Teacher here, ready to throw in the towel...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't teachers have 2 months this summer to drum up a plan for kids home sick? Arguably, if a kid is sick, why should they do work? They are sick. Mark assignments as 100%, give missed math lesson sheets when they return so they can catch up.

I'll drum up some plans if they paid me to but they didn't.

Lots of government employees work OT unpaid. Especially ones who have people relying on them for their welfare. Like children relying on YOU for their education. Don't be a clock watcher.

That’s funny, we aren’t even allowed to move our cars on our prep periods. We can’t walk out the door thirty seconds before the official end of day, even if all the kids are gone. Our jobs have zero flexibility. We don’t get PTO, have to schedule doctor’s appointments on holidays, and are tasked with completing virtual meetings and trainings on site for no reason. Everyone knows that teachers work a ton of unpaid overtime. Everyone wants to watch the clock when it comes to teachers, but god forbid teachers draw boundaries or ask to be respected and paid for your time.

At my school, if you want to physically leave the building during our 30 min lunch, you have to fill out a leave slip. That means I can’t go grab a prescription from CVS, make a private phone call in my car, or even take a walk in the fresh air.

My school instituted the same policy. The excuse was that they needed to be able to find us in an emergency - no idea what the emergency would be, as in my ten years in FCPS there never was any emergency where anyone needed to find anyone (except the principal, and we could always find him easily because he never left his office, ever). It was just one more way to chip away at teacher autonomy and treat us like children. It's just one of many things that caused me to quit and never go back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here -- this nuttiness is what I'm worried about.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/995134.page

These kids are still in daycare They are still playing sports. The parents are at work. It isn't practical to quarantine for 10 days because of a negative covid test. I was stuck in that loop over spring break with a child who had allergies. I won't test again for allergy-like symptoms unless my child's doctor explicitly tells me to. I was proactive and my child missed more school than necessary if I had waited for the doctor to make the call (who said we didn't need to test based on her runny nose).

I think once schools open back up again and the transition is behind us, people will realize how similar to the hybrid classes of the spring, the sky does not fall.

FCPS made us stay out the full two weeks after someone in the class tested positive (after going on vacation, or course), even though our child was fully vaccinated AND had a negative covid test. We skipped a couple of sports practices but did not quarantine the full two weeks in other ways.

[Anonymous]

OP, I share your concerns.

We are in NYC. My DH is a teacher and is involved in the scheduling. Last summer he created @ 20 versions of the schedule due to more and more families going remote as the summer wore on. (During a typical summer he might work on 3-5 different versions.)

This year he and the admins have been Zoom meeting several times a week and texting/calling throughout the days, agonizing over the schedule. Mayor DeBlasio stated that there would be no remote option. The only way the scheduling worked last year, with the 3 ft apart /6 ft apart for eating constraints, was because they had more space due to 35% of the students being remote. They are getting zero guidance for City Hall or the DOE. Basically, the implied message is "make it happen." But how when we're talking about actual physical limitations? He and his admins can't just add a wing to their school. The unspoken belief seems to be that the CDC will somehow change their minds about 3 ft/6ft spacing.

We're also parents of 2 Elementary students. Again, I am not sure how it's going to work with the limited space that they have. I can't even get my mind around the Delta variant going around all DOE staff must be at least partially vaccinated by mid September, IIRC, so I'm not too worried about spread in schools). I just don't see how schools can comply with the CDC and still fit the kids inside the buildings.

OP, it seems inevitable there will be some quarantines and remote. If you taught the same grade/subject last year, you have all the lessons prepared. If you didn't, please reach out to the teachers in your school who taught that grade/subject last year to share resources/materials. Start prepping now by recording your lectures on Youtube, organizing lessons on Google Classroom or whatever electronic blackboard app your school uses, etc. That way you won't be overwhelmed in case of a shutdown. Being proactive might calm you down.

GL (to us all!), OP.

[Anonymous]

Bwa ha ha. OP here. Apparently my school district has thrown out the original optional virtual learning plan we had in place and schools need to create a new one because so many parents are requesting virtual. Teachers who thought they were teaching in person may be drafted/selected. Rumors are some hybrid may occur? This is why I don’t plan over the summer... Ugh I hate last minute chaos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, I share your concerns.

We are in NYC. My DH is a teacher and is involved in the scheduling. Last summer he created @ 20 versions of the schedule due to more and more families going remote as the summer wore on. (During a typical summer he might work on 3-5 different versions.)

This year he and the admins have been Zoom meeting several times a week and texting/calling throughout the days, agonizing over the schedule. Mayor DeBlasio stated that there would be no remote option. The only way the scheduling worked last year, with the 3 ft apart /6 ft apart for eating constraints, was because they had more space due to 35% of the students being remote. They are getting zero guidance for City Hall or the DOE. Basically, the implied message is "make it happen." But how when we're talking about actual physical limitations? He and his admins can't just add a wing to their school. The unspoken belief seems to be that the CDC will somehow change their minds about 3 ft/6ft spacing.

Seriously, in NYC there is NO remote option whatsoever?

Neither 3 feet nor 6 feet spacing is enough to prevent spread of Delta in elementary schools. If kids are in classrooms, spread is going to happen. You just have to be OK with lots of kids getting Delta, and shutting down schools if say 20% are all infected at the same time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this real?

My school district has lots of plans in place. Teachers got to go packs this week in case the class needs to go virtual. I just don’t feel this way and wonder if you are a troll. Apologies if you are not but where do you teach?

Same here..We have a good plan in place. Maybe the OP just didn't pay attention or try hard enough to understand the various situations? Maybe some tutoring will help!! Where do you teach...I'm happy to explain

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this real?

My school district has lots of plans in place. Teachers got to go packs this week in case the class needs to go virtual. I just don’t feel this way and wonder if you are a troll. Apologies if you are not but where do you teach?

Same here..We have a good plan in place. Maybe the OP just didn't pay attention or try hard enough to understand the various situations? Maybe some tutoring will help!! Where do you teach...I'm happy to explain

My district doesn’t have a real plan. We are being told to extend grace to any kids out the first three weeks. Allegedly, an actual policy is being developed by late September.
—Not OP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this real?

My school district has lots of plans in place. Teachers got to go packs this week in case the class needs to go virtual. I just don’t feel this way and wonder if you are a troll. Apologies if you are not but where do you teach?

Same here..We have a good plan in place. Maybe the OP just didn't pay attention or try hard enough to understand the various situations? Maybe some tutoring will help!! Where do you teach...I'm happy to explain

ha! Op here. My district just scrapped our original plan and created a whole new plan last week.
We originally had 700 kids selecting virtual this fall but over the summer that changed to 12,000 so now a bunch of teachers need to switch to virtual or to teach both.

Have not yet seen any plan for handling quarantined kids or teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here -- this nuttiness is what I'm worried about.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/995134.page

These kids are still in daycare They are still playing sports. The parents are at work. It isn't practical to quarantine for 10 days because of a negative covid test. I was stuck in that loop over spring break with a child who had allergies. I won't test again for allergy-like symptoms unless my child's doctor explicitly tells me to. I was proactive and my child missed more school than necessary if I had waited for the doctor to make the call (who said we didn't need to test based on her runny nose).

I think once schools open back up again and the transition is behind us, people will realize how similar to the hybrid classes of the spring, the sky does not fall.

FCPS made us stay out the full two weeks after someone in the class tested positive (after going on vacation, or course), even though our child was fully vaccinated AND had a negative covid test. We skipped a couple of sports practices but did not quarantine the full two weeks in other ways.

This fall or last spring?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op here -- this nuttiness is what I'm worried about.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/45/995134.page

These kids are still in daycare They are still playing sports. The parents are at work. It isn't practical to quarantine for 10 days because of a negative covid test. I was stuck in that loop over spring break with a child who had allergies. I won't test again for allergy-like symptoms unless my child's doctor explicitly tells me to. I was proactive and my child missed more school than necessary if I had waited for the doctor to make the call (who said we didn't need to test based on her runny nose).

I think once schools open back up again and the transition is behind us, people will realize how similar to the hybrid classes of the spring, the sky does not fall.

FCPS made us stay out the full two weeks after someone in the class tested positive (after going on vacation, or course), even though our child was fully vaccinated AND had a negative covid test. We skipped a couple of sports practices but did not quarantine the full two weeks in other ways.

This fall or last spring?

It was late in Spring, after they went back in person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was so looking forward to just having a regular school year.

This fall for elementary school looks like it is going to be complete chaos. Our back to school staff messaging contains nothing about how we are going to deal with instructional ramifications of the many absences and quarantines that are bound to occur. From the school district's perspective it seems like we are just plunging forward expecting things to be perfectly normal. Absolutely no discussion of virtual or hybrid instruction for kids who are quarantined or what we will do if teachers are out. No discussion of how we will handle all the as yet unfilled teacher positions.

So whatever happens is going to be reactive, not proactive. They will tell teachers we need to come up with "alternative assignments" for students out of school for 10-15 days each time. Then parents will complain and they will flip us to providing hybrid instruction as we did last year. I DON'T WANT TO TEACH HYBRID again. I just can't do it.

I just can't do this whole thing. I just want it to all go away.

LOL sob. OP here. Completely predictable. We have four quarantined classes and administration has suddenly realized we are going to have to switch to virtual instruction or else all these kind Ed are going to fall behind. But some kids don’t need to be quarantined so actually we have to do concurrent but technically we have no agreement to teach concurrent so teachers don’t HAVE to... so everything is disarray. No plan. Much stress and anger and confusion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, I share your concerns.

We are in NYC. My DH is a teacher and is involved in the scheduling. Last summer he created @ 20 versions of the schedule due to more and more families going remote as the summer wore on. (During a typical summer he might work on 3-5 different versions.)

This year he and the admins have been Zoom meeting several times a week and texting/calling throughout the days, agonizing over the schedule. Mayor DeBlasio stated that there would be no remote option. The only way the scheduling worked last year, with the 3 ft apart /6 ft apart for eating constraints, was because they had more space due to 35% of the students being remote. They are getting zero guidance for City Hall or the DOE. Basically, the implied message is "make it happen." But how when we're talking about actual physical limitations? He and his admins can't just add a wing to their school. The unspoken belief seems to be that the CDC will somehow change their minds about 3 ft/6ft spacing.

Seriously, in NYC there is NO remote option whatsoever?

Neither 3 feet nor 6 feet spacing is enough to prevent spread of Delta in elementary schools. If kids are in classrooms, spread is going to happen. You just have to be OK with lots of kids getting Delta, and shutting down schools if say 20% are all infected at the same time.

Well, here we are 4 weeks after my district started school.

Two teachers.
DW's elementary school, over 700 students, no reported cases.
DH's elementary school, over 900 students, 3 reported cases, no spread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was so looking forward to just having a regular school year.

This fall for elementary school looks like it is going to be complete chaos. Our back to school staff messaging contains nothing about how we are going to deal with instructional ramifications of the many absences and quarantines that are bound to occur. From the school district's perspective it seems like we are just plunging forward expecting things to be perfectly normal. Absolutely no discussion of virtual or hybrid instruction for kids who are quarantined or what we will do if teachers are out. No discussion of how we will handle all the as yet unfilled teacher positions.

So whatever happens is going to be reactive, not proactive. They will tell teachers we need to come up with "alternative assignments" for students out of school for 10-15 days each time. Then parents will complain and they will flip us to providing hybrid instruction as we did last year. I DON'T WANT TO TEACH HYBRID again. I just can't do it.

I just can't do this whole thing. I just want it to all go away.

LOL sob. OP here. Completely predictable. We have four quarantined classes and administration has suddenly realized we are going to have to switch to virtual instruction or else all these kind Ed are going to fall behind. But some kids don’t need to be quarantined so actually we have to do concurrent but technically we have no agreement to teach concurrent so teachers don’t HAVE to... so everything is disarray. No plan. Much stress and anger and confusion.

Where are you located?

[Anonymous]

The virtual option for anxious parents needs to be scrapped, no quarantine unless symptomatic (just testing), done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Didn't teachers have 2 months this summer to drum up a plan for kids home sick? Arguably, if a kid is sick, why should they do work? They are sick. Mark assignments as 100%, give missed math lesson sheets when they return so they can catch up.

I'll drum up some plans if they paid me to but they didn't.

Lots of government employees work OT unpaid. Especially ones who have people relying on them for their welfare. Like children relying on YOU for their education. Don't be a clock watcher.

No. No freebies for you, mama.