Any chance DCPS reopens in person for Term 2 or Term 3?

[Anonymous]

According to this, elementary and middle schools should be open https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/14/opinion/politics/covid-school-reopening-guidelines.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to this, elementary and middle schools should be open https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/08/14/opinion/politics/covid-school-reopening-guidelines.html

Ok- so you read articles you post.
It says if schools can’t get more staff, ensure ventilation, mask wearying ect they should remain CLOSED.
Is your next post about the extra staff & ventilation.
So.many.sad.moms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why isn't is sustainable? Logically, it hasn't been sustainable since March, yet nobody the power to change this calculus seems to mind. If my family is struggling with DL for an 8 year old--we are a lawyer and a PhD with mom working part-time--you can bet the poor and SpEd kids are screwed.

Where is the call to action for outside classes? I have a sibling living in Scandinavia, where K-12 classes have commonly held outside since April, in a much colder climate. She sends me pictures of her children happily learning seated in public parks. I've worked in refugee camps where big tent schools worked surprisingly well.

Pretty clearly, the Mayor and DC ed leaders don't mind schools being closed for the rest of the year, possibly 2 or 3 years.

Unfortunately, I agree with everything in your post. Our SPED 1st grader has been backsliding during the pandemic. Remote IEP services aren't nearly as effective and she hates online learning. We have 3 kids and this is such a struggle. DC hasn't seemed to make any effort to work on schools for better ventilation, procure PPE and other equipment to ensure safety in person, explore outdoor options, etc. Bowser's only focus seems to be waiting for this virus to go away, and our elected officials aren't pushing back. She's had 6 months to come up with a real plan to get kids back in school but she hasn't taken ANY concrete steps. This inaction is inexcusable.

THIS. Yes, inexcusable. Put the elementary school kids in tents to learn for starters rather than forcing them to try to learn off screens, starting with the SpEd kids.

The country is jeopardizing future economic growth by failing to ensure that millions of current K-3rd graders necessarily acquire the basic skills to function as working adults. You can't just close thousands of public elementary schools for a year and a half, let alone 2 or 3years and expect that the turn out well because you're pretending that DL is a viable alternative. It's not.

Get moving, Mayor Bowser, the city council and ed leaders, get the kids back before teachers ASAP, whatever it takes to do that fairly safely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When DCPS returns, if I see a single post complaining about the hybrid schedule or how the class is cancelled due to some outbreak I’m going to report it. I’m NOT a teacher, but this thread has gotten ridiculous. People are taking about forcing vaccines on adults and pretty much calling teachers monsters. Look at yourselves. This is insanity.

I think you're seeing what you want to see. Maybe ask yourself why you think it is so utterly impossible for DCPS to return to school, when NYC is diving right in, as well as some DC charters?

KIPP is bringing back less than 5% of its kids for ONE part day each week (and hasn't even started yet). Friendship is also supporting less than 5% of its kids for more days a week but the kids are still following the distance learning plan. The charters may have figured out the physical/building part but they haven't figured out how to do it for all of their students. They are certainly not "diving right in".

NYC is scheduled to open on 9/21. Hopefully they will (safely) and can show other cities how to get it right.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:When DCPS returns, if I see a single post complaining about the hybrid schedule or how the class is cancelled due to some outbreak I’m going to report it. I’m NOT a teacher, but this thread has gotten ridiculous. People are taking about forcing vaccines on adults and pretty much calling teachers monsters. Look at yourselves. This is insanity.

I think you're seeing what you want to see. Maybe ask yourself why you think it is so utterly impossible for DCPS to return to school, when NYC is diving right in, as well as some DC charters?

KIPP is bringing back less than 5% of its kids for ONE part day each week (and hasn't even started yet). Friendship is also supporting less than 5% of its kids for more days a week but the kids are still following the distance learning plan. The charters may have figured out the physical/building part but they haven't figured out how to do it for all of their students. They are certainly not "diving right in".

NYC is scheduled to open on 9/21. Hopefully they will (safely) and can show other cities how to get it right.

it’s certainly doing a lot more than dcps.

[Anonymous]

NYC hasn’t even started school. How is not starting- better than starting.

[Anonymous]

Why do people think K and 1st are the most important?

My child learned to read in PK4...and she’s not gifted. I 100% think PK is just as important.

We already know DCPS will prioritize special ed, ell, the pk, k, 1st, and so on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think Jan 2021 could happen but it depends on virus levels and if a vaccine is being rolled out.

Earliest would be after Inauguration. Btw return from holiday break, MLK weekend, and Inauguration events, no way they will open before that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do people think K and 1st are the most important?

My child learned to read in PK4...and she’s not gifted. I 100% think PK is just as important.

We already know DCPS will prioritize special ed, ell, the pk, k, 1st, and so on.

I'm sure plenty of kids can read in PK4, but K and 1st are where the math and reading curriculum is really developed and most kids are ready to learn. I think there's a case for the city to prioritize preschool as childcare, but I think the academic losses really accrue to K and 1st.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Jan 2021 could happen but it depends on virus levels and if a vaccine is being rolled out.

Earliest would be after Inauguration. Btw return from holiday break, MLK weekend, and Inauguration events, no way they will open before that.

This is incredibly stupid. Just so completely moronic. It should be based on how bad the outbreak is. If it’s bad, then schools shouldn’t open. If the numbers are good, schools should now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Jan 2021 could happen but it depends on virus levels and if a vaccine is being rolled out.

Earliest would be after Inauguration. Btw return from holiday break, MLK weekend, and Inauguration events, no way they will open before that.

This is incredibly stupid. Just so completely moronic. It should be based on how bad the outbreak is. If it’s bad, then schools shouldn’t open. If the numbers are good, schools should now.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Jan 2021 could happen but it depends on virus levels and if a vaccine is being rolled out.

Earliest would be after Inauguration. Btw return from holiday break, MLK weekend, and Inauguration events, no way they will open before that.

This is incredibly stupid. Just so completely moronic. It should be based on how bad the outbreak is. If it’s bad, then schools shouldn’t open. If the numbers are good, schools should now.

+1

Primary education isn’t important in the US. That’s obvious from our sad test scores, poor school environments (unless you have wealthier families or DCPS decides to grace your school with a poor remodel), and overall archaic public school system.

[Anonymous]

I heard from a MV parent that MV has told its families that it could be a COUPLE OF YEARS before regular, full time in person school is restored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All those recommending 1 or 2 lower grades are back in school need a reality check. How do you think those kids get to school? For Title 1 schools - it is not uncommon for an older sibling (4th or 5th grader) to take them with them.

This is not an easy problem for a diverse urban area to solve.

This is not an inconvenience of dropping off 1 child as you supervise an older student and coordinating a car pool

You are confused because you are reading the posts purporting to care about the poor underserved families as genuine concern for those families. But that's all a smoke screen for these posters to get their kids out of the house and back into their own schools. The actual complications of "diverse urban area(s)" or Title I populations don't actually concern them.

I don't know what you're talking about. I want K and 1st prioritized specifically because it will help the kids who need it most. Objecting to that on the grounds that "they might have an older sibling who walks them to school!" is just frankly bizarre. My kid is in 3rd, so this has nothing to do with getting him back to school. I'm also a little tired of all the patronizing towards Title I schools and families, as if you don't think there's any way they could get it together to get their kids to school? Why would you think that? And if you don't think they can figure out how to get their kids to school, why would you think DL is better?

There's a lot to unpack there. Mostly because of how tightly wound the misdirection and BS is packed. No one is "objecting". I think what PPP was saying was that it isn't as simple as "let's get the PK3 kids back into school because that's all that matters." There are other considerations here. There are SOOOOOO many posts in DCUM where people actually type the words "this is easy", "this isn't complicated", "all we need is willpower", etc. What's most amusing about your reply is that you cannot even grasp that the concern articulated by PPP is a real one. Which also makes your objection to being patronized so funny. Two sentences after illustrating that you simply cannot grasp why some else's concerns might be relevant for at least consideration (you called it "bizarre"), and one sentence after you clarify that you don't actually have to solve for the operational challenges cited (your kid is in 3rd grade only), you then object to being accused of not even seeing a possible issue. But what comes next is my favorite part. After showing indifference and ignorance to the plight of differently situated families you then go on to speak on behalf of the Title I schools and families. This is rhetorical genius! And it is complete with multiple references to "they"; trust me, you didn't need to emphasize that word in order for us to understand you are talking about "them" and not "you". Finally, you insert the frequently deployed on DCUM red herring that anyone has argued that DL is preferable to in-person from an educational perspective. No one has said, and I sure don't believe it. Unfortunately that's not the question we're solving for. We're solving for a public health crisis and then within that rubric we need to figure out how to operate schools.

TLR

The short version: I’m a teacher and I hate statistics and data and facts and I’m never going to go to work again.

‘I’m a parent and I hate being with my kid’

I’m a parent and I’m going to have to quit my good paying job that pays my taxes that pays YOUR Salary, so that I can compensate for the schools’ education FAILINGS that come from “remote learning”

[Anonymous]

If this is going to continue for another year or 2, I (and many parents) would rather just cancel the whole public school
System entirely and do homeschooling. Can’t be worse then now, and the whole community would be thrilled to save all the taxes for public schools and pensions.
This could completely change the whole education model in the US.