Should schools reopen?

[Chomsky]

Even if a few kids die from the virus, it is well worth the risk of trying. We need our schools open.

If you're so adamant that that's the price we may need to pay, perhaps you should volunteer to assist and do your part in following your mandate? Take the same risks you're mandating upon others?

 

[Chomsky]

I dunno' Jose,
What happened to personal and prudent common sense ? Why do people now need someone
who probably know less to tell them exactly what to do... why an elaborate plan that rarely allows for immediate response to a particular situation/experience ?
What's wrong with people when they replace personal judgement for another's dictate ?
it seems the pathos of pusillanimity has overtaken many/most of the country.
opps .. turned into a rant...
have a great day Jose

What? You're saying the average parent knows pandemic response better than the technical & health resources their school board draws upon? You expect anyone to believe that?

 

[Josie]

I want them open but only safely and capacity reduced. Would add that highschool students can easily learn remotely for the most part.
Now, a question someone brought up Yesturday, what are the guidelines determining if a school needs shutdown, anyone have any idea what the criteria is?

Every district has their own plan.

 

[Drawdown]

The hot topic of the day, right? What are your opinions?

Local decision based on the facts on the ground. The state shouldn't reach in unless the local officials are clearly screwing up.

 

[Casper]

I mention our guidelines in an earlier post. Here's ours (in Missouri):

Our county health department is the one who will be making decisions on shutting down schools and sending kids home to quarantine. The guidance they've given our administration is that if a student in grades K-6 class gets it, then the entire class (including teacher) is to be sent home for 14 day quarantine. Students in classes which change rooms will have a more involved procedure, but essentially anyone who has been in relative close contact for 15 minutes or more (not at one time, but over a period of time) will be sent home for quarantine.

So a family of three with kids in grades 1, 4 and 7 who gets covid could potentially shut down the entire district. As far as a specific situation which would automatically shut down the district, we've been given no information.

So taking any bets on how long it will take to shutdown the entire school, couple of weeks, a month?

 

[Casper]

Every district has their own plan.

Yes, everyone having their own plan worked great containing the virus from spreading across state and county lines. We shall see.

 

[Thom Paine]

What? You're saying the average parent knows pandemic response better than the technical & health resources their school board draws upon? You expect anyone to believe that?

If that's the way you understand it.... sure .
Do you think the average parent and teacher is stupid and unable to assimilate the published data?
I don't care what people "believe"

 

[Slyfox696]

So taking any bets on how long it will take to shutdown the entire school, couple of weeks, a month?

There's no telling. We already had one situation where we had to send home some students because one student caught it (summer school). How long will it be until enough catch it to shut everything down? There's just no way to know. It may take a week, a month or may never happen.

What I know is that professional sports teams are having outbreaks with daily testing and millions of dollars...it seems dubious the same won't happen to schools.

 

[Chomsky]

If that's the way you understand it.... sure .
Do you think the average parent and teacher is stupid and unable to assimilate the published data?
I don't care what people "believe"

Apparently. And that attitude is what made this country the loser of the world, in terms of pandemic response.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

Even if a few kids die from the virus, it is well worth the risk of trying. We need our schools open.

You HAVE to be kidding.

You do realize that the children would have absolutely no say in whether or not they should run the additional chance of dying, don't you?

On the other hand, there is always the possibility that you don't have any children who would be running the enforced additional risk of dying, so you simply don't care and what you really meant to say was

"I don't care one little bit if other people's children are forced to run an additional, and unnecessary, risk of dying."
​

which, of course, would be something that Mr. Trump would totally agree with.

 

[jimbo]

With strict social guidelines as mentioned by the poll, absolutely yes.

The kids who are marginal learners and struggling, special-needs children, the impoverished children who have poor access to WIFI need the schools open. Above all, all kids need social interaction with their peers for better mental health.

Unless you confiscate all cell phones, all TV's, all video games and have a mommy with a switch telling kids to pay attention, on line will not work. Having said, the kiddos must get educated. They have already lost a year. A couple more, we've lost generation.

I don't know an answer. I do understand the problem.

 

[Phys251]

Unless you confiscate all cell phones, all TV's, all video games and have a mommy with a switch telling kids to pay attention, on line will not work. Having said, the kiddos must get educated. They have already lost a year. A couple more, we've lost generation.

I don't know an answer. I do understand the problem.

.....

 

[Helix]

Should schools reopen?

absolutely ****ing not.

 

[Helix]

.....
View attachment 67290735

/thread

 

[buck]

Unless you confiscate all cell phones, all TV's, all video games and have a mommy with a switch telling kids to pay attention, on line will not work. Having said, the kiddos must get educated. They have already lost a year. A couple more, we've lost generation.

I don't know an answer. I do understand the problem.

In that vein, there are many experts saying they should reopen. The loss in education will set these kids behind and impact earnings for a lifetime. It will further widen the gulf between the poor and wealthy.

My kids learning was far less during that period, despite.my daughter being in honors and self motivated. My younger son needed a lot of help, which,since I'm working from home and my wife is home, was OK. I can't imagine how someone that is in a different situation could even handle it.

Then the stories of kids going through depression and auicides from kids in isolation.

 

[Thom Paine]

Apparently. And that attitude is what made this country the loser of the world, in terms of pandemic response.

great example.. you "believe" this country is the loser of the world in terms of pandemic response.
I don't care what you "believe".
Facts are always preferable and at the moment all collectable data appears to be convoluted by collection and dissemination protocols lacking precise basis control.
good day atcha' C

 

[Chomsky]

great example.. you "believe" this country is the loser of the world in terms of pandemic response.
I don't care what you "believe".
Facts are always preferable and at the moment all collectable data appears to be convoluted by collection and dissemination protocols lacking precise basis control.
good day atcha' C

I don't 'believe' this. I know it. And I suspect you do, also. If not, one look at the numbers should be all it takes.

 

[Manc Skipper]

It seems there are a few who regard teachers and kids as expendable.

 

[Thom Paine]

I don't 'believe' this. I know it. And I suspect you do, also. If not, one look at the numbers should be all it takes.

Did you miss this part ?

Facts are always preferable and at the moment all collectable data appears to be convoluted by collection and dissemination protocols lacking precise basis control.

I'll wait for quite awhile before attempting to balance the books on this problem.
Sadly, the numbers may never be accurate, only a computer extrapolation controlled by the algorithm

 

[buck]

It seems there are a few who regard teachers and kids as expendable.

Or there are a few that see the cost benefit of both sides... and there are some that are so dogmatic in their beliefs that they have the truth and anyone on the other side just want to sacrifice kids and teachers. One of those sides aren't smart enough to do an actual analysis and only see one factor impacting the decision.

 

[Josie]

It seems there are a few who regard teachers and kids as expendable.

Who?

And what's your answer to the question?

 

[Manc Skipper]

Who?

And what's your answer to the question?

Why, open the schools and thin the herd some more, obviously! Poor people are such a drag on the economy!

 

[Josie]

Why, open the schools and thin the herd some more, obviously! Poor people are such a drag on the economy!

So your answer is no to reopening schools even with strict rules?

And who are the few you are seeing here who find kids and teachers expendable?

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

great example.. you "believe" this country is the loser of the world in terms of pandemic response.
I don't care what you "believe".
Facts are always preferable and at the moment all collectable data appears to be convoluted by collection and dissemination protocols lacking precise basis control.
good day atcha' C

I wouldn't want to say that the US is "the loser of the world", but

and


​

most certainly don't make it look like the US is "the winner of the world" - do they.

What is even more depressing is taking Column 11 "Death Chance vs US" and adjusting it by normalizing it according to PPP GDP per capita (which gives a good indication of how much a country can afford to devote to fighting COVID-19). If you do that, you get

​

Based on that calculation, every single one of the "G-8+China" countries is doing a better job (within their own financial constraints) than the US does (even the UK [once adjusted to account for "economic power"] shows that a person selected at random has a LOWER chance of dying from COVID-19 than does a person selected at random in the United States of America {although, since the UK is within 3.5% of the US, you can call that a tie if you want to}]).

PS - Even though the Chinese data isn't all that reliable, it isn't all that different from the Japanese data so I don't TOTALLY discount it (as there MAY be some "genetic component" associated with the COVID-19 death rate). Which is, of course, a statement which - undoubtedly - will spawn a whole slew of conspiracy/bio-warfare theories.

 

[TU Curmudgeon]

I don't 'believe' this. I know it. And I suspect you do, also. If not, one look at the numbers should be all it takes.

I don't do this on a daily basis because I'm simply too lazy (and the data collection is a pain), but you might be interested in seeing an assessment of how well various countries are doing with respect to COVID-19 once you take their "ability to pay" (I'm using PPP GDP per capita to gauge that).

​

While the usual caveats regarding Chinese data and comparison to Japanese rates apply, this, to say the least, is NOT "happy making".