Breathlessly waiting for Charlotte Mecklenberg Schools to decide how they're going to be starting the school year - virtually or in-person.

Feeling absolutely gutted. Any in-person option feels like a guarantee of COVID19 for both my fiancee and me.

Educators are absolute saints. I couldn't deal with having to go back to a building full of dozens of people right now, let alone hundreds.

The school board did several hours of commentary and testimony from medical professionals. They're about to open up debate.

Currently a rep is explaining their "Plan B": where all students start on Aug 17th, but classes are split into 3 tracks, where 1 track at a time comes to school in-person for 3-4 days.

Presumably the rest will be learning online from home on those days.

Basically, this is:
Group A for 3 days
Group B for 3 days
Group C for 3 days

etc

continuing throughout the school year

Oh, this is it - they're making a motion to approve this. Not much debate?

Wait... I think I got this wrong?

First 2 weeks will be an in-person rotation A, B, C, and then everyone is remote... I think?

Yeah, that's the motion. I don't hate that. Give kids a first day of school experience, and let them meet each other and their teachers.

Annnd now a substitute motion:

2 weeks of rotation
1 week off to let teachers catch their breaths
...and then back to rotations.

IMO, this is less-good.

The nurse making this proposal is giving some n=1 anecdotal reasoning for this being a good idea.

In addition to that, doctors are sending their kids to school (which is a fair point) - but you can bet that the children of doctors are far better off than impoverished kids.

Ruby M. Jones is speaking now (I can see her nametag!) - not sure her role, but she seems to be a voice of reason, and is speaking up for employees, folks without healthcare, and without money.

She made a great point that CMS cannot take the same measures as local hospital systems.

"Some of our schools are just not healthy environments"

Too right! Visit some of Charlotte's schools in poorer neighborhoods, and you'll be absolutely astonished.

she says, on visiting, Berry Hill Elementary school

"My lord! It feels like a third world country."

If you're not a teacher, imagine the board of your company talking about your office like this -- and then telling you that you have to go back to work. There's no way.

We leave our educators and education administrators high and dry in every possible way. Asking them to put themselves in danger right now -- when the rest of the world is being told to stay distant -- is completely buckwild.

Substitute motion fails! 2-7.

Now a move to approve option B + Remote (the first motion)

I can feel the blood trickling back into my extremities from my heart.

If you have a child in school this year -- please, please(!) give their teachers and administrators the benefit of the doubt.

They have bigger hearts than the rest of us, and do a thankless job for peanuts.

It is our job as a community to raise the next generation to be better than we are. It takes a MF village, y'all.

Plug: my favorite education-related charity is Pencils of Promise - https://pencilsofpromise.org/  @PencilsOfPromis

A board member makes a very good point that they need more time to plan things like daycare, jobs like school cafeteria staff, etc

Need to figure out how to offer pay to bus drivers, cafeteria staff, etc during period of remote learning. This is a great point! We'll need these people as soon as in-person learning comes back.

Superintendent:
2100 employees who are in positions that cannot be done remotely.

$3.8M every 2 weeks to pay these staff members.

CMS is absolutely MASSIVE - that's why it's so difficult to make decisions like this, and why it's so easy to forget about the people/places we don't see in our immediate neighborhood.

Superintendent: paying these folks would be fine for a few weeks, but after that it becomes problematic, and we need to figure out how we're going to pay these people.

PS - a reminder that it's 9:45pm. This marathon board meeting shows that they're taking this seriously, and trying to address an issue that we're wholly unprepared for in a tremendously complex system.

We appreciate you, CMS board - this is hard work.

This is an elected position, and I'm sure NONE of these folks thought they'd be getting into this kind of problem solving when they ran for the position.

They're currently discussing a need for periodic checkpoints, and the ability to make a data-driven decision for when kids go back into the classroom.

Yes, yes, yes. Listen to the experts, the numbers, and the science.

Earlier, a medical professional was asked if he'd send his kid to CMS schools - he said yes.

When asked if he'd send his kid to a school with a 30% infection rate, he hesitated, and gave a far less committed answer.

This was on the heels of a point about schools in impoverished areas facing much higher rates of infection - which tracks with spread of the disease locally.

Once again, CMS is huge! We can't leave these people behind.

We need creative solutions to these problems. Couldn't agree more.

There's a call for community members to participate in this.

If you:
- WEAR YOUR FUCKING MASK
- socially distance
- wash your hands

you are helping all of us. All of our neighbors, and their kids.

I haven't been keeping to myself since March because I love being alone. It's because I love each and every one of you, and expect you would do the same for me.

WE MUST LOWER RATES OF COMMUNITY SPREAD

A paraphrased quote from the [NC?] CDC Director: "If all of us would put on a face covering now, for the next 4-6 weeks, we could drive this epidemic into the ground"

High School student and CMS Board member (so cool) Schuhl makes some excellent points about how important it is for us all to put ourselves in the shoes of our most disadvantaged neighbors.

Get this kid a podium and the biggest soundsystem in the world.

Call for a vote -- ah, shoot, almost!

Someone wants to speak. Meeting is now 5.5hrs long(!)

The gentleman is asking for a recommendation from the Superintendent of schools. He concurs that this is his rec.

The question-asker (a board member) is pointing out that schools are essential services.

He argues that he "hasn't heard a single reason to go fully remote"

I suppose that's right, if you ignore...
- concerns about PPE
- concerns about disease spread
- concerns about poor/disenfranchised families
- concerns about schools in bad condition
- concerns about teacher absenteeism

He's framing his argument as a concern for equity and the value of in-school learning - which is fair. But we'll get back to that (eventually).

I believe that was Sean Strain - https://www.cms.k12.nc.us/boe/Pages/sean_strain.aspx

I'd say he must be fun at parties, but ain't nobody going to parties right now, so... he must be fun at home?

Hey anyway, before I make a mess yelling at public officials online - let's get on to a vote!

VOTE! 7 in favor, 1 oppose, 1 abstain. Motion passes.

CMS will go back Aug 17th for 2 weeks of partial classrooms, followed by remote learning.

Board member Strain was out of his chair and nearly out of the room before the movement to adjourn was passed. Sour grapes.

Alright, that's all for this thread. Do something nice for an educator you know, and make a donation to @PencilsOfPromis if you can.

Be excellent to each other!