How can we force our school to reopen?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lawsuits have worked in other states.

Really, where?

[Anonymous]

There are tons of lawsuits around the country on this. Some are parents trying to force schools to open. Some are teachers trying to force schools to close.

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/08/21/covid-19-school-reopening-battle-moves-to-the.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lawsuit will not open the schools. You can't "force" the schools to reopen. If you want them to reopen, contact the DC government and push them to accelerate the necessary upgrades to school HVAC systems, develop a plan for surveillance testing, explain the rules for how they will handle kids getting sick during the day, a student or teacher testing positive, a student's family member testing positive, a plan for the necessary supplies, etc. Suing the district won't help. Pushing the politicians will.

+1

I really want schools open but it won't happen until they actually put a viable plan for reopening in place. Right now their plan seems to be "Make it seem like we want to open schools, then blame teachers when it doesn't happen, thus avoiding any liability issues around Covid outbreaks in schools."

We need to hold elected officials accountable. I sincerely wish it were a mayoral election year because I am DONE with Bowser.

+2

It’s a really impressive trick that Bowser has managed to deflect attention from her total lack of leadership and accountability here. Bring the relevant parties to the table. Don’t send surveys. Don’t issue half-assed plans and then blame teachers, principals, parents, and staff—the very people you didn’t engage in developing the plans—when they point out the massive flaws.

Also...remind me again why restaurants are open for indoor dining and we’re piloting indoor concerts before schools are open?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are tons of lawsuits around the country on this. Some are parents trying to force schools to open. Some are teachers trying to force schools to close.

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/08/21/covid-19-school-reopening-battle-moves-to-the.html

In our friends school district in Utah parents gathered in very large protests, and the schools opened after 3 weeks of protests after initially planning to be all virtual (maybe a coincidence, idk). But I doubt anyone would come to protests in DC, people seem to be absorbed by their work much more

[Anonymous]

I am suing parents who are suing school to reopen.

[Anonymous]

Eventually there will be lawsuits based on racial disparities. That New Yorker article showed a huge disparity based on race for whether kids are in school in person right now or not. Ultimately this relates to kids being in urban areas, but given that the policy to keep urban schools closed is not rational, I think that a disparate impact theory would have some legs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If it is teachers union politics why are almost all charters closed?

Charters were some of the first to dip their toes into reopening. Some charters (Sojourner) are open. My guess is that charters will reopen starting in November.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lawsuit will not open the schools. You can't "force" the schools to reopen. If you want them to reopen, contact the DC government and push them to accelerate the necessary upgrades to school HVAC systems, develop a plan for surveillance testing, explain the rules for how they will handle kids getting sick during the day, a student or teacher testing positive, a student's family member testing positive, a plan for the necessary supplies, etc. Suing the district won't help. Pushing the politicians will.

+1

I really want schools open but it won't happen until they actually put a viable plan for reopening in place. Right now their plan seems to be "Make it seem like we want to open schools, then blame teachers when it doesn't happen, thus avoiding any liability issues around Covid outbreaks in schools."

We need to hold elected officials accountable. I sincerely wish it were a mayoral election year because I am DONE with Bowser.

+2

It’s a really impressive trick that Bowser has managed to deflect attention from her total lack of leadership and accountability here. Bring the relevant parties to the table. Don’t send surveys. Don’t issue half-assed plans and then blame teachers, principals, parents, and staff—the very people you didn’t engage in developing the plans—when they point out the massive flaws.

Also...remind me again why restaurants are open for indoor dining and we’re piloting indoor concerts before schools are open?

This. She's got everyone blaming the teachers. If she had put forward a real plan, she might get some traction with that with me, but she hasn't. They put out PowerPoint slides and generic bullet points and then act surprised when the people who would have to implement them point out the holes and problems. Their half-assedness about this is infuriating.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lawsuit will not open the schools. You can't "force" the schools to reopen. If you want them to reopen, contact the DC government and push them to accelerate the necessary upgrades to school HVAC systems, develop a plan for surveillance testing, explain the rules for how they will handle kids getting sick during the day, a student or teacher testing positive, a student's family member testing positive, a plan for the necessary supplies, etc. Suing the district won't help. Pushing the politicians will.

+1

I really want schools open but it won't happen until they actually put a viable plan for reopening in place. Right now their plan seems to be "Make it seem like we want to open schools, then blame teachers when it doesn't happen, thus avoiding any liability issues around Covid outbreaks in schools."

We need to hold elected officials accountable. I sincerely wish it were a mayoral election year because I am DONE with Bowser.

+2

It’s a really impressive trick that Bowser has managed to deflect attention from her total lack of leadership and accountability here. Bring the relevant parties to the table. Don’t send surveys. Don’t issue half-assed plans and then blame teachers, principals, parents, and staff—the very people you didn’t engage in developing the plans—when they point out the massive flaws.

Also...remind me again why restaurants are open for indoor dining and we’re piloting indoor concerts before schools are open?

This. She's got everyone blaming the teachers. If she had put forward a real plan, she might get some traction with that with me, but she hasn't. They put out PowerPoint slides and generic bullet points and then act surprised when the people who would have to implement them point out the holes and problems. Their half-assedness about this is infuriating.

Teachers are 100 percent the reason schools are closed. It's very Orwellian how teachers pretend they have nothing to do with this. Talk about gaslighting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lawsuit will not open the schools. You can't "force" the schools to reopen. If you want them to reopen, contact the DC government and push them to accelerate the necessary upgrades to school HVAC systems, develop a plan for surveillance testing, explain the rules for how they will handle kids getting sick during the day, a student or teacher testing positive, a student's family member testing positive, a plan for the necessary supplies, etc. Suing the district won't help. Pushing the politicians will.

+1

I really want schools open but it won't happen until they actually put a viable plan for reopening in place. Right now their plan seems to be "Make it seem like we want to open schools, then blame teachers when it doesn't happen, thus avoiding any liability issues around Covid outbreaks in schools."

We need to hold elected officials accountable. I sincerely wish it were a mayoral election year because I am DONE with Bowser.

+2

It’s a really impressive trick that Bowser has managed to deflect attention from her total lack of leadership and accountability here. Bring the relevant parties to the table. Don’t send surveys. Don’t issue half-assed plans and then blame teachers, principals, parents, and staff—the very people you didn’t engage in developing the plans—when they point out the massive flaws.

Also...remind me again why restaurants are open for indoor dining and we’re piloting indoor concerts before schools are open?

This. She's got everyone blaming the teachers. If she had put forward a real plan, she might get some traction with that with me, but she hasn't. They put out PowerPoint slides and generic bullet points and then act surprised when the people who would have to implement them point out the holes and problems. Their half-assedness about this is infuriating.

+1
15 minutes really thinking about this plan plays out and it is clear it’s unworkable. The lack of vision and leadership from the mayor/Ferebee has me floored. It’ll screw up anything that might be working in DL, without improving the situation but all but (maybe) a handful of kids at each school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If it is teachers union politics why are almost all charters closed?

Charters were some of the first to dip their toes into reopening. Some charters (Sojourner) are open. My guess is that charters will reopen starting in November.

Charters aren't leading the way on this. I am hopeful that adjacent districts will open hybrid in January and then DC will feel a lot of pressure to as well and perhaps we'll go back in February. Charters will follow dcps as they always do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are tons of lawsuits around the country on this. Some are parents trying to force schools to open. Some are teachers trying to force schools to close.

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2020/08/21/covid-19-school-reopening-battle-moves-to-the.html

Yes, but the PP claimed that lawsuits had "worked," presumably meaning forced a district to open against its will. That lawsuits have been filed is a very different thing.

[Anonymous]

A crowbar? It's also a good way to land in jail, but don't worry, DC is soft on crime.

[Anonymous]

So you want to sue to:

-remove federally regulated FMLA
-remove federally regulated ADA accommodations
-repeal DC paid family leave
-force DCPS to hire new teachers to replace the ones they either fire when your first three lawsuits are successful or put on eligible leave status when your lawsuit is unsuccessful
-force people to take teaching jobs?
-or force people to become teachers?
(The last two have question marks bc I’m not sure what you’d be suing to ask for in terms of having staffing available to teach.)

Not a lawyer, but I’d say you definitely have a case here. When you are successful, it would definitely mean I go back to teaching in person!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So you want to sue to:

-remove federally regulated FMLA
-remove federally regulated ADA accommodations
-repeal DC paid family leave
-force DCPS to hire new teachers to replace the ones they either fire when your first three lawsuits are successful or put on eligible leave status when your lawsuit is unsuccessful
-force people to take teaching jobs?
-or force people to become teachers?
(The last two have question marks bc I’m not sure what you’d be suing to ask for in terms of having staffing available to teach.)

Not a lawyer, but I’d say you definitely have a case here. When you are successful, it would definitely mean I go back to teaching in person!

No, you definitely are not a lawyer. Opening schools would not require repealing any of the laws you mentioned. That's not to say that I think a lawsuit would be successful, but not for the reasons you cite.