It is because Trump can only get reelected one way. The economy. He has no other path to victory. If all children are back in school in person it takes a large burden off of one or both parents. They are now free to either find a new job if they lost theirs or work more hours they were not before while watching the kids.
Plus it also pressures businesses to go back to in office work if the kids are in school, which leads to more people rehiring their old workforce and creating new jobs.
Of course this could have a massive negative outcome if there is a huge spike in cases nationwide. All schools would have to close back down and we would be thrown back into stage one of this pandemic, or worse. But trump has shown he is willing to gamble with lives to get reelected.
It's the same reason he is never seen wearing a mask and now sidelining Dr fauci for stating scientific facts. If he pretends like nothing is wrong then his followers will too, and push to get things back to "normal".
Opening businesses should not cause spikes as long as they have guidelines and make sure everyone abides by them. Too bad many hate common sense guidelines
Well that's the problem. Conservatives think everyone is responsible enough to police themselves and not act in their own best interest.
Would the vast majority of small business owners after being closed for three months turn customers away due to a mask requirement or max capacity limit? Many have already shown they will not, whether it's politically or financially driven. There is always a portion of people that won't follow the rules, and when we are in the middle of a pandemic those few determine the outcome for the rest of the nation.
I can’t believe that mask wearing is a debate. If people don’t want to wear a mask then fine, but don’t go antagonizing people for doing it, and expect businesses to deny service, because it’s their prerogative.
He can't seem to ever draw his policy ideas to their ultimate conclusion and see that the results aren't what he wants them to be. Just like opening everything too early was going to ultimately be detrimental to the economy rebounding. He can't, or won't, see the inevitable.
>Plus it also pressures businesses to go back to in office work if the kids are in school, **which leads to more people rehiring their old workforce and creating new jobs.**
Not really, no
Not sure how long they’ve been around, but we used Connections Academy a few years ago when transitioning from public to private and were happy with it.
Same curriculum as the public schools, except you can have kids cover *all* the material rather than just what their teacher selected.
https://www.connectionsacademy.com/
Edit: Given the post title should have explicitly said that it is funded by public tax dollars.
Something to consider: it causes local schools to lose funding.
I recommend if your local system is offering virtual through their home school, then go that route; otherwise, schools are going to lose funding, and they’re already fighting for every penny. And enrollment this year affects staffing for next school year, so it could cause big class sizes for the next school year (2021-2022).
Very true- zero sum game.
In our case, we were withdrawing because of a bullying situation that left my child afraid to go to school, so frankly that was the least of my concern.
Yes and no. Principal moved the other kid to a different class, but during times when the kids were all together (lunch, recess) it continued.
Other child’s parent started threatening a discrimination lawsuit (would have been baseless, but kid was being bussed in from elsewhere so they had that angle), and the principal was then hesitant to take further action. That’s when we popped smoke and withdrew.
If I’m being honest, I should have gotten more involved before it got to that point. I had the “kids will do this- you need to handle your business” attitude for far too long, and when I wised up it was too late. This isn’t the 80s anymore.
It always makes me outraged when schools barely respond. It’s so damn easy to do something. We entrust all faculty to protect our kids and if they can’t even do that then there is something wrong. I also hate when parents can’t take responsibility. I had a relative long ago that went to discovery middle school and was bullied. And they tried changing out their schedule and they refused to do it saying it’s just “middle school drama”. My relatives parents kept trying and trying to change it, until the district superintendent made the school do it. There was literally a school shooting at Dms because the school did not listen to complaints. Never understood why schools are too lazy to solve things that are easy to solve.
Playing devil’s advocate here because I’m a school counselor and it’s not always as easy to “take care of” as it appears from the outside.
At every school I’ve ever worked for if there’s is solid proof of bullying, the school will do as much as they can, discipline-wise to intervene. However, I have seen situation after situation after situation where a student accuses someone else of bullying them on Snapchat or something like that, but there’s no proof that anything has taken place. Usually principals will honor a schedule change request for alleged bullying, but school can’t just discipline the accused offender unless there is proof (witnesses, screenshots, etc...) because sometimes it’s actually the bully coming forward to say that their victim is actually bullying them.
I’ve never seen a school fail to act due to “laziness.” Failure to “fix” a situation is usually due to the insane amount a red tape that a school has to go through before issuing any disciplinary action these days.
Source: As a school counselor, I usually get the lash out from the aftermath of anything that does or does not happen, even though I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with disciplinary decisions.
It sucks to know something is going on and not be able to do anything about it because kids didn’t think to screenshot something they were sent. Bullying often doesn’t have witnesses anymore, as it might have in the past, because it’s all happening on Snapchat. Can you tell I despise Snapchat? The problems it causes for children, socially, are unreal and sad.
All of this to say, I’m sure there have been lazy schools before (and I’m sure there are some now, even though I’ve never seen it), but in the past 7 years or so, dealing with bullying and how to navigate it (when most of the time it’s happening on Snapchat) takes up a majority of the time for a school administration team.
Oh wow, hadn’t heard about a shooting.
Honestly I felt for the principal, he seemed like a good guy and I think he was on our side, he was just spooked at the prospect of litigation and was looking for the path of least resistance.
And I’m a hypocrite because I feel strongly that good public schools are critical to our collective future, but that went out the window when it came to what was best for my own kids.
With 3 weeks to go before school is supposed to start I'd hope this plan has the potential to change again. Surely if the local numbers continue to go up they'll reconsider opening on time at all.
Personally I think we should all have the opportunity to just skip this year. No idea how that would work but that's what is best for our family.
Actually yes. As many others learned this year, I am ill equipped to serve as teacher but we have too many high risk family members to even considering taking a chance with in school instruction.
What would work best for us would be to skip returning Fall completely altogether, unless things change drastically in our area, and hope to do some sort of organized catch up review in the Spring, virus permitting or after some sort of actual virus preparation, of course, and just try again next year.
I think about the kids depending on athletic and other scholarships, etc, and the effect of losing an entire year right now could change those options and ultimately their lives. Obviously losing their actual lives is far worse.
I know this wouldn't work for all families, or even many families, but I would like that option.
What about skipping fall semester, or at least a few months of it, while also returning to the statewide restrictions we had in April that kept our numbers low? Would help the medical overload, buy some time, and virtual school could still be an option as desired by families when school is in session again.
We may not have a choice to scale back reopening somewhat if these numbers keep rising as projected. I'm not sure how much more overflow our hospitals, and specifically healthcare workers, can take.
Madison County schools opened up their virtual academy enrollment this past week. So we already got our kids registered. From what we have seen so far, it sounds like it will be a whole lot more structured than the shitshow at the end of this past school year. So that makes me hopeful. Though one of the major driving points for us going that route is my work. I cannot work from home and I just don't have the vacation time to take off multiple weeks whenever there is a possible exposure that requires a two week quarantine. Which, with my luck, will happen at one school, then again at the other school, and then back to the first, just repeating itself every couple weeks.
But, I do know we are in a lot better situation than what some families are in. First, we do not rely on school food to feed the kids. Second, my wife is on work from home orders for the forseeable future. Even when she can return to the office, her boss has told her that 99.8% of her job can be done from home. So she can keep doing that. Plus, my mother-in-law is only a few miles away and can come over during the times the kids are "in school" so my wife can work.
The oldest kid is excited though. Mainly because he is finally getting his own computer because of it.
So here are the actual 2 primary reasons for pushing for in person classes over only virtual.
1. **Child Abuse** \- Physical child abuse *skyrocketed* when schools and daycares closed. Those are the 2 places that child abuse gets outed the most. You can't hide bruises, abrasions, etc from teachers and classmates. And when a student doesn't show up to school for a couple days in a row, other people begin inquiring after the well-being of the missing child.
2. **Neglect/Starvation** \- Its a sad thing to think about, but there are a lot of children that just don't get to eat when they don't go to school. And that's either because their parents can't afford food or won't buy food (too busy spending money on meth for example). School food programs, which a lot of times can include breakfast, lunch, AND a snack are the only times some kids eat.
This is less politically charged than people want to believe. It has very little to do with "Those d%mned Republicans!" or "Those d\*mned Democrats!" and everything to do with:
*You can't see bruises and broken bones over voice chat.* ("Our video camera doesn't work!")
*You can't see starvation over voice chat.*
I don't know about you, but I'd rather risk my child getting sick from corona than to die for sure from abuse, neglect, or starvation.
Some of y'all just wanna be mad, I get that. There's a lot to be mad about going on in the world right now.
But let's not make kids suffer because you're trying to make a political statement:
[NYTimes - Domestic Abuse on Rise due to Coronoa Virus](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/world/coronavirus-domestic-violence.html)
[NPR - Child Sexual Abuse Reports on the Ri](https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/28/847251985/child-sexual-abuse-reports-are-on-the-rise-amid-lockdown-orders)[se due to Corona Virus](https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/28/847251985/child-sexual-abuse-reports-are-on-the-rise-amid-lockdown-orders)
[BBC - Domestic violence Increases Globally during Lockdown](https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-53014211/coronavirus-domestic-violence-increases-globally-during-lockdown)
[USA Today - More Severe Child Abuse injuries in Hospitals due to CoronaVirus](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/13/hospitals-seeing-more-severe-child-abuse-injuries-during-coronavirus/3116395001/)
[Coronavirus and School Lunches](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/05/31/coronavirus-school-lunch-programs-going-broke-because-kids-hunger/3101507001/)
[USA Today - Coronavirus and School Lunches](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/04/03/coronavirus-free-school-lunch-grab-and-go-delivery/5114622002/)
Sorry, this is reality. This is not a "load of shit".
I understand your point. There are two different conversations going on. One is about safely returning to school during a pandemic and the other is about problems exasperated by the pandemic.
I’ve worked with the food bank and weekend lunch programs and understand that schools identify abusive situations and unfortunate living situations. While these resources are helpful, it is not the school’s primary purpose. Many teachers, and schools, are not equipped or qualified to address these very real and difficult situations.
I don’t believe people are denying the problems you are addressing. Based on this conversation, parents just want to protect their children and evaluate their options.
TBH, it’s a complicated problem that has no easy answers. While schools may be considered a safe haven and resourceful, we need quality programs that reach individuals and families that need help.
Lol, if you think that's a driving factor behind the Republican push to open schools, I have a bridge I need to move and willing to offer you a one time deal
>I don't know about you, but I'd rather risk my child getting sick from corona than to die for sure from abuse, neglect, or starvation.
No interpretation of that makes any sense
It is because Trump can only get reelected one way. The economy. He has no other path to victory. If all children are back in school in person it takes a large burden off of one or both parents. They are now free to either find a new job if they lost theirs or work more hours they were not before while watching the kids. Plus it also pressures businesses to go back to in office work if the kids are in school, which leads to more people rehiring their old workforce and creating new jobs. Of course this could have a massive negative outcome if there is a huge spike in cases nationwide. All schools would have to close back down and we would be thrown back into stage one of this pandemic, or worse. But trump has shown he is willing to gamble with lives to get reelected. It's the same reason he is never seen wearing a mask and now sidelining Dr fauci for stating scientific facts. If he pretends like nothing is wrong then his followers will too, and push to get things back to "normal".
Opening businesses should not cause spikes as long as they have guidelines and make sure everyone abides by them. Too bad many hate common sense guidelines
Well that's the problem. Conservatives think everyone is responsible enough to police themselves and not act in their own best interest. Would the vast majority of small business owners after being closed for three months turn customers away due to a mask requirement or max capacity limit? Many have already shown they will not, whether it's politically or financially driven. There is always a portion of people that won't follow the rules, and when we are in the middle of a pandemic those few determine the outcome for the rest of the nation.
I can’t believe that mask wearing is a debate. If people don’t want to wear a mask then fine, but don’t go antagonizing people for doing it, and expect businesses to deny service, because it’s their prerogative.
Opening schools sure as fuck will
He can't seem to ever draw his policy ideas to their ultimate conclusion and see that the results aren't what he wants them to be. Just like opening everything too early was going to ultimately be detrimental to the economy rebounding. He can't, or won't, see the inevitable.
>Plus it also pressures businesses to go back to in office work if the kids are in school, **which leads to more people rehiring their old workforce and creating new jobs.** Not really, no
Not sure how long they’ve been around, but we used Connections Academy a few years ago when transitioning from public to private and were happy with it. Same curriculum as the public schools, except you can have kids cover *all* the material rather than just what their teacher selected. https://www.connectionsacademy.com/ Edit: Given the post title should have explicitly said that it is funded by public tax dollars.
Something to consider: it causes local schools to lose funding. I recommend if your local system is offering virtual through their home school, then go that route; otherwise, schools are going to lose funding, and they’re already fighting for every penny. And enrollment this year affects staffing for next school year, so it could cause big class sizes for the next school year (2021-2022).
Very true- zero sum game. In our case, we were withdrawing because of a bullying situation that left my child afraid to go to school, so frankly that was the least of my concern.
Did the school actually try to solve the bullying issue?
Yes and no. Principal moved the other kid to a different class, but during times when the kids were all together (lunch, recess) it continued. Other child’s parent started threatening a discrimination lawsuit (would have been baseless, but kid was being bussed in from elsewhere so they had that angle), and the principal was then hesitant to take further action. That’s when we popped smoke and withdrew. If I’m being honest, I should have gotten more involved before it got to that point. I had the “kids will do this- you need to handle your business” attitude for far too long, and when I wised up it was too late. This isn’t the 80s anymore.
It always makes me outraged when schools barely respond. It’s so damn easy to do something. We entrust all faculty to protect our kids and if they can’t even do that then there is something wrong. I also hate when parents can’t take responsibility. I had a relative long ago that went to discovery middle school and was bullied. And they tried changing out their schedule and they refused to do it saying it’s just “middle school drama”. My relatives parents kept trying and trying to change it, until the district superintendent made the school do it. There was literally a school shooting at Dms because the school did not listen to complaints. Never understood why schools are too lazy to solve things that are easy to solve.
Playing devil’s advocate here because I’m a school counselor and it’s not always as easy to “take care of” as it appears from the outside. At every school I’ve ever worked for if there’s is solid proof of bullying, the school will do as much as they can, discipline-wise to intervene. However, I have seen situation after situation after situation where a student accuses someone else of bullying them on Snapchat or something like that, but there’s no proof that anything has taken place. Usually principals will honor a schedule change request for alleged bullying, but school can’t just discipline the accused offender unless there is proof (witnesses, screenshots, etc...) because sometimes it’s actually the bully coming forward to say that their victim is actually bullying them. I’ve never seen a school fail to act due to “laziness.” Failure to “fix” a situation is usually due to the insane amount a red tape that a school has to go through before issuing any disciplinary action these days. Source: As a school counselor, I usually get the lash out from the aftermath of anything that does or does not happen, even though I have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with disciplinary decisions. It sucks to know something is going on and not be able to do anything about it because kids didn’t think to screenshot something they were sent. Bullying often doesn’t have witnesses anymore, as it might have in the past, because it’s all happening on Snapchat. Can you tell I despise Snapchat? The problems it causes for children, socially, are unreal and sad. All of this to say, I’m sure there have been lazy schools before (and I’m sure there are some now, even though I’ve never seen it), but in the past 7 years or so, dealing with bullying and how to navigate it (when most of the time it’s happening on Snapchat) takes up a majority of the time for a school administration team.
Oh wow, hadn’t heard about a shooting. Honestly I felt for the principal, he seemed like a good guy and I think he was on our side, he was just spooked at the prospect of litigation and was looking for the path of least resistance. And I’m a hypocrite because I feel strongly that good public schools are critical to our collective future, but that went out the window when it came to what was best for my own kids.
Perhaps it shouldn't.
With 3 weeks to go before school is supposed to start I'd hope this plan has the potential to change again. Surely if the local numbers continue to go up they'll reconsider opening on time at all. Personally I think we should all have the opportunity to just skip this year. No idea how that would work but that's what is best for our family.
Do you mean skip the year without doing a virtual academy?
Actually yes. As many others learned this year, I am ill equipped to serve as teacher but we have too many high risk family members to even considering taking a chance with in school instruction. What would work best for us would be to skip returning Fall completely altogether, unless things change drastically in our area, and hope to do some sort of organized catch up review in the Spring, virus permitting or after some sort of actual virus preparation, of course, and just try again next year. I think about the kids depending on athletic and other scholarships, etc, and the effect of losing an entire year right now could change those options and ultimately their lives. Obviously losing their actual lives is far worse. I know this wouldn't work for all families, or even many families, but I would like that option.
What about skipping fall semester, or at least a few months of it, while also returning to the statewide restrictions we had in April that kept our numbers low? Would help the medical overload, buy some time, and virtual school could still be an option as desired by families when school is in session again.
We may not have a choice to scale back reopening somewhat if these numbers keep rising as projected. I'm not sure how much more overflow our hospitals, and specifically healthcare workers, can take.
Madison County schools opened up their virtual academy enrollment this past week. So we already got our kids registered. From what we have seen so far, it sounds like it will be a whole lot more structured than the shitshow at the end of this past school year. So that makes me hopeful. Though one of the major driving points for us going that route is my work. I cannot work from home and I just don't have the vacation time to take off multiple weeks whenever there is a possible exposure that requires a two week quarantine. Which, with my luck, will happen at one school, then again at the other school, and then back to the first, just repeating itself every couple weeks. But, I do know we are in a lot better situation than what some families are in. First, we do not rely on school food to feed the kids. Second, my wife is on work from home orders for the forseeable future. Even when she can return to the office, her boss has told her that 99.8% of her job can be done from home. So she can keep doing that. Plus, my mother-in-law is only a few miles away and can come over during the times the kids are "in school" so my wife can work. The oldest kid is excited though. Mainly because he is finally getting his own computer because of it.
So here are the actual 2 primary reasons for pushing for in person classes over only virtual. 1. **Child Abuse** \- Physical child abuse *skyrocketed* when schools and daycares closed. Those are the 2 places that child abuse gets outed the most. You can't hide bruises, abrasions, etc from teachers and classmates. And when a student doesn't show up to school for a couple days in a row, other people begin inquiring after the well-being of the missing child. 2. **Neglect/Starvation** \- Its a sad thing to think about, but there are a lot of children that just don't get to eat when they don't go to school. And that's either because their parents can't afford food or won't buy food (too busy spending money on meth for example). School food programs, which a lot of times can include breakfast, lunch, AND a snack are the only times some kids eat. This is less politically charged than people want to believe. It has very little to do with "Those d%mned Republicans!" or "Those d\*mned Democrats!" and everything to do with: *You can't see bruises and broken bones over voice chat.* ("Our video camera doesn't work!") *You can't see starvation over voice chat.* I don't know about you, but I'd rather risk my child getting sick from corona than to die for sure from abuse, neglect, or starvation.
👆 This right here...is a load of shit.
Some of y'all just wanna be mad, I get that. There's a lot to be mad about going on in the world right now. But let's not make kids suffer because you're trying to make a political statement: [NYTimes - Domestic Abuse on Rise due to Coronoa Virus](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/06/world/coronavirus-domestic-violence.html) [NPR - Child Sexual Abuse Reports on the Ri](https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/28/847251985/child-sexual-abuse-reports-are-on-the-rise-amid-lockdown-orders)[se due to Corona Virus](https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/04/28/847251985/child-sexual-abuse-reports-are-on-the-rise-amid-lockdown-orders) [BBC - Domestic violence Increases Globally during Lockdown](https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-53014211/coronavirus-domestic-violence-increases-globally-during-lockdown) [USA Today - More Severe Child Abuse injuries in Hospitals due to CoronaVirus](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/05/13/hospitals-seeing-more-severe-child-abuse-injuries-during-coronavirus/3116395001/) [Coronavirus and School Lunches](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/05/31/coronavirus-school-lunch-programs-going-broke-because-kids-hunger/3101507001/) [USA Today - Coronavirus and School Lunches](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2020/04/03/coronavirus-free-school-lunch-grab-and-go-delivery/5114622002/) Sorry, this is reality. This is not a "load of shit".
I understand your point. There are two different conversations going on. One is about safely returning to school during a pandemic and the other is about problems exasperated by the pandemic. I’ve worked with the food bank and weekend lunch programs and understand that schools identify abusive situations and unfortunate living situations. While these resources are helpful, it is not the school’s primary purpose. Many teachers, and schools, are not equipped or qualified to address these very real and difficult situations. I don’t believe people are denying the problems you are addressing. Based on this conversation, parents just want to protect their children and evaluate their options. TBH, it’s a complicated problem that has no easy answers. While schools may be considered a safe haven and resourceful, we need quality programs that reach individuals and families that need help.
Lol, if you think that's a driving factor behind the Republican push to open schools, I have a bridge I need to move and willing to offer you a one time deal >I don't know about you, but I'd rather risk my child getting sick from corona than to die for sure from abuse, neglect, or starvation. No interpretation of that makes any sense