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Running thread of the disaster that is the new school year

Superhero

By Superhero
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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 594

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1 hour ago, South Austin said:

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.   

Pics of said grad student?

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And this weekend we are building work stations for them to keep new laptops, head phones with microphones and new key boards, nice and big ass monitors. Will show the final but here’s some WIP:  

BabaYaga
BabaYaga

Ok, another "parent warning" email that the ZOOM meeting needs to be muted before a parent yells at their kid to pay attention of they will "beat their ass".  lol.  

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ZB'Tejas

ZB'Tejas 594

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Rebooting computer now as the pic is not coming through.

 

We did all our Zoom orientations with the teachers and school last night and they start the preschool program on the 10th. All aged Pre K and below so only masks for the teachers.

At least we will now have a quarenteam with the other parents to start hanging out with so that's a benefit.

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South Austin

South Austin 52,686

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1 hour ago, ZB'Tejas said:

At least we will now have a quarenteam with the other parents to start hanging out with so that's a benefit.

Yeah, that's another ancillary benefit.  I have other, much closer friends who would be better quaranteam candidates, but I like these parents and we talked about how nice it would be to gather at someone's home every once in a while for a happy hour or casual dinner. 

Admittedly, this is way outside my comfort zone, although I'm not on the more neurotic end of the pandemic behavior spectrum.  But I think a lot of us are eventually headed in that direction outside of school with no predictable end in sight to all this. 

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dingleberryswitzer

dingleberryswitzer 2,724

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3 hours ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

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.

Gonna see some burn out a lot sooner than normal.  

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Superhero

Superhero 8,889

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My 3rd grader starts in-person next week. She'll be in the early (8AM to 11AM) session with half her class. They're installing clear shields at each table to further limit the amount of spit spray.

I know in-person is always better than virtual, but now it'll be a pain in the ass because we have to walk her to and from school. Right now she's doing a bang up job with remote learning - logging in, staying focused on the lessons, and finishing her homework by mid afternoon. The school issued her an iPad (she uses the camera feature) so she is completely self-reliant as far as school goes.

 

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Knoxtnhorn

Knoxtnhorn 6,164

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They're putting shields on my students' desks over the weekend.  

I'm really looking forward to getting my 10 (of 16) face-to-face kids next Tuesday.  Check back with me after the first two days when I'm trying to do lessons for both groups while keeping those I have in person taught/entertained.

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Superhero

Superhero 8,889

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23 hours ago, Superhero said:

My 3rd grader starts in-person next week. She'll be in the early (8AM to 11AM) session with half her class. They're installing clear shields at each table to further limit the amount of spit spray.

I know in-person is always better than virtual, but now it'll be a pain in the ass because we have to walk her to and from school. Right now she's doing a bang up job with remote learning - logging in, staying focused on the lessons, and finishing her homework by mid afternoon. The school issued her an iPad (she uses the camera feature) so she is completely self-reliant as far as school goes.

And the school district emailed yesterday saying schools won't be open on the 10th...

Just because Huntington Beach idiots won't wear a mask, they're condemning the parents to stay home and watch their kids (and in many cases, can't work). So mad right now.

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Tom

Tom 2,960

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A substantial portion of my area is without power this morning, possibly from the storms we had last night.  The power company said it should have been back on by 7:30, but it wasnt.  Others on Nextdoor said they were told not until late this afternoon.

So I guess this is the first school holiday for all the kids around here. 

 

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Moby Ric

Moby Ric 2,058

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So 2 1/2 week in now with them back in school.  Only issue was a teacher on the second day that tested positive but was a-symptomatic and only found out when going in for a surgery.  Everything has been running smooth so far and glad we sent them back.  I really feel for those that were forced to stay home.  I was at my end being stuck at home with them for 6 months  so this is a nice change back to some normalcy.

Daughter took her SAT's on Saturday and we are now moving on to applications for college.  Despite the garbage that is 2020 we are trying to look at the positives.

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Knoxtnhorn

Knoxtnhorn 6,164

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On a funny note.

One of my first graders completed a sentence starter with the following:

Sentence start: This summer I ....

Her sentence: This summer I ate a breakfast of fun dip and crack.

Her daycare helper freaked out and sent me a long apology as she was helping multiple students at once.  She had meant to write "cake".  Of course I let the daycare worker know that I appreciate her help and the midday LOL.

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NorthLoop

NorthLoop 14,302

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Well our 18mo came down with a 103 fever, which means my school nurse wife and 5th grade daughter had to stay home until we got him tested. But day one is too early to test so we had to wait until this afternoon day 2. Negative for Covid. Meanwhile my wife's school was sans nurse for a couple days (they only have 1 nurse sub this year for the whole district and 3 other nurses have already had to temp quarantine for the same reasons as us). 

Gonna be a shitshow if any outbreak happens and there's no nurses because they're already quarantined. 

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Llano Estacado

Llano Estacado 1,257

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Son is kicking ass in kinder. Masked up and loving it. Nothing so far after 2 teachers and 1 staff announced positives in early August. Hope against hope there are no undiagnosed cases walking around, but fully expect it sometime this fall.

Met the teacher for 3yo daycare today. Starts after the holiday...

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Message Board User

Message Board User 12,397

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9 hours ago, JBJ said:

Had a board announcement.

We will be starting optional in-person in October.

But the real takeaway was that 15% of enrolled students still have not attended a single online session.

 

Not surprising.

Not sure If this article will be behind a paywall for you, but this article from the DMN indicates that 100k students never attended any online school learning session after May 1.

https://www.dallasnews.com/news/education/2020/09/02/thousands-of-north-texas-children-could-be-among-the-lost-generation-of-students-after-they-stopped-participating-in-online-learning/?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true

This whole online virtual school is going to hit the poor and minorities the hardest.  I was talking to a teacher in my neck of the woods and she said that parents of about 30-40% of the students that we’re supposed to register this year never bothered to do so.

And don’t get me started on kids in special education...how is a dyslexic kid getting his  educational needs met virtually?
 

 

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BradInATX

BradInATX 9,208

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12 hours ago, JBJ said:

Had a board announcement.

We will be starting optional in-person in October.

But the real takeaway was that 15% of enrolled students still have not attended a single online session.

 

Damn. That sucks. This just in, 15% of parents should have never had children.

Edited by BradInATX
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BlueGreySky

BlueGreySky 1,032

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New challenge - one of my soccer playing students got a concussion.  How are they supposed to do virtual learning 50% of the time when they can't look at a screen?  We have been notified that we are hybrid until the end of this month then back full, hopefully, as long as CV numbers continue to trend downward in our city/county.

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Knoxtnhorn

Knoxtnhorn 6,164

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Well, that's one question answered.

We start F2F Tuesday.  One of my team members has to go get her daughter from Aggy Commerce.  She tested positive and isn't feeling well.  There are nowhere near enough subs, so her F2F students will be split between my class and another.  She's a great lady, so I don't have a problem helping her out.  My real concern is to how this is going to work throughout the school year.  Every time someone gets a cold, are they out 2 weeks minimum?  I'm pretty flexible, but I can already hear the outcry when teachers are sourced with teaching F2F simultaneously w/ virtual + half the kids from another room.

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jkates

jkates 316

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Our school (PK3 thru 12) has been open with in-person instruction for 3 weeks now. There was a lab-confirmed case reported to us on 8/24 in the PK3 program. Not sure if student or teacher, but that person was sent home and the rest of the school kept rolling. We're a ways past that now and concluding another week with no lab-confirmed COVID cases.

The protocols, specifically the masks, suck but the kids adapted quickly. In person schooling isn't killing anyone. Whodathunk?

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bad_teammate

bad_teammate 13,299

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17 minutes ago, Message Board User said:

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that by the end of the month, we'll start to hear stories of parents who committed to all virtual this year trying to switch to in-person.

I wouldn't bet against you.

We've chosen our route, and half-assing accomplishes nothing.

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Message Board User

Message Board User 12,397

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5 minutes ago, chikin23 said:
21 hours ago, JBJ said:
Had a board announcement.
We will be starting optional in-person in October.
But the real takeaway was that 15% of enrolled students still have not attended a single online session.
 

We are closer to 35% that haven't done anything.

This is consistent with what I've heard as well.  Basically about a third of schoolchildren (mostly poor and minority) are going to skip this school year.

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Message Board User

Message Board User 12,397

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From the official journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics:

Almost 6 months into the pandemic, accumulating evidence and collective experience argue that children, particularly school-aged children, are far less important drivers of SARS-CoV-2 transmission than adults. Therefore, serious consideration should be paid toward strategies that allow schools to remain open, even during periods of COVID-19 spread. In doing so, we could minimize the potentially profound adverse social, developmental, and health costs that our children will continue to suffer until an effective treatment or vaccine can be developed and distributed or, failing that, until we reach herd immunity.

https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/146/2/e2020004879

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Moby Ric

Moby Ric 2,058

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On 9/4/2020 at 5:41 PM, Message Board User said:

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that by the end of the month, we'll start to hear stories of parents who committed to all virtual this year trying to switch to in-person.

Where I am you have the option to change at the end of each grading period from virtual to in person and visa versa.  You just have to fill out the information by a certain due date.

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Anastasis

Anastasis 23,498

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1 minute ago, Moby Ric said:

Where I am you have the option to change at the end of each grading period from virtual to in person and visa versa.  You just have to fill out the information by a certain due date.

Yeah. At week 7 we can decide to go back f2f for week 9, which is our plan as long as shit doesn’t go off the rails. If you are f2f you can go virtual any time though. 

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Guest Lobo

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Same with us.  There are two running chronologies here, one is the first reopening of the physical campus at all for at-risk and special services kids, then 25%, 50%, and 100%.  That's on its own timeline that is heavily influenced by the County and State.  That's gonna be more of fixed calendar dates from County and State because the various districts inside of them have their own calendars and somebody had to put a uniform stamp on it.  Then running along side that, there's what our particular I.S.D. has decided.  Which is that at the start of second 9-week grading period (10/19 for us), you can then opt in for in-person learning (provided you do all the logistics beforehand) provided at that particular calendar date, your child will still keep the campus at or below its county/state-mandated threshold (I'm guessing it'll be 50% at that time).  Same decision to be made for 5 January (when I'm guessing we'll still be at 50%). 

Despite a reasonable experience doing remote learning, I think we'll put in for in-person for 19 October.  However, given all the Karens/pandemic-deniers in our district, I don't think there'll be room in the school for our daughter.  Which may work out well since we won't want her in-person for the January-March 9-week period.  If a vaccine is available, I'm pretty sure healthy 5-year olds are gonna be at the back of the line.  Really, our worry has always been she'll bring it home to mom, dad, or grandparents.  

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Updawg

Updawg 2,301

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TMR is the big day for AISD! Setup my daughter with a laptop and extra monitor, printer etc.

Blend does suck. Took forever to just find her class schedule. She is good about this stuff so she should be fine though. I just need to keep her on track with time mgt a little. I have no problem with her going back in if/when it opens. She wants to

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Updawg

Updawg 2,301

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My biggest problem is all the fucking emails from aisd. We didn’t keep up with them so we missed the day to pick up textbooks etc. need to figure how to do that tmr. There is just way to many emails so they start becoming spam after a while. I get that it’s a shitty situation and things change but it’s still frustrating

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BlueGreySky

BlueGreySky 1,032

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Week 5 starting tomorrow for us.  5 cases, about 1 per week.  The one we got last week was again from activity outside the building, so we're not spreading it here.  We're back full on the 21st.  Sports continue to be fully back - XC, volleyball, golf, tennis, football.  Indoor sports no attendees other than parents.  Outdoor events no restrictions for the minor sports because they don't attract big enough crowds.  Football is limited to 1k as long as that is not more than 50% of a stadium capacity.  Gotta say, I am shocked at how well it went.  If you had asked me Aug 1 I would have said we'd be closed within 2 weeks. 

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Message Board User

Message Board User 12,397

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21 minutes ago, BlueGreySky said:

Gotta say, I am shocked at how well it went.  If you had asked me Aug 1 I would have said we'd be closed within 2 weeks. 

You made the same mistake I did earlier this summer - you got your info from the media instead of peer-reviewed medical journals and the actual epidemiological data from across the globe.

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utee94

utee94 15,878

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14 hours ago, BlueGreySky said:

Week 5 starting tomorrow for us.  5 cases, about 1 per week.  The one we got last week was again from activity outside the building, so we're not spreading it here.  We're back full on the 21st.  Sports continue to be fully back - XC, volleyball, golf, tennis, football.  Indoor sports no attendees other than parents.  Outdoor events no restrictions for the minor sports because they don't attract big enough crowds.  Football is limited to 1k as long as that is not more than 50% of a stadium capacity.  Gotta say, I am shocked at how well it went.  If you had asked me Aug 1 I would have said we'd be closed within 2 weeks. 

Where are you?  What district/schools?

 

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chesthair

chesthair 231

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BGSky is a yankee, ignore him.

 

We are starting week 5.  Our ISD has 11,921 students, 2,344 employees...we have 5 cases with students, 1 with faculty.  No screens/shields in classes, they rotate classrooms like normal, they eat lunch in the cafeteria, sports are pretty much full bore.  Protocols are masks at all times, hallways/stairs are 1 way and thats about it.  My kids say they average 2-3 remote kids per class so I would WAG around 10-15% of the school is doing remote.  They have the option of changing remote/in person any time.  So far, this has been a non-event.

I do know one kid who got ISS for not wearing a mask so they certainly have a 0 tolerance about that.  

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