We are NEVER going back until covid is 100% gone - MCPS has no leadership

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At one of the back-to-school town halls last month, I heard our assistant principal (of a Bethesda-area high school) basically say that we won't be back in person during 2020-2021.

That should come as a surprise to no one.

DP- my concern is that if a vaccine isn’t available next summer, we may not even go back next year. There’s just so much inertia and paralysis, the lack of leadership is really stunning.

PP, to make you feel better:

MCPS WILL DO WHAT THE OTHER DISTRICTS DO.

They won't be the only one to be closed when everyone else is open. They won't be the only one to be open when everyone else is closed. All of the districts in the area are going to more-or-less do what all of the other districts in the area are doing.

This is absolutely correct, and it should be obvious to anyone following this all along. THEY WILL ALL DO THE SAME THING, MAYBE ON A TIMELINE SHIFTED A FEW WEEKS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At one of the back-to-school town halls last month, I heard our assistant principal (of a Bethesda-area high school) basically say that we won't be back in person during 2020-2021.

That should come as a surprise to no one.

DP- my concern is that if a vaccine isn’t available next summer, we may not even go back next year. There’s just so much inertia and paralysis, the lack of leadership is really stunning.

PP, to make you feel better:

MCPS WILL DO WHAT THE OTHER DISTRICTS DO.

They won't be the only one to be closed when everyone else is open. They won't be the only one to be open when everyone else is closed. All of the districts in the area are going to more-or-less do what all of the other districts in the area are doing.

This is absolutely correct, and it should be obvious to anyone following this all along. THEY WILL ALL DO THE SAME THING, MAYBE ON A TIMELINE SHIFTED A FEW WEEKS.

I'm 11:32, and I agree with that. But I also think that MCPS will be the very last school district in the area to return, and if even one other holds out, they will, too. It's unfortunate they're focused more on politics than data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm 11:32, and I agree with that. But I also think that MCPS will be the very last school district in the area to return, and if even one other holds out, they will, too. It's unfortunate they're focused more on politics than data.

I doubt it. I think that PGCPS will be, and with good reason, since Prince George's County has been hit the hardest.

And no, MCPS is not more focused on politics than anybody else. And everyone is looking at the same data.

[Anonymous]

DL in MoCo is working much better in the fall than it did in the spring. Certainly not for all, but for many.

It may make sense to find a way to bring specific groups of students back into schools if they don't do well with DL.

But I think hybrid instruction -- with kids in school some days, out of school other days, probably not learning from a live teacher on some of the DL days, and probably not having the same teachers every day -- would be more disrputive to learning than DL would.

I realize that others may disagree. I'm hoping that when they do bring kids back in school for some sort of hybrid experience that they give parents the option to continue full-time DL if they want to.

[Anonymous]

From the article:

"School board members and Smith emphasized multiple times that they do not yet know when in-person instruction will begin in any capacity, but said it is important to begin planning for the possibility."

They have not even started planning. Absolute failure.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to article in Bethesda Beat, MCPS hasn't even started planning for returning to school. Since March, they have not made any effort to make schools safe.

MCPS NEVER had an intention to bring kids back. it's just too hard so we aren't going to do it.
Smith makes 300k with the sweetest benefits packet. We have hundreds of overpaid staff in central office. And none of them have the leadership skills to get the kids back in school.

Other districts here in the US and in other countries are moving forward. They have real leaders who aren't going to let the desires and special requests from each individual in the district stop them from meeting the educational needs of the larger population of kids.

They know how this is affecting kids mentally, they just hired more counselors!! They know that a lot of teachers are realizing this isn't working, parents realize this isn't working. And I am not talking the small percentage of kids who are doing ok with DL, I am talking of the majority of kids. But they still haven't started outlining the plan for return.

How hard is it to make few calls to other superintendents to get some guidance since no one has any clue what to do?
Secure PPE, set up schools/classrooms with social distance desks with partitions, set out sanitizer stations throughout school, survey parents to find out who will be returning and who needs bus transportation, require masks and handwashing breaks (make these MANDATORY), work with building services to sanitize high touch areas, set up isolation room, involve school nurse, establish DL program for those who can't abide by rules and don't want to come into the school. Select DL teachers and assign kids to them from the entire county population.. A kid might not get a teacher from their school, but we all must make sacrifices.
Unless you ask parents what option they want, you can't really plan, and they haven't even done that.

There are so many staff who aren't working, but getting paid...assign jobs to them, there is plenty for everyone to do.

At the end of the day, you will not please anyone, but you will have attempted to do what you are supposed to do...educate the kids.

If we all have to make sacrifices, we should stick with the current system, which at least requires the same sacrifice of everyone. All kids are doing DL. All teachers are doing DL. Once we start shifting some students at week 10 to teachers they have not started to build a relationship with, it creates a second first two weeks of school. My daughter has a great relationship with her AP teacher. We also had to share some sensitive info about a foster son with several teachers who now understand that he is so eager to not be trouble that he will suffer in all kind of silence rather than ask for help. All know to really check in on him even if he gives the thumbs up in Zoom in response to a generally query.

Your foster son would benefit from in person learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From the article:

"School board members and Smith emphasized multiple times that they do not yet know when in-person instruction will begin in any capacity, but said it is important to begin planning for the possibility."

They have not even started planning. Absolute failure.

According to the article you cite, they have started planning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At one of the back-to-school town halls last month, I heard our assistant principal (of a Bethesda-area high school) basically say that we won't be back in person during 2020-2021.

That should come as a surprise to no one.

DP- my concern is that if a vaccine isn’t available next summer, we may not even go back next year. There’s just so much inertia and paralysis, the lack of leadership is really stunning.

PP, to make you feel better:

MCPS WILL DO WHAT THE OTHER DISTRICTS DO.

They won't be the only one to be closed when everyone else is open. They won't be the only one to be open when everyone else is closed. All of the districts in the area are going to more-or-less do what all of the other districts in the area are doing.

This is absolutely correct, and it should be obvious to anyone following this all along. THEY WILL ALL DO THE SAME THING, MAYBE ON A TIMELINE SHIFTED A FEW WEEKS.

like I said. mcps are followers, not leaders

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DL in MoCo is working much better in the fall than it did in the spring. Certainly not for all, but for many.

It may make sense to find a way to bring specific groups of students back into schools if they don't do well with DL.

But I think hybrid instruction -- with kids in school some days, out of school other days, probably not learning from a live teacher on some of the DL days, and probably not having the same teachers every day -- would be more disrputive to learning than DL would.

I realize that others may disagree. I'm hoping that when they do bring kids back in school for some sort of hybrid experience that they give parents the option to continue full-time DL if they want to.

Hello teacher without young kids who is loving your WFH situation and side tutoring gig. Don’t worry, school will be out long enough for you to earn enough to take that vacay to Mexico post vaccine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From the article:

"School board members and Smith emphasized multiple times that they do not yet know when in-person instruction will begin in any capacity, but said it is important to begin planning for the possibility."

They have not even started planning. Absolute failure.

According to the article you cite, they have started planning.

they just started.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DL in MoCo is working much better in the fall than it did in the spring. Certainly not for all, but for many.

It may make sense to find a way to bring specific groups of students back into schools if they don't do well with DL.

But I think hybrid instruction -- with kids in school some days, out of school other days, probably not learning from a live teacher on some of the DL days, and probably not having the same teachers every day -- would be more disrputive to learning than DL would.

I realize that others may disagree. I'm hoping that when they do bring kids back in school for some sort of hybrid experience that they give parents the option to continue full-time DL if they want to.

I agree with all of this. DL is working well for our family, but moreover, it seems clear to me that hybrid would be much more disruptive and entail less actual learning.

It does appear that MCPS has begun planning for a graduated return, per the article that OP helpfully linked, and they have moved to give teachers 45 days notice, but I hope they don't rush to a hybrid model based on presumed parent demand given that I think many folks share the opinion that DL > hybrid.

[Anonymous]

Then the county should start auctioning off the schools because COVID is here to stay. No one in the public health or medical community thinks the disease is getting eradicated. I do think some people are delusional and think it will be if we all just stay home enough like that’s a thing that’s going to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DL in MoCo is working much better in the fall than it did in the spring. Certainly not for all, but for many.

It may make sense to find a way to bring specific groups of students back into schools if they don't do well with DL.

But I think hybrid instruction -- with kids in school some days, out of school other days, probably not learning from a live teacher on some of the DL days, and probably not having the same teachers every day -- would be more disrputive to learning than DL would.

I realize that others may disagree. I'm hoping that when they do bring kids back in school for some sort of hybrid experience that they give parents the option to continue full-time DL if they want to.

Hello teacher without young kids who is loving your WFH situation and side tutoring gig. Don’t worry, school will be out long enough for you to earn enough to take that vacay to Mexico post vaccine.

DP. I'm not a teacher, my kids are in high school, and I agree with the PP. Distance learning this fall is much better than it was in the spring, and hybrid (some days in school, some days not) seems like it would be worse in many ways than either distance learning or normal school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

like I said. mcps are followers, not leaders

Ok. And so therefore...? And so therefore kids in MCPS will go back to school a few weeks after the kids in the first area district to go back to school?

[Anonymous]

I don’t get why people keep saying MCPS doesn’t have a plan.

Did I just dream that they released a document outlining the hybrid schedules for each level, bus seating charts, and a timeline for phasing in the different grades, starting at the beginning of the 3rd quarter?

Isn’t that a plan?