Closed Tuesday?

[Anonymous]

We do not have advisory every day and many kids use it for review and catch up. I would rather have delays than closure but ideally just full days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren’t we doing virtual?

What do you picture when you say “virtual”? Are you thinking purely asynchronous work? Synchronous instruction?

People keep bringing this up. If you are going to do virtual instruction it needs to be planned ahead of time. You can’t just flip a switch and do it. Students and teachers both need to be prepped on expectations, especially if any type of synchronous instruction is going to happen. You’d have to make sure to send their laptops and Chromebooks home before the storm.

Not the person you are responding to, but I think if you warned students in advance that they need to have laptops in case of virtual and you remind them then of rules, then it can be done. You remind them again when the virtual session starts of rules. You don't even need to use all the class time. Just have a check in, teach something so when you revisit it, it is not the first time they heard it, but if people don't join they don't completely lose out. Then have a little asynchronous work that they can self-check. Sure some will just cheat, but quite a few won't and it will only help them when they return to schol. In the case of AP classes I would definitely have some zoom classes.

Exactly. In advance. That hasn’t been done. Keep in mind that what you are suggesting probably won’t be so simple with ES students. Maybe the expectations will be different for those in ES, but that all has to be understood beforehand. You can’t just say, “Online instruction begins tomorrow”.

Yes virtual learning is not a simple thing at all, as everyone should remember. We're at, what, day 3.5? This seems like a massive overreaction.

I probably wouldn’t be so put off by this if a five day week was the standards and not exception. For a lot of working parents, the calendar is such a mess and we do everything we can to make it work. But when things like this happen and there’s no apparent effort to problem solve, it feels like a bridge too far for me. I’m glad you might not feel like this, it’s not a nice feeling to fear that my kids aren’t getting the education I thought they would when we chose to live here. Not based on a couple of snow days but on the culmination of a lot of factors.

Ok, and as an adult you have to weigh the pros and cons. If it doesn't make sense to stay in NoVA then go. If the benefits outweigh the cons, then stay and accept the negatives.
But in reality, there are only a few states in the US where you kids will get a better education.

The future is bleak for these kids for a lot of reasons so yes, we are weighing the pros and cons. A substandard public education isn’t something we can tolerate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This question might be off topic, but if we do open this week, won’t we need to do 2 hour delays everyday - since there’s a danger that Middle Schoolers who walk in the early morning could be hit by cars?

Yes and that’s fine by me. It feels like the right amount of risk tolerance.

Whole problem here is the terrible decision making by folks being paid 300-400k year. You cannot reasonably claim, if conditions were so “unsafe” that entire school system had to close, that conditions tomorrow will be materially any better tomorrow (or Wed/Thurs for that matter). So leadership is either OK with another full week of no school (which is terrible ninny timid leadership) OR will hypocritically move the goal posts later this week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This question might be off topic, but if we do open this week, won’t we need to do 2 hour delays everyday - since there’s a danger that Middle Schoolers who walk in the early morning could be hit by cars?

Yes and that’s fine by me. It feels like the right amount of risk tolerance.

Whole problem here is the terrible decision making by folks being paid 300-400k year. You cannot reasonably claim, if conditions were so “unsafe” that entire school system had to close, that conditions tomorrow will be materially any better tomorrow (or Wed/Thurs for that matter). So leadership is either OK with another full week of no school (which is terrible ninny timid leadership) OR will hypocritically move the goal posts later this week.

Hypocrisy??? In FCPS? Never!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This question might be off topic, but if we do open this week, won’t we need to do 2 hour delays everyday - since there’s a danger that Middle Schoolers who walk in the early morning could be hit by cars?

Yes and that’s fine by me. It feels like the right amount of risk tolerance.

Whole problem here is the terrible decision making by folks being paid 300-400k year. You cannot reasonably claim, if conditions were so “unsafe” that entire school system had to close, that conditions tomorrow will be materially any better tomorrow (or Wed/Thurs for that matter). So leadership is either OK with another full week of no school (which is terrible ninny timid leadership) OR will hypocritically move the goal posts later this week.

Hypocrisy??? In FCPS? Never!

They’re also just not that smart. Any parent with kids in SACC could have told them that SACC wouldn’t be open today but they made the decision to closed based in part on some magical belief that SACC would be open and a chunk of younger kids would have care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why aren’t we doing virtual?

What do you picture when you say “virtual”? Are you thinking purely asynchronous work? Synchronous instruction?

People keep bringing this up. If you are going to do virtual instruction it needs to be planned ahead of time. You can’t just flip a switch and do it. Students and teachers both need to be prepped on expectations, especially if any type of synchronous instruction is going to happen. You’d have to make sure to send their laptops and Chromebooks home before the storm.

Not the person you are responding to, but I think if you warned students in advance that they need to have laptops in case of virtual and you remind them then of rules, then it can be done. You remind them again when the virtual session starts of rules. You don't even need to use all the class time. Just have a check in, teach something so when you revisit it, it is not the first time they heard it, but if people don't join they don't completely lose out. Then have a little asynchronous work that they can self-check. Sure some will just cheat, but quite a few won't and it will only help them when they return to schol. In the case of AP classes I would definitely have some zoom classes.

Exactly. In advance. That hasn’t been done. Keep in mind that what you are suggesting probably won’t be so simple with ES students. Maybe the expectations will be different for those in ES, but that all has to be understood beforehand. You can’t just say, “Online instruction begins tomorrow”.

Yes virtual learning is not a simple thing at all, as everyone should remember. We're at, what, day 3.5? This seems like a massive overreaction.

I probably wouldn’t be so put off by this if a five day week was the standards and not exception. For a lot of working parents, the calendar is such a mess and we do everything we can to make it work. But when things like this happen and there’s no apparent effort to problem solve, it feels like a bridge too far for me. I’m glad you might not feel like this, it’s not a nice feeling to fear that my kids aren’t getting the education I thought they would when we chose to live here. Not based on a couple of snow days but on the culmination of a lot of factors.

I get this many parents fear their kids are not getting the education they deserve in this county. I'm one but I recognize the snow day is not the problem. It's the not educating on a sunny day that infuriates me. Many of my neighbors have gone private. There is a true lack of education and care about students in this county. All of the anger seems to explode on a snow day but why are parents not banding together the rest of the year demanding answers from Gatehouse. Even teachers and students seem miserable and the good teachers know things are not working in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly, I've been so disappointed in my broader neighborhood. There are so many houses with pristine, cleared driveways and untouched sidewalks. The worst are the corner lots, where people just decided that it was too much work to break up the ice.

As part of this, a big problem has been the lack of help for the older folks. But I understand it. It is normally a 10-15 minute job to shovel someone's sidewalk in a normal 1/4 acre residential neighborhood. In these conditions it ends up being an hour-plus.

There's nothing that FCPS can do to make this better. They just have to decide what is the tipping point where the kids have missed enough school that it is ok to send them out in potentially dangerous conditions.

Everyone here is disappointed.....disappointed in neighbors(maybe they were sick or injured and couldn't help)....disappointed in school systems....no one seems to want to say that this is not a normal storm and VA does not have the resources to clean up they way up north does. Kids safety matters-all kids not just yours. Everyone will have to be disappointed-we have the snow days and we never use them all. This was a big and intense storm. It is what it is~stop with the teacher hate they don't make the calls.

Our neighborhood had people posting that they were available to help if people needed help and then did so when people reached out. My neighbor who cleared their driveway and din’t touch their sidewalk didn’t need help to do that, they just didn’t want to so they didn’t. Pretty much everyone in my neighborhood has clear drive ways, half didn’t touch their sidewalks. That is a choice they made that we all pay for.

I don’t care about using snow days, although they are not actual snow days but hours that are counted. That includes things that have nothing to do with being in class, like passing periods and lunch time, so these are not actual instructional minutes and not really snow days. FCPS plans for hte legally required 180 days, it doesn’t build in snow days. It switches to hours after the first snow days. This notion that there are 10 built in snow days is BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This question might be off topic, but if we do open this week, won’t we need to do 2 hour delays everyday - since there’s a danger that Middle Schoolers who walk in the early morning could be hit by cars?

Yes and that’s fine by me. It feels like the right amount of risk tolerance.

Whole problem here is the terrible decision making by folks being paid 300-400k year. You cannot reasonably claim, if conditions were so “unsafe” that entire school system had to close, that conditions tomorrow will be materially any better tomorrow (or Wed/Thurs for that matter). So leadership is either OK with another full week of no school (which is terrible ninny timid leadership) OR will hypocritically move the goal posts later this week.

Gatehouse is certainly no brain trust. Not s single teacher or administrator at my school would have published the confusing error-filled message that the Communications Director placed on the website last night.

[Anonymous]

There will be a revolt if they turn back on the delay for tomorrow!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This question might be off topic, but if we do open this week, won’t we need to do 2 hour delays everyday - since there’s a danger that Middle Schoolers who walk in the early morning could be hit by cars?

Yes and that’s fine by me. It feels like the right amount of risk tolerance.

Whole problem here is the terrible decision making by folks being paid 300-400k year. You cannot reasonably claim, if conditions were so “unsafe” that entire school system had to close, that conditions tomorrow will be materially any better tomorrow (or Wed/Thurs for that matter). So leadership is either OK with another full week of no school (which is terrible ninny timid leadership) OR will hypocritically move the goal posts later this week.

Gatehouse is certainly no brain trust. Not s single teacher or administrator at my school would have published the confusing error-filled message that the Communications Director placed on the website last night.

Since I’m just “publishing” on DCUM, please forgive the substitution of “s” for the article, “a.” I really undermined my argument, there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There will be a revolt if they turn back on the delay for tomorrow!

Did they announce it then?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There will be a revolt if they turn back on the delay for tomorrow!

A revolt on DCUM, let's get the facts straight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will be a revolt if they turn back on the delay for tomorrow!

Did they announce it then?

Yes. there is no way in hell they'd send out a county-wide email that says "we anticipate opening Tuesday on a 2 hour delay" and then open earlier. That would be a comms nightmare. I'm surprised people can't parse these things. 2 hour delay at minimum, the only possible change is a closure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will be a revolt if they turn back on the delay for tomorrow!

A revolt on DCUM, let's get the facts straight.

Literally all of the parents I know are PISSED school is closed today. I don’t think yall are the majority you think you are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There will be a revolt if they turn back on the delay for tomorrow!

A revolt on DCUM, let's get the facts straight.

Literally all of the parents I know are PISSED school is closed today. I don’t think yall are the majority you think you are.

Are they going to Gatehouse tomorrow to protest, or will they just complain online, Being PISSED and sending emails is totally different than storming the "gates" at Gatehouse.