Face masks in schools

Amarante

Fri, May 22 2020, 2:38 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

obviously chv if there is a real 2nd wave then the schools will comply.
If the numbers are as low and quiet as now, they probably wont.

Non compliance is different than the government not requiring masks in schools.

If you are saying that schools won’t make kids wear masks even if required that’s pretty lawless and isn’t going to be acceptable.

notshanarishona

Fri, May 22 2020, 2:46 pm

amother [ Cyan ] wrote:

I think you are over complicating it. Lunch would be simpler like a sandwich or equivalent. Children would put items in their bags and it would be thrown out. I went to a school without a cafeteria where many kids went home for lunch but those who stayed just ate at their desks and it wasn’t a big deal.

However, there are going to be increased costs for opening schools safely such as increased custodial staffs so that bathrooms and other common areas are cleaned more scrupulously than they are now. There is no doubt that classroom size would have to be decreased so children don’t sit so close to each other. And if kids take busses, they will have to take fewer children on each trip.

Obviously without having hot lunches it’s skimped. But many schools receive funding and for some kids that is their only hot meal a day. It would be terribly sad to turn that into sandwiches.
I don’t understand how everyone says decrease class room size like it’s something so simple. In my classroom, desks are less than a foot apart. To keep 6 feet apart, we would like 5 desks. I teach in a special ed classroom so in only have 10 students. Other rooms have about 30 students (to 1 teacher) in a room with an area of less than 100 feet. If they were to decrease mainstream class size to 10 kids, they would need 3 x the amount of teachers and 3 x the classroom. The space and the staff is not going to magically materialize.

amother

Lavender

Fri, May 22 2020, 3:04 pm

amother [ Firebrick ] wrote:

I'd be happy for my kids to have a teacher who doesn't wear the mask, THAT'S what I would call being a good role model. I don't want my kids to be taught to blindly follow the rules. I want them to be taught that if something is unfair or unnecessarily restrictive, they davka should make waves.

So you’re saying you want your kids to be rebellious. Awesome. I teach my kids that they have to listen to rules given by their parents or teachers.

Amarante

Fri, May 22 2020, 3:19 pm

notshanarishona wrote:

Who said it was simple?

Everything you state is why opening up schools safely is so complicated.

I have no crystal ball but I find it difficult to believe that schools will open in major metropolitan areas without some modification in how they operate.

And a hit lunch is really the least of the issues.

Hashem_Yaazor

Fri, May 22 2020, 4:11 pm

The recommendations include same staff to same kids, so departmental learning couldn't take place, teachers would need to stay in their class the whole day so no specials or break for lunch or bathroom or a free period. How in the world can a teacher do that?

They're not tenable. They'll likely change.

notshanarishona

Fri, May 22 2020, 4:19 pm

Amarante wrote:

I know in recent teachers meetings we are discussing classes of 10-15 kids every other day vs remote learning vs. doubling tuition so they can double staff members and cut classrooms in half with partitions to turn one classroom into 2 . Nothing being discussed sounds feasible. Agreed that a hot lunch is just one part of the problem but I do believe it’s important for the kids.

Amarante

Fri, May 22 2020, 4:30 pm

notshanarishona wrote:

I didn’t mean to minimize the importance of school feeding especially in metropolitan public schools where children really depend on schools food. I just meant that logistically you can manage to feed children nutritious lunches that don’t need to be hot versus other issues that also need to be addressed within the reality of decreased school funding because cities have been massively hit by expenditures plus taking a hit from decreased sales tax revenues.

Mama Bear

Fri, May 22 2020, 4:48 pm

Amarante wrote:

of course the school will 'ask' the kids to wear masks. But theyre not gonna be a prison guard forcibly putting the masks back on the kids faces if and when they take it off.

Amarante

Fri, May 22 2020, 4:55 pm

Mama Bear wrote:

of course the school will 'ask' the kids to wear masks. But theyre not gonna be a prison guard forcibly putting the masks back on the kids faces if and when they take it off.

If parents impress children with the importance of wearing masks for the health of themselves and their family and their friends, then school reinforces that behavior. Kids wear glasses. It’s a question of making them understand why they are doing it instead of displaying the kind of negative attitudes I see in imamother about being forced to behave in a certain manner.

Many cultures wear masks routinely and children accept them.

Many secular people would be shocked that little girls are wearing tights and long sleeves in the summer rather than comfortable shorts and t shirts. And not inappropriate comfortable clothing that over s-xual(lives little girls but Old Navy hoe of clothing.

greenhelm

Fri, May 22 2020, 5:22 pm

Amarante wrote:

FranticFrummie

Sat, May 23 2020, 11:49 am

Some kids will never get used to masks, just like they will never get used to a tag in the back of their shirts or having a seam in the toe of their sock. Then you have the kids who have ADD/ADHD/ODD, etc. They have no impulse control, and will do whatever they want with no concern for the consequences. They may even find it hysterically funny to cough in the face of another child and yell "Corona!"

The problem isn't just with little kids, either. 16yo DD has asthma, and she also has severe panic attacks and anxiety. If she thinks she might have an asthma attack, and she's wearing a mask, she will for sure give herself an attack!

Therapy is helping her, but there's only so much a person can do, and it's slow going. Right now, she can manage a mask for up to 30 minutes, if she knows for sure that she'll be able to take it off soon.

She really wants to go back to school, but if they require masks, she will end up with home schooling, and will suffer not getting to hang out with her friends. It's a very difficult position to be in, as a kid, a parent, and as a teacher.

amother

Indigo

Sat, May 23 2020, 7:51 pm

notshanarishona wrote:

Doubling tuition? That's even more ridiculous than expecting children to wear masks