Trying to stay positive and be patient with DCPS - but I'm worried

[Anonymous]

Bridge has been a unmitigated mess.

Our teacher couldn’t figure out how to turn on her camera.
She played two YouTube videos .... but couldn’t get the sound to play.
The kids figured out how to kick each other off so a fight broke out with them kicking one another out of the meeting.
It’s been weirdly nothing more than games.

Today’s DCPS parent session could not have been more disappointing. They didn’t even have the energy to fein interest.

It’ll be a lost year. Teach your kids to bake, change a tire and balance a checkboock. It’ll be more useful.

[Anonymous]

I have a sixth grader at Wells Middle School doing Bridge and its great! My DC is getting to meet teachers and students. Today felt better than yesterday, but he had a lot of anxiety about middle school in general. Bridge was somewhat new, but many schools ran a Bridge in previous years (middle and high) so they weren't really working from scratch (although the mode is different). (I am a teacher at another DCPS school.)

I can't speak for Wilson, but as a teacher I worked extremely hard to make what I did in spring engaging and I will continue to this for fall. (I've been preparing most of the summer in some way.)

I hope all of your children's teachers (and mine) will do the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They thought it was going to be in person until july 22/July 31.

The ‘curriculum’ they had for in person was a bunch of links to games like ‘I move- you move’ where kids held a length of string 6 feet long...

[Anonymous]

I wouldn’t use Summer Bridge to judge how the fall will go. As several people have mentioned, it was given very little focus in preparation this summer as the major priority has been preparing for the start of school. Given basically no central office support, SB is going to depend much more on the work of the specific school/teacher and those vary. Not saying everything will be peachy this fall either, but it’s more likely to be successful...at least as much as it can be given the limitations of remote learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child started her 9th grade bridge at Wilson this week. A huge flop. Disorganized, boring and all together soul sucking. Then today, I joined the Parent U session on supporting my DCPS student via remote learning. Another stinker. Nothing substantive offered. No detailed. Nothing genuinely explained. Everything is just conference speak. "Great question" with a nothing answer. This year is going to be disaster. For high school they say schedules will go out the week of August 24 (the week before school) but they don't say that they're coming via email. Are they seriously going to spend $10K on mailing envelopes, many of which won't get to the recipients in time? Just SAY that you are EMAILING them. I'm just so demoralized at this point and trying to stay positive for my child. But here's the deal...she was super excited about this Bridge program. It is her introduction to high school. She's been looking forward to it. And then this program starts and it's just awful. Couldn't DCPS have done something to give it a pep rally kind of feel?

Why don't you focus on what you can control, instead of things outside your control? DCPS may not have their act together, but that doesn't mean you and your kid can't. This is a great opportunity to teach your kid how to handle things that do go to plan/are chaotic. How will your child find her center and make the best of the circumstances? Why don't you model the right way, so she can learn? It will probably be one of the most valuable things you ever teach her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child started her 9th grade bridge at Wilson this week. A huge flop. Disorganized, boring and all together soul sucking. Then today, I joined the Parent U session on supporting my DCPS student via remote learning. Another stinker. Nothing substantive offered. No detailed. Nothing genuinely explained. Everything is just conference speak. "Great question" with a nothing answer. This year is going to be disaster. For high school they say schedules will go out the week of August 24 (the week before school) but they don't say that they're coming via email. Are they seriously going to spend $10K on mailing envelopes, many of which won't get to the recipients in time? Just SAY that you are EMAILING them. I'm just so demoralized at this point and trying to stay positive for my child. But here's the deal...she was super excited about this Bridge program. It is her introduction to high school. She's been looking forward to it. And then this program starts and it's just awful. Couldn't DCPS have done something to give it a pep rally kind of feel?

Why don't you focus on what you can control, instead of things outside your control? DCPS may not have their act together, but that doesn't mean you and your kid can't. This is a great opportunity to teach your kid how to handle things that do go to plan/are chaotic. How will your child find her center and make the best of the circumstances? Why don't you model the right way, so she can learn? It will probably be one of the most valuable things you ever teach her.

"handle things that *don't* go to plan"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My child started her 9th grade bridge at Wilson this week. A huge flop. Disorganized, boring and all together soul sucking. Then today, I joined the Parent U session on supporting my DCPS student via remote learning. Another stinker. Nothing substantive offered. No detailed. Nothing genuinely explained. Everything is just conference speak. "Great question" with a nothing answer. This year is going to be disaster. For high school they say schedules will go out the week of August 24 (the week before school) but they don't say that they're coming via email. Are they seriously going to spend $10K on mailing envelopes, many of which won't get to the recipients in time? Just SAY that you are EMAILING them. I'm just so demoralized at this point and trying to stay positive for my child. But here's the deal...she was super excited about this Bridge program. It is her introduction to high school. She's been looking forward to it. And then this program starts and it's just awful. Couldn't DCPS have done something to give it a pep rally kind of feel?

Why don't you focus on what you can control, instead of things outside your control? DCPS may not have their act together, but that doesn't mean you and your kid can't. This is a great opportunity to teach your kid how to handle things that do go to plan/are chaotic. How will your child find her center and make the best of the circumstances? Why don't you model the right way, so she can learn? It will probably be one of the most valuable things you ever teach her.

"handle things that *don't* go to plan"

DP also with a student starting at a new school. I appreciate your comment and agree we can use the present situation to teach our kids how to find the silver linings and go to Plan B when Plan A doesn’t work out. But, at the same time, we can expect more from DCPS and be disappointed in what is available.

[Anonymous]

The Wilson Bridge is awful. I told my son that he no longer needs to participate. If he's being asked to spend his summer days with school, the school needs to do its part by building a program that is valuable and engaging. They didn't.

[Anonymous]

DCUM are the worst kind of entitled moms. Totally oblivious that there is a freaking pandemic going on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM are the worst kind of entitled moms. Totally oblivious that there is a freaking pandemic going on.

Well, I think the comments have been constructive. For example, the comment that there needs to be a team building, rah rah component to encourage students out of bed, into jeans/T-shirt, and into the screen every morning....

,,,with some thought on the part of wonderful, committed DCPS teachers (and educational leaders) as to how to make Zoom lessons more engaging...do lesson plans need to be tweaked a bit to encourage students to tune in, ready to explore?

Also, key is communicating expectations (schedules/due dates/tests/assignments/platforms), with feedback on work. To both students and why not, parents.

I think the message is that parents stand ready to help teachers and educational leaders bridge the gap in this difficult time. That requires two-way communication, of course. Because at home we see what’s working, what’s not.

If it takes more than the two weeks we’ve got left of vacation to figure this out, okay. It’s a pandemic.

Of course, DCPS can listen to what we have to say, and evaluate. Or not. My 15 year old often chooses the latter option, so I’m good either way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, the Bridge program is something DCPS introduced prematurely, changed the delivery system and then insisted on follow though. All of Central’s energy is going toward the upcoming year, not even a thought about Bridge which has fallen to individual schools. And the purpose isn’t academic because attendance is not mandatory. So what’s left? In my case, a marathon 3-hour quasi babysitting/clown show on Teams for 3rd graders that is borderline ridiculous.

It should have been cancelled.

Yes. I’m teaching ES bridge & couldn’t agree more. CO dropped it like a hot potato. I signed up to teach it because I want to support my school & principal- but it’s an absolute clown show

My third-grader is doing Bridge, and it seems fine. Not particularly rigorous, of course, which I didn't expect, but reasonably well-organized and engaging. It's clear that the teachers are trying out different things to see what works with the kids, ironing out technical issues, etc. I had pretty low expectations, but it seems to be going okay. I suppose that's thanks to the teachers, then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM are the worst kind of entitled moms. Totally oblivious that there is a freaking pandemic going on.

NP but I don’t think parents caring about the education of their children makes them entitled. I think kids, all kids, are entitled to a good public education. People gave schools a pass in the spring, but expect more now, and rightfully so.

And in terms of the pandemic, yes it’s serious but it’s no a zombie apocalypse out there. Take precautions, wear a mask, etc. but if you are not high risk you don’t need to hide in your basement like in April.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM are the worst kind of entitled moms. Totally oblivious that there is a freaking pandemic going on.

NP but I don’t think parents caring about the education of their children makes them entitled. I think kids, all kids, are entitled to a good public education. People gave schools a pass in the spring, but expect more now, and rightfully so.

And in terms of the pandemic, yes it’s serious but it’s no a zombie apocalypse out there. Take precautions, wear a mask, etc. but if you are not high risk you don’t need to hide in your basement like in April.

Difference between caring and being a hag. Not everyone is like this but some are out of touch with reality.
Asking for DCPS to produce a quality DL education is reasonable but the nasty comments and complaints throughout the board isn’t.

[Anonymous]

DS is doing bridge program, now that it is virtual. Didn't want DS to be a guinea pig for trying out in-person learning in a pandemic. It's OK. It has varied instruction. It has several teachers on the Teams call. No zoom. Just seems a lot of waiting for kids to respond and DS getting bored. The lessons seem long for example 45 minues of SEL. He liked the math fluency. Just my thoughts.

[Anonymous]

It might be worth noting that at least at the school where I teach, no experienced teachers were willing to do Bridge, so it is mostly new teachers, none of whom actually teach third grade. It doesn't really represent what the year will be.

That said, I'm nervous about this year too!