How bad is your APS back to school experience?

[Anonymous]

Are you the dad who posted on AEM about this? If so, FYI, the WMS PTA meeting was going on at the same time as your Facebook post. You could’ve use that opportunity to join the call and talk to the principal and other families about your kid’s experience. Very few families on the call had anything negative to say. Principal also asked that we be patient as teachers are still adjusting to the audio visual constraints of concurrent. This was just day one for your kid. FWIW, my child had a great day and has only 1 teacher working from home.

The virtually teachers are only teaching remotely until a permanent substitute can be found. Virtual was not approved for the teachers and their only option was to take a leave of absence. However there is a shortage of substitutes. This was also discussed during the PTA meeting last night.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a K-2 student. She gets about an hour of instruction in person on days that she's at school. All other instruction is still via Teams. The teachers have chosen to departmentalize, but are refusing to switch classrooms, so only one subject is in person. The one in person class is being taught concurrently to a second in person class.. All specials are by Teams.

I'm extremely disappointed in APS. I can't believe anyone thinks this is appropriate. If teachers don't want to switch classrooms, then stop departmentalization temporarily. Teaching 7 yos by Teams when a qualified in person teacher is available and in the classroom is unconscionable.

This is incredible. They are supposed to be professionals and understand education. It is obvious that they are not qualified for their positions.

The principal's reasoning is literally that the won't ask teachers to prep and teach all core subjects because their school policy is departmentalization.

What school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a K-2 student. She gets about an hour of instruction in person on days that she's at school. All other instruction is still via Teams. The teachers have chosen to departmentalize, but are refusing to switch classrooms, so only one subject is in person. The one in person class is being taught concurrently to a second in person class.. All specials are by Teams.

I'm extremely disappointed in APS. I can't believe anyone thinks this is appropriate. If teachers don't want to switch classrooms, then stop departmentalization temporarily. Teaching 7 yos by Teams when a qualified in person teacher is available and in the classroom is unconscionable.

This is incredible. They are supposed to be professionals and understand education. It is obvious that they are not qualified for their positions.

The principal's reasoning is literally that the won't ask teachers to prep and teach all core subjects because their school policy is departmentalization.

What school?

Glebe

[Anonymous]

It has been so good for our kindergartner. Obviously it's a lot easier to plan and execute when the class has a full time teacher and assistant assigned that they can split into 2 classes. Overall from what I've heard, the younger the kids, the better the experience. I don't think anyone thought the middle and high school kids were actually going to go back... and then they did.

[Anonymous]

Working for our K student so far. She asked to go seven days per week. She doesn’t even care that she’s looking at a teacher on a screen for one of her two days in class. She loves being around other kids and comes home so happy. It’s been such a great adjustment

[Anonymous]

At Wakefield, the Principal said he was able to honor all requests from teachers who wanted to stay home. DC has 2/7 classes virtual. I know another friend whose DC has 3/7 classes virtual. This is just the first week, so I am ready to give it time, and grateful for the 5 teachers who came back. But DC said sitting in the cold, stinky, crowded gym yesterday to listen to a teacher on a computer screen was not that fun, and I think that's a fair reaction. Wakefield also only had 40% of kids come back, so some classes have 2 kids in them.

[Anonymous]

Second day has started for out MS student who is all virtual. Most teachers seemed to do a good job, but one definitely showed bias towards in-person. I'll chill this first week, but will have to say something if it lasts longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Middle school. We have several of my child's teachers teaching from home. WTF. They have to type their questions into their laptop even with the in person teachers. Again. WTF.

It is almost like they set it all up out of spite. The kids are still looking at the screens. But, they are enjoying being around other kids.

Sadly I agree with the spite intent. I think APS is trying very hard to get more kids to commit to virtual. It would solve a lot of their problems and alleviate them from actually making the effort to do their job the right way. ridiculous

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are having a great experience. Elementary kid is being taught by a live teacher and barely uses her iPad all day (it comes back with 90+% charge each school day). 6th grader is having a great experience too. One class is taught virtually, but that’s because it’s taught by an elderly retired teacher who’s a long-term sub while the regular teacher is on parental leave. I’d rather have one virtual long-term sub than a random rotation of in-person subs.

This is really nice to hear. You seem to be the exception, but I am happy for your kids.

Not the exception. The complainers are just really vocal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Middle school. We have several of my child's teachers teaching from home. WTF. They have to type their questions into their laptop even with the in person teachers. Again. WTF.

It is almost like they set it all up out of spite. The kids are still looking at the screens. But, they are enjoying being around other kids.

Sadly I agree with the spite intent. I think APS is trying very hard to get more kids to commit to virtual. It would solve a lot of their problems and alleviate them from actually making the effort to do their job the right way. ridiculous

GMAFB. If they didn’t do concurrent they’d have to change the teacher assignments - again. Or have three asynchronous days for the hybrid kids.

It’s not a great solution but the best one we have given the circumstances. And it’s disgusting that some parents are trying to vilify teachers/APS for doing their best during a deadly pandemic. Truly disgusting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At Wakefield, the Principal said he was able to honor all requests from teachers who wanted to stay home. DC has 2/7 classes virtual. I know another friend whose DC has 3/7 classes virtual. This is just the first week, so I am ready to give it time, and grateful for the 5 teachers who came back. But DC said sitting in the cold, stinky, crowded gym yesterday to listen to a teacher on a computer screen was not that fun, and I think that's a fair reaction. Wakefield also only had 40% of kids come back, so some classes have 2 kids in them.

As much as people predicted it would be harder for the schools with higher percentages of hybrid to manage the return, I suspect reality may be the opposite. When 70% of your school is back hybrid, it is easy to justify putting an aide in a dedicated classroom for 17 kids while the teacher is teaching remotely. When only two kids in the class are hybrid, it's a lot harder to justify those kinds of staffing levels (especially when APS is short on aides and subs generally), so secondary schools with lower hybrid percentages pretty much have to do what you described, moving a bunch of kids from different classes into a large common space that can be monitored by fewer aides.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Middle school. We have several of my child's teachers teaching from home. WTF. They have to type their questions into their laptop even with the in person teachers. Again. WTF.

It is almost like they set it all up out of spite. The kids are still looking at the screens. But, they are enjoying being around other kids.

Sadly I agree with the spite intent. I think APS is trying very hard to get more kids to commit to virtual. It would solve a lot of their problems and alleviate them from actually making the effort to do their job the right way. ridiculous

GMAFB. If they didn’t do concurrent they’d have to change the teacher assignments - again. Or have three asynchronous days for the hybrid kids.

It’s not a great solution but the best one we have given the circumstances. And it’s disgusting that some parents are trying to vilify teachers/APS for doing their best during a deadly pandemic. Truly disgusting.

PP here - I wasn't vilifying teachers, my response was directed at APS. I personally love most of my children's teachers and know they are doing the best with the hand they are dealt. APS is to blame for the horrific rollout.

[Anonymous]

JFC. What a bunch of whiners most of you are. One of my kids has been back since last week and has a couple of virtual teachers. He's fine with all of it. My other kid is still all virtual and he's fine with that too. We are still in a pandemic, you know, and we are still early in the return to in-person learning stage. How about giving them a chance to get their sea legs before jumping on them? Is this the grace, compassion and resiliency you are teaching your children?

[Anonymous]

It’s been great to have some degree of normalcy. Both kids are happy. My 5th grader was in a small reading group of 3, live with the teacher yesterday. There have been no transportation or other glitches, and she’s loving being able to run around with friends at recess. She is making a couple of new friends in her class, which wasn’t really possible virtually. The teachers did the best they could with virtual learning, but there was obviously a lot to be desired with the format.

My high schooler only has one teacher teaching virtually. His first day back yesterday was very good. He has an easier time asking for help in person than online, so that alone will be a huge improvement.

I’m sorry to hear the experiences others are having, especially high schoolers who still have mostly virtual teachers. It seems like it’s luck of the draw.

[Anonymous]

Things are going well for our ES kid. Much better than DL. It's not perfect but APS has done a good job so good experience so far. Our kid is happier too.