Author: /u/Truthamania

I say this with the upmost respect, because I know all of our lives have been turned upside down unexpectedly by this climate. And I know that the year’s worth of work that our FBISD teachers had prepared, including lesson plans, testing strategies, semester plans, etc have all gone out of the window in short order thanks to the current situation we find ourselves in. We’re all just doing out best.

That said, as a working parent still working 40+ hours a week for a company that is just looking for a reason to cut costs via a few layoffs or furloughs, the amount of resources I’m having to dedicate to homeschooling via Schoology, rather than focusing on my job, is very unfair.

I have two sons in elementary school and assumed that there would be a much greater levels of independent work. I also assumed perhaps the teachers would be homeschooling via Zoom, perhaps 50% of the kids at a time, 8am-12pm and the other 50% 2pm-4pm?

Instead my sons are having to not only use Schoology itself, but then there are apps within apps – Clever, Kiddle, BrainPop, WeVideo, all requiring registrations, usernames and passwords. Sometimes the password is a simple series of numbers, sometimes it’s their lunch number, sometimes it’s another ID number all together. Some parts of Schoology don’t load on tablets, others don’t load on Chrome, or Safari, or Explorer. I’ve spent more time on the phone with Technical Support than I have checking in with certain family members.

Every five minutes, my poor sons are asking me for something:

• download this .doc into Microsoft Word, complete, and reupload into Schoology.
• draw a picture, take a picture with your phone, send to your email, download to your desktop, download as an image and submit to schoology as an assignment.
• open this power point presentation, complete the work, save it, upload it and submit.

And that’s just for ONE course. Nevermind the social studies, science, math, language arts, reading, etc.

I’m sorry but this is absolutely ridiculous. No working parent trying to work 8-5 to keep a job and keep a roof over all our heads possibly has the time and energy to be doing all of this for ONE child, nevermind those with multiple children. Is this really as good as it gets? This is a full time job unto itself and now that the the district is closed throughout the remainder of the school year, I don’t understand how working parents are expected to keep this juggling routine up before something gives.

I know it’s not y’alls fault and this comes from the admin and the districts, but this is seriously an awful system. Not all of us have more than one parent in a household in order to balance the load, nor are we not working or working part time, etc with time to devote to our kids like this.

If anyone knows of anything coming down the pike to relieve some of this pressure, let me know. And if any working parents out there have coping strategies for balancing these roles (in addition to being chef, entertainer, cleaner and the usual household roles!) it would be appreciated.

Simple math: No testing = No Positives = No Panicking

I feel like the US overall has been lulled into a false sense of security due to the overall lack of testing. Here in the Houston area, we’ve been told that there were a small handful of cases in Fort Bend due to a Egyptian cruise, and a few other presumptive cases scattered around Houston. Sure, the number is growing, but to the average dolt, less than a hundred cases in a population of 2+ million is nothing to be too concerned about.

Now that is testing is being rolled out, however, I expect those positive numbers to skyrocket and put us right in line with what’s being seen in the UK and parts of Europe. People being shocked to learn they’re symptomless carriers, or that the dry cough and fatigue they’ve had for the last week wasn’t actually just allergies.

If everything is legit and honest, will we:

a) see the number of Houston cases leap from 60-70 to 10,000s in less than a week or two as the tests are completed?

b) see more panic and anarchy as the true extent of the spread is revealed?

Let me know your thoughts on what we can expect to see in the upcoming weeks as these tests are finally being conducted.

Like many of you on here, I really cherish our beloved Space City Weather, especially during hurricane season, for their rational, matter-of-fact presentation of the weather reports. I love reading their reasonable summaries without the sensationalism of other media sources.

With that in mind, is there an equivalent source that anyone would recommend that is reporting local health updates in an equally sensible, rational way based on the current crisis?

Everything I’m finding online swings between ridiculous downplaying to the other extreme of “The End is Nigh!” hysteria by the fear mongering mass media.

As someone based in Houston with both elderly relatives and one young son with what may be considered a “compromised immune system” (Asthma, very sensitive to allergies and chest infections, etc) I’m really just looking for some facts without the madness.

Any help is greatly appreciate, thank you.