Public school campuses in Sacramento County will remain closed when instruction resumes in the fall, leaving tens of thousands of families and teachers to begin planning for an extension of distance-learning programs.
The Sacramento County Office of Education, which oversees districts serving more than 250,000 students from kindergarten through high school, announced that its 13 districts will continue distance learning programs they implemented in the spring. The decision to close campuses was made by school officials.
“Conditions are not safe enough for students, staff and families to allow school to open up in person at this time,” said Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools Dave Gordon...
Trustee Harold Fong said he was uncomfortable with the office’s plan to reopen classrooms.
“I am very uncomfortable with your decision to open up our community schools and other ones that we have control over either in a split format and then doing distance learning,” Fong told Sacramento County Superintendent of Schools Dave Gordon. “I would prefer you look at the recommendations of the California Teachers Association and the National Teachers and some of the medical people that we do distance learning as much as possible.”
Thursday, July 16, 2020
Schools Will Open Online
I tried to be positive in outlook, but yesterday the bad news became official:
Yes, because a teachers union is the best place to look for political advice--and let's be blunt, opening schools or not is a political decision.
I understand that my own district's school board is to meet today or tomorrow. I wonder what they're going to say, now that the decision has been made for them.
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6 comments:
Our school district (Manteca Unified) announced that students were going back to school on Monday. Yesterday, they changed their mind and announced we were staying with distance learning. Consequently, I will be returning 2/3 of my paycheck since only 1/3 of the students login. Fair is Fair!
Not sure how you can say it is a "political" decision. It's a health decision. Can you say for sure that a teacher going back to school is NOT going to get infected? Can you really? Are YOU willing to take the blame for people getting sick. For say a teacher who, from going back to work at school, becomes a carrier and gets their older parents sick?
That is the real issue here. It's fine to opine in your bubble here and say it is a "political" decision. I get it. You are white, probably entitled, Sacramento teacher. But as an educator, do you not see all the evidence that perhaps caution should be heeded here? Look at Florida. Arizona. Georgia. Texas. They all brazenly opened up with MAGA cheers. And now they have cases that their health systems are straining to deal with. Come on man, you are a freaking Math teacher. Look at the numbers. Can you seriously believe it is a political decision NOT to open schools?
No one wants this situation to continue. Who doesn't want kids back in school. I'd love it if my district started up again. But at the same time, I don't want people NOT being able to get help because hospitals do not have any space because they or overwhelmed with cases.
Lockdowns, masks--these are political decisions. Public health "experts" haven't exactly covered themselves in glory in this situation. Back in March we were supposed to shut down for a few weeks to "flatten the curve", to give hospitals a chance to ramp up. Now we've moved the goalpost to "no sign of the 'rona can exist, and then we'll get back to normal life." That's absurd.
We've had rampant illnesses before and never shut the economy down. Look at the Hong Kong Flu of 1968--no one's even heard of it today. And I'm old enough that it occurred in my lifetime.
If you're afraid of the Wuhan Flu, YOU stay home. YOU wear a mask. YOU take precautions. The rest of us who choose to live our lives should be allowed to do so unmolested by your fears. Here's a post I wrote recently about fear: https://rightontheleftcoast.blogspot.com/2020/05/fear.html
You might recognize some of the people and organizations I've quoted regarding the wear of masks: https://rightontheleftcoast.blogspot.com/2020/05/masks-new-signal-of-virtue.html
I love your "white...entitled" comment. Go blank yourself. This has nothing to do with race, and you're an idiot. Maybe you should check your liberal privilege: https://rightontheleftcoast.blogspot.com/2015/07/left-wing-privilege.html
Remember, I've gotten a paycheck throughout, so I haven't been economically affected by this. I have a cousin who got the 'rona. And yes, I'm a math teacher--I can see the death rate isn't horrific. Why does the media focus on "cases", which is meaningless, as opposed to the death rate? Are we not to get sick anymore?
And lastly, this short post should summarize where I stand: https://rightontheleftcoast.blogspot.com/2020/05/no-corona.html
Mind if I share that?
To the "YOU wear a mask", the strict issue here is that the health experts say that masks have little effect in preventing you to contract the disease from someone else, they are most effective in reducing the moisture content that you are releasing in the air, which helps prevent OTHERS from getting your germs. If one was to have the virus (and approximately 40% of cases show no symptoms if my memory serves me, aka, source needed) then not wearing a mask would increase your likelihood of spreading it, and effectively the other people wearing masks would just be helping prevent that person from catching their diseases. Masks aren't a perfect system, and I agree that maybe things are opening too slow, but tbh, wearing a mask is so simple, I would say that the cost benefit of wearing a mask is so incredibly positive, there's basically no reason not to wear a mask.
My second thing about this is this: yes, I would agree that mask wearing and shutdowns have become a political issue, but given the look at the curve, and the harm that it has done to countries such as Italy, it's remarkable that it is. You have brought up the 1968 pandemic of the H3N2 virus (as you call it the "Hong Kong virus") which according to the CDC website only killed approximately 100,000 people in the united states, after the end of the season. We are still in the midst of this pandemic and it has killed 145k people in the United States (which is astonishing given the 50 years of medical advancements) and this is WITH social distancing and mask wearing. I only have issue with this as a political decision because we haven't seen a pandemic quite of this caliber within most of our lifetimes, and many people are concerned of dying from it, or getting others sick. Essentially, I think it's an ethical issue, not a political issue.
As always Darren, I don't mean this as an attack on your beliefs, I just mean to continue and open dialogue with people across the aisle. I hope your trip goes well, and I hope your family stays healthy.
Peggy--share whatever you'd like!
Duncan--disagreeing is never a problem. Being disagreeable is.
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