Oh Boy! Illinois Planning Full Reopening of Schools

[ProfessorGAC]

We're clearly on the downside of the peak with cases, despite very high daily test #s. Deaths per day are half or less what they were a month ago. Hospital bed usage way down, along with ICU occupancy & ventilator usage.
But, the full, in-person reopening of schools is encouraged, but definitely not mandated.
As a winter time sub, I don't know about this. Required masks or not.
As the only state that met all 5 CDC cretieria before phase 3, Illinois has been very cautious & methodical.
This seems like a "too much, too soon" action, to me.

https://www.nwherald.com/2020/06/17/illinois-school-guidance-will-require-masks-strongly-encourages-in-person-class/a4asxfx/

[underpants]

1. Little insight I got

From a state official - not the state I live.

Numbers indicate that the US is going backwards on the virus.

[uponit7771]

7. +1, its worse cause people continually leave in the overtly skewing NY/Tri-state area. CA, TX, Fl

... AZ are 2 weeks away from where NY was a month ago.

[Siwsan]

2. Michigan's numbers are better, and there's still no decision on opening schools in September

If this trend continues, I'm thinking they will reopen - maybe not the same schedules as before. I think the Governor has started an advisory committee to work on the issue.

When I was in high school, they moved to holding morning and afternoon sessions because of overcrowding. I was in the morning but don't remember the exact start time because I was in an 'extra' creative writing class that started at (I think) around 7. As I recall, I was done at 12 or 1 in the afternoon. They later built another high school.

I can see how they can do this, again, and cut down class size by 50%.

[Mad cow]

5. My childrens' district in MI

Sent out a long survey to parents. There was a huge emphasis on particulars for a hybrid school year. They were specific about whether parents would prefer a morning/afternoon scenario, on and off for whole days, or on and off by week. I would guess this is where we are headed.

[roamer65]

6. My sisters district is talking about splitting in two. AM and PM sessions.

[Andy823]

16. When I lived in Arizona

My high school did the same thing. One year I had the early classes, the next year the later and the last year I was there back to the early classes.

I think this could be a good idea for schools to implement.

[uponit7771]

3. sigh, Beijing / SKorea / France all shut down schools less than a couple of weeks after reopening

... them why does Chi think they'll be different?

No one wants their kid to catch this shit

[ProfessorGAC]

4. CPS Says They're Undecided

But, there's a whole rest of the state!
In those areas least affected so far, there's probably quite the push to reopen.
Even with masks, I'm not sure I could do 6 of 7 hours with a mask on.
I don't need the few extra bucks. It was just pot money anyway. Well, pot & golf!

[Blue_true]

11. The surgical masks appear to be pretty comfortable.

I got sent a mask that was between a surgical mask and N95 level masks. I tried it one for a while, I was impressed and will likely wear it when going out.

Masks are being made now for people that workout. I plan to buy and test a couple, eventhough I workout at home.


Working for pot money? Geeeze! I would have figured that a person with your skillset would have figured out how to grow their own awesome pot years ago. But who am I, I have never smoked one bud in my life.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Only Been Legal Here Since January 1st

6 plants. I cleaned the garage in the early COVID lockdown. Might have room there.
I'll have to look into seeds though.
The stuff we buy is always seed free.
But, it's a good idea! We're both pretty good with gardening. Not foodstuffs, but bushes, plants and flowers.
One decent grow light & we might be in good shape!

[Blue_true]

14. My guess is if you are good at growing shrubs and flowers, you should do well with pot.

Why do you need a grow light? Why not 6 plants in your backyard if it is enclosed? IfI was trying to grow the stuff, I would try plants in several sunlight intensity locations and two or three soil compositions. But given the growing season in Illinois, maybe using a grow light is the best all around choice.

I would guess that you could maybe find pot seeds online, though finding a legit seller and shipping may be issues (at the federal level, pot is still illegal).

[ProfessorGAC]

15. I Don't Know Neighbors Well Enough

I don't want to either.
But, I'm worried about people helping themselves. I don't know who might think that's ok.

[Blue_true]

17. I took a quick look, you can buy pot seeds online,

there is even one book on how to grow pot. Seems like an interesting world, I guess female pot plants are more likely to produce bud than male or regular pot plants. Some process is used to feminize seeds, I didn't read much but it sounds like selective breeding of plants, as a flower grower, you should have tried that by now. The seeds look expensive, good idea to stay with USA suppliers, no need to have something like that going through Customs.

Good point about the neighbors, the last thing you need is stoned neighbors laying on your lawn or buying up all the corn chips in local stores, after stealing and curing your plants.

[Igel]

8. Every district is doing the same thing, if they've had reasonably high COVID case loads.

No difference, unless the superintendent, staff, and board have at best vestigial brain stem activity and nothing more.

Plan for the best case. Full reopening.

Plan for the next best case. Open, but still some social distancing.

Plan for the next best case. Rather drastic social distancing, meaning that not all kids can be in the buildings during the usual school day. How you finagle that varies--two shifts in one day, some virtual/some in person per student, some students in class/some online, extend week to include weekends (somehow) ..

Plan for the next best case. Virtual/distance learning. And hope for more than an 80% buy-in rate.

And they have to plan for what happens if one school is locked down while the others don't have to be, or how to negotiate things if a school's mostly open on Tuesday but then there's a case reported Tuesday night so Wednesday the school's got to be closed.

They're trying to work out, for each scenario, substitutes.

And how to reapportion teaching staff to handle issues like the 70-year-old teacher with diabetes or the 55-year-old on chemotherapy. Or the students whose parents object to risking their kids' lives, given the 99.99% death rate (they perceive) for anybody in the same county as a SARS-CoV-2 virion.

And they're also trying to figure out a few things that might not be obvious. Lab courses have lab-time requirements in most states. Virtual labs suck. Even worse are things like band, choir, orchestra. How do you handle required PE classes? CT classes like computer maintenance or welding or FFA programs and small-animal science? Or our aquatic science teacher's aquariums or the anatomy teacher's 6-week cat-dissection marathon, where every 2 kids disassembles a feline or forensic science's pig corpse project.

A lot of energy has been taken up with trying to figure out how to feed the students. And provide psych services. A high school senior was found hanged outside an elementary school--normally there'd be crisis counselors for his peers, and the same for the elementary school kids who've been told that next to their play ground there was a hanging. Not to mention those who've been doubly traumatized by "and you know he had to have been lynched!"

It's a nightmare. The system assumes no interruption. To compel compliance no alternatives to avoid penlaty are provided; given circumstances, compliance is impossible.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. I Have No Doubt It's Daunting

Last I heard had been 1/3rd live attendance.
M-W, Tu-Th, & F.
The kids doing Monday/Wednesday move to Tuesday/Thursday, the Friday on the 3rd week.
So all kids would the there 5 times in 3 weeks.
But, this article suggests the encouragement of full reopening. That surprises me.

[Blue_true]

10. China reopened it's schools with great success until the recent

outbreak that had nothing to do with schools. China required universal mask wearing and social distancing. The problem in the USA is that many rightwing parents are going to revolt against their kids wearing masks at school.

[ProfessorGAC]

12. A Fair Concern

That's why I think the 5x every 3 weeks, so schools are only 1/3 full will prevail.