COVID-19

[ajalves]

Huge internal push to get kids back in school.

They currently estimate that 20m out of 55m kids were getting free food in school. 1 out of 5 cases of child abuse are reported by teachers. Also estimate that the average child will fall 1 full year behind in Math, due to missing the last 3 months of school.

Do NOT put masks on kids under 5. Teachers should have clear, plastic face shields.

estimates..

go back , hold off a bit....whatever

to say that kids will fall 1 full year behind in math by missing 3 months doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

Free food can (and was) be given out while learning remotely.

Online/remote learning simply doesn't work for probably 90% of school kids.

the vast majority of kids genuinely want to be back in schools, for many different reasons, and we want them back... but is it actually the right thing to do? maybe?

who knows what statistics to believe and what is accurate....I do know that putting 25 kids in a classroom (at the secondary level at least), having them change classes 7 times, having lunch together (often multiple lunches by grade level or whatever), mandating pre-teens and teens wear masks, ride 50-70 to a bus, etc etc etc......i'd venture that many of these things aren't what any sane person would call "ideal"

[ReignOnU]

Huge internal push to get kids back in school.

They currently estimate that 20m out of 55m kids were getting free food in school. 1 out of 5 cases of child abuse are reported by teachers. Also estimate that the average child will fall 1 full year behind in Math, due to missing the last 3 months of school.

Do NOT put masks on kids under 5. Teachers should have clear, plastic face shields.

estimates..

go back , hold off a bit....whatever

to say that kids will fall 1 full year behind in math by missing 3 months doesn't make a ton of sense to me.

Free food can (and was) be given out while learning remotely.

Online/remote learning simply doesn't work for probably 90% of school kids.

the vast majority of kids genuinely want to be back in schools, for many different reasons, and we want them back... but is it actually the right thing to do? maybe?

who knows what statistics to believe and what is accurate....I do know that putting 25 kids in a classroom (at the secondary level at least), having them change classes 7 times, having lunch together (often multiple lunches by grade level or whatever), mandating pre-teens and teens wear masks, ride 50-70 to a bus, etc etc etc......i'd venture that many of these things aren't what any sane person would call "ideal"

We received our most current plan today and I'm pretty happy with it. Online only or 5 days, depending on the Ohio 4 tier system (would flex online with level 4).

I gave the 1yr drop comment a bit of pause, but I've got a pretty good relationship with a few teachers (1 with a ton of STEM focus) and they often discuss how far kids regress over the summer. I don't know where the full year number comes from, but if 1 month off gives you a 1 month fall back, I could see how they at least get close. (long time away, more significant deterioration)

Agreed on the free food, everyone around here did it as well. But how many were able to actually get it? No idea.

I was just talking with Pino a few minutes ago about school strategy. To me, the best method (and what I recommended to our board), was leaving the kids in 1 room all day. Have the teachers rotate. This would require us to modify our electives some, as well as making some different choices on class level/quality. I felt like making those concessions was a fair trade for limiting movement. Use the elective rooms to reduce class sizes and reassign some extra offerings that we have (not an option for many schools unfortunately).

[ajalves]

i agree with most of what you say to be fair. maybe they will be a year behind.

the food thing can be delivered to 'high population' neighborhoods for those who cant make it to the school. the people may not have cars or transportation to get to school but they can walk a few blocks over I'd imagine

there are many things that can be done and probably will be done. In the long run (maybe a couple or few years down the road) this entire pandemic will end up helping the school system IMO. many many mannnnny of the things done in schools is antiquated. it will update curriculum, encourage teachers to get multiple certifications making them more marketable, parents(not all) who ignored their children's schools and education for years will start taking it more seriously , etc etc etc

i have about 9 more years until i am out of education. I told my wife about 5 years ago that people need to understand that education will (and should IMO) look completely different when i retire . I never thought a pandemic would kick start things into high gear but it seems that's where we are at

[ReignOnU]

That's how it goes with most things. Just about every major crisis we've had, has resulted in major changes to the way we operate.

As for teaching, I saw a really refreshing Facebook post this morning from a former teacher... the gist of it was "instead of teaching the kids to score well on the state exams this year, let's just let the teacher's teach!" I know things are different in various schools, but in our district, this is what I'd really like to see. The "lazy," "do the minimum," kind of teachers are incredibly rare here and I'd love to let out teachers lead how they see fit.

I've spent years analyzing operations to find efficiencies, but the 1 place where I think it's incredibly hard to validate impact is any customer facing industry. Schools are similar. I hate seeing class sizes reach the levels they are reaching. From my short time working with our board and treasurer, I feel like we've bloated the staffing with "special positions" to support "mandated requirements." The teachers here would know much better than I how we got here or why, but as an outsider that was brought in to work through financial decisions, I was shocked at how many positions were required. My take is that we need to use our school funding better (focus on general education and classes that matter most) and we need to get more money into the system. Ohio has done nothing but cut, over and over, for as long as I can remember.

[nick]

old women are dying the most here

[ReignOnU]

old women are dying the most here

Seems about right. It has impacted old people much more everywhere, women out number men in Toronto 52% to 48%, and female life expectancy is 6-8yrs longer than a male, which is going to sway the older generation ratio... maybe even to the point that would suggest % of older women are dying less than men (not taking the time to figure it out, but it's close for sure).

[nick]

Boston Red Sox pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez on Sunday confirmed that he was infected with the coronavirus earlier this year and is now suffering from myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle.

[Cnasty]

Yup, he has had a couple setbacks thus far.

[Ry]

Children will fall behind the longer online learning continues. Even worse is the socialization students miss out on. However, what pisses me off is this:
If you ask most people with children they will tell you their number one priority is their children. Yet, covid-19 has been politicized. What has been lost in all this? The future of our children. Everything and everyone should have been all in to slow the spread. But, the priority was the economy.

If the focus had always been doing what's best for our kids, we would not be in the position we are now: deciding how to safely open schools, which is going to be a huge undertaking. The right choice is to begin online then move to blended learning and finally, hopefully, back to in person learning.

The rush to reopen the economy didn't work and now we have states backtracking. If we rush to reopen schools, then have to backtrack, the negative impact upon children, in my opinion, will be even worse than it was the first time around.

I'm headed into my twentieth year of teaching. I am immunosuppressed and my future as a teacher is in question, and it sucks. Teaching is what I love to do and to have it possibly taken away because of the many poor choices our country has made while dealing with covid-19 is just depressing.

[GeorgesGoons]

Children will fall behind the longer online learning continues. Even worse is the socialization students miss out on. However, what pisses me off is this:
If you ask most people with children they will tell you their number one priority is their children. Yet, covid-19 has been politicized. What has been lost in all this? The future of our children. Everything and everyone should have been all in to slow the spread. But, the priority was the economy.

If the focus had always been doing what's best for our kids, we would not be in the position we are now: deciding how to safely open schools, which is going to be a huge undertaking. The right choice is to begin online then move to blended learning and finally, hopefully, back to in person learning.

The rush to reopen the economy didn't work and now we have states backtracking. If we rush to reopen schools, then have to backtrack, the negative impact upon children, in my opinion, will be even worse than it was the first time around.

I'm headed into my twentieth year of teaching. I am immunosuppressed and my future as a teacher is in question, and it sucks. Teaching is what I love to do and to have it possibly taken away because of the many poor choices our country has made while dealing with covid-19 is just depressing.

Well said. If the focus in the beginning was to slow it down we should have shut everything down, not just small businesses. This is where a lot of people have a problem with how it was handled. Big box stores, fast food, etc were allowed to stay open while the small business owners had to put everything on pause, and this is why I believe a lot of people didn't buy into it (won't get into the median age of deaths)

[jeheinz72]

While I'd agree that this has all been handled poorly, the economy does have a direct effect on the lives of children as well

[shel311]

Yea, I don't know what the specific correct answer was, but the economy had to be a priority right there along with the health of everyone. And to George's point, again I don't know who should or shouldn't have been closed with respect to big/small businesses, but you can't "shut everything down" as people still need to eat and get actual essential every day items.

[GeorgesGoons]

Yea, I don't know what the specific correct answer was, but the economy had to be a priority right there along with the health of everyone. And to George's point, again I don't know who should or shouldn't have been closed with respect to big/small businesses, but you can't "shut everything down" as people still need to eat and get actual essential every day items.

McDonalds is not essential. Especially when small family owned restaurants had to close. If they had to close then the fast food industry should have closed, only ones open would be the ones at truck stops for the truckers.

Lowes/Home Depot were not essential to anyone without a Tax ID number as a small business. People updating their gardens with their stimulus checks was not essential.

Grocery stores should have done 100% online shopping and pickup outside the store or delivery. Damn near every store does this now.

Getting new headphones from Amazon is not essential.

Just some of the reasons why most of the non-maskers are against this whole lock down. It was treated unfairly and the big businesses were able to flex their muscle and stay open while mom and pops had to shut down.

[nick]

fun fact: for things to be "fine in Toronto", we need 14 000!!!!! more rooms for kids. And Toronto has 100 new cases a day. Its not a simple fix. The other one is "plexiglass!".. ya.. we gotta turn every desk into a cubicle and then it all goes out of the window when they walk immediately out of the classroom, disregard, take off the mask and hang with friends.

[shel311]

Grocery stores should have done 100% online shopping and pickup outside the store or delivery.

George hates old people!!!

[GeorgesGoons]

Grocery stores should have done 100% online shopping and pickup outside the store or delivery.

George hates old people!!!

I actually love old people. I know you are being a smartass with that comment but we could have made a time just for them or something. But you and I could have done 100% online shopping and nothing would have changed, except the bullshit "it's not in stock" from your order. Just picked up groceries yesterday, no Cokes....WTF! But I did hear there was an aluminum shortage so I can see that, but then you get no sliced cheese or bag of sugar (essential shit they have 100's on the shelf when you walk in).

[jeheinz72]

Yea, I don't know what the specific correct answer was, but the economy had to be a priority right there along with the health of everyone. And to George's point, again I don't know who should or shouldn't have been closed with respect to big/small businesses, but you can't "shut everything down" as people still need to eat and get actual essential every day items.

McDonalds is not essential. Especially when small family owned restaurants had to close. If they had to close then the fast food industry should have closed, only ones open would be the ones at truck stops for the truckers.

Lowes/Home Depot were not essential to anyone without a Tax ID number as a small business. People updating their gardens with their stimulus checks was not essential.

Grocery stores should have done 100% online shopping and pickup outside the store or delivery. Damn near every store does this now.

Getting new headphones from Amazon is not essential.

Just some of the reasons why most of the non-maskers are against this whole lock down. It was treated unfairly and the big businesses were able to flex their muscle and stay open while mom and pops had to shut down.

For sure, it's a colossal fail as a society if I can go get a donut, buy a mattress and then go get my oil changed but my kid can't go into his classroom

But it's the world we live in now, where everything is politicized and so it becomes impossible for a common sense plan to get implemented.

[nick]

These are some very terrible examples. Do you hang out at a donut shop for 8 hours with 1000 other people?

[jeheinz72]

These are some very terrible examples. Do you hang out at a donut shop for 8 hours with 1000 other people?

No, but it's also completely unnecessary

[nick]

Yaaaaa...