kim22
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Post by kim22 on Jul 10, 2020 9:24:12 GMT -6
I am on the school reopening committee for the school I work in. Obviously, everyone’s situations are different but we have been asked to share ideas of how we think it should look. As moms who have to decide if you are sending your kids back, what would you want to see in place?
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tgrimes
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Post by tgrimes on Jul 10, 2020 9:25:21 GMT -6
Masks for everyone, smaller class sizes, dining in class room instead of with 500 other kids
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mwhip
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Post by mwhip on Jul 10, 2020 9:34:16 GMT -6
A question on our survey was about allowing visitors and field trips. I said no to both. No room moms coming in, no parent coming in to read weekly, etc. Field Trips probably wouldn't be a thing anyway, since most places aren't open and I doubt they will allow field trips.
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vino
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Post by vino on Jul 10, 2020 9:57:09 GMT -6
+1 to tgrimes and mwhip Also, no large gathering in the school gym etc, multiple classrooms will not interact(each room will be it's own cohort), ensure sanitizing of playground equipment. A separate place for children to go to if they are feeling ill, COVID test requests and results to the administrators. Another I am struggling with is the temp check twice a day, I know that they do it at the daycares here and it really puts my mind are ease cause there will inevitably be parents who give tylenol and send them to school, which I am not judging during regular life and times as much but for COVID times nah. #iamextra&iknowit
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nam2013
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Post by nam2013 on Jul 10, 2020 10:06:15 GMT -6
Our elementary schools are already open, have been for 6/8 weeks. So a little different, but here are some of the new rules.
- no distance between kids <18 - distance of 1.5m between students and teachers (as far as that is is possible especially with younger kids) - intermittent drop-offs/pick ups, to avoid to many parents at the school gates at the same time - drop off/pick up at the gate, no parents in school - extra hand washing/cleaning
Middle/high school have been partially open and will fully open after the summer break.
- disinfectants in all classrooms - no walking from class room to class room, teachers walk around - lunch breaks are held within the class room - no lingering on school grounds/hall ways - no lockers - walking routes - extra hand washing/cleaning
For what it’s worth no outbreaks in schools have been reported so far, they’ve found that children below 12 show very mild symptoms and are unlikely to be contagious even if they have the virus. No masks over here. I’m a little worried about the high school (both DH and work in then 1800/1000 students...). We’ll see after the summer break.
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tgrimes
Diamond
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Post by tgrimes on Jul 10, 2020 10:15:22 GMT -6
+1 to tgrimes and mwhip Also, no large gathering in the school gym etc, multiple classrooms will not interact(each room will be it's own cohort), ensure sanitizing of playground equipment. A separate place for children to go to if they are feeling ill, COVID test requests and results to the administrators. Another I am struggling with is the temp check twice a day, I know that they do it at the daycares here and it really puts my mind are ease cause there will inevitably be parents who give tylenol and send them to school, which I am not judging during regular life and times as much but for COVID times nah. #iamextra&iknowit Not extra. I actually hope that daycares continue the multiple temp checks. It seems to be keeping H from getting sick. ::knocks on all the wood::
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tgrimes
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Post by tgrimes on Jul 10, 2020 10:16:36 GMT -6
*snip For what it’s worth no outbreaks in schools have been reported so far, they’ve found that children below 12 show very mild symptoms and are unlikely to be contagious even if they have the virus. No masks over here. I’m a little worried about the high school (both DH and work in then 1800/1000 students...). We’ll see after the summer break. We were talking about this on N16. It concerns me because one of the N16ers got covid from her child who got it at daycare.
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vino
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Post by vino on Jul 10, 2020 10:29:17 GMT -6
+1 to tgrimes and mwhip Also, no large gathering in the school gym etc, multiple classrooms will not interact(each room will be it's own cohort), ensure sanitizing of playground equipment. A separate place for children to go to if they are feeling ill, COVID test requests and results to the administrators. Another I am struggling with is the temp check twice a day, I know that they do it at the daycares here and it really puts my mind are ease cause there will inevitably be parents who give tylenol and send them to school, which I am not judging during regular life and times as much but for COVID times nah. #iamextra&iknowit Not extra. I actually hope that daycares continue the multiple temp checks. It seems to be keeping H from getting sick. ::knocks on all the wood:: Exactly. This is exactly what all these extra steps are intended to do and I am loving it, to keep everyone safe and healthy.
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nam2013
Emerald
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Post by nam2013 on Jul 10, 2020 10:31:21 GMT -6
*snip For what it’s worth no outbreaks in schools have been reported so far, they’ve found that children below 12 show very mild symptoms and are unlikely to be contagious even if they have the virus. No masks over here. I’m a little worried about the high school (both DH and work in then 1800/1000 students...). We’ll see after the summer break. We were talking about this on N16. It concerns me because one of the N16ers got covid from her child who got it at daycare. I’m of course just going off what our equivalent of the cdc says. They studied cases for three months before schools reopened and didn’t find a single case where the child was the first case within a family. And luckily so far things seem to going good 🤞🏻.
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vino
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Post by vino on Jul 10, 2020 10:37:51 GMT -6
*snip For what it’s worth no outbreaks in schools have been reported so far, they’ve found that children below 12 show very mild symptoms and are unlikely to be contagious even if they have the virus. No masks over here. I’m a little worried about the high school (both DH and work in then 1800/1000 students...). We’ll see after the summer break. We were talking about this on N16. It concerns me because one of the N16ers got covid from her child who got it at daycare. OMG that's awful! I havent been there in ages, who was it?
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tgrimes
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Post by tgrimes on Jul 10, 2020 10:51:04 GMT -6
We were talking about this on N16. It concerns me because one of the N16ers got covid from her child who got it at daycare. OMG that's awful! I havent been there in ages, who was it? *poof
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tgrimes
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Post by tgrimes on Jul 10, 2020 10:54:40 GMT -6
vino Nevermind, I remembered. It's cookswithwine.
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guster
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Post by guster on Jul 10, 2020 11:31:12 GMT -6
I’m on the fence. I can see the pros and cons to both sides of it. A lot of the questions I have float toward the practical (which will read as if I’m against the re-opening, But I’m trying to come from it from both parents and a teacher’s POV)
If schools were to reopen I would want temperature checks and masks and social distancing and smaller classes but I think about how so much of that will change what school looks like. To never run a lesson with real collaboration. To have students sitting at desks instead of cooperative tables. To not have recess where you run around in groups and play games. How do you do fire drills and what about ventilation? The cafeteria? Does the classroom teacher get a break from the students?
How do you create cohort groups in high school where you rarely have the same group of kids in each class?
And then I do think about the number of adults needed to run a building, and the challenge of how they are to maintain distance from children and teenagers. My husband very rarely has fewer than 30 students in his upper level classes. They wouldn’t all fit in one room, and I know the district doesn’t have money to hire double the amount of teachers. So maybe an a rotating schedule? So much of the work I did or mh does now is in small groups. walking around and stopping around to make sure kids are on task and don’t have questions. And then there’s the working closely side by side to work on a section of a paper together. Do we do that all digitally now?
Thinking ahead, I also worry about a spike. One that would close schools perhaps during cold and flu season? The kids and the teachers are just coming off of distance learning which many were just starting to get the hang of at the end of June, and now we go back in September and follow a total different protocol, and then maybe back to distance-learning and then may be back to school again . That kind of inconsistency is challenging.
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kim22
Amethyst
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Post by kim22 on Jul 10, 2020 12:03:32 GMT -6
Thank you everyone, keep sharing as you hear or think of stuff. My school is grades 6-8, about 1200 students and 150 staff. They are leaning towards half the kids coming in every other day. Next week they will contact families to find out the number who do not plan to send the kids back no matter what and then see where we are at.
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nam2013
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Post by nam2013 on Jul 10, 2020 12:11:45 GMT -6
Thank you everyone, keep sharing as you hear or think of stuff. My school is grades 6-8, about 1200 students and 150 staff. They are leaning towards half the kids coming in every other day. Next week they will contact families to find out the number who do not plan to send the kids back no matter what and then see where we are at. Our middle/high schools had a max of ten students per class room, which in most school here would mean divided in three. And then blocks of 3/4 different subjects, 2x times a week and classes where streamed for the kids at home. Logistically this must have been a nightmare.
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Post by snoopmommymom on Jul 10, 2020 12:35:07 GMT -6
Thank you everyone, keep sharing as you hear or think of stuff. My school is grades 6-8, about 1200 students and 150 staff. They are leaning towards half the kids coming in every other day. Next week they will contact families to find out the number who do not plan to send the kids back no matter what and then see where we are at. In my district they are leaning towards k-8 in 3 different cohorts. Each cohort goes one full week then distance learning for two, etc. They thought that would be easier than alternating days. High school will be 100% remote as of right now.
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klong11
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Post by klong11 on Jul 10, 2020 12:42:19 GMT -6
At this point if you are breathing and willing to take my kid to try and teach her things, you can have her. Just tell me when and where to drop off! LOL
In all seriousness though, everything everyone has already said are good steps.
Maybe taking breaks to wash hands, each kid gets their own personal hand sanitizer at their desk. Masks required except when they are eating or doing heavy physical activity outside(Texas is hot y'all) That's the only time Cadence complains about a mask, when they play in the gym or outside.
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jewels
Opal
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Post by jewels on Jul 10, 2020 12:52:57 GMT -6
+1 to tgrimes and mwhip Also, no large gathering in the school gym etc, multiple classrooms will not interact(each room will be it's own cohort), ensure sanitizing of playground equipment. A separate place for children to go to if they are feeling ill, COVID test requests and results to the administrators. Another I am struggling with is the temp check twice a day, I know that they do it at the daycares here and it really puts my mind are ease cause there will inevitably be parents who give tylenol and send them to school, which I am not judging during regular life and times as much but for COVID times nah. #iamextra&iknowit not even close to extra. The tylenol thing has been weighing on me at day care too. I think if someone is shitty enough to send a possibly exposed kid to day care, they are shitty enough to dose them and lie about it.
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jewels
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Post by jewels on Jul 10, 2020 12:56:21 GMT -6
I don't really have any ideas - esp for the older kids. But I think it's great you are on the committee esp b/c you can look at it fromboth the teacher and parent angle.
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kim22
Amethyst
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Post by kim22 on Jul 10, 2020 15:44:38 GMT -6
Masks for everyone, smaller class sizes, dining in class room instead of with 500 other kids I’d really like masks for everyone. Our governor mandated them for staff but not students. That’s silly because statistically the staff is at much greater risk. I’m hoping we start with 1/2 days until the weather cools off. I don’t mind masks at stores but stores have a/c, our schools do not.
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Post by lahdeedah on Jul 10, 2020 15:55:13 GMT -6
+1 to tgrimes and mwhip Also, no large gathering in the school gym etc, multiple classrooms will not interact(each room will be it's own cohort), ensure sanitizing of playground equipment. A separate place for children to go to if they are feeling ill, COVID test requests and results to the administrators. Another I am struggling with is the temp check twice a day, I know that they do it at the daycares here and it really puts my mind are ease cause there will inevitably be parents who give tylenol and send them to school, which I am not judging during regular life and times as much but for COVID times nah. #iamextra&iknowit Not extra. I actually hope that daycares continue the multiple temp checks. It seems to be keeping H from getting sick. ::knocks on all the wood:: This. Not extra. I second everything you said. vino
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Post by lahdeedah on Jul 10, 2020 16:00:13 GMT -6
Thank you everyone, keep sharing as you hear or think of stuff. My school is grades 6-8, about 1200 students and 150 staff. They are leaning towards half the kids coming in every other day. Next week they will contact families to find out the number who do not plan to send the kids back no matter what and then see where we are at. In my district they are leaning towards k-8 in 3 different cohorts. Each cohort goes one full week then distance learning for two, etc. They thought that would be easier than alternating days. High school will be 100% remote as of right now. This is what I was thinking at first to give the lower grades space to actually have social distance. Let the high schools do distance learning and allow for the lower grades to be in school more. No it’s not fair the high schoolers either, but I think they can better handle distance learning than the littles. Maybe even just do a 4 day school week for the littles and let the big kids have at least one day in school a week. I know it’s not ideal, but the little kids need a classroom to get the foundation for the rest of their education.
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tgrimes
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Post by tgrimes on Jul 10, 2020 16:09:04 GMT -6
Masks for everyone, smaller class sizes, dining in class room instead of with 500 other kids I’d really like masks for everyone. Our governor mandated them for staff but not students. That’s silly because statistically the staff is at much greater risk. I’m hoping we start with 1/2 days until the weather cools off. I don’t mind masks at stores but stores have a/c, our schools do not. My governor already said elementary school kids don’t have to wear them, so I don’t believe any school districts could enforce it now. I’d still like masks for everyone though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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guster
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Post by guster on Jul 10, 2020 16:10:39 GMT -6
I like and understand the k-5 or k-8 scenario of in class teaching, but I am wondering how the teachers unions are handling the discrepancy between the two.
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inthekitty
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Post by inthekitty on Jul 10, 2020 16:39:38 GMT -6
Masks for everyone. Cohort groupings (we more or less had this in middle school way back in the day as we had very few electives and all other core classes were with the same group of kids). Eating in the classroom. Staggered recess. Smaller classes (likely facilitated by physically being present fewer days, this is happening here with some exceptions for kids with LD who might go more often). Handwashing breaks. Sanitizer located throughout the school.
Personally I'm not big on temperature checks just because they can easily be inaccurate, manipulated, and don't indicate someone doesn't have COVID. I also worry that the nature of conducting temp checks will lead to everyone cramped up together while waiting for checks.
Clear policies for signs of illness/positive COVID tests for both students and faculty. Will those with symptoms be required to take a test prior to returning to school? If so where can they access those tests? How will it be handled if discovered that someone at the school tested positive? Temporary shutdown? Will staff have to use sick leave or will there be special medical leave provided?
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trtlcrzy
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Post by trtlcrzy on Jul 10, 2020 20:09:24 GMT -6
I don’t understand how every other day schedules would work for people that have to work and/or have multiple kids that may have different schedules. My neighbor, who teaches 5th grade, and I were actually talking about this today. There’s no way it could work for her because she needs to work 5 days a week and her 3rd grader can’t be home alone for 2-3 days of the week.
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inthekitty
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Post by inthekitty on Jul 11, 2020 6:19:35 GMT -6
I don’t understand how every other day schedules would work for people that have to work and/or have multiple kids that may have different schedules. My neighbor, who teaches 5th grade, and I were actually talking about this today. There’s no way it could work for her because she needs to work 5 days a week and her 3rd grader can’t be home alone for 2-3 days of the week. It's a major issue for a lot of people. Kids from the same family would need to be on the same schedule. All schools that normally offer after school care programs should also consider how that would look and if they'd have slots available during the day in which priority is given to parents who have to work out of the house.
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inthekitty
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My eyes are up here.
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Post by inthekitty on Jul 11, 2020 6:21:24 GMT -6
Kim, if you're interested I could dig through my email and send you the 50+ page proposal guidebook our district sent out. If you want it PM me your email address.
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vino
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Post by vino on Jul 11, 2020 6:36:33 GMT -6
This is a tough one, because I so badly want things to be "normal" for school. Smaller class sizes, masks, and increased hand washing and temp checks make sense to me. I hate to see them eat lunches at desks, so maybe staggered cafeteria times so kids can be spaced properly. Same thing with assemblies. Why do you hate to see them eat lunches at desks?
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klong11
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Post by klong11 on Jul 11, 2020 7:06:33 GMT -6
One school I went to didn't have a cafeteria. In nice weather we ate outside and in bad weather we ate in the classroom. I don't recall caring that it was in the classroom at our desks.
I just asked Cadence. She thought it was a weird question, but said she would be fine eating in the classroom.
I mean, they are still with their friends, they would still get to talk to each other and honestly, maybe there would be less food waste because they are less focused on everyone else and more focused on actually eating their lunch.
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