Closed Tuesday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope schools are open, I understand that I am not in a position to have all the relevant information and I'm just dealing with it. Stuff happens.

this

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This question might be off topic, but if we do open this week, won’t we need to do 2 hour delays everyday - since there’s a danger that Middle Schoolers who walk in the early morning could be hit by cars?

Yes and that’s fine by me. It feels like the right amount of risk tolerance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This question might be off topic, but if we do open this week, won’t we need to do 2 hour delays everyday - since there’s a danger that Middle Schoolers who walk in the early morning could be hit by cars?

Every day there a risk someone could get hit by a car..

[Anonymous]

2 hour delays throughout the week would be ideal. For one, they only lose useless time like advisory periods, but still get to see each teacher. And the sunlight makes a HUGE difference in terms of safety. I was driving last night and a kid just jumped out in front of my car from behind a snow bank. Thank god I was driving well under the speed limit and was able to brake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This question might be off topic, but if we do open this week, won’t we need to do 2 hour delays everyday - since there’s a danger that Middle Schoolers who walk in the early morning could be hit by cars?

Every day there a risk someone could get hit by a car..

You're being deliberately obtuse. School attendance is compulsory. Children are told that their transportation to school is walking. The walkways (sidewalks) for safe pedestrian travel are blocked by ice. They can walk on mountains of snow and ice or walk in the street. The school puts the children at risk by instructing them to come to school while knowing their option for getting there puts them at significantly elevated risk of severe injury.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren’t we doing virtual?

What do you picture when you say “virtual”? Are you thinking purely asynchronous work? Synchronous instruction?

People keep bringing this up. If you are going to do virtual instruction it needs to be planned ahead of time. You can’t just flip a switch and do it. Students and teachers both need to be prepped on expectations, especially if any type of synchronous instruction is going to happen. You’d have to make sure to send their laptops and Chromebooks home before the storm.

Not the person you are responding to, but I think if you warned students in advance that they need to have laptops in case of virtual and you remind them then of rules, then it can be done. You remind them again when the virtual session starts of rules. You don't even need to use all the class time. Just have a check in, teach something so when you revisit it, it is not the first time they heard it, but if people don't join they don't completely lose out. Then have a little asynchronous work that they can self-check. Sure some will just cheat, but quite a few won't and it will only help them when they return to schol. In the case of AP classes I would definitely have some zoom classes.

Exactly. In advance. That hasn’t been done. Keep in mind that what you are suggesting probably won’t be so simple with ES students. Maybe the expectations will be different for those in ES, but that all has to be understood beforehand. You can’t just say, “Online instruction begins tomorrow”.

Yes virtual learning is not a simple thing at all, as everyone should remember. We're at, what, day 3.5? This seems like a massive overreaction.

I probably wouldn’t be so put off by this if a five day week was the standards and not exception. For a lot of working parents, the calendar is such a mess and we do everything we can to make it work. But when things like this happen and there’s no apparent effort to problem solve, it feels like a bridge too far for me. I’m glad you might not feel like this, it’s not a nice feeling to fear that my kids aren’t getting the education I thought they would when we chose to live here. Not based on a couple of snow days but on the culmination of a lot of factors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I've been so disappointed in my broader neighborhood. There are so many houses with pristine, cleared driveways and untouched sidewalks. The worst are the corner lots, where people just decided that it was too much work to break up the ice.

As part of this, a big problem has been the lack of help for the older folks. But I understand it. It is normally a 10-15 minute job to shovel someone's sidewalk in a normal 1/4 acre residential neighborhood. In these conditions it ends up being an hour-plus.

There's nothing that FCPS can do to make this better. They just have to decide what is the tipping point where the kids have missed enough school that it is ok to send them out in potentially dangerous conditions.

Everyone here is disappointed.....disappointed in neighbors(maybe they were sick or injured and couldn't help)....disappointed in school systems....no one seems to want to say that this is not a normal storm and VA does not have the resources to clean up they way up north does. Kids safety matters-all kids not just yours. Everyone will have to be disappointed-we have the snow days and we never use them all. This was a big and intense storm. It is what it is~stop with the teacher hate they don't make the calls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren’t we doing virtual?

What do you picture when you say “virtual”? Are you thinking purely asynchronous work? Synchronous instruction?

People keep bringing this up. If you are going to do virtual instruction it needs to be planned ahead of time. You can’t just flip a switch and do it. Students and teachers both need to be prepped on expectations, especially if any type of synchronous instruction is going to happen. You’d have to make sure to send their laptops and Chromebooks home before the storm.

Not the person you are responding to, but I think if you warned students in advance that they need to have laptops in case of virtual and you remind them then of rules, then it can be done. You remind them again when the virtual session starts of rules. You don't even need to use all the class time. Just have a check in, teach something so when you revisit it, it is not the first time they heard it, but if people don't join they don't completely lose out. Then have a little asynchronous work that they can self-check. Sure some will just cheat, but quite a few won't and it will only help them when they return to schol. In the case of AP classes I would definitely have some zoom classes.

Exactly. In advance. That hasn’t been done. Keep in mind that what you are suggesting probably won’t be so simple with ES students. Maybe the expectations will be different for those in ES, but that all has to be understood beforehand. You can’t just say, “Online instruction begins tomorrow”.

Yes virtual learning is not a simple thing at all, as everyone should remember. We're at, what, day 3.5? This seems like a massive overreaction.

I probably wouldn’t be so put off by this if a five day week was the standards and not exception. For a lot of working parents, the calendar is such a mess and we do everything we can to make it work. But when things like this happen and there’s no apparent effort to problem solve, it feels like a bridge too far for me. I’m glad you might not feel like this, it’s not a nice feeling to fear that my kids aren’t getting the education I thought they would when we chose to live here. Not based on a couple of snow days but on the culmination of a lot of factors.

As a teacher, I would prefer a longer summer which we would have if we didn’t have so many random days off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This question might be off topic, but if we do open this week, won’t we need to do 2 hour delays everyday - since there’s a danger that Middle Schoolers who walk in the early morning could be hit by cars?

Every day there a risk someone could get hit by a car..

But this week the risk is significantly greater when walkers are forced to walk in the street and bus stop kids wait in the street (in the dark to boot bc at 645am the sun hasn't risen yet).

[Anonymous]

Someone wrote that Prince William County started at 10am tomorrow, but I don’t see that announcement on their website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This question might be off topic, but if we do open this week, won’t we need to do 2 hour delays everyday - since there’s a danger that Middle Schoolers who walk in the early morning could be hit by cars?

Every day there a risk someone could get hit by a car..

But this week the risk is significantly greater when walkers are forced to walk in the street and bus stop kids wait in the street (in the dark to boot bc at 645am the sun hasn't risen yet).

Yes, so if they open, they absolutely need 2 hour delays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:2 hour delays throughout the week would be ideal. For one, they only lose useless time like advisory periods, but still get to see each teacher. And the sunlight makes a HUGE difference in terms of safety. I was driving last night and a kid just jumped out in front of my car from behind a snow bank. Thank god I was driving well under the speed limit and was able to brake.

I live near an ES and it's taking days to do this, but will try really hard to get my sidewalk done by Tuesday A.M.; so two hour delay would be great!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren’t we doing virtual?

What do you picture when you say “virtual”? Are you thinking purely asynchronous work? Synchronous instruction?

People keep bringing this up. If you are going to do virtual instruction it needs to be planned ahead of time. You can’t just flip a switch and do it. Students and teachers both need to be prepped on expectations, especially if any type of synchronous instruction is going to happen. You’d have to make sure to send their laptops and Chromebooks home before the storm.

Not the person you are responding to, but I think if you warned students in advance that they need to have laptops in case of virtual and you remind them then of rules, then it can be done. You remind them again when the virtual session starts of rules. You don't even need to use all the class time. Just have a check in, teach something so when you revisit it, it is not the first time they heard it, but if people don't join they don't completely lose out. Then have a little asynchronous work that they can self-check. Sure some will just cheat, but quite a few won't and it will only help them when they return to schol. In the case of AP classes I would definitely have some zoom classes.

Exactly. In advance. That hasn’t been done. Keep in mind that what you are suggesting probably won’t be so simple with ES students. Maybe the expectations will be different for those in ES, but that all has to be understood beforehand. You can’t just say, “Online instruction begins tomorrow”.

Yes virtual learning is not a simple thing at all, as everyone should remember. We're at, what, day 3.5? This seems like a massive overreaction.

I probably wouldn’t be so put off by this if a five day week was the standards and not exception. For a lot of working parents, the calendar is such a mess and we do everything we can to make it work. But when things like this happen and there’s no apparent effort to problem solve, it feels like a bridge too far for me. I’m glad you might not feel like this, it’s not a nice feeling to fear that my kids aren’t getting the education I thought they would when we chose to live here. Not based on a couple of snow days but on the culmination of a lot of factors.

Ok, and as an adult you have to weigh the pros and cons. If it doesn't make sense to stay in NoVA then go. If the benefits outweigh the cons, then stay and accept the negatives.
But in reality, there are only a few states in the US where you kids will get a better education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This question might be off topic, but if we do open this week, won’t we need to do 2 hour delays everyday - since there’s a danger that Middle Schoolers who walk in the early morning could be hit by cars?

Every day there a risk someone could get hit by a car..

You're being deliberately obtuse. School attendance is compulsory. Children are told that their transportation to school is walking. The walkways (sidewalks) for safe pedestrian travel are blocked by ice. They can walk on mountains of snow and ice or walk in the street. The school puts the children at risk by instructing them to come to school while knowing their option for getting there puts them at significantly elevated risk of severe injury.

Children are not required by law to get to school by walking. They just aren’t given a bus.

Drive your kid to school if they can’t walk. Find neighbors and carpool for the week. This isn’t the most difficult thing in the world, it’s a minor inconvenience that keeps kids in school.

And if you are convinced that walking or getting to school in this weather will kill your kid, keep them home. They can get make up work when the ice melts in March.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren’t we doing virtual?

What do you picture when you say “virtual”? Are you thinking purely asynchronous work? Synchronous instruction?

People keep bringing this up. If you are going to do virtual instruction it needs to be planned ahead of time. You can’t just flip a switch and do it. Students and teachers both need to be prepped on expectations, especially if any type of synchronous instruction is going to happen. You’d have to make sure to send their laptops and Chromebooks home before the storm.

Not the person you are responding to, but I think if you warned students in advance that they need to have laptops in case of virtual and you remind them then of rules, then it can be done. You remind them again when the virtual session starts of rules. You don't even need to use all the class time. Just have a check in, teach something so when you revisit it, it is not the first time they heard it, but if people don't join they don't completely lose out. Then have a little asynchronous work that they can self-check. Sure some will just cheat, but quite a few won't and it will only help them when they return to schol. In the case of AP classes I would definitely have some zoom classes.

Exactly. In advance. That hasn’t been done. Keep in mind that what you are suggesting probably won’t be so simple with ES students. Maybe the expectations will be different for those in ES, but that all has to be understood beforehand. You can’t just say, “Online instruction begins tomorrow”.

Yes virtual learning is not a simple thing at all, as everyone should remember. We're at, what, day 3.5? This seems like a massive overreaction.

I probably wouldn’t be so put off by this if a five day week was the standards and not exception. For a lot of working parents, the calendar is such a mess and we do everything we can to make it work. But when things like this happen and there’s no apparent effort to problem solve, it feels like a bridge too far for me. I’m glad you might not feel like this, it’s not a nice feeling to fear that my kids aren’t getting the education I thought they would when we chose to live here. Not based on a couple of snow days but on the culmination of a lot of factors.

As a teacher, I would prefer a longer summer which we would have if we didn’t have so many random days off.

PP you’re responding to, and I totally get that! My two friends who are FCPS teachers don’t love all the random days off and find the early release days to be more chaotic than helpful. I’m sure others have different options but it doesn’t surprise me that some teachers don’t like how short their summers have gotten.