For those students who do well with home schooling, the decision is easy. Keep them home. That would make social distancing a lot easier for those who absolutely need to go to classes for an adequate education. Thinking back on my own kids, I have two that would have done well at home and two that absolutely wouldn't have. I'm thankful I never had to make that decision.

Our state just had its first pediatric COVID-19 death. A 13-year old died on Friday.

I just checked the 0-19 age group for Ohio--2 deaths for over 5100 cases and of course those are just the positive tests, assuming there are many more untested. That's reassuring, but I'll quote one of my former doctors, "When it happens to you, it's 100%."

My great grandson whom I have custody of is living in TN with his maternal grandmother. He had the choice of moving to FL or staying in TN and he chose TN. Although I miss him I'm glad he is TN. He'll be 14 come Sept and a freshman in HS. The county hasn't made a decision as to when and how school will start yet. Typically it is 5-8 Aug. The three of us have discussed the situation and unanimously decided he'll be doing on line school if it is offered, and I've got no doubt it will be.

Kids physically in schools can't be expected to practice so-called social distancing and will act as a vector to spread the disease from family to family, including the adults.

The two largest K-12 school districts in California, serving Los Angeles and San Diego, announced that their fall school terms will begin with online instruction.

In this school district the parents have a choice, learn from home or at school. Not all have that choice. Alyssa is going to learn from home this season.

Sue

Yet, Elmer, Orange County, Calif., has chosen to let schools start with no masks or distancing. Sounds absolutely reckless, but the individual school districts will call the shots for their own students. Still, why didn't the county go with CDC guidelines?

The older kids are, the better they will be at masks and distancing. The youngest ones won't be too good, depending on the child.

I am very, very worried. Above all, we must protect our children. Even if it is too "tough" and too "expensive." And we must protect our school workers as well. By protecting teachers and school workers, we protect families.

We are waiting to hear what options we have. Last March the Governor made a decision that affected the entire State. I am hoping this time around we can acknowledge our state is different from county to county in density. We have had no deaths and only 103 cases in total since this began, no one on a ventilator. School is a tough one. We have tons of raw data on which students did not do well with distant learning. It makes sense to me to have those who failed/disengaged be invited to be in the school building at least a few times each week. The others..well at some point parents will have to decide if it is safe for their child to be in the building. If we provided education services in this manner the numbers in the building would remain low and the school safer. Physical distancing when the buildings are even half full will be a challenge. Many teens were not staying physically distanced last term. I cannot imagine the challenge distance learning poses for parents, particularly those that have elementary students. No one wants even one student ill. but the truth is closing states down caused plenty of troubles too.

Chicago Public Schools hasn't decided yet. There's been talk of each individual school council choosing. (CHAOS!)

DIL teaches junior high math there. She doesn't want to be infected, infect our DS, infect their kids. Her parents are seniors, as are DH and I. Our DGS (15) doesn't want to get Covid or infect anyone either.

DGD is nine. Her parochial school plans to open with full time in person learning in five weeks. I predict any such experiments will fail within two weeks -- when the first student or staffer tests positive. This is a densely populated urban area. Illinois did so well with early lockdown. To open schools is inviting a health disaster.

Rather the 'hard place' than the rock, please. You can recover from that. You can't recover from death or lifelong disabilities. There is an end in sight (vaccines). It's not here yet.

Our city's school system current plan: Kindergarten and first graders attend school four days a week: Mon, Tues, Thurs, and Friday. All other grades attend two days per week: Mon & Thurs, or Tues & Friday. Buildings are closed to students for deep cleaning on Wednesdays. Special needs kids, to include ESL if desired, can opt for four days of in-person school. Or, parents may choose 100% on-line learning for their kid(s) -- but if they do, they will not be able to change their mind this school year. That's what they are saying now, but I guess everything is subject to change if circumstances change.

I wonder if some of the people who lost jobs could start small day care businesses tailored to school schedules.

eta: I also wonder if we really need that additional high school -- if enough of that age group opt for on line instruction, we don't need space for 100% of them even when the pandemic is over, do we....

I find doing a once a week deep cleaning futile. First time someone sneezes, coughs or touches something -- anything, it's contaminated with bacteria or a virus of some sort.

Seriously, is the virus going to wait around until Wednesday? It can be there any other day of the week and already have spread to someone who then will spread it to another area.

Once a week cleaning is barely a bandaid.

I just wouldn't feel real confident in that plan, although it's better than nothing.

Cleaning will go on daily in elementary, hourly in upper schools as students come and go. It is a pipe dream to think there will be a treatment fast enough to just "wait for it". Our economy and mental health can't wait that long. Doing the best we can has to be implemented.

The problem is, "the best we can do" has been pretty poor measured by what has been done in every other developed country in the world. We're the only remaining developed country when cases continue to rise, months after they started dropping almost every else. And almost everywhere else, life is safely returning to normal.

What we've shown is that half measures don't work, premature politically motivated reopenings don't work, ignoring expert advice doesn't work, and pretending it will go away on its own also doesn't work. It's very frustrating to a lot of us that people don't get it and our "leadership" is lacking to bring the crises here to an end as elsewhere.

I had to leave for awhile, and when I returned I found another message from the school staff. The school system wants all parents to complete a survey about whether they intend to send their children to school this fall, and if so, whether they intend to have the kids ride the school buses. If their decision is not to have the children attend, the board wants to discuss the decision with them. The message also mentioned the on-line learning option. I think this was in planning stages before the positive covid19 case was identified, but it's nice to know there are options.

BTW, I'd heard that the neighboring town's mayor had announced a mask mandate (churches excepted), and my trip today was the first time I've been in the city limits since my father's last cardiologist appointment mid-March. I saw many people outside without masks, some walking together. Some people had masks pulled down, and I watched as one lady pulled up her mask as she entered a convenience store.

My doctor told me his opinion is that wearing a mask is much more important than worrying about contact with money, mail, etc., although hand-washing is always important. A mask is required for an appointment, and of course the staff were all wearing masks. He also said that the staff is having a difficult time finding disposable masks, and when they can find them the price is more than double what it was before covid19.

I'm supposed to have 2 foreign exchange students in about 2 weeks. I don't know how that is going to happen. Got an email from EF today saying the students coiung from Italy have decided not to send their students. Not sure why others haven't followed knowing how out of control the virus is here. Cases and deaths are going up in KY.

The nations that have successfully put kids back to school have flattened the curve. Because we have no national policy, we will not flatten the curve. States with great leaders will flatten the curve and states without won't and the virus will continue to flourish because we are a mobile society. The White House is attacking the most sane voice in the nation Fauci.

I have seen people looking at creating “micro schools” of a sort, a cohort of half a dozen or so kids, maybe 2 or 3 families, across 2 or 3 grades, who have a tutor to help oversee and enrich distance learning alongside whatever the school is doing, especially if the school is going all-online.

I think our priority has to be keeping as many people as possible alive.

The more of what I see various governors and other public officials doing or actually not doing I am beginning to wonder if they are really wanting to reduce the population. It makes no other sense when some tell their cities and counties that they can not require masks. I have not read, yet, where any have voided individual businesses mandates but with the number of people who are not accepting that they can not enter a business in those states it does not matter. What the governors and others have not realized is that the people who do recover may need state assistance when they are unable to work because of the lasting affects of the virus. Children also have lasting affects most of which the doctors have not had time to study.

I do not know if this will post or not but this man is speaking a truth even if some will not accept it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQtmhbIl1C8&t=0s

We went for weeks with Zero active Covid cases and with so many gatherings, we are now having 1-3 a day. School was supposed to open August 7 but has been delayed until after Labor Day...masks will be required for grades 6-12. How teachers do classes is to be decided by each school district.

I have no idea how the teachers will be required to teach. My daughter spent 14 hours a day this spring teaching via Zoom...I have a hard time realizing how she can do that as well as teach students in her classroom also.

Watching yet another town meeting erupt over masks on the news. The government makes us wear seat belts. You can't yell fire in a crowded theater. You can't smoke in restaurants. We have speed limits for public safety. I think the .02% children (Pence's committee figure) dying (approximately 15,000) is grossly underestimated if we continue the madness of thinking that it is our right NOT to wear a mask. This is madness.

Gov. Newsom of Calif. has shut down most schools. I think it's wise. Since we did poorly with holidays, poorly with opening up barber shops, restaurants, etc., how could schools work??? My heart aches for the kids and parents struggling through this endless nightmare.

I agree completely, socks. I think he's maybe been a bit too slow to clamp down but he's shown some leadership.

I believe the governors showing true leadership and independence of thought through this sad situation, and there are some of both parties who fit that description, will have futures on the national stage. And by contrast, the spineless morons who've completely blown it elsewhere will get the future anonymity they've earned.