Howard County remote until April 2021.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As another Howard County resident and parent to two students in HCPSS, I am also proud of the board and their handling of the situation. As we have seen over the last 10 months, the situation changes every month. In addition to the changing infection, hospitalization and death rates, there is also a change in what the science is telling us about the efficacy of masks, how the virus is transmitted, what sanitation is required, what surfaces are likely transmissions.

I like how HCPSS closed for the first two quarters and then said that discussion about 3rd quarter would begin on a certain date (I believe it was 10/22). The discussion then began with the knowledge of what the current state of the pandemic was and the current thoughts on what was safe. If they had used metrics, when there was a lull in the summer, they would have spent a lot of BoE time discussing metrics and preventative measures which would have been outdated and not necessarily comprehensive by October, let alone January and they would have to go back and revise the recommendations for January anyways. What's the point?

The schools and teachers did a lot or work to redesign the teaching curriculum for distance learning. I heard from friends who have children in other states who were in hybrid mode, then had to convert to full DL when there was an infection and several classrooms of teachers and students who were in the contact tracing circle had to quarantine, but then the teachers were not prepared for converting to completely DL (they barely had time to prepare lessons and assignments for hybrid without preparing for both hybrid and full DL) and the classes were off-track and makeshift as the teachers redesigned the lesson plans for fully on-line.

Making the decision per quarter was significantly smarter. It allows the teachers to commit to a mode of teaching and to design the curriculum, assignments and lesson plans around the teaching model in use for the entire quarter. And at the start of each quarter, the BoE can start to decide based on the current status and situation what mode of teaching the following quarter will be. So, at the start of the 2nd quarter, the discussion began and ended with remaining closed for 3rd quarter. In January, the BoE can discuss based on the state of pandemic, whether it is safe to consider going into an in-person or hybrid model for the 4th quarter.

I think this is the best way to compromise between analyzing the safety and giving teachers the time to design the lesson plans and assignments to the teaching model in use.

+1000

Too bad the decision was so great for the safety of teachers and so terrible for a significant amount of the students trying to learn. You can have all the great lesson plans and assignments you want, but without unpaid teaching assistants called parents this year - as well as supplementing - you do not have quality education. The kids without parental support will be falling behind at a significantly higher rate. So +1000 for teachers and privilege, I guess. Stay safe if you can?

Privilege? You think this is about teacher privilege ? Good God. What is it about this pandemic that you don’t understand.

We might have kids fall behind, but more people will live. Try to understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As another Howard County resident and parent to two students in HCPSS, I am also proud of the board and their handling of the situation. As we have seen over the last 10 months, the situation changes every month. In addition to the changing infection, hospitalization and death rates, there is also a change in what the science is telling us about the efficacy of masks, how the virus is transmitted, what sanitation is required, what surfaces are likely transmissions.

I like how HCPSS closed for the first two quarters and then said that discussion about 3rd quarter would begin on a certain date (I believe it was 10/22). The discussion then began with the knowledge of what the current state of the pandemic was and the current thoughts on what was safe. If they had used metrics, when there was a lull in the summer, they would have spent a lot of BoE time discussing metrics and preventative measures which would have been outdated and not necessarily comprehensive by October, let alone January and they would have to go back and revise the recommendations for January anyways. What's the point?

The schools and teachers did a lot or work to redesign the teaching curriculum for distance learning. I heard from friends who have children in other states who were in hybrid mode, then had to convert to full DL when there was an infection and several classrooms of teachers and students who were in the contact tracing circle had to quarantine, but then the teachers were not prepared for converting to completely DL (they barely had time to prepare lessons and assignments for hybrid without preparing for both hybrid and full DL) and the classes were off-track and makeshift as the teachers redesigned the lesson plans for fully on-line.

Making the decision per quarter was significantly smarter. It allows the teachers to commit to a mode of teaching and to design the curriculum, assignments and lesson plans around the teaching model in use for the entire quarter. And at the start of each quarter, the BoE can start to decide based on the current status and situation what mode of teaching the following quarter will be. So, at the start of the 2nd quarter, the discussion began and ended with remaining closed for 3rd quarter. In January, the BoE can discuss based on the state of pandemic, whether it is safe to consider going into an in-person or hybrid model for the 4th quarter.

I think this is the best way to compromise between analyzing the safety and giving teachers the time to design the lesson plans and assignments to the teaching model in use.

+1000

Too bad the decision was so great for the safety of teachers and so terrible for a significant amount of the students trying to learn. You can have all the great lesson plans and assignments you want, but without unpaid teaching assistants called parents this year - as well as supplementing - you do not have quality education. The kids without parental support will be falling behind at a significantly higher rate. So +1000 for teachers and privilege, I guess. Stay safe if you can?

Privilege? You think this is about teacher privilege ? Good God. What is it about this pandemic that you don’t understand.

We might have kids fall behind, but more people will live. Try to understand.

You don't understand. These people DON'T CARE. They care about no one and nothing except and exclusively getting their kids into school buildings at all costs.

Then we start the idiotic rants about how since minimum wage cashiers at Chipotle can't sell burritos via Zoom (and the government has completely failed at providing any opportunity for them to not starve or be homeless while not doing so during a pandemic), that teachers cannot (even though they ARE and have been for MONTHS and MONTHS) teach remotely because these people don't like it and they want their kids in buildings.

Insane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

You don't understand. These people DON'T CARE. They care about no one and nothing except and exclusively getting their kids into school buildings at all costs.

Then we start the idiotic rants about how since minimum wage cashiers at Chipotle can't sell burritos via Zoom (and the government has completely failed at providing any opportunity for them to not starve or be homeless while not doing so during a pandemic), that teachers cannot (even though they ARE and have been for MONTHS and MONTHS) teach remotely because these people don't like it and they want their kids in buildings.

Insane.

God, you are just miserable. I think the "Chipotle rant" you are referring to was me. To start, again, I am supportive of DL. But, what I said was that anyone claiming restaurant and retail workers can make a choice simply not to work, as you argued, was wrong and that many people make their careers in those fields as well. You responded by claiming I was comparing educators to those in retail/food industry as well as stating that people do not consider their work in those latter fields a career. Both statements are completely false, in regard to the "career" question, just speak to the owners and managers of shops and restaurants as well as bartenders, etc. But yes, shockingly, I have a great deal of concern and compassion for those in the retail and food industries who are suffering from COVID both in regard to their health and their financial security in ways that other workers--lawyers, accountants, and yes teachers in HoCo--currently do not face. That concern does not mean I think we should throw everyone back into offices to even the karmic score, for heavens sake.

I'm also the poster who you assumed didn't know AFT was a teachers union when I posted a resource from the union on how to evaluate possible avenues toward reopening. You also, while again attacking me for "only" wanting to reopen schools when I had AGAIN reiterated I was supportive of DL, didn't engage with any of the substance of that guide.

I genuinely can't decide if you're just here as a troll or only log-in after too many glasses of wine. The strawmen you create are numerous and absurd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As another Howard County resident and parent to two students in HCPSS, I am also proud of the board and their handling of the situation. As we have seen over the last 10 months, the situation changes every month. In addition to the changing infection, hospitalization and death rates, there is also a change in what the science is telling us about the efficacy of masks, how the virus is transmitted, what sanitation is required, what surfaces are likely transmissions.

I like how HCPSS closed for the first two quarters and then said that discussion about 3rd quarter would begin on a certain date (I believe it was 10/22). The discussion then began with the knowledge of what the current state of the pandemic was and the current thoughts on what was safe. If they had used metrics, when there was a lull in the summer, they would have spent a lot of BoE time discussing metrics and preventative measures which would have been outdated and not necessarily comprehensive by October, let alone January and they would have to go back and revise the recommendations for January anyways. What's the point?

The schools and teachers did a lot or work to redesign the teaching curriculum for distance learning. I heard from friends who have children in other states who were in hybrid mode, then had to convert to full DL when there was an infection and several classrooms of teachers and students who were in the contact tracing circle had to quarantine, but then the teachers were not prepared for converting to completely DL (they barely had time to prepare lessons and assignments for hybrid without preparing for both hybrid and full DL) and the classes were off-track and makeshift as the teachers redesigned the lesson plans for fully on-line.

Making the decision per quarter was significantly smarter. It allows the teachers to commit to a mode of teaching and to design the curriculum, assignments and lesson plans around the teaching model in use for the entire quarter. And at the start of each quarter, the BoE can start to decide based on the current status and situation what mode of teaching the following quarter will be. So, at the start of the 2nd quarter, the discussion began and ended with remaining closed for 3rd quarter. In January, the BoE can discuss based on the state of pandemic, whether it is safe to consider going into an in-person or hybrid model for the 4th quarter.

I think this is the best way to compromise between analyzing the safety and giving teachers the time to design the lesson plans and assignments to the teaching model in use.

+1000

Too bad the decision was so great for the safety of teachers and so terrible for a significant amount of the students trying to learn. You can have all the great lesson plans and assignments you want, but without unpaid teaching assistants called parents this year - as well as supplementing - you do not have quality education. The kids without parental support will be falling behind at a significantly higher rate. So +1000 for teachers and privilege, I guess. Stay safe if you can?

Privilege? You think this is about teacher privilege ? Good God. What is it about this pandemic that you don’t understand.

We might have kids fall behind, but more people will live. Try to understand.

You don't understand. These people DON'T CARE. They care about no one and nothing except and exclusively getting their kids into school buildings at all costs.

Then we start the idiotic rants about how since minimum wage cashiers at Chipotle can't sell burritos via Zoom (and the government has completely failed at providing any opportunity for them to not starve or be homeless while not doing so during a pandemic), that teachers cannot (even though they ARE and have been for MONTHS and MONTHS) teach remotely because these people don't like it and they want their kids in buildings.

Insane.

The schools needed to stop 100% for the year. No DL. If you want to save lives and keep the buildings closed, I'm all for it. If you want to keep an even playing field and keep kids on the same level without needing to tax ever stretched thin families and stressed kids with the extra weight of managing DL at home, close. Completely close. No DL. Just close. Only families with stay at home parents or ones with very flexible lives or independent kids are managing this well with student actually learning. If you are doing great with DL, congrats. I don't think it's the vast majority.
Why keep this up another semester or two and stretch stressed out families? To widen the gap? Why?
Close and reopen when it's safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As another Howard County resident and parent to two students in HCPSS, I am also proud of the board and their handling of the situation. As we have seen over the last 10 months, the situation changes every month. In addition to the changing infection, hospitalization and death rates, there is also a change in what the science is telling us about the efficacy of masks, how the virus is transmitted, what sanitation is required, what surfaces are likely transmissions.

I like how HCPSS closed for the first two quarters and then said that discussion about 3rd quarter would begin on a certain date (I believe it was 10/22). The discussion then began with the knowledge of what the current state of the pandemic was and the current thoughts on what was safe. If they had used metrics, when there was a lull in the summer, they would have spent a lot of BoE time discussing metrics and preventative measures which would have been outdated and not necessarily comprehensive by October, let alone January and they would have to go back and revise the recommendations for January anyways. What's the point?

The schools and teachers did a lot or work to redesign the teaching curriculum for distance learning. I heard from friends who have children in other states who were in hybrid mode, then had to convert to full DL when there was an infection and several classrooms of teachers and students who were in the contact tracing circle had to quarantine, but then the teachers were not prepared for converting to completely DL (they barely had time to prepare lessons and assignments for hybrid without preparing for both hybrid and full DL) and the classes were off-track and makeshift as the teachers redesigned the lesson plans for fully on-line.

Making the decision per quarter was significantly smarter. It allows the teachers to commit to a mode of teaching and to design the curriculum, assignments and lesson plans around the teaching model in use for the entire quarter. And at the start of each quarter, the BoE can start to decide based on the current status and situation what mode of teaching the following quarter will be. So, at the start of the 2nd quarter, the discussion began and ended with remaining closed for 3rd quarter. In January, the BoE can discuss based on the state of pandemic, whether it is safe to consider going into an in-person or hybrid model for the 4th quarter.

I think this is the best way to compromise between analyzing the safety and giving teachers the time to design the lesson plans and assignments to the teaching model in use.

+1000

Too bad the decision was so great for the safety of teachers and so terrible for a significant amount of the students trying to learn. You can have all the great lesson plans and assignments you want, but without unpaid teaching assistants called parents this year - as well as supplementing - you do not have quality education. The kids without parental support will be falling behind at a significantly higher rate. So +1000 for teachers and privilege, I guess. Stay safe if you can?

Privilege? You think this is about teacher privilege ? Good God. What is it about this pandemic that you don’t understand.

We might have kids fall behind, but more people will live. Try to understand.

You don't understand. These people DON'T CARE. They care about no one and nothing except and exclusively getting their kids into school buildings at all costs.

Then we start the idiotic rants about how since minimum wage cashiers at Chipotle can't sell burritos via Zoom (and the government has completely failed at providing any opportunity for them to not starve or be homeless while not doing so during a pandemic), that teachers cannot (even though they ARE and have been for MONTHS and MONTHS) teach remotely because these people don't like it and they want their kids in buildings.

Insane.

The schools needed to stop 100% for the year. No DL. If you want to save lives and keep the buildings closed, I'm all for it. If you want to keep an even playing field and keep kids on the same level without needing to tax ever stretched thin families and stressed kids with the extra weight of managing DL at home, close. Completely close. No DL. Just close. Only families with stay at home parents or ones with very flexible lives or independent kids are managing this well with student actually learning. If you are doing great with DL, congrats. I don't think it's the vast majority.
Why keep this up another semester or two and stretch stressed out families? To widen the gap? Why?
Close and reopen when it's safe.

Thanks for nothing. There are many many kids getting quite a bit out of the DL program here in HOCO. So, if it isn't exactly what you want, which cannot happen, you want NOTHING? And you think that will not widen a gap? Is this the most crazy of all or what? So tired if whiny people who cannot adapt, accept change, etc. Figure out a way to do as best as possible. Don't throw a tantrum just because it isn't like it was. So childish.

[Anonymous]

The schools needed to stop 100% for the year. No DL. If you want to save lives and keep the buildings closed, I'm all for it. If you want to keep an even playing field and keep kids on the same level without needing to tax ever stretched thin families and stressed kids with the extra weight of managing DL at home, close. Completely close. No DL. Just close. Only families with stay at home parents or ones with very flexible lives or independent kids are managing this well with student actually learning. If you are doing great with DL, congrats. I don't think it's the vast majority.
Why keep this up another semester or two and stretch stressed out families? To widen the gap? Why?
Close and reopen when it's safe.

PP, I am reading your words and sensing the sadness and frustration you feel about continuing in DL. That is understandable, especially if you are one of the families with kids for whom DL isn't working. This is a difficult time, and so much responsibility for adapting and supporting student learning is being put on parents that it sometimes feels as though your needs and the needs of your kids don't matter at all. I get it. I am an HCPSS parent. While my kids are doing ok now, I've been at the lowest of the low point in my life with one of my kids and I was completely let down by HCPSS to the point then I thought no one cared at all about my family. It still hurts to think about that time.

Right now, there isn't much that can be done to reopen schools any time soon. All the anger and outrage in the world isn't going to change that. With that understanding, do you have any thoughts or ideas about what could be offered, either through HCPSS or in the community, that would help your family? Your needs matter too. What, short of reopening schools, would help?

I wish we would stop shouting at each other, argue less, and listen more to each member of the community who is struggling. You aren't a failure or a bad parent if you are having a hard time with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

The schools needed to stop 100% for the year. No DL. If you want to save lives and keep the buildings closed, I'm all for it. If you want to keep an even playing field and keep kids on the same level without needing to tax ever stretched thin families and stressed kids with the extra weight of managing DL at home, close. Completely close. No DL. Just close. Only families with stay at home parents or ones with very flexible lives or independent kids are managing this well with student actually learning. If you are doing great with DL, congrats. I don't think it's the vast majority.
Why keep this up another semester or two and stretch stressed out families? To widen the gap? Why?
Close and reopen when it's safe.

PP, I am reading your words and sensing the sadness and frustration you feel about continuing in DL. That is understandable, especially if you are one of the families with kids for whom DL isn't working. This is a difficult time, and so much responsibility for adapting and supporting student learning is being put on parents that it sometimes feels as though your needs and the needs of your kids don't matter at all. I get it. I am an HCPSS parent. While my kids are doing ok now, I've been at the lowest of the low point in my life with one of my kids and I was completely let down by HCPSS to the point then I thought no one cared at all about my family. It still hurts to think about that time.

Right now, there isn't much that can be done to reopen schools any time soon. All the anger and outrage in the world isn't going to change that. With that understanding, do you have any thoughts or ideas about what could be offered, either through HCPSS or in the community, that would help your family? Your needs matter too. What, short of reopening schools, would help?

I wish we would stop shouting at each other, argue less, and listen more to each member of the community who is struggling. You aren't a failure or a bad parent if you are having a hard time with this.

PP here. Thank you. Yes. Sadness. Frustration. Feeling like those who have stay at home parents or money for daycare don't get the frustrations of seeing your children fall behind because there is no one home to help them log on. Why is it so hard for some to realize that it is truly a privilege to be ABLE to adapt. Sometimes, there is no flexibility. None.
I am trying my best. My kids are trying their best. There is little learning happening with DL in our house. I finish assignments for them at midnight that they couldn't find in the tools to do themselves. I'm answering emails about what missing assignment where is an issue and who didn't log in when -- as if I can do ANYTHING about it at 10pm when the class was at 9am.

I have to work. The kids are old enough to stay home solo, but yes, they are still pre-teens and even with discipline, they miss classes. If this continues another year, I don't how some can not see the widening gap. How can you not see it?

We do need to stop screaming at each other. It's not a reopen so things can be the same and I can have daycare. I don't need daycare. My kids can stay home solo. They can't stay home solo and somehow navigate DL on their own.
We will all get through the pandemic eventually. I don't think it's safe to open schools. I'm not asking for schools to open. I want someone to see the issue is not just reopening schools. The major gap has been widening for years and now, either forget grades and pushing ahead and wait until it's safe, or help those who don't have the support systems of the students who are thriving.

[Anonymous]

Some of the parents
seriously need to calm down. I feel like they are worse than the way children behave.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-1228-howard-school-board-student-20201223-y75cld47qzez3hhwav47f3hkzm-story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of the parents
seriously need to calm down. I feel like they are worse than the way children behave.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-1228-howard-school-board-student-20201223-y75cld47qzez3hhwav47f3hkzm-story.html

I'm so embarrassed about the SMOB suit and the protest in front of the BOE member's house, even as a person sympathetic to parents whose kids are struggling with DL. Talk about the wrong way to make your point.

However, I'm perplexed about where things stand. I've been told in this threat that it's not ok to talk about planning to return to school at some point because we are in a surge, but then last night the BOE and Super were talking about presenting models that might be used to return to school if the metrics allowed. And the members expressed priorities for reopening plans. So it's ok to talk about planning for reopening again?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of the parents
seriously need to calm down. I feel like they are worse than the way children behave.

https://www.baltimoresun.com/opinion/editorial/bs-ed-1228-howard-school-board-student-20201223-y75cld47qzez3hhwav47f3hkzm-story.html

I'm so embarrassed about the SMOB suit and the protest in front of the BOE member's house, even as a person sympathetic to parents whose kids are struggling with DL. Talk about the wrong way to make your point.

However, I'm perplexed about where things stand. I've been told in this threat that it's not ok to talk about planning to return to school at some point because we are in a surge, but then last night the BOE and Super were talking about presenting models that might be used to return to school if the metrics allowed. And the members expressed priorities for reopening plans. So it's ok to talk about planning for reopening again?

Well, its OK to talk, probably, about a scenario in the coming months that might begin to allow a discussion, but I think it's clear that we are no way near that- with so many unknowns. So, no one is saying no, but they are saying that none of us are ready to say...onn this date, with these metrics, etc., because groups like this simply have zero understanding of what's at stake. They are pissed the schools weren't open in August! They are also happy to spread false info.

Frankly, it appears to be the Fall of 2021 where this will begin to be an option. The vaccine is now rolling out, we have to see what that means in the next months.We are all new at this. Metrics aren't really usable when it allows for death, not just incidence, but maybe Md might drop so low in incidence, that it is a real opportunity. But vigilante mobs are not the answer.

[Anonymous]

Thank god we’re moving to private school. HCPSS is such a mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank god we’re moving to private school. HCPSS is such a mess.

It isn't. Most school systems are virtual....l over the country. What's a mess are some parents, thank goodness not many, who are just having trouble accepting reality and are taking it to social media.

The county and school system leadership are both just tremendous. The teachers have gone over and above. Impressed, but also super proud.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank god we’re moving to private school. HCPSS is such a mess.

It isn't. Most school systems are virtual....l over the country. What's a mess are some parents, thank goodness not many, who are just having trouble accepting reality and are taking it to social media.

The county and school system leadership are both just tremendous. The teachers have gone over and above. Impressed, but also super proud.

My family absolutely love Howard County Public Schools! My children's teachers are phenomenal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank god we’re moving to private school. HCPSS is such a mess.

It isn't. Most school systems are virtual....l over the country. What's a mess are some parents, thank goodness not many, who are just having trouble accepting reality and are taking it to social media.

The county and school system leadership are both just tremendous. The teachers have gone over and above. Impressed, but also super proud.

Let me guess, teacher?

There are plenty of school systems in the US which are open for in-person instruction including Carroll county until the latest surge of cases. You can be impressed by DL if it works for your student. If it doesn't, no one is forcing you to keep your child in the system. We didn't. Couldn't be happier to have left the virutal instruction for those it works well for -- not our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank god we’re moving to private school. HCPSS is such a mess.

It isn't. Most school systems are virtual....l over the country. What's a mess are some parents, thank goodness not many, who are just having trouble accepting reality and are taking it to social media.

The county and school system leadership are both just tremendous. The teachers have gone over and above. Impressed, but also super proud.

Let me guess, teacher?

There are plenty of school systems in the US which are open for in-person instruction including Carroll county until the latest surge of cases. You can be impressed by DL if it works for your student. If it doesn't, no one is forcing you to keep your child in the system. We didn't. Couldn't be happier to have left the virutal instruction for those it works well for -- not our kids.

No, I am not a teacher. I work as a Fed contractor and have been working virtually since March, and will probably be virtual for at least another 6 months. I expect teachers and children to be afforded the same amount of safety as I have.

.
Not working for you? Find a way to make it work, as I have. Understand that the world in peril doesn't owe you something it cannot give right now. Figure out Plan B.