Over the past 5 months both of my elderly parents have been in and out of the hospital. My father had a six week stay a few months ago. I would visit and stay most of the day, seven days a week. All visitors were required to wear a mask at all times. So, I know what it’s like to wear a mask for 10 or 12 hours straight. Honestly, I got used to it very quickly. I would wear the mask for hours and hours and almost forget that it was on. I think most children could easily adjust to wearing the mask. Some might even like it, as they may view it as an “adult” thing to do. Other children may want to wear the mask because it makes them feel if as they are doing their part to end the pandemic. Wearing the mask is just not that much of an inconvenience in my opinion. Even it only saves a few lives, I think it’s worth it. I have no problem with some children being allowed to go without a mask for various reasons if need be. But, I think most children would be eager to do their part if asked to do so. So, I’m in favor of mask mandates with exceptions allowed instead of virtual learning.
My 2 boys (12 & 15) received their 2nd dose a week ago. I've asked them to wear masks regardless. We're in Conroe ISD which isn't likely to enforce a mandate. My ex-wife is an elementary school teacher in Willis ISD. She is not and apparently does not plan to get vaccinated. She's an idiot. Always has been...especially when it comes to vaccines. Just took me too many years to see it. She got sick 1 time after a flu shot and that was the end of it. What "if"? The Delta variant is dangerous to children, period.
I teach at a high school in california and that city is 90% fully vaccinated for 12 and up, and i've been vaccinated since Jan. We're also fully masked, so masks required anytime you're indoors. So far, it seems to be going well, and i feel pretty safe because of the high vaccination rates, but i feel for those teachers who teach in low vaccination areas, just awful.
Are K-12 schools even allowed to go virtual in Texas? I thought they would lose funding for doing that this year.
Cy Fair ISD offered virtual for K-6 since those students are too young to get a vaccine. But that registration day has passed.
TEA isn't providing funding for virtual learning, so districts would have to foot the bill. Fort Bend, for example, is offering limited virtual instruction at a cost of 10 million to the district.
Since the TX Supreme Court suspended/struck down county and school mask mandates this looks like a pretty good workaround... And coming out of NE Texas too? https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...kes-masks-part-dress-code-get-around-n1277040
KISD in the last few days just began offering virtual for K-5. Superintendent said he didn’t want KISD to be a political football and would follow Abbots order and kids would be encouraged to wear masks. First day of school is today. Just like last year I anticipate a major spike as kids bring it home to their families. Judge Hidalgo just issued a mask requirement for all employees and visitors in Harris County buildings at 5pm yesterday. Over 2,000 employees of Harris County have been diagnosed with COVID or 1 out of 8 in total with 200 cases in the last two weeks. With school starting and the holidays coming spikes are going to start rising. Thankfully a lot of people are now vaccinated.
School districts are trying to get around the "no mask mandate" edit by including the mask into the school's dress code....
Seems like such a simple solution. Dare the governor to try to dictate dress codes to local school districts.
I'd much prefer school with masks than virtual school. Virtual school was better than nothing, but not enough. My kids, teens and tweens, have no problem wearing masks for hours on end. They play indoor sports in masks with no problem. It really is not much of an imposition at all. We will already be taking a bigger risk profile by attending schools in person and reducing social distancing. It strikes me that doing this with a mask mandate is already pretty ballsy. To do it without a mask mandate is just negligent. I got my kids out of public school this year for reasons unrelated to Covid but it helps for Covid. The kids' private schools, like probably most private schools in Texas, will mandate masks indoors, even for the vaccinated. Governor Abbott's grandkids (if he has grandkids of school age) would probably go to a private school and that private school would have a mask mandate. Apparently actors in the private sphere who only need to please their own customers (and conservative ones at that) choose mask mandates when free to do so. That's how obvious this is, and shows how ridiculously negligent Abbott's policy is. I mostly agree with your attitude that the vaccinated should not be asked to continue to change their behavior for the benefit of those who refuse to be vaccinated. However: 1. Kids are disallowed from vaccination by regulation, not by choice, so they deserve some deference. 2. I think it is reasonable to ask for special caution in certain environments where people are likelier to be vulnerable -- like hospitals and schools. Nobody objects to mask requirements at hospitals and schools should be no different. 3. Given the seeming prevalence of breakthrough cases, the vaccinated should perhaps be more cautious for their own sake.
My concern is that, given Abbott's executive order, even if the schools win this stand-off, they'll still lose. They will have a contingent of kids, bigger in conservative areas, that will defy the school mask orders because they feel that the school has overstepped their authority and tread on personal freedom by requiring them. The effect would be smaller if Abbott would reverse himself and allow schools to make their own rules, and even smaller if Abbott would himself mandate the masks.
Oh absolutely - but we all know he's not going to do that. He already sued San Antonio and Dallas schools on it, so he's not backing down. This is a super-Republican area that just changed its dress code. I want to see what Abbott does. Does he try to claim he has authority over local districts' dress codes? How does that play out? Or does he finally back down, and every other district adopts this model? There's no way he'll reverse any of his current orders, though.
I mean this has given him a convenient out so I would think he would take it. Who knows. At my school district in Austin, we have parents screaming about freedom/etc when the superintendent has said that they can't punish anyone for not wearing a mask (even though the school is requiring them). I'm just waiting for these parents to start arguing evolution shouldn't be taught in schools (I recall how touchy it was back in the 90s)....
Maybe parents will start ripping more teachers' masks off likes in Westlake: https://www.kxan.com/news/education...rent-while-others-yell-at-her-school-reports/
This is interesting - a group of students with disabilities filed a federal lawsuit against Abbott: https://www.kxan.com/news/texas-pol...ral-lawsuit-against-gov-abbott-over-mask-ban/ I don't know where this goes, but he won't have the protection of the Texas Supreme Court here.
Yeah that is my district. Stevens came within a few percentage points of winning a board seat, so that says a lot about our district. When the superintendent came out requiring masks (after the appeals court overturned Abbott), she emailed the trustees calling them a**holes. She even posted a pic of her email to them online (then she deleted it or at least I can't see it anymore).... I know a handful of parents that have pulled their kids from Eanes for a variety of reasons given the ugliness that has been coming to light between a heated election, etc. I've always leaned heavily towards public schools, but man this year makes me question a lot.
