Some questions for our teachers here re. reopening schools?

[RandySF]

1. How do you keep kids 6 feet apart all day?
2. How do you keep classrooms, locker rooms. restrooms, offices and nurse's stations sanitary all day?
3. How do you prevent kids from sharing and/or trading food?
4. Who is going to wipe down doorknobs every few minutes?
5. Who is going to monitor face masks all day? Teachers?


Has anyone thought any of this through?

[demtenjeep]

1. YOU DON"T

and yes we have thought of this and more!!!!!

Schools can't even control headlice-why the fuck do they think they will control the virus

[uponit7771]

12. +1

[tanyev]

2. All the resources available to professional sports have not been enough

to keep their paid adult athletes covid free. It is ludicrous to think we are ready to send children back to school.

[Nevilledog]

6. +1

[Reader Rabbit]

15. Resources AND money.

Public schools *already* don't have enough funding during regular times. They certainly don't have enough money to follow all the CDC requirements to open safely.

[BigmanPigman]

3. Schools are already operating on a tight budget,

especially urban areas. I was the custodian, nurse, psychologist, librarian, secretary, ESL support, Spec Ed support, etc for a full class, one 15 min break a day which I could not take since I had lunch or recess monitoring duty, no teachers aide, no tech support,...

I had 39 6th graders, full day, all subjects, no windows(and they DO have Body Odor) and packed in like sardines. I had 25 1st graders and had was sick 90% of the school year.

Teachers were doing these duties BEFORE Covid. Teachers can't do what they are going to require them to do. Period.

PS. With schools $$$ is the bottom line...not students' safety/health or their educational needs. Teachers health and concerns are even below that of the students'. I was the union rep at my school and I KNOW from 15+ years experience in one of the largest districts in the country. I can't teach anymore since my doctors made me leave FOR MY PHYSICAL HEALTH after non-ending health issues, year after year from the sick classroom environment. No pension, no health insur as a result of having to leave either.

[Ahpook]

4. I know who is calling the shots

So nothing will happen correctly. I would think at home lessons would be fairly easy to set up? The children log in with an app and their teacher can conduct class as normal.

My mother has had her doctor appointments through an android phone since all this started.

[Sancho]

5. You have to test every person entering the school...

and create virus-free environments.

You then have a program of constant testing to catch outbreaks - and instantly send folks into isolation until they test negative.

It works in other countries, where the prevalence of virus is much less, but right now there is no universal testing, no tracing, and no cooperation...so it cannot be done at this time in our schools.

Of course, it would be nice to have barriers between kids, air conditioning systems with UV filters, masks for all, checks at the doors on entry, aerosol sanitizing between classes, and double/triple the classroom space.

[Nevilledog]

7. It would be easier to just have child size hamster balls.

[tanyev]

9. That would actually be awesome for recess and P.E.

The kids would get tired of them eventually, though.

[ProfessorGAC]

8. Rotating Attendance Is The Only Hope, IMO.

One district in which I sub is considering:
A third of the kids show up Monday & Wednesday. Block A
Another third Tuesday & Thursday. Block B
Last third shows up Friday. Block C.
The next week, A goes to B, B goes to C, C goes to A.
Third week, same move to the next block.
Kids are there 5 days over 3 weeks with other days online.
Then there's only 1/3rd the student population there at any one time.
All tests are on same day, whether live or online.
Kind of complicated, but somewhat safer than everybody there at once.

[mercuryblues]

14. it is

I was thinking 1/2 of the kids go one week and the other 1/2 the next. Distance learning during their week out.

1/3 in morning classes. 1/3 in afternoon classes. 1/3 at home DL. 4th week everyone distance learning. Rotating that around.


A big obstacle is there aren't any disinfecting products to be found to keep the classrooms clean.

Then there are families who have kids in different schools and it would have to be coordinated so all their kids are on the same schedule.

[ProfessorGAC]

17. The Products Are Plentiful

The supply chain for Industrial & Institutional cleaning and sanitization products was never in jeopardy.
Why we had issues at the store, was because the active ingredient supply in sanitizers was prioritized, if not sent exclusively, to the I&I market. This left the consumer product market as tier 2, at best.
So, sanitizers & disinfectants for hospitals, schools, care homes, food processing, etc., are in plentiful supply.

[mercuryblues]

19. Last year was the 1st time in 20 years

that I did not have to buy hand sanitizer, Kleenex, paper towels, or Lysol wipes to send to school with with a kid at the beginning of a school year. Only because the youngest graduated. These supplies have never been supplied by the school system, but by the parents. Along with glue, printer paper, crayons, markers, rulers, plastic bags etc. Usually the teachers would send a letter home by January asking for more because the classroom ran out.

Who is going to supply masks to the children, if they forget to bring theirs?

Then you have trump's cultist who will refuse to cooperate with their kids wearing a mask at school. Just look at their reaction when Obama pushed for healthier lunches. They are willing to put their kids health at risk for political coin.

if I had a kid in the public school system, I would not be sending them to school. if the schools reopen under trump's plan, there will be an explosion of home-schooling applications by those who can afford that option. Those that can't will be forced to risk their kids lives or face truancy charges.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. I Understand

The execution is sure an issue, but the institutional products are in inventory.
Whether they get to the schools or not, is a whole other matter.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

18. That system mostly negates Republican's primary reason for restarting school...

that is, to get all parents back into their full-time jobs.

There's no way a large percentage of America's school children could be left at home alone all day long unless parent's job schedules can be adjusted for work from home coordinated with school schedules. It would be rare for that to work out. Maybe OK for high-tech flexible jobs but not for the majority of America's grunt jobs in service and manufacturing.

Far too many of America's jobs require 40 or more hours a week on-site and far too many families depend on two-person income. In addition, almost all school systems require attendance.

KY

[ProfessorGAC]

21. You're Right!

But, I'm not hearing major pols here in Illinois talking "Schools ooe, hell or high water!"
In some states, the intent and execution may be very different.

[dweller]

10. tootin my own horn here

but teachers are on it
https://www.democraticunderground.com/100213713437

✌🏼

[dsc]

11. Good luck with that

I teach in a small, windowless room. Currently I have rosters of about 20 but that is very unlikely to hold up (even without COVID my district has financial difficulty and HS is supposed to be ave 30). But let's say it is 20 against all odds (that would be my smallest class size in ages). I might be able to manage 4 feet between students, not 6. I will have three classes, first semester is 1st, 2nd, and 4th periods. So I have to clean between 1st and 2nd in like 5 minutes. Yeah that will work. My building has about 30 classrooms and 4 bathrooms (2 for each gender). So assume 600 students evenly divided. 300 per restroom. We have 3 sinks, 3 or 4 toilets (no seat covers) and 4 urinals. Our sinks have the faucets that you push and get about 10 seconds of water, no hot water. So yeah, that will be fun. I have HS so I doubt food sharing will be a thing (I am presuming we will eat in classrooms). I think we will all have to wear gloves in terms of door nobs. Yeah this is going to be fun. Meanwhile UNC's football team has 3 dozen cases. Our state has set a record for new cases, new hospitalizations, and now deaths. This is going to be a mess.

[The empressof all]

13. Even with the best protocols you can't trust all the teachers to be vigilent..

In my very blue district my husband had collegues who regularly traveled across the state on a weekly basis to meet with large family groups. They did not practice social distancing and were not keen on wearing masks. Now this was back in March and April. There were groups who regularly got together in person even though the classrooms were closed. It was very frightening and I know at some level my husband felt bad about choosing to not participate and felt a silent shaming from them. It would be awful to work with other folks who may be lax with the rules and placing kids and other staff at risk. They just didn't believe it was as bad as people claimed. I don't know if their positions have changed since then....I hope so. September will be very stressful for us one way or another. If schools aren't open he runs a risk of having his hours cut and potentially losing health insurance. If he goes back in we run the risk of getting sick...(We are both older and high risk)

Since he works with special needs kids, he has hands on care at time, so distancing is not possible. It's going to be a nightmare.

[Phoenix61]

16. I have yet to see anyone address how these

children are supposed to get to school. I’ve had kids that spent over an hour each way on the bus. How are you supposed to socially distance on the bus? If you say they have to wear masks who is going to ensure they keep them on? The bus driver sure can’t. Are we going to have an adult on every bus to monitor that? What happens when little Johnny loses it and there’s a fight in the aisle and masks get snatched off. You would not believe the number of discipline referrals for behaviors on the bus.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. In The 3 Towns Here...

...6,000-10,000 per town, I'm hearing no bussing unless the student lives 1.5 miles away!
In 2 of the towns, that's a minimum of 50% of the kids.
Here in my city, the intermediate, middle and high schools are in the southern quarter. The town is under 3 miles north to south.
It's only around a mile & a half, east to west.
Might be way over half the kids!