Would you send your children to school or home school?

I work in a doctors office. Two of the docs have kids and will not be sending them to school, but will homeschool the kids.
I don’t have kids, but I think it’s too early to send them back.

I would not be sending my child to in-person school. What is it about guys that look like that (Ford and 45) that have no respect for the health of the people they are supposed to serve?
I wish the best for your teacher family, and all of our teachers and families.

If my daughter was younger, I’d be home schooling her.

As she’s a senior in High School this year (and almost eighteen), we’re going with her school’s hybrid model (part in person, part online). Luckily, we have the option to switch to fully online if things look bad, which may likely happen.

Fully in person, is bananas.

I’d send them to school. I don’t have the time, or the patience, or the education to teach.

I already home school mine. The most recent are my two youngest grandkids, age 11 and 13. I’ve been homeschooling them for years. I also homeschooled my three older grandkids, now all adults, and my sons.
If I was a public school teacher, I would resign.

I would have them attend virtual school. The schools can teach them remotely.

I’d send them, play the odds that they’d be fine, and try to protect the rest of the world from them. Education is super important, as is the expectation of education. Countless services are provided through schools, and so much harm will come from closing them. If I were in charge I would start by asking not “if” but “how” schools will open.

“play the odds”

How has gambling worked out for you all around?

@cookieman – very well. I make many odds based and risk assessing choices every day in a world ruled only by death and uncertainty, and live securely and happily with people I love.

And this question is about Ontario, where control measures are working, and compliance and narcing are fairly high.

No I would not. If I had kids I’d let them learn remotely then ramp up discussions about their various courses. I’m not much of a gambler when it comes to kids’ health.

@Aster – Vaccines are a gamble. They may harm your child. Nevertheless they should do it, if their health otherwise permits. This is for societies good as well as the individual, even though there is risk of individual harm.

There is this huge bias towards the harm of covid, which is admittedly great, and away from the harm that comes when we let everything rot from neglect, which is also great. Can we please have real conversations about mitigating harm in rational ways? 100 years ago, they tried outdoor classes, even in winter. There is just so much throwing of hands in the air and little can-do attitude about educating millions of children.

@Smashley do you have school age kids? I dont . I understand what you’re saying; I hear it on tv quite a bit. But for me, personally, I’d be terrified . Chalk it up to cowardice?

Ok @Smashley what are you suggestions on sending the kids back safely?

Yo, I’m not a public health policy expert, but things can be done. Outdoor classes is a good start. Enlist the parks department and open up land for classes. Big tents. Outdoor heaters. In places where you can’t be outside, think about air exchange and how to hit the requisite number of exchanges per hour. Any science based effort to control indoor air quality will slow the spread of the virus and help contain outbreaks.

And yes, I do have school age kids, and their education is, to me, worth the risk at the schools they are attending.

@Smashley, while I appreciate your concern for their education, their are two major points that need addressing with your statement.

One, this is not permanent, it is mostly likely, at worst, to be only one school year without in person school, not their entire education. There is still virtual education, with guidance by parents and/or caregivers.

Two, and more importantly, none of the plans I have seen take into account the basic behaviors of children. The schools might be pretty safe if the children adhere to absolute rules and restrictions regarding their own persons and the persons of others. They won’t. Maybe yours will, but others won’t. That’s a given.

And children in Ontario are not fundamentally different from children in the US. Or France. Or Nepal. Or Taiwan. Or Australia. Or the Philippines. Or Botswana. Etc etc.

Sorry, typo “ there are two major points…”

@Smashley: I was thinking more scratchees and lotto, but okay.

Negative. Not worth the risk and in a few weeks it is all going to be a clusterfuck and the schools will be shut down again anyways.

And really, this isn’t about kids learning. It is about risking the lives of the underpaid babysitters so you can go back to work so the economy soars like an eagle so Trump can get reelected.

At least now maybe people will respect the work teachers do. But they won’t. Just like nurses are heroes but you can’t suffer a tiny bit of inconvenience even if it would make their life substantially better. Enjoy your refrigerated trucks.

@Smashley You think their education in a school is worth the risk? The risk of them getting Covid? I really don’t understand the thought process. If they get a mild case, then yay, it worked out for them. If not, dying is not the worse case scenario. The lung damage, the neurological damage, the heart damage, the blood clots that could cause amputation and months in a hospital in which you will not be allowed to visit your child is the worse case scenario.
One more semester of sitting out of a school setting doesn’t seem to be that bad in the long run.

Remember – this still isn’t a question of schools holding in-person or remote classes this year. This question is directly tied to the ability of people to be able to stay home with their kids if classes are remote. Any discussion that doesn’t involve this is really absurd.

I would keep my kids home if I could. I think everyone who can should.

I think the schools should open in most of the country, but not where cases are very high.

I think school is better than day care. If I had to work and had no family to leave my kids with I’d either try to coordinate with a friend or send my children to school if they were very young and had to be watched during the day. Older children can watch themselves, although I’d hope neighbors would coordinate to watch the neighborhood so to speak.

In Florida I am hearing in-person school registration hovering between 28–50% depending on the school district. That means the schools will have much fewer students so more opportunity to distance the children. Miami has a very high case count so they aren’t opening for now.

I think any teacher who is high risk or just doesn’t want to take the risk should be able to take a leave of a sense for a year and not lose their years towards a pension. If there are a lot of teachers who simply refuse to teach in person then the school district might have to do it all online.

I feel like this is being made into a bigger political issue than it has to be. It certainly is a health issue, but nobody is forcing kids into the schools as far as I can tell. Parents can always opt to home school or in Florida they can do public school online.

Honestly, in my state I don’t feel like there is a ton of infighting about it like when I watch CNN or MSNBC. There is definitely discussion though. My state has surveyed parents and a couple of weeks ago many of the districts had their deadlines for parents to register, to choose, what they will be doing. Isn’t it the same in other states?

I guess the one problem is a lot of people are clueless, and they think if a school opens the experts must think it’s safe. It’s not 100% safe obviously. I think representatives should be encouraging parents to home school if they can.

My kid is a sophomore at UCLA and they’re all online. She’s going back to school and staying in her sorority which makes me really nervous, but she’s an adult and it’s her decision.

Under the current circumstances, with no vaccine, and the cases of Covid 19 still rampant, and rising, I would absolutely not consider sending my kids to school. I have many teachers in my family, and among my friends. Most of them also have school age kids. All but one of them has already decided not to send their kids to school. The one who has not made a decision, one way or the other, has not really been taking the pandemic seriously, and is out and about, without a mask, every day, posting pictures of that fact online. Thankfully, the schools in her area, are doing online teaching, at least for now.

My daughter is heading off to college (first year) in a couple of weeks. It’s a small college that’s pretty isolated, and there is a very detailed and strict plan. They’re also locked down until Thanksgiving (can’t leave, no visitors).

My two other kids (6th and 9th grade) are awaiting word on their plans – should know by Monday. Current thought is that it could be a hybrid plan.

In a town of almost 40k people, there are 3 active cases, and I believe they may be nursing home related. We have been open for a long time, with restaurants and shopping, etc.

I don’t know what’s the right thing for everyone, but I do know that there are plenty of families that are hurting. 1 in 3 renters in Boston are facing eviction. People are losing – or have lost their jobs – and are scrambling to find some way to make money. Without a functioning government that can make staying home with their kids a reality, saying schools should close opens up so many other issues and risks for those without money.

Every time someone says, “schools should be remote”, the next sentence should be an explanation of how that could be made possible. The 2 corporate parties have completely failed us.

It’s a complete shitshow.

Well, @hmmmmmm, this question is specific as to whether or not we would send our kids to school at this time. We are, most of us, not so naïve as to think that that is the whole picture. I would be interested to see a Q addressing the big picture and seeing how many different kinds of suggestions it would inspire. How about asking that question?

@hmmmmmm Well, buried in your post is a few nuggets.
First, congratulations on college!

Second, I agree with you in large part about the remote learning. My same friend who is the 8th grade science teacher is married to a kindergarten teacher. She is still unsure how she’s going to do remote learning for 5 year olds. Also, all her students are wealthy because they both teach in a wealthy suburb, so they have access to computers. What about those who are in underserved areas without access to good internet? Not everybody can afford cable for $200/month or whatever insane price it is.

Third, I agree with you about how people are hurting. I have a friend who lost her job and has to sell her house and will be living out of a camper just so they can eat. But I agree with @canidmajor That this is out of the scope of this question.

Back to the question at hand. Saying “you have to do remote learning” is fine. Actually enacting it in poorer environments without support is impossible. Kids aren’t going to learn this way—especially young kids.

My daughter taught second grade in an underprivileged population of children. Some of the children did not have Internet and some did. Some of the parents were very attentive and others never followed through on anything.

She was teaching them by recorded video and Zoom conferencing. She tried to stay in close communication with parents through email, phone calls, and occasional conferencing through Zoom. For the families that didn’t have Internet she prepared packets for for those parents to pick up at the school office.

The results were hit-or-miss, and generally below what she might have achieved in a normal classroom. She did have one parent that seemed to be so overwhelmed that the child made no progress whatsoever. Results all depended on the quality of parental supervision as well as the learning style, environment and motivation of the individual children.

As a longtime homeschooler, I’d opt first for that. The younger the child the less cooperative they are with any sort of “social distancing”. It’s simply not on their radar. Another daughter teaches kindergarten. She says, “Those kids lick each other! hahaha!”

“I think the schools should open in most of the country, but not where cases are very high.”

Not opening stuff is how you keep the cases from getting very high.

I’m not sure of what the best option here is. All of them are bad.

A bit of a chicken and egg pickle here. The administration is (shocker) going with supply-side. Fill the shops with employees and the people will just flood in. Might work in Sturgis but I think that is an exception. Initial demand will wane and then you are all laid-off again. You only need so many citrus scented bath salts.

More of a Keynesian guy here. I think demand creates supply. In this case demand would be Federal stimulus and the public feeling safe going out.

And we are failing miserably on both fronts. Literally, doing the exact opposite of what should be done. But we got type 2 on a trike. So there is that.

It begins

“PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — Just days after a photo of crowded hallways at North Paulding High School went viral, parents were informed Saturday of nine confirmed cases of the coronavirus at the school.”

And you might be thinking “only nine cases”.. Ohio, a long time ago had a great ad about this.

@johnpowell When I say open schools where caseload is low, I don’t mean open them and have 100% attendance and class changes through crowded hallways. I mean open with serious precautions in place. There will still be cases, but hopefully only able to spread in a limited way.

As of 8/10/20 there are 100,000 children that have tested positive for the virus in the last 2 weeks.

@chyna In the entire country? Those are first time positives? I did the math and for 50 states that would be 140 children per state per day. I know it isn’t actually even across states in that way, but just averaging it out.

Yes. 15% increase in Dade county, Fl alone.
I’m watching ABC Evening news. Dr.Fauci feels we need to mandate mask wearing in all schools.

@chyna I’m looking it up and the Florida summary (for the state) doesn’t have the data for 0–18. The age categories are 0–4, 5–14, and 15–24 for the published numbers that are cumulative since March 1. Did they specify the ages?

Dade is not opening schools. They even delayed online school starts until end of August. I think they said they are hoping to open in person school in October if parents want to choose to send their children at that time, but subject to change. Unless something has changed that I am unaware of.

Edit: When they only give percentage increases it could mean anything. From 10 to 20 is 100%. I don’t doubt the number is significant in Dade though.

@JLeslie It’s easy to quibble about percentages until it’s your kid that sustains permanent damage or dies a preventable death. @chyna‘s 100,000 C19 positive kids is just too scary.

@canidmajor What is your problem? Gawd all you do is fight, and you love to fight with me. Check yourself.

NO ONE IN FLORIDA IS FORCED TO SEND THEIR KID TO IN PERSON SCHOOL. There is Florida Virtual School and many counties (maybe all) have public school online, which is FREE. This has existed for years, not just for covid. I am assuming it even meets the requirements to still receive federal fund (although I am not sure) because it is literally part of the public school system. Dade county is not opening schools, and when they do parents can still do the online if they prefer. I have seen the Q & A for Duval County schools (that is where Jacksonville is) and they did address the questions the parents had. Any parent who is unhappy with the answers can school at home.

It’s not easy for parents now, but lets just support them in whatever they decide to do.

School is better than daycare, and there are plenty of kids in daycare in Florida right now.

I think all parents who can school from home should this year. It will help keep the in-school classes with fewer student for those who need to put their kids in school.

I was interested in what @chyna heard, I was not fighting with her. If she felt I was fighting I apologize to her, I was just interested in the statistics. Statistics are manipulated all the time so I wanted to know what they were using. I thought the 100,000 is significant also, especially since it is probably 10,000 in one state and just 200 in another, so it depends where you live.

No, @JLeslie, I don’t “love to fight with you”. I am sorry that you take everything so personally.

LOL. Ok yeah, so personally. I hope our answers don’t get modded.

This says some states include ages up to 24, which I would bet Florida is one of those states, because that jibes with my state’s documents. Teens and young adults have been getting infected a lot here, going out to bars and congregating. I know bars are closed to people sitting inside, but restaurants with bars are not closed. bars can still serve to take away, so people are buying drinks and hanging out together outside and partying too.

@chyna By the way the two weeks is the last two weeks of July according to the article I linked and what I just heard on MSNBC, so I’m hoping the numbers are declining. Florida all ages had been declining during that period, but still ridiculously high, and very recent data is inaccurate, its understated, because of the hurricane. Dade County had to shut down drive through and walk up testing for a few days, and I assume many states up the east coast had the same situation.

Hopefully they are declining. It’s all so confusing and scary.

@chyna I think it was on Shades of America where farm workers were saying when they have a cough they tell the other workers to keep a lot of distance, and they don’t get tested and they still go to work. Some of the them are undocumented so they are afraid to get tested. I think it was a border state on the show. Florida was having a similar problem a couple of months ago, but healthcare officials did their best on TV to reassure people that nobody will ask questions about documents for covid testing. I don’t know if that is better now. The state sent out a lot of free testing to those communities. I would guess the children in those families probably have high rates of being sick, or did anyway. If they are afraid to tell anyone when they are sick that could be a disaster assuming their children go to school, and I assume they do. Another reason for America to give working papers to these people.

@chyna Here are some scary numbers for you. :-(

https://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2020/08/10/coronavirus-infections-among-us-children-grew-40-in-last-2-weeks-of-july-report-finds/

^That is heartbreaking and scary. Although the article says children have a mild form or even no signs of the illness, they can be carriers. In WV we have a very high percentage of grandparents raising the grandchildren. In one county alone it is 80 percent. So these kids could be infecting the only people they have to take care of them.

Not to mention that we don’t even know what the long term effects might be for children that have been infected; the potential of neurological, pulmonary, renal, and/or coronary damage cannot yet be gauged.

@chyna Do the grandparents usually work? Or, they can stay home with the children for online education?

I’m thinking minorities who are poor are probably more likely than upper middle class people to have grandparents nearby or living in the house, but what you are saying is the parents aren’t even around maybe?

@chyna 80%??? Yikes! I have known a number of such families, it is always a tragedy of some sort or other when the grandparents have to raise the grandchildren. Better than foster care, but never a good story behind that.

We have an extremely high addiction rate here. The parents are usually in jail, in rehab, on the streets or dead.

@chyna That’s very sad. Do the grandparents get foster money so maybe one of the grandparents can stay home with the children? I know the foster money isn’t a lot, but it’s helpful. I don’t know how WV handles it. In TN grandparents can get paid when it’s “temporary.” I don’t know how long temporary is.

@jleslie I don’t know, but I hope they do.

I just saw on my Facebook today that some of my Memphis friends have their children going to their first day of school today.

@chyna – death is the worst case scenario of almost everything we do. That doesn’t me we don’t do things. We make choices and balance risks. The thought process you don’t understand is that education, and the massive social order focused around it is more important than you think. Keeping kids out of school will kill people. It won’t be as obvious how they die, but it will happen: from poverty, abuse, neglect, gang activity, suicide, accident. The economy and all future earning and learning potential for a generation will take a hit, and a bad economy, sadly, also means dead bodies. You are so blinded by the fear of virus, so unwilling to use the mechanisms of public health policy, that you can’t see what’s about to be gleefully perpetrated on us.

Oh for Pete’s sake, @Smashley, the “generation” is not losing education, this group of kids will experience a slower rate for a season. That’s all. No one is talking about halting learning altogether for these kids.

It’s been half a year of essentially no, or very poor education. Another half year would be a full year. In a 14 year public system, you are losing 7% of a generation’s publicly funded education. If an economy contracts by 7%, it is a disaster. On top of this, you are deemphasizing education as important in our culture, to give yourself cover for a lack of imagination, when the opposite is probably all that can save the future. @canidmajor

@Smashley, maybe where you live remote learning has been “no, or very poor education”. Not so everywhere. And really, you are projecting disaster down the line, and we already know what the virus does, and how insidious it is. The economy contraction is not because of the kids staying out of school.
I really don’t see how you can figure that increasing the spread of this disease, sicken8mg and killing the workforce and putting entire families at risk can be called a solution to a “lack of imagination”.
I hope you don’t live near me or my loved ones with that attitude.

And this is absurd. I’m out.

@canidmajor – it’s not absurd. I’m debating that long term harm should be addressed not ignored, and education should be held as sacrosanct. Close everything but the schools if you must. My kids school will have full attendance, all classes outside, because both things are important.

@canidmajor: “No one is talking about halting learning altogether for these kids.”

Every single person who supports “remote learning” is talking about halting learning altogether for these kids. There is literally not one adult home with these kids, and absolutely no learning is happening. None. As in zero.

Remember – you think it’s irrelevant, but unless “remote learning” is paired with paying parents to be home with these kids to help them learn on their own, “remote learning” means “no learning”. This is the unfortunate reality to everyone who isn’t wealthy.

@hmmmmmm Not quite true as a blanket statement. I know my state has virtual PUBLIC school for many years in at least some of our counties, maybe all of the counties and that is free just like all public school, it is part of the Public school system. We have a state virtual school also, but I don’t know if that’s free. Parents had to register for virtual or in-person school, whichever they chose for their child. The in-person group, if their school is closed for covid, they are learning at home until things get better in their city.

My girlfriend in Michigan teaches 4th grade and continued teaching her kids remotely. Most of the kids did the work, several fell behind, a few are actually doing better at home than in the school. Some of the kids are home alone, that’s a problem since they are quite young, although I was a latchkey kid myself from 6th grade on and my sister was in 3rd grade, but all day was only in the summers. Many of them do have one adult home with them. If they are alone they have a teacher checking on them and their parents of course, but that is by phone or virtual. Some people are working together with neighbors.

If there are states without a home school free option then that has to be addressed. I’d be curious to know which states have free and which don’t. Even in my own state I’m curious if all counties have it and if Florida virtual is free or not. I’m pretty sure children from everywhere can use Florida virtual, so there might be a fee. I’m going to google.

@hmmmmmm: How can you say ”there is literally not one adult home with these kids, and absolutely no learning is happening?? Without using my personal situation as it is anecdotal, I can tell you that most adults I know that were working full time prior to March are now either staying home full time or are working in the office very limited hours, and for the rest of the work week, are home. I won’t say learning at home is as good as learning in the classroom, but there was learning going on, tests, term papers, reports, etc. and they are all done and graded just like in-person. I bet for a lot of kids who may have social anxiety, staying home is better for them.

To speak in absolutes, as in “not one” or “zero” or “none” is usually inaccurate and definitely, in this case, it does not hold water.

@jca2 I agree with you and it is a denigration of teachers who has busted their asses to support students learning at home and the parents who are trying to do double duty – on their jobs and with their kids.

It is definitely true that it makes it harder for many parents and particularly those who have to go out to work but to speak in absolutes seems foolish.

I agree. ” No one is talking about halting learning altogether for these kids.” seems quite absolute – especially when it covers a very particular socioeconomic class.

All I’m saying is that you cannot divorce the concept of “remote learning” and the economics/reality of parents being home with kids. If there are parents home in certain upper-middle class households, this is one scenario. But this is only one possible scenario, and the concept of educating children is supposed to be one where there isn’t one experience for rich kids and a completely different one for everyone else.

For many families, you’re talking about leaving children completely alone all day. To treat this as a separate issue is absurd. The entire concept of remote learning is closely tied to economics and class.

It’s also worth pointing out that (at least here in MA), many of the teachers I know are advocating for a return to in-person learning. Let’s not talk in absolutes about teachers.

@hmmmmmm I agree with you too. I’m sure the teachers are pulled in each direction.. Nobody’s is saying that remote learning is ideal. And your point about the socio-economic impact is certainly true as well. It’s not all black and white (even though some of it is.)

We are living in unprecedented times and the fault lines in American policy and society are coming into high relief.

Whether or not children can be left alone all day has less to do with socio-economic factors than it has to do with the age of the child. A kindergartner can’t be left alone all day whether he is rich or poor, but a 13 year old can be left alone. Of course there are exceptions, as in some special needs children who can’t be left alone no matter how old they are.

Dear lord. “Can be” and “will be” are different things.

An 10-year-old from a wealthy family will likely have one ore more parents at home with him/her. They will be able to monitor and help direct the online instruction and make sure the child is on task.

A 10-year-old whose parents are unable to be home, will be left alone to navigate this “education” all by him/herself.

There is a huge difference here. And to say that there are some kids who may thrive is ridiculous. Of course there are exceptions. But I suspect that most will get almost no education. We already witnessed what happened the last few months of last school year.

I get that there are many parents here on fluther that have young kids and they are able to be home with these kids. But this isn’t the case with all – or most – families. And even if it were, that’s not good enough. The fact is that all kids need to be considered here.

@hmmmmmm: MA teachers are advocating for full time non-remote school? Do you have a link?

I googled it and this is the first thing that came up, @hmmmmmm:

https://boston.cbslocal.com/2020/08/03/mass-teachers-union-calls-for-continued-remote-learning-in-fall-due-to-coronavirus/

@jca2 – You’re not reading what I’m typing. This is getting very confusing.

@hmmmmmm: “It’s also worth pointing out that (at least here in MA), many of the teachers I know are advocating for a return to in-person learning. Let’s not talk in absolutes about teachers.”

@jca2: “MA teachers are advocating for full time non-remote school? Do you have a link?”

^ That is in no way a response to what I wrote. Not sure what’s going on here.

Teachers advocating for a return to in person learning, means to me going to the school building, not sitting home learning remotely. Am I missing something? Maybe your teacher friends are outliers.

^ Everyone and their grandmother knows what the teachers’ union is requesting. I’m saying that I know 4 teachers here in MA. Every single one of them is opposed to the teachers’ union decision and wants to return to school.

If we’re “not going to talk in absolutes”, please don’t do the same with teachers.

Christ, this is exhausting.

All the teachers that I know don’t want to return to the classroom. This includes college professors and a teachers’ aide.

All of the public schools are doing hybrid and one friend who sends her daughter to Catholic school is doing 5 days in school.

Even though you and I are only about two hours apart, I guess the needs and wants of the school teachers are 100% opposite, here in southern NY vs. MA.

I’m exhausted from you, too, @hmmmmmm.

@jca2: “Even though you and I are only about two hours apart, I guess the needs and wants of the school teachers are 100% opposite.”

I think you might be either trolling or having a bad day. I’ve never seen this much trouble with comprehension from you before. Anyway, sounds like you’re speaking in absolutes.

@hmmmmmm I am betting more minority children have grandparents nearby to help watch the kids than the average upper middle class family. I agree poor parents are more likely to work in jobs that cannot be done at home and don’t have extra money for daycare, but I am not so sure the disadvantages and advantages are so drastically different in terms of you has am adult at home to be with the children. I am worried about poor children not having internet access.

I have been in favor of schools opening, because I think school is better than daycare and some kids are alone at home, but I am also in favor of keeping children home if they have someone to watch them.

It is so multifaceted.

Schools need to get their act together about keeping children safe. That photo in Georgia of teens crowding the halls is ridiculous. I saw an interview on Sunday about schools in Denmark that have been open since April, and they keep elementary children distanced, no masks, and only interact with their own class, about 25 students. It seems to be working well. Theoretically, if they have a child with covid, only 24 others are at reasonable risk, and the teacher of course, I don’t know if the teachers have PPE of some sort. I don’t know if the children have a bathroom for every classroom. That seems to me a possibly place of transmission.

I am not worried at all about one year of education being a little discombobulated.

@JLeslie: If a child has covid, it’s not just the other kids in his/her class that are at risk,plus the teacher, it’s kids and staff in the hall, on the school bus, etc.

@jca2 Absolutely, and all of their parents from that class, and then it can spread more. Denmark doesn’t have kids together in the hall all walking every which way. The school bus I think she said they wear a mask. The mask is off while in the classroom with the finite number of people who only occupy that class.

Here is a link for the Denmark interview.

I am not saying their plan will work in all places in America. We have some areas with very high case numbers and should be closed. We also have some parts of the country not taking good precautions in general, and a small number of cases can explode into many cases very fast. The whole country needs to be on the same page to make everything reasonably safe and close to normal.

@JLeslie: My friends that send their elementary school aged daughter to Catholic school in CT told me the school is not requiring kids to wear masks at all. It’s mind boggling to me, almost unbelievable.

@jca2 What is the overall plan? Are the kids distanced and not changing classes? The mind boggling part to me is parts of CT are suburbs of NYC with parents traveling into the city for work. At least the tri-state area does take covid seriously. I haven’t looked at numbers is NY, CT, decreasing in cases?

@JLeslie: Because I find it so mind boggling, I just sent that school an email saying I have a daughter and am last minute looking for a placement for her in 5th grade, and asking if they require masks all day. I will let you know what they say. I really find it hard to believe but the info I got is from my friend who is a parent in the school so hopefully she’s reliable.

NY and CT are doing well with cases. Numbers are down.

@JLeslie: There’s also a lawsuit currently in CT where two parents are suing because they don’t think their kids should have to wear masks all day.

@JLeslie: https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/ct-group-files-appeal-seeking-elimination-of-school-mask-requirement/2319019/

@hmmmmmm: I’m in NY right near the western border of CT.

@jca2 I think I would likely keep my child home. If it was a school where I live I would be really reluctant to send my kid to school. because so many people here think covid is hoax and refuse to wear masks.

Edit: If cases were very low, the community at large wore masks, and the schools had the children distanced and only with their one class I would consider putting my child in school.

If I had a high school child who was takin AP courses and science courses that had lab work I would want them to be able to go in for the labs but also do some work from home. Reduce the risk.

Dropped my daughter off at college on Friday (yikes).

@hmmmmmm Best of luck to her and to you!!

In the CT city that is closest to me, friends that send their daughter to Catholic school just told me the school decided to be all-remote until October now because cases are surging in their city.

Private school in the Memphis area near where I used to live had multiple cases of covid among kids on the sports teams and some staff. Last I heard they are having classes but cancelled sports. I heard a lot of schools around the country are cancelling sports. One woman on my facebook was saying she didn’t understand why they had to cancel marching band. I agree with that. I know one of my friends in Michigan the school her son went to still has marching band doing their thing even though they cancelled football for now.