Do DC parents still blame teacher unions for everything?

[Anonymous]

Teachers unions have permanently alienated a good share of parents in DC. A lot of them will never forgive WTU for what it did to their families during the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Also, it's not really accurate that what happens in DCPS has no impact on charters, as the OP implies. One example is charter teachers with kids in DCPS. If DCPS didn't open, that was offered as a reason why the charter couldn't open (due to childcare).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers unions have permanently alienated a good share of parents in DC. A lot of them will never forgive WTU for what it did to their families during the pandemic.

They haven’t. Don’t let this echo chamber fool you

[Anonymous]

I definitely found it eye-opening to see the unionized workforce back (at least somewhat back) while our HRCS was not even the slightest bit close to back. I was never someone who blamed the WTU for things anyway-- I think union or no union, you have to treat workers in a manner they are willing to tolerate. Teachers, unionized or not, have some leverage in the labor market and DC schools can treat them reasonably or they will be off to Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I never blamed the teachers unions because I’m not an ignorant MAGA asshole.

So the only options are Team Randi or Team Trump. Nothing in between. This success of this line of attack on parents who dare to question anything school-related has got to be diminishing returns at this point.

Unions advocate for what their membership wants, which is their purpose. The primary job of parents is to take on the Randi Weingarten role for their kids. Sometimes interests align between these two groups and sometimes they don't.

So while you post titles like, "Do parents still blame teacher unions for everything," please know that unions essentially communicating for the better part of a year that re-opening is tantamount to a death sentence (complete with body bag protests), and that anyone who thinks otherwise is basically a white supremacist, has resulted in some loss of trust and goodwill.

But if your question was "are charters automatically the answer," I think you will find a greater number of parents who have been disillusioned by what they have seen over the past year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never blamed the teachers unions because I’m not an ignorant MAGA asshole.

So the only options are Team Randi or Team Trump. Nothing in between. This success of this line of attack on parents who dare to question anything school-related has got to be diminishing returns at this point.

Unions advocate for what their membership wants, which is their purpose. The primary job of parents is to take on the Randi Weingarten role for their kids. Sometimes interests align between these two groups and sometimes they don't.

So while you post titles like, "Do parents still blame teacher unions for everything," please know that unions essentially communicating for the better part of a year that re-opening is tantamount to a death sentence (complete with body bag protests), and that anyone who thinks otherwise is basically a white supremacist, has resulted in some loss of trust and goodwill.

But if your question was "are charters automatically the answer," I think you will find a greater number of parents who have been disillusioned by what they have seen over the past year.

You will also find a greater number of parents who say "school vouchers are the answer." Private schools are the only ones who did their job during the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I never blamed the teachers unions because I’m not an ignorant MAGA asshole.

So the only options are Team Randi or Team Trump. Nothing in between. This success of this line of attack on parents who dare to question anything school-related has got to be diminishing returns at this point.

Unions advocate for what their membership wants, which is their purpose. The primary job of parents is to take on the Randi Weingarten role for their kids. Sometimes interests align between these two groups and sometimes they don't.

So while you post titles like, "Do parents still blame teacher unions for everything," please know that unions essentially communicating for the better part of a year that re-opening is tantamount to a death sentence (complete with body bag protests), and that anyone who thinks otherwise is basically a white supremacist, has resulted in some loss of trust and goodwill.

But if your question was "are charters automatically the answer," I think you will find a greater number of parents who have been disillusioned by what they have seen over the past year.

You will also find a greater number of parents who say "school vouchers are the answer." Private schools are the only ones who did their job during the pandemic.

If private school vouchers existed you wouldn’t have enough teachers. If public school teachers think they’re underpaid, wait till they see what we make.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers unions have permanently alienated a good share of parents in DC. A lot of them will never forgive WTU for what it did to their families during the pandemic.

They haven’t. Don’t let this echo chamber fool you

As opposed to Twitter, which is not an echo chamber at all, lol.

In real life conversations people range from mildly annoyed at the WTU to totally enraged at them. You may need to examine your information bubble if you truly think they still have widespread support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers unions have permanently alienated a good share of parents in DC. A lot of them will never forgive WTU for what it did to their families during the pandemic.

They haven’t. Don’t let this echo chamber fool you

As opposed to Twitter, which is not an echo chamber at all, lol.

In real life conversations people range from mildly annoyed at the WTU to totally enraged at them. You may need to examine your information bubble if you truly think they still have widespread support.

“In the conversations I have with people like me...”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers unions have permanently alienated a good share of parents in DC. A lot of them will never forgive WTU for what it did to their families during the pandemic.

They haven’t. Don’t let this echo chamber fool you

I mean, you aren't offering any information other than "because I say so". Show us something that suggests WTU has widespread support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not blame teachers unions for everything. But I admit my support and good opinion of WTU is lower than it was at this time last year. I do not believe the union has covered itself in glory, though I ultimately consider this year’s failures the fault of the mayor and chancellor for failing to bring stakeholders together around workable solutions. The Union was obstructionist, but the mayor/chancellor are supposed to figure it out. They didn’t.

Also, you can say schools are open all you want but it only makes people more angry. My school has 5 kids in person from our grade. We have never been offered IPL or CARES. I keep hearing about open schools but it’s like a fairy tale to me — sounds nice, has zero to do with my lives experience.

This is pretty much how I feel.

[Anonymous]

DC schools are not open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For a year, many parents have vilified unions on the board for schools not being open, yet DCPS schools are back in person and the city's only unionized charter school is back 4 days a week. It's the un-unionized charter schools that still aren't open. (Although to be fair, there may be lots of different and good reasons why they're not open -- I don't know.)

I'm curious if any of the parents changed their tune when it comes to union. Clearly reasons re-opening takes a long time is because there are a lot of logistics and safety measures to ensure -- and it's not just a union thing.

Do you even go here?

[Anonymous]

There have been many mistakes by many in education in DC, from the Mayor, the Chancellor, principals and yes, the union. But I do think it was the unions refusal to go back to schools hybrid last summer that started us all down this horrid road. If DCPS had rolled out hybrid education this year, like many, many schools district is did throughout the country, all of the negative impacts on students would have been significantly mitigated. Teachers should have a personal connection with teh students, Students would not feel so isolated and hopeless. And it would have been much easier to pivot back into the classroom. So yes, I do place the lions share of the blame on the WTU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC schools are not open.

Not true. I'm a teacher and we have more than 85% of students and staff back for 4 days a week.

Blame the unions for this? I don't think so.