My two cents why Code Purple was never going to fly . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of people who work in Central Office in operations, IT, etc. whose job it is to figure out how to pull off a pivot to virtual (either synchronous or asynchronous) if the school system is in a weather situation where it needs to be considered. Alternatively, these people can do the hard work and research to determine that there are barriers that cannot be overcome and that code purple cannot and will not ever be on the table. But pretending winter doesn’t exist and just covering your eyes and kicking the can is not doing their jobs. It is amazing to me how many MCPS employees, particularly at the highest levels, just shrug and don’t do their jobs and find solutions to problems.

There's already a solution. There are already days **in the 2023-3024 calendar** intended to be used as make-up days. There's no great challenge to solve. We just need to pick the day. We should probably decide what will be the second day, given we'll almost certainly have another snow day and we don't want to go through this again.

Ok. So someone in leadership should decide to tell the operations people to remove code purple from the menu of watercolors and should tell the calendar people to decide the order in which we will use the make-up days and re-iterate that that’s the plan now. This is not hard. What’s hard is that no one is leading and also they don’t want to do virtual OR use the make up days so they just stand there paralyzed and make no decisions and cause entirely unnecessary scrambling and anxiety for school staff and families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My two cents why Code Purple was never going to fly, with just a day’s notice to staff and students:

One, there has been no significant investment in training or retraining how to use zoom or canvas to anyone, really, whether it's teachers or students in the district, even though it should have been built-in the first month of school and reiterated before the start of the winter season;

Two, the majority of elementary schools went to a cart system, which makes it incredibly time-consuming to remove not just the chromebooks but dismantle the cart just to get to their chargers, of which some might be broken or defective; (Never mind the idiocy of taking apart the carts, only to put them together the following Monday?) (And whom would pull this off, realistically? ITSSs are shared and stretched thin among three to four schools, already.);

Three, to build on the above, two months ago, MCPS indicated that they were effectively out of chargers, and that the financial responsibility would now fall onto the individual schools. (A budget freeze announced two Fridays ago was just an additional slap to the face.);

Four, when students came back from the pandemic, most of the laptop bags were thrown out and recycled, as they were downright disgusting and in no shape for further use. They were not replaced. So the chromebooks would have to go home into their backpacks;

Five, someone on DCUM commented that the schools could simply send the chromebooks home, without their charging cables, as their stated battery life was eight hours. Please note that that was when they were brand-new, not four years old, and this also assumes that they were being plugged in, constantly. (Ha.);

Six, the Dell teacher laptops that would be expected to pull off zoom are straight-up POSs. So many have failed for various reasons just over the last few months that a lot of people are frustrated. I can't imagine using them;

Seven, the total confusion and lack of communication or even miscommunication over what a Code Purple was, how it would be implemented, and more was simply monumentally screwed up. The expectations and conditions to trigger such a code should have been codified and publicized to the entire community way ahead of time;

This is just a few of the things that naturally occurred to me. (If there’s others, you’re welcome to chime in!) Bottom line: nothing was learned from the pandemic.

There were, however, some easy actions that could have been taken to offset some of this:

one, such as regular use or formal integration of zoom / canvas throughout the school year;
two, transitioning from closed carts to something a bit more flexible, like open-air charging stations;
three, updating the Acer 740s to Google Flex to keep them modern and useful, in case the school system decided to send home relatively-disposable laptops
four, set into motion exactly how and when a Code Purple comes into play; and so much more.

It’s not rocket science.

I am one of three teachers on my grade level team with a DELL that only runs if plugged in. Once unplugged, it shuts down within seconds. Every time I change classrooms or go to a meeting, I have to bring my charger, find a place to plug in, then restart. I asked for a replacement in Fall 2022. First, they gaslit me and said there wasn’t a problem. When I documented it with a video, I was told it’s perfectly fine that it can’t stay on if unplugged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of people who work in Central Office in operations, IT, etc. whose job it is to figure out how to pull off a pivot to virtual (either synchronous or asynchronous) if the school system is in a weather situation where it needs to be considered. Alternatively, these people can do the hard work and research to determine that there are barriers that cannot be overcome and that code purple cannot and will not ever be on the table. But pretending winter doesn’t exist and just covering your eyes and kicking the can is not doing their jobs. It is amazing to me how many MCPS employees, particularly at the highest levels, just shrug and don’t do their jobs and find solutions to problems.

There's already a solution. There are already days **in the 2023-3024 calendar** intended to be used as make-up days. There's no great challenge to solve. We just need to pick the day. We should probably decide what will be the second day, given we'll almost certainly have another snow day and we don't want to go through this again.

Ok. So someone in leadership should decide to tell the operations people to remove code purple from the menu of watercolors and should tell the calendar people to decide the order in which we will use the make-up days and re-iterate that that’s the plan now. This is not hard. What’s hard is that no one is leading and also they don’t want to do virtual OR use the make up days so they just stand there paralyzed and make no decisions and cause entirely unnecessary scrambling and anxiety for school staff and families.

We don't need to completely get rid of Purple. But we should double-down on Brian Hull's message from Friday that it should only be considered in Snowmageddon-like situations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two cents why Code Purple was never going to fly, with just a day’s notice to staff and students:

One, there has been no significant investment in training or retraining how to use zoom or canvas to anyone, really, whether it's teachers or students in the district, even though it should have been built-in the first month of school and reiterated before the start of the winter season;

Two, the majority of elementary schools went to a cart system, which makes it incredibly time-consuming to remove not just the chromebooks but dismantle the cart just to get to their chargers, of which some might be broken or defective; (Never mind the idiocy of taking apart the carts, only to put them together the following Monday?) (And whom would pull this off, realistically? ITSSs are shared and stretched thin among three to four schools, already.);

Three, to build on the above, two months ago, MCPS indicated that they were effectively out of chargers, and that the financial responsibility would now fall onto the individual schools. (A budget freeze announced two Fridays ago was just an additional slap to the face.);

Four, when students came back from the pandemic, most of the laptop bags were thrown out and recycled, as they were downright disgusting and in no shape for further use. They were not replaced. So the chromebooks would have to go home into their backpacks;

Five, someone on DCUM commented that the schools could simply send the chromebooks home, without their charging cables, as their stated battery life was eight hours. Please note that that was when they were brand-new, not four years old, and this also assumes that they were being plugged in, constantly. (Ha.);

Six, the Dell teacher laptops that would be expected to pull off zoom are straight-up POSs. So many have failed for various reasons just over the last few months that a lot of people are frustrated. I can't imagine using them;

Seven, the total confusion and lack of communication or even miscommunication over what a Code Purple was, how it would be implemented, and more was simply monumentally screwed up. The expectations and conditions to trigger such a code should have been codified and publicized to the entire community way ahead of time;

This is just a few of the things that naturally occurred to me. (If there’s others, you’re welcome to chime in!) Bottom line: nothing was learned from the pandemic.

There were, however, some easy actions that could have been taken to offset some of this:

one, such as regular use or formal integration of zoom / canvas throughout the school year;
two, transitioning from closed carts to something a bit more flexible, like open-air charging stations;
three, updating the Acer 740s to Google Flex to keep them modern and useful, in case the school system decided to send home relatively-disposable laptops
four, set into motion exactly how and when a Code Purple comes into play; and so much more.

It’s not rocket science.

The state allows for 3 asynchronous inclement weather days. Other counties have been able to plan for those days, and some have even used both asynchronous and synchronous virtual days this year, without any major issues. It's not that complicated of a solution to use some virtual days, especially if 3 can be asynchronous.

Do you know which counties are doing virtual days successfully?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two cents why Code Purple was never going to fly, with just a day’s notice to staff and students:

One, there has been no significant investment in training or retraining how to use zoom or canvas to anyone, really, whether it's teachers or students in the district, even though it should have been built-in the first month of school and reiterated before the start of the winter season;

Two, the majority of elementary schools went to a cart system, which makes it incredibly time-consuming to remove not just the chromebooks but dismantle the cart just to get to their chargers, of which some might be broken or defective; (Never mind the idiocy of taking apart the carts, only to put them together the following Monday?) (And whom would pull this off, realistically? ITSSs are shared and stretched thin among three to four schools, already.);

Three, to build on the above, two months ago, MCPS indicated that they were effectively out of chargers, and that the financial responsibility would now fall onto the individual schools. (A budget freeze announced two Fridays ago was just an additional slap to the face.);

Four, when students came back from the pandemic, most of the laptop bags were thrown out and recycled, as they were downright disgusting and in no shape for further use. They were not replaced. So the chromebooks would have to go home into their backpacks;

Five, someone on DCUM commented that the schools could simply send the chromebooks home, without their charging cables, as their stated battery life was eight hours. Please note that that was when they were brand-new, not four years old, and this also assumes that they were being plugged in, constantly. (Ha.);

Six, the Dell teacher laptops that would be expected to pull off zoom are straight-up POSs. So many have failed for various reasons just over the last few months that a lot of people are frustrated. I can't imagine using them;

Seven, the total confusion and lack of communication or even miscommunication over what a Code Purple was, how it would be implemented, and more was simply monumentally screwed up. The expectations and conditions to trigger such a code should have been codified and publicized to the entire community way ahead of time;

This is just a few of the things that naturally occurred to me. (If there’s others, you’re welcome to chime in!) Bottom line: nothing was learned from the pandemic.

There were, however, some easy actions that could have been taken to offset some of this:

one, such as regular use or formal integration of zoom / canvas throughout the school year;
two, transitioning from closed carts to something a bit more flexible, like open-air charging stations;
three, updating the Acer 740s to Google Flex to keep them modern and useful, in case the school system decided to send home relatively-disposable laptops
four, set into motion exactly how and when a Code Purple comes into play; and so much more.

It’s not rocket science.

The state allows for 3 asynchronous inclement weather days. Other counties have been able to plan for those days, and some have even used both asynchronous and synchronous virtual days this year, without any major issues. It's not that complicated of a solution to use some virtual days, especially if 3 can be asynchronous.

They l've used them, but they've ranged from disasters (attempts at virtual instruction) to worthless (asynchronous).

We've got make-up days for a reason. We should use those. Virtual should only be considered if there's another Snowmageddon.

Asynchronous days work for every other county. They’ll work here too, despite your incessant complaining.

They only "work" as a way of getting rid of a school day. They don't have an educational benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two cents why Code Purple was never going to fly, with just a day’s notice to staff and students:

One, there has been no significant investment in training or retraining how to use zoom or canvas to anyone, really, whether it's teachers or students in the district, even though it should have been built-in the first month of school and reiterated before the start of the winter season;

Two, the majority of elementary schools went to a cart system, which makes it incredibly time-consuming to remove not just the chromebooks but dismantle the cart just to get to their chargers, of which some might be broken or defective; (Never mind the idiocy of taking apart the carts, only to put them together the following Monday?) (And whom would pull this off, realistically? ITSSs are shared and stretched thin among three to four schools, already.);

Three, to build on the above, two months ago, MCPS indicated that they were effectively out of chargers, and that the financial responsibility would now fall onto the individual schools. (A budget freeze announced two Fridays ago was just an additional slap to the face.);

Four, when students came back from the pandemic, most of the laptop bags were thrown out and recycled, as they were downright disgusting and in no shape for further use. They were not replaced. So the chromebooks would have to go home into their backpacks;

Five, someone on DCUM commented that the schools could simply send the chromebooks home, without their charging cables, as their stated battery life was eight hours. Please note that that was when they were brand-new, not four years old, and this also assumes that they were being plugged in, constantly. (Ha.);

Six, the Dell teacher laptops that would be expected to pull off zoom are straight-up POSs. So many have failed for various reasons just over the last few months that a lot of people are frustrated. I can't imagine using them;

Seven, the total confusion and lack of communication or even miscommunication over what a Code Purple was, how it would be implemented, and more was simply monumentally screwed up. The expectations and conditions to trigger such a code should have been codified and publicized to the entire community way ahead of time;

This is just a few of the things that naturally occurred to me. (If there’s others, you’re welcome to chime in!) Bottom line: nothing was learned from the pandemic.

There were, however, some easy actions that could have been taken to offset some of this:

one, such as regular use or formal integration of zoom / canvas throughout the school year;
two, transitioning from closed carts to something a bit more flexible, like open-air charging stations;
three, updating the Acer 740s to Google Flex to keep them modern and useful, in case the school system decided to send home relatively-disposable laptops
four, set into motion exactly how and when a Code Purple comes into play; and so much more.

It’s not rocket science.

I am one of three teachers on my grade level team with a DELL that only runs if plugged in. Once unplugged, it shuts down within seconds. Every time I change classrooms or go to a meeting, I have to bring my charger, find a place to plug in, then restart. I asked for a replacement in Fall 2022. First, they gaslit me and said there wasn’t a problem. When I documented it with a video, I was told it’s perfectly fine that it can’t stay on if unplugged.

While I wholeheartedly agree that they should absolutely replace your school device, do you truly not have a working computer or tablet at home that you could presumably use if need be to conduct your class for one day? Not a question of whether or not you should have to, but do you really not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two cents why Code Purple was never going to fly, with just a day’s notice to staff and students:

One, there has been no significant investment in training or retraining how to use zoom or canvas to anyone, really, whether it's teachers or students in the district, even though it should have been built-in the first month of school and reiterated before the start of the winter season;

Two, the majority of elementary schools went to a cart system, which makes it incredibly time-consuming to remove not just the chromebooks but dismantle the cart just to get to their chargers, of which some might be broken or defective; (Never mind the idiocy of taking apart the carts, only to put them together the following Monday?) (And whom would pull this off, realistically? ITSSs are shared and stretched thin among three to four schools, already.);

Three, to build on the above, two months ago, MCPS indicated that they were effectively out of chargers, and that the financial responsibility would now fall onto the individual schools. (A budget freeze announced two Fridays ago was just an additional slap to the face.);

Four, when students came back from the pandemic, most of the laptop bags were thrown out and recycled, as they were downright disgusting and in no shape for further use. They were not replaced. So the chromebooks would have to go home into their backpacks;

Five, someone on DCUM commented that the schools could simply send the chromebooks home, without their charging cables, as their stated battery life was eight hours. Please note that that was when they were brand-new, not four years old, and this also assumes that they were being plugged in, constantly. (Ha.);

Six, the Dell teacher laptops that would be expected to pull off zoom are straight-up POSs. So many have failed for various reasons just over the last few months that a lot of people are frustrated. I can't imagine using them;

Seven, the total confusion and lack of communication or even miscommunication over what a Code Purple was, how it would be implemented, and more was simply monumentally screwed up. The expectations and conditions to trigger such a code should have been codified and publicized to the entire community way ahead of time;

This is just a few of the things that naturally occurred to me. (If there’s others, you’re welcome to chime in!) Bottom line: nothing was learned from the pandemic.

There were, however, some easy actions that could have been taken to offset some of this:

one, such as regular use or formal integration of zoom / canvas throughout the school year;
two, transitioning from closed carts to something a bit more flexible, like open-air charging stations;
three, updating the Acer 740s to Google Flex to keep them modern and useful, in case the school system decided to send home relatively-disposable laptops
four, set into motion exactly how and when a Code Purple comes into play; and so much more.

It’s not rocket science.

The state allows for 3 asynchronous inclement weather days. Other counties have been able to plan for those days, and some have even used both asynchronous and synchronous virtual days this year, without any major issues. It's not that complicated of a solution to use some virtual days, especially if 3 can be asynchronous.

Do you know which counties are doing virtual days successfully?

You're going to need to be more specific about how you define "success." Some on this forum define it as "not having to go to work."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two cents why Code Purple was never going to fly, with just a day’s notice to staff and students:

One, there has been no significant investment in training or retraining how to use zoom or canvas to anyone, really, whether it's teachers or students in the district, even though it should have been built-in the first month of school and reiterated before the start of the winter season;

Two, the majority of elementary schools went to a cart system, which makes it incredibly time-consuming to remove not just the chromebooks but dismantle the cart just to get to their chargers, of which some might be broken or defective; (Never mind the idiocy of taking apart the carts, only to put them together the following Monday?) (And whom would pull this off, realistically? ITSSs are shared and stretched thin among three to four schools, already.);

Three, to build on the above, two months ago, MCPS indicated that they were effectively out of chargers, and that the financial responsibility would now fall onto the individual schools. (A budget freeze announced two Fridays ago was just an additional slap to the face.);

Four, when students came back from the pandemic, most of the laptop bags were thrown out and recycled, as they were downright disgusting and in no shape for further use. They were not replaced. So the chromebooks would have to go home into their backpacks;

Five, someone on DCUM commented that the schools could simply send the chromebooks home, without their charging cables, as their stated battery life was eight hours. Please note that that was when they were brand-new, not four years old, and this also assumes that they were being plugged in, constantly. (Ha.);

Six, the Dell teacher laptops that would be expected to pull off zoom are straight-up POSs. So many have failed for various reasons just over the last few months that a lot of people are frustrated. I can't imagine using them;

Seven, the total confusion and lack of communication or even miscommunication over what a Code Purple was, how it would be implemented, and more was simply monumentally screwed up. The expectations and conditions to trigger such a code should have been codified and publicized to the entire community way ahead of time;

This is just a few of the things that naturally occurred to me. (If there’s others, you’re welcome to chime in!) Bottom line: nothing was learned from the pandemic.

There were, however, some easy actions that could have been taken to offset some of this:

one, such as regular use or formal integration of zoom / canvas throughout the school year;
two, transitioning from closed carts to something a bit more flexible, like open-air charging stations;
three, updating the Acer 740s to Google Flex to keep them modern and useful, in case the school system decided to send home relatively-disposable laptops
four, set into motion exactly how and when a Code Purple comes into play; and so much more.

It’s not rocket science.

I am one of three teachers on my grade level team with a DELL that only runs if plugged in. Once unplugged, it shuts down within seconds. Every time I change classrooms or go to a meeting, I have to bring my charger, find a place to plug in, then restart. I asked for a replacement in Fall 2022. First, they gaslit me and said there wasn’t a problem. When I documented it with a video, I was told it’s perfectly fine that it can’t stay on if unplugged.

While I wholeheartedly agree that they should absolutely replace your school device, do you truly not have a working computer or tablet at home that you could presumably use if need be to conduct your class for one day? Not a question of whether or not you should have to, but do you really not?

Running a lesson on Zoom with Google products like Slides doesn’t work well from an iPad. Tried it in 2020 before I was assigned a Chromebook.

[Anonymous]

Replying to 14:40: there are applications that teachers use that they only have access to if using an MCPS device. Sure, they could use a home device for some things, but not everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of people who work in Central Office in operations, IT, etc. whose job it is to figure out how to pull off a pivot to virtual (either synchronous or asynchronous) if the school system is in a weather situation where it needs to be considered. Alternatively, these people can do the hard work and research to determine that there are barriers that cannot be overcome and that code purple cannot and will not ever be on the table. But pretending winter doesn’t exist and just covering your eyes and kicking the can is not doing their jobs. It is amazing to me how many MCPS employees, particularly at the highest levels, just shrug and don’t do their jobs and find solutions to problems.

There's already a solution. There are already days **in the 2023-3024 calendar** intended to be used as make-up days. There's no great challenge to solve. We just need to pick the day. We should probably decide what will be the second day, given we'll almost certainly have another snow day and we don't want to go through this again.

+1 This! The calendar committee should publish the priority order of make-up days when they issue the calendar. Selecting Nov 1 as a potential makeup day was not a great move, unless we're expecting multi-day closures for hurricanes. Ruling out 1/29 as too soon, and Spring Break as "not happening," MCPS should select one of 4/10 or 4/22 as the first make-up day. Then if we need another day, they should announce in advance that the other will be a make up day; a 3rd make up day should be Friday 6/14. Then, G-d forbid, 6/17 or 6/18.

But whether it is code purple or late June make-up days, let's be honest that this is a calendar game - it is not really about learning anything on those days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of people who work in Central Office in operations, IT, etc. whose job it is to figure out how to pull off a pivot to virtual (either synchronous or asynchronous) if the school system is in a weather situation where it needs to be considered. Alternatively, these people can do the hard work and research to determine that there are barriers that cannot be overcome and that code purple cannot and will not ever be on the table. But pretending winter doesn’t exist and just covering your eyes and kicking the can is not doing their jobs. It is amazing to me how many MCPS employees, particularly at the highest levels, just shrug and don’t do their jobs and find solutions to problems.

There's already a solution. There are already days **in the 2023-3024 calendar** intended to be used as make-up days. There's no great challenge to solve. We just need to pick the day. We should probably decide what will be the second day, given we'll almost certainly have another snow day and we don't want to go through this again.

+1 This! The calendar committee should publish the priority order of make-up days when they issue the calendar. Selecting Nov 1 as a potential makeup day was not a great move, unless we're expecting multi-day closures for hurricanes. Ruling out 1/29 as too soon, and Spring Break as "not happening," MCPS should select one of 4/10 or 4/22 as the first make-up day. Then if we need another day, they should announce in advance that the other will be a make up day; a 3rd make up day should be Friday 6/14. Then, G-d forbid, 6/17 or 6/18.

But whether it is code purple or late June make-up days, let's be honest that this is a calendar game - it is not really about learning anything on those days.

January 29th really shouldn't be too soon... but MCPS is pretty incompetent at decision making. Considering we'll probably need to add a couple more, they really shouldn't skip over that one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are a lot of people who work in Central Office in operations, IT, etc. whose job it is to figure out how to pull off a pivot to virtual (either synchronous or asynchronous) if the school system is in a weather situation where it needs to be considered. Alternatively, these people can do the hard work and research to determine that there are barriers that cannot be overcome and that code purple cannot and will not ever be on the table. But pretending winter doesn’t exist and just covering your eyes and kicking the can is not doing their jobs. It is amazing to me how many MCPS employees, particularly at the highest levels, just shrug and don’t do their jobs and find solutions to problems.

There's already a solution. There are already days **in the 2023-3024 calendar** intended to be used as make-up days. There's no great challenge to solve. We just need to pick the day. We should probably decide what will be the second day, given we'll almost certainly have another snow day and we don't want to go through this again.

+1 This! The calendar committee should publish the priority order of make-up days when they issue the calendar. Selecting Nov 1 as a potential makeup day was not a great move, unless we're expecting multi-day closures for hurricanes. Ruling out 1/29 as too soon, and Spring Break as "not happening," MCPS should select one of 4/10 or 4/22 as the first make-up day. Then if we need another day, they should announce in advance that the other will be a make up day; a 3rd make up day should be Friday 6/14. Then, G-d forbid, 6/17 or 6/18.

But whether it is code purple or late June make-up days, let's be honest that this is a calendar game - it is not really about learning anything on those days.

It would also help if the state published their guidelines when school systems are designing their calendar, not during the current school year. MCPS obviously struggles to implement change midyear where other systems are fine with proceeding with those inclement weather changes. Hopefully a new state superintendent makes a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The computers are not coming off the carts. I’m an elementary media specialist. The computers being sent home when parents request them are from the central IT office, not the schools’ carts.

At our school we were instructed as teachers to pull from the cart for any students who say they don’t have laptops at home. We had to write down all of the serial numbers and admin was coming around to give out chargers (not sure from where). This was all on Thursday when we were supposed to be teaching but instead we were running around trying to throw things into place for virtual….before central office communicated anything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two cents why Code Purple was never going to fly, with just a day’s notice to staff and students:

One, there has been no significant investment in training or retraining how to use zoom or canvas to anyone, really, whether it's teachers or students in the district, even though it should have been built-in the first month of school and reiterated before the start of the winter season;

Two, the majority of elementary schools went to a cart system, which makes it incredibly time-consuming to remove not just the chromebooks but dismantle the cart just to get to their chargers, of which some might be broken or defective; (Never mind the idiocy of taking apart the carts, only to put them together the following Monday?) (And whom would pull this off, realistically? ITSSs are shared and stretched thin among three to four schools, already.);

Three, to build on the above, two months ago, MCPS indicated that they were effectively out of chargers, and that the financial responsibility would now fall onto the individual schools. (A budget freeze announced two Fridays ago was just an additional slap to the face.);

Four, when students came back from the pandemic, most of the laptop bags were thrown out and recycled, as they were downright disgusting and in no shape for further use. They were not replaced. So the chromebooks would have to go home into their backpacks;

Five, someone on DCUM commented that the schools could simply send the chromebooks home, without their charging cables, as their stated battery life was eight hours. Please note that that was when they were brand-new, not four years old, and this also assumes that they were being plugged in, constantly. (Ha.);

Six, the Dell teacher laptops that would be expected to pull off zoom are straight-up POSs. So many have failed for various reasons just over the last few months that a lot of people are frustrated. I can't imagine using them;

Seven, the total confusion and lack of communication or even miscommunication over what a Code Purple was, how it would be implemented, and more was simply monumentally screwed up. The expectations and conditions to trigger such a code should have been codified and publicized to the entire community way ahead of time;

This is just a few of the things that naturally occurred to me. (If there’s others, you’re welcome to chime in!) Bottom line: nothing was learned from the pandemic.

There were, however, some easy actions that could have been taken to offset some of this:

one, such as regular use or formal integration of zoom / canvas throughout the school year;
two, transitioning from closed carts to something a bit more flexible, like open-air charging stations;
three, updating the Acer 740s to Google Flex to keep them modern and useful, in case the school system decided to send home relatively-disposable laptops
four, set into motion exactly how and when a Code Purple comes into play; and so much more.

It’s not rocket science.

The state allows for 3 asynchronous inclement weather days. Other counties have been able to plan for those days, and some have even used both asynchronous and synchronous virtual days this year, without any major issues. It's not that complicated of a solution to use some virtual days, especially if 3 can be asynchronous.

They l've used them, but they've ranged from disasters (attempts at virtual instruction) to worthless (asynchronous).

We've got make-up days for a reason. We should use those. Virtual should only be considered if there's another Snowmageddon.

Asynchronous days work for every other county. They’ll work here too, despite your incessant complaining.

They only "work" as a way of getting rid of a school day. They don't have an educational benefit.

And so many kids will miss out on those tacked on dates because their families already have plans. At the end of the year, summer vacations, spring break, spring break vacations. I don’t think there’s a perfect answer, but I like the virtual options over adding days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My two cents why Code Purple was never going to fly, with just a day’s notice to staff and students:

One, there has been no significant investment in training or retraining how to use zoom or canvas to anyone, really, whether it's teachers or students in the district, even though it should have been built-in the first month of school and reiterated before the start of the winter season;

Two, the majority of elementary schools went to a cart system, which makes it incredibly time-consuming to remove not just the chromebooks but dismantle the cart just to get to their chargers, of which some might be broken or defective; (Never mind the idiocy of taking apart the carts, only to put them together the following Monday?) (And whom would pull this off, realistically? ITSSs are shared and stretched thin among three to four schools, already.);

Three, to build on the above, two months ago, MCPS indicated that they were effectively out of chargers, and that the financial responsibility would now fall onto the individual schools. (A budget freeze announced two Fridays ago was just an additional slap to the face.);

Four, when students came back from the pandemic, most of the laptop bags were thrown out and recycled, as they were downright disgusting and in no shape for further use. They were not replaced. So the chromebooks would have to go home into their backpacks;

Five, someone on DCUM commented that the schools could simply send the chromebooks home, without their charging cables, as their stated battery life was eight hours. Please note that that was when they were brand-new, not four years old, and this also assumes that they were being plugged in, constantly. (Ha.);

Six, the Dell teacher laptops that would be expected to pull off zoom are straight-up POSs. So many have failed for various reasons just over the last few months that a lot of people are frustrated. I can't imagine using them;

Seven, the total confusion and lack of communication or even miscommunication over what a Code Purple was, how it would be implemented, and more was simply monumentally screwed up. The expectations and conditions to trigger such a code should have been codified and publicized to the entire community way ahead of time;

This is just a few of the things that naturally occurred to me. (If there’s others, you’re welcome to chime in!) Bottom line: nothing was learned from the pandemic.

There were, however, some easy actions that could have been taken to offset some of this:

one, such as regular use or formal integration of zoom / canvas throughout the school year;
two, transitioning from closed carts to something a bit more flexible, like open-air charging stations;
three, updating the Acer 740s to Google Flex to keep them modern and useful, in case the school system decided to send home relatively-disposable laptops
four, set into motion exactly how and when a Code Purple comes into play; and so much more.

It’s not rocket science.

The state allows for 3 asynchronous inclement weather days. Other counties have been able to plan for those days, and some have even used both asynchronous and synchronous virtual days this year, without any major issues. It's not that complicated of a solution to use some virtual days, especially if 3 can be asynchronous.

They l've used them, but they've ranged from disasters (attempts at virtual instruction) to worthless (asynchronous).

We've got make-up days for a reason. We should use those. Virtual should only be considered if there's another Snowmageddon.

Asynchronous days work for every other county. They’ll work here too, despite your incessant complaining.

They only "work" as a way of getting rid of a school day. They don't have an educational benefit.

And so many kids will miss out on those tacked on dates because their families already have plans. At the end of the year, summer vacations, spring break, spring break vacations. I don’t think there’s a perfect answer, but I like the virtual options over adding days.

Exactly. I don't understand how other parent son this forum don't understand this. It's like they just need something to be upset about instead of thinking rationally about how kids actually are during make-up days. Asynchronous has been working for PG post-pandemic for two years now. Anne Arundel just did virtual last week. It's not about "getting a day off"- kids are checked out in person during make-up days too.