Are you sending your kids to school next month?

[pigletto]

I have long suspected it is allergies, because it happens every single year around the same time which is a big part of why I haven't kept her home in the past. We've never had her tested because it is usually a pretty mild and short-lived thing, but it always seems to coincide with our annual apple picking outing so I know it is seasonal to within a window of just a few weeks. When she was little, either she would get sick right before we went and I would debate cancelling until she begged to still go, or she would get sick right after and I'd think I should have dressed her warmer and not planned as long a day. And this is no different - the variety of apple I like comes in around this time, so we're going picking next week and she's under the weather right now.

It only struck me as possibly being something different this year because several of her schoolmates are dealing with the same thing at the same time, and because we're so much more aware of illnesses right now. Maybe that is just coincidence - her band director, who is the only staff member out sick, just got a diagnosis today of allergies aggravating his COPD (I know his daughter and she let me know because she knew the kids were worried; he's all sorts of high-risk but came out of retirement to start our program this year despite the pandemic), and so did one of the families that went for covid testing - but the number of kids having similar symptoms naturally made me think it is something contagious.

This is prime hayfever season around here and it kicks my sons behind every year from late August until first frost. Ragweed allergies are pretty common . His are just awful . It can be hard to distinguish from a cold except for the fact that it comes on suddenly and just as quickly disappears. I’m so paranoid about it this year ! When he has a reaction he can sneeze upwards of 50 times in a short span of time. I have an alarm set on my phone for his meds , he has an alarm on his phone , we have extra in his backpack .. this is NOT the year for him to be sneezing like a maniac in class

 

[3boymthr]

Okay...
I don’t think anyone here was talking about someone wanting to be paid to do nothing at home.
Obviously, no work = no pay??

While I don't know that these particular employees were looking to do nothing and get paid, it has definitely happened. We have employees who have taken leave due to a concern with covid, either due to health issues of their own or a family member - at least that's what they claimed, who have gotten unemployment even though we were never closed since we were considered an essential business. Several of those employees are still out and still collecting. We know these employees, they will do anything to work the system. Some of them have "issues" shall we say.

And with the CARES/Family First Act - you can get paid to stay at home if you claim you need to take leave due to COVID whether for yourself or a family member. Only applies to employers with 50 to 500 employees so most schools would be exempt since the town could be considered the employer as would most hospitals. And you could also claim child care issues and there is also a requirement to pay for the full time of sickness due to COVID. Employers could claim file for an exception and not have to participate but not many did as the deadline to file with the government was April 6 - when many employers across the country were closed due to quarantine and not even aware of these provisions. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/pandemic/ffcra-employee-paid-leave

 

[VandVsmama]

Today is my kids' 1st day back at school in person. Drop off was super easy. Took their temps at home before we left and I had to initial a form stating what their temps were. When kids got out of the car, staff members were there to review their temperature forms and let them inside. Just before going inside, they used hand sanitizer. Everybody wears masks.

The routine at lunch is all of the tables face one direction. Kids spaced 6' apart. Before you take off your mask, you use hand sanitizer, then put your mask in a ziplock bag that's in your lunch box. Put mask back on before you get up from the table.

outside each bathroom, there are hooks. 1 hook for each stall. When you get to bathroom door, you take off your school-issues lanyard and put it on a hook. If all hooks are full, you stand outside the bathroom on the socially-distanced designated spot and wait for someone to exit. Kids are encouraged to use the bathroom at any time during the day so as to prevent back ups of waits at the restroom.

ODD's (she's in 9th grade) Bio class has 6 kids in it. Her math class has 3 students, including her.

YDD (7th grade) is basically in the same room all day except for her foreign language and art classes. The teachers are moving between classes instead of the students doing so.

DH has already gotten lip from his mother and sister over us having our kids return in person. Different strokes for different folks. Everybody has to decide what works best for THEIR family and THEIR situation. DH's mom said that since our kids are back to school in person, that maybe she won't see them as often as before (which wasn't all that often to begin with). However, on the other hand, DH's mom has exposure to dozens of people every week who she could catch the virus from and she's not concerned about that. It's interesting.

I hope everybody is hanging in there.

 

[pinkxray]

Our kids went back after Labor Day. They are doing half days 4 days a week and online 1 day a week.
All 3 kids were home last week with a cold. 1 full week at home because they had a runny nose and cough. (Which I’m not saying they should have been in school)
We really don’t see how this year is going to be successful so we decided for now to just make the switch to full time online.
We also sent our 3 year old back to daycare at the same time but starting last week they require mask for 3 year olds. We decided to just keep her home for a few months too.
I am switching from full time to part time, will have to switch many of my weekday shifts with coworkers to weekends so I’m home during the week. I hope I’m doing the right thing.

 

[DisneyOma]

Hoping we go hybrid (from remote) - our first "check" of the situation around here is Friday. If we get the green light, we'll start with half the kids in for 2 days, day of planning, 2 days with the other half of the kids. I miss being able to help more kids learn! I can only reach about a quarter of my case load a week remotely, and that's if they agree to show up for extra help. Hybrid is going to be a lot more work for us, but at least we can start to build relationships with the kids so we can better help them.

 

[quandrea]

I hope you will reconsider that (bolded by me) stance in the future beyond this pandemic. People shouldn’t be sending their kids to school or going into work with cold/flu symptoms. It may be inconvenient for a sick person/family to stay home, but it has the potential to inconvenience many other families to stay home.

Agreed. We are a family of asthmatics. No cold is minor for us. It results of weeks on inhalers and often secondary bacterial infections. Parents sending kids to school with colds puts my family at risk for weeks of illness—usually serious. When my kids were in preschool, I finally had to pull them from school in April just to get off the sickness merry go round. People sent their children to school when obviously ill. As soon as my kids left school—no more sickness. I’m hoping that there is a cultural shift after this pandemic in regards to sending kids to school sick.

 

[DisTXMom]

A brief update at the 5 week school in person mark for our district. We are 25,000 students (approx 70% on campus, 30% remote), we are at 24 known COVID cases (includes students and faculty) and 94 people in off-campus quarantine due to close contact with a known COVID case(exposed at home or otherwise). Consistent with my post 3 weeks ago, the high schools seem to be the hardest hit, followed by middle school and lastly elementary school. Overall very reasonable and positive trends for a district of our size. This is in Texas in the US.

 

[goodeats]

Hybrid starts today in our district! The teachers are as excited as the kids, at least at the elementary level.

 

[Colleen27]

Agreed. We are a family of asthmatics. No cold is minor for us. It results of weeks on inhalers and often secondary bacterial infections. Parents sending kids to school with colds puts my family at risk for weeks of illness—usually serious. When my kids were in preschool, I finally had to pull them from school in April just to get off the sickness merry go round. People sent their children to school when obviously ill. As soon as my kids left school—no more sickness. I’m hoping that there is a cultural shift after this pandemic in regards to sending kids to school sick.

I hope so too... but it is going to take policy shifts at the school district and, in some places, state levels for that to happen. A lot of the sending the kids to school "just a little" sick has to do with attendance policies. When missing five days in a semester triggers truancy referrals and/or academic consequences, as is the case for most public districts in my area, it discourages keeping kids home for minor complaints, especially early in the semester when there's lots of time for more serious problems to arise before the counter resets. And when absences of several consecutive days require a doctor's note, families with high deductibles or who don't have an ongoing relationship with a family doctor (which is common for those with unstable insurance) are going to do what they can to avoid that requirement.

Districts around me have (understandably and necessarily) suspended those policies for the duration of the pandemic, but the language used to do it so far has tied it to being in an active pandemic situation or to the governor's state of emergency declaration so it isn't something that will automatically continue without future action.

 

[Turn the Page]

We got a notification today about a student at the high school testing positive. It's the first one since school started. There were a few athletes over the summer that tested positive but this is the first summer ice classes started.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I hope so too... but it is going to take policy shifts at the school district and, in some places, state levels for that to happen. A lot of the sending the kids to school "just a little" sick has to do with attendance policies. When missing five days in a semester triggers truancy referrals and/or academic consequences, as is the case for most public districts in my area, it discourages keeping kids home for minor complaints, especially early in the semester when there's lots of time for more serious problems to arise before the counter resets. And when absences of several consecutive days require a doctor's note, families with high deductibles or who don't have an ongoing relationship with a family doctor (which is common for those with unstable insurance) are going to do what they can to avoid that requirement.

Districts around me have (understandably and necessarily) suspended those policies for the duration of the pandemic, but the language used to do it so far has tied it to being in an active pandemic situation or to the governor's state of emergency declaration so it isn't something that will automatically continue without future action.

Yeah, sickness policies everywhere need a rethink...we really had some dumb policies...

 

[ArielRae]

DS’s school just sent an email out saying they will be having picture day in October. I was wondering if they were even going to bother with it or maybe even wait until the spring. DS’s school is doing a hybrid schedule. Anyone else’s school addressing picture day yet?

 

[SaintsManiac]

DS’s school just sent an email out saying they will be having picture day in October. I was wondering if they were even going to bother with it or maybe even wait until the spring. DS’s school is doing a hybrid schedule. Anyone else’s school addressing picture day yet?

We had picture day last week, but our school opened up in person 6 weeks ago. The virtual kids had assigned times to go over to school and have theirs taken.

 

[Colleen27]

DS’s school just sent an email out saying they will be having picture day in October. I was wondering if they were even going to bother with it or maybe even wait until the spring. DS’s school is doing a hybrid schedule. Anyone else’s school addressing picture day yet?

We had ours the Friday before school started, as usual. Families who chose distance learning could make appointments to do them then or on make-up day, which is coming up next week when the photographer is back for fall sports pictures. But we've been back in session over a month now.

 

[EACarlson]

DS’s school just sent an email out saying they will be having picture day in October. I was wondering if they were even going to bother with it or maybe even wait until the spring. DS’s school is doing a hybrid schedule. Anyone else’s school addressing picture day yet?

My older son had his two weeks ago, right before they decided to go fully virtual.

 

[KittyKitty]

I hope I’m doing the right thing.

We all have had that thought. You are doing what is the best for your family. Take care.

 

[lanejudy]

Anyone else’s school addressing picture day yet?

We had picture "day" last week -- I think they used the full week. We've been doing a hybrid schedule for 4 weeks now. Half the kids had pics on Monday or Tuesday and the other half on Thursday or Friday, assigned a date/time based on Advisory teacher. I believe the 100% remote kids (only ~10%) had Wednesday times when nobody else is at school and a tent was set-up in the parking lot for pics.

 

[piglet1979]

Our school is fully remote right now. Next week starts hybrid. Group A goes Monday and Wednesday and Group B goes Tuesday and Thursday. Fridays are a day for teachers to call or meet with students/parents if need be. The kids also have one class this day. They are all small groups where they focus on social and emotional things. It is only for 3o minutes. We have decided to keep our kids home full time. The kids doing hybrid that in grades 6-12 will be getting instruction full tome on their Chrome books because the teachers will also be teaching to the kids at home.

Ours numbers in our state are starting to go back up again. Each day we are back over our 21 days average. It does seem to be the colleges that are having kids on campus that are driving our numbers up. Pretty much all of the districts by us going back full time or hybrid starting in October. We will see what happens.

 

[Lumpy1106]

Reviving this thread, rather than starting a new one - needed to vent. Our school district just announced we are closed (remote - same thing) until March 1, but if metrics aren't met then April 12. Are you kidding me?
Absolutely livid right now...

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

Reviving this thread, rather than starting a new one - needed to vent. Our school district just announced we are closed (remote - same thing) until March 1, but if metrics aren't met then April 12. Are you kidding me?
Absolutely livid right now...

What do you want them to do? The metrics are there for a reason. This whole thing will be over by this time next year.