Pulling our daughter out of extracurriculars
I don’t have a ton of time to write because we’re taking my daughter out of afterschool activities (afterschool daycare and some extracurriculars) because of how bad covid has gotten in the Memphis area.
Last Friday, one of the neighboring school districts to us (in Arkansas) had to cancel in-person classes that day — students had to connect remotely — and they specifically cited covid as the reason. It’s not clear if it was due to too many teachers and support staff being out, student cases, or a combination of those or other factors.
In Tennessee, schools aren’t allowed to go virtual except if there’s a state of emergency declared by the governor and certain other strict criteria are met, which at the time people said was unlikely but which I guess we’re close to meeting, because of the covid positivity rate and number of new cases being so high.
For this reason, it’s very unlikely that our daughter’s school is going virtual any time soon, if ever. Unlike many districts in Tennessee there *is* a mask mandate here (which is being fought for in court since it’s possibly against state law), so that’s at least a very good thing.
So having our daughter go virtual isn’t an option without pulling her out of school completely, which my wife doesn’t want to do for several reasons. I would be more comfortable with enrolling her in a virtual school, but it’s a complicated situation. The partial solution my wife thought of was taking our daughter out of aftercare and extracurricular activities, since those are optional and they also likely pose the most risk — a lot of students from different grade levels and classes together.
It will mean changing our schedules, with mostly me taking on more childcare responsibilities since she’ll be home two hours earlier. And it’s really sad that she won’t be able to do things after school for the time being. She loves being at school, playing with friends after school, doing fun activities after a hard day of learning at school.
Pulling her out of after school activities is not a decision we made lightly. But omicron is unbelievably contagious — and I’m proof that even with being vaccinated, and having a booster (which my 7-year-old can’t have yet), it’s possible to get covid especially now that omicron’s the dominant strain.
If the adults in the room (and the planet) had done even 10% of what they could and should have done to stop the spread of covid, we would almost certainly not be in this situation. And my daughter and millions of kids wouldn’t be facing the daily risk of catching a disease that can be mild, but can also have life-changing effects in the short or long term.
🚨Please make sure to vote in the monthly poll to help me decide which progressive-friendly cause or organization will get a $50 donation. The poll closes Jan. 31 at 11:59pm Eastern. Thanks!
🚨 If you’re interested in doing a guest post (blog post, video, sharing something you’ve done, etc.), here’s more info on how and some previous ones that have been done! Guest post series.
