I would like to see schools open with some protections in place. Kids need to be in school. It seems we could try. It would be good for their mental health, well being and education. If the Covid numbers begin to get out of control then we could move back to distance learning. Nothing takes the place of in person interaction between peers and face to face interactions between students and teachers.
Chuckie’s Wife
June 29, 2020 - 2:51 PM 2:51 PM
Yes! Kids need to be in school. The devastation caused in education for the most vulnerable students in the last quarter of last school year was terrible. Many students didn’t have access to computers and/or internet and by time they finally did, they had lost weeks of instruction time. Many students I help as a volunteer tutor never showed up to their one hour of instruction with their class teacher and they didn’t come to homework club, either. No one at home to encourage them to keep up with their work. No one who could help with assignments, either. It was heartbreaking to watch these once vibrant and energetic kids slowly descend into despair and depression.
It would be good for the kids if the parents would help the kids out to make sure they are doing all their school work. After all thats the parents jobs is to make sure the kids are doing what they are supposed to. I know my parents would of been all over me to get my school work done before any other thing is done at home, IT ALL STARTS WITH THE PARENTS.
@ Susan – I know because I’ve talked to several teachers in my neighborhood. Public and Private Schools. They all experienced the same. Also, if you paid attention to what I wrote above, I am a volunteer tutor and I heard from the kids I tutor that they didn’t go. One of the teachers told me that she had homeless kids in her class and once everything switched to online, these kids simply vanished. She tried contacting every number she had available, no luck.
@ Stove – yes, it would be good, but not all kids have parents who are capable of doing that. They either don’t speak English or are illiterate or both. They wouldn’t know where to start to help their student.
Folks, you have no idea what it’s like out there. One in five students in
CA does not have access to a computer or internet. That’s 1.2 MILLION students. They did not get an education in the last quarter of last academic year and they will not get one in the next. Yet our wonderful “experts” insist on distance learning in the fall. Read the plan the state published. It was not written with children in mind and definitely not thinking of children who have difficult home lives.
Stove may think it all starts with the parents, but what does it start with if the parents are not capable or available?
Chuckies Wife yes I did pay attention. You don’t have access as a volunteer.,just hearsay. Exactly what I thought. Private school students without computers and internet. The kid’s you volunteer to help found you ok. The students in despair. Yes, many families didn’t put education as a priority as finding food and rent money might have been more important. Smh.
@ Susan – hear say? Really? Ok, if you want to put it that way to avoid the truth, go ahead. Yes, the kids I help showed up. Under normal circumstances we serve up to 25 kids on any given afternoon. During the pandemic we had 2 show up regularly. And they only showed up when their mom made them (which proves that parental involvement helps).
The fact that 1.2 million students don’t have access to internet and computers will not go away. Go check the state school board of education website. Tony Thurmond (State Supervisor of Public Instruction) said so himself, so no, I’m not making this up.
And the two students that did show up did slowly slip into depression, I saw it with my own two eyes. But you go right ahead and pretend that we don’t have poor people living in CoCoCo and that everything is right with the world. I believe it’s called sticking your head into the sand.
I think it’s still too soon to open up schools. I mean, even the colleges are doing distant learning for fall. Plus, if they’re holding virtual meetings to discuss school openings… doesn’t that mean that it’s still not time to open up schools? Plus, have you been in a classroom…. it’s impossible to social distant and make sure little 5-10 year olds can keep their mask on.
Except that young kids are at low risk from this bug and all the evidence shows that they are not a major factor in spreading it, including in countries that have reopened schools. College-age students are still at low risk of death but they can sure spread it well.
Anyway it has to be balanced against the downsides. College kids having to do online classes is a loss for them, but not nearly as damaging as elementary school kids missing a term and getting some Zoom garbage as a substitute.
“If children meet in groups, it can put everyone at risk. Children can pass the disease to adults and others who are at high risk.” That’s from the CDC and is pretty easy to look up.
Yeah, @itsme, I would encourage you to go beyond the abundance-of-caution recommendations that the CDC has had posted for months. It isn’t that children *cannot* transmit the virus, it’s that they seem, according to the preponderance of the evidence, to transmit it less than adults do. Elementary schools are unlikely to be major contributors to the spread, whereas canceling in-person schooling has very significant detrimental effects for the kids. In learning, literacy, mental health, emotional development, and eventually physical health too, since education and mental health help with physical health. I think this document is spot-on. Children aren’t zero-risk to spread it, but the downsides of keeping schools closed outweigh the benefits. At least for young kids. High schools may have a different cost-benefit analysis, and colleges certainly do.
Zoom is supposed to be the least secure of any teleconference software available. It’s a dream for hackers. Just what you wanted … a video of yourself circulating the web. Signal is supposed to be the most secure, and even Skype is rated better than Zoom.
Mika
June 29, 2020 - 5:22 PM 5:22 PM
Students may be at low risk but what about the staff? Staff needs to be protected, too.
True, there should be a lot of effort and resources put into that. But it is a soluble problem. Teachers aren’t the only people going back to work. Ideally districts will allow the highest-risk staff to opt out of in person teaching and to teach virtually to the minority of students whose parents want them to stay home. Provide PPE, etc.
But this isn’t a total leap in the dark: there are countries with kids going to school and Covid still circulating. K-5 at least seem less likely both to get it and transmit it, from what I have read. In Iceland they studied transmission in households and it was virtually unheard of for a kid to give it to an adult.
You are not really at risk. Should the police telework? What about doctors? How about care salesmen? People with jobs have to go to work. If you don;t like it, you are free to quit. But you should not be paid to not really work
Mike
June 29, 2020 - 9:06 PM 9:06 PM
Open the schools. Glad to have found some like minded people. Kids especially at the elementary level learn other skills at school beside math and reading. They get enough screen time as it is. Kids are safe. No Covid cases under age 18 in Contra Costa County.
Wait a minute
June 29, 2020 - 11:30 PM 11:30 PM
Absolutely open the schools!!! Kids need to be allowed to be around other kids! They are the ones who will suffer most from this pandemic, not with their deaths, but for the rest of their lives!
We are trying our best at home to keep our kids motivated and curious to learn, but as parents, pushing our kids only takes them so far. They need their peers and inspiring teachers, and access to educators from many backgrounds to help shape these individuals for the future!
Open the schools, youth sports, libraries, gyms! Protect the most vulnerable and take care of those in need. Practice good hygiene and don’t cough in people’s face. Keeping this county closed is not going to have the desired effect.
Juan
June 30, 2020 - 4:16 AM 4:16 AM
Of course the teachers and school employees don’t want the classrooms to open.
They get full pay and less work to stay at home. All the have to do is make a zoom presentation twice a week for 30 minutes per each of their 4 classes.
Actually, teachers do want to go back to the classroom. There they have some measure of control. Online, it’s impossible. How do you make a student show up for a Zoom meeting? You can’t.
Also, with the current plan of a “blended” instruction model, where students go to in-person instruction 2x/week and online the rest of the time, teachers are expected to teach smaller groups every day of the week, hold online classes, check work done online and in-person, all while figuring out how to manage their own children (who are also not in school) – it’s way more work!
You have got to be kidding. You think teachers got into their careers to take it easy and make easy money? You’re a f-ing idiot.
Michele
June 30, 2020 - 7:59 AM 7:59 AM
I think it’s hypocritical of the pediatricians to recommend this when my daughter can’t even get a physical and I can’t get a needed shot! That’s in a one to one situation! They need to give basic healthcare before suggesting schools open with hundreds or thousands of kids mingling and playing together!
Michele
June 30, 2020 - 8:03 AM 8:03 AM
The biggest problem for COVID is that if cases increase significantly healthcare will collapse. People will not get rooms and there will not be enough staff to treat everyone. We need to remember this especially when flu season hits with COVID cases rising too. Schools spread viruses like wildfire!
4th generation CCC
June 30, 2020 - 8:45 AM 8:45 AM
Nope! Kids spread diseases quite rampantly. This puts teachers and the children’s families at risk. Never heard of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Looks like they are just a business looking for more revenue and not concerned with the health of our community..
I would like to see schools open with some protections in place. Kids need to be in school. It seems we could try. It would be good for their mental health, well being and education. If the Covid numbers begin to get out of control then we could move back to distance learning. Nothing takes the place of in person interaction between peers and face to face interactions between students and teachers.
Yes! Kids need to be in school. The devastation caused in education for the most vulnerable students in the last quarter of last school year was terrible. Many students didn’t have access to computers and/or internet and by time they finally did, they had lost weeks of instruction time. Many students I help as a volunteer tutor never showed up to their one hour of instruction with their class teacher and they didn’t come to homework club, either. No one at home to encourage them to keep up with their work. No one who could help with assignments, either. It was heartbreaking to watch these once vibrant and energetic kids slowly descend into despair and depression.
Chuckles Wife how would you know? How would you know if they showed up to the “one hour of instruction”? Homework club during the pandemic?
It would be good for the kids if the parents would help the kids out to make sure they are doing all their school work. After all thats the parents jobs is to make sure the kids are doing what they are supposed to. I know my parents would of been all over me to get my school work done before any other thing is done at home, IT ALL STARTS WITH THE PARENTS.
@ Susan – I know because I’ve talked to several teachers in my neighborhood. Public and Private Schools. They all experienced the same. Also, if you paid attention to what I wrote above, I am a volunteer tutor and I heard from the kids I tutor that they didn’t go. One of the teachers told me that she had homeless kids in her class and once everything switched to online, these kids simply vanished. She tried contacting every number she had available, no luck.
@ Stove – yes, it would be good, but not all kids have parents who are capable of doing that. They either don’t speak English or are illiterate or both. They wouldn’t know where to start to help their student.
Folks, you have no idea what it’s like out there. One in five students in
CA does not have access to a computer or internet. That’s 1.2 MILLION students. They did not get an education in the last quarter of last academic year and they will not get one in the next. Yet our wonderful “experts” insist on distance learning in the fall. Read the plan the state published. It was not written with children in mind and definitely not thinking of children who have difficult home lives.
Stove may think it all starts with the parents, but what does it start with if the parents are not capable or available?
Yes, Stove, parents must do their part. Too many don’t. And what are the virus protections for staff?
Chuckies Wife yes I did pay attention. You don’t have access as a volunteer.,just hearsay. Exactly what I thought. Private school students without computers and internet. The kid’s you volunteer to help found you ok. The students in despair. Yes, many families didn’t put education as a priority as finding food and rent money might have been more important. Smh.
@ Susan – hear say? Really? Ok, if you want to put it that way to avoid the truth, go ahead. Yes, the kids I help showed up. Under normal circumstances we serve up to 25 kids on any given afternoon. During the pandemic we had 2 show up regularly. And they only showed up when their mom made them (which proves that parental involvement helps).
The fact that 1.2 million students don’t have access to internet and computers will not go away. Go check the state school board of education website. Tony Thurmond (State Supervisor of Public Instruction) said so himself, so no, I’m not making this up.
And the two students that did show up did slowly slip into depression, I saw it with my own two eyes. But you go right ahead and pretend that we don’t have poor people living in CoCoCo and that everything is right with the world. I believe it’s called sticking your head into the sand.
Chuckies Wife LOL.
Yes!!!! Open the schools!
I think it’s still too soon to open up schools. I mean, even the colleges are doing distant learning for fall. Plus, if they’re holding virtual meetings to discuss school openings… doesn’t that mean that it’s still not time to open up schools? Plus, have you been in a classroom…. it’s impossible to social distant and make sure little 5-10 year olds can keep their mask on.
Except that young kids are at low risk from this bug and all the evidence shows that they are not a major factor in spreading it, including in countries that have reopened schools. College-age students are still at low risk of death but they can sure spread it well.
Anyway it has to be balanced against the downsides. College kids having to do online classes is a loss for them, but not nearly as damaging as elementary school kids missing a term and getting some Zoom garbage as a substitute.
Virtual meetings explains it all.
“If children meet in groups, it can put everyone at risk. Children can pass the disease to adults and others who are at high risk.” That’s from the CDC and is pretty easy to look up.
Yeah, @itsme, I would encourage you to go beyond the abundance-of-caution recommendations that the CDC has had posted for months. It isn’t that children *cannot* transmit the virus, it’s that they seem, according to the preponderance of the evidence, to transmit it less than adults do. Elementary schools are unlikely to be major contributors to the spread, whereas canceling in-person schooling has very significant detrimental effects for the kids. In learning, literacy, mental health, emotional development, and eventually physical health too, since education and mental health help with physical health. I think this document is spot-on. Children aren’t zero-risk to spread it, but the downsides of keeping schools closed outweigh the benefits. At least for young kids. High schools may have a different cost-benefit analysis, and colleges certainly do.
Open up the schools! Zoom is a joke.
Zoom is supposed to be the least secure of any teleconference software available. It’s a dream for hackers. Just what you wanted … a video of yourself circulating the web. Signal is supposed to be the most secure, and even Skype is rated better than Zoom.
Students may be at low risk but what about the staff? Staff needs to be protected, too.
True, there should be a lot of effort and resources put into that. But it is a soluble problem. Teachers aren’t the only people going back to work. Ideally districts will allow the highest-risk staff to opt out of in person teaching and to teach virtually to the minority of students whose parents want them to stay home. Provide PPE, etc.
But this isn’t a total leap in the dark: there are countries with kids going to school and Covid still circulating. K-5 at least seem less likely both to get it and transmit it, from what I have read. In Iceland they studied transmission in households and it was virtually unheard of for a kid to give it to an adult.
You are not really at risk. Should the police telework? What about doctors? How about care salesmen? People with jobs have to go to work. If you don;t like it, you are free to quit. But you should not be paid to not really work
Open the schools. Glad to have found some like minded people. Kids especially at the elementary level learn other skills at school beside math and reading. They get enough screen time as it is. Kids are safe. No Covid cases under age 18 in Contra Costa County.
Absolutely open the schools!!! Kids need to be allowed to be around other kids! They are the ones who will suffer most from this pandemic, not with their deaths, but for the rest of their lives!
We are trying our best at home to keep our kids motivated and curious to learn, but as parents, pushing our kids only takes them so far. They need their peers and inspiring teachers, and access to educators from many backgrounds to help shape these individuals for the future!
Open the schools, youth sports, libraries, gyms! Protect the most vulnerable and take care of those in need. Practice good hygiene and don’t cough in people’s face. Keeping this county closed is not going to have the desired effect.
Of course the teachers and school employees don’t want the classrooms to open.
They get full pay and less work to stay at home. All the have to do is make a zoom presentation twice a week for 30 minutes per each of their 4 classes.
Then it’s cocktails and Marxism ftw!
Actually, teachers do want to go back to the classroom. There they have some measure of control. Online, it’s impossible. How do you make a student show up for a Zoom meeting? You can’t.
Also, with the current plan of a “blended” instruction model, where students go to in-person instruction 2x/week and online the rest of the time, teachers are expected to teach smaller groups every day of the week, hold online classes, check work done online and in-person, all while figuring out how to manage their own children (who are also not in school) – it’s way more work!
You have got to be kidding. You think teachers got into their careers to take it easy and make easy money? You’re a f-ing idiot.
I think it’s hypocritical of the pediatricians to recommend this when my daughter can’t even get a physical and I can’t get a needed shot! That’s in a one to one situation! They need to give basic healthcare before suggesting schools open with hundreds or thousands of kids mingling and playing together!
The biggest problem for COVID is that if cases increase significantly healthcare will collapse. People will not get rooms and there will not be enough staff to treat everyone. We need to remember this especially when flu season hits with COVID cases rising too. Schools spread viruses like wildfire!
Nope! Kids spread diseases quite rampantly. This puts teachers and the children’s families at risk. Never heard of the American Academy of Pediatrics. Looks like they are just a business looking for more revenue and not concerned with the health of our community..
No, they don’t. Do some actual research, especially if you do not know this body of people.