How is first day going for DCPS kids?

[Anonymous]

This is a complete joke for my first grader. Complain to your elected officials! They need to know how horrible this is.

[Anonymous]

First day of PK was an unmitigated disaster for my kid this morning. She is getting absolutely nothing out of this. DL is a joke for this age group. Why won’t our worthless mayor close bars so we can open schools for small children?

[Anonymous]

Everything seems to be going all right for my kids in 2nd and K. Not ideal and there have been bumps, but going ok. Everyday is better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First day of PK was an unmitigated disaster for my kid this morning. She is getting absolutely nothing out of this. DL is a joke for this age group. Why won’t our worthless mayor close bars so we can open schools for small children?

If I remember correctly, the original plan did not include ANY distance learning for PK, but parents were demanding it, so here we are. Just another reminder that you can't please everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 3rd grader is pretty bored..and does not want to do it. Says it's too long; and this is just week 1. He keeps switching to video games/ youtube....or sends chats to the other kids. Not sure how he will do 8:30am-3:00pm...

And you let this happen? I'm the PPPP who everyone said was mean when I accused parents of not setting/enforcing exceptions and trying to be their kids friends. Read the passive voice in this post about the choices they are permitting this 8 year old to make and tell me this isn't partly a parenting issue.

You are ridiculous if you think a patent should be blamed for a kid not having enough executive function to sit through virtual boredom when escape is only a click away. Many kids this age can manage it; some can’t.

Clearly, Ms. Judgmental does not have an ADHD child.

Yes, I think that it is fair to blame a parent of a kid with ADHD for being allowed to play video games, watch youtube, and chat with friends instead of school. And lets be clear, I didn't say parents with ADHD kids are to blame for that, nor did I minimize the challenges. I took specific issue with a post that illustrated where the parent seems to be taking no ownership. To wit, PPP to whom I replied said:

"3rd grader is bored": And??? Too bad. School is their only job right now. Sometimes it is fun and engaging, and sometimes it's work and frustrating and requires them to fight through boredom.
"Does not want to do it": WTF is a 3rd grader getting a vote? I guess if s/he didn't want to have dinner and instead wanted just dessert that would be ok? S/he doesn't want to go to bed at bedtime, so let them stay up as late as they want? Stop being your kid's friend and letting them make the decisions that you, as an adult, are supposed to make.
"Keeps switching to video games": Which means the parents know about the frequent switching and haven't put a stop to it. ADHD is not an excuse for a kid to ignore parents. And I know of no ADHD literature that says that the proper treatment is disengagement from parents and allowing a child to do whatever they want.
"Or sends chats to other kids": I'm guessing this is activity prohibited by the teacher. So nice job failing to reinforce the guidelines set by the teacher.

If your kid's teachers took the approach that you do (read: excuses) then their classrooms would be zoos and no one would learn anything. There are kids in my kid's class who have ADHD and a wide variety of LD, and they are expected to follow the classroom norms. When they get bored in school they aren't allowed to just whip out a phone and play games or leave the classroom and hang out with friends.

What's super funny about your constant and reflexive "but my kid has ADHD" defense is that the CDC guidelines revolve in large part around structure and routine. Allowing an adolescent to just jump from thing to thing at will (including video games) is not in the literature. If your kid's teacher called you into a meeting to discuss their behavioral issues would you really take no responsibility and/or fail to inquire about what you can do to help your child? Or would you just throw your hands up and say "he has ADHD so there's just no way to improve the situation."

Distance learning is sub-optimal. Parents are having a hard time. Kids are having a hard time. Teachers are having a hard time. Kids with LD and other challenges will have an even harder time. No one is arguing that point. But parents need to be part of the solution. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy to say, "DL is terrible and my kid isn't engaged" and then fail to intervene when your kid isn't engaged. As an educator, a parent of a kid who has had their own challenges and a parent of a kid who has to go to school with kids who have challenges, PPP's approach and your defense do nothing to help get us all through this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First day of PK was an unmitigated disaster for my kid this morning. She is getting absolutely nothing out of this. DL is a joke for this age group. Why won’t our worthless mayor close bars so we can open schools for small children?

Honestly, they don’t need to. DC more than meets public health criteria to have elementary schools open and PK is the same age cohort as day cares and they are open. It’s unbelievably ridiculous that PK is distance learning. It absolutely not supported by any science or data that it is necessary.

I honestly don’t want to ever hear DC harp on about their goals to close the achievement gap ever again. They lost absolutely all credibility here for the rest of forever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First day of PK was an unmitigated disaster for my kid this morning. She is getting absolutely nothing out of this. DL is a joke for this age group. Why won’t our worthless mayor close bars so we can open schools for small children?

Honestly, they don’t need to. DC more than meets public health criteria to have elementary schools open and PK is the same age cohort as day cares and they are open. It’s unbelievably ridiculous that PK is distance learning. It absolutely not supported by any science or data that it is necessary.

I honestly don’t want to ever hear DC harp on about their goals to close the achievement gap ever again. They lost absolutely all credibility here for the rest of forever.

Would you like some tarter sauce for your red herring? No one is arguing PK is best or preferable in DL model. And no one is arguing that achievement gaps are helped by DL. Reasonable minds can disagree as to whether those challenges outweigh the risks of COVID spread. Since you are such a data lover I assume you realize that the majority of public school kids are 10 or older (a population that spreads the disease at the same rate as adults), so the decision matrix here isn't grade by grade, it is a system-wide decision with shared and finite resources.

P.S. You don't give two sh*ts about the achievement gap. That part of your post is just silly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First day of PK was an unmitigated disaster for my kid this morning. She is getting absolutely nothing out of this. DL is a joke for this age group. Why won’t our worthless mayor close bars so we can open schools for small children?

Honestly, they don’t need to. DC more than meets public health criteria to have elementary schools open and PK is the same age cohort as day cares and they are open. It’s unbelievably ridiculous that PK is distance learning. It absolutely not supported by any science or data that it is necessary.

I honestly don’t want to ever hear DC harp on about their goals to close the achievement gap ever again. They lost absolutely all credibility here for the rest of forever.

I second all of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First day of PK was an unmitigated disaster for my kid this morning. She is getting absolutely nothing out of this. DL is a joke for this age group. Why won’t our worthless mayor close bars so we can open schools for small children?

If I remember correctly, the original plan did not include ANY distance learning for PK, but parents were demanding it, so here we are. Just another reminder that you can't please everyone.

Frankly, they shouldn't have even done Pre-K this year. It's useless via DL and takes up a lot of space that is needed for social distancing if we ever get back in the buildings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First day of PK was an unmitigated disaster for my kid this morning. She is getting absolutely nothing out of this. DL is a joke for this age group. Why won’t our worthless mayor close bars so we can open schools for small children?

Honestly, they don’t need to. DC more than meets public health criteria to have elementary schools open and PK is the same age cohort as day cares and they are open. It’s unbelievably ridiculous that PK is distance learning. It absolutely not supported by any science or data that it is necessary.

I honestly don’t want to ever hear DC harp on about their goals to close the achievement gap ever again. They lost absolutely all credibility here for the rest of forever.

I second all of this.

Tell your elected representatives how you feel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First day of PK was an unmitigated disaster for my kid this morning. She is getting absolutely nothing out of this. DL is a joke for this age group. Why won’t our worthless mayor close bars so we can open schools for small children?

If I remember correctly, the original plan did not include ANY distance learning for PK, but parents were demanding it, so here we are. Just another reminder that you can't please everyone.

Frankly, they shouldn't have even done Pre-K this year. It's useless via DL and takes up a lot of space that is needed for social distancing if we ever get back in the buildings.

Let me guess: you’re a teacher. Teachers’ answers to everything also boil down to kids getting less education.

[Anonymous]

I thrilled someone folks are loving DL. Hopefully they stay virtual when things open back up. That way the non DL kids can go in everyday.
Celebrate their success!

[Anonymous]

10th grade Walls. Going fine. Teachers not adept at Microsoft teams yet. Think Zoom worked better (and allowed small group meetings).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First day of PK was an unmitigated disaster for my kid this morning. She is getting absolutely nothing out of this. DL is a joke for this age group. Why won’t our worthless mayor close bars so we can open schools for small children?

If I remember correctly, the original plan did not include ANY distance learning for PK, but parents were demanding it, so here we are. Just another reminder that you can't please everyone.

Frankly, they shouldn't have even done Pre-K this year. It's useless via DL and takes up a lot of space that is needed for social distancing if we ever get back in the buildings.

Let me guess: you’re a teacher. Teachers’ answers to everything also boil down to kids getting less education.

I'm not a teacher. Just someone who realizes that it's a crappy situation with not perfect solutions. Pre-K is the most able to be missed and the least amount of learning. If sacrifices had to be made then not doing preK this year would provide the most flexibility with the lowest downside from an education and system wide standpoint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First day of PK was an unmitigated disaster for my kid this morning. She is getting absolutely nothing out of this. DL is a joke for this age group. Why won’t our worthless mayor close bars so we can open schools for small children?

Honestly, they don’t need to. DC more than meets public health criteria to have elementary schools open and PK is the same age cohort as day cares and they are open. It’s unbelievably ridiculous that PK is distance learning. It absolutely not supported by any science or data that it is necessary.

I honestly don’t want to ever hear DC harp on about their goals to close the achievement gap ever again. They lost absolutely all credibility here for the rest of forever.

Would you like some tarter sauce for your red herring? No one is arguing PK is best or preferable in DL model. And no one is arguing that achievement gaps are helped by DL. Reasonable minds can disagree as to whether those challenges outweigh the risks of COVID spread. Since you are such a data lover I assume you realize that the majority of public school kids are 10 or older (a population that spreads the disease at the same rate as adults), so the decision matrix here isn't grade by grade, it is a system-wide decision with shared and finite resources.

P.S. You don't give two sh*ts about the achievement gap. That part of your post is just silly.

DP: Why shouldn’t the decision be made grade by grade? Seems quite reasonable to me to make decisions about elementary schools separate from middle and high schools,