COVID: July and Still No Decisions About Public Schools Reopening

@feisty76 I am sure there are a lot of questions and concerns running through the minds of parents these days, expecially as it relates to the schooling of their children. Some parents already homeschool, while others may feel inadequate to handle continuing education for their youngsters.

Ginger

@gingerw, Thank you for making the request to move the discussion. I am not good at navigating this wonderful site so appreciate another's help!

@fiesty76 There are no easy answers, especially now that we see what reopening business has done to the numbers already. I assume that most of the population faces the same situation as suburban Minnesota – schools are at or over capacity, with no funds for additional construction, so social distancing is impossible. Consider that we cannot gets adults to do it – how do you enforce it among children and teens in a full-house setting?

This is a constant topic in our family – my daughter is the school nurse in a high school of 2500 students (built for 2000) and parent of 2 preschoolers. The district includes 33000 students in 33 buildings, roughly 10% of them with chronic health issues making them vulnerable. As well, many of the teachers and staff are over age 50 or with health issues, bus drivers are primarily retirees, and the pool of available subs is largely composed of retired teachers. The district has already announced that they cannot get (read will not try to get) any type of PPE for staff or students – even their nurses.

Parents are insisting the schools open because distance education is too hard, they cannot afford daycare, and that "kids don't get very sick anyway." To make matters more difficult, many on staff and many parents are insisting that masks are not an option – "kids can't see facial expressions" "too hard to breathe" "who will provide" etc.

School districts here are working overtime this summer trying to figure out what they are going to do, all while watching the numbers of case to see what is even possible. They are requiring each district, using state guidelines, to have 3 plans in place by August 1st – all in-person, hybrid, and all-distance.

As with everything Covid, stay tuned for further developments.
Sue

@sueinmn. This is indeed a tough situation. Young children do not understand the severity of covid. It's hard enough for them to wash their hands, let alone wear masks when they were never required to do so in their lifetime. Older children often push the boundaries to assert their independence. I read that in Alabama, college kids are having covid party, those who are infected go to parties on purpose and see who get infected next. Such mentality is scary. It's not easy for parents who are now working at home to take care of young children at the same time. In Japan, the found that child abuse cases had gone up since the pandamic.
I'm grateful my grandchild is only 2, and he doesn't really understand the situation yet. He wore a mask the whole time when I went to see him for a brief moment. My son, daughter in law and myself all wore masks and sat outside in a safe distance. The sad part is I don't get to hug him. He should be running around in the park, on a jungle gym and learn to swim, but all that are on hold.
He's missing alot too.
Education is so very important, my friend's granddaughter is due to report to college, and although they set a date in September to start school, it is still subject to change.

I was really happy to see a friend's Facebook post on the COVID-19 status in MN. While I do track that statistics in the state I hadn't noticed this trend.

"If you want to track Covid cases in MN, this is the site I follow. What's key (in my mind) are the hospitalized ICU and hospitalized non-ICU patient numbers in the graph. Though the other numbers trickle upwards (i.e deaths), the hospitalized totals have gone down since about May 23rd. This is what MN was trying to do by encouraging masks and distancing–flattening the curve. Unlike other states, this has worked–at least since the end of May. Congratulations to the Governor and the people who have followed his lead. Hopefully MN keeps it up over July 4th!!"
https://www.twincities.com/coronavirus-mn/cases-map/

@fiesty76 Talked with my son yesterday and he said he just had a talk with the principal to find out . At my grandson's school they are doing half the class will come in the morning and half in afternoon with all sanitizeing being done in between . Kids will have mask on as teachers ,hand sanitizers and all disinfectants going at school they will stay in class room till done then go home no play time outside but social distancing ,hopefully, inside for play time . For some kids there still will be computer time for those that don't come to school . He works at Cal State and said the kids there will still be having computers at home for school . He does have to go in once a week but thank goodness he has been working from home . Her too so they still have incomes coming in.

@mayofeb2020 Yes these are scary times. My son works at Cal State here in L.B.and said the college will be closed to students this fall so learning will be done from home .

@fiesty76, I merged your 2 discussions into one discussion that appears in the About Kids & Teens group, COVID-19 group and Just Want To Talk group. This brings all of the replies into one place and everyone into the same discussion.

This is a lively discussion- an important one, since the children’s education will suffer again. Also, their social development.
Where I live, they are talking about the hybrid type- one group in am and one in pm combined with distance learning.
The American Academy of Pediatrics want the kids back in school. Not much time left now before school starts.
My grandchildren, 8 and 5, live in southern Sweden where COVID has not caused as much sickness as in Stockholm. They have so far continued to go to school.
Each area has to do the best it can to return to some normalcy without risking lives.
This pandemic still has a long way to go. The kids definitely will be set back. Sad.

@astaingegerdm These are times we never had before so it's all new to all of us .Your grands are in Sweden do you get to see them often that's a long distance? Take care