Barriers to more fully opening schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The longer public schools stay closed the more traction the voucher argument gains.

Oh, without question. I wish we had vouchers yesterday.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Staffing. That’s the only barrier. -teacher

100% schools are finding it difficult to staff classrooms. Self contained teacher here with 4 kids in person learning and 4 kids virtual and two virtual paraprofessionals. There is no one in the building to support the students that are in person.

At my daughters school there are almost as many adults as children.


I think the issue is that not everyone has access to the same quality of health care if they get covid. And those folks more likely to get covid aren’t sending their kids to school.

[Anonymous]

The reason the open schools NOW debate comes off as racist is because people pose the argument from their own lens. My school has running water; my school has X, Y and Z, etc.

If you only know what your school looks like then you don't understand how the whole system works and in a city with a LOT of Black and Brown kids and in a city where being Black and Brown means a bigger income gap, it looks very very tone deaf.

It is like saying, if you just listen to the cop you won't die. We all know that isn't true.

I hear people saying oh the score card on dcps' website but they haven't been in the school; they haven't seen the system lie about what they have and don't have.

If all DCPS schools were the same why aren't you sending your kid to a school EOTR/P etc.

Also not understanding the challenges other families have about going back in person - real risk for medical problems; perceived risk of medical problems; access to healthcare; access to quarantine or recovery time, etc.

As people are learning to not be racist if you are white LISTEN first and then ask why what you said or did is perceived as racist.

its not about opening school for your kid its about opening it for all kids and all kids don't live like yours.

as for the problems we will have later what are you doing to ask for remediation for ALL kids. dcps summer camp is a huge help for families, are you screaming for it to be open, for it to be open more this summer, asking for summer school options for outside.

i see people in my community complaining we can't tent our school fields for outside school because the community (i.e. 20 year olds with no kids) need it for their outside time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason the open schools NOW debate comes off as racist is because people pose the argument from their own lens. My school has running water; my school has X, Y and Z, etc.

If you only know what your school looks like then you don't understand how the whole system works and in a city with a LOT of Black and Brown kids and in a city where being Black and Brown means a bigger income gap, it looks very very tone deaf.

It is like saying, if you just listen to the cop you won't die. We all know that isn't true.

I hear people saying oh the score card on dcps' website but they haven't been in the school; they haven't seen the system lie about what they have and don't have.

If all DCPS schools were the same why aren't you sending your kid to a school EOTR/P etc.

Also not understanding the challenges other families have about going back in person - real risk for medical problems; perceived risk of medical problems; access to healthcare; access to quarantine or recovery time, etc.

As people are learning to not be racist if you are white LISTEN first and then ask why what you said or did is perceived as racist.

its not about opening school for your kid its about opening it for all kids and all kids don't live like yours.

as for the problems we will have later what are you doing to ask for remediation for ALL kids. dcps summer camp is a huge help for families, are you screaming for it to be open, for it to be open more this summer, asking for summer school options for outside.

i see people in my community complaining we can't tent our school fields for outside school because the community (i.e. 20 year olds with no kids) need it for their outside time.

Very much agree. It is very tone deaf. You are seeing the inequality now and you cannot escape, it's actually effecting you now too. Perhaps if you all messaged the chancellor as well outlining how the cut to staff at some title 1 schools is not the answer. How the focus shouldn't be on damn devices but more teachers to get class ratios down, or reading/math specialists to help students catch up.

Why don't we also pour money into starting more remodels for title 1 schools? Reopening would have been less of an issue if many of them weren't old and dinky.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason the open schools NOW debate comes off as racist is because people pose the argument from their own lens. My school has running water; my school has X, Y and Z, etc.

If you only know what your school looks like then you don't understand how the whole system works and in a city with a LOT of Black and Brown kids and in a city where being Black and Brown means a bigger income gap, it looks very very tone deaf.

It is like saying, if you just listen to the cop you won't die. We all know that isn't true.

I hear people saying oh the score card on dcps' website but they haven't been in the school; they haven't seen the system lie about what they have and don't have.

If all DCPS schools were the same why aren't you sending your kid to a school EOTR/P etc.

Also not understanding the challenges other families have about going back in person - real risk for medical problems; perceived risk of medical problems; access to healthcare; access to quarantine or recovery time, etc.

As people are learning to not be racist if you are white LISTEN first and then ask why what you said or did is perceived as racist.

its not about opening school for your kid its about opening it for all kids and all kids don't live like yours.

as for the problems we will have later what are you doing to ask for remediation for ALL kids. dcps summer camp is a huge help for families, are you screaming for it to be open, for it to be open more this summer, asking for summer school options for outside.

i see people in my community complaining we can't tent our school fields for outside school because the community (i.e. 20 year olds with no kids) need it for their outside time.

So Mayor Bowser and Lewis Ferebee are racist for wanting to allow kids to attend school? Gotcha.

I'd say the only racist thing here is shutting down schools mostly attended by black and brown children even as private schools mostly attended by white kids are allowed to remain open.

[Anonymous]

Perhaps a useful element of "reopening is racist!"

https://afro.com/op-ed-children-belong-in-school-and-dcps-has-shown-that-they-can-be-safely/?fbclid=IwAR179u7_bI8BOo99_9WEpdGP-buz5r43WFQI20LxCXUmmM9JzqwkD1p7LI0

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I personally think teachers are an easy target and only a small part of the problem. If they were ordered to come back, 75% of them would suck it up and head back especially once they have been vaccinated. There are a minority of squeaky super loud hysterical teachers who get all the attention unfortunately.
The bigger problem is that school districts feel paralysed with indecision. There are no good options. The majority of low income and minority families said they will stay virtual. Wealthy families in general want to head back. School districts fear that the educational gap will worsen even more if schools open because then white privileged kids will get more effective instruction at the expense of low income kids. It is a messed up situation with no easy answers and school districts are terrible at managing this level of abstraction and complexity

Do we know if the bolded is true? Like, has there been a survey?

[Anonymous]

no one is saying we don't want schools to re-open or that BIPOC kids should be in school - the issue is that people don't understand the plans don't quell fears or let families feel safe. today's bad planning of a snow day/virtual only day is a clear example.

you can find your op eds written by black women; you can point out the mayor is black - they are not the majority

when the numbers came back I was really surprised that BIPOC people didn't want to go back. so i looked into why and learned why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason the open schools NOW debate comes off as racist is because people pose the argument from their own lens. My school has running water; my school has X, Y and Z, etc.

If you only know what your school looks like then you don't understand how the whole system works and in a city with a LOT of Black and Brown kids and in a city where being Black and Brown means a bigger income gap, it looks very very tone deaf.

It is like saying, if you just listen to the cop you won't die. We all know that isn't true.

I hear people saying oh the score card on dcps' website but they haven't been in the school; they haven't seen the system lie about what they have and don't have.

If all DCPS schools were the same why aren't you sending your kid to a school EOTR/P etc.

Also not understanding the challenges other families have about going back in person - real risk for medical problems; perceived risk of medical problems; access to healthcare; access to quarantine or recovery time, etc.

As people are learning to not be racist if you are white LISTEN first and then ask why what you said or did is perceived as racist.

its not about opening school for your kid its about opening it for all kids and all kids don't live like yours.

as for the problems we will have later what are you doing to ask for remediation for ALL kids. dcps summer camp is a huge help for families, are you screaming for it to be open, for it to be open more this summer, asking for summer school options for outside.

i see people in my community complaining we can't tent our school fields for outside school because the community (i.e. 20 year olds with no kids) need it for their outside time.

So Mayor Bowser and Lewis Ferebee are racist for wanting to allow kids to attend school? Gotcha.

I'd say the only racist thing here is shutting down schools mostly attended by black and brown children even as private schools mostly attended by white kids are allowed to remain open.

Deflecting gets you nowhere, you aren't addressing the issues. Simply yelling 'kids should be back in school' does not and will not address the issues. But if it makes you feel better to have such a base level of thinking, ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I personally think teachers are an easy target and only a small part of the problem. If they were ordered to come back, 75% of them would suck it up and head back especially once they have been vaccinated. There are a minority of squeaky super loud hysterical teachers who get all the attention unfortunately.
The bigger problem is that school districts feel paralysed with indecision. There are no good options. The majority of low income and minority families said they will stay virtual. Wealthy families in general want to head back. School districts fear that the educational gap will worsen even more if schools open because then white privileged kids will get more effective instruction at the expense of low income kids. It is a messed up situation with no easy answers and school districts are terrible at managing this level of abstraction and complexity

Do we know if the bolded is true? Like, has there been a survey?

At my school, almost all staff is back in person. There are only 2 teachers that did not come back. Even those that are teaching all virtual are back in school. They are being used as "relief" for the in person teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason the open schools NOW debate comes off as racist is because people pose the argument from their own lens. My school has running water; my school has X, Y and Z, etc.

If you only know what your school looks like then you don't understand how the whole system works and in a city with a LOT of Black and Brown kids and in a city where being Black and Brown means a bigger income gap, it looks very very tone deaf.

It is like saying, if you just listen to the cop you won't die. We all know that isn't true.

I hear people saying oh the score card on dcps' website but they haven't been in the school; they haven't seen the system lie about what they have and don't have.

If all DCPS schools were the same why aren't you sending your kid to a school EOTR/P etc.

Also not understanding the challenges other families have about going back in person - real risk for medical problems; perceived risk of medical problems; access to healthcare; access to quarantine or recovery time, etc.

As people are learning to not be racist if you are white LISTEN first and then ask why what you said or did is perceived as racist.

its not about opening school for your kid its about opening it for all kids and all kids don't live like yours.

as for the problems we will have later what are you doing to ask for remediation for ALL kids. dcps summer camp is a huge help for families, are you screaming for it to be open, for it to be open more this summer, asking for summer school options for outside.

i see people in my community complaining we can't tent our school fields for outside school because the community (i.e. 20 year olds with no kids) need it for their outside time.

So Mayor Bowser and Lewis Ferebee are racist for wanting to allow kids to attend school? Gotcha.

I'd say the only racist thing here is shutting down schools mostly attended by black and brown children even as private schools mostly attended by white kids are allowed to remain open.

Deflecting gets you nowhere, you aren't addressing the issues. Simply yelling 'kids should be back in school' does not and will not address the issues. But if it makes you feel better to have such a base level of thinking, ok.

PP here. No, I just think the word salad above is a little nonsensical. But I would love to hear you explain how a black mayor and a black superintendent are racist vs. black people by wanting their children to go to school. Or how it's not racist to have a system where rich white kids get to attend school and poor black kids do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s also difficult because the whole damn system is racist. The underfunding certain schools, standardized testing, school to prison pipeline. So in that sense, a call to return to that system is problematic. I understand the desire to burn the whole system to the ground. But I also worry that might be a pipe dream in a pandemic, and the collateral damage (to the very people they are claiming to speak for) might be huge. I’ve derailed the thread. I apologize.

No, your suggestion that schools can't reopen until racism is eradicated is ludicrous.

This comment in itself is racist. Thanks for caring about other children other than white ones. Sooooo appreciated.

OMG. I am a POC, and I this this whole rhetoric is insane and I am getting incredibly worried that this whole movement to call everything racist and take extreme actions in the name of eradicating such so-called racism is getting wildly out of hand and will backfire in a huge way. Not everything comes down to racism. Not even every situation that effects people differently is due to racism. And racism cannot be solved by dragging certain groups down or by hypersensationalizing everything as racism. In fact, that is more likely to further issues that contribute to racism. Keeping schools closed and thereby harming all families because a larger percentage of POC don’t want in-person is absolutely ludicrous. Saying someone is racist because they are pushing for inperson schooling since their kid is regressing academically and socially and their career is on the line due to virtual schools is pathetic, asinine, stupid, and actually dangerous to efforts to combat racism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s also difficult because the whole damn system is racist. The underfunding certain schools, standardized testing, school to prison pipeline. So in that sense, a call to return to that system is problematic. I understand the desire to burn the whole system to the ground. But I also worry that might be a pipe dream in a pandemic, and the collateral damage (to the very people they are claiming to speak for) might be huge. I’ve derailed the thread. I apologize.

No, your suggestion that schools can't reopen until racism is eradicated is ludicrous.

This comment in itself is racist. Thanks for caring about other children other than white ones. Sooooo appreciated.

OMG. I am a POC, and I this this whole rhetoric is insane and I am getting incredibly worried that this whole movement to call everything racist and take extreme actions in the name of eradicating such so-called racism is getting wildly out of hand and will backfire in a huge way. Not everything comes down to racism. Not even every situation that effects people differently is due to racism. And racism cannot be solved by dragging certain groups down or by hypersensationalizing everything as racism. In fact, that is more likely to further issues that contribute to racism. Keeping schools closed and thereby harming all families because a larger percentage of POC don’t want in-person is absolutely ludicrous. Saying someone is racist because they are pushing for inperson schooling since their kid is regressing academically and socially and their career is on the line due to virtual schools is pathetic, asinine, stupid, and actually dangerous to efforts to combat racism.

Ha. This reminds me of the pod reaction around DC last year where people were actually saying you were racist if you created a pod, unless you paid for a POC who can’t afford pods to also join your pod. 😳😳 Crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s also difficult because the whole damn system is racist. The underfunding certain schools, standardized testing, school to prison pipeline. So in that sense, a call to return to that system is problematic. I understand the desire to burn the whole system to the ground. But I also worry that might be a pipe dream in a pandemic, and the collateral damage (to the very people they are claiming to speak for) might be huge. I’ve derailed the thread. I apologize.

No, your suggestion that schools can't reopen until racism is eradicated is ludicrous.

This comment in itself is racist. Thanks for caring about other children other than white ones. Sooooo appreciated.

OMG. I am a POC, and I this this whole rhetoric is insane and I am getting incredibly worried that this whole movement to call everything racist and take extreme actions in the name of eradicating such so-called racism is getting wildly out of hand and will backfire in a huge way. Not everything comes down to racism. Not even every situation that effects people differently is due to racism. And racism cannot be solved by dragging certain groups down or by hypersensationalizing everything as racism. In fact, that is more likely to further issues that contribute to racism. Keeping schools closed and thereby harming all families because a larger percentage of POC don’t want in-person is absolutely ludicrous. Saying someone is racist because they are pushing for inperson schooling since their kid is regressing academically and socially and their career is on the line due to virtual schools is pathetic, asinine, stupid, and actually dangerous to efforts to combat racism.

Amen. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The reason the open schools NOW debate comes off as racist is because people pose the argument from their own lens. My school has running water; my school has X, Y and Z, etc.

If you only know what your school looks like then you don't understand how the whole system works and in a city with a LOT of Black and Brown kids and in a city where being Black and Brown means a bigger income gap, it looks very very tone deaf.

It is like saying, if you just listen to the cop you won't die. We all know that isn't true.

I hear people saying oh the score card on dcps' website but they haven't been in the school; they haven't seen the system lie about what they have and don't have.

If all DCPS schools were the same why aren't you sending your kid to a school EOTR/P etc.

Also not understanding the challenges other families have about going back in person - real risk for medical problems; perceived risk of medical problems; access to healthcare; access to quarantine or recovery time, etc.

As people are learning to not be racist if you are white LISTEN first and then ask why what you said or did is perceived as racist.

its not about opening school for your kid its about opening it for all kids and all kids don't live like yours.

as for the problems we will have later what are you doing to ask for remediation for ALL kids. dcps summer camp is a huge help for families, are you screaming for it to be open, for it to be open more this summer, asking for summer school options for outside.

i see people in my community complaining we can't tent our school fields for outside school because the community (i.e. 20 year olds with no kids) need it for their outside time.

So Mayor Bowser and Lewis Ferebee are racist for wanting to allow kids to attend school? Gotcha.

I'd say the only racist thing here is shutting down schools mostly attended by black and brown children even as private schools mostly attended by white kids are allowed to remain open.

Deflecting gets you nowhere, you aren't addressing the issues. Simply yelling 'kids should be back in school' does not and will not address the issues. But if it makes you feel better to have such a base level of thinking, ok.

PP here. No, I just think the word salad above is a little nonsensical. But I would love to hear you explain how a black mayor and a black superintendent are racist vs. black people by wanting their children to go to school. Or how it's not racist to have a system where rich white kids get to attend school and poor black kids do not.

So being black automatically means you are good and just? That's interesting, I didn't know that.

And just because you are too daft to understand systemic racism, inequity in school remodeling, and how capitalism/greed can affect people in power doesn't mean what I said is a 'word salad.'

Just going to school is not enough, the pandemic has truly put a light on inequity. Your school may be ready to go back but no all schools have the same level of safety or support.