This bodes well with ACPS and return

[Anonymous]

The CDC guidance just changes how exposure is defined. This will mostly impact when someone needs to quarantine and will affect contact tracing. It doesn’t mean behaviors should change (continue wearing masks and physically distancing). Fauci has said schools can safely open if they are not in hotspots. Alexandria is not a hotspot and should be implementing more robust plans for safely reopening schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all are completely missing the new CDC guidance.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/10/21/coronavirus-close-contact-cdc/

Regardless of the "geometry" and staffing, now the CDC is changing its guidance. Whatever FCPS, APS and LCPS are planning, this new guidance is going to impact it dramatically because it doesn't support reopening inperson schooling.

It still supports wearing a mask and opening. It is saying don't remove your mask to talk. Schools across the world have opened without school outbreaks. Privates in our area have been open and in person five days a week without outbreaks. Not a single one. Yes one offs here and there but because of the safety procedures - guess what?!? NO SPREAD.

People point to Boston and say -- oh, look they shut down!!!! Well, they did because the community spread was dangerous but once again no school outbreak.

Parents and teachers screwed this up. And now we are stuck with boards and admin who really don't know how to project manage.

We should have just had schools open. If you had a child with a condition that would be dangerous with covid (and there are a few) then they home-school or go private, get a tutor, etc. Now we are not really offering education to anyone and probably won't.

ACPS can't get its head out of its ass. APS is doing the same thing, they will not open. FCPS and LCPS will end up with some in person (starting next week) for younger grades. If community spread gets high, then they should pivot to virtual (like Boston). When the numbers get under control you go back to in person.

This. And, if teachers have an underlying condition covered under the ADA (the CDC only recognizes a few) then try to make accommodations for them alone.

[Anonymous]

I'm so disgusted and sad by the board meeting last night. There is no plan to return most ACPS students to in-person learning this school year. Unacceptable. I thought some board members asked good questions, but the end result remained the same.

[Anonymous]

Such a huge let down. Most surrounding districts are at least finding ways to reopen for k-2. I’ve really lost my trust in ACPS and the school board. Every single school board member voted for a non-plan last night. And I heard nothing about promised changes or improvements to distance learning, which continues to be disastrous for k-2.

[Anonymous]

I am struggling to understand why we can't make this work. Other districts around the country have opened, why can't we learn from what they are doing and open our schools as well.

[Anonymous]

Here is link to Dr. H. on CNN with Jake Tapper. Our kids are not going to back anytime soon.

https://twitter.com/TheLeadCNN/status/1319010514098421760

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is link to Dr. H. on CNN with Jake Tapper. Our kids are not going to back anytime soon.

https://twitter.com/TheLeadCNN/status/1319010514098421760

Wow. Maybe if he spent less time raising his profile and more time figuring out how to get our kids back to school in-person, ACPS could actually make that happen.

""I think having all of our students at one time in our classrooms, it definitely, probably won't be until a vaccine occurs," Alexandria, Virginia superintendent Gregory Hutchings tells
@JakeTapper"

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately, if parents want to change this it’s going to take a bullhorn, signs, and some chanting outside the houses of school board members. Wear masks.

[Anonymous]

ACPS' math is wrong in terms of the number of desks they can fit into a classroom. They are not calculating the six feet correctly. It runs from where the student is sitting. The way they are doing it leaves nine feet of space in most cases.


My interpretation was that they were leaving walking space for someone to walk between desks - like a kid in the back needs to walk to the front to go out the door for the bathroom or early pickup or whatever.

Why is that necessary when it would be no more than a few seconds of someone being within less than six feet? And when no other school districts are doing it that way? Makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

""I think having all of our students at one time in our classrooms, it definitely, probably won't be until a vaccine occurs," Alexandria, Virginia superintendent Gregory Hutchings tells
@JakeTapper"

Well, actually, I am ok with that - meaning not having all students at one time in the classroom until a vaccine. But why are we having NO students in at one time (except very young self-contained special ed)? Why not do a hybrid model?

[Anonymous]

It's pretty clear ACPS has arrived at its desired outcome--almost no kids back in classrooms--and will use facts and excuses to justify the decision through at least June 2021. They'll keep stringing families along with surveys and presentations, but it's obvious the school system is all in on VIRTUAL+ at this point.

Hopefully they plan on fixing up these empty buildings that will sit vacant for over a year. Yeah right! Zero confidence in this school district right now.

[Anonymous]

Is this article accurate?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/alexandria-city-public-schools-will-return-hundreds-of-students-with-disabilities-to-classrooms-through-the-end-of-2020/2020/10/22/dbb284c2-13d4-11eb-bc10-40b25382f1be_story.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this article accurate?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/alexandria-city-public-schools-will-return-hundreds-of-students-with-disabilities-to-classrooms-through-the-end-of-2020/2020/10/22/dbb284c2-13d4-11eb-bc10-40b25382f1be_story.html

Yes, special ed will be brought in. And they will probably not ever have the January plan in place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm so disgusted and sad by the board meeting last night. There is no plan to return most ACPS students to in-person learning this school year. Unacceptable. I thought some board members asked good questions, but the end result remained the same.

I agree with the observation that some of the Board Members asked good questions that pointed of the flaws / inconsistencies in Hutchings’s presentation (and really the disingenuousness of what was released on Monday). I am not sure what else the Board could have done last night based on what ACPS presented (ie it didn’t make sense to stop ACPS from bringing back who they wanted to start bringing back). If the community wants a broader return to in person this school year, pressure must be put on ACPS to think outside the box to address the alleged staffing / space issues. Those options could include more trading some virtual days for asynchronous to free up staff or even bringing back some students for Q3 and rotating for Q4 assuming the pandemic conditions remain the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this article accurate?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/alexandria-city-public-schools-will-return-hundreds-of-students-with-disabilities-to-classrooms-through-the-end-of-2020/2020/10/22/dbb284c2-13d4-11eb-bc10-40b25382f1be_story.html

It has some accurate facts, but that reporter is a press agent for Hutchings. The headline is burying the lede which is "ACPS school board approves plan with no return to school for 95% of students"

The weakness of board, with a few exceptions, not conveyed. Nor the true blowhard Hutchings is. What a clown.