How long masks and kids?

[spiders]

I don’t know exactly when the first kid will even be eligible to receive it. Kids are not getting it anytime soon and that is the only way the masks go away.

Second, once it is made available to kids and it is widely available - I personally think it is going to be required or else you’re going to an alternative school.

I think those who don’t want to be vaccinated are going to find themselves prohibited from many activities in the future ranging from school to travel.

 

[Colleen27]

I wonder if virtual school will continue next year, or do we think all kids can go back in person?

That's anyone's guess at this point. I think a lot will depend on what levels of schools we're talking about and how early they choose to make final decisions. At the K-12 level, in person school is more likely because they are willing/able to wait until summer to make a decision and because they can concern themselves primarily or solely with local conditions. At the university level, I suspect the school year will start remotely for many unless it looks, by March/April, like vaccination will be widely available to low-risk groups by summer. My daughter's university has set a goal of making decisions for fall courses and housing before registration starts for the fall term, which is the second week of April, so I assume the vaccination timeline as of the weeks leading up to that will be the deciding factor.

- At some point the school will probably say, "If you haven't had the vaccine by X date, you can't come to school." It'll be treated the same way we treat current vaccines like MMR or ChickenPox. The problem is in the transition period while everyone legitimately hasn't had time to get the shot.
- In my own classroom I'll know which of my own students has been vaccinated, but I won't know about other students (students I don't teach) in the hallways, cafeteria, etc.

Does your state not have exemption procedures? We have "mandatory" school vaccine requirements but so many people have religious or philosophical exemptions that pretty much every class has at least a couple fully or partially unvaccinated students. Last I checked, our overall opt-out rate was above 20%.

 

[Ellie008]

However, our district's policy regarding Thanksgiving travel was this: if you chose to leave the state, your child cannot return to school for 14 days. I now have 2 additional kids in quarantine (I'm sure there are many more who have not told us of their travel plans), who I have to teach remotely (I am in the classroom 5 days per week). Again, more work for me.

Our district's policy is that any child who did not choose on-line school this year does not get on-line lessons. If we have to quarantine for any reason the kids just have to make up the work like they would any other year if they were out on vacation. There is no on-line lessons they get, even though the school HAS a teacher doing zoom classes already for the fully on-line students. Nice. Makes me have less sympathy for the school's situation.

 

[spiders]

Our district's policy is that any child who did not choose on-line school this year does not get on-line lessons. If we have to quarantine for any reason the kids just have to make up the work like they would any other year if they were out on vacation. There is no on-line lessons they get, even though the school HAS a teacher doing zoom classes already for the fully on-line students. Nice. Makes me have less sympathy for the school's situation.

It’s pretty stupid for schools to try to limit kids from switching to online. Switching to online already says that you don’t want your kid going to the school so the an easy alternative is to simply withdraw the kid and then they lose the funding.

 

[lanejudy]

It’s pretty stupid for schools to try to limit kids from switching to online. Switching to online already says that you don’t want your kid going to the school so the an easy alternative is to simply withdraw the kid and then they lose the funding.

In our district, the fully virtual option is essentially a completely separate school -- different teachers, different lessons, etc. It would be like changing schools. Back in the fall they said students may be allowed to swap hybrid/virtual once, but no back-and-forth switching.

That said, the upper grades here are still in hybrid learning with some remote and some in-person each day. So kids who are absent due to quarantine or illness are expected to attend class online and complete the online assignments. But again, this is different than the completely virtual option the district offered. However, the lower grades are back to in-person school 4 days per week so I don't know how they are handling absences and make-up work since there is no remote cohort each day. Likely the lower grades are like "normal times" for absences (including quarantines).

 

[Colleen27]

Our district's policy is that any child who did not choose on-line school this year does not get on-line lessons. If we have to quarantine for any reason the kids just have to make up the work like they would any other year if they were out on vacation. There is no on-line lessons they get, even though the school HAS a teacher doing zoom classes already for the fully on-line students. Nice. Makes me have less sympathy for the school's situation.

That seems counterproductive. Our school limits switching back and forth between full in-person and full remote - parents have to choose a plan for the entire marking period - but the resources that are already being made available online are also accessible to students who miss school for any reason, whether illness or quarantine or even vacation. Anything less seems like it would discourage families from erring on the side of caution.

In our district, the fully virtual option is essentially a completely separate school -- different teachers, different lessons, etc. It would be like changing schools. Back in the fall they said students may be allowed to swap hybrid/virtual once, but no back-and-forth switching.

There's a district near me that is taking that approach and the parents are not happy with it. They contracted out their online option to a national company that does nothing but virtual learning. Both plans were working out well when there was still an option and no one was moving back and forth between them, but then the state ordered the shutdown of high schools and the district chose to go full remote until after the holidays, so all the kids got tossed into online classes in which the lesson plans do not fully align with the in-person classes, guided by teachers they've never met or interacted with who they can only contact via email. It really is like changing schools... except they chose this route in full knowledge that they would likely have to go back and forth between approaches at various points during the academic year, which seems like awful planning.

 

[spiders]

In our district, the fully virtual option is essentially a completely separate school -- different teachers, different lessons, etc. It would be like changing schools. Back in the fall they said students may be allowed to swap hybrid/virtual once, but no back-and-forth switching.

That said, the upper grades here are still in hybrid learning with some remote and some in-person each day. So kids who are absent due to quarantine or illness are expected to attend class online and complete the online assignments. But again, this is different than the completely virtual option the district offered. However, the lower grades are back to in-person school 4 days per week so I don't know how they are handling absences and make-up work since there is no remote cohort each day. Likely the lower grades are like "normal times" for absences (including quarantines).

Ours did something similar where you were supposed to commit to a 8 weeks or something. Under the hybrid, if they went virtual then the class went virtual by itself but if you elected to start virtual only then you were in a separate school.

I thought most of their plans sucked from the beginning. We initially enrolled for in person and the plan was always to move but if they refused then simply do a complete withdrawal for the semester if not the year.

 

[lanejudy]

but then the state ordered the shutdown of high schools and the district chose to go full remote until after the holidays, so all the kids got tossed into online classes

So the regular in-person teachers are doing nothing now? If there’s another complete shutdown and we go fully-remote, the hybrid/in-person students will stay with their current teachers/classes and function through Google classroom.

Our fully-virtual option is apparently “full” with no more kids allowed to join it. I think it’s modeled after a national online program but run through our local district with district teachers.

 

[RamblingMad]

So not to start a controversy BUT..

Assuming that hopefully, eventually masks will be phased out as vaccines become more distributed and things return to normal, when and what do you think the rules will be? Will they ease the rules for kids first? Is there a chance they may say that children under say age 10 no longer need masks? If so when? Best guesses welcomed.

Start of the next school year seems reasonable to me.

 

[monarchsfan16]

I think it depends on when kids become eligible for vaccines.

I work for a school district that has taken precautions VERY seriously. Staff are required to wear kn95 masks at work and they're being supplied to us. The district had ordered enough to get us through the first 6 months of school. They just approved the $40,000 needed to order for the remainder of the school year. So masking isn't going away this school year.

At this point, I'm anticipating going back to school next school year still wearing masks. I'm hoping that enough adults will be vaccinated that perhaps they'll let is go with just cloth masks but...that's still many months away.

One thing about vaccine mandates...the first several months this vaccine is available it will be under an emergency use authorization. Government mandated of vaccines can't happen when the vaccine is in that state. So schools won't be mandating it in the immediate future.

 

[Frwinkley]

In person 3rd grade teacher here (5 days a week).

We offer 3 delivery models: in-person, remote with teacher, and hybrid (only for high school). Families had to make a commitment and stick with it through the 1st half of the school year.

Our remote 3rd grade teacher has 65 students--I don't envy her one bit. Students in my class can't join her remote class. Can you imagine the chaos that would cause? Although she's teaching the same curriculum, she may not be in the same place as I am. Having said that, everything that I am doing in class is available through my Canvas page (that's our learning management system--similar to Google classroom). However, they are not getting in person instruction. They are on their own with the exception of a very limited amount of Zoom time. Every in person teacher has had to prepare as if we were a remote teacher also, in the event of a school closure. It's been an incredible amount of work, not to mention managing masks, social distancing, and desperately trying to keep these kids engaged. It's tough when they can't do group work, eat lunch with their friends, etc.

My point is this: we offer in person instruction and that's what everyone wants. If it's that important to parents (like they insist it is) why can't they forego their travel plans this year? If we would all just sacrifice a bit, we could get to the other side of this.

 

[Mysterian]

"How long masks and kids?"

What Tarzan asks Jane after day 5 in quarantine with their bratty children.

 

[Colleen27]

So the regular in-person teachers are doing nothing now? If there’s another complete shutdown and we go fully-remote, the hybrid/in-person students will stay with their current teachers/classes and function through Google classroom.

Our fully-virtual option is apparently “full” with no more kids allowed to join it. I think it’s modeled after a national online program but run through our local district with district teachers.

I'm not sure what the closure means for in-person teachers. I get the intention of outsourcing it in the first place - they didn't want to ask/demand their regular teachers do double duty, the way the teachers at our home district and DD's private school are - but I wonder if they somehow didn't think this shift to full remote was going to happen or what, because it seems like their model only really works as long as the two tracks are parallel and co-existing without much or any crossover.

 

[crazylady]

Yes US. Glad you were able to. We didn’t have that experience in our State.

I can remember the first swine flu vaccine being a big deal. My son and I are high risk and it was a bit surreal to wait in line with 100s of people to get that shot. The line was through the parking lot and wrapped around the outside of our basketball arena and then wrapped around the inside of the areana. That is how I picture the vaccines for Covid. But after the first year it was rolled into the regular flu shot and I don't remember any more issues. I'm sorry you weren't able to get them.

 

[AppleDumpling]

Does your state not have exemption procedures? We have "mandatory" school vaccine requirements but so many people have religious or philosophical exemptions that pretty much every class has at least a couple fully or partially unvaccinated students. Last I checked, our overall opt-out rate was above 20%.

New York passed a law last year that ended religious exemptions in public schools. Quite controversial, but prompted primarily by an outbreak of measles in areas of NYC and its suburbs with large orthodox Jewish populations. An exemption for medical reasons remains in place, but otherwise, anti-vax parents must send their children to private school or home school. I believe a few other states, including California, have similar laws.

I think masks will be required here through the end of the school year, and very likely continue into the start of the new school year in fall 2021.

I wonder if distribution of the covid vaccine to children, in some states anyway, may actually take place in the schools, like they did back in the 1950’s with polio.

 

[MrsPete]

Does your state not have exemption procedures? We have "mandatory" school vaccine requirements but so many people have religious or philosophical exemptions that pretty much every class has at least a couple fully or partially unvaccinated students. Last I checked, our overall opt-out rate was above 20%.

Very few of our students "opt out". I'm surprised to hear you say 20% ... I'd bet we don't have 20 total in the whole school.

Our school limits switching back and forth between full in-person and full remote - parents have to choose a plan for the entire marking period

Having students commit for X amount of time just makes sense. When a student switches back-and-forth, the school has to arrange /rearrange bus transportation, number of desks in classrooms, lunchroom counts. Yeah, I know one or two students won't make a big difference, but it adds up.

... they didn't want to ask/demand their regular teachers do double duty ...

Teachers in my area are doing double duty! I have two sets of students in each class: one on campus, one online. I'm finally getting the hang of it. The biggest help: I record all my lessons ahead of time (I'm required to record them and post the week's lessons anyway). I greet each group, take care of the multitude of little things that need doing, go over the day's goals, then play the lesson-video ... on campus kids see it on my classroom TV, and online students see it from their home computers.

While the kids are watching /then moving on to their work, I complete attendance, answer student work questions via Team's chat feature, answer more parent communication than I ever would've believed possible, and email every student who missed class with a note about what we did /a link to the day's video.

You might ask, Why do any students bother to come to school if the main lesson is a video? The answer is that some of them work better if they're on a schedule /a teacher is monitoring.