His point is he's been in an office with no fancy ventilation, in PPE and around sick patients taking precautions and is ok. Kids and staff complying with masks and appropriate measures should be ok. I'm not defending or denying his point - I am a parent and still scared - but my point is- teachers can't be the sacred bench warmers. They are essential workers- to me at least. And other essential workers are - no pun intended - making it work (thank you Tim Gunn).
Every physician I know wants to send their kids to school. Unfortunately teachers are proving themselves to be nonessential.
OP: I think DH and I BOTH are nervous about sending them back. No question it is a risk!!!! But he feels it is mitigated enough right now and with numbers low to proceed - again with major changes like less density, mask wearing, etc etc. I am a parent and of course am scared.
Isn't a big part of the point that there isn't funding for "appropriate measures" like cleaning, hand sanitizer? And that kids won't comply with masks, social distancing etc. I think it's a little hilarious that he thinks his office environment is comparable to a school.
Camps have been open and kids are complying with masks and distancing. Teachers are just looking for excuses
@Anonymous Is this a joke? Massive outbreaks at multiple camps. Of course kids aren't complying. What on earth do you think teachers are looking for excuses for? My two sisters are teachers, and every one of their friends who I've met loves the job, loves teaching face to face and absolutely prefers that to online. But it isn't possible because we picked opening bars and nail salons over schools. Stop blaming teachers.
surely his office is WORSE than a school? he's a dr!
Same here. At least in NYC, young kids should go back.
Blame it on the fearmongering media
ALL medical professionals support kids being in school. The AAP supports it, the CDC, etc. You need some measures. I read an article the other day that Pine Crest School in FLORIDA is opening. Yes, that is a private school, but just shows how absurd it is that a school like Dalton is staying closed.
Amen. Dalton administrators should be ashamed. There will be a mass exodus of families.
I don't think there will be a mass exodus of families. Most are not going to leave a K-12 TT school because of one bad year. But that's why Dalton will get away with this, and I agree they should be ashamed. They have families over a barrel and they know it, and they didn't even try to do the right thing by their community.
@Anonymous It does seem like Dalton of all schools should have the resources to make it work.
Please stop the anti-teacher rants. Not helpful. Not constructive. If your child gets a Kawasaki like syndrome or heart failure or clots from this disease there is no going back. ..... Remember this virus is new and there are lots of unknowns....We are in a pandemic. Infectious Disease and public health experts have consistently tried to explain why they are concerned about return to school. Let’s not take the opinion of 1 physician. MD does not equal expert in this pandemic.
THIS.
Please stop using your liberal talking points to blindly defend teachers who are not doing the right thing. They are not experts either, and they have shown that they will use hysterical rhetoric and threats of walkouts to avoid doing their jobs (rather than demanding protection and protocols, which would be a reasonable request). It's not about one doctor -- ALL doctors and the AAP support kids going back to school. Fauci supports it. Having kids in front of screens all day is harmful for their development.
@anonymous please stop with these lies. ALL medical professionals do NOT support a generic return to school. They support it under certain conditions, some of which cannot be met.
Re dalton - no there won’t
Several families are leaving or considering not sending younger siblings to Dalton. Not just because it's a lost year but because of the administration's utter and complete unresponsiveness to parents' concerns. Does not bode well for a school long term.
@Anonymous plus the black@dalton mess
Who cares what your husband says.
I do. I care about doctors, Fauci, the AAP, the CDC, all of which are advocating for a return to school with precautions. On the other side is just ... certain teachers.
@anonymous this is a false overstatement.
@Anonymous Who else other than teachers and their union representatives are saying there should be no in person school at all?
I am an ER physician and I think it depends on your location and age of children. We live in Vermont with lowest rates per capita and our state chapter of the AAP is advocating heavily for K-5 and special needs children to return full time. I support this.
^^Our district is making decisions based on the state health department and the agency of education. They are considering the AAP recommendations right now. It will all come down to the DOH and AOE’s final recommendations.
oh, please. Your dh works in a controlled environment under ideal conditions. He doesn’t have 20 or more unsupervised minors running around his office not social distancing, not wearing masks, touching one another, their faces, surfaces, etc. It’s just not very smart to equate the two.
(1) Her DH is in an indoor environment with constant exposure to sick adults. (2) Why would the minors be "unsupervised" and "not wearing masks"? It's just not very smart to paint a hysterical and unsupported picture of what schools will look like. Nobody is saying that it's going to be business as usual.
@anonymous true he treats high risk adults and children.
@anonymous sick adults who know how to socially distance and who bring and stay with their children. At no time does he have a dozen or more children with no parental supervision.
Correct. Which is why I said appropriate measures. Schools are planning to limit density, no? I'm not saying everyone back at all times. The A/B teams makes sense. in terms of PPE I agree it's reasonable and in fact necessary for teachers and students to at least wear masks.
Everyone's risk aversion is different. I have one kid. I'm not gambling on this right now. Check back with me in two months, maybe I'll feel another way. It's not easy for me to keep him home. But I am happier struggling with the virtual school plus insane work demands than I would be sending him off each day. I consider this year a bit of a wash. Other generations have braved much worse.
You should be able to make that choice for your kid. In my view, the harm that will be done to young kids from being online staring at a screen for seven hours is much greater than potential risk from coronavirus and that is what other experts and agencies are saying. I don't want to gamble on that, and I don't want a teacher making the choice for me. It's a different calculus for someone who is 80 year old or who has an underlying condition.
You might feel differently if you lived in a state with currently no hospitalized Covid patients and approximately 0-10 new cases a day. That is our situation, and I have to wonder what exactly we are waiting for? Vaccines would not make that number much better
Agreed that everyone's risk aversion is different. However, for those of us who are willing to take the risk, there should be real school.
Yes, but your risk is also a risk to others who may not be able to take the risk.
@AnonymousNYmom Do you know that 75% of the NYC public school population is lower income children? And that many of their own parents are essential workers? What is going to happen to those kids? I think there should be an exemption for high risk and elderly teachers (and I believe there are health exemptions), but what about these kids? There is no evidence showing that teaching in NY with proper precautions is a high risk activity, and a bunch of hysterical teachers, most of whom did not bother to remote teach (and advocated for zero zoom), should not be able to hold NY families hostage.
@anonymous You keep saying "proper precautions". Do you understand that the reason teachers are upset and scared is that the DOE is not implementing proper precautions? The CDC recommends schools provide hand hygiene supplies; drastically increase cleaning; have multiples of all supplies/books/objects so students don't share or touch the same items; keep students home when they are sick. The DOE has not provided any leadership or funding for schools to do this, but has just said "figure it out."
In the meantime, these discussions are diverting from other needs. I was personally shocked when I heard that preschool teachers in private centers that provide UPK programs do not have health insurance. Now if these people were questioning going back, hell yeah, it makes sense.
Love the Tim Gunn reference. Ha!
Cuomo okayed school reopening. So Dalton families will be paying $55k for less education than public schools.
I agree. Crazy.
I’m an MD, and I don’t know if I would feel as safe working in a school vs the hospital. Here’s why.
In the hospital, all the staff have training and years of experience with infection protocol. We are focused on health and on keeping the patients and staff safe. We are not trying to educate them AND keep them safe. We understand how to move around the hospital, how to navigate getting supplies, interact with others, and if we don’t know, there are many people with years of experience to give us the answer. Most of us can de-mask, de-glove, de-gown properly in our sleep. The patients are confined to their rooms, and we only spend limited time with them, so we don’t have to worry about being with them all day long.
Contrast this with a school where all the staff are new to infection precautions. Some might not even believe in it. Everyone is dealing with new ways to walk down the hallway, go to the bathroom, new ways to stand in line, new ways to share the glue, new ways to eat lunch. Instead of seeing a patient for 20-30 min in a room, you now spend 5-6 hours with 20 of them in a room. I get the reasons why kids need to go to school, but it’s ridiculous to compare it to being in a healthcare setting. Not even close.
To OP, ask your DH how he would feel having a teaching assistants instead of nurses help him stay sterile during procedures. How would he like to spend hours with 12 kids instead of 20 min with one patient at a time.
Another MD mom- I see your point, but I’d rather teach a class of potential Covid carrying low-vector-potential kids who are masking and attempting to distance, than intubate a known Covid positive patient.
Yes, definitely not all healthcare settings are the same. But I am hearing stories out of GA (where my sister is) about teachers that don’t believe or respect mask wearing in school and are either cavalier or ignorant of the need to distance. Imagine working in an inpatient setting with a nurse or fellow MD who didn’t put on an n95 before going into an isolation room or didn’t believe in sterile technique.
I think this is the big issue for teachers - that even if they are careful, they don’t have confidence that their leaders have the knowledge and the expertise to keep them safe. At the hospital, I feel like everyone knows what to do and we agree on best practices. I‘m not saying that schools shouldn’t open, but I hate to hear people say that teachers are being lazy or cowardly for being afraid to go back.
No one here has mentioned so far the REC experience for kids of essential workers. Have been open even at the worse times without major issues as far as I am aware of. Proves it's not impossible.