K-12 Schools & COVID

[Lennys Tap]

...and dentists too. Thank you for your service, aina?

Absolutely, Doc.

[MUDPT]

...and dentists too. Thank you for your service, aina?

The more I think about it, Dentistry has to be the highest risk of anyone.  Dead serious too.  All of our inpatient's are tested upon admission (ER different story).  Dentists are dealing with open mouths on people that could be positive all of the time.  Salute.

[🏀]

Dentists Dental hygienists are dealing with open mouths on people that could be positive all of the time.  Salute.

FIFY

[MU Fan in Connecticut]

Some COVID K-12info in this morning's New York Times news summary of the day.

New York Times
The Morning
by David Leonhardt

Good morning. The pandemic has created a crisis for American children.

Idle school buses in Detroit yesterday. Emily Elconin for The New York Times

No way to grow up
American children are starting 2022 in crisis.

I have long been aware that the pandemic was upending children’s lives. But until I spent time pulling together data and reading reports, I did not understand just how alarming the situation had become.

Today’s newsletter offers an overview of that crisis.

The toll
Children fell far behind in school during the first year of the pandemic and have not caught up. Among third through eighth graders, math and reading levels were all lower than normal this fall, according to NWEA, a research group. The shortfalls were largest for Black and Hispanic students, as well as students in schools with high poverty rates.

“We haven’t seen this kind of academic achievement crisis in living memory,” Michael Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute told Politico.

Many children and teenagers are experiencing mental health problems, aggravated by the isolation and disruption of the pandemic. Three medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, recently declared a national state of emergency in children’s mental health. They cited “dramatic increases in emergency department visits for all mental health emergencies.”

Suicide attempts have risen, slightly among adolescent boys and sharply among adolescent girls. The number of E.R. visits for suspected suicide attempts by 12- to 17-year-old girls rose by 51 percent from early 2019 to early 2021, according to the C.D.C.

Gun violence against children has increased, as part of a broader nationwide rise in crime. In Chicago, for example, 101 residents under age 20 were murdered last year, up from 76 in 2019. School shootings have also risen: The Washington Post counted 42 last year in the U.S., the most on record and up from 27 in 2019.

Many schools have still not returned to normal, worsening learning loss and social isolation. Once-normal aspects of school life — lunchtime, extracurricular activities, assemblies, school trips, parent-teacher conferences, reliable bus schedules — have been transformed if not eliminated.

When The Morning asked parents and teachers about the situation in their local schools, we heard an outpouring of anguish:

“This is no way for children to grow up,” Jackie Irwin, a reader in Oklahoma, told us. “It is maddening.”
“For so many kids, school represents a safe, comfortable, reliable place, but not for nearly two years now,” Lisa Durstin of Strafford, Vt., said.
“A lot of the joy and camaraderie that signifies a happy, productive school culture has disappeared,” said Maria Menconi, a schools consultant and former superintendent based in Arizona.

Behavior problems have increased. “Schools across the country say they’re seeing an uptick in disruptive behaviors,” Kalyn Belsha of Chalkbeat reported. “Some are obvious and visible, like students trashing bathrooms, fighting over social media posts or running out of classrooms. Others are quieter calls for help, like students putting their head down and refusing to talk.”

Kelli Tuttle, a teacher in Madison, Wis., told us, “There is a lot of swearing, vandalism and some fights.” A teacher in Northern California said she had witnessed the “meanest, most inappropriate comments to teachers” in her 15 years of working in schools.

The Omicron variant is now scrambling children’s lives again. Most schools have stayed open this week, but many have canceled sports, plays and other activities. Some districts have closed schools, for a day or more, despite evidence that most children struggle to learn remotely, as my colleague Dana Goldstein reports. Closings are taking place in Atlanta, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Newark and several New York City suburbs, among other places.

“It’s chaos,” Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, told Dana. “The No. 1 thing that parents and families are crying out for is stability.”

Hard choices
For the past two years, large parts of American society have decided harming children was an unavoidable side effect of Covid-19. And that was probably true in the spring of 2020, when nearly all of society shut down to slow the spread of a deadly and mysterious virus.

But the approach has been less defensible for the past year and a half, as we have learned more about both Covid and the extent of children’s suffering from pandemic restrictions.

Data now suggest that many changes to school routines are of questionable value in controlling the virus’s spread. Some researchers are skeptical that school closures reduce Covid cases in most instances. Other interventions, like forcing students to sit apart from their friends at lunch, may also have little benefit.

One reason: Severe versions of Covid, including long Covid, are extremely rare in children. For them, the virus resembles a typical flu. Children face more risk from car rides than Covid.

The widespread availability of vaccines since last spring also raises an ethical question: Should children suffer to protect unvaccinated adults — who are voluntarily accepting Covid risk for themselves and increasing everybody else’s risk, too? Right now, the U.S. is effectively saying yes.

To be clear, there are some hard decisions and unavoidable trade-offs. Covid can lead to hospitalization or worse for a small percentage of vaccinated adults, especially those who are older or immunocompromised, and allowing children to resume normal life could create additional risk. The Omicron surge may well heighten that risk, leaving schools with no attractive options.

For the past two years, however, many communities in the U.S. have not really grappled with the trade-off. They have tried to minimize the spread of Covid — a worthy goal absent other factors — rather than minimizing the damage that Covid does to society. They have accepted more harm to children in exchange for less harm to adults, often without acknowledging the dilemma or assessing which decisions lead to less overall harm.

Given the choices that the country has made, it should not be surprising that children are suffering so much.

Related: Polls show that Americans are worn out and frustrated by the pandemic, Blake Hounshell and Leah Askarinam explain in the first edition of the new On Politics newsletter.

[4everwarriors]

The crisis is teachers don't want to teach, hey?

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

The crisis is teachers don't want to teach, hey?

Most teachers want to teach.  Most teachers are getting stuck on the front lines of trying to enforce Covid policies, and its wearing on them.  As I mentioned before, every teacher I know who financially CAN retire, is planning to.  I know handfuls of young teachers who have already dropped out of the profession, or are planning to shortly.  So it's not only the children that are going to deal with the after affects, the entire educational system will too.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Most teachers want to teach.  Most teachers are getting stuck on the front lines of trying to enforce Covid policies, and its wearing on them.  As I mentioned before, every teacher I know who financially CAN retire, is planning to.  I know handfuls of young teachers who have already dropped out of the profession, or are planning to shortly.  So it's not only the children that are going to deal with the after affects, the entire educational system will too.

Is it covid or is it the weak, woke administrators that have eliminated discipline and accountability from the schools? Just look at the Madison school district for how "theory" and the fear of being raaaaaccccist have destroyed a once top education system.

[Uncle Rico]

The crisis is teachers don't want to teach, hey?

Bull Chit

[tower912]

Teaching as a career has been declining for decades.     Punching bags of the right.    Having to deal with Karen parents.    Poor pay for a lot of education.     Having to buy their own classroom supplies out of their inadequate pay.    Being forced to teach to a test.     We are currently reaping the decades of disrespect that has been sown.     

For all of you scoopers out there, particularly those looking for a career change or something to do in retirement, now would be a great time to step up.

[forgetful]

The crisis is teachers don't want to teach, hey?

The problem is parents don't want to parent. So the only place kids have any sense of responsibility, direction, and guidance is at school through the teachers.

And for poorer groups, you have the problem of parents not being able to parent, because they are forced to work multiple minimum wage jobs to keep the lights on, and even then they are forced to sometimes choose between power, food, and/or shelter, leaving those kids with no safe comfortable place besides school.

Then, you place the entire burden of helping these kids, guiding these kids, and supporting these kids, on overworked teachers, who are barely compensated for their efforts, and blamed by everyone when a kid struggles with life.

[MU82]

Teaching as a career has been declining for decades.     Punching bags of the right.    Having to deal with Karen parents.    Poor pay for a lot of education.     Having to buy their own classroom supplies out of their inadequate pay.    Being forced to teach to a test.     We are currently reaping the decades of disrespect that has been sown.     

For all of you scoopers out there, particularly those looking for a career change or something to do in retirement, now would be a great time to step up.

Yep, we have a national crisis, and it's mostly because teachers do not get the support from parents and politicians.

[The Hippie Satan of Hyperbole]

Is it covid or is it the weak, woke administrators that have eliminated discipline and accountability from the schools? Just look at the Madison school district for how "theory" and the fear of being raaaaaccccist have destroyed a once top education system.

Wow.  You should use more talking points.  This one doesn't have enough.  I find it interesting, as a product of the Madison school district and who has family members enrolled in and graduated from the district, that it is "destroyed" though.  I guess I will need to make them aware of that.

Anyway, I think Covid has accelerated many of the problems that tower outlines. 

[pacearrow02]

Some COVID K-12info in this morning's New York Times news summary of the day.

New York Times
The Morning
by David Leonhardt

Good morning. The pandemic has created a crisis for American children.

Idle school buses in Detroit yesterday. Emily Elconin for The New York Times

No way to grow up
American children are starting 2022 in crisis.

I have long been aware that the pandemic was upending children’s lives. But until I spent time pulling together data and reading reports, I did not understand just how alarming the situation had become.

Today’s newsletter offers an overview of that crisis.

The toll
Children fell far behind in school during the first year of the pandemic and have not caught up. Among third through eighth graders, math and reading levels were all lower than normal this fall, according to NWEA, a research group. The shortfalls were largest for Black and Hispanic students, as well as students in schools with high poverty rates.

“We haven’t seen this kind of academic achievement crisis in living memory,” Michael Petrilli of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute told Politico.

Many children and teenagers are experiencing mental health problems, aggravated by the isolation and disruption of the pandemic. Three medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, recently declared a national state of emergency in children’s mental health. They cited “dramatic increases in emergency department visits for all mental health emergencies.”

Suicide attempts have risen, slightly among adolescent boys and sharply among adolescent girls. The number of E.R. visits for suspected suicide attempts by 12- to 17-year-old girls rose by 51 percent from early 2019 to early 2021, according to the C.D.C.

Gun violence against children has increased, as part of a broader nationwide rise in crime. In Chicago, for example, 101 residents under age 20 were murdered last year, up from 76 in 2019. School shootings have also risen: The Washington Post counted 42 last year in the U.S., the most on record and up from 27 in 2019.

Many schools have still not returned to normal, worsening learning loss and social isolation. Once-normal aspects of school life — lunchtime, extracurricular activities, assemblies, school trips, parent-teacher conferences, reliable bus schedules — have been transformed if not eliminated.

When The Morning asked parents and teachers about the situation in their local schools, we heard an outpouring of anguish:

“This is no way for children to grow up,” Jackie Irwin, a reader in Oklahoma, told us. “It is maddening.”
“For so many kids, school represents a safe, comfortable, reliable place, but not for nearly two years now,” Lisa Durstin of Strafford, Vt., said.
“A lot of the joy and camaraderie that signifies a happy, productive school culture has disappeared,” said Maria Menconi, a schools consultant and former superintendent based in Arizona.

Behavior problems have increased. “Schools across the country say they’re seeing an uptick in disruptive behaviors,” Kalyn Belsha of Chalkbeat reported. “Some are obvious and visible, like students trashing bathrooms, fighting over social media posts or running out of classrooms. Others are quieter calls for help, like students putting their head down and refusing to talk.”

Kelli Tuttle, a teacher in Madison, Wis., told us, “There is a lot of swearing, vandalism and some fights.” A teacher in Northern California said she had witnessed the “meanest, most inappropriate comments to teachers” in her 15 years of working in schools.

The Omicron variant is now scrambling children’s lives again. Most schools have stayed open this week, but many have canceled sports, plays and other activities. Some districts have closed schools, for a day or more, despite evidence that most children struggle to learn remotely, as my colleague Dana Goldstein reports. Closings are taking place in Atlanta, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Newark and several New York City suburbs, among other places.

“It’s chaos,” Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, told Dana. “The No. 1 thing that parents and families are crying out for is stability.”

Hard choices
For the past two years, large parts of American society have decided harming children was an unavoidable side effect of Covid-19. And that was probably true in the spring of 2020, when nearly all of society shut down to slow the spread of a deadly and mysterious virus.

But the approach has been less defensible for the past year and a half, as we have learned more about both Covid and the extent of children’s suffering from pandemic restrictions.

Data now suggest that many changes to school routines are of questionable value in controlling the virus’s spread. Some researchers are skeptical that school closures reduce Covid cases in most instances. Other interventions, like forcing students to sit apart from their friends at lunch, may also have little benefit.

One reason: Severe versions of Covid, including long Covid, are extremely rare in children. For them, the virus resembles a typical flu. Children face more risk from car rides than Covid.

The widespread availability of vaccines since last spring also raises an ethical question: Should children suffer to protect unvaccinated adults — who are voluntarily accepting Covid risk for themselves and increasing everybody else’s risk, too? Right now, the U.S. is effectively saying yes.

To be clear, there are some hard decisions and unavoidable trade-offs. Covid can lead to hospitalization or worse for a small percentage of vaccinated adults, especially those who are older or immunocompromised, and allowing children to resume normal life could create additional risk. The Omicron surge may well heighten that risk, leaving schools with no attractive options.

For the past two years, however, many communities in the U.S. have not really grappled with the trade-off. They have tried to minimize the spread of Covid — a worthy goal absent other factors — rather than minimizing the damage that Covid does to society. They have accepted more harm to children in exchange for less harm to adults, often without acknowledging the dilemma or assessing which decisions lead to less overall harm.

Given the choices that the country has made, it should not be surprising that children are suffering so much.

Related: Polls show that Americans are worn out and frustrated by the pandemic, Blake Hounshell and Leah Askarinam explain in the first edition of the new On Politics newsletter.

Another thing I remember arguing in the moment with quite a few on here.  Was told I was wrong and misguided per usual and now the effects of those terrible decisions are coming to surface as predicted by many at the time.

So thankful my kids district didn’t go virtual  aside from the initial couple week pause.  Life has been largely normal for the kids in my community.  My wife and I will forever be thankful to the school board and leaders and across the district who in the face of a lot of pushback made the right decisions while still creating a very safe environment for the kids to learn and options for families to have their kids take classes from home of that was their preference .

[Uncle Rico]

Another thing I remember arguing in the moment with quite a few on here.  Was told I was wrong and misguided per usual and now the effects of those terrible decisions are coming to surface as predicted by many at the time.

So thankful my kids district didn’t go virtual  aside from the initial couple week pause.  Life has been largely normal for the kids in my community.  My wife and I will forever be thankful to the school board and leaders and across the district who in the face of a lot of pushback made the right decisions while still creating a very safe environment for the kids to learn and options for families to have their kids take classes from home of that was their preference .

It’s amazing.  Every word you typed is a lie.  That’s remarkable

[pacearrow02]

It’s amazing.  Every word you typed is a lie.  That’s remarkable

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?

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Wow.  You should use more talking points.  This one doesn't have enough.  I find it interesting, as a product of the Madison school district and who has family members enrolled in and graduated from the district, that it is "destroyed" though.  I guess I will need to make them aware of that.

Anyway, I think Covid has accelerated many of the problems that tower outlines.

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.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

Yep, we have a national crisis, and it's mostly because teachers do not get the support from parents and politicians.

You should become a teacher.  All that wit and wisdom going to waste.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

FIFY

You have British teeth then, aina?  Can't see you going to the dentist, with all your hatred of the profession.

[🏀]

You have British teeth then, aina?  Can't see you going to the dentist, with all your hatred of the profession.

lol.

[mu_hilltopper]

Our country is doomed.  The end.

[pacearrow02]

LMFAO.

Bump to around the time in this thread of when we were having this conversation.  Some interesting takes to say the least

[🏀]

Bump to around the time in this thread of when we were having this conversation.  Some interesting takes to say the least

Surprised this moniker of yours has lasted that long! Well done!

[lawdog77]

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 blame Cobra Kai, Season 2 Finale.

[ZiggysFryBoy]

I blame Cobra Kai, Season 2 Finale.

Season 4 almost spread to middle school....

[GB Warrior]

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.