Teachers are Vital Public Servants and Should Act Like It

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just wish teachers would give kids this “grace,” too. Teachers in our kids’ DL have been sarcastic and unkind. They aren’t modeling this “grace” they want from us.

I know. This is why I’m worried about ever sending mine back. Not COVID. What the teachers are like when I’m not watching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once I accepted that parents didn’t care if I lived or died, it was incredibly freeing. My guilt about not being allowed to do more vanished. I’ve started to regain a work-life balance that I haven’t had since before I switched careers to public education.

High Risk DH is interviewing for a private sector firm tomorrow. It’s a friend’s company and he’s pretty much guaranteed WFH until August. He’s sad about leaving teaching because it was a beloved choice after a military career, but it’s pretty clear that it is 100% on us to protect our health and not leave our kids orphans.

Many of us do care and want to continue with DL. We are going to lose good teachers.

At least the timing is right. FCPS enrollment is projected to be down 20,000 kids by June. With more leaving if there isn’t a guarantee of 5 days a week next year. If we don’t lose 12% of the workforce, there will be layoffs.

There are more than 300,000 students in FCPS in a school system built for 2/3rds that. Less 20,000 kids means they can finally get rid of the trailer camps and have normal-sized classrooms.

I don’t think it’s the loss of kids. It’s that all the kids you lose are the the affluent ones with educated parents. And that you lose a proportionate amount of funding. Wait until FCPS is really underfunded and 50% FARMS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posts and opinion pieces do no one any good. Good teachers are working hard, if not harder and doing their best. What we see is students and parents not doing their part. Today is the last day of the marking period. My kids have been dismissed from all their classes as their work is done to allow other kids to get their outstanding work done vs. failing them like they should. It takes parents teaming with teachers to make DL work. Everyone expects teachers to do everything but they cannot and as a parent you are either part of the problem or solution.

It's almost like...parents have JOBS. That they also have to do. To feed, clothe, and shelter children.

Ok, so you NEED child care. Pay or it or apply for a voucher or other low cost child care. The school is there to educate, not for child care. Child care has been an added bonus but not during a pandemic. You paid for day care when your kids were 0-5, so you pay for it now.

Disclaimer: I am a parent who emailed our school board and superintendent asking them to delay the start of hybrid school, even though I want to send my 6 year old in person because he has lost ALL motivation for DL whatsoever and it's turned into a daily struggle, ecause I want to support our teacher's association and their safety concerns.

But at the point where you're saying parents need childcare for school aged children to help with DL, you are basically telling people to enroll in private school. Which exists to provide in person help with education, unlike day care with a desk for DL but little to no oversight of how the kids are doing. Do you really want to say that people should be leaving the public school system? What are the implications? I GET the safety issues, but saying any educational deficiencies are the fault of parents is not honest.

m

+1

I don’t want schools to open right now (cases are too high, we missed the window in the fall) but I do not understand the argument I keep seeing that completely devalues public education. Here us a prime opportunity for people to really see and understand the value of public schools, all the things the do for families and for the community. Even people who don’t have kids are seeing how vital they are, as they watch colleagues and neighbors struggle to keep up with this.

What a great opportunity to say look what we do! Look how important we are! Let’s invest in this, not just with money but with the kind of commitment we currently devote to, say, sports teams or attracting development?

Instead I keep seeing the argument that ACTUALLY public school can easily be done from home if parents just provide all the other stuff, which is a great argument for... less money for teachers? Closing schools? Funneling money away from schools to parents?

It is so weird and counterproductive.

Parents have heard this loud and clear. Our children can be adequately educated by Virtual VA. Parents who want the in person small class joy of learning experience pay for private.

I love the idea of money following kids. I’m fine with teachers teaching DL from home forever. Give me my kids per pupil allotment and I’ll add some money and get a great private in person. FCPS teachers go to virtual VA, and everyone’s happy. Teachers don’t have to teach in person. They don’t have to deal with my whiny brat or my awful self. I won’t have to pay so god awful much to live in a good school zone. Win-win. I’m seeing so much excitement over this concept and I love it! Why do we fund school the way be did a century ago? So much has changed. We don’t have to do things the way we always did.

If there an upside to the pandemic it’s they way things have been shaken up. I hope schools never look the same because there a better way.

The fact that you think you're getting vouchers is just so amusing. There are 1 million students in the DMV and nowhere near enough private schools to take even 10% of them.

Private school applications in the area have already gone up 200% in the 2021 school year for parents who can full pay. Sorry you're just a cog in a wheel. Enjoy.

I think I support vouchers now, and my vote supports vouchers now. And I think there is a real demand for good privates in Fairfax county and money. So they will be here by HS. And that should concern you because I would have never considered vouchers or private before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once I accepted that parents didn’t care if I lived or died, it was incredibly freeing. My guilt about not being allowed to do more vanished. I’ve started to regain a work-life balance that I haven’t had since before I switched careers to public education.

High Risk DH is interviewing for a private sector firm tomorrow. It’s a friend’s company and he’s pretty much guaranteed WFH until August. He’s sad about leaving teaching because it was a beloved choice after a military career, but it’s pretty clear that it is 100% on us to protect our health and not leave our kids orphans.

Many of us do care and want to continue with DL. We are going to lose good teachers.

At least the timing is right. FCPS enrollment is projected to be down 20,000 kids by June. With more leaving if there isn’t a guarantee of 5 days a week next year. If we don’t lose 12% of the workforce, there will be layoffs.

There are more than 300,000 students in FCPS in a school system built for 2/3rds that. Less 20,000 kids means they can finally get rid of the trailer camps and have normal-sized classrooms.

I don’t think it’s the loss of kids. It’s that all the kids you lose are the the affluent ones with educated parents. And that you lose a proportionate amount of funding. Wait until FCPS is really underfunded and 50% FARMS.

You realize that this isn't happening for several reasons? The parents who transition out are either homeschooling or going to private schools but they are not selling their property. There is actually a shortage of available SFHs in this area and everything is snapped up in a bidding war. 2020 was also the year for the highest home sales in the region Guess what funds the local school system? That's right. Property taxes.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/10/12/dc-area-housing-market-flourishes-despite-coronavirus/

https://northernvirginiamag.com/home/real-estate/2020/08/05/long-foster-releases-2020-mid-year-report-on-local-real-estate-market/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posts and opinion pieces do no one any good. Good teachers are working hard, if not harder and doing their best. What we see is students and parents not doing their part. Today is the last day of the marking period. My kids have been dismissed from all their classes as their work is done to allow other kids to get their outstanding work done vs. failing them like they should. It takes parents teaming with teachers to make DL work. Everyone expects teachers to do everything but they cannot and as a parent you are either part of the problem or solution.

It's almost like...parents have JOBS. That they also have to do. To feed, clothe, and shelter children.

Ok, so you NEED child care. Pay or it or apply for a voucher or other low cost child care. The school is there to educate, not for child care. Child care has been an added bonus but not during a pandemic. You paid for day care when your kids were 0-5, so you pay for it now.

Disclaimer: I am a parent who emailed our school board and superintendent asking them to delay the start of hybrid school, even though I want to send my 6 year old in person because he has lost ALL motivation for DL whatsoever and it's turned into a daily struggle, ecause I want to support our teacher's association and their safety concerns.

But at the point where you're saying parents need childcare for school aged children to help with DL, you are basically telling people to enroll in private school. Which exists to provide in person help with education, unlike day care with a desk for DL but little to no oversight of how the kids are doing. Do you really want to say that people should be leaving the public school system? What are the implications? I GET the safety issues, but saying any educational deficiencies are the fault of parents is not honest.

m

+1

I don’t want schools to open right now (cases are too high, we missed the window in the fall) but I do not understand the argument I keep seeing that completely devalues public education. Here us a prime opportunity for people to really see and understand the value of public schools, all the things the do for families and for the community. Even people who don’t have kids are seeing how vital they are, as they watch colleagues and neighbors struggle to keep up with this.

What a great opportunity to say look what we do! Look how important we are! Let’s invest in this, not just with money but with the kind of commitment we currently devote to, say, sports teams or attracting development?

Instead I keep seeing the argument that ACTUALLY public school can easily be done from home if parents just provide all the other stuff, which is a great argument for... less money for teachers? Closing schools? Funneling money away from schools to parents?

It is so weird and counterproductive.

Parents have heard this loud and clear. Our children can be adequately educated by Virtual VA. Parents who want the in person small class joy of learning experience pay for private.

I love the idea of money following kids. I’m fine with teachers teaching DL from home forever. Give me my kids per pupil allotment and I’ll add some money and get a great private in person. FCPS teachers go to virtual VA, and everyone’s happy. Teachers don’t have to teach in person. They don’t have to deal with my whiny brat or my awful self. I won’t have to pay so god awful much to live in a good school zone. Win-win. I’m seeing so much excitement over this concept and I love it! Why do we fund school the way be did a century ago? So much has changed. We don’t have to do things the way we always did.

If there an upside to the pandemic it’s they way things have been shaken up. I hope schools never look the same because there a better way.

The fact that you think you're getting vouchers is just so amusing. There are 1 million students in the DMV and nowhere near enough private schools to take even 10% of them.

Private school applications in the area have already gone up 200% in the 2021 school year for parents who can full pay. Sorry you're just a cog in a wheel. Enjoy.

I think I support vouchers now, and my vote supports vouchers now. And I think there is a real demand for good privates in Fairfax county and money. So they will be here by HS. And that should concern you because I would have never considered vouchers or private before.

Your vote? You think you get a vote? That's cute.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish teachers would give kids this “grace,” too. Teachers in our kids’ DL have been sarcastic and unkind. They aren’t modeling this “grace” they want from us.

I know. This is why I’m worried about ever sending mine back. Not COVID. What the teachers are like when I’m not watching.

Right there with you!

[Anonymous]

I'm ready to have students back and teach in person. I have been ready to do so since last summer.

Let me look again for that email telling me students are returning....Nope. Still don't have it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Couldn't agree with this more. Its time to step up and help out the students who have been out of the classroom for almost a year now.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/25/teachers-are-vital-public-servants-time-them-start-acting-like-it/

LOL. Teachers are not your servants.

But feel free to quit your higher paying job and get in there and show them how it's done! No education degree required. They will work with you.

Welcome to the team!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posts and opinion pieces do no one any good. Good teachers are working hard, if not harder and doing their best. What we see is students and parents not doing their part. Today is the last day of the marking period. My kids have been dismissed from all their classes as their work is done to allow other kids to get their outstanding work done vs. failing them like they should. It takes parents teaming with teachers to make DL work. Everyone expects teachers to do everything but they cannot and as a parent you are either part of the problem or solution.

It's almost like...parents have JOBS. That they also have to do. To feed, clothe, and shelter children.

Ok, so you NEED child care. Pay or it or apply for a voucher or other low cost child care. The school is there to educate, not for child care. Child care has been an added bonus but not during a pandemic. You paid for day care when your kids were 0-5, so you pay for it now.

Disclaimer: I am a parent who emailed our school board and superintendent asking them to delay the start of hybrid school, even though I want to send my 6 year old in person because he has lost ALL motivation for DL whatsoever and it's turned into a daily struggle, ecause I want to support our teacher's association and their safety concerns.

But at the point where you're saying parents need childcare for school aged children to help with DL, you are basically telling people to enroll in private school. Which exists to provide in person help with education, unlike day care with a desk for DL but little to no oversight of how the kids are doing. Do you really want to say that people should be leaving the public school system? What are the implications? I GET the safety issues, but saying any educational deficiencies are the fault of parents is not honest.

m

+1

I don’t want schools to open right now (cases are too high, we missed the window in the fall) but I do not understand the argument I keep seeing that completely devalues public education. Here us a prime opportunity for people to really see and understand the value of public schools, all the things the do for families and for the community. Even people who don’t have kids are seeing how vital they are, as they watch colleagues and neighbors struggle to keep up with this.

What a great opportunity to say look what we do! Look how important we are! Let’s invest in this, not just with money but with the kind of commitment we currently devote to, say, sports teams or attracting development?

Instead I keep seeing the argument that ACTUALLY public school can easily be done from home if parents just provide all the other stuff, which is a great argument for... less money for teachers? Closing schools? Funneling money away from schools to parents?

It is so weird and counterproductive.

Parents have heard this loud and clear. Our children can be adequately educated by Virtual VA. Parents who want the in person small class joy of learning experience pay for private.

I love the idea of money following kids. I’m fine with teachers teaching DL from home forever. Give me my kids per pupil allotment and I’ll add some money and get a great private in person. FCPS teachers go to virtual VA, and everyone’s happy. Teachers don’t have to teach in person. They don’t have to deal with my whiny brat or my awful self. I won’t have to pay so god awful much to live in a good school zone. Win-win. I’m seeing so much excitement over this concept and I love it! Why do we fund school the way be did a century ago? So much has changed. We don’t have to do things the way we always did.

If there an upside to the pandemic it’s they way things have been shaken up. I hope schools never look the same because there a better way.

The fact that you think you're getting vouchers is just so amusing. There are 1 million students in the DMV and nowhere near enough private schools to take even 10% of them.

Private school applications in the area have already gone up 200% in the 2021 school year for parents who can full pay. Sorry you're just a cog in a wheel. Enjoy.

I think I support vouchers now, and my vote supports vouchers now. And I think there is a real demand for good privates in Fairfax county and money. So they will be here by HS. And that should concern you because I would have never considered vouchers or private before.

Your vote? You think you get a vote? That's cute.

As an adult over 18 I do get to vote for people who support vouchers. Did you take AP Gov DL or something? Because that’s a pretty basic piece of civics. Don’t worry. My kid hasn’t learned anything either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posts and opinion pieces do no one any good. Good teachers are working hard, if not harder and doing their best. What we see is students and parents not doing their part. Today is the last day of the marking period. My kids have been dismissed from all their classes as their work is done to allow other kids to get their outstanding work done vs. failing them like they should. It takes parents teaming with teachers to make DL work. Everyone expects teachers to do everything but they cannot and as a parent you are either part of the problem or solution.

It's almost like...parents have JOBS. That they also have to do. To feed, clothe, and shelter children.

Ok, so you NEED child care. Pay or it or apply for a voucher or other low cost child care. The school is there to educate, not for child care. Child care has been an added bonus but not during a pandemic. You paid for day care when your kids were 0-5, so you pay for it now.

EXACTLY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These posts and opinion pieces do no one any good. Good teachers are working hard, if not harder and doing their best. What we see is students and parents not doing their part. Today is the last day of the marking period. My kids have been dismissed from all their classes as their work is done to allow other kids to get their outstanding work done vs. failing them like they should. It takes parents teaming with teachers to make DL work. Everyone expects teachers to do everything but they cannot and as a parent you are either part of the problem or solution.

It's almost like...parents have JOBS. That they also have to do. To feed, clothe, and shelter children.

Ok, so you NEED child care. Pay or it or apply for a voucher or other low cost child care. The school is there to educate, not for child care. Child care has been an added bonus but not during a pandemic. You paid for day care when your kids were 0-5, so you pay for it now.

This funny argument. School is, in fact, child care for young kids. Just...stop.

Nope. You just THOUGHT you were entitled to childcare. As the pandemic has proven, you are NOT.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many times can we have the same tired argument?

Until done parents realize that teachers aren’t their personal servants.

+1,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish teachers would give kids this “grace,” too. Teachers in our kids’ DL have been sarcastic and unkind. They aren’t modeling this “grace” they want from us.

I know. This is why I’m worried about ever sending mine back. Not COVID. What the teachers are like when I’m not watching.

Right there with you!

Me too. I figure that during concurrent I can keep an ear on the class while my kid is there while I work and see how it sounds. But, it’s hard to see staying public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The respect for teachers have gone down tremendously after the pandemic. Before, we used to think it is noble profession and they care about teaching and students, blah blah blah. Some of the teacher may still care, but overall it is quite clear that they don't really care about teaching or students well being. Anytime you mention teaching in person, they revert back and tell you that they are not babysitters. The fact of the matter is that no one is expecting them to be babysitters, at least do the job for which you are getting paid which is teaching IN-PERSON.

No. Their job is education, which is being provided, whether you like it or not or agree or don't.

"In person" during a pandemic is in neither their contract nor their job description.

[Anonymous]

It is if they accept a vaccine