K-12 Schools & COVID

[TSmith34, Inc.]

It’s a lie that my family is thankful to what the district was able to pull off with creating multiple options for safe learning in person and then a virtual option for those who wanted that?

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

We are an MPS family and our oldest is in kindergarten. Last year was terrible - we basically opted out and did the virtual homework assignments with him, but it was understandable that we all did the best with a terrible situation.

Fastforward to this year, and we have been pleased with the masking policies, things they're doing to mitigate spread and stay open. Seems as though most parents in our community share our worldview w/ respect to the pandemic, which has been re-affirming.

MPS being closed/virtual this week has just turned all of it on its head, and we're reeling. I'm upset at the lack of transparency (supposedly due to cases amongst staff), because shutting down an entire school district is the equivalent of using a hammer when a chisel is required.

Virtual school for kids of my son's age is still not just impractical, it's entirely counterproductive. The childcare situation in America is just as awful as it was in March 2020, but now it's more chaotic because corporate America has moved on and expected working parents to just cope. We as a nation took the collective trauma of 2020 and have decided Que Sera, Sera and to hell with the opportunity to provide a platform for everyone to have a shot at thriving on the other side.

I empathize with teachers, teachers unions and public school districts whose budgets have been attacked for decades, but in the here and now, kids belong in school. We have done an incredible disservice to our kids by continuously making sure the adults can return to office, return to restaurants and return to Fiserv Forum, while our kids get table scraps.

I've said it before - we are not a serious country.

Man I am really sorry you have to deal with this.  I am so glad I don't have to parent school age children through this.

[tower912]

If there aren't enough available healthy teachers, what exactly are the options for the school district?   

Like the airlines right now.   If there aren't enough healthy flight crews, there can't be flights

Annoying as hell.  Sadly predictable.

[MUfan12]

If there aren't enough available healthy teachers, what exactly are the options for the school district?   

Like the airlines right now.   If there aren't enough healthy flight crews, there can't be flights

Right, but entire airlines aren't shutting down for a week.

Unless it's truly that bad in most every school, shutting an entire district down at 6PM the day before kids are supposed to be back in class is brutal.

[GB Warrior]

If there aren't enough available healthy teachers, what exactly are the options for the school district?   

Like the airlines right now.   If there aren't enough healthy flight crews, there can't be flights

Annoying as hell.  Sadly predictable.

Again, my ask is transparency and maybe some agility. Are there not enough for each school? Or certain schools?

I don't pretend to run a school district with extremely finite resources, but I do work with enterprise risk management and business continuity teams in the private sector, and I would have expected more creativity than throwing our hands up collectively for a school district serving over 75,000 students.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Again, my ask is transparency and maybe some agility. Are there not enough for each school? Or certain schools?

I don't pretend to run a school district with extremely finite resources, but I do work with enterprise risk management and business continuity teams in the private sector, and I would have expected more creativity than throwing our hands up collectively for a school district serving over 75,000 students.

Ask your average teacher what they think of their administration.   Then you wouldn't be surprised by this crap.

[Bo Ryan's Massage Therapist]

Man I am really sorry you have to deal with this.  I am so glad I don't have to parent school age children through this.

I am sorry you are dealing with this too!  The journal sentinel has an article today quoting the president of MPS school board.  He says 17% of MPS staff are currently out with covid.  that is unfortunately a super high number.  My wife periodically subs.  Almost every school district has minimal to no substitute teachers.  They just don't get paid enough to sit in a high risk environment like a school so many previous subs no longer work as subs. 

[tower912]

17%.   Simply a case of not having enough healthy bodies.

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Again, my ask is transparency and maybe some agility. Are there not enough for each school? Or certain schools?

I don't pretend to run a school district with extremely finite resources, but I do work with enterprise risk management and business continuity teams in the private sector, and I would have expected more creativity than throwing our hands up collectively for a school district serving over 75,000 students.

What are you going to ask the 6th grade teacher who's class is already at max capacity to cover kindergarten simultaneously?
Have the English teacher who's class is already at max capacity now teach math simultaneously?

Substitute teacher pay has been too low in most districts for some time.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Should be more subs available now, one would think, with recent grads finishing their student teaching semester in the fall.

[4everwarriors]

Students assaulting teachers is a regular occurrence.   At East, a group of students beat the crap out of another student in a classroom.   Parents are showing up at school to brawl with other parents and kids.  The administrator responsible for security refuses to work with the police to identify the guilty parties.

If you think everything is fine at MMSD, then you are the biggest ostrich going.

These are the same posters who believe MKE hasn't changed in 30 years. Not your father's Milwaukee anymore, aina?

https://youtu.be/j6Gtc59Jqvo

[GB Warrior]

17%.   Simply a case of not having enough healthy bodies.

What's the magic number? Honest question, as I don't see it in their protocols on their website. Do they have a KPI that triggers? Unless you are physically unable to operate the school facilities, that's 83% of staff able to work. In elementary school, that'd be 6 of 8 grade levels and better than flipping the kill switch.

Again, not suggesting that there wouldn't be closures based on density in particular districts, but local autonomy within the school or district seems more appropriate.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Students assaulting teachers is a regular occurrence.   At East, a group of students beat the crap out of another student in a classroom.   Parents are showing up at school to brawl with other parents and kids.  The administrator responsible for security refuses to work with the police to identify the guilty parties.

If you think everything is fine at MMSD, then you are the biggest ostrich going.

I never said everything was fine.  I said it wasn't "destroyed."  Much of what you describe is happening elsewhere.  Some of it happened when I was in school there 35 years ago.  This isn't about woke administrators.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

These are the same posters who believe MKE hasn't changed in 30 years. Not your father's Milwaukee anymore, aina?

https://youtu.be/j6Gtc59Jqvo

First, I never said Milwaukee hasn't changed in 30 years.  You're lying...just like Ziggy did.

Second, do you think shootings on the Milwaukee interstates are a new thing?

[pacearrow02]

I am sorry you are dealing with this too!  The journal sentinel has an article today quoting the president of MPS school board.  He says 17% of MPS staff are currently out with covid.  that is unfortunately a super high number.  My wife periodically subs.  Almost every school district has minimal to no substitute teachers.  They just don't get paid enough to sit in a high risk environment like a school so many previous subs no longer work as subs.

You mentioned schools being a high risk environment.  Any studies or data to support this?

[Skatastrophy]

You mentioned schools being a high risk environment.  Any studies or data to support this?

Short version: School transmission is high when community transmission is high. Here's the rundown of some studies from pre-omicron times:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_schools.html

Although outbreaks in schools can occur, multiple studies have shown that transmission within school settings is typically lower than – or at least similar to – levels of community transmission, when prevention strategies are in place in schools. Findings from these studies include:

National surveillance data from the United Kingdom (UK) showed an association between regional COVID-19 incidence and incidence in schools. For every five additional cases per 100,000 population in regional incidence, the risk of a school outbreak increased by 72%.46

Few cases in Australian schools were reported when community transmission levels were low, and cases in schools increased when community transmission increased.2

In Michigan and Washington state, delivery of in-person instruction was not associated with increased spread of SARS-CoV-2 in schools when community transmission was low, but cases in schools did increase at moderate-to-high levels of community transmission.52  When community transmission was low, there was no association between in-person learning and community spread.52

A combined cross-sectional and cohort study in Italy between September 2020 and February 2021 found that reopening schools for in-person learning did not contribute to the second wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections.47

[forgetful]

You mentioned schools being a high risk environment.  Any studies or data to support this?

Posts like this repeatedly indicate you are not a serious person.

[pacearrow02]

Posts like this repeatedly indicate you are not a serious person.

You suggesting Gov Abbot should be arrested and charged with manslaughter for not doing a mask mandate (if I remember correctly) indicates you need professional help.

[pacearrow02]

Short version: School transmission is high when community transmission is high. Here's the rundown of some studies from pre-omicron times:

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/transmission_k_12_schools.html

Sooo you’re saying worst case scenario they’re equal risk to the out of school community setting and a lot of the quotes material suggests it’s arguable a safer environment.  None of what you included suggests it’s higher risk which is why Biden today strongly encouraged and supported schools staying open.   He must not be a serious person either.

[forgetful]

You suggesting Gov Abbot should be arrested and charged with manslaughter for not doing a mask mandate (if I remember correctly) indicates you need professional help.

I did say that Abbott should be charged with manslaughter for his unlawful order banning local government entities from establishing local mask mandates.

He recklessly and negligently led to the unnecessary injury and likely deaths of individuals.

A judge agreed with my assessment of the order, when he ruled the order violated the constitutional rights of individuals by putting them at unnecessary an unlawful risk of injury or death.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

I never said everything was fine.  I said it wasn't "destroyed."  Much of what you describe is happening elsewhere.  Some of it happened when I was in school there 35 years ago.  This isn't about woke administrators.

I forgot, you are a woke administrator, sorry to offend, Fluffy Blue Ostrich.

[pacearrow02]

I did say that Abbott should be charged with manslaughter for his unlawful order banning local government entities from establishing local mask mandates.

He recklessly and negligently led to the unnecessary injury and likely deaths of individuals.

A judge agreed with my assessment of the order, when he ruled the order violated the constitutional rights of individuals by putting them at unnecessary an unlawful risk of injury or death.

Seriously, get yourself some help.

[Galway Eagle]

Seriously, get yourself some help.

His post: logos

Your post: pathos

Which is more widely accepted as a legitimate intellectual thought?

[mu_hilltopper]

17% out due to Covid, close the schools ..

Just wait until next September, when 25% of the teachers quit and move to another career.

The Great Resignation is going to absolutely crush the k-12 education system.

[4everwarriors]

Chit happens, aina?