True, and this played out pre-covid, and will to a greater degree during the pandemic.
I do understand that companies have to be able to count on employees fulfilling their job requirements.
I assume that FSU thinks parents with children will be able to resume their usual pre-covid childcare arrangements.
On the one hand, I see that if schools are on a one week on, one week off system, parents will need to figure out childcare arrangements that they otherwise wouldn’t have needed. On the other hand, I like FSU acknowledging that childcare is work. Too often, people who don’t take care of children act as if childcare is not a job and doesn’t require attention or work.
If young people packed into bars is causing much of the spikes we are seeing in the south and southwest what happens In August when tens of thousands of kids move around the country in planes, trains, taxis, ubers and subways to reach their colleges and universities and then the reverse occurs in November?
Yes, for this reason I am very conflicted about the FSU policy.
I have always thought it was ridiculous that anyone expected SAH parents to also take on the lion’s share of housework/cooking/shopping, because how on earth can one balance childcare with another pile of things to do. Taking care of babies/toddlers was, for me, extremely intense and difficult.
In some cases, I actually think that it is easier to balance work-work with childcare than housework with childcare. The pot boiling over can’t wait as much as the report that needs to be edited.
But I also dislike that policy because I think it will lead to sexist ramifications.
And I dislike it because it smacks of an employer generally having the initial set of assumptions that employees working from home are a bunch of lazy sneaks who will do evil things like interact with their families. (Nevermind that many employers are just fine letting work bleed into personal time.)
My kids have always been in some kind of childcare since both parents have always worked outside of the home, and I love the freedom that quality childcare can give to parents - and I realize what a privilege this is, and I weep that our country does not prioritize early childhood education for all.
This is why I’m conflicted about FSU’s (or similar) policy.
Maybe mask wearing on those venues will be better than the bar scene?
I agree that mask wearing likely to be more common in transits to college (required on planes I believe). Also a lot fewer in numbers compared to bars. Plus bars are repeating.
In terms of returning home for Thanksgiving, I think that is the driver behind many schools not having the kids come back to campus after Thanksgiving. Don’t have them travel all around the country for a long weekend and then come back to campus. Issue will be there when they arrive on campus in the fall. But school plans I have seen include testing at least at the beginning of the school year.
Wearing a mask is not a magic pill. Masks help, but if you are sitting on a plane next to someone with covid for 2-5 hours, you are exposed.
Not 100 % true… Your chance would be greater but not an absolute. Just wear your mask and wash your hands and try not touching your face.
Re childcare. I now have my 10 year old nephew living with us for the summer since I work from home normally, and if I have to go in my D can stay home. This was the only feasible plan since both parents have to work out of the house, there’s no summer camps, they honestly can’t afford a private sitter, and don’t want to leave their son home unsupervised for 9-10 hours/day. Unfortunately we live several hours from my in-laws, so my nephew won’t see his parents that often. I’m sure we aren’t the only families jumping through hoops. And what about those folks who don’t have families to help out?
I hope for their sake that K-12 goes back in the Fall.
Vice President Pence spoke at a church service today at megachurch First Dallas Baptist. Reportedly, over half of the congregation wore masks. (Good job, Dallas churchgoers). The Vice President wore a mask, although he took it off when speaking. (Good job, Vice President.) Reportedly they limited attendance to promote social distance. (Good job, pastor of First Dallas Baptist.) But… there was a hundred voice choir. That sang. Without masks. And I believe the congregation sang along.
Nooooooooo. Do not sing! Do not sing together. Singing together, usually so joyful, is now so dangerous.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/28/politics/mike-pence-dallas-choir-no-masks-church-event/index.html
FSU clearly thinks that the pandemic will b
I hope K-12 goes back in the fall too, but as a teenager, I spent a summer babysitting for a family where the parents worked full-time. During the school year I sat for them on weekends. I’m sure I was considerably cheaper than day camp or other child care arrangements.
With the way young people are driving case numbers up, not sure I would want a teenager babysitting Unless I KNEW exactly who they were seeing outside of my home, how careful they were being, and whether they were consistently masking, and that is not something I could realistically know.
Plus, babysitting for a couple of hours here or there is one thing, but full-time childcare is quite another. This level of responsibility (and liability) should not fall to teenagers. If the societal attitude veers toward the idea that teenagers are adequate for care of toddlers and young children, that will even further demean the roles of professional child care workers and stay-at-home parents
There hasn’t been much teacher push-back in Denver, where the district announced in-person K-12 instruction beginning this August. (There will be online instruction available for those families who don’t want to send their kids back.)
I wonder if that’s because in general unions aren’t strong here… or because Denver hasn’t been hit as hard as some areas… likely a combination of both. The district and the school board both said there was huge push from parents to return kids to their classrooms.
Regarding K-12, I have seen some preliminary plans by various districts in my state that stipulate that a child with Covid symptoms needs to stay home from school until he/she is tested with a negative result.
Many of the younger kids are sick with the sniffles and other minor ailments from October through April. Normally these aliments would not keep kids out of school. There is going to be a ton of absenteeism this year, which is also going to have a negative impact on the kids’ educations and the parents’ work if they are going to have to miss work to stay home with their “sick” child.
My sister is a teacher in DPS. She’s not a member of the union (in Denver you don’t have to be). She’ll be 65 in Sept., and she was sort of OCD about staying in and wearing masks and not talking to anyone, but she said they have to go back. She has kids who didn’t do any work after March 13.
It won’t surprise me if she wears a mask and a face shield and gloves so she can take them off when she leaves the classroom. She could retire, she could apply to be an online teacher, or she could switch to a private or charter school, but she’s not going to do that. She likes teaching in a classroom. This is a second career for her.
I do have friends in the surrounding districts who did retire. Most are in the 60-65 age range and just didn’t want to deal with online or going into a school.
On the other hand if middle/high school students are required to wear masks, that should also cut down on the transmission of colds and flu.
Seems to me you could get 2nd grade and up to wear masks (not special ed kids necessarily, but the rest). Kids manage this in other countries. And the there would be fewer colds and flu.
If kids are told they have to wear them, they will. My daughter HATED buttons on her clothing, took one look at the school uniform and said “I’m not wearing that.” I said she had to if she wanted to go to school. She wore the skort (2 decorative buttons) and the polo, but would only wear the 2 button polo, never the 3 button ones.
I was just at the grocery store and kept running into the same little boy in every aisle. He was about 4 and he kept his mask on the entire time. I will say it fit him well, was a Bronco mask (so cool), and looked like it was a single layer.
I have made this point before, China, Japan and Taiwan for example have been wearing surgical and designer masks for decades. No reason our students cannot adopt this policy when we are in the middle of a pandemic.
We have to find a way to get K-12 students back in the classroom. Other countries can do it, why can’t we?
Peraining to k12 in NY and NJ
I think i read on an earlier post someone saying that the NJ guidelines say masks are mandatory for students and staff. I had a look at the guidelines and see that masks are not required for students. It says, “School staff and visitors are required to wear face coverings unless doing so would inhibit the individual’s health or the individual is under two years of age. Students are strongly encouraged to wear face coverings and are required to do so when social distancing cannot be maintained, unless doing so would inhibit the student’s health. It is necessary to acknowledge that enforcing the use of face coverings may be impractical for young children or individuals with disabilities.”
This sounds to me masks will be required for bussing, lining up, hallway walking; but not in class.
I am eagerly awaiting NY guidelines for k12 and if they are like NJ’s (not requiring masks) i am comcerned about my high schooler attending in school.
My high school recently posted their oitdoor graduations on youtube and i see that many kids and parents werent wearing masks though they were “required.” The nerve of those parents and kids. They are making a bold statement if they wont comply with the school’s mask policy and risk being sent home, and not allowed to be part of the ceremony. Yet they boldly didnt care.
If mask wearing for students is merely “encouraged” in NY i can bet most high schoolers in my town wont wear them.
As of now, our high school says there wont be an online option for kids who choose to stay home if school is in fact open in person. I may have to scramble for homeschooling options.