AISD's (and other districts) Plans for Schools Starting August 18

[Anastasis 23191]

On 7/23/2021 at 1:25 PM, Samson's Wig said:

Gonna be a shitshow of epic proportions come mid August unless the Delta wave somehow crashes through Texas and moves on by then.  Good luck to all.

 

The international data suggest that Delta peaks hard and then will drop just as quickly.  But I think that that puts us in September. Back to school setting up to be a shit show. 

[Muy Frio 182]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

https://www.kxan.com/news/education/austin-isd-announces-a-virtual-learning-option-for-k-6th-grade-families/

I've heard the state/TEA is backing down a bit on the 12-and-under crowd, as far as masks and virtual options, but nothing public yet (well this sounds like an indication that it's happening).

A lot of parents are hesitant if the schools aren't taking temperatures/screening, don't have the kids masked up, etc.

Temperature checks and check the box “screening” measures are largely a waste of time, let’s be honest. 

[Muy Frio 182]

1 hour ago, atomheartbevo said:

https://www.kxan.com/news/education/austin-isd-announces-a-virtual-learning-option-for-k-6th-grade-families/

I've heard the state/TEA is backing down a bit on the 12-and-under crowd, as far as masks and virtual options, but nothing public yet (well this sounds like an indication that it's happening).

A lot of parents are hesitant if the schools aren't taking temperatures/screening, don't have the kids masked up, etc.

Temperature checks and check the box “screening” measures are largely a waste of time, let’s be honest. 

[atomheartbevo 88750]

Listening to the AISD school board meeting, and it's been somewhat of a shitshow, with multiple people doing the "MY CHILD MY CHOICE" bullshit.

And the thing is, they all keep repeating the same phrases, word-for-word.

And they all keep talking about "ASID".

It's almost like they are all reading from a script....

@Larry T. Spider are you listening to this?

[atomheartbevo 88750]

19 minutes ago, Muy Frio said:

Temperature checks and check the box “screening” measures are largely a waste of time, let’s be honest. 

Agree that multiple people are not doing the screening shit properly, but the temperature checks have kept plenty of sick kids out, which has meant my kids aren't bringing the flu and colds and who knows what else home.

This past year has been the first school year in 4 years that I haven't had the flu or colds thanks to my kids.

We should keep the temperature checks, even after vaccines are available.  Too many fucking parents send their kids to school sick.

[Red Six 131]

4 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Listening to the AISD school board meeting, and it's been somewhat of a shitshow, with multiple people doing the "MY CHILD MY CHOICE" bullshit.

And the thing is, they all keep repeating the same phrases, word-for-word.

And they all keep talking about "ASID".

It's almost like they are all reading from a script....

@Larry T. Spider are you listening to this?

I listened to the public comment section of my local school board meeting.

There were two citations to the Nuremberg Code regarding the vaccine, one who said that things would change when the 2020 election was proven to be fraudulent, one mother and child who cried about how masks made their school experience horrific, lots of "let's see our kids' smiling faces," and plenty of that "MY CHILD MY CHOICE" action.

[used2b 238]

Abbott's no mask requirement mandate may not be good public health policy but it does cut down on the political pressure on districts either way.

 

[atomheartbevo 88750]

9 minutes ago, Red Six said:

I listened to the public comment section of my local school board meeting.

There were two citations to the Nuremberg Code regarding the vaccine, one who said that things would change when the 2020 election was proven to be fraudulent, one mother and child who cried about how masks made their school experience horrific, lots of "let's see our kids' smiling faces," and plenty of that "MY CHILD MY CHOICE" action.

Looking around, apparently these scripts are being used at school board meetings across the state, just changing the district name.

Looks like whoever posted the script fucked up "ASID" instead of AISD, which is probably somebody from out-of-state who doesn't understand the whole ISD thing in Texas.

[Muy Frio 182]

53 minutes ago, atomheartbevo said:

Agree that multiple people are not doing the screening shit properly, but the temperature checks have kept plenty of sick kids out, which has meant my kids aren't bringing the flu and colds and who knows what else home.

This past year has been the first school year in 4 years that I haven't had the flu or colds thanks to my kids.

We should keep the temperature checks, even after vaccines are available.  Too many fucking parents send their kids to school sick.

How do temperature checks keep sick kids out? Are there really kids getting scanned with 101 degrees fevers and getting sent home? 

[BrazilHorn 6552]

4 minutes ago, Muy Frio said:

How do temperature checks keep sick kids out? Are there really kids getting scanned with 101 degrees fevers and getting sent home? 

Yes. This is why there were for all intents and purposes no flu cases in schools this past winter. 

[atomheartbevo 88750]

22 minutes ago, Muy Frio said:

How do temperature checks keep sick kids out? Are there really kids getting scanned with 101 degrees fevers and getting sent home? 

Yes.  I saw it happen about once a week when taking my kid up to the screening line.

There's a Surly poster here whose wife is a school nurse, and has plenty of pre-covid tales about parents pulling shit to get their sick kids into school so they didn't have to watch them during the day.  My wife worked at multiple schools for over a decade and saw plenty of that shit as well.

TLDR: A lot of parents don't give a shit about fucking over other kids/parents, and will happily send their kids to school when they are obviously sick.

[Larry T. Spider 1740]

2 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

Listening to the AISD school board meeting, and it's been somewhat of a shitshow, with multiple people doing the "MY CHILD MY CHOICE" bullshit.

And the thing is, they all keep repeating the same phrases, word-for-word.

And they all keep talking about "ASID".

It's almost like they are all reading from a script....

@Larry T. Spider are you listening to this?

I honestly don’t waste my time with that shit. I could just read Texags.

The virtual option is the right choice for those families that really need it. It’s unfortunate because it’s going to put the district many millions of dollars in the hole. We are already operating with a 43 million dollar budget deficit. If 5,000 students go virtual for one semester, that is 22.5 million in funding gone. Long term, it might be better to keep them connected to the district, so we pay the price right now….

Virtual won’t be run by the school so it won’t impact the quality of education for those attending in person. We do not know about the health and safety protocols yet but should within a week.

[atomheartbevo 88750]

1 hour ago, Larry T. Spider said:

We do not know about the health and safety protocols yet but should within a week.

I'm so fucking furious that so many obvious astroturfers were making themselves heard tonight (and elsewhere on various platforms such as social media).  After some reading, it's a statewide problem - these same assholes are Zooming/calling into different school board meetings around the state.

And having seen how astroturfing works from the inside, at least in political campaigns (albeit several years ago), my gut says a bunch of these people were sent out there with a script that was probably meant to draw attention to themselves as being astroturfers, with another number of astroturfers who were not so obvious and who were trying to fly under the radar.

[atomheartbevo 88750]

1 hour ago, Larry T. Spider said:

The virtual option is the right choice for those families that really need it. It’s unfortunate because it’s going to put the district many millions of dollars in the hole. We are already operating with a 43 million dollar budget deficit. If 5,000 students go virtual for one semester, that is 22.5 million in funding gone. Long term, it might be better to keep them connected to the district, so we pay the price right now….

I have a feeling they are doing this knowing either that the state/TEA is going to cave a bit on the virtual thing (since mandatory masking isn't allowed, and we won't see any vaccines for the under-12 crowd until later in the year or early 2022), or they know federal aid is coming in some fashion.  It's easy to say that Delta has changed everything up, but the district seemed committed to "everybody in person" and all of the sudden is willing to allow a chunk to stay home (but a very limited chunk).

If AISD didn't have to send hundreds of millions to elsewhere in the state, this would be a moot point, but oh well.

And unfortunately some (again, probably the fucking astroturfers) are being assholes and trying to give off a vibe on social media, tonights meeting, etc. that their kids are going to be maskless everywhere and licking every fucking doorknob they can. This is worrying those who have home situations that can get dicey with covid, and so now they are wondering how they can get one of those virtual spots.  These people could have simply said "my kid is not going to wear a mask" and leave it at that.

[Larry T. Spider 1740]

We will use the federal relief funds for this but they weren’t really designed to cover this cost. They were meant to support in person instruction and repay a ton of costs we incurred last year. You are correct in hoping that TEA will come to their senses and repay at least a portion of this. If it happens, it will be because enough other, more favorable, districts offer virtual.

[Nolacycling 893]

The TEA is asking for full funding for virtual students, right? Who knows?

I thought this nightmare had ended, but no.

[BrazilHorn 6552]

There’s been so much data already that kids in school aren’t the spreaders etc

Have all teachers and staff vaccinated, check temps daily of kids and have them wear masks. 
 

There won’t be a big run on cases. 
We saw this all last year. AISD in Texas was pretty much only large metro that actively discouraged in person learning (until they got worried about funding in Spring)

Nearly all of positive covid cases by teachers/staff/students were caught outside of school. 
 

The teachers unions nationwide were hoping for the opposite but it never manifested which is why people are pushing so hard for in person this fall. We listened to the science. This isn’t hard:vaccinate, test, mask 

[South Austin 51409]

1 hour ago, BrazilHorn said:

There’s been so much data already that kids in school aren’t the spreaders etc

Have all teachers and staff vaccinated, check temps daily of kids and have them wear masks. 
 

There won’t be a big run on cases. 
We saw this all last year. AISD in Texas was pretty much only large metro that actively discouraged in person learning (until they got worried about funding in Spring)

Nearly all of positive covid cases by teachers/staff/students were caught outside of school. 
 

The teachers unions nationwide were hoping for the opposite but it never manifested which is why people are pushing so hard for in person this fall. We listened to the science. This isn’t hard:vaccinate, test, mask 

Yeah, I'm just not worried about my fifth-grader.  We sent him back in person earlier this year after Spring Break when I believe Travis County was at Stage 3, and now his older sister, his mom, his grandparents, and I are all fully-vaccinated.  Like I did all last year, I'll pump him up with Vitamin C and D, and make sure he wears his mask all day. 

[Red Six 131]

4 hours ago, BrazilHorn said:

There’s been so much data already that kids in school aren’t the spreaders etc

Have all teachers and staff vaccinated, check temps daily of kids and have them wear masks. 
 

There won’t be a big run on cases. 
We saw this all last year. AISD in Texas was pretty much only large metro that actively discouraged in person learning (until they got worried about funding in Spring)

Nearly all of positive covid cases by teachers/staff/students were caught outside of school. 
 

The teachers unions nationwide were hoping for the opposite but it never manifested which is why people are pushing so hard for in person this fall. We listened to the science. This isn’t hard:vaccinate, test, mask 

There was little to no spread in schools during the past year, but that was because they were wearing masks. In our community, the kids were catching it at dance/sports/church where they weren't wearing masks. So if they're not wearing masks in school, we likely will see an uptick in spread, especially because there are so many bug-chasers who, because the school can't make them keep their kids home, will send their kids to school even if they're positive.

[used2b 238]

1 hour ago, Red Six said:

There was little to no spread in schools during the past year, but that was because they were wearing masks. In our community, the kids were catching it at dance/sports/church where they weren't wearing masks. So if they're not wearing masks in school, we likely will see an uptick in spread, especially because there are so many bug-chasers who, because the school can't make them keep their kids home, will send their kids to school even if they're positive.

And Delta is much more contagious.

 

[atomheartbevo 88750]

As far as I know, AISD will continue to contact trace and will inform parents.

By the way, don't confuse COVID-19 with lice or other such issues - schools must still contact parents about lice

https://dshs.texas.gov/schoolhealth/lice.shtm

 

[Samson's Wig 3154]

It seems rather clear that all of this is just long game bullshit for school vouchers, right?  I know Morath and his ilk would love nothing more than for public schools to get as shitty as possible so they can easily push full blown Jesus vouchers through the leg.  That's the only explanation I can think of for TEA's utter and complete insanity on this issue. The only other possibility is that they're completely and utterly stupid.  Which they clearly are.  I still think the voucher issue is what's driving it though.

[atomheartbevo 88750]

AISD - kids will be wearing masks on buses.  State can't do anything about that apparently.

HISD is considering a vote on masks next week.

 

[atomheartbevo 88750]

All I want is temperature checks and masks, so that my kids can fucking stay in school and not have to keep coming home.

[Larry T. Spider 1740]

4 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

As far as I know, AISD will continue to contact trace and will inform parents.

By the way, don't confuse COVID-19 with lice or other such issues - schools must still contact parents about lice

https://dshs.texas.gov/schoolhealth/lice.shtm

 

AISD is contact tracing and sending home kids. We hired outside counsel and are fighting the state on that one. Nothing we can do about masks, obviously.

I considered the temp checks ineffective so I’m glad to see those go.

[Your Mom 4748]

Random note:  As has been the case for years, I really appreciate Larry T Spider’s insight and info on all education related threads. Thanks for all your posts over the years man. 

[Muy Frio 182]

6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

As far as I know, AISD will continue to contact trace and will inform parents.

By the way, don't confuse COVID-19 with lice or other such issues - schools must still contact parents about lice

https://dshs.texas.gov/schoolhealth/lice.shtm

 

NEISD administration in SA confirmed masks optional And not contact tracing this Wednesday. 

[Knoxtnhorn 5906]

8 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

As far as I know, AISD will continue to contact trace and will inform parents.

By the way, don't confuse COVID-19 with lice or other such issues - schools must still contact parents about lice

https://dshs.texas.gov/schoolhealth/lice.shtm

 

That's not true.  My district - suburb of Dallas - does not notify parents of lice.  In addition, students with lice are not ordered to stay home.  

Edited August 7, 2021 by Knoxtnhorn

[Captainant 26861]

There's a legal requirement to report if a child has lice in a classroom, but not COVID

[atomheartbevo 88750]

17 minutes ago, Knoxtnhorn said:

That's not true.  My district - suburb of Dallas - does not notify parents of lice.  In addition, students with lice are not ordered to stay home.  

As of September 1, 2017, Texas Education Code, Chapter 38, Section 38.031, Notice of Lice, states the following: "The board of trustees of an independent school district shall adopt a policy requiring a school nurse of a public elementary school who determines or otherwise becomes aware that a child enrolled in the school has lice shall provide written or electronic notice of that fact to:

            (1)  the parent of the child with lice as soon as practicable but not later than 48 hours after the administrator or nurse, as applicable, determines or becomes aware of that fact; and

            (2)  the parent of each child assigned to the same classroom as the child with lice not later than the fifth school day after the date on which the administrator or nurse, as applicable, determines or becomes aware of that fact.” 

Additional information about confidentiality is included within the law.

-----

They send out notices in AISD.  I don't think they order them to stay home (that maybe a district-by-district thing), but they are required by law to notify parents.

[Muy Frio 182]

Why are we talking about piojos?

[Larry T. Spider 1740]

Yep, we notify but do not force anybody to go home. It’s considered a nuisance, not a health condition. Try convincing the moms of girls of that…

[Larry T. Spider 1740]

1 minute ago, Muy Frio said:

Why are we talking about piojos?

Ha! Hadn’t heard that since I worked in the barrio.

[Muy Frio 182]

14 minutes ago, Larry T. Spider said:

Ha! Hadn’t heard that since I worked in the barrio.

I grew up In the barrio. (Kind of)

[Knoxtnhorn 5906]

6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

As of September 1, 2017, Texas Education Code, Chapter 38, Section 38.031, Notice of Lice, states the following: "The board of trustees of an independent school district shall adopt a policy requiring a school nurse of a public elementary school who determines or otherwise becomes aware that a child enrolled in the school has lice shall provide written or electronic notice of that fact to:

            (1)  the parent of the child with lice as soon as practicable but not later than 48 hours after the administrator or nurse, as applicable, determines or becomes aware of that fact; and

            (2)  the parent of each child assigned to the same classroom as the child with lice not later than the fifth school day after the date on which the administrator or nurse, as applicable, determines or becomes aware of that fact.” 

Additional information about confidentiality is included within the law.

-----

They send out notices in AISD.  I don't think they order them to stay home (that maybe a district-by-district thing), but they are required by law to notify parents.

Got it.  In my bourbon-infused haze, I misunderstood the content of the post.  For some reason, I read it as school districts do the same thing for lice as they did for COVID last year.  My bad.

[Jiggy-Z 3419]

Lice talk not going away.

[CooterBrown 17695]

AISD did a survey of parents about if they will make their kid wear a mask at school. My schools were 86% (Gullett) and 80% (McCallum) so that is a bit reassuring.

[Larry T. Spider 1740]

Per Alex Caprariello on twitter

BREAKING: @AustinISD has called a special board meeting for Monday for a presentation on COVID-19 safety protocols. 

Houston ISD's Superintendent said yesterday he would defy Texas Governor Abbott's order and bring a mask mandate to his board for approval next week👀

[dingleberryswitzer 2724]

18 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

All I want is temperature checks and masks, so that my kids can fucking stay in school and not have to keep coming home.

That’s the best part!  They don’t have to go home!!

[Eastwood 4394]

This is going to be the ultimate stereotypical message board vague rumor bullshit, but I'm going to say it anyway. It is starting to feel like there is going to be a sudden shift in the approach to school sometime next week. I have a family member who is a school board member in a small, rural county and got a phone call from them asking what we were doing about school coming up because they are getting very concerned where they are. And we're talking a rural county and all that it entails as far as COVID goes. It's getting hard to ignore the stories of pediatric hospitals quickly filling up in other states now that this thing has mutated to where it hits us all where it hurts the most, and that's the kids. If Abbott is starting to lose rural Texas, then we could be seeing an about-face on the horizon.

With that being said, we have spent the better part of this weekend trying to form a pod, with little success. We will be spending Monday talking to a couple of private schools about availability and scholarship opportunities. If all else fails, we have made the incredibly hard decision to push a lot of things back and accept homeschooling as a reality. We've had a tough haul over the last 15 months, but we have been left with no other choice. We don't feel that our school district is taking appropriate measures, things are worsening by the day, seemingly by the hour, and we are accountable to the health and safety of our children. We hoped that the state and school districts would be take an active role in helping us maintain that accountability, but we have been left grossly disappointed. We'll see if my hunch about the coming days comes to fruition, though.

[Captainant 26861]

On 6/25/2020 at 7:34 PM, Johnny Sack said:

There is almost no risk to kids.

Womp womp.

[atomheartbevo 88750]

27 minutes ago, Eastwood said:

This is going to be the ultimate stereotypical message board vague rumor bullshit, but I'm going to say it anyway. It is starting to feel like there is going to be a sudden shift in the approach to school sometime next week. I have a family member who is a school board member in a small, rural county and got a phone call from them asking what we were doing about school coming up because they are getting very concerned where they are. And we're talking a rural county and all that it entails as far as COVID goes. It's getting hard to ignore the stories of pediatric hospitals quickly filling up in other states now that this thing has mutated to where it hits us all where it hurts the most, and that's the kids.

I think there is a change coming as well.  HISD could be the crack in the dam.  It's starting to feel like it did in March of last year, and in July/August of last year.

You get out to those smaller/rural school districts, and all it's going to take is one or two kids getting really sick/fucked up, and there will be new school board members at the next election if the existing ones aren't seen as doing everything they could. Probably lawsuits tossed into the mix as well.  And those places don't exactly have the hospital capacity or financial resources to begin with.

The children's hospitals in Florida being overwhelmed, the baby having to be airlifted from Houston to Temple, hospitals in the major parts of Texas starting to really fill up, and everything else being all over the national news...Not a good look.

 

[fattyflattie 4631]

6 hours ago, CooterBrown said:

AISD did a survey of parents about if they will make their kid wear a mask at school. My schools were 86% (Gullett) and 80% (McCallum) so that is a bit reassuring.

That’s awesome. At my meet the teacher thing last week it was my kids and one other child wearing a mask. That’s all. Out of everyone.  We’re kicking it back and forth on what we are going to do, as homeschool/pod went really well for us last year, at least in regards to the material covered/learned. It was a beating for the wife (full time work, LOTS of flex) but the material was learned.  

[hookemATL 11496]

2 hours ago, fattyflattie said:

That’s awesome. At my meet the teacher thing last week it was my kids and one other child wearing a mask. That’s all. Out of everyone.  We’re kicking it back and forth on what we are going to do, as homeschool/pod went really well for us last year, at least in regards to the material covered/learned. It was a beating for the wife (full time work, LOTS of flex) but the material was learned.  

I have meet the teacher Tuesday evening. It will go a long way to inform our decision on what the next move is for my oldest. I cannot fathom doing 1st grade virtually after doing all of kindergarten from home for 2020-2021, but here we are. Mostly I’m just worried about her missing out, and then also worried about the risk shall she go in person as has been our plan.

fuck this timeline. 

[fattyflattie 4631]

19 minutes ago, hookemATL said:

I have meet the teacher Tuesday evening. It will go a long way to inform our decision on what the next move is for my oldest. I cannot fathom doing 1st grade virtually after doing all of kindergarten from home for 2020-2021, but here we are. Mostly I’m just worried about her missing out, and then also worried about the risk shall she go in person as has been our plan.

fuck this timeline. 

Yeah it sucks.   We’re lucky enough that we have a good sized group of kids who’s parents have been taking it serious on the street, so we haven’t really suffered in the socialization dept.   But we’d like them to get back into a normal school setting.  My oldest and middle did great with the home learning last year, and we went ahead and continued it thru most of the summer since they were in a good groove. The youngest is going into K but did K at home along with the middle last year, so not worried at all about her.  But she was hospitalized twice from 1-3 for respiratory stuff, and that gives me pause.   Just a fucked up deal we are going to have to work thru, and hope we made the right choice. I can say I was pretty upset the couple hundred adults that were there couldn’t don a fucking mask for an hour.  FTR, we did not do the virtual thing as it was a shitshow and hardly satisfactory; we found a few programs we liked and subscribed. 

[smoky 837]

6 hours ago, atomheartbevo said:

The children's hospitals in Florida being overwhelmed, the baby having to be airlifted from Houston to Temple, hospitals in the major parts of Texas starting to really fill up, and everything else being all over the national news...Not a good look.

 

Overwhelmed with covid kids?  The APH dashboard, while a week behind, has 4 individuals under the age of 20 in the hospital for Covid?  Is that a lot? 

[atomheartbevo 88750]

5 minutes ago, smoky said:

Overwhelmed with covid kids?  The APH dashboard, while a week behind, has 4 individuals under the age of 20 in the hospital for Covid?  Is that a lot? 

We appear to be lucky/ahead of the curve.  Maybe our demographics are different than other large cities.

But the Houston infant having to be airlifted to Temple got a lot of attention.  And that's a week after Oklahoma as a whole was getting close to hitting their capacity for children's ICU beds.

And I'd be willing to bet that more than a few rural hospitals are hitting their capacity if we are.

[J.R. Juniors Junior Jr. 1084]

On 8/6/2021 at 2:05 PM, atomheartbevo said:

As far as I know, AISD will continue to contact trace and will inform parents.

By the way, don't confuse COVID-19 with lice or other such issues - schools must still contact parents about lice

https://dshs.texas.gov/schoolhealth/lice.shtm

 

AISD responded yesterday.  It's on!

Edited August 8, 2021 by J.R. Juniors Junior Jr.

[cactusflinthead 26791]

33 minutes ago, smoky said:

Overwhelmed with covid kids?  The APH dashboard, while a week behind, has 4 individuals under the age of 20 in the hospital for Covid?  Is that a lot? 

Ask @trauma babe how it's going.

[smoky 837]

1 minute ago, cactusflinthead said:

Ask @trauma babe how it's going.

@trauma babe, @cactusflinthead wants me to ask if you got a lot of kids in the hospital with covid?  Also check yes or no if you like him.

 

[ ] yes

[ ] no