Coronavirus (lease, how much, homes)

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by saibot

You really didn't mean to offend by writing "god" with a small g and referring to God as "she"? Hmmm. (I am not Jewish either, and maybe the person you are responding to doesn't care about those things, but they do seem like trying to push someone's buttons).

Of course he did. Don't be silly.

[goodheathen]

Originally Posted by joosoon

I did explain --twice now.



If you don't want to believe me, that's fine. I'll just reiterate that I work at a school in a major district which is pioneering the recommendations made by actual experts in how to safely reopen. (hint: read that link) The idea of outdoor classrooms was explored and deemed too cumbersome to implement as a broad solution because it is. The reason you can't think beyond weather and noise as the only impediments is because you're not tuned in to what a classroom actually is. You can't just drag thirty chairs, students and a teacher outside and recreate the experience without the walls and a roof. Here's an article linked from SDUSD covering the same thing.



In short: Citing resource limitations and “requirements beyond what one might imagine,” Rowlands said the district is only considering “informal use of outdoor space,” such as for breaks. “The district’s intent is not to build a larger complex of outdoor spaces.” Martin said at the meeting that the ventilation tools and equipment seem to be replicating the fresh-air conditions of outdoor classrooms and asked again why outdoor classrooms aren’t being used. “What’s the problem?” she said. Rowlands said “the devil’s in the details. We’re a school district of 180-plus school campuses. … There’s things you don’t think about,” like the need for electricity outside to charge laptops."


Beyond those two things, there's the question of who brings everything outside and back indoors? And where does it all go? More importantly, the name of the game right now is 'cohorting' students. And even outdoors, these cohorts aren't meant to commingle and between them, social distancing is still required. Further to that point, schools don't have infinite outdoor space to achieve these two things across three dozen or more classrooms situated simultaneously in common areas (i.e outdoors). Ignoring other logistics, a campus with several hundred students on site doesn't have the breathing room to make this happen. This is precisely why A/B type scheduling is very likely to be the universal policy next school year where students are broken into groups and don't occupy campus grounds all at once. Where it's already happening (like where I work), the intricacies of keeping these distancing and separation of cohorts is challenging enough at about only a quarter the student population. This problem becomes even bigger in secondary schools due to the nature of students having multiple teachers and classmates for each individual subject. Simply moving it all outdoors doesn't change that dynamic, even if social distancing and cohorting weren't a thing. The problem would remain and it would become a logistics nightmare.

You hardly explained before. I just read the entire article. Maybe that's the right call for SDUSD, but in LAUSD, with default large class sizes and rarely spare classrooms to alleviate that, I think they have to use outdoor classes sometimes. Dragging equipment outside is rather silly - suppliers sell outdoor fixtures. Electricity shouldn't matter that much, for most devices have batteries and outdoor classes should be restructured to depend less on electronic devices. It might be not be as doable as I think, but I'm sure at least a small percentage of classes can be outside when the weather is okay.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

You didn't explain before. I just read the entire article. Maybe that's the right call for SDUSD, but in LAUSD, with default large class sizes and rarely spare classrooms to alleviate that, I think they have to use outdoor classes sometimes. Dragging equipment outside is rather silly - suppliers sell outdoor fixtures. Electricity shouldn't matter that much, for most devices have batteries and outdoor classes should be restructured to depend less on electronic devices. It might be not be as doable as I think, but I'm sure at least a small percentage of classes can be outside when the weather is okay.

It's not silly when the school budget doesn't have an endless supply of money for non essentials. Often times, they barely have enough for the essentials. Why do you think so many teachers dip into their personal accounts to buy supplies for their students?

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

Of course he did. Don't be silly.

Hi Mars . Why don’t you sift through my 14,700 + posts and find any instances where I have capitalized the ‘g’ in god ... and where I have referred to any god as a male.

Further, why don’t you explain how you know that this god so many revere is a he.

Then we can accuse me of trying to push the poster’s buttons

[goodheathen]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

It's not silly when the school budget doesn't have an endless supply of money for non essentials. Often times, they barely have enough for the essentials. Why do you think so many teachers dip into their personal accounts to buy supplies for their students?

These aren't ordinary times. The state is dumping big money into schools for this. I think districts can use some of it for outdoor equipment. Furthermore, I bet some of the suppliers would love to contract out to large school districts and might offer discounts to do so, and that's not even getting into the positive publicity suppliers could obtain that way.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

Hi Mars . Why don’t you sift through my 14,700 + posts and find any instances where I have capitalized the ‘g’ in god ... and where I have referred to any god as a male.

Further, why don’t you explain how you know that this god so many revere is a he.

That would be a waste of time because you've clearly stated you don't believe in God as have a couple of others here. And because you and they don't believe, it somehow makes you the experts? Maybe it would be wise to keep personal opinions about a person's faith out of these threads. There's an entire section of the site devoted to such topics.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by goodheathen

These aren't ordinary times. The state is dumping big money into schools for this. I think districts can use some of it for outdoor equipment. Furthermore, I bet some of the suppliers would love to contract out to large school districts and might offer discounts to do so, and that's not even getting into the positive publicity suppliers could obtain that way.

Buying separate furniture to accommodate outdoor learning is a waste of money. Last time I checked, desks and chairs weren't nailed to the floor. Drag them outside. It'll do the kids good to get a little physical exercise since most schools have eliminated P.E.

[Tulemutt]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

That would be a waste of time because you've clearly stated you don't believe in God as have a couple of others here. And because you and they don't believe, it somehow makes you the experts? Maybe it would be wise to keep personal opinions about a person's faith out of these threads. There's an entire section of the site devoted to such topics.

And because some others do believe, it makes them the experts? ... and entitles them to structure social and medical science functioning around their ideologies?

Mars, I didn’t raise opinions about anyone’s faith. Go back and read the sequence of posts that led to this tangent. A poster claimed that his religious dogma “required burial” within a certain time frame. No Covid EO imposes a restriction on burial, per se. The dead are being buried. My wife was just cremated. The social ritual of related gatherings has to be made virtual or postponed until the pandemic is under control.

Others here argued that faith should dictate. I responded that science should dictate. But I never questioned anyone’s faith. And now you have suggested that my personal definitions of god should be deemed invalid and disallowed?

[goodheathen]

Originally Posted by HereOnMars

Buying separate furniture to accommodate outdoor learning is a waste of money. Last time I checked, desks and chairs weren't nailed to the floor. Drag them outside. It'll do the kids good to get a little physical exercise since most schools have eliminated P.E.

Liability of moving the equipment and possible difficulty of maneuvering desks through doors. Moreover, normal chairs probably can rust if caught a few times in the rain. Maybe the legs of desks, too.

[JGC97]

Originally Posted by Tulemutt

And because some others do believe, it makes them the experts? ... and entitles them to structure social and medical science functioning around their ideologies?

Mars, I didn’t raise opinions about anyone’s faith. Go back and read the sequence of posts that led to this tangent. A poster claimed that his religious dogma “required burial” within a certain time frame. No Covid EO imposes a restriction on burial, per se. The dead are being buried. My wife was just cremated. The social ritual of related gatherings has to be made virtual or postponed until the pandemic is under control.

Others here argued that faith should dictate. I responded that science should dictate. But I never questioned anyone’s faith. And now you have suggested that my personal definitions of god should be deemed invalid and disallowed?

Faith should dictate one's personal life, if that's what they choose. It's no one else's business how a person believes and it's also no one's right to tell those who are Believers that they are ignorant or suffering from mental health issues. But that's what happens and it happens a lot, especially around here.

Funerals are for the living. Not the dead. And if that ritual gives the grieving some peace then so be it. It's not wrong but during this time, it's been very challenging and I feel badly for the families that had to postpone it.

I also believe in science but I still have faith. Albert Einstein regarded a person of faith as nothing more than childish superstitions but he did say science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind. I believe that we are gifted talents that are meant to help mankind and science is a valuable tool for that but without the talent of men and women searching, great achievements would never happen. I happen to believe that God gives us those gifts. No one else has to believe it. My beliefs won't affect anyone else's life yet there are so many who feel it's their job to tell me I'm wrong. Well good for them. They don't have to walk in my shoes so move on. One thing is certain. A number of people who had faith no longer do because of Covid and then there are some whose faith has been strengthened because of Covid. Puzzling indeed.

I'm still a little confused when someone tells me I'm believing in something that doesn't exist because then I have to ask how do they know it doesn't exist? Because they say so? There's irony in all of it as I've realized that while I have faith that God exists, an Atheist also has faith that He doesn't. So, you see we're all people of faith, one way or the other.

And, I'm very sorry to learn of your dear wife's death. You were a champion for her and took great care of watching over her health. She was lucky to have you in her corner.

Originally Posted by goodheathen

Liability of moving the equipment and possible difficulty of maneuvering desks through doors. Moreover, normal chairs probably can rust if caught a few times in the rain. Maybe the legs of desks, too.

Thank you for the chuckle. Liability? So if Sally breaks a nail because she had to move her desk outside, she'll file a claim with the Dept of Education? Rusted desks? No one is going to leave them out in the rain and I think they have enough smarts to look up in the sky to see if there are rain clouds up above.

I still remember days when we had to move our desks into a circle in the classroom. Getting our fingers pinched because our neighbor slammed their desk into ours. I tell you, the younger generation are a bunch of wimps. Sorry, rusted desks still has me chuckling. smh