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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ Well said.

I mean, the long comment 2 above.

[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.

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.

I'm in California and reading this out of interest because California also has extremely powerful teacher unions, and I agree with this comment. What I don't understand is how short-sighted a lot of the absolute refusal of the union to work towards in-person is. If DL as currently structured in the public schools is truly sufficient, there is no need to have full-time teachers; education can be outsourced on a contract basis. School districts can just pay for tutors to supplement extended Khan Academy. What extended DL (and support for unending DL) is teaching people is that the union doesn't value the work of its own members.

I have lived in California most of my life, and this last election cycle I heard people asking about who the unions endorsed school boards as a negative voting signal for the first time in my life. I have never once seen candidates downplay their teacher union ties before, but it happened this last election in some of the election flyers I got. It was remarkable.

I don't know where this is going, but as someone who doesn't even think schools should be in person now with current numbers, I don't understand what the union is doing. It seems counterproductive.

[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.

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.

This is a great synopsis, thank you. I guess it’s part of the talking points (is there a memo?) but the repeated claim here and on all the various news comment boards that parents “hate their kids” and just want “babysitting” is so wrong and hurtful that it made it impossible to hear the rest of the message. Really a tone deaf communications strategy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disgusting. Disgusted with the teachers. No civic duty.

"Civic duty." LOL. Teachers are not your babysitters in a pandemic. They provide education via DL. If you need childcare, hire it.

As a taxpayer, I have a right to have my child in a public school teacher’s care from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Not even just a right; I HAVE to send my kid to school by law. So yes, part of your job, even (arguably especially) in a pandemic, is babysitting, so I can, oh I don’t know, do my own damn job.

No where does it say public school must be in person. You have a right to nothing but your white privilege makes you believe you do, welcome to real life where things are more difficult. We all pay taxes, sometimes for things that don’t even involve us. Shove your tax comments where the sun doesn’t shine because you’re not special.
Some people have to work multiple jobs and don’t get to see their children from 7am to 6pm normally every weekday and they are making it, what’s your excuse?

[Anonymous]

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.

+1

[Anonymous]

I don’t have much sympathy for entitlement. I have sympathy for low SES families trying to survive. Strange how they don’t complain about DL and yet you do.

I honestly wish the WTU asked for more, at least when we’d come back in person all kid’s schools could have working lights, toilets, opening windows, working heat/air, etc.

While they were at it they should have asked for more pay for teachers on the caveat they are deemed essential workers, unless they have a condition or someone in their immediate family who lives with them.

I acknowledge my privilege, it doesn’t mean I don’t suffer, DL is hard for us all but I’m not worrying about how to pay my bills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1

Parents like you should be ashamed for allowing a flawed public school system to continue and leaving all the battles up to teachers. Where were you? Now that it slightly affects your kid, NOW you want to cry?
Kick rocks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This.

If it was actually unsafe, we’d see the evidence by now.

[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.

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.

This is a great synopsis, thank you. I guess it’s part of the talking points (is there a memo?) but the repeated claim here and on all the various news comment boards that parents “hate their kids” and just want “babysitting” is so wrong and hurtful that it made it impossible to hear the rest of the message. Really a tone deaf communications strategy.

DP. Yeah, I don't understand why they went with those talking points. It comes across so badly and makes them look just so bad. The comms person who coined that strategy should be fired.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have much sympathy for entitlement. I have sympathy for low SES families trying to survive. Strange how they don’t complain about DL and yet you do.

I honestly wish the WTU asked for more, at least when we’d come back in person all kid’s schools could have working lights, toilets, opening windows, working heat/air, etc.

While they were at it they should have asked for more pay for teachers on the caveat they are deemed essential workers, unless they have a condition or someone in their immediate family who lives with them.

I acknowledge my privilege, it doesn’t mean I don’t suffer, DL is hard for us all but I’m not worrying about how to pay my bills.

What percentage of low SES families are just not doing DL? (DCPS statistics suggest the number is significant.) Why would they be complaining if they’re not bothering with it in the first place?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

This.

If it was actually unsafe, we’d see the evidence by now.

Teachers just don’t want to have to work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disgusting. Disgusted with the teachers. No civic duty.

"Civic duty." LOL. Teachers are not your babysitters in a pandemic. They provide education via DL. If you need childcare, hire it.

As a taxpayer, I have a right to have my child in a public school teacher’s care from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Not even just a right; I HAVE to send my kid to school by law. So yes, part of your job, even (arguably especially) in a pandemic, is babysitting, so I can, oh I don’t know, do my own damn job.

No where does it say public school must be in person. You have a right to nothing but your white privilege makes you believe you do, welcome to real life where things are more difficult. We all pay taxes, sometimes for things that don’t even involve us. Shove your tax comments where the sun doesn’t shine because you’re not special.
Some people have to work multiple jobs and don’t get to see their children from 7am to 6pm normally every weekday and they are making it, what’s your excuse?

White privilege? Last I checked the majority of those enrolled in DCPS are POC.

[Anonymous]

Teachers are the most entitled people in America.

If anyone else refused to do their jobs, they would have been fired a long time ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Disgusting. Disgusted with the teachers. No civic duty.

"Civic duty." LOL. Teachers are not your babysitters in a pandemic. They provide education via DL. If you need childcare, hire it.

As a taxpayer, I have a right to have my child in a public school teacher’s care from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Not even just a right; I HAVE to send my kid to school by law. So yes, part of your job, even (arguably especially) in a pandemic, is babysitting, so I can, oh I don’t know, do my own damn job.

No where does it say public school must be in person. You have a right to nothing but your white privilege makes you believe you do, welcome to real life where things are more difficult. We all pay taxes, sometimes for things that don’t even involve us. Shove your tax comments where the sun doesn’t shine because you’re not special.
Some people have to work multiple jobs and don’t get to see their children from 7am to 6pm normally every weekday and they are making it, what’s your excuse?

That doesn’t make sense. Attendance is mandatory for children age 5 and up. Online attendance is a joke - especially with many technologically incompetent teachers and just plain old teachers who can’t or won’t learn new tricks. If the quality of online education was superior, I could support the extra work and extra childcare issues/costs. But it is not. And there is no way that parents of elementary students can leave their children for 11 hours to online learning and expect good outcomes. This is bad for everyone and is going to bite the WTU in the tail.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t have much sympathy for entitlement. I have sympathy for low SES families trying to survive. Strange how they don’t complain about DL and yet you do.

I honestly wish the WTU asked for more, at least when we’d come back in person all kid’s schools could have working lights, toilets, opening windows, working heat/air, etc.

While they were at it they should have asked for more pay for teachers on the caveat they are deemed essential workers, unless they have a condition or someone in their immediate family who lives with them.

I acknowledge my privilege, it doesn’t mean I don’t suffer, DL is hard for us all but I’m not worrying about how to pay my bills.

What percentage of low SES families are just not doing DL? (DCPS statistics suggest the number is significant.) Why would they be complaining if they’re not bothering with it in the first place?

How many low SES families do you know and regularly chat with? The parents on my dc's fall rec soccer team and the ladies on our cleaning group ALL hate distance learning, they think it is terrible. Don't assume .