WaPo: How D.C. and its teachers, with shifting plans and demands, failed to reopen schools

[Anonymous]

I wish I was being paid 350k to accomplish nothing - aka our chancellor. I’m with Empower Ed - we need a new system

[Anonymous]

Schools are open for in-person learning in about half the country. Here’s a map

https://cai.burbio.com/school-opening-tracker/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Per pupil spending in DC is sky high (https://www.asumag.com/research/top-10s/article/21131107/states-with-the-highest-perpupil-expenditure-201718) and THIS is the best we can do? Schools should have been opened August through November. Instead precious time was wasted.

Looking forward to voting against everyone mentioned in this article and the candidates they support.

DCPS wastes incredible amounts of money on useless pet projects of the Chiefs and Deputy Chiefs. They claim to make data driven decisions but in reality, they manipulate the data to suit their purposes. At least 50% of the money is wasted

[Anonymous]

How incompetent is DCPS Central that they presented wrong data about the achievement gap growing? And their dumb surveys? Who are these people? I would be fired if I tried to pass on such shoddy work at my company. It must be a pretty low bar at Central to get a job there. And then they are arrogant enough that they make a plan with no input from parents, teachers or principals. How can you not include principals? My 12th grader has more sense than this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:All this in a city that has consistently had some of the lowest coronavirus levels in the country. Even today, there’s only three states with better numbers than ours.

Teachers should be ashamed of themselves.

This was all so unnecessary. Schools should have opened in August.

Private schools opened in August. Many daycares never closed, ever, during the pandemic.

The comparison is not fair. Maybe compare DCPS to the successful reopening of DC charter schools and nearby districts like FCPS and PGCPS.


Oh wait..

The local school districts are taking cues from each other. As long as one stays closed, it provides cover for the others to do the same.

No way. I don’t think MCPS cares a fig what DCPS does.

FCPS 188,000 students
MCPS 162,700
PGCPS 136,500

DCPS 51,000

Who should be able to manage this first?

[Anonymous]

I like how all the daycares and nearly all private schools managed to open. But the public schools that the poor and middle class depend on couldn’t. And when you ask why, they accuse you of wanting free babysitting. Public school is not free!! 65% of our taxpayer dollars go to it. We all pay a lot and received absolutely nothing. Also, babysitters work hard, don’t denigrate them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools are open for in-person learning in about half the country. Here’s a map

https://cai.burbio.com/school-opening-tracker/

Schools have been open for in person learning in much of the country for almost six months now. Seems pretty clear at this point that it’s safe.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Howard County is the same and a hot.hot.mess

They aren’t even planning to go back until 12/21.

Are you nuts? They said April 2021. And they mean all kids which is really what will end up happening in DC too.

I am not nuts. Listen to the last board meeting. 12/21 is what they are working towards. Mark my words.

If you think 4/21 is happening, you are nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like how all the daycares and nearly all private schools managed to open. But the public schools that the poor and middle class depend on couldn’t. And when you ask why, they accuse you of wanting free babysitting. Public school is not free!! 65% of our taxpayer dollars go to it. We all pay a lot and received absolutely nothing. Also, babysitters work hard, don’t denigrate them.

When you ask why they try to shut you up by accusing you of “hating your children,” being “entitled,” or, gasp, worst of all, “white.” It’s such a naked ploy to end all opposition to indefinite school closures. Sad that it has been so effective. For evidence, just check out the comments on the WaPo article.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like how all the daycares and nearly all private schools managed to open. But the public schools that the poor and middle class depend on couldn’t. And when you ask why, they accuse you of wanting free babysitting. Public school is not free!! 65% of our taxpayer dollars go to it. We all pay a lot and received absolutely nothing. Also, babysitters work hard, don’t denigrate them.

When you ask why they try to shut you up by accusing you of “hating your children,” being “entitled,” or, gasp, worst of all, “white.” It’s such a naked ploy to end all opposition to indefinite school closures. Sad that it has been so effective. For evidence, just check out the comments on the WaPo article.

Ugh, I haven't read the comments to this article, but I've been reading comments on articles on this topic in the NYT and WaPo since the summer and was initially surprised at the almost unanimous support for keeping kids out of school. Back in the summer I was assuming it was mostly boomers without school-aged kids commenting, but I guess we now know that a substantial part of DC parents are on board with this gerontocratic approach to schools during Covid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like how all the daycares and nearly all private schools managed to open. But the public schools that the poor and middle class depend on couldn’t. And when you ask why, they accuse you of wanting free babysitting. Public school is not free!! 65% of our taxpayer dollars go to it. We all pay a lot and received absolutely nothing. Also, babysitters work hard, don’t denigrate them.

When you ask why they try to shut you up by accusing you of “hating your children,” being “entitled,” or, gasp, worst of all, “white.” It’s such a naked ploy to end all opposition to indefinite school closures. Sad that it has been so effective. For evidence, just check out the comments on the WaPo article.

Ugh, I haven't read the comments to this article, but I've been reading comments on articles on this topic in the NYT and WaPo since the summer and was initially surprised at the almost unanimous support for keeping kids out of school. Back in the summer I was assuming it was mostly boomers without school-aged kids commenting, but I guess we now know that a substantial part of DC parents are on board with this gerontocratic approach to schools during Covid.

Teachers are way over-represented in the comments of the WaPo article and others. They are very vocal that a slight risk to their health outweighs the certain harm happening to kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like how all the daycares and nearly all private schools managed to open. But the public schools that the poor and middle class depend on couldn’t. And when you ask why, they accuse you of wanting free babysitting. Public school is not free!! 65% of our taxpayer dollars go to it. We all pay a lot and received absolutely nothing. Also, babysitters work hard, don’t denigrate them.

When you ask why they try to shut you up by accusing you of “hating your children,” being “entitled,” or, gasp, worst of all, “white.” It’s such a naked ploy to end all opposition to indefinite school closures. Sad that it has been so effective. For evidence, just check out the comments on the WaPo article.

Ugh, I haven't read the comments to this article, but I've been reading comments on articles on this topic in the NYT and WaPo since the summer and was initially surprised at the almost unanimous support for keeping kids out of school. Back in the summer I was assuming it was mostly boomers without school-aged kids commenting, but I guess we now know that a substantial part of DC parents are on board with this gerontocratic approach to schools during Covid.

Teachers are way over-represented in the comments of the WaPo article and others. They are very vocal that a slight risk to their health outweighs the certain harm happening to kids.

Someone said it earlier, but I also think wanting to keep schools closed has also become a hallmark of woke liberals. DC is a very liberal city and people don’t want to be labeled a “trumper”, “racist”, “murderer”, “grandma hater”, whatever liberals are labeling people as today. I am a liberal, btw. But one sick of being unable to have reasonable dialogue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I like how all the daycares and nearly all private schools managed to open. But the public schools that the poor and middle class depend on couldn’t. And when you ask why, they accuse you of wanting free babysitting. Public school is not free!! 65% of our taxpayer dollars go to it. We all pay a lot and received absolutely nothing. Also, babysitters work hard, don’t denigrate them.

When you ask why they try to shut you up by accusing you of “hating your children,” being “entitled,” or, gasp, worst of all, “white.” It’s such a naked ploy to end all opposition to indefinite school closures. Sad that it has been so effective. For evidence, just check out the comments on the WaPo article.

This. When I think about WTU's messaging over the last 10 months, the word that comes to mind is "flailing". There were valid arguments for closing schools in March, and keeping them closed until June. And there were and continue to be valid arguments for making serious changes to school for the 2020/2021 school year in order to protect teachers, students, and families. And I think if we'd opened in September, we would have closed in November, and I think that would have been the right choice probably based on how cases have spiked.

But among the arguments I've heard are:

-- School isn't childcare. Sorry, but school is childcare whether you want it to be or not, especially for early grades. If you really don't think school is childcare, be prepared to see ECE programs cut and many, many teachers and aides laid off because one of the primary purposes of those programs is to provide high quality, low-cost childcare (which, by the way, isn't some dumb service but actually and important and vital function) to thousands of city children. So if school isn't childcare, it's a lot less valuable to many people, which means the professionals providing that service are less valuable. Why should I pay taxes for an ECE program AND pay for separate childcare for my kids. Makes no sense.

-- Parents who complain hate their kids. What? Parents are complaining because they love and are worried about their kids. What a bizarre, backwards argument. I am complaining and have been complaining because I can see the myriad of ways in which this situation is hurting my kid, and it upsets me. If I hated my kid, I'd just lock her in her room or let her watch TV all day and not care. But I love her, so I'm doing my best with an impossible set of circumstances and I'm enraged that the people I thought also cared about my kid don't seem to care at all what is happening.

-- DL is just as good as in-person. In fact, better! This one is amazing to me. I get that some kids might prefer DL for a variety of reasons, but for teachers or schools to argue that this is a sufficient replacement for in-person teaching seems like career suicide. For two reasons. First, because if it's possible to provide an education this way, then we spend way too much money on education. And second, because IME most DCPS teachers (many of whom are fantastic in-person) simply do not have the skill set to teach online. They're skill set is in in-person teaching, not in navigating technology or communicating via email all the time. When you argue that DL is an equal substitute for in-person learning, you are nullifying a lot of your own experience as an asset. This is dumb! Don't do this.

What the union and teachers should have done is agree that they are essential, agree that there is no true substitute for in-person school, and then used that as leverage to get all the PPE, pay increases, etc. that they deserved. And parents would have backed them up because who wouldn't want their very essential teacher to get the protection and pay that she deserves to that she can teach? The choice to try and downplay the value of their profession, to minimize their own essential nature, was so weird and counter-intuitive to me and I will never understand it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How incompetent is DCPS Central that they presented wrong data about the achievement gap growing? And their dumb surveys? Who are these people? I would be fired if I tried to pass on such shoddy work at my company. It must be a pretty low bar at Central to get a job there. And then they are arrogant enough that they make a plan with no input from parents, teachers or principals. How can you not include principals? My 12th grader has more sense than this.

Central office has way too many people doing work that leads to nothing. They even phrased the lowering of grading expectations as grade social justice or something ridiculous like that. It’s a joke.

[Anonymous]

^^ Well said.