Second Semester 2020/21 School Year

William Nelson4 said:Personally, I don't see the issue. It’ll probably end up being handled that way anyway—more spacing, maybe just a handful of kids in a dedicated classroom in Chicago. If they take the CTA to get to school, that's on them. The epidemiologists write the rules, not me.

I'm honestly just sitting here waiting for some official link that says you can "live your life normally in quarantine, just with extra precautions," or whatever that one user was rambling about above.
The whole thing sounds like total nonsense to me.
And this kind of stuff could end up costing people a fortune, or worse, someone accidentally ends up in the crosshairs of someone in isolation because they were nearby. But hey, people love to interpret safety guidelines however they feel like it, especially on a public forum.
If someone finds a link that proves me wrong, fine, I'll eat my words.

Who on earth claimed it was possible to live a normal life there?

urbantinker8 said:It's absolute nonsense, really.🤦
I'm just hoping someone in her inner circle ended up giving her a lift to the testing site in a private car instead.

Let me tell you what the epidemiologist actually said to me. My niece, who lives in NYC and doesn't even own a vehicle, received the exact same instructions—just grab a taxi and go.

In my estimation, Fox seems significantly more steadfast than Divjak when it comes to these particular matters, so I am inclined to believe they might actually make it possible this year for anyone with the slightest bit of willpower to get out there...

Look, high school graduation exams are gonna roll out just like they did last year once everyone figures out the rhythm. Everything usually settles down eventually. I mean, teachers always find a way to pivot and just make it work somehow.
The administration is probably being smarter this time around, so there shouldn't be any massive meltdown.
But man, the local news is acting all dramatic, making it sound like some huge crisis because they’re pushing the exam dates back by five days... like, chill. Last year, they just had the different test levels on separate days and nobody blinked.

Honestly, the real question is how long they're gonna keep forcing these kids into remote learning.

Drew Johnson2 said:And there simply aren't any elementary schools available, nor are there municipal spaces that could be repurposed for this purpose for those few days.
It seems there are nothing but problems and absolutely zero solutions... quite typical, really.

The claim that there isn't enough suitable space is, frankly, nonsense.

Even in the past, high school graduation exams weren't strictly limited to high school classrooms.

Nicholas King said:Who on earth claimed it was possible to live a normal life there?

Check Post 1070, man.

Nicholas King said:The claim that there isn't enough suitable space is, frankly, nonsense.

Even in the past, high school graduation exams weren't strictly limited to high school classrooms.

You really don't have a clue what you're talking about. Not even a little bit.

Feel free to keep rambling away in your usual high-brow style; you've clearly got your followers, and I guess that's all you really need anyway.👍

I'm reading.

Where, exactly, does it say I can actually live a normal life?

Nicholas King said:I'm reading.

Where, exactly, does it say I can actually live a normal life?

There’s a protocol for when people from places like the Rust Belt can go out, work, and move around normally. It's just that the whole area is under heavy surveillance.

And you think that isn't living normally? Come on, don't be dramatic. A lot of us have dealt with lockdowns before, not just you.

BrokenEmpire said:During the fall testing period, students in quarantine were allowed out with extra precautions. This happened at a time when very few people had actually been exposed to the virus, especially now that more people have immunity—which will definitely increase by summer due to recovery or vaccinations. Preventing healthy students from taking their SATs just because they are in isolation is nothing short of negligence.

I’d say it feels more like a deep desire to punish those who happen to be in quarantine.
It starts with the assumption that they got sick partying, or perhaps they caught it from parents who—instead of making sure their kids are studying for finals—are out grabbing lattes on a patio.

Quarantine is becoming a preventative measure that’s losing its purpose, mainly because people are starting to hide their contacts. They're hiding everything from pay cuts to missing out on activities, like working on a thesis or prepping for a big competition.
Lately, people have even been hiding contacts from three months ago because nobody wants to deal with another round of isolation once they've recovered and the risk of getting sick again is slim.

Think about it this way: if Student X comes to school for two days while having an infected family member at home, and then eventually develops symptoms herself, forcing her entire class into quarantine—despite everyone wearing masks and keeping windows open—just seems wrong. If that's the case, then Mary, the history teacher, and Barbara, the math teacher, should have been the ones in isolation if they were in that classroom that day. If they weren't sent home, then clearly the masks and social distancing are doing their job.

Even if the teachers didn't get sick, they might have passed it to their families (leading to those posts on Reddit about how kids bring the virus into school where it spreads invisibly everywhere).
If they kept working and grabbed coffee in the lounge or shared a pizza, they might have passed it to the geography, English, art, or PE teachers. Even if those teachers stayed healthy, they could pass it to their students, who then take it home. And suddenly, you see more posts on Reddit blaming the school for spreading the virus through the kids. But of course, in these arguments, it’s never blamed on Mary, Barbara, or a cup of coffee—it's always blamed on Student X.

At this point, mandatory isolation is losing its logic, and preventing someone from taking a standardized test on schedule is frankly inhumane. People are hiding their exposure. A student could end up stuck in isolation because of a parent or a sibling, where they actually have a higher chance of catching the virus and truly getting sick, rather than being forced into it just because of a classmate. With these kinds of rigid attitudes, people will simply stop reporting their exposure to protect a healthy student from unnecessary isolation.

I'm not talking about someone who is genuinely ill and can't sit for an exam due to a 104 fever, a broken arm, or stomach issues. No one would have shown up for an exam in 2014 under those conditions either. So, if someone happens to wake up sick on the day of the test, well, that's just life.

urbantinker8 said:You really don't have a clue what you're talking about. Not even a little bit.

Feel free to keep rambling away in your usual high-brow style; you've clearly got your followers, and I guess that's all you really need anyway.👍

Is it actually "condescending" to state an elementary fact—namely, that high school graduations weren't exclusively held on high school campuses back in the day—or is it just your way of reducing your entire "argument" to "you don't know anything, I know everything, but I simply refuse to explain it"? Because, naturally, if one isn't part of your enlightened inner circle, one is completely ignorant...

And please, let's get to the inevitable parade of mindless emojis and "hehehe" replies; I assume that isn't considered "condescending" either. Good grief, it’s as if your very existence depends on being unable to actually defend your claims.

I find all this dramatic fuss over missing the state exams a bit ridiculous, honestly. We’re essentially conditioning kids—or rather, students—to believe the world will bend over backwards for them, constantly accommodating their every whim. Then, once they actually step out into the real world, they hit the pavement hard.

Look, regardless of COVID-19, there are plenty of other ailments that might sideline you, and frankly, nobody cares. If you end up with a stomach bug right before a massive exam at a university like NYU, do you really think the professor gives a damn? They’ll just tell you, "Better luck next year, buddy." They aren't going to reschedule an entire midterm just because one student is feeling under the weather. If you're late to a job interview that could have been a career-defining moment—well, sorry, but they’re just going to hire whoever actually showed up. If you miss your flight for any reason at all? Too bad. Catch the next one.

Adult life isn't filled with sympathetic homeroom teachers or principal figures who collect excuse notes and hand out tenth chances to someone like Mark, who has spent nine consecutive history exams dealing with sudden nausea.

Don't get me wrong—it’s unfortunate when a student gets hit by COVID-19 right during finals, or during any major life milestone—be it a sister’s wedding or a driving test. But who exactly is going to organize a secondary testing window for everyone? It’s unmanageable. My mother’s friend spent weeks quarantined in her house, barely leaving to go to work, just to ensure no one in the family caught it—all so her daughter could test negative before traveling abroad to find a better life. If that girl had tested positive, do you really think anyone would have offered her a second chance? Or take my acquaintance who couldn't even attend her grandmother's funeral because she was stuck in isolation.

Personally, I've had quite enough of the panic surrounding the virus—this whole idea of locking people down while, on the flip side, everything seems fair game if you happen to be a celebrity or a loyal voter for Bloomberg's crowd.

In my view, the solution would be simple: allow students in isolation to take a test before their exams. If they're negative, let them sit for the test alongside everyone else. And it shouldn't just be for students; if you're stuck in quarantine, pay for your own test and get back to your life.

William Nelson4 said:There’s a protocol for when people from places like the Rust Belt can go out, work, and move around normally. It's just that the whole area is under heavy surveillance.

And you think that isn't living normally? Come on, don't be dramatic. A lot of us have dealt with lockdowns before, not just you.

Of course saying "there is a protocol where people can still go out, work, and move about normally" doesn't exactly equate to "living a normal life."

Drew Johnson2 said:And there simply aren't any elementary schools available, nor are there municipal spaces that could be repurposed for this purpose for those few days.
It seems there are nothing but problems and absolutely zero solutions... quite typical, really.

Maybe you could just ask them while you're signing up as a volunteer why the DM never holds these things at local elementary schools.

Anyway, there’s this specific role called the exam coordinator, and there is only one assigned to each school, so it’s basically impossible for them to be in two places at once. They’re responsible for picking up, handing out, and collecting all the tests, handling all the tedious paperwork once everything wraps up, and then printing and distributing certain test questions (HJ) that arrive right before the exams actually start.
They also have to be physically present on-site for the entire duration of the testing period just in case anything weird happens or some issue pops up.
So, I really don't see how they could manage running multiple locations for a single school.
This person has these duties baked into their yearly workload, so it isn't really feasible to just appoint several people on the fly at every school, or to rely on volunteers—not that I'm trying to get ahead of anyone's suggestions here.
And, just to stay ahead of Nicholas King's complaints about how overly sophisticated or complicated everything is: I suppose that person doesn't need to be Einstein, but they probably should have the ability to be in two places at once.🤔

Sean Stewart said:I find all this dramatic fuss over missing the state exams a bit ridiculous, honestly. We’re essentially conditioning kids—or rather, students—to believe the world will bend over backwards for them, constantly accommodating their every whim. Then, once they actually step out into the real world, they hit the pavement hard.

Look, regardless of COVID-19, there are plenty of other ailments that might sideline you, and frankly, nobody cares. If you end up with a stomach bug right before a massive exam at a university like NYU, do you really think the professor gives a damn? They’ll just tell you, "Better luck next year, buddy." They aren't going to reschedule an entire midterm just because one student is feeling under the weather. If you're late to a job interview that could have been a career-defining moment—well, sorry, but they’re just going to hire whoever actually showed up. If you miss your flight for any reason at all? Too bad. Catch the next one.

Adult life isn't filled with sympathetic homeroom teachers or principal figures who collect excuse notes and hand out tenth chances to someone like Mark, who has spent nine consecutive history exams dealing with sudden nausea.

Don't get me wrong—it’s unfortunate when a student gets hit by COVID-19 right during finals, or during any major life milestone—be it a sister’s wedding or a driving test. But who exactly is going to organize a secondary testing window for everyone? It’s unmanageable. My mother’s friend spent weeks quarantined in her house, barely leaving to go to work, just to ensure no one in the family caught it—all so her daughter could test negative before traveling abroad to find a better life. If that girl had tested positive, do you really think anyone would have offered her a second chance? Or take my acquaintance who couldn't even attend her grandmother's funeral because she was stuck in isolation.

Personally, I've had quite enough of the panic surrounding the virus—this whole idea of locking people down while, on the flip side, everything seems fair game if you happen to be a celebrity or a loyal voter for Bloomberg's crowd.

In my view, the solution would be simple: allow students in isolation to take a test before their exams. If they're negative, let them sit for the test alongside everyone else. And it shouldn't just be for students; if you're stuck in quarantine, pay for your own test and get back to your life.

Well, I suppose that’s exactly why this is such a heated debate—people are practically fighting tooth and nail against any possibility of letting quarantined students sit for their exams.

BTW, comparing this to missing a flight is a massive reach, and claiming that you have to wait an entire year to retake an exam just because you were sick? That's simply not true.

urbantinker8 said:People in isolation are potentially sick and contagious, I suppose.
And honestly, if you don't grasp that, you might not be the sharpest tool in the shed.

But then again, there's also a massive level of discrimination in knowingly exposing everyone who comes in contact with a student—who just absolutely has to test on that specific day or never again—to a potential infection.
What if that student actually is infected and passes it to the teachers proctoring them, and suddenly those teachers end up in a COVID ward at a local hospital?
I guess nobody cares about that, right? As long as they get into their chosen major.🤦
Would you think it was okay if teachers, who are also supposed to be isolating, had to spend hours proctoring students during finals? Like, just "well, if someone gets sick, they get sick"? Because apparently, it's too much trouble to take sick leave and risk a pay cut from the district.🕺
Let's not talk nonsense; just look out for yourselves and your kids in the weeks leading up to graduation. It shouldn't be that difficult to manage.

👍

Let me say it one more time: nobody is being told to undergo self-isolation because they aren't at any risk of getting infected or falling ill.
I mean, would you honestly feel okay with people just going about their business and hanging out with children while they are supposed to be in isolation?
(Since you work in healthcare, I find it hard to believe you’d actually advocate for people in isolation having "normal movement."😲)

Exactly.
I suppose an "absolute emergency" probably doesn't include wandering out three or four times a day to attend a graduation ceremony.

urbantinker8, let's settle this once and for all.
Tomorrow—though God forbid, of course—you might be operated on by a surgeon, while being monitored by an anesthesiologist who, according to protocol, stepped out of quarantine and is under heightened surveillance. And you wouldn't even know. So, sleep soundly.

Susan James said:I’d say it feels more like a deep desire to punish those who happen to be in quarantine.
It starts with the assumption that they got sick partying, or perhaps they caught it from parents who—instead of making sure their kids are studying for finals—are out grabbing lattes on a patio.

Quarantine is becoming a preventative measure that’s losing its purpose, mainly because people are starting to hide their contacts. They're hiding everything from pay cuts to missing out on activities, like working on a thesis or prepping for a big competition.
Lately, people have even been hiding contacts from three months ago because nobody wants to deal with another round of isolation once they've recovered and the risk of getting sick again is slim.

Think about it this way: if Student X comes to school for two days while having an infected family member at home, and then eventually develops symptoms herself, forcing her entire class into quarantine—despite everyone wearing masks and keeping windows open—just seems wrong. If that's the case, then Mary, the history teacher, and Barbara, the math teacher, should have been the ones in isolation if they were in that classroom that day. If they weren't sent home, then clearly the masks and social distancing are doing their job.

Even if the teachers didn't get sick, they might have passed it to their families (leading to those posts on Reddit about how kids bring the virus into school where it spreads invisibly everywhere).
If they kept working and grabbed coffee in the lounge or shared a pizza, they might have passed it to the geography, English, art, or PE teachers. Even if those teachers stayed healthy, they could pass it to their students, who then take it home. And suddenly, you see more posts on Reddit blaming the school for spreading the virus through the kids. But of course, in these arguments, it’s never blamed on Mary, Barbara, or a cup of coffee—it's always blamed on Student X.

At this point, mandatory isolation is losing its logic, and preventing someone from taking a standardized test on schedule is frankly inhumane. People are hiding their exposure. A student could end up stuck in isolation because of a parent or a sibling, where they actually have a higher chance of catching the virus and truly getting sick, rather than being forced into it just because of a classmate. With these kinds of rigid attitudes, people will simply stop reporting their exposure to protect a healthy student from unnecessary isolation.

I'm not talking about someone who is genuinely ill and can't sit for an exam due to a 104 fever, a broken arm, or stomach issues. No one would have shown up for an exam in 2014 under those conditions either. So, if someone happens to wake up sick on the day of the test, well, that's just life.

🤣🤣🤣
That's coming from the person who, over thousands of posts since last September, has rambled endlessly about daycare teachers shaving their kids' heads and bringing viruses into the center because, apparently, a virus couldn't possibly originate anywhere else.
oof, you really stepped in it this time.🐔🙂

I’m not talking about someone who is genuinely ill and can't sit for an exam because they have a 104 fever, a broken arm, or severe stomach issues. That person wouldn't have even left the house back in 2014. So, if someone happens to get sick on the day of the exam, well, that's just life, I guess.

And what exactly was the big tragedy there? Why wasn't there any flexibility or makeup dates provided for things like stomach flu, especially when we're looking at isolated cases? And why didn't those students just enroll in Psychology during the next semester?🙂

I have an idea.
Why don't professors just hang out at the apartments of students dealing with stomach bugs, ear infections, bronchitis, or anyone stuck in the ICU?
Maybe then they could take their exams instead of the ones with broken arms, since, heaven forbid, they might end up losing a whole year anyway.🕺

"It’s just impossible."

"Absolutely impossible."

"Simply out of the question."

Lock this thread already. You people clearly have no clue what you're talking about, and frankly, nothing here is even remotely possible.

urbantinker8 said:Maybe you could just ask them while you're signing up as a volunteer why the DM never holds these things at local elementary schools.

Anyway, there’s this specific role called the exam coordinator, and there is only one assigned to each school, so it’s basically impossible for them to be in two places at once. They’re responsible for picking up, handing out, and collecting all the tests, handling all the tedious paperwork once everything wraps up, and then printing and distributing certain test questions (HJ) that arrive right before the exams actually start.
They also have to be physically present on-site for the entire duration of the testing period just in case anything weird happens or some issue pops up.
So, I really don't see how they could manage running multiple locations for a single school.
This person has these duties baked into their yearly workload, so it isn't really feasible to just appoint several people on the fly at every school, or to rely on volunteers—not that I'm trying to get ahead of anyone's suggestions here.
And, just to stay ahead of Nicholas King's complaints about how overly sophisticated or complicated everything is: I suppose that person doesn't need to be Einstein, but they probably should have the ability to be in two places at once.🤔

But what if that person happens to be on vacation the day the high school seniors take their exams? Does the entire national testing schedule just get canceled? Is there really no backup plan?

mellowskipper said:urbantinker8, let's settle this once and for all.
Tomorrow—though God forbid, of course—you might be operated on by a surgeon, while being monitored by an anesthesiologist who, according to protocol, stepped out of quarantine and is under heightened surveillance. And you wouldn't even know. So, sleep soundly.

I am sleeping perfectly fine, and honestly, I can't quite believe what I'm reading.

Drew Johnson2 said:But what if that person happens to be on vacation the day the high school seniors take their exams? Does the entire national testing schedule just get canceled? Is there really no backup plan?

There actually is.
I suppose there are protocols in place for when a coordinator is unable to carry out their duties.