S/O Coronavirus School Closing considered in your area?

[China Expat]

School in San Francis completely closing today due to student with the virus.

 

[Disneylover99]

School in San Francis completely closing today due to student with the virus.

It sounds temporary. For a deep cleaning I think? Good idea.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

A district in Bucks County PA has closed due to someone in the district having contact with a confirmed case. I'm in NJ about 45-60 minutes away from Bucks County.

https://www.nbcphiladelphia.com/new...s-closed-due-to-coronavirus-concerns/2317020/
The state has notified all districts in NJ to prepare for closings. My son is in college in NJ and lives on campus and my daughter is in 8th grade. Luckily I don't have to rely on childcare. My daughter is fine being home alone but I feel for working parents with small children. It's one thing to find a sitter, or to call out of work, if your kid is sick for a day or two, but if this goes on for weeks it will be detrimental to most families.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Parents would need to take turns and or rely on other friends and family members to help out. Things they would do if their own child was sick and couldn’t attend school.

I’d imagine the licenced daycare centres would also close if schools were closed. So it would also be a good idea to network with stay at home moms/dads. Some might offer temporary childcare to make a few bucks. Or you could trade off childcare favours with other working parents.

I think most working parents have a plan in place if their kid is sick for a few days to maybe a week. You could switch taking off and find someone to help you a day or two but if schools do close for a few weeks or months I don't think most have a plan in place for that long.

Most working parents I know can't work remotely. Childcare costs would be a big burden if they had to pay someone. If they had to stay home with their kid and ran out of time off and couldn't get paid that would cause a huge financial burden on the family. I don't even know any SAH parents personally. Everyone I know works.

I was lucky that my grandma retired when I had DD so I've always had a back up plan but most I know are not that lucky. Or if they have family or friends that don't work they wouldn't help them without being paid which could cause other financial strains.

Parents calling out of work and taking turns taking off can be detrimental depending on where they work. I work in healthcare. If staff starts calling out in huge numbers to stay home with their kids we are screwed. The hospital will be full of sick people but no staff.

 

[wenrob]

No school closers but the school district has canceled all out of state/international school trips. My DD will likely not get her Choir trip to Disneyland. Fortunately we only live 4.5 hours away and we go fairly often. I feel bad for the kids where this would be their only chance to go.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I think most working parents have a plan in place if their kid is sick for a few days to maybe a week. You could switch taking off and find someone to help you a day or two but if schools do close for a few weeks or months I don't think most have a plan in place for that long.

Most working parents I know can't work remotely. Childcare costs would be a big burden if they had to pay someone. If they had to stay home with their kid and ran out of time off and couldn't get paid that would cause a huge financial burden on the family. I don't even know any SAH parents personally. Everyone I know works.

I was lucky that my grandma retired when I had DD so I've always had a back up plan but most I know are not that lucky. Or if they have family or friends that don't work they wouldn't help them without being paid which could cause other financial strains.

Parents calling out of work and taking turns taking off can be detrimental depending on where they work. I work in healthcare. If staff starts calling out in huge numbers to stay home with their kids we are screwed. The hospital will be full of sick people but no staff.

My neighborhood and surrounding areas have a ton of in-home daycares....but if schools are actually closing here for coronavirus as in someone(s) have tested positive for it, I'm not so sure those in-home daycares will even want to continue operating as they normally would. Plus the in-home daycare provider has to have the appropriate license for the number of kids and their ages so it's not like they could just take any and all kids if suddenly a bunch of children are needing places to go; though that brings up enforcement---would it really be an issue at that time or would it be like "we really just had to do this because of mitigating circumstances type thing". I mean really this is a new thing. Measles is one thing, flu is another but with this it's different at this point.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

My neighborhood and surrounding areas have a ton of in-home daycares....but if schools are actually closing here for coronavirus as in someone(s) have tested positive for it, I'm not so sure those in-home daycares will even want to continue operating as they normally would. Plus the in-home daycare provider has to have the appropriate license for the number of kids and their ages so it's not like they could just take any and all kids if suddenly a bunch of children are needing places to go.

Most daycares here don’t take kids on a week by week basis or for anything temporary. You pay monthly upfront and have to give notice before leaving.
Also most daycares are for children 5 and Unser. They open up to older kids for the summer but then they hire more staff at that time to accommodate. I don’t see them being able to hire more staff and come up with a plan in one day to take an influx of kids

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Most daycares here don’t take kids on a week by week basis or for anything temporary. You pay monthly upfront and have to give notice before leaving.
Also most daycares are for children 5 and Unser. They open up to older kids for the summer but then they hire more staff at that time to accommodate. I don’t see them being able to hire more staff and come up with a plan in one day to take an influx of kids

I was talking about in-home daycares only. Stand-alone buildings with daycares do typically operate differently.

Here in the neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods all the time there's posts about openings, posts about if you need help, even occasional even emergency, contact so and so, new in-home daycares opening up, people are always willing to help out should their license allow for it.

Like I said the licenses here depend on the age.

For Licensed Day Care Home: "A child care facility in which care is provided for a maximum of ten (10) children under 16 years of age and includes children under eleven (11) years of age related to the provider. The total number of children in care at any one time is based on the ages of the children in care."

For Group Day Care Home license: "A child care facility in which care is provided for a maximum of twelve (12) children under 16 years of age and includes children under eleven (11) years of age related to the provider. The total number of children in care at any one time is based on the ages of the children in care."

Both of those above licenses the state advises "The license is usually issued for the provider's own home but may be issued at a location other than the provider's home. The license identifies the address of the child care facility."

There's a third license Child Care Centers (which is more what you're referring to): "A child care facility in which care and educational activities are provided for 13 or more children two weeks to 16 years of age for more than three hours and less than 24 hours per day including day time, evening, and night-time care, or which provides before and after school care for school-age children."

My point was despite the abudance in the area of help for children that may not matter if coronavirus is here because of the risk of exposure which just adds to the strain of the whole issue (an agreement to your points being made).

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I was talking about in-home daycares only. Stand-alone buildings with daycares do typically operate differently.

Here in the neighborhood and surrounding neighborhoods all the time there's posts about openings, posts about if you need help, even occasional even emergency, contact so and so, new in-home daycares opening up, people are always willing to help out should their license allow for it.

Like I said the licenses here depend on the age.

For Licensed Day Care Home: "A child care facility in which care is provided for a maximum of ten (10) children under 16 years of age and includes children under eleven (11) years of age related to the provider. The total number of children in care at any one time is based on the ages of the children in care."

For Group Day Care Home license: "A child care facility in which care is provided for a maximum of twelve (12) children under 16 years of age and includes children under eleven (11) years of age related to the provider. The total number of children in care at any one time is based on the ages of the children in care."

Both of those above licenses the state advises "The license is usually issued for the provider's own home but may be issued at a location other than the provider's home. The license identifies the address of the child care facility."

There's a third license Child Care Centers (which is more what you're referring to): "A child care facility in which care and educational activities are provided for 13 or more children two weeks to 16 years of age for more than three hours and less than 24 hours per day including day time, evening, and night-time care, or which provides before and after school care for school-age children."

My point was despite the abudance in the area of help for children that may not matter if coronavirus is here because of the risk of exposure which just adds to the strain of the whole issue (an agreement to your points being made).

I was agreeing with you too.

I was just stating that it’s going to be an issue with private daycares too.

Also if they are closing schools that won’t stop the kids from congregating outside of school. School is just closed. There isn’t a quarantine.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I was agreeing with you too.

I was just stating that it’s going to be an issue with private daycares too.

Oh my apologies I didn't pick up on that at first

Also if they are closing schools that won’t stop the kids from congregating outside of school. School is just closed. There isn’t a quarantine.

Oh you know I really hadn't considered that. I mean that's such an obvious point but I hadn't considered that a school closed (or a district closed) isn't doing much for exposure in the actual community.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

Oh my apologies I didn't pick up on that at first

Oh you know I really hadn't considered that. I mean that's such an obvious point but I hadn't considered that a school closed (or a district closed) isn't doing much for exposure in the actual community.

Exactly my thinking.

Teens especially would be meeting up and hanging out when school is closed. Either at home, the park, the local pizza place, going to the mall or the nearby trampoline park if it’s not closed. Staying home all day while school is closed and the weather is getting nice isn’t going to really work unless they put a quarantine in place.

 

[NYCgrrl]

DGD's sister school is closed down for decontamination today.The 2 schools share gym facilities but it seems the student in question hasn't attended PE since her possibly infected parent(s) returned to the city. No remote learning today but we'll see what Monday brings. Another school closed as well with the same MO but it's the student's brother and he goes to an all boys' school.

 

[DawnM]

Our admin met with the admin team today to say that the admins for the entire district met this week and discussed it. They are saying we most likely WILL shut down at some point, but no word on exactly when right now.

Our superintendent is a bit of a "let's see what our surrounding districts are doing first" type of guy. I assume if the local district shuts down, we will too.

They are working on what our roles will be as we teach/counsel/admin from home. Video lessons have been discussed, but nothing definitive.

The problem is, Disney prob won't be open if that happens, so what good will it be?

 

[Disneylover99]

I think most working parents have a plan in place if their kid is sick for a few days to maybe a week. You could switch taking off and find someone to help you a day or two but if schools do close for a few weeks or months I don't think most have a plan in place for that long.

Most working parents I know can't work remotely. Childcare costs would be a big burden if they had to pay someone. If they had to stay home with their kid and ran out of time off and couldn't get paid that would cause a huge financial burden on the family. I don't even know any SAH parents personally. Everyone I know works.

I was lucky that my grandma retired when I had DD so I've always had a back up plan but most I know are not that lucky. Or if they have family or friends that don't work they wouldn't help them without being paid which could cause other financial strains.

Parents calling out of work and taking turns taking off can be detrimental depending on where they work. I work in healthcare. If staff starts calling out in huge numbers to stay home with their kids we are screwed. The hospital will be full of sick people but no staff.

I know school closures are not easy on any working parents. But if students, teachers, administrators, lunchroom supervisors, etc.....start coming down with the virus, school boards won’t have much choice but to close schools in order to get a handle on things. The reality is, parents need to start figuring out a plan now.

 

[DawnM]

The reality is that if there are school shut downs, there will probably be other shut downs. If your work can't handle everyone on the system at once, you may have to go to shifts for a while, or come up with some other plan.

My husband could work 100% from home for a while, he already works from home 3 days per week. I am a school counselor and they are talking about what will happen if we shut down for a while. I will have to do some things from home to allow our students to get the missed educational opportunities while not at school.

 

[barkley]

university of washington (uw) in seattle announced the last 2 weeks of the winter quarter will be on-line w/no on campus classes b/c a staff member tested presumptive positive. the largest school district near us announced this week that they are changing their policy on how long a student or staff member with a fever has to stay home-historical policy has been a fever of 100 degrees/return after 24 hours fever free, new policy is return after 72 hours fever free.

i get the caution on the part of uw but allot of their students come from my side of the state or adjacent states that haven't been impacted with the level of diagnosis the seattle area has so i have to wonder if those kids head home for the next 3 weeks if we won't see an uptick in cases.

 

[barkley]

university of washington (uw) in seattle announced the last 2 weeks of the winter quarter will be on-line w/no on campus classes b/c a staff member tested presumptive positive. the largest school district near us announced this week that they are changing their policy on how long a student or staff member with a fever has to stay home-historical policy has been a fever of 100 degrees/return after 24 hours fever free, new policy is return after 72 hours fever free.

i get the caution on the part of uw but allot of their students come from my side of the state or adjacent states that haven't been impacted with the level of diagnosis the seattle area has so i have to wonder if those kids head home for the next 3 weeks if we won't see an uptick in cases.

eastern washington university (ewu) has announced that their winter quarter is being shortened by a week and professors have to either do finals on-line or if in class-do it during a regular class session the week prior to normal finals week. now, allot of the kids at ewu come from the west side of the state so i'm guessing w/a 2 week vs. 1 week break they will likely head home......to where there is a more active outbreak..........then come back at the end of the month.

it's going to be interesting to see what the diagnosis rate show in the central and eastern parts of washington following these extended spring breaks

 

[holden]

We are right next to the boarder line for 2 districts. Our district is open, but the one next to us closed several of its schools due to the virus. Apparently there was a “gathering” somewhere and a person who has been confirmed to have the virus attended. The schools that closed did so because people who work in them attended the gathering. I’m assuming they will deep clean this weekend and reopen Monday unless someone starts showing symptoms.

 

[lifesavacation]

university of washington (uw) in seattle announced the last 2 weeks of the winter quarter will be on-line w/no on campus classes b/c a staff member tested presumptive positive. the largest school district near us announced this week that they are changing their policy on how long a student or staff member with a fever has to stay home-historical policy has been a fever of 100 degrees/return after 24 hours fever free, new policy is return after 72 hours fever free.

i get the caution on the part of uw but allot of their students come from my side of the state or adjacent states that haven't been impacted with the level of diagnosis the seattle area has so i have to wonder if those kids head home for the next 3 weeks if we won't see an uptick in cases.

I saw the UW online announcement. I think Seattle U is going online as well.

 

[holden]

Now my DD17's school is having the kids stay home next Wednesday to try the remote learning system. They sent an email with the schedule for the day (kids will have all academic classes, no electives). They said this practice is mandatory and attendance will be taken. They want to be prepared in the event they have to close. My daughter is upset and scared.

The head of school also said they hired a cleaning crew to do a deep cleaning this weekend and come weekly for deep cleaning in addition to the daily cleaning.

It's a good idea to see how it would all work, but I bet many kids are scared by all this.