Applications down 21% on myschooldc

[Anonymous]

Everyone could do better with a day off Wednesday to plan and generally get our shit together. But that isn't going to happen. Work late or use the weekend like everyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, are PPs truly taking the position there had been no significant loss of learning across educational cohorts in DL? That is an astonishing level of gaslighting.

This.

there is one poster who believes if you don’t name the specific school you’re lying and have an “agenda.”

And there appears to be an entire DCUM community who completely misunderstands proper use of the word "gaslighting". Someone who disagrees with you isn't gaslighting. Someone who interprets data in a different way isn't gaslighting.

Anyone who tries to make parents think that distance learning hasn't resulted in learning loss IS gaslighting.

Learning loss is a fake term used by for profit companies to scare parents and raise anxiety amongst the community. Who cares if your kid is “1 year behind” (again meaningless), when all school communities are obviously aware that there was a pandemic and are adjusting their plans around that next year anyways.
By middle and high school students with higher aptitude will be in advanced classes and others will be in different tracks. Johnny isn’t going to be deprived AP calc bc he had to learn fractions in 4th grade instead of fifth grade.

Tl;dr learning loss is a lie (and no I’m not the earlier referenced social worker)

yeah who cares if kids are a year behind. who cares if this impacts black kids disproportionately. who cares if my SN kid has regressed so much he may be heading for a self contained classroom.

f you and your privilege. seriously f you.

I’m not sure what about that came across privileged but sorry if I offended you. I’m a T1 teacher who’s been in school since February. Most of my students have chosen to stay virtual and we’re doing the best we can. Next year, whether it’s me or another teacher, will pick up where we left off. If that means starting 3/4 of the way through the previous years curriculum than so be it. No college is concerned about what your DC reading level was when they were 7.

Then why not take a year off every few years? Why not cancel school on Wednesdays in perpetuity?

Well if you’re serious about it, weds planning has been a godsend. I’ve been able to grade more, plan lessons that adapt to different learners better, and still have time to respond to family questions.

Yes, every worker's life would be easier if they got an extra day off a week. That's what school is for. The teachers.

I’m not sure what part of that time is considered “off”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone could do better with a day off Wednesday to plan and generally get our shit together. But that isn't going to happen. Work late or use the weekend like everyone else.

How many hours of your day is spent presenting material and interacting with people?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone could do better with a day off Wednesday to plan and generally get our shit together. But that isn't going to happen. Work late or use the weekend like everyone else.

Lol are you really telling a teacher that?? The profession that spends the most time working late and on the weekends???

[Anonymous]

NP. I don't want to quote the long back and forth but I do want to respond to the teacher who is posting in it.

I actually agree with you that for many (but not all) kids, they can recover from the academic set-backs of this year with the assistance of their teacher and it will all be okay in that respect. I do sometimes feel a little panicky about my kid, but I remind myself that all the kids in her cohort will be in the same boat moving forward (to the degree that kids are ever really in the same boat -- obviously some kids have more resources and others less, but that's always true). I think if we can get back in the classroom in the fall, the academics will work themselves out.

But what I think many teachers may not fully comprehend, because they don't really see it, is the toll this year has taken on many families. It's not just the lack of in-person school, though obviously that's a huge part of it. But it's also the way DCPS and individual schools have handled it. The constant vitriol between the district and the teacher's union. The promises that have literally never been kept (no return to the classroom in the fall, no CARES classroom offer, no return in February, no return in April). I attended all the town halls, I asked questions, I stayed open to responses, and all I ever heard were mealy-mouthed excuses and placing the blame on others.

I'm not worried about my kid learning fractions "on time". I'm worried that I'm never going to trust our school, our teachers, or certainly DCPS ever again. I don't know if this relationship is reparable. What I do know is that telling me not to worry or calling me entitled or privileged because I want my very young child to attend in-person public school, isn't going to repair it. Being condescending isn't going to repair it. And before you ask -- yes, I did lose a family member to Covid this year (plus two more to cancer, thanks for asking), I understand the risks around Covid and I supported many of the measures taken to keep people safe and prevent unnecessary death. I also know first hand the risks to children and families if we take away the essential safety net of in-person public education. And I notice that while teachers are vaccinated against that first threat, my family is still dealing with the fallout from the second. There's no vaccine for the costs of childcare you didn't expect to have to pay for. No vaccine for sleeplessness from trying to educate your child while holding down a full-time job. No vaccine for disillusionment, distrust, exhaustion, or anger.

The "learning loss" isn't what we're worried about. That's a proxy for the real problem, which is that parents and families just have zero faith in our schools anymore, zero faith in the people who run them, and in many cases, very little faith in the teachers who teach in them. The system failed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. I don't want to quote the long back and forth but I do want to respond to the teacher who is posting in it.

I actually agree with you that for many (but not all) kids, they can recover from the academic set-backs of this year with the assistance of their teacher and it will all be okay in that respect. I do sometimes feel a little panicky about my kid, but I remind myself that all the kids in her cohort will be in the same boat moving forward (to the degree that kids are ever really in the same boat -- obviously some kids have more resources and others less, but that's always true). I think if we can get back in the classroom in the fall, the academics will work themselves out.

But what I think many teachers may not fully comprehend, because they don't really see it, is the toll this year has taken on many families. It's not just the lack of in-person school, though obviously that's a huge part of it. But it's also the way DCPS and individual schools have handled it. The constant vitriol between the district and the teacher's union. The promises that have literally never been kept (no return to the classroom in the fall, no CARES classroom offer, no return in February, no return in April). I attended all the town halls, I asked questions, I stayed open to responses, and all I ever heard were mealy-mouthed excuses and placing the blame on others.

I'm not worried about my kid learning fractions "on time". I'm worried that I'm never going to trust our school, our teachers, or certainly DCPS ever again. I don't know if this relationship is reparable. What I do know is that telling me not to worry or calling me entitled or privileged because I want my very young child to attend in-person public school, isn't going to repair it. Being condescending isn't going to repair it. And before you ask -- yes, I did lose a family member to Covid this year (plus two more to cancer, thanks for asking), I understand the risks around Covid and I supported many of the measures taken to keep people safe and prevent unnecessary death. I also know first hand the risks to children and families if we take away the essential safety net of in-person public education. And I notice that while teachers are vaccinated against that first threat, my family is still dealing with the fallout from the second. There's no vaccine for the costs of childcare you didn't expect to have to pay for. No vaccine for sleeplessness from trying to educate your child while holding down a full-time job. No vaccine for disillusionment, distrust, exhaustion, or anger.

The "learning loss" isn't what we're worried about. That's a proxy for the real problem, which is that parents and families just have zero faith in our schools anymore, zero faith in the people who run them, and in many cases, very little faith in the teachers who teach in them. The system failed.

+1

We feel exactly the same way. We are leaving our (previously beloved) Charter for DCPS, because the relationship with the school leadership is just so broken. We feel like we will never trust the school admin again so we have to try something new. Not to say that DCPS will be perfect, but the damage done to its relationship with parents by our charter school's leadership is just not reparable for us. PP hits on the head when she says: "No vaccine for disillusionment, distrust, exhaustion, or anger."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, are PPs truly taking the position there had been no significant loss of learning across educational cohorts in DL? That is an astonishing level of gaslighting.

This.

there is one poster who believes if you don’t name the specific school you’re lying and have an “agenda.”

And there appears to be an entire DCUM community who completely misunderstands proper use of the word "gaslighting". Someone who disagrees with you isn't gaslighting. Someone who interprets data in a different way isn't gaslighting.

Anyone who tries to make parents think that distance learning hasn't resulted in learning loss IS gaslighting.

Learning loss is a fake term used by for profit companies to scare parents and raise anxiety amongst the community. Who cares if your kid is “1 year behind” (again meaningless), when all school communities are obviously aware that there was a pandemic and are adjusting their plans around that next year anyways.
By middle and high school students with higher aptitude will be in advanced classes and others will be in different tracks. Johnny isn’t going to be deprived AP calc bc he had to learn fractions in 4th grade instead of fifth grade.

Tl;dr learning loss is a lie (and no I’m not the earlier referenced social worker)

yeah who cares if kids are a year behind. who cares if this impacts black kids disproportionately. who cares if my SN kid has regressed so much he may be heading for a self contained classroom.

f you and your privilege. seriously f you.

I’m not sure what about that came across privileged but sorry if I offended you. I’m a T1 teacher who’s been in school since February. Most of my students have chosen to stay virtual and we’re doing the best we can. Next year, whether it’s me or another teacher, will pick up where we left off. If that means starting 3/4 of the way through the previous years curriculum than so be it. No college is concerned about what your DC reading level was when they were 7.

Then why not take a year off every few years? Why not cancel school on Wednesdays in perpetuity?

Well if you’re serious about it, weds planning has been a godsend. I’ve been able to grade more, plan lessons that adapt to different learners better, and still have time to respond to family questions.

Of course you would say that. But isn’t school supposed to serve the students rather than the adults?

Grade more = students get feedback and have a better understanding of their progress and areas of growth

Lesson planning = students have lessons adapted to their level that are also engaging and enjoyable.

Unless of course you think contracts are BS, and teachers should be expected to do all this outside of their contracted time, which is what I imagine the majority of people on this site believe.

kids not in school = not learning.

I have no problem with teachers getting additional compensation or time to do planning and other work. but it cannot come at the expense of instructional time. If they wanted to add more teachers to cover planning time, pay for after school planning time, fine. but school has to actually happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. I don't want to quote the long back and forth but I do want to respond to the teacher who is posting in it.

I actually agree with you that for many (but not all) kids, they can recover from the academic set-backs of this year with the assistance of their teacher and it will all be okay in that respect. I do sometimes feel a little panicky about my kid, but I remind myself that all the kids in her cohort will be in the same boat moving forward (to the degree that kids are ever really in the same boat -- obviously some kids have more resources and others less, but that's always true). I think if we can get back in the classroom in the fall, the academics will work themselves out.

But what I think many teachers may not fully comprehend, because they don't really see it, is the toll this year has taken on many families. It's not just the lack of in-person school, though obviously that's a huge part of it. But it's also the way DCPS and individual schools have handled it. The constant vitriol between the district and the teacher's union. The promises that have literally never been kept (no return to the classroom in the fall, no CARES classroom offer, no return in February, no return in April). I attended all the town halls, I asked questions, I stayed open to responses, and all I ever heard were mealy-mouthed excuses and placing the blame on others.

I'm not worried about my kid learning fractions "on time". I'm worried that I'm never going to trust our school, our teachers, or certainly DCPS ever again. I don't know if this relationship is reparable. What I do know is that telling me not to worry or calling me entitled or privileged because I want my very young child to attend in-person public school, isn't going to repair it. Being condescending isn't going to repair it. And before you ask -- yes, I did lose a family member to Covid this year (plus two more to cancer, thanks for asking), I understand the risks around Covid and I supported many of the measures taken to keep people safe and prevent unnecessary death. I also know first hand the risks to children and families if we take away the essential safety net of in-person public education. And I notice that while teachers are vaccinated against that first threat, my family is still dealing with the fallout from the second. There's no vaccine for the costs of childcare you didn't expect to have to pay for. No vaccine for sleeplessness from trying to educate your child while holding down a full-time job. No vaccine for disillusionment, distrust, exhaustion, or anger.

The "learning loss" isn't what we're worried about. That's a proxy for the real problem, which is that parents and families just have zero faith in our schools anymore, zero faith in the people who run them, and in many cases, very little faith in the teachers who teach in them. The system failed.

It sounds like you would be a perfect candidate for private schools. They make sure to keep the faith because their salary is dependent upon it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone could do better with a day off Wednesday to plan and generally get our shit together. But that isn't going to happen. Work late or use the weekend like everyone else.

Lol are you really telling a teacher that?? The profession that spends the most time working late and on the weekends???

lol are you really arguing that what we need now is to reduce instructional time?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone could do better with a day off Wednesday to plan and generally get our shit together. But that isn't going to happen. Work late or use the weekend like everyone else.

Lol are you really telling a teacher that?? The profession that spends the most time working late and on the weekends???

lol are you really arguing that what we need now is to reduce instructional time?

Nope, they aren’t mutually exclusive. You can not support Wednesdays being used to for all day planning (totally with you there) AND also acknowledge that teachers typically work weekends. Crazy how that works!!!

[Anonymous]

Wednesdays are for day drinking and Netflixing. Duh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Everyone could do better with a day off Wednesday to plan and generally get our shit together. But that isn't going to happen. Work late or use the weekend like everyone else.

Lol are you really telling a teacher that?? The profession that spends the most time working late and on the weekends???

No one's claiming that many teachers don't spend evening and weekend time on work, but it's ridiculous for you to suggest that teachers put in more time than every other profession -- particularly those that have to compete in a marketplace. You are really out of touch.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. I don't want to quote the long back and forth but I do want to respond to the teacher who is posting in it.

I actually agree with you that for many (but not all) kids, they can recover from the academic set-backs of this year with the assistance of their teacher and it will all be okay in that respect. I do sometimes feel a little panicky about my kid, but I remind myself that all the kids in her cohort will be in the same boat moving forward (to the degree that kids are ever really in the same boat -- obviously some kids have more resources and others less, but that's always true). I think if we can get back in the classroom in the fall, the academics will work themselves out.

But what I think many teachers may not fully comprehend, because they don't really see it, is the toll this year has taken on many families. It's not just the lack of in-person school, though obviously that's a huge part of it. But it's also the way DCPS and individual schools have handled it. The constant vitriol between the district and the teacher's union. The promises that have literally never been kept (no return to the classroom in the fall, no CARES classroom offer, no return in February, no return in April). I attended all the town halls, I asked questions, I stayed open to responses, and all I ever heard were mealy-mouthed excuses and placing the blame on others.

I'm not worried about my kid learning fractions "on time". I'm worried that I'm never going to trust our school, our teachers, or certainly DCPS ever again. I don't know if this relationship is reparable. What I do know is that telling me not to worry or calling me entitled or privileged because I want my very young child to attend in-person public school, isn't going to repair it. Being condescending isn't going to repair it. And before you ask -- yes, I did lose a family member to Covid this year (plus two more to cancer, thanks for asking), I understand the risks around Covid and I supported many of the measures taken to keep people safe and prevent unnecessary death. I also know first hand the risks to children and families if we take away the essential safety net of in-person public education. And I notice that while teachers are vaccinated against that first threat, my family is still dealing with the fallout from the second. There's no vaccine for the costs of childcare you didn't expect to have to pay for. No vaccine for sleeplessness from trying to educate your child while holding down a full-time job. No vaccine for disillusionment, distrust, exhaustion, or anger.

The "learning loss" isn't what we're worried about. That's a proxy for the real problem, which is that parents and families just have zero faith in our schools anymore, zero faith in the people who run them, and in many cases, very little faith in the teachers who teach in them. The system failed.

As the teacher previously posting, i think that this is a really fair response. There are systemic issues in DCPS that need to be fixed. The smartest thing Bowser did was put all these important district wide decisions into individual school hands which was savvy AF, and led to parents and teachers/principals to fight with each other instead of working to support the bigger issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP. I don't want to quote the long back and forth but I do want to respond to the teacher who is posting in it.

I actually agree with you that for many (but not all) kids, they can recover from the academic set-backs of this year with the assistance of their teacher and it will all be okay in that respect. I do sometimes feel a little panicky about my kid, but I remind myself that all the kids in her cohort will be in the same boat moving forward (to the degree that kids are ever really in the same boat -- obviously some kids have more resources and others less, but that's always true). I think if we can get back in the classroom in the fall, the academics will work themselves out.

But what I think many teachers may not fully comprehend, because they don't really see it, is the toll this year has taken on many families. It's not just the lack of in-person school, though obviously that's a huge part of it. But it's also the way DCPS and individual schools have handled it. The constant vitriol between the district and the teacher's union. The promises that have literally never been kept (no return to the classroom in the fall, no CARES classroom offer, no return in February, no return in April). I attended all the town halls, I asked questions, I stayed open to responses, and all I ever heard were mealy-mouthed excuses and placing the blame on others.

I'm not worried about my kid learning fractions "on time". I'm worried that I'm never going to trust our school, our teachers, or certainly DCPS ever again. I don't know if this relationship is reparable. What I do know is that telling me not to worry or calling me entitled or privileged because I want my very young child to attend in-person public school, isn't going to repair it. Being condescending isn't going to repair it. And before you ask -- yes, I did lose a family member to Covid this year (plus two more to cancer, thanks for asking), I understand the risks around Covid and I supported many of the measures taken to keep people safe and prevent unnecessary death. I also know first hand the risks to children and families if we take away the essential safety net of in-person public education. And I notice that while teachers are vaccinated against that first threat, my family is still dealing with the fallout from the second. There's no vaccine for the costs of childcare you didn't expect to have to pay for. No vaccine for sleeplessness from trying to educate your child while holding down a full-time job. No vaccine for disillusionment, distrust, exhaustion, or anger.

The "learning loss" isn't what we're worried about. That's a proxy for the real problem, which is that parents and families just have zero faith in our schools anymore, zero faith in the people who run them, and in many cases, very little faith in the teachers who teach in them. The system failed.

Yes, this! Thank you for your eloquent thoughts. We are at a charter but feel exactly the same.

There is a level at which moms in particular, though also kids and whole families, have just been thrown under the bus for the entire pandemic with very little acknowledgement of this. Meanwhile, all for a disease which has not harmed children hardly at all compared to most other diseases or pandemics.

What we have been through collectively is ignored and dismissed (see follow up comments to your post here, even). We are meant to suck it up, because we're parents/moms and that's what society expects. All while we watch other school districts around the country go back to school in person.

I don't know how I'll feel about this in a year, in hindsight, but I imagine I will see it even more clearly as a total letdown and broken trust with absolutely no clear acknowledgment of any mistakes made, any hardships created unnecessarily, any promises broken over and over again. By DCPS, the Mayor, or my school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP. I don't want to quote the long back and forth but I do want to respond to the teacher who is posting in it.

I actually agree with you that for many (but not all) kids, they can recover from the academic set-backs of this year with the assistance of their teacher and it will all be okay in that respect. I do sometimes feel a little panicky about my kid, but I remind myself that all the kids in her cohort will be in the same boat moving forward (to the degree that kids are ever really in the same boat -- obviously some kids have more resources and others less, but that's always true). I think if we can get back in the classroom in the fall, the academics will work themselves out.

But what I think many teachers may not fully comprehend, because they don't really see it, is the toll this year has taken on many families. It's not just the lack of in-person school, though obviously that's a huge part of it. But it's also the way DCPS and individual schools have handled it. The constant vitriol between the district and the teacher's union. The promises that have literally never been kept (no return to the classroom in the fall, no CARES classroom offer, no return in February, no return in April). I attended all the town halls, I asked questions, I stayed open to responses, and all I ever heard were mealy-mouthed excuses and placing the blame on others.

I'm not worried about my kid learning fractions "on time". I'm worried that I'm never going to trust our school, our teachers, or certainly DCPS ever again. I don't know if this relationship is reparable. What I do know is that telling me not to worry or calling me entitled or privileged because I want my very young child to attend in-person public school, isn't going to repair it. Being condescending isn't going to repair it. And before you ask -- yes, I did lose a family member to Covid this year (plus two more to cancer, thanks for asking), I understand the risks around Covid and I supported many of the measures taken to keep people safe and prevent unnecessary death. I also know first hand the risks to children and families if we take away the essential safety net of in-person public education. And I notice that while teachers are vaccinated against that first threat, my family is still dealing with the fallout from the second. There's no vaccine for the costs of childcare you didn't expect to have to pay for. No vaccine for sleeplessness from trying to educate your child while holding down a full-time job. No vaccine for disillusionment, distrust, exhaustion, or anger.

The "learning loss" isn't what we're worried about. That's a proxy for the real problem, which is that parents and families just have zero faith in our schools anymore, zero faith in the people who run them, and in many cases, very little faith in the teachers who teach in them. The system failed.

As the teacher previously posting, i think that this is a really fair response. There are systemic issues in DCPS that need to be fixed. The smartest thing Bowser did was put all these important district wide decisions into individual school hands which was savvy AF, and led to parents and teachers/principals to fight with each other instead of working to support the bigger issues.

So true - she learned well from other challenging issues (see: Shaw middle school). Parents will hate on each other and local school admin real quick, taking the heat off of her failure to figure this shit out when she should have. Dare I say she even learned that tactic from Trump?