Emails reveal contempt by MoCo health dept for nonpublic schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s just speaking the truth. That’s why everyone on this thread is upset. Why not acknowledge your privilege and then have a conversation?!

We work very hard to send our children to an affordable private parochial school. Are we more privileged than some? of course. But our school is very diverse in terms of financial background- many on scholarship, parents on WIC, SNAP, etc... The council and Gayles are prejudiced against anyone whose beliefs differ.

You do realize the “but not everyone at private schools is privileged” argument is like saying “but I have friends who are Black,” right?

You also realize that there are several private school parents who think Gayles was right....

Point is people with power are used to getting their way and don’t like when they’re told no And then make excuses like “not all of us have power” to justify it.

The private school parents who agree with Gayles are not forced to send their kids to in-person school. They have other options available to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s just speaking the truth. That’s why everyone on this thread is upset. Why not acknowledge your privilege and then have a conversation?!

What privilege? I work hard to afford private for my kid. So? You made other choices. People that bash others using the tired “privileged” label sound like envious middle school children. Get over it. People are more successful then you.

The privilege is not going to private school. It’s suggesting to public health officials during a global pandemic that your school is special and deserves special rules.

Actually the opposite. We suggested during a global pandemic that public health officials set rules/guidelines around what a safe reopening looks like versus issuing a blanket closure. It’s a separate discussion if the resources needed to do so, I.e. the space to social distance, cleaning supplies, COVID testing etc, potentially being your own transportation and no extended day etc. around hybrid or in-person learning were easier to accomplish at a private school than the public schools. But they also at the same time had to look at the situation more like other businesses needed to (like will someone pay the same for virtual learning or move to public) and how to remain financially viable in a way that MCPS didn’t have to worry about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s just speaking the truth. That’s why everyone on this thread is upset. Why not acknowledge your privilege and then have a conversation?!

What privilege? I work hard to afford private for my kid. So? You made other choices. People that bash others using the tired “privileged” label sound like envious middle school children. Get over it. People are more successful then you.

Other people work as hard or harder and still cannot afford a private school.

What privilege indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was political. That was when Trump was saying he wanted schools to open, and the Democrats stomped their feet and insisted they couldn’t. I’m a lifelong Democrat, but many went around the bend on this one. My kids go to a catholic school that’s been open all year, with not one case of in-school transmission. Gayles’ stand was about politics, that’s it.

Scientists.

[Anonymous]

Is this the part where we say “f your feelings”?

[Anonymous]

I find it comical that the mcps equity person who was shaking her head over emails went to Holton arms and tufts, yet proceeds to call out the arrogance and privilege of private school families. Guess she has forgotten where her privilege has gotten her...a high paying job within mcps central office where there is very little oversight and accountability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it comical that the mcps equity person who was shaking her head over emails went to Holton arms and tufts, yet proceeds to call out the arrogance and privilege of private school families. Guess she has forgotten where her privilege has gotten her...a high paying job within mcps central office where there is very little oversight and accountability.

I’m just catching up here. The equity chair went to Holton and is tut-tutting about private school families?!

Jeez.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It was political. That was when Trump was saying he wanted schools to open, and the Democrats stomped their feet and insisted they couldn’t. I’m a lifelong Democrat, but many went around the bend on this one. My kids go to a catholic school that’s been open all year, with not one case of in-school transmission. Gayles’ stand was about politics, that’s it.

Scientists.

Um, no. The scientists provided a list of mitigation measures. Schools that could follow the measures and were allowed to open did so with success. See all the parochial schools in the DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s just speaking the truth. That’s why everyone on this thread is upset. Why not acknowledge your privilege and then have a conversation?!

What privilege? I work hard to afford private for my kid. So? You made other choices. People that bash others using the tired “privileged” label sound like envious middle school children. Get over it. People are more successful then you.

Other people work as hard or harder and still cannot afford a private school.

What privilege indeed.

So you agree that the public schools should have tried harder to open in-person for their students? Glad we can find common ground.

[Anonymous]

#recallgayles

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not a privilege question. It is an envy question. Hope this is career-ending but not enough will take notice. I did see the article get picked up by some other blogs at least.

Envy? Seriously?

Plainly.

[Anonymous]

He should be fired. His job is to make sure things are safe not whether it is fair for mine school to open based on his view of equity. The private schools out plans in place to make things safe. Simple as that.

[Anonymous]

Which school to open not mine

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s just speaking the truth. That’s why everyone on this thread is upset. Why not acknowledge your privilege and then have a conversation?!

What privilege? I work hard to afford private for my kid. So? You made other choices. People that bash others using the tired “privileged” label sound like envious middle school children. Get over it. People are more successful then you.

The privilege is not going to private school. It’s suggesting to public health officials during a global pandemic that your school is special and deserves special rules.

But this wasn’t what it was. There is no question that private schools have smaller class sizes and the ability to pivot to meet CDC guidelines in a way the public schools did not. Our son has 12 kids in his class. They were set-up to be 6 feet apart with plexi-glass dividers, windows open, classes outside where possible. Why were these facts not considered? Instead, he dismissed all private schools without regard to meet safety measures. We are very cautious. But this was never about keeping kids safe because, if it were, he would have looked at what schools were capable of. This was always about closing down the private that could comply with safety recommendations because the public could not. And the data support this: private schools, with these measures, have been open for months, safely. And now the publics are starting to do what they have been doing since the fall, albeit slower and for fewer days. Please don’t make this a class way, because the fact is that all of our children deserved better - the private didn’t deserve to be labeled spoiled kids of rich people and shut down for basically that fact when they prepared plans demonstrating their ability to safely bring kids back; and the public school kids deserved more than solving the problem by saying “see, the privates are home too” rather than working to try and implement similar safety measures.

CDC guidelines were not set in a vacuum. They are always contingent on levels of community spread. Local officials operated in the dark because no one in the federal government wanted to set consistent guidelines. This is not like Singapore where you can close the perimeter and control what happens within. I get your frustration, but honestly no one knew what was going on from week to week. You want a plan? Criteria? You don’t think the local officials were begging for guidance here? The mismanagement of the pandemic at the federal level is truly at a criminal level and cost many innocent lives. I don’t understand why there is so much outrage about one local official, who didn’t even shut down your schools.

As for the people who say it’s envy etc., I feel sad that you are so out of touch with what the majority of people feel about private school. My kids are in them and we are very happy with our school. But we are aware that most people do not envy kids in private school! They are proud of their public schools and honestly wary of the privilege, elitism, and bubble mentality that can develop in these communities. Comments like the ones people are making here about envy and lawsuits will be viewed with total disbelief and contempt by those outside the private school sphere. It’s as if people here don’t realize what has been happening in the world at large this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Gayles should step down or be fired immediately! He was wrong in his actions and in the unintelligent and inappropriate emails. Private schools opened and educated their students just fine. Not public schools - and this is his problem. He has no idea how to do his job and these email revelations should be the nail in his coffin. He is terrible at his job, divisive, and prejudiced. Time to Go!

He's not going to be "fired" and will not step down. You don't like his emails. Oh well.

I’m not the PP, but — his emails demonstrated a total and complete disregard for constituents’ valid concerns about the criteria he was using to make decisions about whether their children could access in-person education. He also requested that private schools make plans for safely reopening and then proceeded to ignore the plans and try to institute a blanket closure.

Um, OK? Once again, he's not going to be "fired" or step down.