July-Covid Politics

[clucky]

Thanks for that article lemondrop
Anything you poofed that would be helpful to know for 3-9yo, please pm me.

[dc2london]

Jul 13, 2021 7:32:16 GMT -6 geekygirly said:

Angry this morning. Our local educational advocacy group (a community group to advocate for our schools), created a petition to advocate for masking for kids ineligible for vaccination based on CDC/AAP recommendations. Well someone shared a FB post about it to a NJ antimask/antivax/conspiracy theory group and they started trolling us so that we had to shut down comments on the post. Since their FB group is public I was able to view the posts on there and it is truly insane. (Among their "issues" from scrolling through the group - antimask, antivax, anti-"CRT", and anti-"social-emotional-learning".) They are also working with republican government officials to run for BOEs in the state *shudder*.

I'm ragey that these folks railing about "personal choice" and "government overreach", who don't even live here, had the gall to come over to OUR community Facebook page and try to tell us how we should run OUR schools. (I checked the membership of the group and only one person was listed as living in our town.)

Our town is accepting email comments for our upcoming BOE meeting and I only hope these crazies don't try to send emails there too acting like residents.

Sebastian Gorka got involved in my school board race 2 years ago. That was SUPER.

Although he does live nearby

[Deleted]

Jul 14, 2021 8:28:08 GMT -6 enchanted said:

Jul 14, 2021 6:10:57 GMT -6 kbw said:

I see the largest nurses union is asking for reinstatement of mask mandates based on Delta.

Not going to happen in far too many places, unfortunately.

oh I don’t think it will happen but it’s scary to hear that come from them. I feel like we are sliding right back into a year ago.

[lemondrop]

PDQ: poof

[abs]

Seeing variants like Lamda and others that may be vaccine resistant solidify my stance that we really messed up by not pushing global vaccination at a quicker rate.

So frustrating.

[thatgolfb]

Jul 14, 2021 7:26:00 GMT -6 willow said:

thatgolfb that is crazy and good that he decided not to go. Was everyone in the group truly vaccinated? It seems contradictory to what we have been told about the vaccines still holding up 85% or whatever it is against Delta. The fact that ALL of them got infected is terrifying and also makes me question.

I can’t say for sure. They have been texting and I will ask my H the update later. I know for sure one guy had Pfizer and was positive on antigen test. Another guy had Moderna and no symptoms but got tested anyway, and he was negative. Another guy with symptoms was awaiting his test result, IDK which vaccine he got.

For some of them, the symptoms could be lost Vegas fatigue (lol) or something else. And I don’t know how many were actually symptomatic other than the Pfizer one that tested positive and the one awaiting test results.

[lemondrop]

Jul 14, 2021 9:18:32 GMT -6 abs said:

Seeing variants like Lamda and others that may be vaccine resistant solidify my stance that we really messed up by not pushing global vaccination at a quicker rate.

So frustrating.

In fairness, everything we're seeing shows that the vaccines ARE protecting against new variants - but it's going to level out to "this is just going to protect you from death" and not from actually getting sick, transmitting it, and having long haul symptoms. 

[lemondrop]

Jul 14, 2021 8:53:47 GMT -6 clucky said:

Thanks for that article lemondrop
Anything you poofed that would be helpful to know for 3-9yo, please pm me.

The article more or less says what I did

[byjove]

Jul 14, 2021 9:28:32 GMT -6 lemondrop said:

Jul 14, 2021 9:18:32 GMT -6 abs said:

Seeing variants like Lamda and others that may be vaccine resistant solidify my stance that we really messed up by not pushing global vaccination at a quicker rate.

So frustrating.

In fairness, everything we're seeing shows that the vaccines ARE protecting against new variants - but it's going to level out to "this is just going to protect you from death" and not from actually getting sick, transmitting it, and having long haul symptoms. 

Ugh. Not dying is great, but disappointing on the rest.

[lemondrop]

Jul 14, 2021 9:33:40 GMT -6 byjove said:

Jul 14, 2021 9:28:32 GMT -6 lemondrop said:

In fairness, everything we're seeing shows that the vaccines ARE protecting against new variants - but it's going to level out to "this is just going to protect you from death" and not from actually getting sick, transmitting it, and having long haul symptoms. 

Ugh. Not dying is great, but disappointing on the rest.

Well if we don't collectively as a planet get our shit together, vaccine resistant strains may be on the horizon. I'm choosing to be positive today, friend. TRYING REAL HARD. 

[byjove]

Jul 14, 2021 9:38:30 GMT -6 lemondrop said:

Jul 14, 2021 9:33:40 GMT -6 byjove said:

Ugh. Not dying is great, but disappointing on the rest.

Well if we don't collectively as a planet get our shit together, vaccine resistant strains may be on the horizon. I'm choosing to be positive today, friend. TRYING REAL HARD. 

<3

[geekygirly]

And in BS I'm dealing with this morning...remember how I said we were presenting our petition at the BOE meeting TOMORROW? Well I discovered that there is also a not-well-advertised BOE meeting TODAY at 4pm (still open to the public since they are legally required to be). It was mentioned as a "BOE retreat" in the superintendent's email last week so we assumed it was just some team-building stuff, but the agenda was posted on BoardDocs last night and it looks a lot more like a meeting. And on the agenda is "Safety Protocols September." (This topic is NOT on the agenda for tomorrow's regular meeting.)

On such short notice, neither I nor our two other organizers can make the meeting in person (it isn't being live-streamed online like the regular meeting tomorrow). So guess who is trying to get our petition and documentation all together to email to all the BOE members before 4pm today?

I found out that apparently they can't make any actual decisions today but I'm sure whatever discussions they have will influence whatever final decisions they make. So SO frustrating!

[Dr. Cox]

Well, we’ve decided to continue homeschooling😩 until DS1 can get his vaccine. Our districts here in Tx have their hands tied by our absolute troll of a governor who refuses to let masking be mandatory in schools, and these new variants are alarming. I’m grateful we’re in a position to homeschool, but I hate it so much for DS. He’s miserable and starting to show signs of depression.

Has anyone here homeschooled by trying to follow the districts curriculum/standards? I want DS to be able to keep up since we’re putting him in this year. I don’t even know how to go about getting curriculum info.

[orangebird2020]

geekygirly Our board livestreamed their retreats in May and last week. They both were more master planning and trying to set templates for Superintendent evaluation. Not sure if it will be the same for you.

The challenging thing for me is how to sway a decision and get people to listen.
I feel like everyone is so burnt out and we are wasting time and energy over masks that should just be required anywhere with an unvaccinated population.

I worry so much about the childrens emotional well being and education that was not great even before Covid in many places. I have been spiraling on public education research and reform and I am just blown away by what a mess it all seems like.

My kiddo is going in to 1st and I honestly didn't pay attention prior to last year to school board meetings.

[sweetpea]

Both Covid tests came back negative so we will chalk it up to a little bug. The child is back at preschool this morning and I do not know who is happier. Just want to reiterate that Covid sucks donkey balls

[oceanblue]

Jul 14, 2021 10:20:45 GMT -6 Dr. Cox said:

Well, we’ve decided to continue homeschooling😩 until DS1 can get his vaccine. Our districts here in Tx have their hands tied by our absolute troll of a governor who refuses to let masking be mandatory in schools, and these new variants are alarming. I’m grateful we’re in a position to homeschool, but I hate it so much for DS. He’s miserable and starting to show signs of depression.

Has anyone here homeschooled by trying to follow the districts curriculum/standards? I want DS to be able to keep up since we’re putting him in this year. I don’t even know how to go about getting curriculum info.

Sorry you're being put in a position where you are having to homeschool if that's not what your family wants. I've homeschooled DD1 (she's about to start 2nd grade) for the past couple years and will be homeschooling DD2 for kindergarten starting this year. I was leaning towards enrolling them in public school this year because DD2 would thrive in a more social school setting. Then our district announced they'll be following zero COVID protocols for the upcoming year, so that made my decision for me and we'll be continuing to homeschool.  

If you're wanting to use the same curriculum as the schools I recommend contacting the district or your local school. They should be able to tell you the exact curriculum they use. I don't use the same curriculum as my local schools, but I follow the state standards for what needs to be taught each year. It's important to me that my kids be on track with what's being covered in public schools so they can easily transition back into the school system if needed. I'm in CO and our Department of Education's website has a list of academic standards for each subject/grade level. So I would start by searching to see if your state has something comparable. It's a bit convoluted, but I basically go through it all and make sure we cover everything that's listed throughout the year. It may be harder though if you're planning on enrolling mid year since it's hard to know what pace the class will move at. 

[goldenbird]

Jul 14, 2021 9:08:00 GMT -6 lemondrop said:

PDQ: snip. It's just going to keep getting worse, and 'we' knew this. Just fucking horrifying.

[hawkeye2015]

Jul 14, 2021 10:20:45 GMT -6 Dr. Cox said:

Well, we’ve decided to continue homeschooling😩 until DS1 can get his vaccine. Our districts here in Tx have their hands tied by our absolute troll of a governor who refuses to let masking be mandatory in schools, and these new variants are alarming. I’m grateful we’re in a position to homeschool, but I hate it so much for DS. He’s miserable and starting to show signs of depression.

Has anyone here homeschooled by trying to follow the districts curriculum/standards? I want DS to be able to keep up since we’re putting him in this year. I don’t even know how to go about getting curriculum info.

We are homeschooling next year for the same reason. I'm not in Texas but NY state has the major curriculum objectives available on the state board of education site so maybe Texas has something similar? This is what our's looks like. www.nysed.gov/curriculum-instruction

[goldenbird]

Jul 14, 2021 9:28:32 GMT -6 lemondrop said:

Jul 14, 2021 9:18:32 GMT -6 abs said:

Seeing variants like Lamda and others that may be vaccine resistant solidify my stance that we really messed up by not pushing global vaccination at a quicker rate.

So frustrating.

In fairness, everything we're seeing shows that the vaccines ARE protecting against new variants - but it's going to level out to "this is just going to protect you from death" and not from actually getting sick, transmitting it, and having long haul symptoms. 

And the saddest part is it didn't have to be like this. Multiple vaccines and millions want nothing to do with them. I feel sick thinking about all the kids whose parents won't get them vaccinated. That disgusts me.

[dc2london]

Jul 13, 2021 18:39:55 GMT -6 thatgolfb said:

Multiple people on my Nextdoor are on the “masks are dangerous for kids” train again as well, and I just have no idea where it’s coming from.

Jamie Herrera Buetler has been yelling about that so I'm guessing Fox News

[Dr. Cox]

Jul 14, 2021 11:16:39 GMT -6 oceanblue said:

Jul 14, 2021 10:20:45 GMT -6 Dr. Cox said:

Well, we’ve decided to continue homeschooling😩 until DS1 can get his vaccine. Our districts here in Tx have their hands tied by our absolute troll of a governor who refuses to let masking be mandatory in schools, and these new variants are alarming. I’m grateful we’re in a position to homeschool, but I hate it so much for DS. He’s miserable and starting to show signs of depression.

Has anyone here homeschooled by trying to follow the districts curriculum/standards? I want DS to be able to keep up since we’re putting him in this year. I don’t even know how to go about getting curriculum info.

Sorry you're being put in a position where you are having to homeschool if that's not what your family wants. I've homeschooled DD1 (she's about to start 2nd grade) for the past couple years and will be homeschooling DD2 for kindergarten starting this year. I was leaning towards enrolling them in public school this year because DD2 would thrive in a more social school setting. Then our district announced they'll be following zero COVID protocols for the upcoming year, so that made my decision for me and we'll be continuing to homeschool.  

If you're wanting to use the same curriculum as the schools I recommend contacting the district or your local school. They should be able to tell you the exact curriculum they use. I don't use the same curriculum as my local schools, but I follow the state standards for what needs to be taught each year. It's important to me that my kids be on track with what's being covered in public schools so they can easily transition back into the school system if needed. I'm in CO and our Department of Education's website has a list of academic standards for each subject/grade level. So I would start by searching to see if your state has something comparable. It's a bit convoluted, but I basically go through it all and make sure we cover everything that's listed throughout the year. It may be harder though if you're planning on enrolling mid year since it's hard to know what pace the class will move at. 

Thank you so much for this helpful info! I am terrible at homeschooling and DS hates it, so it’s been a struggle. I’ll contact the school and district today.

[Deleted]

Dr. Cox can you see if there are any local homeschool groups on fb? We have one that’s quite large and even though we chose not to homeschool has been a great resource for even events/items that are coming up.

[dc2london]

Jul 13, 2021 20:23:50 GMT -6 thatgolfb said:

In addition to that, all of their flights on Friday to get to Vegas were cancelled because the tarmac was too hot for the planes. So they ended up having to drive and getting stuck in bad traffic. So then we were like, thank goodness you didn’t go, what if I went into labor and you couldn’t get a flight out?

So many reasons I’m glad he didn’t go.

Thank goodness they didn't infect an entire plane full of people too

[thatgolfb]

Jul 14, 2021 11:36:52 GMT -6 dc2london said:

Jul 13, 2021 20:23:50 GMT -6 thatgolfb said:

In addition to that, all of their flights on Friday to get to Vegas were cancelled because the tarmac was too hot for the planes. So they ended up having to drive and getting stuck in bad traffic. So then we were like, thank goodness you didn’t go, what if I went into labor and you couldn’t get a flight out?

So many reasons I’m glad he didn’t go.

Thank goodness they didn't infect an entire plane full of people too

YES this too!

[thatgolfb]

Jul 14, 2021 11:32:20 GMT -6 dc2london said:

Jul 13, 2021 18:39:55 GMT -6 thatgolfb said:

Multiple people on my Nextdoor are on the “masks are dangerous for kids” train again as well, and I just have no idea where it’s coming from.

Jamie Herrera Buetler has been yelling about that so I'm guessing Fox News

😒😒😒

[dc2london]

Jul 14, 2021 10:20:45 GMT -6 Dr. Cox said:

Well, we’ve decided to continue homeschooling😩 until DS1 can get his vaccine. Our districts here in Tx have their hands tied by our absolute troll of a governor who refuses to let masking be mandatory in schools, and these new variants are alarming. I’m grateful we’re in a position to homeschool, but I hate it so much for DS. He’s miserable and starting to show signs of depression.

Has anyone here homeschooled by trying to follow the districts curriculum/standards? I want DS to be able to keep up since we’re putting him in this year. I don’t even know how to go about getting curriculum info.

Our state DOE has all the learning standards online

[lemondrop]

Jul 14, 2021 11:31:42 GMT -6 goldenbird said:

Jul 14, 2021 9:28:32 GMT -6 lemondrop said:

In fairness, everything we're seeing shows that the vaccines ARE protecting against new variants - but it's going to level out to "this is just going to protect you from death" and not from actually getting sick, transmitting it, and having long haul symptoms. 

And the saddest part is it didn't have to be like this. Multiple vaccines and millions want nothing to do with them. I feel sick thinking about all the kids whose parents won't get them vaccinated. That disgusts me.

It sounds cavalier, and I truly don't mean it that way - but the only way this is going to change is if a strain starts killing more children. And even then, this country has been more than happy to sacrifice children in other ways (gun control), so that probably won't change anything either. 

LOOK AT ME, WHAT WITH ALL OF MY POSITIVITY TODAY. 

[dc2london]

Jul 14, 2021 11:34:57 GMT -6 Dr. Cox said:

Jul 14, 2021 11:16:39 GMT -6 oceanblue said:

Sorry you're being put in a position where you are having to homeschool if that's not what your family wants. I've homeschooled DD1 (she's about to start 2nd grade) for the past couple years and will be homeschooling DD2 for kindergarten starting this year. I was leaning towards enrolling them in public school this year because DD2 would thrive in a more social school setting. Then our district announced they'll be following zero COVID protocols for the upcoming year, so that made my decision for me and we'll be continuing to homeschool.  

If you're wanting to use the same curriculum as the schools I recommend contacting the district or your local school. They should be able to tell you the exact curriculum they use. I don't use the same curriculum as my local schools, but I follow the state standards for what needs to be taught each year. It's important to me that my kids be on track with what's being covered in public schools so they can easily transition back into the school system if needed. I'm in CO and our Department of Education's website has a list of academic standards for each subject/grade level. So I would start by searching to see if your state has something comparable. It's a bit convoluted, but I basically go through it all and make sure we cover everything that's listed throughout the year. It may be harder though if you're planning on enrolling mid year since it's hard to know what pace the class will move at. 

Thank you so much for this helpful info! I am terrible at homeschooling and DS hates it, so it’s been a struggle. I’ll contact the school and district today.

If you'd prefer someone else teach him, there are online academies for k-12. I have a friend who runs one.

[Dr. Cox]

Jul 14, 2021 11:35:49 GMT -6 kbw said:

Dr. Cox can you see if there are any local homeschool groups on fb? We have one that’s quite large and even though we chose not to homeschool has been a great resource for even events/items that are coming up.

Our homeschool groups here are very conservative, anti-vaxx, anti-mask, etc. Unfortunately.

[enchanted]

lemondrop That last like was me agreeing with you. It shouldn't have to come that and the fact that children possibly dying isn't even a fucking guarantee that people will get their asses in gear is so GD depressing.