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Betsy DeVos

If my wife were expecting there is zero chance I’m going to work.
 
mako1331 said:
The consensus between my wife and I, which is seemingly the general consensus of our respective departments, is that the situation requires us to make sacrifices and take risks for the overall welfare of our students and society as a whole. We’ve made our peace with it, and currently are spending as much time as possible with our parents as we know that we won’t be able to again for the foreseeable future.
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I don’t necessary disagree but there isn’t a need to take risks if we just had online classes to the degree possible. I mean this isn’t rocket science.
 
Interesting discussion - we have two elementary age kids in Wake County and we can’t come up with a single good reason to send them back at all. I think we’ll try the virtual academy thing and go from there. Fee bad for Cooper he is in a shitty position
 
I guess? It’s only a shitty position if you listen to 2&2. Don’t reopen schools until you pass CDC guidelines to work your way through the phases. 14 days of declining positive tests and hospitalizations before moving to the next phase. For states that have successfully decreased the curve this is what has happened (most of New England and New York)
 
The problem is, and this is speaking solely from my own personal experience, that the vast majority of kids aren’t learning in an online and distance education setting. I’m sure that’s not the case for most children of Wake alumni, but most students aren’t children of Wake alumni. It’s hard to understand how many children rely on the support system that the physical environment of school provides, but if we’re not back in school in August, I have grave concerns about this generation of students. Look at the percentage of kids in NC on free lunch; a lot of students get one decent meal a day when school is in session. Then the emotional support that is provided by the school, as well as the often necessary sense of comfort that comes from routine. Teachers are used to making individual sacrifices for the betterment of their students, and this is no different, albeit a larger sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. I’m no better than someone that works in a grocery store. Why should they be expected to put themselves in harm’s way but not me? Personally, I’m willing to risk the sickness for myself and my family to do what I consider an integral job in the way that I know it needs to be done, and the teachers I work with feel the same. Fuck Trump and his re-election motivation, and fuck Devos and her lack of any awareness of the situation, but at the end of the day I need to be there for my kids that need me, and I can’t do that with any real sort of efficacy from behind a computer screen.
 
mako1331 said:
This may have been said ironically, but this is where I am as a teacher. Remote learning in our district was an unmitigated disaster, and the effects of the learning gap if schools aren’t reopened are going to be more disastrous in the future than the health consequences of reopening schools. Kids need to be physically in the classroom.
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I think/hope that part of the reason remote learning in the spring was disaster was that the teachers, had no training in online teaching or time on how to adjust their classes and their content to fit an on line / remote teaching mode. In Alabama at least the teachers were also told that schools were shut down at first only for three weeks, then in twas extended another few weeks and then it was extended again for the rest of the year...how does a teacher plan lessons and adjust a syllabus with all that uncertainty? School administrators should have used the summer months to train their teachers for remote learning and told them to be ready for both in person or online teaching, while also developing plans for how to handle class size reductions, mask wearing, and keeping everything clean to try and open school. It seems like our leaders, in every facet of society, just keep expecting someone else to lead or for the virus to just go away; no one is making plans, they keep putting off difficult decisions until the last possible moment without developing contingencies.
 
birdman said:
I think/hope that part of the reason remote learning in the spring was disaster was that the teachers, had no training in online teaching or time on how to adjust their classes and their content to fit an on line / remote teaching mode. In Alabama at least the teachers were also told that schools were shut down at first only for three weeks, then in twas extended another few weeks and then it was extended again for the rest of the year...how does a teacher plan lessons and adjust a syllabus with all that uncertainty? School administrators should have used the summer months to train their teachers for remote learning and told them to be ready for both in person or online teaching, while also developing plans for how to handle class size reductions, mask wearing, and keeping everything clean to try and open school. It seems like our leaders, in every facet of society, just keep expecting someone else to lead or for the virus to just go away; no one is making plans, they keep putting off difficult decisions until the last possible moment without developing contingencies.
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Exactly. No one knows anything and school starts in a month. No training has taken place. No contingency plans have been shared because no one has any idea what we’re going to do. Unfortunately no amount of training in online education can negate the issues that at risk students have by not physically being present in school though.
 
birdman said:
I think/hope that part of the reason remote learning in the spring was disaster was that the teachers, had no training in online teaching or time on how to adjust their classes and their content to fit an on line / remote teaching mode. In Alabama at least the teachers were also told that schools were shut down at first only for three weeks, then in twas extended another few weeks and then it was extended again for the rest of the year...how does a teacher plan lessons and adjust a syllabus with all that uncertainty? School administrators should have used the summer months to train their teachers for remote learning and told them to be ready for both in person or online teaching, while also developing plans for how to handle class size reductions, mask wearing, and keeping everything clean to try and open school. It seems like our leaders, in every facet of society, just keep expecting someone else to lead or for the virus to just go away; no one is making plans, they keep putting off difficult decisions until the last possible moment without developing contingencies.
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I feel like I should delete this after Mako's last post. He is a generous and dedicated dude, it is admirable.

I can't argue against the notion that kids benefit from a physical presence in school in ways that are hard to or impossible to quantify. But I still feel like our leaders failed in every way to use the time they had during the shut downs and summer months to build a viable plan to safely reopen schools.
 
mako1331 said:
The problem is, and this is speaking solely from my own personal experience, that the vast majority of kids aren’t learning in an online and distance education setting. I’m sure that’s not the case for most children of Wake alumni, but most students aren’t children of Wake alumni. It’s hard to understand how many children rely on the support system that the physical environment of school provides, but if we’re not back in school in August, I have grave concerns about this generation of students. Look at the percentage of kids in NC on free lunch; a lot of students get one decent meal a day when school is in session. Then the emotional support that is provided by the school, as well as the often necessary sense of comfort that comes from routine. Teachers are used to making individual sacrifices for the betterment of their students, and this is no different, albeit a larger sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. I’m no better than someone that works in a grocery store. Why should they be expected to put themselves in harm’s way but not me? Personally, I’m willing to risk the sickness for myself and my family to do what I consider an integral job in the way that I know it needs to be done, and the teachers I work with feel the same. Fuck Trump and his re-election motivation, and fuck Devos and her lack of any awareness of the situation, but at the end of the day I need to be there for my kids that need me, and I can’t do that with any real sort of efficacy from behind a computer screen.
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Many people do not realize the stability public schools provide for the community. Public schools do a ton more for the children than teach reading and math.

That said, I cannot think of a way to open public schools in a sustainable way during the pandemic. Students, teachers, and staff will contract the disease which will lead to sudden shutdown of the school and people will get seriously ill and die.
 
mako1331 said:
The problem is, and this is speaking solely from my own personal experience, that the vast majority of kids aren’t learning in an online and distance education setting. I’m sure that’s not the case for most children of Wake alumni, but most students aren’t children of Wake alumni. It’s hard to understand how many children rely on the support system that the physical environment of school provides, but if we’re not back in school in August, I have grave concerns about this generation of students. Look at the percentage of kids in NC on free lunch; a lot of students get one decent meal a day when school is in session. Then the emotional support that is provided by the school, as well as the often necessary sense of comfort that comes from routine. Teachers are used to making individual sacrifices for the betterment of their students, and this is no different, albeit a larger sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. I’m no better than someone that works in a grocery store. Why should they be expected to put themselves in harm’s way but not me? Personally, I’m willing to risk the sickness for myself and my family to do what I consider an integral job in the way that I know it needs to be done, and the teachers I work with feel the same. Fuck Trump and his re-election motivation, and fuck Devos and her lack of any awareness of the situation, but at the end of the day I need to be there for my kids that need me, and I can’t do that with any real sort of efficacy from behind a computer screen.
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Dude you sound like one hell of a guy and teacher. I teach in a 100% FRL school and I agree that we have to see our kids. They need the structure and they need access to meals.

But the problem with a full reopening is that the moment 2 or 3 kids/staff test positive, they will shut the entire school down. I agree that we need to see our kids every week but we have to limit class sizes and hallway congestion as much as possible. If not schools will become hot zones in a very short amount of time, and we'll be back to square one. A hybrid model which allows for real social distancing and improved teacher supervision is vital.
 
Our district just started asking teachers for their input. Four weeks before the first day of school. One week before parents have to decide between face to face, e-learning, and virtual school. Right now about 60% of kids are doing face to face.

The thing is I kind of get it. The principals don’t know anything. Our friend on the school board doesn’t even know much. This is a situation that requires government to lead and our government is led by people who tell us to just figure it out.
 
mako1331 said:
The problem is, and this is speaking solely from my own personal experience, that the vast majority of kids aren’t learning in an online and distance education setting. I’m sure that’s not the case for most children of Wake alumni, but most students aren’t children of Wake alumni. It’s hard to understand how many children rely on the support system that the physical environment of school provides, but if we’re not back in school in August, I have grave concerns about this generation of students. Look at the percentage of kids in NC on free lunch; a lot of students get one decent meal a day when school is in session. Then the emotional support that is provided by the school, as well as the often necessary sense of comfort that comes from routine. Teachers are used to making individual sacrifices for the betterment of their students, and this is no different, albeit a larger sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. I’m no better than someone that works in a grocery store. Why should they be expected to put themselves in harm’s way but not me? Personally, I’m willing to risk the sickness for myself and my family to do what I consider an integral job in the way that I know it needs to be done, and the teachers I work with feel the same. Fuck Trump and his re-election motivation, and fuck Devos and her lack of any awareness of the situation, but at the end of the day I need to be there for my kids that need me, and I can’t do that with any real sort of efficacy from behind a computer screen.
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Hey mako, thank you for your service. I say this with all sincerity.

I hope by some miracle we have some semblance of a successful school year. I'm skeptical. With middle/high school kids changing classes in tight quarters in every school - that's a lot of face to face personal interactions, every day.
 
For schools it really is a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don't situation. I don't think there's any way that schools (especially public schools and private boarding schools) will be able to practice adequate social distancing without far more classroom/dorm space than they now have. Just washing your hands frequently and having everyone wear masks will help, but not much, and I can't imagine it will be easy to teach with a mask over your face all day. It's hard not to see the virus running wild in such a situation. OTOH, I've read that from 30 to 40% of NC students in some public school districts never showed up for a single online class during the quarantine, and I don't see how that's sustainable over a single semester, much less an entire school year. Also, as Mako mentioned there's the fact that these kids will continue to fall behind in terms of writing skills and other things that are much harder to teach online, and few of the teachers I know have received adequate (or any) formal training in online education over the summer, so they won't be any more advanced than they were in March or April. And that's without mentioning the daycare aspect for elementary and middle school students whose parents have gone back to work, or that some private schools may not financially be able to survive an extended shutdown. It's a real mess, and I'm afraid it could all end in disaster less than a month or two into the school year.
 
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Here is a perfect example of elected leader punting on obvious decisions because some percentage of their angry constituents might get angrier. This is not in an education setting but it’s the same concept. No one wants to lead because Qanon is holding 40% of our country’s brains hostage.

 
“We’re a higher education institution that believes in science and wants to keep our students safe.”

“But we’re in Alabama.”
 
PhDeac said:
“We’re a higher education institution that believes in science and wants to keep our students safe.”

“But we’re in Alabama.”
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That little soliloquy may well be perfect summary of American decline in the 21st Century. We know what we need to do, but we can't do it because there are too many crazy people in the country now.
 
mako1331 said:
The problem is, and this is speaking solely from my own personal experience, that the vast majority of kids aren’t learning in an online and distance education setting. I’m sure that’s not the case for most children of Wake alumni, but most students aren’t children of Wake alumni. It’s hard to understand how many children rely on the support system that the physical environment of school provides, but if we’re not back in school in August, I have grave concerns about this generation of students. Look at the percentage of kids in NC on free lunch; a lot of students get one decent meal a day when school is in session. Then the emotional support that is provided by the school, as well as the often necessary sense of comfort that comes from routine. Teachers are used to making individual sacrifices for the betterment of their students, and this is no different, albeit a larger sacrifice in the grand scheme of things. I’m no better than someone that works in a grocery store. Why should they be expected to put themselves in harm’s way but not me? Personally, I’m willing to risk the sickness for myself and my family to do what I consider an integral job in the way that I know it needs to be done, and the teachers I work with feel the same. Fuck Trump and his re-election motivation, and fuck Devos and her lack of any awareness of the situation, but at the end of the day I need to be there for my kids that need me, and I can’t do that with any real sort of efficacy from behind a computer screen.
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I love this post.
 
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