Back to school

Ok, I'm gonna get on my teacher soapbox here a little bit. I respect the AAP. I really do. And I know, they are trying to keep kids safe and doing the best they can with their recommendations for how to help kids go back to school with what is a crazy situation. BUT, these recommendations https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/05/health/schools-reopen-coronavirus-pediatrics-wellness/?fbclid=IwAR1f2X54ACzjivBYq7532iIcaoRV6sqJxr0RP5frGUF8bkoayj5uPcqJG7k 
https://services.aap.org/en/pages/2019-novel-coronavirus-covid-19-infections/covid-19-planning-considerations-return-to-in-person-education-in-schools/ are only realistic if you already have a very small classroom with lots of aides in the classroom. This is not going to work at all for public schools. Unless they are proposing that we add more classrooms so there are less kids in each class, which I am ALL FOR! And, I think my teacher friends would be all for. I do appreciate, though, that they said that we could start with reduced hours, and there might be a possibility of closures again if the virus returns. Though, that could be hard for dual income households, as it is now.

In Illinois we are doing phases of when things can start to open up. Right now we are in phase 2 which means things are pretty much still closed, you can order food and groceries, go to the pharmacy, go outside for walks, order things for curbside pickup. Stage 3 relaxes a little more where you can be in groups of 10 or less, hair salons and barbers open. Stage 4, groups of 50 or less can be together, schools and daycare can open under IDPH guidance. But in all of these stages, social distancing and wearing a mask is the norm. Stage 5 means we have a vaccine or cure. And life can go back to a new normal. Now, I am not exactly sure how schools can open up if you can have only groups of 50 or less, but, I guess we will figure that out when we get to stage 4. Right now we are just hoping to get to stage 3, which I am not sure if we will get there in June because our cases and deaths keep climbing instead of decreasing or staying the same. Which brings me to my questions of how this would work in schools. How do you socially distance kids in schools? How do you keep them safe, make sure that everyone maintains distance, as well as are we requiring kids to wear masks in school? Will the teachers? Thats going to make it awfully hard for kids who are hard of hearing to read lips. Or kids who are working on speech.

In Klara's class she has 5 students right now. In Ben's, I think he has around 14. I could be wrong about that number. And some will graduate up to Klara's class next year. So, in a school like that where class sizes are smaller, this would probably work well (maybe not for toddlers who like to stick everything in their mouths, but probably the rest of the school). But, I would still worry about bringing Ben back to school if the number of cases are increasing. It is not known for sure yet how transplant children fair with this virus, but Ben has another strike against him, he also has asthma. So, this would be even harder on his body.

Right now, in most of Abby's classes she has at least 32 kids. There is no way to keep them socially distant. I have seen some of her classrooms, they are not big enough to keep them 6 feet apart. And they do a lot of flexible seating in all 3 of my kids schools, so that would make things even more difficult. Also in lower grades, kids don't even know the meaning of not touching each other.I taught grades pre-k-first grade before becoming a DT. I know how much kids are all over each other! I do agree that children should keep up with their physicals and vaccines now more than ever! The last thing you need is to have your child get measles or chicken pox while worrying about covid!

And look, I DO want to send the kids back to school! I want them to be with their teachers, their friends, everyone. Learning in a classroom. But not if it's not safe and done right. Especially not with Ben. And if it's not safe for Ben, then that means Abby and Klara can't go back either because they could bring something back to him without even knowing.
Again, I do appreciate that this is a difficult situation, and the AAP is trying to give out some guidance on how to deal with this. I appreciate that they are doing the best they can to keep our kids as safe and healthy as possible in an unprecedented time.

*off my soapbox now*