Honestly, I feel like the 7 year old will have a. Hence to make it up. They may be 14 before they are completely caught up, but they have time to get there.
The 14 year old is a bigger problem. Not nearly as much time to catch up. And the kids who need to learn English. Earlier exposure is much easier, and a year makes a difference.
I agree with you that the costs of cancelling school are very, very high, and the poorest kids will suffer the worst. But if there is a worse second wave, we may have to cancel school again. Let’s not set the expectation that it will be irrecoverable. We may have to manage.
The 7-year-old will have it worse than the 14-year-old, and the 5-year-old worse yet. Some things are more easily learned when young, and if you fall behind, it’s extremely difficult to ever catch up.
Another thought: it’s going to be damn near impossible to get subs. Subs make less than $100/day. You have to have a college degree . . So already the pool is pretty shallow. But by far the biggest pool of subs are retirees and semi-retirees: people that like the flexibility and lack of commitment, and who use the money for extras. But I can’t imagine they will be lining up to sub this year.
So we will have this acceleration of absenteeism (if you have to stay home with every cold) and a huge shortage of subs. In normal times, we deal with that by combining classes . . .
I disagree. A single seven year old falling behind can easily be lost, but if it’s the whole cohort that missed the year, well, everyone will have to slow down to catch them up. Its a really different thing than one kid losing a year because of illness or something.
The issue I guess is that I think teachers would like to lock in 2020-2021 as online only TODAY, and 2021-2022 and beyond if they can get it. Honestly, as long as they get full pay, why wouldn’t they? I get it, I would want the same if I were a teacher.
But there are differing incentives here. And you have to look at other professions, other businesses. If we’re going to have the meat processing plants open, the bars open, they are going to be transmitting COVID-19 because from everything we know to date, adult to adult transmission is the driver, not involving children. So we’ll keep those open, but we’ll close the schools, when the schools are not causing the outbreaks… that doesn’t make any sense.
Do things on levels, but we have to respond to the realities of the situation.
But you have to put resources and money to that, and why should people believe that any of that is coming? That they won’t just move the kids on, who cares if we punted an academic year.
Look, I am not arguing to close schools. I am profoundly glad I don’t have to make that call. I’ll go back to work when I’m told.
But it doesn’t take extra time and resources to teach the kids where they are at. We will HAVE to. This is a qualitatively different thing than having a group of students who are behind. This will be all of them. We are already having lots of conversations at my school, at the campus and district level, about how to do this. No one plans on starting instruction in August with the same expectations as we had last year.
Also, I don’t know ANY teacher who wants to lock in all on line for the full year. Every teacher I know WANTS to go back, but has concerns about safety. Teaching on line is NOT easier. It sucks. Its all the shitty parts of teaching with none of the good stuff. And we are terrified of trying to do this with kids we haven’t bonded with first. We are terrified for kids we know may be getting beaten or otherwise abused, who are hungry, who struggle with depression, who are facing economic ruin. No one wanted this. But we don’t want to go back if it’s unsafe.
I am worried we will go back, but there will be no money for anything special. Classes of 25 or more, no masks provided, maybe lunch in our room instead of the cafeteria, as a concession. Maybe lip service to taking time off if you are sick, but no subs, so you know you need to come in if you can. If that’s the only way to open, because no one can pay for anything else, would you support it?
Insurance coverage for childhood immunizations is generally not a problem. The Affordable Care Act mandated coverage and only a few older plans are exempt. Those without insurance can usually get via the Vaccine For Children program (even if it is not always convenient to do so). Getting such laws passed by the states though? Not likely. A few states have mandates for childcare enrollees and preschoolers but getting buy-in for all schoolchildren? No. And that would be in most Blue states as well as Red.
The lack of buy-in by the public at large regarding influenza immunization overall is just one of the obstacles. While influenza is many times more dangerous for kids than COVID-19 is it not a a big risk for them, especially for those over 24 months and without other specific risk factors. The biggest beneficiaries of more widespread influenza immunization in kids would be not the kids but the elderly. For influenza it is clear that while kids usually have mild courses they both catch it often and spread it through the entire community very efficiently. A large population of parents would object to subjecting their children with the main goal being the protection of others. In general mandates can get public approval when the benefit to the children is most clear.
Trying to force a vaccine on the population at large that a many would push back against strongly would be a very bad idea. Pushback gets generalized.
Selling it strongly and early, making it even more convenient (inclusive of in school programs) … yes.
As far as production targets go that decision is usually made, well now.
I have seen some suggestion (which isn’t a surprise) that infection with both influenza and Covid-19 at the same time has a much worse prognosis. For the vulnerable to Covid that makes influenza a very bad additional thing to worry about. But for the younger and healthy, I wonder how much worse Covid would make a bad case of influenza. That could swing perceptions of risk to the young when the next 'flu season imminent.
Here in Oz we have opened most schools. Today two schools were shut after a student in each tested positive. Schools get disinfected and re-opened after a few days. The reaction fro the government was that this is to be expected, and just part of managing the pandemic.
I’m not a teacher but I agree with with Manda Jo. I have a child in middle school and I’m not concerned about her catching up; she’ll have time. I am VERY worried about my HS sophomore who has lost a year and is looking at SAT, AP classes next year. Her grades tanked over distance learning and she doesn’t have much time to catch up.
I guess I don’t understand the whole “they’ll never catch up” for younger grades. It will take a year -2 years and then they’ll catch up. There’s a LOT of busy work and slack time built into the schedule.
My issue is that I’m not seeing long-term planning in our school district and that worries me. I am concerned about teachers and parents getting sick. Our teachers are also struggling during distance learning and can’t even reach some kids to find out if they are alive, struggling etc.
I think districts are reluctant to discuss plans because there is still so much unknown. They don’t want to commit to something, and then have to pivot if the science reveals new information, or if the situation on the ground changes.
I will concede that mandatory flu vaccines are probably impossible, but i think they should make a lot more than usual, stage a vigorous Public Service campaign, and have clinics in schools. That seems like something that would make a real difference and which is actually feasible.
Since many if not most viruses are dormant in the summer months, I’m confident that people will report in August according to schedule. If the disease reappears in, say, October, I don’t know what will happen. Many parents may keep their kids home even if schools are open. It’s hard to make meaningful progress as a class when half the kids are gone. At any rate, in a few months we will know.
In some ways, if half the parents, the ones who could, kept their kids home and engaged in distance learning, that would be perfect. It would be easier to socially distance at school. Kids who needed access to food or internet could be at school. Parents who had to go to work would be able to. EVERYONE would be safer. And I am pretty confident I could come up with a hybrid system.
I wish they would survey now to see how many would or could keep kids home and supervise their education.
But some school districts were barely getting by pre-covid. I would worry a great number aren’t going to catch up their students whether they “have to” or not. Students with learning problems and poorer school districts are going to suffer disproportionately and longer over a long school shutdown, I suspect.
Of course it will hit the most vulnerable the hardest. It’s no little thing. But the problem and the solution is really different when it’s literally the whole district, not just some subgroup that was out. Studies about how a kid who is below grade level in Grade X is unlikely to ever catch up aren’t really relevant.
The problem with where I live is that we are going to be in full shutdown for summer for the kids as well.
Schools did not reopen when SIP was lifted for the spring.
Summer School is virtual only. An afternoon PE program cancelled.
All summer rec programs cancelled. “Virtual” programs will be offered.
All sleepaway camps cancelled.
So the summer is already punted. Why would you have me think that my kids will spend even a minute in a physical classroom in 2020-2021, when there are concerns about the fall?
Everyone is concerned about COVID-19. But there is a lot of misdirected effort in the USA. Things we should be doing that we are not, in other places we are trying to kill a fly with a sledgehammer.
Those are completely different organizations, with completely different risk/reward analysis. Keeping programs that are strictly “enrichment” for the summer seems much less worth any risk. Plus, those organizations likely had to make the call a month ago, when the death toll was still 2500 a day and no positive signs at all. Those programs also generally run on a shoe-string budget, and adding any sort of safety controls makes them unfeasible.