Can a charter make us do DL for PK?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have absolutely no interest in doing DL with my 4 year old. We tried joining some of the meetings last spring, and she got nothing out of it. I don't want to avoid doing something like taking her on a hike or building a fort or reading books to try and get her to sit in front of the computer screen. If she were in a regular school I'd happily unenroll her, but she's in a charter we really like. Can they kick her out if she doesn't participate in distance learning? Should I just ask them explicitly, "What is the bare minimum to remain enrolled?"

There is no compulsory attendance requirement from OSSE for PreK 4 so makes sense to ask if they have some other school-specific guideline they are using to require attendance. Also worth asking My School DC if they can actually kick you out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just do it, OP. I know you’re annoyed but please respect he teachers. It’ll be like 30-60 minutes of your day.

OP here. It sounds like significantly more than that. There are whole group things and small group things sprinkled through the whole day, totaling 1.5-2 hours

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just do it, OP. I know you’re annoyed but please respect he teachers. It’ll be like 30-60 minutes of your day.

OP here. It sounds like significantly more than that. There are whole group things and small group things sprinkled through the whole day, totaling 1.5-2 hours

Charters can set their own rules about attendance so long as they are at least as strict as OSSEs. This year attendance counts if you show up or your child assigned work that you return to the school.

You need to tell us which school or just talk to them. But if it’s a desirable charter, be repaired to be unenrolled if you either never show up or have your child do the work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just do it, OP. I know you’re annoyed but please respect he teachers. It’ll be like 30-60 minutes of your day.

OP here. It sounds like significantly more than that. There are whole group things and small group things sprinkled through the whole day, totaling 1.5-2 hours

Uh it’s not. It should be 30-60 max a day but eh perhaps charters think the DCPS requirements aren’t good enough. They’d be wrong to think that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just do it, OP. I know you’re annoyed but please respect he teachers. It’ll be like 30-60 minutes of your day.

OP here. It sounds like significantly more than that. There are whole group things and small group things sprinkled through the whole day, totaling 1.5-2 hours

Uh it’s not. It should be 30-60 max a day but eh perhaps charters think the DCPS requirements aren’t good enough. They’d be wrong to think that.

NP. Our charter has 2 hours a day for pk4. Our kid actually seems mostly ok with it but it's rough on our schedules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just do it, OP. I know you’re annoyed but please respect he teachers. It’ll be like 30-60 minutes of your day.

How is “respecting” the teachers to force the mom and child to do something difficult that had zero benefit?

I get that we ended up in this situation for understandable reasons, but that doesn’t mean we now have to pretend that online preschool is effective or developmentally appropriate, particularly for a child who doesn’t want to stare at a computer.

[Anonymous]

We logged in on the spring mostly because we felt badly for our pk3 teachers. This year, I'm going to worry about us, not them.

A teacher worth his or her salt will understand what it takes to get these kids to sit on the computer for 2 minutes. Don't worry about "disrespecting" them. 30-60 minutes is a long time to get your kids to sit still and pay attention. And that's before you even get them in front of the computer in the first place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just do it, OP. I know you’re annoyed but please respect he teachers. It’ll be like 30-60 minutes of your day.

How is “respecting” the teachers to force the mom and child to do something difficult that had zero benefit?

I get that we ended up in this situation for understandable reasons, but that doesn’t mean we now have to pretend that online preschool is effective or developmentally appropriate, particularly for a child who doesn’t want to stare at a computer.

Preschool is not compulsory. If you don’t want to do it this year, give up your spot. If you do, meet the basic requirements. That’s the deal. You are not entitled to a highly coveted pre-k slot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just do it, OP. I know you’re annoyed but please respect he teachers. It’ll be like 30-60 minutes of your day.

How is “respecting” the teachers to force the mom and child to do something difficult that had zero benefit?

I get that we ended up in this situation for understandable reasons, but that doesn’t mean we now have to pretend that online preschool is effective or developmentally appropriate, particularly for a child who doesn’t want to stare at a computer.

Preschool is not compulsory. If you don’t want to do it this year, give up your spot. If you do, meet the basic requirements. That’s the deal. You are not entitled to a highly coveted pre-k slot.

+1
OP "won" a spot in a coveted charter based on nothing but luck, but is now unwilling to comply with even the most basic requirements of enrollment? Sorry, but there are thousands of parents in the city who would jump through hoops for that exact same spot if they could. I don't understand these parents who aren't even willing to try. I bet most schools will work with you if you give it a go for a month and then say "hey, the live sessions are just not working for us but we'll log in for the asynchronous stuff, ok?" But to just assume that whatever the teacher's have put together is a waste of time but also demand to keep your spot? Entitled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just do it, OP. I know you’re annoyed but please respect he teachers. It’ll be like 30-60 minutes of your day.

How is “respecting” the teachers to force the mom and child to do something difficult that had zero benefit?

I get that we ended up in this situation for understandable reasons, but that doesn’t mean we now have to pretend that online preschool is effective or developmentally appropriate, particularly for a child who doesn’t want to stare at a computer.

Preschool is not compulsory. If you don’t want to do it this year, give up your spot. If you do, meet the basic requirements. That’s the deal. You are not entitled to a highly coveted pre-k slot.

+1
OP "won" a spot in a coveted charter based on nothing but luck, but is now unwilling to comply with even the most basic requirements of enrollment? Sorry, but there are thousands of parents in the city who would jump through hoops for that exact same spot if they could. I don't understand these parents who aren't even willing to try. I bet most schools will work with you if you give it a go for a month and then say "hey, the live sessions are just not working for us but we'll log in for the asynchronous stuff, ok?" But to just assume that whatever the teacher's have put together is a waste of time but also demand to keep your spot? Entitled.

+2. Agreed, don’t want to participate, then don’t moan and groan about doing the lottery again next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just do it, OP. I know you’re annoyed but please respect he teachers. It’ll be like 30-60 minutes of your day.

How is “respecting” the teachers to force the mom and child to do something difficult that had zero benefit?

I get that we ended up in this situation for understandable reasons, but that doesn’t mean we now have to pretend that online preschool is effective or developmentally appropriate, particularly for a child who doesn’t want to stare at a computer.

Preschool is not compulsory. If you don’t want to do it this year, give up your spot. If you do, meet the basic requirements. That’s the deal. You are not entitled to a highly coveted pre-k slot.

+1
OP "won" a spot in a coveted charter based on nothing but luck, but is now unwilling to comply with even the most basic requirements of enrollment? Sorry, but there are thousands of parents in the city who would jump through hoops for that exact same spot if they could. I don't understand these parents who aren't even willing to try. I bet most schools will work with you if you give it a go for a month and then say "hey, the live sessions are just not working for us but we'll log in for the asynchronous stuff, ok?" But to just assume that whatever the teacher's have put together is a waste of time but also demand to keep your spot? Entitled.

+2. Agreed, don’t want to participate, then don’t moan and groan about doing the lottery again next year.

This. 100%. And please stop dominating all the school town hall discussions with your discontent. Get on board with COVID school realities or unenroll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It isn’t just about you. The school gets money for every student that is enrolled. If your child never shows up they are not teaching them and should not be getting paid.

You need to meet them halfway and participate. If you don’t the school will need to boot you out or risk being investigated for fraud.

Enrollment does not equal attendance. The school hired staff, bought curriculum and supplies, etc based on enrollment and should get paid for properly enrolled students. To the OP - school is not compulsory for pre-school students but there are many benefits of attending - including socializing your child with other students who will move up with her to kindergarten and beyond.

[Anonymous]

Most of these comments are filled with privilege. “Just log on for 30 minutes”...that is a very privileged perspective. Anyway, mark my words. There will not be one child in any charter that loses a seat for not participating in asynchronous learning. I will bet someone big money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of these comments are filled with privilege. “Just log on for 30 minutes”...that is a very privileged perspective. Anyway, mark my words. There will not be one child in any charter that loses a seat for not participating in asynchronous learning. I will bet someone big money.

The OP isn’t saying they can’t log in to DL because of work or schedules. She’s saying she doesn’t want to because she’d rather do something else. That’s privileged.

I am also skeptical anyone will lose a spot because they don’t participate enough in DL. But if someone were to lose a spot, it would the family that is enrolled but never logs on, and whose only reason is “We didn’t want to.”

Which is why most responses are saying to at least try. The standards won’t be high. But she could at least put a little effort in. If she’s so committed to the school that she doesn’t want to lose the spot, why isn’t she willing to at least see if she can derive some value from the programming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most of these comments are filled with privilege. “Just log on for 30 minutes”...that is a very privileged perspective. Anyway, mark my words. There will not be one child in any charter that loses a seat for not participating in asynchronous learning. I will bet someone big money.

The OP isn’t saying they can’t log in to DL because of work or schedules. She’s saying she doesn’t want to because she’d rather do something else. That’s privileged.

I am also skeptical anyone will lose a spot because they don’t participate enough in DL. But if someone were to lose a spot, it would the family that is enrolled but never logs on, and whose only reason is “We didn’t want to.”

Which is why most responses are saying to at least try. The standards won’t be high. But she could at least put a little effort in. If she’s so committed to the school that she doesn’t want to lose the spot, why isn’t she willing to at least see if she can derive some value from the programming.

This response is exactly right. To the OP - talk to the school, let them know that you are doing other activities with your child. Honestly, it's the kids who aren't logging on and have little parent-led interaction/activities that schools worry most about. Every pre-school teacher I know HATES distance learning over in-person but they prefer it so that they know what is happening with their kids -- especially their at-risk kids. Doesn't sound like your kid is in that position, so talk to your teacher, find out the themes they are doing each week and, if you can, tailor your activities to those themes.

Last year during spring virtual learning, our school did a butterfly theme and lessons with 3 and 4 year olds. Covid interrupted this but the school let a few families and staff take them home in the chrysalis phase and then we all did a butterfly release during one of the online lessons. It was incredible for the kids and the adults too. I wouldn't have wanted my kids to miss out on this. All online learning isn't great but some things are.