Snow day Friday? Sigh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I really miss the days when this kind of thing was my biggest problem.

You have time to say this kind of judgy shyt on DCUM, so there's that. If you were so freaking busy, you wouldn't even be on here, or at least you wouldn't have time to participate in threads you don't relate to/aren't interested in.

np I think the pp has a good point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to be that person, but if DCPS had chosen to be virtual the first week back (like many many people advocated for), kids would have gotten 5 days of instruction. Which appears to be better than this mess of a week we were left with.

Disagree. I'd rather have no school and do things with my kids on my own schedule than useless virtual instruction.

Don't you think the whole rapid test to return plan has turned out to be a complete waste of time and money? The results are now null and void.

I don't understand this point at all. The results were going to be null and void the minute we let kids and parents go home to their communities yesterday. They were just a snapshot in time. Nothing more and were never going to be anything more.

Man. So that was most of a week lost, two days of distribution, tons of money, stress for teachers and parents picking up and uploading these things, for a snapshot of Covid at our schools that was only valid for less than 8 hours. Not worth it.

Disagree. Prior to that exercise it had appeared that omicron was even more prevalent in the community. It was good to get an idea of the level of asymptomatic infection.

This isn't a good dataset for that purpose, and making children suffer for that is ridiculous. If DC really wanted an accurate picture of the situation, there are better and more accurate ways to accomplish this with the weight of the burden spread across adults, not children.

No there isn't. Universal is always better than targeted sampling because it doesn't rely on any subjective assumptions. It is beyond absurd to claim that targeted sampling is better data than universal. The reason targeted sampling is note often used is logistical and resource based not data efficacy based.

No kids suffered. Two days extra break is nothing and is as minimal as something can get. Nothing usually gets done during those days anyway.

It wasn't burdensome. The process was easy and went smoothly. Easy to pick up the kits. Easy to take the test. And easy to upload the result. DCPS, suprisingly, did a great job pulling this off.

Lastly, it was very good news that prevalence was only 5% for students and 7% for staff. That is way less than was, wrongly, assumed based on the non-universal samplings we had.

i also take issue with this idea that "nothing gets done" during the first days after break so we shouldn't care if they're lost. even if i take you at your word, then SOME week has to be the first week after break. do you think now that schools will jump back into the work without the preparatory and expectation-setting work that occurs before academic work? do you think kids will return monday and act like it's the second week of the semester instead of the first?

The irony is that so much of that “back to school” stuff could have been done easily virtually

I take it you haven't been a teacher. No. If you're teaching physically, in a classroom, a lot of the intro stuff needs to be done physically, in a a classroom.

I am a classroom teacher actually and have been for some time.
Things we could have done this week:

Set our hopes and goals
Activities reminding of expectations both virtual and in person
Breakout rooms with different classmates reflecting on the first half of the year
Review games on Kahoot/nearpod
A million other SEL activities (got a bank of great virtual ones from last year)!

So yes, I am a teacher who was also very successful doing things virtually. I have no interest in a long term pivot to virtual but this week was freaking awful and even with normal weather I’m not looking forward to the rolling quarantines and absences over the next few weeks. Maybe they would’ve have happened regardless, but this really stinks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to be that person, but if DCPS had chosen to be virtual the first week back (like many many people advocated for), kids would have gotten 5 days of instruction. Which appears to be better than this mess of a week we were left with.

Disagree. I'd rather have no school and do things with my kids on my own schedule than useless virtual instruction.

Don't you think the whole rapid test to return plan has turned out to be a complete waste of time and money? The results are now null and void.

I don't understand this point at all. The results were going to be null and void the minute we let kids and parents go home to their communities yesterday. They were just a snapshot in time. Nothing more and were never going to be anything more.

Man. So that was most of a week lost, two days of distribution, tons of money, stress for teachers and parents picking up and uploading these things, for a snapshot of Covid at our schools that was only valid for less than 8 hours. Not worth it.

Disagree. Prior to that exercise it had appeared that omicron was even more prevalent in the community. It was good to get an idea of the level of asymptomatic infection.

and now we know there's an infection rate higher than rates moving all local universities to virtual learning for Jan, plus all of the unaccounted students who didn't respond or show up. Bravo!

Let’s not emulate the insanity of what the universities are doing.

And let’s remember that the more virtual learning our k-12 students get, the less like they are to make it into these universities

[Anonymous]

I guess if DCPS had followed other counties and went virtual, we could have had a full week of learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess if DCPS had followed other counties and went virtual, we could have had a full week of learning.

Nah. Reasons:
1) if last year didn't show you, "learning" doesn't happen much in virtual, particularly for little kids. (Notes: This is not disparaging of teachers, this is just the outcome, based on evidence.)
2) there would have been 1,000 problems with the tech (including devices not working, not connecting, not available, etc.) so people would have said, "welp no teaching happened today!"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess if DCPS had followed other counties and went virtual, we could have had a full week of learning.

Nah. Reasons:
1) if last year didn't show you, "learning" doesn't happen much in virtual, particularly for little kids. (Notes: This is not disparaging of teachers, this is just the outcome, based on evidence.)
2) there would have been 1,000 problems with the tech (including devices not working, not connecting, not available, etc.) so people would have said, "welp no teaching happened today!"

Do they even have 1:1 devices? I don’t think DCPS is prepared to pivot to remote.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess if DCPS had followed other counties and went virtual, we could have had a full week of learning.

Nah. Reasons:
1) if last year didn't show you, "learning" doesn't happen much in virtual, particularly for little kids. (Notes: This is not disparaging of teachers, this is just the outcome, based on evidence.)
2) there would have been 1,000 problems with the tech (including devices not working, not connecting, not available, etc.) so people would have said, "welp no teaching happened today!"

Do they even have 1:1 devices? I don’t think DCPS is prepared to pivot to remote.

I'm so glad they aren't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I guess if DCPS had followed other counties and went virtual, we could have had a full week of learning.

I would have put learning in scare quotes here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to be that person, but if DCPS had chosen to be virtual the first week back (like many many people advocated for), kids would have gotten 5 days of instruction. Which appears to be better than this mess of a week we were left with.

Disagree. I'd rather have no school and do things with my kids on my own schedule than useless virtual instruction.

Don't you think the whole rapid test to return plan has turned out to be a complete waste of time and money? The results are now null and void.

I don't understand this point at all. The results were going to be null and void the minute we let kids and parents go home to their communities yesterday. They were just a snapshot in time. Nothing more and were never going to be anything more.

Man. So that was most of a week lost, two days of distribution, tons of money, stress for teachers and parents picking up and uploading these things, for a snapshot of Covid at our schools that was only valid for less than 8 hours. Not worth it.

Disagree. Prior to that exercise it had appeared that omicron was even more prevalent in the community. It was good to get an idea of the level of asymptomatic infection.

and now we know there's an infection rate higher than rates moving all local universities to virtual learning for Jan, plus all of the unaccounted students who didn't respond or show up. Bravo!

Let’s not emulate the insanity of what the universities are doing.

+1. If anything, the colleges are draining testing supplies on regularly testing triple vaxxed students while I'm hoping I make it to places on time for my 1 and 4 year old.

Speaking of which, does anyone know what DC's education and testing money from the American Recovery Plan Act has gone to? It passed in March.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to be that person, but if DCPS had chosen to be virtual the first week back (like many many people advocated for), kids would have gotten 5 days of instruction. Which appears to be better than this mess of a week we were left with.

Disagree. I'd rather have no school and do things with my kids on my own schedule than useless virtual instruction.

Don't you think the whole rapid test to return plan has turned out to be a complete waste of time and money? The results are now null and void.

I don't understand this point at all. The results were going to be null and void the minute we let kids and parents go home to their communities yesterday. They were just a snapshot in time. Nothing more and were never going to be anything more.

Man. So that was most of a week lost, two days of distribution, tons of money, stress for teachers and parents picking up and uploading these things, for a snapshot of Covid at our schools that was only valid for less than 8 hours. Not worth it.

Disagree. Prior to that exercise it had appeared that omicron was even more prevalent in the community. It was good to get an idea of the level of asymptomatic infection.

But the antigen tests aren’ t very good for detecting Omicron.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess if DCPS had followed other counties and went virtual, we could have had a full week of learning.

Nah. Reasons:
1) if last year didn't show you, "learning" doesn't happen much in virtual, particularly for little kids. (Notes: This is not disparaging of teachers, this is just the outcome, based on evidence.)
2) there would have been 1,000 problems with the tech (including devices not working, not connecting, not available, etc.) so people would have said, "welp no teaching happened today!"

Do they even have 1:1 devices? I don’t think DCPS is prepared to pivot to remote.

Where did all of the devices from last year go? Didn’t the district spend an incredible about of money and resources buying devices and setting them up for learning? Shouldn’t they still have them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I guess if DCPS had followed other counties and went virtual, we could have had a full week of learning.

Nah. Reasons:
1) if last year didn't show you, "learning" doesn't happen much in virtual, particularly for little kids. (Notes: This is not disparaging of teachers, this is just the outcome, based on evidence.)
2) there would have been 1,000 problems with the tech (including devices not working, not connecting, not available, etc.) so people would have said, "welp no teaching happened today!"

Do they even have 1:1 devices? I don’t think DCPS is prepared to pivot to remote.

Where did all of the devices from last year go? Didn’t the district spend an incredible about of money and resources buying devices and setting them up for learning? Shouldn’t they still have them?

Many of our were broken or never returned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not to be that person, but if DCPS had chosen to be virtual the first week back (like many many people advocated for), kids would have gotten 5 days of instruction. Which appears to be better than this mess of a week we were left with.

Disagree. I'd rather have no school and do things with my kids on my own schedule than useless virtual instruction.

Don't you think the whole rapid test to return plan has turned out to be a complete waste of time and money? The results are now null and void.

I don't understand this point at all. The results were going to be null and void the minute we let kids and parents go home to their communities yesterday. They were just a snapshot in time. Nothing more and were never going to be anything more.

Man. So that was most of a week lost, two days of distribution, tons of money, stress for teachers and parents picking up and uploading these things, for a snapshot of Covid at our schools that was only valid for less than 8 hours. Not worth it.

Correct. I have two kids in private high schools in DC. They have required vaccination (since Sept) and have now moved to twice weekly PCR testing. They are requiring N95 masks on all students. They are trying whatever they can to keep school in session.
I recognize that DCPS can't begin to address Covid at this level (and I have a kid in DCPS) but this is what the privates are doing in a hail Mary to keep the teachers healthy and schools going throughout this surge.
They realize that the rate limiting factor is teacher health. You have to keep your teachers negative.

“You have to keep your teachers negative”
I mean, teachers, their families and friends live in a community that has high level of Covid right now so the school testing /N95 can’t keep them negative. You are assuming their only risk of covid is school when in fact is that data says schools are lower risk than the community.