re: Alabama Board Coronavirus Thread

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The lack of thinking ability and common sense of these leaders is astonishing. This dude is like the carpenter that carelessly loses an eye and then decides it's a good idea to put on his safety goggles.

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It's up to us to fire ours!

Our school system(Shelby County) released their plan yesterday, and it's basically going back to normal like nothing is happening. The only differences I see are they will offer e-learning to anyone that wants to go that route, and spacing out desks in the classrooms. No requirement for masks, no fever checks, no protocol if a kid or teacher tests positive other than 14 day self quarantine. It basically shoves any decision making to the parents. Such crappy leadership.

Don't get me wrong, I think kids need to be in school. Just was hoping for some safeguards to protect them, the teachers, the administrators, and their respective families.

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It basically shoves any decision making to the parents.

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I will be the first to admit that I don't know the best way to get this done effectively and efficiently in a school system, especially in a manner that all students will actually follow.

One thing that concerns me, which I believe has been stated before, is what happens when someone in a classroom tests positive?

Does everyone in the entire class have to be quarantined?

Do the teachers? If so, do they have to use their PTO, or is it otherwise covered?

Etc., etc.

The logistics of returning to school and meeting all of the requirements seem incredible.

As someone with a rising 4th grader and 1st grader (and a wife that is a specialist in a public school), this is all an absolute and utter disaster - both for my children's progress socially and academically, but also for us as a family trying to make decisions on how often we need a babysitter for our newborn and how often our kids will be at home and need one of us here.

In Metro Atlanta, most systems are warning that the most likely outcome is some days in the classroom some out of it at home, and I have no clue how society at large will be able to operate economically in that type of environment. They can't do morning/afternoon shifts because the transportation system can't support it, and they can't have them all there at once because all the schools are overcrowded and there is no configuration that would even be close to some form of distancing. I don't blame the school systems, I have no idea what they are supposed to do, but it's a complete disaster.

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It is no doubt a VERY difficult decision with no easy solution. Of all the potential scenarios I just didn't expect a "Hey, we don't really know what to do, so you parents decide whether you want to send your kids to school where there will be little effort made to limit spread, or keep them at home for online learning." It reeks of not wanting to be responsible for any decision.

Both of my kids(16 and 13) are dying to go back to school, and we will likely make the decision to send them back. With my wife's autoimmune condition, it will cause a lot of stress in our lives this fall, especially as flu season ramps up.

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That is very difficult to decide. Good luck Spleen. It would be nice if people would take a deep breath and realize the difficulty of these decisions and how none of them are good. Individuals and leaders at this point are choosing between different bad options and all with a financial disaster looming over their heads (both individuals and governments).

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My son was supposed to be starting kindergarten this year and we live in Cobb. They delayed opening two weeks just because they don't have a fricking clue what to do and think starting on August 17th instead of the 3rd will magically fix everything. My wife and I both work full time. The prospect of online school for a 5 year old is terrifying both in terms of how the frick are we supposed to do this while working full time (plus I have an hour long commute) and just how much it is going to set back his social development, which is honestly the more important aspect of school at that age.

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Yep - these are the exact same things being discussed and lamented in our house, along with millions of others.

DeKalb is going to push back too, as is most of the metro I assume. And like you said, it's solely to buy 2 more weeks of figuring out what the heck to do.

The virtual stuff at the end of last year was as good as it could have been, but it was definitely at best ok and that was only due to it being a temporary fix (and that they were already kind of at the end of the teaching phase of the year). I cannot imagine my kid starting Kindergarten (or 1st grade, for that matter) virtually. They have no concept of actual school and now it's thrown on them via a bunch of computer discussions? And who is at home? In May we were all at home, and that was difficult with work and everything but it was doable because everything slowed down. In August? Everyone is gonna be working. The only saving grace is EVERYONE with kids will be dealing with this. The flip side to that is the economy is going to get its arse KICKED again.

We're currently interviewing potential nanies/babsitters for our newborn and are basically having to say "oh yea and you might have to proctor school 2 days a week too". How the fvck do you think that is going over? It was already going to be a 2nd mortgage, now it might be a 3rd too.

Have I mentioned that this is a disaster?

They haven’t announce our plan yet but the Asst Supt. sent out an email saying they are considering several options and all will require more bus drivers or drivers willing to drive more . Superintendent said we are going to try Traditional option so I assume we will stagger times or days . They have announce that kids will need a mask , not be required to wear it all day but In small group work , hallways , common areas etc... long story short nobody knows. I figure we will go back normal then when couple teachers and kids get it , we go hybrid schedule maybe

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It would be nice if people would take a deep breath and realize the difficulty of these decisions and how none of them are good

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Honestly, the biggest thing I'm upset with is not requiring masks, and an apparent lack of protocol if a student or teacher tests positive. Oh, and leaving it up to parents to keep their kids home if they have any symptoms. As lackadaisical as the general public has been around here on masks and social distancing, it's a recipe for disaster.

I can respect the difficulty in the decision, but at the same time the board members ran for those seats, and the superintendent accepted that role. Difficult decisions come with the territory, but when leaders above their head have been skirting any accountability with their inaction, can't say I blame them.

I hear ya. My parents are thankfully retired, so we will probably have to rely on my father's expert level tech knowledge (lol just kidding - he doesn't know how to do email) to navigate our son through kindergarten. Fortunately he did Pre-K so he has experience with the whole school thing, but it's still far from ideal. Like I said, the only way they can possibly make it work is by just foregoing social distancing while limiting the children's exposure to anyone outside of their assigned classroom. That way if there is an infection it is contained.