APS and new healthcare provider

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher who’s ending a hard week, and loves the kids, and has a lot of prepping and grading to do this weekend, it saddens me to read such negative comments from parents/community about our profession and working conditions we did not create. All based on a few who complained about a switch of which we also have no control. Sigh

Yes, but a few of our colleagues are speaking about things they don’t understand, and spreading misinformation about the bidding process.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher who’s ending a hard week, and loves the kids, and has a lot of prepping and grading to do this weekend, it saddens me to read such negative comments from parents/community about our profession and working conditions we did not create. All based on a few who complained about a switch of which we also have no control. Sigh

Most folks support teachers and want better resources for them. I agree that this is all likely based on a few complainers. Those people need a reality check and to understand that complaining and asking for support about things that ALL workers deal with on a regular basis (work schedules not aligning with school breaks, changes to benefits, etc...), makes them look like a bunch of spoiled princesses, eroding goodwill for all teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher who’s ending a hard week, and loves the kids, and has a lot of prepping and grading to do this weekend, it saddens me to read such negative comments from parents/community about our profession and working conditions we did not create. All based on a few who complained about a switch of which we also have no control. Sigh

Yes, but a few of our colleagues are speaking about things they don’t understand, and spreading misinformation about the bidding process.

They may not understand the details of the procurement process, but they do understand that Syphax employees treat them with disdain in ways big and small. Maybe there is some hyperbole, but I don't blame them for it.

And there are many people above who clearly think that educators have no right to advocate for better working conditions and compensation. Even looking at weekly wages, they are penalized in wages for their public service, more so in Virginia than almost any other state. https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-pay-penalty-2022/

People are often willing to compromise on pay and benefits when they feel respected and empowered in their jobs. People used to feel that way much more in APS than they do now, and students are suffering for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher who’s ending a hard week, and loves the kids, and has a lot of prepping and grading to do this weekend, it saddens me to read such negative comments from parents/community about our profession and working conditions we did not create. All based on a few who complained about a switch of which we also have no control. Sigh

Yes, but a few of our colleagues are speaking about things they don’t understand, and spreading misinformation about the bidding process.

They may not understand the details of the procurement process, but they do understand that Syphax employees treat them with disdain in ways big and small. Maybe there is some hyperbole, but I don't blame them for it.

And there are many people above who clearly think that educators have no right to advocate for better working conditions and compensation. Even looking at weekly wages, they are penalized in wages for their public service, more so in Virginia than almost any other state. https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-pay-penalty-2022/

People are often willing to compromise on pay and benefits when they feel respected and empowered in their jobs. People used to feel that way much more in APS than they do now, and students are suffering for it.

No, they are spreading flat out misinformation, like saying the proposal was designed so that Kaiser could not bid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a federal employee, I wanted to chime in on the facebook threads and ask if teachers were urgently writing to their elected officials to advocate for the government not to shut down. How many families in APS would be impacted by a shutdown? That's a major upheaval, but, you don't see parents whining to teachers asking for support.

Ideally, APS would have more than one insurance option available to staff, but, the contracting/procurement/funding is what it is. I understand it's not ideal to have to switch health care providers, but, as numerous people have pointed out, this is routine in the rest of the professional world, and all of us who are not teachers do not get to enjoy summers off to schedule any and every appointment under the sun for ourselves and our families.

+1
Especially the government shutdown part. Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a federal employee, I wanted to chime in on the facebook threads and ask if teachers were urgently writing to their elected officials to advocate for the government not to shut down. How many families in APS would be impacted by a shutdown? That's a major upheaval, but, you don't see parents whining to teachers asking for support.

APS parents' Congressional representatives don't support the shutdown, so who do you want them to write to?

DP. I think the poster's point is that teachers are asking parents to take action to support their employment benefits; but what are teachers actively doing to support others' employment woes? And that parents aren't asking teachers to actively advocate on behalf of their personal employment issues.
Surely you got it, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all are terrible. This is a huge change and teachers should’ve been given more of a heads up. They’ve put up with a ton in the last couple of years and morale is terrible already.

APS has known since July. There’s no excuse why they weren’t told sooner.

Is there a reason APS couldn't have said in the spring that Kaiser didn't put in a bid so they will not be an option in 2024? They may not have known who they'd use yet, but they'd have known that Kaiser wasn't in the running.

Yes, there were not allowed to disclose that per VA law.

This.

I can understand APS teachers being bummed. But the continuing complaining and anger toward APS when you have been given facts about how this works and why this happened is messed up. If Duran tells you all Kaiser didn't bid, that completely invalidates the procurement process. Other vendors would then have information that would affect their bids. APS CAN'T TELL YOU! Think through what it means to be part of public service and civics class and competitive bidding and why this all works the way it works. I get it you don't like the outcome. But this is necessary.

Some teachers naivite about how anything in the real world works is actually shocking to me. Total lack of common sense. It's embarrassing for you and your profession.

As a teacher in FCPS, I agree with you. The angst and complaining we have had in FCPS in changing from BCBS to Cigna this yearhas been ridiculous. All of my providers have been in Cigna and I have had no issues. We have great insurance and it is relatively inexpensive compared to the corporate world.

Ah, you have more sympathy from me than the APS teachers. Going from BCBS to Cigna is likely a more overall loss than going from Kaiser to BCBS.

[Anonymous]

I just compared and if I went with the BCBS HMO plan my premium would DECREASE by about $8. In my entire working life that has never happened. It has always been an increase, sometimes quite large

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher who’s ending a hard week, and loves the kids, and has a lot of prepping and grading to do this weekend, it saddens me to read such negative comments from parents/community about our profession and working conditions we did not create. All based on a few who complained about a switch of which we also have no control. Sigh

Yes, but a few of our colleagues are speaking about things they don’t understand, and spreading misinformation about the bidding process.

They may not understand the details of the procurement process, but they do understand that Syphax employees treat them with disdain in ways big and small. Maybe there is some hyperbole, but I don't blame them for it.

And there are many people above who clearly think that educators have no right to advocate for better working conditions and compensation. Even looking at weekly wages, they are penalized in wages for their public service, more so in Virginia than almost any other state. https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-pay-penalty-2022/

People are often willing to compromise on pay and benefits when they feel respected and empowered in their jobs. People used to feel that way much more in APS than they do now, and students are suffering for it.

I don’t understand how a peer can say this about compensation. APS gave a significant bump to everyone this year. Way more than what friends I have got in their corporate jobs. And most teacher friends I have are making a competitive salary for this area. Other school districts might not pay the same but I’m not sure how you can complain about wages in APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all are terrible. This is a huge change and teachers should’ve been given more of a heads up. They’ve put up with a ton in the last couple of years and morale is terrible already.

APS has known since July. There’s no excuse why they weren’t told sooner.

Is there a reason APS couldn't have said in the spring that Kaiser didn't put in a bid so they will not be an option in 2024? They may not have known who they'd use yet, but they'd have known that Kaiser wasn't in the running.

Yes, there were not allowed to disclose that per VA law.

This.

I can understand APS teachers being bummed. But the continuing complaining and anger toward APS when you have been given facts about how this works and why this happened is messed up. If Duran tells you all Kaiser didn't bid, that completely invalidates the procurement process. Other vendors would then have information that would affect their bids. APS CAN'T TELL YOU! Think through what it means to be part of public service and civics class and competitive bidding and why this all works the way it works. I get it you don't like the outcome. But this is necessary.

Some teachers naivite about how anything in the real world works is actually shocking to me. Total lack of common sense. It's embarrassing for you and your profession.

As a teacher in FCPS, I agree with you. The angst and complaining we have had in FCPS in changing from BCBS to Cigna this yearhas been ridiculous. All of my providers have been in Cigna and I have had no issues. We have great insurance and it is relatively inexpensive compared to the corporate world.

Ah, you have more sympathy from me than the APS teachers. Going from BCBS to Cigna is likely a more overall loss than going from Kaiser to BCBS.

I think this is the part that I don’t get. BCBS is such a huge upgrade. They should be celebrating.

Also, my family has had a new insurance plan pretty much every single year or every other year for the last 10 years. It’s what healthcare is now, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher who’s ending a hard week, and loves the kids, and has a lot of prepping and grading to do this weekend, it saddens me to read such negative comments from parents/community about our profession and working conditions we did not create. All based on a few who complained about a switch of which we also have no control. Sigh

Yes, but a few of our colleagues are speaking about things they don’t understand, and spreading misinformation about the bidding process.

They may not understand the details of the procurement process, but they do understand that Syphax employees treat them with disdain in ways big and small. Maybe there is some hyperbole, but I don't blame them for it.

And there are many people above who clearly think that educators have no right to advocate for better working conditions and compensation. Even looking at weekly wages, they are penalized in wages for their public service, more so in Virginia than almost any other state. https://www.epi.org/publication/teacher-pay-penalty-2022/

People are often willing to compromise on pay and benefits when they feel respected and empowered in their jobs. People used to feel that way much more in APS than they do now, and students are suffering for it.

Genuinely maybe Syphax employees who are just doing their jobs are tired of fielding entitled complaints and getting publicly trashed all the time. That is a real possibility I’m considering after reading this thread. And no I don’t work for APS.

[Anonymous]

Love threads like this because it's always a bunch of 'yeah I'm screwed by the system too, here's why I'm fine with it!"

Lots of crab bucket loser energy itt

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all are terrible. This is a huge change and teachers should’ve been given more of a heads up. They’ve put up with a ton in the last couple of years and morale is terrible already.

APS has known since July. There’s no excuse why they weren’t told sooner.

Is there a reason APS couldn't have said in the spring that Kaiser didn't put in a bid so they will not be an option in 2024? They may not have known who they'd use yet, but they'd have known that Kaiser wasn't in the running.

Yes, there were not allowed to disclose that per VA law.

This.

I can understand APS teachers being bummed. But the continuing complaining and anger toward APS when you have been given facts about how this works and why this happened is messed up. If Duran tells you all Kaiser didn't bid, that completely invalidates the procurement process. Other vendors would then have information that would affect their bids. APS CAN'T TELL YOU! Think through what it means to be part of public service and civics class and competitive bidding and why this all works the way it works. I get it you don't like the outcome. But this is necessary.

Some teachers naivite about how anything in the real world works is actually shocking to me. Total lack of common sense. It's embarrassing for you and your profession.

As a teacher in FCPS, I agree with you. The angst and complaining we have had in FCPS in changing from BCBS to Cigna this yearhas been ridiculous. All of my providers have been in Cigna and I have had no issues. We have great insurance and it is relatively inexpensive compared to the corporate world.

Ah, you have more sympathy from me than the APS teachers. Going from BCBS to Cigna is likely a more overall loss than going from Kaiser to BCBS.

I think this is the part that I don’t get. BCBS is such a huge upgrade. They should be celebrating.

Also, my family has had a new insurance plan pretty much every single year or every other year for the last 10 years. It’s what healthcare is now, unfortunately.

The issue is that there is very little time for Kaiser families to find all new doctors across the board. Pediatrician, PCP, ob/gyn, etc.

It’s a shame the transition can’t happen in the early summer instead of right in the middle of the school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think the teacher who is the most frequent voice on AEM represents APS teachers as a whole.

Yeah he is looking pretty silly to me. The bidding process is public knowledge and the RFP documents are available online. There is nothing unethical about this. Also the docs clearly say the duration of this new contract so if he spent a little bit of time he would know when this will happen again.

And I bet that this was mentioned - that the services would be rebid - probably in some newsletter or email - and promptly ignored.

It sucks to switch but it’s not any grave injustice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You all are terrible. This is a huge change and teachers should’ve been given more of a heads up. They’ve put up with a ton in the last couple of years and morale is terrible already.

APS has known since July. There’s no excuse why they weren’t told sooner.

Is there a reason APS couldn't have said in the spring that Kaiser didn't put in a bid so they will not be an option in 2024? They may not have known who they'd use yet, but they'd have known that Kaiser wasn't in the running.

Yes, there were not allowed to disclose that per VA law.

This.

I can understand APS teachers being bummed. But the continuing complaining and anger toward APS when you have been given facts about how this works and why this happened is messed up. If Duran tells you all Kaiser didn't bid, that completely invalidates the procurement process. Other vendors would then have information that would affect their bids. APS CAN'T TELL YOU! Think through what it means to be part of public service and civics class and competitive bidding and why this all works the way it works. I get it you don't like the outcome. But this is necessary.

Some teachers naivite about how anything in the real world works is actually shocking to me. Total lack of common sense. It's embarrassing for you and your profession.

As a teacher in FCPS, I agree with you. The angst and complaining we have had in FCPS in changing from BCBS to Cigna this yearhas been ridiculous. All of my providers have been in Cigna and I have had no issues. We have great insurance and it is relatively inexpensive compared to the corporate world.

Ah, you have more sympathy from me than the APS teachers. Going from BCBS to Cigna is likely a more overall loss than going from Kaiser to BCBS.

I think this is the part that I don’t get. BCBS is such a huge upgrade. They should be celebrating.

Also, my family has had a new insurance plan pretty much every single year or every other year for the last 10 years. It’s what healthcare is now, unfortunately.

The issue is that there is very little time for Kaiser families to find all new doctors across the board. Pediatrician, PCP, ob/gyn, etc.

It’s a shame the transition can’t happen in the early summer instead of right in the middle of the school year.

Again, timing is determined by law. Open enrollment happens the same time of year for everyone. Not just APS employees.

The teacher making a huge deal of this looks like a spoiled brat who is tired and needs a nap.