Running thread of the disaster that is the new school year

[washparkhorn 9939]

11 hours ago, dingleberryswitzer said:

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.  

Zoom is apparently having issues . . . 

[HornOnTheBayou 8921]

1 hour ago, washparkhorn said:

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. 

Thanks for mentioning this. I actually helped design some of the curriculum. If any of you have high schoolers at home and need help navigating all the AP stuff, let me know. 

[washparkhorn 9939]

42 minutes ago, HornOnTheBayou said:

Thanks for mentioning this. I actually helped design some of the curriculum. If any of you have high schoolers at home and need help navigating all the AP stuff, let me know. 

Awesome job. 

Hook 'em

[Guest Lobo]

I just learned that ancient women were attracted to men based on their strength capability to protect them from dinosaurs.  That speech actually happened tonight.  In America.  During home-schooling.  So yeah, Lobo's science lesson tomorrow at the garage learning pod is gonna maybe be somewhat controversial.  But I heard it from top people.  We absolutely sure the Twin Liquors Dollar Sale ain't happening?  

[CleverNickname 1308]

8 hours ago, Lobo said:

I just learned that ancient women were attracted to men based on their strength capability to protect them from dinosaurs.  That speech actually happened tonight.  In America.  During home-schooling.  So yeah, Lobo's science lesson tomorrow at the garage learning pod is gonna maybe be somewhat controversial.  But I heard it from top people.  We absolutely sure the Twin Liquors Dollar Sale ain't happening?  

Tell. Us. Everything.

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

8 hours ago, Lobo said:

I just learned that ancient women were attracted to men based on their strength capability to protect them from dinosaurs.  That speech actually happened tonight.  In America.  During home-schooling.  So yeah, Lobo's science lesson tomorrow at the garage learning pod is gonna maybe be somewhat controversial.  But I heard it from top people.  We absolutely sure the Twin Liquors Dollar Sale ain't happening?  

I'm my defense I have successfully protected my family from dinosaurs for 10 straight years and counting.

[Guest Lobo]

I'm learning very quickly that these three girls in my daughter's learning pod are really good at social distancing, washing hands, not coughing outward, etc.  

But if one of them has a particular kind of pink marker, they must all fight over, touch, and use the same particular shade of pink marker.  

DAMN YOU CRAYOLA!  Just make one pink and be done with it, this 5 varietals of every single color is fucking exhausting.  Not to mention dangerous for germs.

I grew up on 8 crayons.  Maybe 16 if my mom got a good tax return.  You're Crayola, not fucking Sherwin-Williams.  

Edited August 25, 2020 by Lobo

[Enchubben 5510]

 

12 hours 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?

As a parent of an autistic toddler and a non special needs child that is starting kindergarten on 9/8, I can tell you this is a motherfucker. 

Closing my daughters therapy for months now has put her behind the eight ball developmentally tremendously, to the extent where she may now not ever catch up to where she needs to be. Without going CR on risk of covid, I’ll just say her needs and long term living standards are completely ignored. We have super fucked our youth during this and don’t even know it yet. 

[Guest Lobo]

Good point Enchubben, I salute your dedication.  My wife (no pics/nohumblebrag) is a published Speech-Language Pathologist who has served in statewide leadership in the field.  And she is also (no Cloak Room) an ardent conservative.  But her anecdotal opinion which is reflected by much of her profession...is that our nation's kindergartners will be just fine (we have one ourselves).  But that tele-therapy, which is what she does with her client base (many of whom are like your toddler---she deals almost exclusive with very young children on the spectrum), is simply not effective and is going to be detrimental in the long run and the catch-up won't take semesters, but rather years to a decade for special needs children.  The first spaces that open up in therapy clinics/speech labs/pre-K's/etc.  should be for special needs kids and at-risk kids.  The rest of us can fucking wait.  

(all seriousness, there are some tele-therapy sessions that are already going better than others, 6 months ain't much to base it around but there's some decent best practices emerging...if you're interested in learning more...I'm sure you've done your research but happy to send you some of her learnings).  

[BradInATX 9208]

 

Teachable moment that the mother chose to use as a political cry for attention (while exposing her kid's emotional vulnerability to the entire world on social media) instead of being a parent to him. I'm not surprised her kid is a pussy. He never had a chance.

 

[BradInATX 9208]

Man you people need to home school your kids instead of sending them to school. There was actually traffic on the road this morning. Bullshit.

[RollLeft 5044]

So a friend of mine decided to pull his kid from his school, private catholic, for multiple reasons. Covid and wife's happiness being the primaries.  Apparently he notified the school a few days too late.  The opt out cut off day was Aug 1 and he notified them Aug 3.  The school notified him that whether his kid show's up or not they will bill him the full year's tuition, 12k.  Also, note that the school year has not even started as the start date was pushed a month.  Also, after he spoke to them they were not only not receptive to his unenrolling they reminded him that they will enforce the tuition contract legally.  What sayeth the Surly?  Anybody else in this situation.  

Edited August 25, 2020 by RollLeft

[Brisketexan 105109]

42 minutes ago, RollLeft said:

So a friend of mine decided to pull his kid from his school, private catholic, for multiple reasons. Covid and wife's happiness being the primaries.  Apparently he notified the school a few days too late.  The opt out cut off day was Aug 1 and he notified them Aug 3.  The school notified him that whether his kid show's up or not they will bill him the full year's tuition, 12k.  Also, note that the school year has not even started as the start date was pushed a month.  Also, after he spoke to them they were not only not receptive to his unenrolling they reminded him that they will enforce the tuition contract legally.  What sayeth the Surly?  Anybody else in this situation.  

The contract governs.  And from my experience with them, they are quite favorable to the school.  He may be able to negotiate a lower buyout, but that's up to the parties reaching an amicable agreement.

We're in private school - they offer either option (in person or online), and we're starting online, we'll see how it goes.  I will say that the online instruction is actually pretty good, they were already set up for some robust technology before COVID hit, so all of that has helped.  And as for how it goes for the rest of the year, we'll see.

[RollLeft 5044]

28 minutes ago, Brisketexan said:

The contract governs.  And from my experience with them, they are quite favorable to the school.  He may be able to negotiate a lower buyout, but that's up to the parties reaching an amicable agreement.

We're in private school - they offer either option (in person or online), and we're starting online, we'll see how it goes.  I will say that the online instruction is actually pretty good, they were already set up for some robust technology before COVID hit, so all of that has helped.  And as for how it goes for the rest of the year, we'll see.

Thanks.  Under normal circumstances I would normally agree but Covid times and more than that the kid is 5. I personally would not be sold on an online curriculum for that age group.  Expensive lesson and am a bit surprised how quickly they dropped legal on them.  

[Brisketexan 105109]

8 minutes ago, RollLeft said:

Thanks.  Under normal circumstances I would normally agree but Covid times and more than that the kid is 5. I personally would not be sold on an online curriculum for that age group.  Expensive lesson and am a bit surprised how quickly they dropped legal on them.  

Budget crunches are budget crunches.  They counted on those tuition dollars.  And yeah, I agree that online kindergarten is suboptimal.  But....the contract will govern.  Unless it had a force majeure provision that would at least arguably cover pandemics, then it will bind them.

All of that said, if a Catholic school community won't work with a family that may be deferring things for a year, with the expectation that they'll come back for remaining years.....that may tell you something about the school.

[jkates 316]

1 hour ago, RollLeft said:

So a friend of mine decided to pull his kid from his school, private catholic, for multiple reasons. Covid and wife's happiness being the primaries.  Apparently he notified the school a few days too late.  The opt out cut off day was Aug 1 and he notified them Aug 3.  The school notified him that whether his kid show's up or not they will bill him the full year's tuition, 12k.  Also, note that the school year has not even started as the start date was pushed a month.  Also, after he spoke to them they were not only not receptive to his unenrolling they reminded him that they will enforce the tuition contract legally.  What sayeth the Surly?  Anybody else in this situation.  

That sucks but if he signed a contract, then what recourse does he have? Private schools have spent a lot of money getting ready for COVID protocols and virtual learning options. He should have gotten out while he could if he wanted his money back. And the school should probably be more reasonable, but we don't know exactly how that conversation went.

[Trey3216 15346]

On 8/24/2020 at 12:34 PM, closetohumping said:

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

As the great poet Notorious B.I.G. once said “Cali, great place to visit.” 

[Guest Lobo]

As I understand it, they built Vatican City by refunding a lot of checks to people.  Everything kicks up, even elementary school sports leagues.  You guys new to Catholicism?  

[Knoxtnhorn 5974]

19 hours ago, Lobo said:

I just learned that ancient women were attracted to men based on their strength capability to protect them from dinosaurs.  That speech actually happened tonight.  In America.  During home-schooling.  So yeah, Lobo's science lesson tomorrow at the garage learning pod is gonna maybe be somewhat controversial.  But I heard it from top people.  We absolutely sure the Twin Liquors Dollar Sale ain't happening?  

Lol.  That reminded me of my first day of student teaching.

Teacher is a lead teaching going on Year 20 or so.  Science class. She tells the class that, because of gravity, heavier objects fall at faster speeds.  So, to prove it, she drops a stapler and a pencil.  As she's letting go, she's telling the class to watch the stapler hit first.  They both hit at the same time.  She did this with several other objects.  They all hit the ground at the same time.  They had different masses, but none were shaped as to be affected by air resistance.  The best part is that she kept repeating her premise, watching the objects hit at the same time, then continually stating that the heavier one hit first.  The students were all looking at her like she was crazy; however, she had a rep for being very, very strict, so nobody wanted to say anything.  You could see the levers and gears grinding in her head as she struggled with a misconception that she had no idea how to explain.

[Message Board User 12395]

 

[AUS-97HORN 11758]

1 hour ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

She tells the class that, because of gravity, heavier objects fall at faster speeds.  So, to prove it, she drops a stapler and a pencil.  As she's letting go, she's telling the class to watch the stapler hit first.  They both hit at the same time.  She did this with several other objects.  They all hit the ground at the same time.  They had different masses, but none were shaped as to be affected by air resistance.  The best part is that she kept repeating her premise, watching the objects hit at the same time, then continually stating that the heavier one hit first.  The students were all looking at her like she was crazy; however, she had a rep for being very, very strict, so nobody wanted to say anything.  You could see the levers and gears grinding in her head as she struggled with a misconception that she had no idea how to explain.

Jesus Christ, Gallileo proved her statement to be wrong over 400 years ago... HTF did she not know that? 

On top of that,  David Scott did the fucking test on live TV in 1971 during Apollo 15.

 

 

[Message Board User 12395]

 

[dcar00 14181]

1 hour ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

Lol.  That reminded me of my first day of student teaching.

Teacher is a lead teaching going on Year 20 or so.  Science class. She tells the class that, because of gravity, heavier objects fall at faster speeds.  So, to prove it, she drops a stapler and a pencil.  As she's letting go, she's telling the class to watch the stapler hit first.  They both hit at the same time.  She did this with several other objects.  They all hit the ground at the same time.  They had different masses, but none were shaped as to be affected by air resistance.  The best part is that she kept repeating her premise, watching the objects hit at the same time, then continually stating that the heavier one hit first.  The students were all looking at her like she was crazy; however, she had a rep for being very, very strict, so nobody wanted to say anything.  You could see the levers and gears grinding in her head as she struggled with a misconception that she had no idea how to explain.

this can't be true...really? what grade?

[tbone_ 14118]

g=9.81 m/s squared

Would have worked if she’d used a bowling ball and a feather.

[Grade of D as in David 13253]

4 hours ago, RollLeft said:

So a friend of mine decided to pull his kid from his school, private catholic, for multiple reasons. Covid and wife's happiness being the primaries.  Apparently he notified the school a few days too late.  The opt out cut off day was Aug 1 and he notified them Aug 3.  The school notified him that whether his kid show's up or not they will bill him the full year's tuition, 12k.  Also, note that the school year has not even started as the start date was pushed a month.  Also, after he spoke to them they were not only not receptive to his unenrolling they reminded him that they will enforce the tuition contract legally.  What sayeth the Surly?  Anybody else in this situation.  

Have him try this 

[fattyflattie 4639]

On 8/24/2020 at 9:39 AM, kmac30 said:

 

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.
 

 

We went homeschool with a 3rd, K, and Pre-K this year. We started on Aug 6th, and it has been tremendous so far. Kids love it, wife loves it, kids are learning all kinds of things. PM me and I can dig deeper into what we did, our ethos on it, equipment needed, costs, schedules, etc. 

[Newdoc 3439]

4 hours ago, RollLeft said:

Also, after he spoke to them they were not only not receptive to his unenrolling they reminded him that they will enforce the tuition contract legally.  What sayeth the Surly? 

[Superhero 8829]

My boy started kinder today. He looked sharp in his uniform. Being the first stay of school, there were a lot of parents walking their kids to the gate. I actually got a little verklempt watching him walk into the gate. My baby boy is all growed up.

[BlueGreySky 1005]

School I teach at (800 students) now in our fourth week back.  We are doing 50/50 hybrid with half the kids home one day, then switch the next.  Extended passing periods so classrooms can be cleaned.  Desks 6+ ft apart.  Daily health screening for all entering the building.  We've had 5 cases, none of them athletes, and none of them got it from school - all got it at home or from family.  Two of them have already done their 2 week quarantine and were back this week.  It's been ok.  Shorter classes and handling half the kids at home and all the new tech we are using - cameras, multiple monitors, new apps - has been the biggest challenge.  

[Hefeweizen 5317]

On 8/24/2020 at 10:04 PM, Lobo said:

I just learned that ancient women were attracted to men based on their strength capability to protect them from dinosaurs.  That speech actually happened tonight.  In America.  During home-schooling.  So yeah, Lobo's science lesson tomorrow at the garage learning pod is gonna maybe be somewhat controversial.  But I heard it from top people.  We absolutely sure the Twin Liquors Dollar Sale ain't happening?  

I would like to subscribe to this newsletter.  Where do I send the 9.95?

[RollLeft 5044]

I here among the many different issues that it is difficult to give instructions when different technology is being used.  Ipad, Chromebook, Mac, laptops and many others have different placement of buttons and layout.

[Rougarou 594]

I mentioned my private school did some extra hiring of teachers to make sure and have students have no more than a 5:1 student to teacher ratio and I thought that was an expensive lift, but my buddy was saying his, bigger/more expensive, private school paid $450k in plexiglass (he's on the Board) to prepare for the students coming back this week. Crazy.

[gyroprotagonist 2592]

24 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

I mentioned my private school did some extra hiring of teachers to make sure and have students have no more than a 5:1 student to teacher ratio and I thought that was an expensive lift, but my buddy was saying his, bigger/more expensive, private school paid $450k in plexiglass (he's on the Board) to prepare for the students coming back this week. Crazy.

man, i would not have guessed the former Steeler could still command that type of appearance fee  ...  is this mic on...

ours don't start back to school until next week.  1 week online and then Elementary starts going f2f every day and middle school and up start going 3 days a week.  Then plan for everyone to be back f2f 2 weeks after that.

it's a private school, but they did a really good job last year and for summer school with online learning and that's still an option for anyone to do at any time.  Think they need a week's notice if you want to move from distance to f2f, though.  It's a brand new campus so they are able to install a lot of extra cameras in the classrooms to help set up online learning.  Even stuff like top down cameras in the science labs and stuff like that.

I am a little mixed about they going back for health and for comfort reasons.  School is about a 30-40 minute drive, so when they were distance learning, it was freaking nice not to have to make that trip.  But ours are doing some speech remediation and that's sooo much better face to face.  so we'll see how it goes.  

 

 

[chikin23 384]

K-2 will go back full time on September 7th. Sept 14th 3-12 will go back on alternating days (A-L on Monday and Wednesday, M-Z on Tuesday and Thursday) and Friday will be at home learning. Sports and other extra curricular activities are still going on full time.

[Moby Ric 2058]

Started last day of second week of kids in school.  So far nobody has died.

[Brew 3049]

On 8/25/2020 at 2:34 PM, RollLeft said:

So a friend of mine decided to pull his kid from his school, private catholic, for multiple reasons. Covid and wife's happiness being the primaries.  Apparently he notified the school a few days too late.  The opt out cut off day was Aug 1 and he notified them Aug 3.  The school notified him that whether his kid show's up or not they will bill him the full year's tuition, 12k.  Also, note that the school year has not even started as the start date was pushed a month.  Also, after he spoke to them they were not only not receptive to his unenrolling they reminded him that they will enforce the tuition contract legally.  What sayeth the Surly?  Anybody else in this situation.  

If he is committed to starting next year, he needs to see if they will let him pay it and defer it until next year while explaining the situation. If they will not, then that says enough about the school to know he may need to look a different direction for the next 13 years worth of payments.

A lot of private schools run on thin margins with limited endowments, so they are in a bad situation also. Let one kid out of their contract and what happens when the next kid asks is the way a lot of them look it. We let everyone out that asked to be let out and used the PPP reserves to cover the budgetary issues. The public perception of not letting them out was more of a concern than the budgetary issues we would have to deal with.

[High Plains Drifter 11046]

On 8/24/2020 at 7:01 PM, Rougarou said:

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.

 

I basically agree but I would go further:

 

We already have a huge disparity. There are already serious long term effects. This covid thing is probably going to make it even worse. Maybe, if we are lucky, the covid thing will shine a light on that disparity, and something will be done about it. But I'm not hopeful.

 

 

[High Plains Drifter 11046]

On 8/24/2020 at 10:04 PM, Lobo said:

I just learned that ancient women were attracted to men based on their strength capability to protect them from dinosaurs.  That speech actually happened tonight.  In America.  During home-schooling.  So yeah, Lobo's science lesson tomorrow at the garage learning pod is gonna maybe be somewhat controversial.  But I heard it from top people.  We absolutely sure the Twin Liquors Dollar Sale ain't happening?  

 

On 8/25/2020 at 6:50 AM, CleverNickname said:

Tell. Us. Everything.

 

seriously. Put your normal written diarrhea to work and entertain us.

 

 

On 8/25/2020 at 6:30 PM, AUS-97HORN said:

Jesus Christ, Gallileo proved her statement to be wrong over 400 years ago... HTF did she not know that? 

On top of that,  David Scott did the fucking test on live TV in 1971 during Apollo 15.

 

 

 

 

something else that is interesting is to notice is that they fell together, but they fell much more slowly than they would have on earth, supporting newton's law of univ. gravitation.

 

 

 

 

 

[High Plains Drifter 11046]

On 8/25/2020 at 5:21 PM, Knoxtnhorn said:

Lol.  That reminded me of my first day of student teaching.

Teacher is a lead teaching going on Year 20 or so.  Science class. She tells the class that, because of gravity, heavier objects fall at faster speeds.  So, to prove it, she drops a stapler and a pencil.  As she's letting go, she's telling the class to watch the stapler hit first.  They both hit at the same time.  She did this with several other objects.  They all hit the ground at the same time.  They had different masses, but none were shaped as to be affected by air resistance.  The best part is that she kept repeating her premise, watching the objects hit at the same time, then continually stating that the heavier one hit first.  The students were all looking at her like she was crazy; however, she had a rep for being very, very strict, so nobody wanted to say anything.  You could see the levers and gears grinding in her head as she struggled with a misconception that she had no idea how to explain.

 

Should of gone with "Do you even Newton's 2nd Law bro?"

[High Plains Drifter 11046]

 

Anyway, the reason I came here was to say that one and a half weeks in, and no positive covid tests at my daughter's district so far (that i know of, and I'm sure it would be trumpeted from the mountains if there were one).

 

[Message Board User 12395]

 

[Knoxtnhorn 5974]

Just wanted to check in and report that I've had an extremely smooth and positive start to the school year.  We've had a couple of symptomatic scares; however, I don't think we've had any positive tests.  Our district put teachers in school to teach distantly, with face-to-face starting on Sept. 8th.  They let us take our own kids to school with us, so I've been able to monitor my two boys.

I've also had some amazing support from parents and day care workers.  Out of 16 students, I've had 15 do just about every, single assignment.  The outlier finally got on board this week.  The parents that I've dealt with have been extremely positive and complimentary.

[Message Board User 12395]

 

[Guest Lobo]

On 8/28/2020 at 10:40 AM, High Plains Drifter said:

 

 

seriously. Put your normal written diarrhea to work and entertain us

 

 

Nothing doing sir.  Just another week of the grind, and wife trying to make the most of a bad situation with a really great learning pod and putting her Master's degree to work.  

Well, you did ask for written diarrhea, I'd say something about...you know...but seems like you could use a win in real life.  So I'll let it slide.  

Edited August 31, 2020 by Lobo

[Trey3216 15346]

Wife has been grading papers and doing tomorrow’s lesson for virtual students for the last 6 hours today.  She may have another hour or two to go.   

[Knoxtnhorn 5974]

11 hours ago, Trey3216 said:

Wife has been grading papers and doing tomorrow’s lesson for virtual students for the last 6 hours today.  She may have another hour or two to go.   

That's what many of us are afraid of... double duty.  I'm an extremely efficient teacher.  Hell, I used to be an efficiency analyst.  I can do many things in half the time it takes most teachers w/o sacrificing quality.  With everything that I currently do w/ only distance students, I generally work non-stop until around 3.  I have no problem working later; however, I don't see how some teachers aren't going to be up til 10 every evening.

[South Austin 52484]

Finally took the plunge and formed a pod.  Three families, four boys total.  Will be facilitated by a UT grad student whose study abroad this semester was cancelled.  She probably won't do much teaching, as the kids will by and large be occupied with work between their Zoom calls and asynchronous learning.   

But most importantly, the parents will have some measure of relief where they can actually get work done during the day.  Each family will rotate a week to host the pod, while the other families will have Monday through Thursday from 8am to 2pm to go into the office if needed or work with no kid distractions.  I feel a large measure of relief, because it felt like I was limping through the summer, and my practice couldn't take another few months of staying with the kids during the day and monitoring their online schooling. 

We also tore the band-aid off yesterday and met at one of the parents' home.  We all weren't shaking hands or hugging, but we were inside, no masks, less than 6 feet apart.  Felt weird, but if this is our tribe for the rest of 2020 (at least), might as well officially open up our circles.   

[Scary Stranger 1714]

your mom opens her circle.

[GRHorn 105]

Was just coming to post the info from Prosper.  That’s great news. 
 

We’re starting the second week here. On two campuses, one elementary and one middle school. Received one email last week about someone from “the campus” at the elementary who went home with symptoms. No word on test. 

[Errestaurants 2570]

My daughter is starting her 3rd week of in school Kindergarten. So far so good. Keeping my fingers crossed.