coincidence 

Edited August 24, 2020 by Lobo

[Anastasis 23492]

15 minutes ago, Lobo said:

And remember, Twin Liquor Store dollar sale starts Wednesday! 

dollars days has been cancelled.

[Moby Ric 2058]

2 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

dollars days has been cancelled.

I'm sorry.....WTF?!

[Anastasis 23492]

1 minute ago, Moby Ric said:

I'm sorry.....WTF?!

Fucking 2020 man.

 

[Guest Lobo]

Wait, what?  This is way bigger news than some crashed website.  Why did they cancel it?  They still have plenty of inventory, and there's still plenty of willing buyers.  I swear the guy last week told me it'd be starting on last Wednesday of August as per usual.  Da Fuh?  

Ah, not being on twitter...I did not see that.  Dammit! 

Edited August 24, 2020 by Lobo

[Moby Ric 2058]

Well fuck that.  Fuck 2020 right in the face.

[Guest Lobo]

I am gonna take 2020 out behind the Elementary School and beat the living shit out of it.  Then smash a fucking twin liquors wine bottle over its fucking head and slit its fucking throat with one of the dirty shards.  As a warning to 2022. 

Now if you'll excuse me, we're starting Spanish Small Groups on Zoom.  Where's the damn Tylenol?  

Edited August 24, 2020 by Lobo

[kmac30 416]

I was anti private school because I thought shit would work out. I’m about to tell my wife to figure out private or pull them and home school. My 8 yr old daughter that absolutely loves school told her brother yesterday she’s done with school and doesn’t like it anymore.

Our school took the approach of less time on zoom and make it focused. Then give them assignments through something called canvas. So this morning, 3rd grade teacher tells the class to go write a story - no direction, for 35 min (while sitting on a zoom). Complete waste of everyone’s time. Teacher left. So it’s not like she’s answering questions.

[troph 24913]

PSA: Outschool.com has been great so far. First real week this week but we had several classes last week, full time for all three next week. We did an acceleration over three weeks on purpose. It’s all live instruction and small classes. If public school isn’t working for you and you can do this at home then I strongly advise you give it a hard look. Our life is drama free so far. Fingers crossed.

[Deej 76949]

Twin Liquors just realized with school starting and everyone stressing the fuck out, they don't need to put their merchandise on sale. It will sell anyway. 

[Trey3216 15375]

Wife started back in person last Wednesday with students. (She’s a third grade teacher).  She has 15 students in person and 8 virtual to start the year.  
 

the shit show about it is she’s having to do a full day of teaching as well as make videos for the online students, which is virtually impossible to do at the same time. (As is trying to zoom stream the in class lesson to the virtual students since they’re up moving around so much with younger kids).  
 

so, she’s spending an extra 3-4 hours/day after school recording videos for the next day’s virtual learners (which means 3-4 hours on Sunday as well) after she gets home for work.   Complete beating.  
 

they all complained so much last week that the school district had an emergency meeting yesterday to see what they could do about it.  No word yet.  But an already long day for teachers turning into an 15-18 hour day is gonna burn people out pretty damn quickly.  

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

1 hour ago, Trey3216 said:

 

they all complained so much last week that the school district had an emergency meeting yesterday to see what they could do about it.  No word yet.  But an already long day for teachers turning into an 15-18 hour day is gonna burn people out pretty damn quickly.  

That's pretty shitty.  They should have 1 or 2 teachers per grade just handling the online kids.  

[Trey3216 15375]

1 minute ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

That's pretty shitty.  They should have 1 or 2 teachers per grade just handling the online kids.  

Totally agree.   

[Superhero 8848]

Our county came off the watch list today, and public schools may open within 2 weeks. It's only in-person 3 hours per day, but it's better than nothing. Hopefully the school will be strict with masks and hand washing. It's elementary school and kids stay in their own classrooms unless it's outside for recess. I feel safe. Kinda. 

OTOH, my boy goes off to private school on Wednesday. We thought it was worth it because he gets "full-day" education. They've reduced enrollment; have the old school desks instead of the "collaborative" tables so kids won't breathe on each other; and they're installing clear shields at every desk as extra protection. All this comes at >$8500 for the year, but we think he'll learn more in an in-person setting, and still cheaper than having a babysitter come in in every afternoon to keep him occupied while my wife and I work. 

 

[Rougarou 594]

Man, kids are doing amazing, the teacher:student ratio is at an all time low (1:5), safety/health is a priority and everyone is doing well. Academic rigor and discipline and routine is already back.

Hate to sit in my private elementary school ivory tower, but...well, Bless y'alls hearts who are sharing these horrid xISD stories.

 

Edited August 24, 2020 by Rougarou

[jkates 316]

39 kids out of 57,000,000 ages 1-14 in the US have died. Good thing we closed the schools!

Hang in there, dudes. My wife teaches and has 3 virtual students and 10 in person. Thankfully, no extra videos. She just teaches as normal and the kids at home better log in and pay attention. 

[Rougarou 594]

7 minutes ago, jkates said:

39 kids out of 57,000,000 ages 1-14 in the US have died. Good thing we closed the schools!

Hang in there, dudes. My wife teaches and has 3 virtual students and 10 in person. Thankfully, no extra videos. She just teaches as normal and the kids at home better log in and pay attention. 

Yea, the idea is not to save the kids lives, but that they are super-spreaders in bringing it home to adults who share it and then kill the 40+ and overweight and the elderly who are still not, for some reason, sheltered in place.

 

[closetohumping 17477]

Buying a house in California.  Can't register my kids because house hasn't closed and the purchase agreement is not enough.

[CleverNickname 1321]

My kids are RRISD. First real week. Grades 3 and 5. It's fine? An hour to start day of "synchronous" (google meetup or zoom). They post 3-5 individual assignments to complete during the day. Plus another hour later of "synchronous" small group with the teacher. Not too had. My kids are already doing this 90% without my input. Only needed me to upload proof of completing some art project.

[crash_davis 23115]

4 minutes ago, closetohumping said:

Buying a house in California.  Can't register my kids because house hasn't closed and the purchase agreement is not enough.

are you close to jumping?

[kmac30 416]

PSA: Outschool.com has been great so far. First real week this week but we had several classes last week, full time for all three next week. We did an acceleration over three weeks on purpose. It’s all live instruction and small classes. If public school isn’t working for you and you can do this at home then I strongly advise you give it a hard look. Our life is drama free so far. Fingers crossed.

Why just full time 3 weeks? Are you planning on going in person then? Wife was just talking about pulling the 3rd grade and doing it herself. That or private are going to be our best options at this point.

[gsoda3 3283]

at my kids' elementary school there are a total of 39 in the entire school who elected to start back physically after labor day.  this is a prek - 5th grade public school.  

[troph 24913]

Why just full time 3 weeks? Are you planning on going in person then? Wife was just talking about pulling the 3rd grade and doing it herself. That or private are going to be our best options at this point.

Sorry if I wasn’t clear - slow 3 week ramp up to full time. FT starts in earnest next week. Shoot me a PM if you want to talk offline. Kids really like it so far.

[jkates 316]

2 hours ago, Rougarou said:

Yea, the idea is not to save the kids lives, but that they are super-spreaders in bringing it home to adults who share it and then kill the 40+ and overweight and the elderly who are still not, for some reason, sheltered in place.

 

Oh yeah. The worry that kids spread to adults. Yeah, that's not happening either. 

 

Certainly.

Per this article - https://www.wsj.com/articles/why-its-mostly-safe-to-reopen-the-schools-11596812466:

In The Netherlands (reopened schools in May with no masks or distancing requirements) – “In a study of 54 families with Covid-19 by the Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, no child under 12 was found to be the “index” patient—that is, the first patient in the family. These results, the institute concluded, “confirm the impression that children do not play a significant role in the transmission of the virus”.”

In Iceland (normal fall reopen)– “A similar study by Icelandic researchers across the entire country’s population was published in June in the New England Journal of Medicine, with similar results. Kári Stefánsson, one of the leaders of the research group, said, “We have not found a single instance of a child infecting parents”.”

In Germany (reopened schools in May with some size/mask protocols) – ““The dynamics of virus spreading have been overestimated….[and] schools did not become hot spots after reopening,” the university wrote. Reinhard Berner, chief of the department of pediatrics at the university’s hospital, said, “We are going into the summer vacation of 2020 with an immunity status that is no different from that in March 2020,” adding that “children may even act as a brake on infection”.”

In France (reopened gradually over May/June w/masks only in high school) – “A study by researchers at Institut Pasteur of students ages 6–11 found that “there was no evidence of onwards transmission from children in the school setting”.”

Finland locked down, Sweden did not - “”Finland has not shown children to be contributing much in terms of transmission” to adults, and in Sweden there was “no increased risk for teachers”.”

“The totality of the evidence makes clear the compelling case for reopening schools for younger children. “It is extremely difficult to find any instance anywhere in the world…of a child [under 15] transmitting to a teacher in school,” observes Mark Woolhouse, an epidemiologist at the University of Edinburgh. The experience of school reopenings has been positive in countries that started with the youngest children, like the Netherlands, and those that started with the oldest children, like Germany. It has been positive in countries that mandated strict physical distancing in schools, like Denmark, and also in countries that did not, like Sweden. And it has been positive in countries where the pandemic has been as deadly as in the U.S. and also in countries where it has not.

The article notes that “The case for reopening high schools, however, is less definitive and requires more caution….And in all age groups, we must still take seriously the risk that teachers and school staff will transmit the coronavirus to each other, as we would in any other workplace or gathering space”.”

 

[Message Board User 12396]

 

[Message Board User 12396]

 

[Rougarou 594]

6 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

 

Sad stuff.

I don't think we are at this point yet, but have you guys ever read stories or reports about  how a specific event has a wide-ranging and general/macro-impact across a large swath of people? The one I can think of that is most often cited is "Millennials entering the job market during the Great Recession have never "recovered" in the sense that they are are behind on lifetime earnings, their salary as of press-time, their savings, home ownership, retirement, etc." with the idea being that the happy path is forever altered because the kick-off and foundation was not there for them like it has been for others more privileged, and the effects compound over a lifetime, writ large.

I don't think we are there yet, but I could see it if this thing lasts well into 2021 and we are knocking on the door of 2022, and we have a huge amount of kids who have been doing nothing and are 8 years old and starting Kindergarten. Nobody on this site, but you have to think 50% of kids in America have parents who don't care to advocate for them and/or don't have the means or wherewithal to advocate for them. 

[Message Board User 12396]

12 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

Nobody on this site, but you have to think 50% of kids in America have parents who don't care to advocate for them and/or don't have the means or wherewithal to advocate for them. 

I was thinking about this too - think of how many kids with substandard parents are going to be receiving no education as long as the schools are on lockdown as the parents aren't going to give a shit and make sure their kid is logging on (as if distance learning is effective anyway)?

And then the kids with special education needs - we might as well close up shop for them and not even pretend that distance learning is going to be useful at all for them.  Yesterday, I posted a link to a story of a parent of an autistic kid and the mom spelled out her understandable frustrations.  

Someone smart is going to have to explain to me how in the world this autistic child is getting what he needs educationally (not to mention socially and emotionally) through distance learning.  My thought was - why bother?  Why even go through this charade of pretending that distance learning is even a little bit effective for children with special education needs?

[Rougarou 594]

9 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

I was thinking about this too - think of how many kids with substandard parents are going to be receiving no education as long as the schools are on lockdown as the parents aren't going to give a shit and make sure their kid is logging on (as if distance learning is effective anyway)?

And then the kids with special education needs - we might as well close up shop for them and not even pretend that distance learning is going to be useful at all for them.  Yesterday, I posted a link to a story of a parent of an autistic kid and the mom spelled out her understandable frustrations.  

Someone smart is going to have to explain to me how in the world this autistic child is getting what he needs educationally (not to mention socially and emotionally) through distance learning.  My thought was - why bother?  Why even go through this charade of pretending that distance learning is even a little bit effective for children with special education needs?

It's tough, and we as parents are obviously doing our best and what we think is the best (that we can at least do, that is realistic) for our kids. So that's why if you are keeping your kids home, sending them to a private, sending them into a public school, whatever, it's not for us to judge.

But at some point, if things don't change soon (e.g. vaccine, world back to normal, etc.) then I would not doubt we start seeing some privileged disparity...or probably better stated, a bigger gap in the privileged disparity, that might have some long-lasting effects.

Just something we should all be thinking about as we enter into Fall and then Winter where nobody knows what Flu season will look like or if a 3rd wave is coming to shut down economies and schools and public living again.

[Guest Lobo]

I know I usually sound like a dick, but have any of you had kids that did not cry during the first days of Kindergarten in the old days?  I mean, I feel for the kid and the parents, but crying happens no matter what during Kindergarten, even older grades.  My wife worked with extremely challenged children as a Speech-Language Pathologist for a decade in what was then, a not so great school district in Bastrop.  And the challenges with that don't change if you're at home, or in person, or in hybrid models.  

We can't off-load this shit to private schools and private clinics, except for maybe a 10-20% shift.  For the very simple reason.......where the fuck you gonna put everybody?  I'm a documented advocate for school choice, testified on behalf of it before the State of Texas, but that was a completely different paradigm.  Where the fuck do we put all these kids as some of you want to shift to private school?  By the fucking time we get the spaces built out and figure out the logistics and the payments, this thing will be over.  At that point, I'd love to get back to a dialogue, with newfound data, about how we shift things going into the middle part of this century.  But that's another battle.  If we could afford private Kindergarten right now, we would.  But oh wait, we went and paid out the ass, like most Texans, for a superlative school district thinking it would be okay this year.  And it will be, but you're not going to find a permanent solution in the next 5 months.  So don't start laying bricks.  

[washparkhorn 9939]

For parents with High School students with AP courses - the College Board has fantastic resources for you and your kiddos. 

https://apstudents.collegeboard.org/course-index-page

And it is useful for those not in AP or where AP courses are not available. 

Edited August 25, 2020 by washparkhorn

[smoky 840]

You send K-5 back in person and middle and high schools stay virtual/ hybrid for the next couple of weeks and see how the phase in approach goes.

High School can be done virtually for a while, 1st grade can not.