A warning for those interested in CARE classrooms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just advice. DCPS’ CARES classrooms will be 11 children learning on a tablet, while 1-2 adults who are not teachers will watch them. DCPS has 5, really 4, days to find and hire and train these people and also do background checks..let’s talk about DCPS history with background checks...


Last summer some of you may remember when an after school staff meme we assaulted and had an inappropriate relationship with a student. Not only was a background check never done on the accused adult, but no background checks were completed by the Springboard program that year in most schools. This was a time when DCPS had more than enough time to follow proper procedure and didn’t. I can also tell you that a week or so before the news got out to the public DCPS tried to have the remaining after school teachers submit a background check. They scheduled a date for all the employees to get fingerprinted and then cancelled it. A day later the mess was in the news. These people do not care about the children they just needed to cover their ass. And when they couldn’t stop themselves from looking bad they just somehow made it disappear from the media..

This is all to say..DCPS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILD. You are throwing your child to the wolves with whoever else they can find off the street desperate for employment in a pandemic. They will not have background checks or fingerprints completed in 4 days time. Take your chances but I’ll be keeping me and mine safe from Covid AND predators by rejecting the seat.

As a DC Govt employee who volunteered to work in the CARES classrooms, I find this highly offensive. We're not teachers, but we are skilled professionals. We're librarians, therapists, counselors, analysts and IT staff ( among other things). We're volunteering to try to help. We also have to pass background checks. We're not just some random people off of the street.

Thank you for volunteering. However, it’s really not helping. It’s a way for DCPS to claim schools have “reopened,” when, in fact, very few students will have in-person learning. And this plan to sit some kids in rooms at schools FT gets in the way of DCPS ever bringing more kids back for in-person learning.

It’s helping Bowser politically; it’s not helping teachers; and it’s only sorta helping a small group of families (some in need, but not helping many others also in need).

Don’t abet a terrible plan.

[Anonymous]

Why are they pulling MS and HS teachers if there are government volunteers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just advice. DCPS’ CARES classrooms will be 11 children learning on a tablet, while 1-2 adults who are not teachers will watch them. DCPS has 5, really 4, days to find and hire and train these people and also do background checks..let’s talk about DCPS history with background checks...


Last summer some of you may remember when an after school staff meme we assaulted and had an inappropriate relationship with a student. Not only was a background check never done on the accused adult, but no background checks were completed by the Springboard program that year in most schools. This was a time when DCPS had more than enough time to follow proper procedure and didn’t. I can also tell you that a week or so before the news got out to the public DCPS tried to have the remaining after school teachers submit a background check. They scheduled a date for all the employees to get fingerprinted and then cancelled it. A day later the mess was in the news. These people do not care about the children they just needed to cover their ass. And when they couldn’t stop themselves from looking bad they just somehow made it disappear from the media..

This is all to say..DCPS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILD. You are throwing your child to the wolves with whoever else they can find off the street desperate for employment in a pandemic. They will not have background checks or fingerprints completed in 4 days time. Take your chances but I’ll be keeping me and mine safe from Covid AND predators by rejecting the seat.

As a DC Govt employee who volunteered to work in the CARES classrooms, I find this highly offensive. We're not teachers, but we are skilled professionals. We're librarians, therapists, counselors, analysts and IT staff ( among other things). We're volunteering to try to help. We also have to pass background checks. We're not just some random people off of the street.

What school have you been assigned to? Hopefully it’ll be at my nieces school. I highly doubt all you government agents will volunteer to come to ward 8...maybe I’m wrong. My Sister raised concern about who the people are going to be in the cares class... Mr/Ms Government Volunteer can you speak to what training or what you know about the class you’ll be in so far? It’s be nice to get communication from DCPS but that’s too much to ask...

It hasn't been finalized, but I'll go wherever I'm needed.

I don’t believe that. And I think once some of these CARES “volunteers” see what the real conditions in some of these schools are they will be horrified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:teachers are very concerned that the cares classrooms will open and no one will get sick and then even more people will ask why teachers arent back in the classroom.

No teacher I know thinks that. They are concerned about the safety of the kids in the room. At my school less than 25% of the people accepted the inperson spots. This is upper NW. so I’m not sure what you are talking about.

I will happily accept an in-person slot at an upper NW school, FWIW. It would mean driving across town twice a day but it would be worth it if my kid was in a classroom with a teacher. And preferable to our current plan of forking over all of our savings to a private school so that our struggling kid can get her basic educational needs met.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just advice. DCPS’ CARES classrooms will be 11 children learning on a tablet, while 1-2 adults who are not teachers will watch them. DCPS has 5, really 4, days to find and hire and train these people and also do background checks..let’s talk about DCPS history with background checks...


Last summer some of you may remember when an after school staff meme we assaulted and had an inappropriate relationship with a student. Not only was a background check never done on the accused adult, but no background checks were completed by the Springboard program that year in most schools. This was a time when DCPS had more than enough time to follow proper procedure and didn’t. I can also tell you that a week or so before the news got out to the public DCPS tried to have the remaining after school teachers submit a background check. They scheduled a date for all the employees to get fingerprinted and then cancelled it. A day later the mess was in the news. These people do not care about the children they just needed to cover their ass. And when they couldn’t stop themselves from looking bad they just somehow made it disappear from the media..

This is all to say..DCPS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILD. You are throwing your child to the wolves with whoever else they can find off the street desperate for employment in a pandemic. They will not have background checks or fingerprints completed in 4 days time. Take your chances but I’ll be keeping me and mine safe from Covid AND predators by rejecting the seat.

As a DC Govt employee who volunteered to work in the CARES classrooms, I find this highly offensive. We're not teachers, but we are skilled professionals. We're librarians, therapists, counselors, analysts and IT staff ( among other things). We're volunteering to try to help. We also have to pass background checks. We're not just some random people off of the street.

Thank you for volunteering. However, it’s really not helping. It’s a way for DCPS to claim schools have “reopened,” when, in fact, very few students will have in-person learning. And this plan to sit some kids in rooms at schools FT gets in the way of DCPS ever bringing more kids back for in-person learning.

It’s helping Bowser politically; it’s not helping teachers; and it’s only sorta helping a small group of families (some in need, but not helping many others also in need).

Don’t abet a terrible plan.

Just because it’s not helping YOU, doesn’t mean it’s not a vast improvement for many families. My gosh get out of your bubble. There are kids home alone without meals, without parents, ALONE. If you don’t need the help, great, don’t take a spot, but don’t disparage volunteers like this person, who are providing much needed relief to other people and children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:teachers are very concerned that the cares classrooms will open and no one will get sick and then even more people will ask why teachers arent back in the classroom.

No teacher I know thinks that. They are concerned about the safety of the kids in the room. At my school less than 25% of the people accepted the inperson spots. This is upper NW. so I’m not sure what you are talking about.

I will happily accept an in-person slot at an upper NW school, FWIW. It would mean driving across town twice a day but it would be worth it if my kid was in a classroom with a teacher. And preferable to our current plan of forking over all of our savings to a private school so that our struggling kid can get her basic educational needs met.

I hear you but the people who are actually enrolled in the school are not interested in the spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just advice. DCPS’ CARES classrooms will be 11 children learning on a tablet, while 1-2 adults who are not teachers will watch them. DCPS has 5, really 4, days to find and hire and train these people and also do background checks..let’s talk about DCPS history with background checks...


Last summer some of you may remember when an after school staff meme we assaulted and had an inappropriate relationship with a student. Not only was a background check never done on the accused adult, but no background checks were completed by the Springboard program that year in most schools. This was a time when DCPS had more than enough time to follow proper procedure and didn’t. I can also tell you that a week or so before the news got out to the public DCPS tried to have the remaining after school teachers submit a background check. They scheduled a date for all the employees to get fingerprinted and then cancelled it. A day later the mess was in the news. These people do not care about the children they just needed to cover their ass. And when they couldn’t stop themselves from looking bad they just somehow made it disappear from the media..

This is all to say..DCPS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILD. You are throwing your child to the wolves with whoever else they can find off the street desperate for employment in a pandemic. They will not have background checks or fingerprints completed in 4 days time. Take your chances but I’ll be keeping me and mine safe from Covid AND predators by rejecting the seat.

As a DC Govt employee who volunteered to work in the CARES classrooms, I find this highly offensive. We're not teachers, but we are skilled professionals. We're librarians, therapists, counselors, analysts and IT staff ( among other things). We're volunteering to try to help. We also have to pass background checks. We're not just some random people off of the street.

What are your expectations for what your classroom will be like? I can see this working okay if someone with your background were overseeing a classroom of 4th or 5th graders who are acclimated to the school environment and have the skill set to follow their DL lessons with relatively minimal assistance. But what about ECE? What would your expectations be if you are assigned a classroom of PK3 kids? Is that something you are ready to take on?

I'm not trying to diminish your training or discourage what you are doing. But I really don't understand how these CARES rooms are supposed to work for ECE and early elementary grades. Teachers at that level usually have specialized training in ECE and at least some experience with children that age (not just student teaching but often also time in daycares, private PK programs, etc.). It is extremely hard for me to imagine someone without that training handling a room full of 3, 4, or 5 year olds, all of whom will need help logging into ever lesson, and many of whom will not be able to pay attention for the duration of the lesson or will refuse altogether. Plus they have a ton of developmental needs that won't be served by DL at all -- can you provide that? Do you know what they are? How will you handled kids having accidents, tantrums, etc. All of that is extremely normal for these ages, but particularly likely when kids experience disruptions to their routines. Well these kids will have experienced numerous major disruptions over the last 6 months and are likely going to be as challenging as ECE kids ever are. Is this something you are ready for?

I could imagine sending a 4th grader or older to CARES, but anything younger and I'd be highly skeptical. It's just not designed for their needs at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:teachers are very concerned that the cares classrooms will open and no one will get sick and then even more people will ask why teachers arent back in the classroom.

No teacher I know thinks that. They are concerned about the safety of the kids in the room. At my school less than 25% of the people accepted the inperson spots. This is upper NW. so I’m not sure what you are talking about.

I will happily accept an in-person slot at an upper NW school, FWIW. It would mean driving across town twice a day but it would be worth it if my kid was in a classroom with a teacher. And preferable to our current plan of forking over all of our savings to a private school so that our struggling kid can get her basic educational needs met.

I hear you but the people who are actually enrolled in the school are not interested in the spots.

Perhaps they have a better alternative available to them. I do not. I only have a worse alternative. So I would happily take one of those slots. If there are teachers willing to teach in person and there are classrooms open, they should be full because there are kids and families in this city who desperately need in-person school and do not currently have any opportunity for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just advice. DCPS’ CARES classrooms will be 11 children learning on a tablet, while 1-2 adults who are not teachers will watch them. DCPS has 5, really 4, days to find and hire and train these people and also do background checks..let’s talk about DCPS history with background checks...


Last summer some of you may remember when an after school staff meme we assaulted and had an inappropriate relationship with a student. Not only was a background check never done on the accused adult, but no background checks were completed by the Springboard program that year in most schools. This was a time when DCPS had more than enough time to follow proper procedure and didn’t. I can also tell you that a week or so before the news got out to the public DCPS tried to have the remaining after school teachers submit a background check. They scheduled a date for all the employees to get fingerprinted and then cancelled it. A day later the mess was in the news. These people do not care about the children they just needed to cover their ass. And when they couldn’t stop themselves from looking bad they just somehow made it disappear from the media..

This is all to say..DCPS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILD. You are throwing your child to the wolves with whoever else they can find off the street desperate for employment in a pandemic. They will not have background checks or fingerprints completed in 4 days time. Take your chances but I’ll be keeping me and mine safe from Covid AND predators by rejecting the seat.

As a DC Govt employee who volunteered to work in the CARES classrooms, I find this highly offensive. We're not teachers, but we are skilled professionals. We're librarians, therapists, counselors, analysts and IT staff ( among other things). We're volunteering to try to help. We also have to pass background checks. We're not just some random people off of the street.

Thank you for volunteering. However, it’s really not helping. It’s a way for DCPS to claim schools have “reopened,” when, in fact, very few students will have in-person learning. And this plan to sit some kids in rooms at schools FT gets in the way of DCPS ever bringing more kids back for in-person learning.

It’s helping Bowser politically; it’s not helping teachers; and it’s only sorta helping a small group of families (some in need, but not helping many others also in need).

Don’t abet a terrible plan.

Just because it’s not helping YOU, doesn’t mean it’s not a vast improvement for many families. My gosh get out of your bubble. There are kids home alone without meals, without parents, ALONE. If you don’t need the help, great, don’t take a spot, but don’t disparage volunteers like this person, who are providing much needed relief to other people and children.

I agree with you...but those same families without meals and supervision are the same ones who probably don’t have proper health insurance to deal w the repercussions if they or a sibling or parent get sick from this...and also at least my school has been giving out food to families willing to get it. We’ve been making distance learning work for my two babies. It’s careless to take this risk before cold and flu season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just advice. DCPS’ CARES classrooms will be 11 children learning on a tablet, while 1-2 adults who are not teachers will watch them. DCPS has 5, really 4, days to find and hire and train these people and also do background checks..let’s talk about DCPS history with background checks...


Last summer some of you may remember when an after school staff meme we assaulted and had an inappropriate relationship with a student. Not only was a background check never done on the accused adult, but no background checks were completed by the Springboard program that year in most schools. This was a time when DCPS had more than enough time to follow proper procedure and didn’t. I can also tell you that a week or so before the news got out to the public DCPS tried to have the remaining after school teachers submit a background check. They scheduled a date for all the employees to get fingerprinted and then cancelled it. A day later the mess was in the news. These people do not care about the children they just needed to cover their ass. And when they couldn’t stop themselves from looking bad they just somehow made it disappear from the media..

This is all to say..DCPS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILD. You are throwing your child to the wolves with whoever else they can find off the street desperate for employment in a pandemic. They will not have background checks or fingerprints completed in 4 days time. Take your chances but I’ll be keeping me and mine safe from Covid AND predators by rejecting the seat.

As a DC Govt employee who volunteered to work in the CARES classrooms, I find this highly offensive. We're not teachers, but we are skilled professionals. We're librarians, therapists, counselors, analysts and IT staff ( among other things). We're volunteering to try to help. We also have to pass background checks. We're not just some random people off of the street.

Thank you for volunteering. However, it’s really not helping. It’s a way for DCPS to claim schools have “reopened,” when, in fact, very few students will have in-person learning. And this plan to sit some kids in rooms at schools FT gets in the way of DCPS ever bringing more kids back for in-person learning.

It’s helping Bowser politically; it’s not helping teachers; and it’s only sorta helping a small group of families (some in need, but not helping many others also in need).

Don’t abet a terrible plan.

Just because it’s not helping YOU, doesn’t mean it’s not a vast improvement for many families. My gosh get out of your bubble. There are kids home alone without meals, without parents, ALONE. If you don’t need the help, great, don’t take a spot, but don’t disparage volunteers like this person, who are providing much needed relief to other people and children.

I agree with you...but those same families without meals and supervision are the same ones who probably don’t have proper health insurance to deal w the repercussions if they or a sibling or parent get sick from this...and also at least my school has been giving out food to families willing to get it. We’ve been making distance learning work for my two babies. It’s careless to take this risk before cold and flu season.

So let them decide.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just advice. DCPS’ CARES classrooms will be 11 children learning on a tablet, while 1-2 adults who are not teachers will watch them. DCPS has 5, really 4, days to find and hire and train these people and also do background checks..let’s talk about DCPS history with background checks...


Last summer some of you may remember when an after school staff meme we assaulted and had an inappropriate relationship with a student. Not only was a background check never done on the accused adult, but no background checks were completed by the Springboard program that year in most schools. This was a time when DCPS had more than enough time to follow proper procedure and didn’t. I can also tell you that a week or so before the news got out to the public DCPS tried to have the remaining after school teachers submit a background check. They scheduled a date for all the employees to get fingerprinted and then cancelled it. A day later the mess was in the news. These people do not care about the children they just needed to cover their ass. And when they couldn’t stop themselves from looking bad they just somehow made it disappear from the media..

This is all to say..DCPS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILD. You are throwing your child to the wolves with whoever else they can find off the street desperate for employment in a pandemic. They will not have background checks or fingerprints completed in 4 days time. Take your chances but I’ll be keeping me and mine safe from Covid AND predators by rejecting the seat.

As a DC Govt employee who volunteered to work in the CARES classrooms, I find this highly offensive. We're not teachers, but we are skilled professionals. We're librarians, therapists, counselors, analysts and IT staff ( among other things). We're volunteering to try to help. We also have to pass background checks. We're not just some random people off of the street.

What are your expectations for what your classroom will be like? I can see this working okay if someone with your background were overseeing a classroom of 4th or 5th graders who are acclimated to the school environment and have the skill set to follow their DL lessons with relatively minimal assistance. But what about ECE? What would your expectations be if you are assigned a classroom of PK3 kids? Is that something you are ready to take on?

I'm not trying to diminish your training or discourage what you are doing. But I really don't understand how these CARES rooms are supposed to work for ECE and early elementary grades. Teachers at that level usually have specialized training in ECE and at least some experience with children that age (not just student teaching but often also time in daycares, private PK programs, etc.). It is extremely hard for me to imagine someone without that training handling a room full of 3, 4, or 5 year olds, all of whom will need help logging into ever lesson, and many of whom will not be able to pay attention for the duration of the lesson or will refuse altogether. Plus they have a ton of developmental needs that won't be served by DL at all -- can you provide that? Do you know what they are? How will you handled kids having accidents, tantrums, etc. All of that is extremely normal for these ages, but particularly likely when kids experience disruptions to their routines. Well these kids will have experienced numerous major disruptions over the last 6 months and are likely going to be as challenging as ECE kids ever are. Is this something you are ready for?

I could imagine sending a 4th grader or older to CARES, but anything younger and I'd be highly skeptical. It's just not designed for their needs at all.

Did you ever send your PK or K student to summer camp? Just curious if you applied these same standards across the board in all interactions with children. I think that doing something is better than doing nothing. It seems like the care classroom model is threatening to a lot of people but I don’t know why. It takes into account concerns about teacher safety, it brings in volunteers who are willing to do it, and it gives a bigger block of children an option of socializing and having access to services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just advice. DCPS’ CARES classrooms will be 11 children learning on a tablet, while 1-2 adults who are not teachers will watch them. DCPS has 5, really 4, days to find and hire and train these people and also do background checks..let’s talk about DCPS history with background checks...


Last summer some of you may remember when an after school staff meme we assaulted and had an inappropriate relationship with a student. Not only was a background check never done on the accused adult, but no background checks were completed by the Springboard program that year in most schools. This was a time when DCPS had more than enough time to follow proper procedure and didn’t. I can also tell you that a week or so before the news got out to the public DCPS tried to have the remaining after school teachers submit a background check. They scheduled a date for all the employees to get fingerprinted and then cancelled it. A day later the mess was in the news. These people do not care about the children they just needed to cover their ass. And when they couldn’t stop themselves from looking bad they just somehow made it disappear from the media..

This is all to say..DCPS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILD. You are throwing your child to the wolves with whoever else they can find off the street desperate for employment in a pandemic. They will not have background checks or fingerprints completed in 4 days time. Take your chances but I’ll be keeping me and mine safe from Covid AND predators by rejecting the seat.

As a DC Govt employee who volunteered to work in the CARES classrooms, I find this highly offensive. We're not teachers, but we are skilled professionals. We're librarians, therapists, counselors, analysts and IT staff ( among other things). We're volunteering to try to help. We also have to pass background checks. We're not just some random people off of the street.

Thank you for volunteering. However, it’s really not helping. It’s a way for DCPS to claim schools have “reopened,” when, in fact, very few students will have in-person learning. And this plan to sit some kids in rooms at schools FT gets in the way of DCPS ever bringing more kids back for in-person learning.

It’s helping Bowser politically; it’s not helping teachers; and it’s only sorta helping a small group of families (some in need, but not helping many others also in need).

Don’t abet a terrible plan.

I mean, the plan is better than nothing. It gives supervision and a safe space to kids who need it. I agree with you that more kids should be back WITH THEIR DCPS TEACHERS full time, but that seems like impossible to achieve right now given WTU's intransigence. So at least this is a way for the city to provide some support to parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just advice. DCPS’ CARES classrooms will be 11 children learning on a tablet, while 1-2 adults who are not teachers will watch them. DCPS has 5, really 4, days to find and hire and train these people and also do background checks..let’s talk about DCPS history with background checks...


Last summer some of you may remember when an after school staff meme we assaulted and had an inappropriate relationship with a student. Not only was a background check never done on the accused adult, but no background checks were completed by the Springboard program that year in most schools. This was a time when DCPS had more than enough time to follow proper procedure and didn’t. I can also tell you that a week or so before the news got out to the public DCPS tried to have the remaining after school teachers submit a background check. They scheduled a date for all the employees to get fingerprinted and then cancelled it. A day later the mess was in the news. These people do not care about the children they just needed to cover their ass. And when they couldn’t stop themselves from looking bad they just somehow made it disappear from the media..

This is all to say..DCPS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILD. You are throwing your child to the wolves with whoever else they can find off the street desperate for employment in a pandemic. They will not have background checks or fingerprints completed in 4 days time. Take your chances but I’ll be keeping me and mine safe from Covid AND predators by rejecting the seat.

As a DC Govt employee who volunteered to work in the CARES classrooms, I find this highly offensive. We're not teachers, but we are skilled professionals. We're librarians, therapists, counselors, analysts and IT staff ( among other things). We're volunteering to try to help. We also have to pass background checks. We're not just some random people off of the street.

Thank you for volunteering. However, it’s really not helping. It’s a way for DCPS to claim schools have “reopened,” when, in fact, very few students will have in-person learning. And this plan to sit some kids in rooms at schools FT gets in the way of DCPS ever bringing more kids back for in-person learning.

It’s helping Bowser politically; it’s not helping teachers; and it’s only sorta helping a small group of families (some in need, but not helping many others also in need).

Don’t abet a terrible plan.

Yeah I don't give two shits about helping teachers. Have you seen them on here? Some are explicitly saying they don't care if they're hurting kids. I do care about helping families and kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just advice. DCPS’ CARES classrooms will be 11 children learning on a tablet, while 1-2 adults who are not teachers will watch them. DCPS has 5, really 4, days to find and hire and train these people and also do background checks..let’s talk about DCPS history with background checks...


Last summer some of you may remember when an after school staff meme we assaulted and had an inappropriate relationship with a student. Not only was a background check never done on the accused adult, but no background checks were completed by the Springboard program that year in most schools. This was a time when DCPS had more than enough time to follow proper procedure and didn’t. I can also tell you that a week or so before the news got out to the public DCPS tried to have the remaining after school teachers submit a background check. They scheduled a date for all the employees to get fingerprinted and then cancelled it. A day later the mess was in the news. These people do not care about the children they just needed to cover their ass. And when they couldn’t stop themselves from looking bad they just somehow made it disappear from the media..

This is all to say..DCPS DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOUR CHILD. You are throwing your child to the wolves with whoever else they can find off the street desperate for employment in a pandemic. They will not have background checks or fingerprints completed in 4 days time. Take your chances but I’ll be keeping me and mine safe from Covid AND predators by rejecting the seat.

As a DC Govt employee who volunteered to work in the CARES classrooms, I find this highly offensive. We're not teachers, but we are skilled professionals. We're librarians, therapists, counselors, analysts and IT staff ( among other things). We're volunteering to try to help. We also have to pass background checks. We're not just some random people off of the street.

What are your expectations for what your classroom will be like? I can see this working okay if someone with your background were overseeing a classroom of 4th or 5th graders who are acclimated to the school environment and have the skill set to follow their DL lessons with relatively minimal assistance. But what about ECE? What would your expectations be if you are assigned a classroom of PK3 kids? Is that something you are ready to take on?

I'm not trying to diminish your training or discourage what you are doing. But I really don't understand how these CARES rooms are supposed to work for ECE and early elementary grades. Teachers at that level usually have specialized training in ECE and at least some experience with children that age (not just student teaching but often also time in daycares, private PK programs, etc.). It is extremely hard for me to imagine someone without that training handling a room full of 3, 4, or 5 year olds, all of whom will need help logging into ever lesson, and many of whom will not be able to pay attention for the duration of the lesson or will refuse altogether. Plus they have a ton of developmental needs that won't be served by DL at all -- can you provide that? Do you know what they are? How will you handled kids having accidents, tantrums, etc. All of that is extremely normal for these ages, but particularly likely when kids experience disruptions to their routines. Well these kids will have experienced numerous major disruptions over the last 6 months and are likely going to be as challenging as ECE kids ever are. Is this something you are ready for?

I could imagine sending a 4th grader or older to CARES, but anything younger and I'd be highly skeptical. It's just not designed for their needs at all.

Did you ever send your PK or K student to summer camp? Just curious if you applied these same standards across the board in all interactions with children. I think that doing something is better than doing nothing. It seems like the care classroom model is threatening to a lot of people but I don’t know why. It takes into account concerns about teacher safety, it brings in volunteers who are willing to do it, and it gives a bigger block of children an option of socializing and having access to services.

Exactly. Kids go to after school programs every day that have the same/lower hiring standards, not to mention MUCH bigger class ratios.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:teachers are very concerned that the cares classrooms will open and no one will get sick and then even more people will ask why teachers arent back in the classroom.

No teacher I know thinks that. They are concerned about the safety of the kids in the room. At my school less than 25% of the people accepted the inperson spots. This is upper NW. so I’m not sure what you are talking about.

I will happily accept an in-person slot at an upper NW school, FWIW. It would mean driving across town twice a day but it would be worth it if my kid was in a classroom with a teacher. And preferable to our current plan of forking over all of our savings to a private school so that our struggling kid can get her basic educational needs met.

I hear you but the people who are actually enrolled in the school are not interested in the spots.

We're at an upper NW school, and we'd take an in-person spot (but not a CARES classroom spot). My understanding was that if the families on the first list turned down the spots, they'd move down the list and offer spots until they were full.