The issues of health safety in schools and the workplace will need to be addressed in a more permanent manner. This isn't going to be the last pandemic. We've known for a long time about the importance of hand washing, and some areas with dense populations figured out the helpfulness of masks a while ago. Some of these new normal practices need to become standard operating procedures. The hand sanitizer in the car/purse is a forever thing as far as I am concerned.

So, still no vaccines. The Publix website opened at 6 AM this morning to register for several thousand doses available in my county. The page refreshed every 60 seconds, and they are all gone now. Have to try again at 6 AM Friday. I am on other waiting lists too. Bother.

{{Hil}}

I hope the puppy is feeling better today, meara.

My sister and niece both got their first shots, which I understand are pretty effective alone, (plus the niece had a mild case of COVID), so I feel ok about them going back to in-person teaching. My niece teaches the really young ones, in a red part of the country where mask wearing has likely not been consistently modeled by parents, and where the class sizes are large. So I had concerns. My sister’s students are older, from a demographic that’s better about masks, but she’s older, with underlying health conditions, so again I had concerns.

School infrastructure in many parts of the country is such that proper ventilation is unlikely in a lot of buildings. There’s been an active undercutting of teachers’ authority and expertise—largely by conservatives—that affects student willingness to listen to them, coupled with some parents being willing to give a feverish kid some Tylenol and send ‘em on in. Which is probably how my niece with a blood clotting disorder got COVID in the first place. So I’m inclined to listen to teachers who say face to face teaching in their work spaces isn’t safe.

That said, the US economy is designed for parents to have their children being educated elsewhere from around 7-3, five days a week. And I expect parents counted on that when planning their careers and families. Lots of employers aren’t understanding, and lots of jobs can’t be done while supervising a child’s (or children’s) education. And most two-parent families can’t just pivot to one parent being a full time home classroom assistant. That’s not how the US is set up, and the powers that be have done nothing to make that easier. So we’ve definitely got contradicting problems.

I still have no idea when I’ll get vaccinated. I don’t have kids and can work from home until I retire, if needed, so it’s less of an issue for me than for many. Sure would like to see the family this year, though.

I think my kids' high school could go back in person safely, but it would take a complete rearrangement of the schedule/curriculum and some additional space to do it. It's an older building (but I think windows open) with smaller classrooms and classes are usually 30-35 students. There are 7 bells and they switch after each one and the hallways are like the Toyko subways at rush hour. Study halls are in the cafeteria and are 150+ kids. (Total enrollment is over 3000, grades 7-12.) The curriculum allows a lot of customization of class schedules, so it's very hard to keep a group of kids in the same "pod" past 8th grade. They could have decided over the summer to limit class options (to allow for pods or wings of the school or whatever) for the sake of having school in person but they are also very hampered by the district in terms of what they can do.

The big problem (large, urban) public school systems are having is many, many of them were barely functioning before the pandemic, and they are large and complex bureaucracies where it is difficult to get anything done in good circumstances, there is not funding, and they are serving a population that is disproportionately poor. For those who have NYT access, our (magnet) high school is like Edison NJ, but the majority of the district is more like Washington, DC. [link]

In 'not all the kids are all right' news, Casper's best friend was admitted to a psych ward yesterday. But she is allowed phone calls and called Casper last night, and that seemed like it was good for both of them. It sounds like she will be there for a week.

From "The Reluctant Cannibal" on the album "At the Drop of a Hat" by Flanders & Swann circa 1957

May I suggest roast leg of insurance salesman? a chorus of yums ran 'round the table (this is a quote, not an actual suggestion!!!).

Our school district has been operating with a hybrid model since September and it's been...moderately successful? The most difficult thing for parents (and kids) is keeping track of the random days when the schools switch to full remote because so many of the teachers are in isolation due to exposure. I'm sure having some in-class time has been beneficial to the kids who are in the hybrid model, but keeping track of the schedule is a full-time job in itself.

My school has been back in person since Sept/Oct (they brought back a few grades at a time, starting with the youngest), and we've mostly been pretty lucky so far, with few cases and (as far as I know) no in-school transmission, but that may be changing: just yesterday a small cluster of cases emerged that may indicate they were infected at school. The more contagious strains are a major concern.

It must be said that my school is a private school that was able to install a whole new HVAC system over the summer, expand our health team so we can do in-house contact tracing, and change class schedules and cohort models to minimize students' exposure to each other. I'm well aware that many (most?) public schools don't have that kind of money or flexibility, so I don't see my experience as having much bearing on what other schools, teachers, or parents should do. It's such a shitty situation all around. Of course most parents want their kids to go back to in-person school. Of course most teachers want that too, but are also quite reasonably worried for their health. Teachers and school staff have died from this. Lots of kids aren't doing well at home. There are no good answers.

My mom's little Friends school is the same. They're so small (like, 100+ kids total) they were able to really finesse who would be where, using what bathroom, etc. They also have a lot of outdoor space they've been using daily, even now.

In the public schools, the issue seems to be that about 80% of families have decided to stay completely remote (we've been on a hybrid schedule, except for two weeks around the holidays), so the space the schools do have isn't being used to its fullest potential. But like Jessica said, the hybrid schedule is a nightmare to keep track of, and Sara decided it wasn't worth it to go to school two days a week, especially when some days she only has one or two classes.

Like Kate said, it's not ideal for anyone.

flea, I hope Casper's friend is all right. It does seem like a good sign that she called.

sigh ... another Word question for the hivemind. I'm working on another of these documents that have been worked on by multiple people. There's a section that has a full-page table on each page. BUT the pages keep leaving a large white space at the top. I've checked margins, I've checked the header/footer options, everything I could think of. When I go to the draft view, it shows the table being continuous, no section/page breaks, no extra blank lines. I suspect that the problem is that some of the cells are too long/tall to fit on the page, so it's shifting the table down. Help?

I suspect that the problem is that some of the cells are too long/tall to fit on the page, so it's shifting the table down

That makes sense, except I'd expect the blank space to be at the bottom of the page. Try selecting the table, right-clicking, and selecting Table Properties. There should be a check box that says "Allow row to break across pages." Select that and see what happens.

That's not working ... and, looking through, there's one page that has one not very tall row on the page. It's set to allow rows to break across pages, although some of the rows would fit nicely. There aren't section or page breaks ... it's driving me bonkers trying to figure out what's going on. I suspect that SOMEONE did something arcane with it.

Thanks for the advice ... I'll keep looking.