school...this fall

[handwerk]

No doubt, if no school, things would be tough on families.
Here it will cost my wife $172 for each covid test, currently it is 7-8 days for results. We live in a very rural area with 1 ventilator yet tons of tourists visiting. I brought the post up just to help folks realize how complicated this fall is going to be.
I heard in Mn. on average the extra cost to the schools could be 2 million a school district.
We recently had a 9 year old die in Mn. from covid. believe me, with my wife being a special Ed. teacher her kids need help, in person....there are no easy answers for sure, but in my mind even with all the precautions the schools are planning on trying this fall covid will go into hyperdrive. There are so many unknowns about how this thing transfers from person to person, the US has really messed this one up.

 

[flatlanderhuffandpuff]

I'd gladly close schools if you give me my property taxes back.

I'll pool it with a few friends and hire a teacher for a group of 6. The teacher will be paid more and the kids will get a better education.

This entire Covid situation has made bare the facts of nature. Just because we say something should be a certain way doesn't make it so. If the teachers unions don't want to go back to school use it as a chance to break the unions and hire educators who are willing to put themselves in potentially harmful situations.

 

[Dos Perros]

I'm normally a pretty upbeat, happy, and optimistic person, but is there a collective profession that complains more than teachers? I know there are lots of good ones out there, but it seems the vocal ones just want to get paid more to never work. This was true pre-COVID and continues. Teachers have lost credibility with me.

 

[String&stick]

I'd gladly close schools if you give me my property taxes back.

I'll pool it with a few friends and hire a teacher for a group of 6. The teacher will be paid more and the kids will get a better education.

This entire Covid situation has made bare the facts of nature. Just because we say something should be a certain way doesn't make it so. If the teachers unions don't want to go back to school use it as a chance to break the unions and hire educators who are willing to put themselves in potentially harmful situations.

I am anti union in many, many situations! But having a wife as a teacher, and a special education teacher to boot has opened my eyes to the need for teachers unions. Sure some bad comes with the good (it gets really hard to fire bad teachers after 3 years) but when parents will sue a teacher for random crap they need protection.

Teachers get sued because: kids fall off desks they were told not to stand on, kids harm other kids in their class room, kids do incredibly stupid stuff while the teachers back is turned. . .

If the US wasn't so sue happy, and man parents weren't so entitled, we might be able to break the unions. But you would be crazy not to be a union member and buy insurance to teach most areas because you need the protections!

 

[tdhanses]

I hope schools stay closed so all the POS parents that treat teachers like babysitters get an even larger dose of their own bullshit.

Teachers are the best paid babysitters then, if you feel that is all they are. If someone is going to be a teacher I surely hope they care about the kids more then just babysitting them. Maybe this is why our education for our youth has fallen behind other countries.

 

[tdhanses]

Already a shortage of qualified teachers many places, you don't exactly have a huge pool of people lined up ready to fill positions. Unless of course you want to hire people who don't have an education degree. . . Then by all means have a great time under serving 80% of kids out there. Teaching isn't as easy as many people assume and especially when you start dealing with special Ed,and severe and profound kids.

Teachers are contract workers with unions so it would be damn near impossible to lay them off most places (as it should be).

Also are you of the opinion that any business that the gov shuts down, should receive no funds (ppp loans, eidl grants) and should also not try to retain any employees if possible??? Pretty harsh stance.

Public education is the best education hands down, it needs to be protected and maintained.

My $.02

I agree to a point, but I also know there are many that can’t find a job due to no job availability.

I agree it needs protected but there are ways to protect the students and the teachers, like I said, if proper precautions are taken I see no reason teachers can’t work. To me it just feels like some teachers want to extend their vacation time while many others are either laid off or still working, many small businesses will not recover from this and it’s possible many small schools will not if the kids do not return to the schools.

Sorry most kids parents do have to work and provide for their families, we aren’t all sitting at home enjoying an extended vacation.

 

[tdhanses]

I am anti union in many, many situations! But having a wife as a teacher, and a special education teacher to boot has opened my eyes to the need for teachers unions. Sure some bad comes with the good (it gets really hard to fire bad teachers after 3 years) but when parents will sue a teacher for random crap they need protection.

Teachers get sued because: kids fall off desks they were told not to stand on, kids harm other kids in their class room, kids do incredibly stupid stuff while the teachers back is turned. . .

If the US wasn't so sue happy, and man parents weren't so entitled, we might be able to break the unions. But you would be crazy not to be a union member and buy insurance to teach most areas because you need the protections!

Something I find interesting is that everything bad has come from liberal views and teachings coming out of our schools and universities. The everyone gets a trophy mentality started in the schools and filtered up to the universities and now many feel entitled.

Our country is way too sue happy in all regards.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Open closed whatever...somebody smarter than me will figure that out. I will say if they stay closed there needs to be some serious changes if the at home learning was like the spring...My kids got a packet for 2 weeks worth of work and there teachers were available from 11-2 with any questions...why do they only get to work 4 hours a day? I follow my kids teachers on SM from their posts I doubt they were evening putting in 4 hours a day. My wife and I can both work fulltime from home. We dont mind putting the extra time in for our kids education but not everyone can work from home. Folks could use a tax break for tudors/extra resources to fill the giant gaps the present at home schooling creates.

 

[Laramie]

I have several friends in law enforcement. I can say for a fact there is a lot wrong with kids being out of school. Child neglect, child abuse, hunger, kids getting in trouble, etc are all way up around our country. IMO kids need to be in school.

My wife and I both work full time in "essential" jobs. We can't work from home. My 11 year old stays home every day alone. He is a good kid but he NEEDS to go back to school, or some other form of structured environment. Our plan if school is closed again this fall is to hire a retired teacher and conduct a mini class with 5-6 kids at our house. The retired teacher is on board. Our school is supposed to announce their intentions by August 3rd so will see.

 

[DenverCountryBoy]

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, TAKE MY KIDS!!!

 

[String&stick]

Maybe this is why our education for our youth has fallen behind other countries.

We actually are well within the upper echelon of education when you compare apples to apples. The problem is people want to compare apples to ducks.

We have one of, if not the best public education systems in the world. But when you see average test scores for the US you get an average of EVERYONE! whereas other countries give you an average of their best students, or their college track students. They don't count those kids that they determined will be factory workers.

I live in a packing plant town (it's great I love it,and you meet people from around the world) if someone shows up from Honduras, their kids is 13 (8th grade age), doesn't speak English, and has a 3rd grade education in Honduras. . . They still take the 8th grade assessment that counts in the overall scores! Same with students with disabilities. Everyone is counted here in America.

 

[polemtn]

Kids get more than just an education from school. They need to be exposed to each other and pass around viruses if they are going to build immunities to them. Covid isnt the only sickness out there, if we shelter our kids now they will spend an entire lifetime being sick from all of the illness they were "sheltered" from in school.

If there are teachers that are worried about contracting it then they should take time off or pursue a new career. My employees (grocery), have been working longer hours throughout this entire ordeal. We require masks in our stores, follow social distancing guidelines and take necessary precautions. That said, all of my employees understand that the community needs us there to supply an essential service. Teaching should be no different.

Distance learning for my kids didn't work well at all, I'm to the point of renting a house in a state where schools are open.

 

[Laramie]

Another point that applies imo. I coached youth baseball this summer in my area. My team played almost a full season which includes travelling to other towns within an hour of our town. We took some precautions but didn't have the kids or coaches wear masks. The kids social distanced when possible and we sanitized equipment after each game and practice. Our season ended 13 days ago and not a single kid, parent, coach, or fan got sick from our team or any of the other teams we have in our league. We are talking 100s of kids involved. I think we can safely send our kids to school if the right precautions are in place.

 

[Tonyjohnson619]

If they force my kid to be home my wife has to quit work... not really feasible living in socal.. i think if they force us to teach are children at home then the families should receive the 10k plus the school district receives for each kid a semester from the state... its such bullseye kids can't go to school but you can go to Walmart with 300 other people

 

[Jimbob]

As mentioned above everyone needs a long term plan, locking everyone down indefinitely is not a good idea.

Kids need to be in school. Some families are capable of educating from home but MANY are not, those kids are paying a big price. Do you have any idea how big of an impact school makes on some kids? literally it is life-changing for many. Take that away and we are going to have a large chunk of the next generation that will be a drain on society.

I am switching assignments for next year and mainly teaching PE. HA HA what a year to change things up. I get to do PE with social distancing, how fun.

The school year begins Sep 8th and who knows what it will look like. Until then I will be hunting Stones and Mountain goats. Enjoy your summer and I hope things work out well in your area.

 

[WCB]

My wife is a teacher and can not believe how many teacher are crying about possibly having to go back. We live in a middle to upper middle class area for the most part but there are kids from every spectrum. Whether we like it or not for a ton of these kids school is the best part of the day. High school is a bit different but definitely the younger kids need to be around other kids. They need structure and interaction. If we closed for a year or do distance learning for another half of a year A LOT of kids are never going to catch up.

For those of you that think all parents should home school...you need to reevaluate your thinking. Yes in theory all parents should be good parents and continue the learning at home. But guess what? They aren't it is the cold fact of life. Again A LOT of kids need the structure and interaction of school. My wife works with k-5 in small groups in her school (special assignment teacher) so she sees the "high" and "low" kids...for many it isn't a matter of smart or not it comes down to routine and consistency. No matter how well distance learning is...it is not the same across the board as face to face.

Open closed whatever...somebody smarter than me will figure that out. I will say if they stay closed there needs to be some serious changes if the at home learning was like the spring...My kids got a packet for 2 weeks worth of work and there teachers were available from 11-2 with any questions...why do they only get to work 4 hours a day? I follow my kids teachers on SM from their posts I doubt they were evening putting in 4 hours a day.

I know my wife's school they had to be available during normal school hours and I know the many teacher's would keep track every day who signed on and didn't and how much of the lessons were completed. If they felt someone wasn't keeping up and definitely if the child contacted them they would do sometimes daily session 1 on 1 with that child. Sounds like your district or school needs to get on online program or something as sending home packets is set up for failure. There are a lot of really great teachers at my wife's school and some that have put in little to no effort during the distance learning at the end of last school year. Obviously the individual teacher is to blame but I put the same amount of blame and the absolute joke of unions. And it is funny at least at my wife's school the teachers that have a very favorable view of the union seem to be the lazy ones and the ones putting in the effort are the ones that actually question and criticize the union.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Online...I live in a rural area...almost half the kids in the district dont have internet...if they do it's most likely copper/DSL...not every school district is set up for online.

 

[sneaky]

Being married to a teacher I am well aware of the tough decisions that are coming with regards to opening school of some sort.
So what if we put things on pause and not open school for a year? I think we'd be money ahead and save countless lives...it's amazing to see the things the schools/teachers are trying to figure out to try and make a go of it with so many unknowns.

Money ahead? How so? By crippling the food supply chain who count on schools for about 50% of their business? You saw what happened with closing schools early this spring and how much milk was dumped and vegetables buried because there's nowhere to send them. And don't think it's an easy fix either, because it isn't. You don't just dump a few billion pounds of product into the system that isn't prepared to handle it. Schools being shuttered could be catastrophic. Kids need social interaction.

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[sneaky]

Open closed whatever...somebody smarter than me will figure that out. I will say if they stay closed there needs to be some serious changes if the at home learning was like the spring...My kids got a packet for 2 weeks worth of work and there teachers were available from 11-2 with any questions...why do they only get to work 4 hours a day? I follow my kids teachers on SM from their posts I doubt they were evening putting in 4 hours a day. My wife and I can both work fulltime from home. We dont mind putting the extra time in for our kids education but not everyone can work from home. Folks could use a tax break for tudors/extra resources to fill the giant gaps the present at home schooling creates.

11-2 is only 3 hours a day.

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[Don Qui Puncher]

My kids 2&4 went back to preschool/daycare last week, they are so happy to be back. Just the social interaction has made such a difference in a short amount of time. I bumped into a dad at the park a few weeks ago who was a high school teacher and he said that the town is proposing for middle and high school that the kids do one week at school one week one week on the computer, I don’t know what that means for couples that both work. Sad times we live in