APS HS: Who can I complain to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:principals absolutely should have denied this. Teachers do not get vacation days. They get 3 personal days a year to be used for things that cannot be taken care of during non-business hours. They specifically are not allowed to use this time following spring break
"Personal leave may not be taken on days immediately before or after a school holiday, a
legal holiday, the winter holiday, spring break or at the beginning or end of the school
year. An exception may be made by the principal or department head if the employee is
attending summer school and attendance is required before the last working day or after
the first working day of the school year, or if the employee must meet a compelling
personal or business need which cannot be met at any other time. Requests for
exceptions must be made in writing and specify the reasons why the exception is needed."

If Monday's are truly so significant for collaboration and planning, then no teacher should have been planning to be doing anything other than working today- and it should not have made a difference that it was made a synchronious instruction day 3-4 weeks ago.

Its not hating on teachers to restate the policy. And its not b/c of crappy substitute pay- its bc teaching is a job that your presence matters a lot. Teachers get winter break/ spring break/ federal holidays/ etc. They don't get annual leave- they get 3 personal days, that come with significant constraints.

Yes! plus, 9-10 weeks of summer leave.

[Anonymous]

I’ve given up on this school year. Someone please tell me that things will be better in the fall?

[Anonymous]

We are in ES, and our teacher uploaded a bunch of stuff to seesaw and told the kids it would be asynchronous. Such a waste.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are in ES, and our teacher uploaded a bunch of stuff to seesaw and told the kids it would be asynchronous. Such a waste.

One of the teacher's in our grade is still on vacation, so they've doubled up the virtual classes. Nothing like 35+ 7 yos on a single Teams call for effective teaching.

[Anonymous]

My daughter is at Wakefield and she had synchronous classes today. None of her teachers bailed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:1. DD was excited to go back to school 2 days a week last month. However, when she gets there on one of the days she's sitting in the auditorium/cafeteria/gym all day without a teacher because the teachers decided to continue remotely. This was really upsetting to her as she had been looking forward to going back and learning in person.

2. Today was supposed to be a synchronous day. When she logs in this morning, 3 of her teachers cancelled class, so she only has 2 live classes today. WHAT A JOKE. I AM PISSED. COME ON PEOPLE!

Who can I reach out to within the school system to complain about this and will it even make a difference? With only 2.5 months left in the school year, it's too late to change teachers, but come on. UGH, even my daughter is disappointed.

1 -Contact the principal of your child's school.

2 - Send an email to Dr. Duran and copy to all school board members. The email address and links are on the APS website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:principals absolutely should have denied this. Teachers do not get vacation days. They get 3 personal days a year to be used for things that cannot be taken care of during non-business hours. They specifically are not allowed to use this time following spring break
"Personal leave may not be taken on days immediately before or after a school holiday, a
legal holiday, the winter holiday, spring break or at the beginning or end of the school
year. An exception may be made by the principal or department head if the employee is
attending summer school and attendance is required before the last working day or after
the first working day of the school year, or if the employee must meet a compelling
personal or business need which cannot be met at any other time. Requests for
exceptions must be made in writing and specify the reasons why the exception is needed."

If Monday's are truly so significant for collaboration and planning, then no teacher should have been planning to be doing anything other than working today- and it should not have made a difference that it was made a synchronious instruction day 3-4 weeks ago.

Its not hating on teachers to restate the policy. And its not b/c of crappy substitute pay- its bc teaching is a job that your presence matters a lot. Teachers get winter break/ spring break/ federal holidays/ etc. They don't get annual leave- they get 3 personal days, that come with significant constraints.

Yes! plus, 9-10 weeks of summer leave.

Some teachers really would be planning and can probably do asynchronous planning en route like in a car or whatever. Or they had arranged with principal to use comp hours for part of the day. Then it was changed to synchronous and perhaps they couldn’t be live wherever they were. I’m sure there was more leniency because of the recent change. Again, it’s unlikely your teacher is doing anything that wasn’t approve by the administrator. But feel free to reach out and be that parent if you must.

[Anonymous]

My two middle school kids had all but one of their classes today. Sounds like another example of drama from teacher haters to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:1. DD was excited to go back to school 2 days a week last month. However, when she gets there on one of the days she's sitting in the auditorium/cafeteria/gym all day without a teacher because the teachers decided to continue remotely. This was really upsetting to her as she had been looking forward to going back and learning in person.

2. Today was supposed to be a synchronous day. When she logs in this morning, 3 of her teachers cancelled class, so she only has 2 live classes today. WHAT A JOKE. I AM PISSED. COME ON PEOPLE!

Who can I reach out to within the school system to complain about this and will it even make a difference? With only 2.5 months left in the school year, it's too late to change teachers, but come on. UGH, even my daughter is disappointed.

1 -Contact the principal of your child's school.

2 - Send an email to Dr. Duran and copy to all school board members. The email address and links are on the APS website.

Good recommendation but it's likely going to fall on deaf ears. They DON'T CARE!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My two middle school kids had all but one of their classes today. Sounds like another example of drama from teacher haters to me.

Oh, I absolutely hate the teachers at this point. Calling me a teacher hater is pretty accurate.

Fully given up on this year and APS as a whole.

[Anonymous]

Either you are a dedicated, respected professional educator or you are a lazy unprofessional loser who doesn’t deserve the respect and admiration of their students or parents. The children are in need of more instructional days in APS, not less and no one needs more vacation right now. I already had a sense the teachers lacked dedication in APS. This pandemic proved it. I have more respect for the sanitation and grocery workers than these people. They deserve all the disdain possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't think teachers can simply "cancel classes". It's a school day. I'd contact the principal and if you want you could go to the APS central office as well but start with the principal.

DP - Well, they may not officially "cancel" them; but only one of my daughter's teachers has any work for her to do today. The rest are treating it as a day to catch-up before the end of the grading period. No different than any other asynchronous Monday. One teacher - who repeatedly reminded her class last week that Monday is a synchronous day - forgot Monday is a synchronous day and was ten minutes late for class. Then, he left everyone on their own and went around to each student with missing work to ask them what they were working on. Those who didn't have anything to do, had nothing to do for the entire class period.

I agree with the OP. They took away a synchronous day in March for teachers to prepare to return to hybrid and that's why today was to be a synchronous day. So, essentially, the kids just got yet another day off school instead of making up a missed day of instruction. I don't know how students are reaching the state mandated minimum hours of school this year.

Speak for yourself. My DD had all her classes and homework. She was pissed about today because she would rather have spent the time doing homework that was assigned over break, instead of having to do it over vacation. She’s at W-L.