If you were firmly in the schools should stay closed camp ...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are saying that your kid's education is more important than a less fortunate kid's parents.

It's not an "either/or" scenario. It never was. Yes, kids should have been back inside the classroom much earlier than they were. What's your position next fall? Covid is endemic, so let's continue taking a simple-minded approach?

[Anonymous]

simple minded = saving the lives of more people who are poorer and have to report in person for lower wage jobs

But that's not me or mine so who cares, right? I hear you.

Numbers will be down even more by the fall and the risk of creating more dangerous variants by out of control spread will be gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's weird to see a contingent of people who is so often going off on personal responsibility when it comes to benefits and brown people suddenly be all up in arms about the free public benefits the government owes them even in the face of a nationwide epidemic -- in part because of their perception that their families in redder states had it better than they did. I guess bootstraps only take you so far when you need to keep up with your cousins in Texas, but ymmv.

Speaking about cousins in Texas, Texas schools did open but Texas also had a much higher rate of transmission and death than Virginia did -- 177 deaths per 10,000 people vs. Virginia's rate of 130 deaths per 10,000 people. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/public-health/us-coronavirus-deaths-by-state-july-1.html. Sure it's not just schools that contributed to that but per that non partisan study the schools opening did contribute to it. The earlier poster who said she didn't see many people dying of covid around here obviously has not been to South Arlington where families have been forced to continue working during the pandemic and thus have had a greater exposure rate than many of the North Arlington families with white collar jobs who are primarily working from home or working with higher levels of safety protections than many people with lower wage jobs (and/or have larger families where single member exposure can affect a much larger familial group). It's weird that you guys can compare Arlington unfavorably to other areas re school openings but not see the other grim outcomes to the more laissez faire practices that are going on in some of those states in terms of mortality. Not that weird I guess, since you guys are looking just at your own bubble of concerns, and not at the Arlington families less fortunate than you who have lost parents during this epidemic.

In short, I really think you guys are kind of the worst: a mix of sanctimony and hypocrisy that can't seem to make the obvious connections between the effects that what you are asking for would have on other people in our area. Nobody in my family died, you say, as a reason why increasing Arlington's mortality rate would be okay by you. You are saying that your kid's education is more important than a less fortunate kid's parents. Oh, north arlington, my home, what a huge collection of douchebags we all are, I hope we can all agree on that.

Hard agree on all of this, including the important douchebag issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be so glad come fall when all these whiny teachers (and also all my whiny co-workers) get forced back into the office full time. Free ride is over folks!

F*** off with this noise. Nobody had a “free ride” this year. Especially not parents OR teachers.

Also, a lot of employers are not requiring their staff to return to the office, ever. We’re probably moving away to a LCOL area due to this new freedom. Sucks to be you, I guess, chained to life so miserable that you want everyone else to be just as miserable.

Come on. Plenty of white collar workers did have basically a free ride this year. People have been admitting it all over other forums.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be so glad come fall when all these whiny teachers (and also all my whiny co-workers) get forced back into the office full time. Free ride is over folks!

F*** off with this noise. Nobody had a “free ride” this year. Especially not parents OR teachers.

Also, a lot of employers are not requiring their staff to return to the office, ever. We’re probably moving away to a LCOL area due to this new freedom. Sucks to be you, I guess, chained to life so miserable that you want everyone else to be just as miserable.

Come on. Plenty of white collar workers did have basically a free ride this year. People have been admitting it all over other forums.

Raises her hand. Work has been a joke this year. My company has been great in letting people work from home but no one is actually doing their real job. What we are doing from home is a joke. I am not complaining, I appreciate having a job and being able to pay my bills, but this year has not been a hard one for us. I think most parents in this position have not said much here because there are so many other parents who are not in that position and it would be tone deaf to say this in threads. I love it when I am allowed to go into the building and get real work done, I have been asking to do that as much as possible, because I prefer to feel like I am working for my money then chilling at home.

There are plenty of parents not in that boat. There are plenty of parents who have had to make working from home work. And many of the parents I know in that position bemoan that their bosses think that they should be available for a far larger amount of time because they are a thome and should be reachable. The idea of set hours is pretty much gone.

And some jobs have been understanding about parents needing to flex hours because of kids needing help for virtual learning and other jobs have not been flexible. Meetings are held at the same time and people have to be there.

It has been a mixed bag for parents. I think the number of white collar workers coasting is actually pretty small but we are out there. I don't see the need to raise my hand in a topic where parents are actively trying to make a more demanding job and virtual learning work, it seems tone deaf.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
In short, I really think you guys are kind of the worst: a mix of sanctimony and hypocrisy that can't seem to make the obvious connections between the effects that what you are asking for would have on other people in our area. Nobody in my family died, you say, as a reason why increasing Arlington's mortality rate would be okay by you. You are saying that your kid's education is more important than a less fortunate kid's parents. Oh, north arlington, my home, what a huge collection of douchebags we all are, I hope we can all agree on that.

Hard agree on all of this, including the important douchebag issue.

You are my people, and I am yours. Not sure what we do about our neighbors, who I think often have jobs that require analytical skills but who displayed roughly none of them when it came to figuring out how to get people *enough* of what they needed during a pandemic, rather than everything they wanted, including having school be the way it was a couple of years earlier, when they were complaining about different stuff.

[Anonymous]

I fear that many will be seeing the long term effects this had on our children for years to come. My children suffered tremendously, the mental strain is apparent and we are so lucky we were able to find them help. In my extended family among the tweens and teens we had hospitalization for anorexia, high suicide assessments. The isolation was jarring and our kids are vocal. What about those kids who are silently suffering. This will take years to unwind and help cope with the mental trauma that happened beyond just the educational lag of virutal teaching

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be so glad come fall when all these whiny teachers (and also all my whiny co-workers) get forced back into the office full time. Free ride is over folks!

F*** off with this noise. Nobody had a “free ride” this year. Especially not parents OR teachers.

Also, a lot of employers are not requiring their staff to return to the office, ever. We’re probably moving away to a LCOL area due to this new freedom. Sucks to be you, I guess, chained to life so miserable that you want everyone else to be just as miserable.

Come on. Plenty of white collar workers did have basically a free ride this year. People have been admitting it all over other forums.

Raises her hand. Work has been a joke this year. My company has been great in letting people work from home but no one is actually doing their real job. What we are doing from home is a joke. I am not complaining, I appreciate having a job and being able to pay my bills, but this year has not been a hard one for us. I think most parents in this position have not said much here because there are so many other parents who are not in that position and it would be tone deaf to say this in threads. I love it when I am allowed to go into the building and get real work done, I have been asking to do that as much as possible, because I prefer to feel like I am working for my money then chilling at home.

There are plenty of parents not in that boat. There are plenty of parents who have had to make working from home work. And many of the parents I know in that position bemoan that their bosses think that they should be available for a far larger amount of time because they are a thome and should be reachable. The idea of set hours is pretty much gone.

And some jobs have been understanding about parents needing to flex hours because of kids needing help for virtual learning and other jobs have not been flexible. Meetings are held at the same time and people have to be there.

It has been a mixed bag for parents. I think the number of white collar workers coasting is actually pretty small but we are out there. I don't see the need to raise my hand in a topic where parents are actively trying to make a more demanding job and virtual learning work, it seems tone deaf.

For every person who's work was slow this year, there are those of us who ended up working many many more hours than ever to assist with the response to the pandemic and short staffing. My work went from 45 hours a week to 70+ hours. It hasn't slowed down since last March and I'm beyond burned out. My 4 yo's school closed and still hasn't reopened. My 7yo has really struggled with distance learning. My husband works out of the house so virtual learning falls entirely on my shoulders, plus home schooling the 4 yo so she learns at least something before kindergarten.

We did end up hiring a college student to help because I can't work and watch the 4 yo, but her level of maturity is low and she needs me to constantly answer questions and remind her what needs to be done. I also have to leave work calls regularly when my 7 yo melts down from DL. Care options are very limited.

This year has been awful and I have a lot of resentment for my 7 yo's teachers. I've asked for reasonable help when my kid is struggling and melting down and frustrated and not learning and have gotten zero support. None at all. They seem to resent this year so much that they are refusing to do anything but the bare minimum (or less if they can get away with it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be so glad come fall when all these whiny teachers (and also all my whiny co-workers) get forced back into the office full time. Free ride is over folks!

F*** off with this noise. Nobody had a “free ride” this year. Especially not parents OR teachers.

Also, a lot of employers are not requiring their staff to return to the office, ever. We’re probably moving away to a LCOL area due to this new freedom. Sucks to be you, I guess, chained to life so miserable that you want everyone else to be just as miserable.

Come on. Plenty of white collar workers did have basically a free ride this year. People have been admitting it all over other forums.

Raises her hand. Work has been a joke this year. My company has been great in letting people work from home but no one is actually doing their real job. What we are doing from home is a joke. I am not complaining, I appreciate having a job and being able to pay my bills, but this year has not been a hard one for us. I think most parents in this position have not said much here because there are so many other parents who are not in that position and it would be tone deaf to say this in threads. I love it when I am allowed to go into the building and get real work done, I have been asking to do that as much as possible, because I prefer to feel like I am working for my money then chilling at home.

There are plenty of parents not in that boat. There are plenty of parents who have had to make working from home work. And many of the parents I know in that position bemoan that their bosses think that they should be available for a far larger amount of time because they are a thome and should be reachable. The idea of set hours is pretty much gone.

And some jobs have been understanding about parents needing to flex hours because of kids needing help for virtual learning and other jobs have not been flexible. Meetings are held at the same time and people have to be there.

It has been a mixed bag for parents. I think the number of white collar workers coasting is actually pretty small but we are out there. I don't see the need to raise my hand in a topic where parents are actively trying to make a more demanding job and virtual learning work, it seems tone deaf.

For every person who's work was slow this year, there are those of us who ended up working many many more hours than ever to assist with the response to the pandemic and short staffing. My work went from 45 hours a week to 70+ hours. It hasn't slowed down since last March and I'm beyond burned out. My 4 yo's school closed and still hasn't reopened. My 7yo has really struggled with distance learning. My husband works out of the house so virtual learning falls entirely on my shoulders, plus home schooling the 4 yo so she learns at least something before kindergarten.

We did end up hiring a college student to help because I can't work and watch the 4 yo, but her level of maturity is low and she needs me to constantly answer questions and remind her what needs to be done. I also have to leave work calls regularly when my 7 yo melts down from DL. Care options are very limited.

This year has been awful and I have a lot of resentment for my 7 yo's teachers. I've asked for reasonable help when my kid is struggling and melting down and frustrated and not learning and have gotten zero support. None at all. They seem to resent this year so much that they are refusing to do anything but the bare minimum (or less if they can get away with it).

Or maybe your teachers are dealing with the same things in their households and doing the best they can.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be so glad come fall when all these whiny teachers (and also all my whiny co-workers) get forced back into the office full time. Free ride is over folks!

F*** off with this noise. Nobody had a “free ride” this year. Especially not parents OR teachers.

Also, a lot of employers are not requiring their staff to return to the office, ever. We’re probably moving away to a LCOL area due to this new freedom. Sucks to be you, I guess, chained to life so miserable that you want everyone else to be just as miserable.

Come on. Plenty of white collar workers did have basically a free ride this year. People have been admitting it all over other forums.

Raises her hand. Work has been a joke this year. My company has been great in letting people work from home but no one is actually doing their real job. What we are doing from home is a joke. I am not complaining, I appreciate having a job and being able to pay my bills, but this year has not been a hard one for us. I think most parents in this position have not said much here because there are so many other parents who are not in that position and it would be tone deaf to say this in threads. I love it when I am allowed to go into the building and get real work done, I have been asking to do that as much as possible, because I prefer to feel like I am working for my money then chilling at home.

There are plenty of parents not in that boat. There are plenty of parents who have had to make working from home work. And many of the parents I know in that position bemoan that their bosses think that they should be available for a far larger amount of time because they are a thome and should be reachable. The idea of set hours is pretty much gone.

And some jobs have been understanding about parents needing to flex hours because of kids needing help for virtual learning and other jobs have not been flexible. Meetings are held at the same time and people have to be there.

It has been a mixed bag for parents. I think the number of white collar workers coasting is actually pretty small but we are out there. I don't see the need to raise my hand in a topic where parents are actively trying to make a more demanding job and virtual learning work, it seems tone deaf.

For every person who's work was slow this year, there are those of us who ended up working many many more hours than ever to assist with the response to the pandemic and short staffing. My work went from 45 hours a week to 70+ hours. It hasn't slowed down since last March and I'm beyond burned out. My 4 yo's school closed and still hasn't reopened. My 7yo has really struggled with distance learning. My husband works out of the house so virtual learning falls entirely on my shoulders, plus home schooling the 4 yo so she learns at least something before kindergarten.

We did end up hiring a college student to help because I can't work and watch the 4 yo, but her level of maturity is low and she needs me to constantly answer questions and remind her what needs to be done. I also have to leave work calls regularly when my 7 yo melts down from DL. Care options are very limited.

This year has been awful and I have a lot of resentment for my 7 yo's teachers. I've asked for reasonable help when my kid is struggling and melting down and frustrated and not learning and have gotten zero support. None at all. They seem to resent this year so much that they are refusing to do anything but the bare minimum (or less if they can get away with it).

Or maybe your teachers are dealing with the same things in their households and doing the best they can.

Notice I said reasonable requests. These weren't big asks, but the answer was always "you're on your own."

For example:

My kid is struggling to pick books that are the right reading level. Can you make some suggestions? Answer: no.

My kid is melting down from trying to type fractions into Seesaw. Can she do this assignment on paper? Answer: no.

My kid is melting down from trying to arrange tiny boxes for math assignments in Seesaw, as they keep resizing and reformatting. Even I find it hard to manipulate. These assignments keep coming up and she's really frustrated. Do you have any suggestions? Answer: no.

My kid can't get the testing app to work. It's showing really small print that she can't read. What should we do? Answer: Just read silently whenever we use the app. She just won't get test scores this year.

None of these are above and beyond. They're all part of delivering distance education to a 7 yo.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be so glad come fall when all these whiny teachers (and also all my whiny co-workers) get forced back into the office full time. Free ride is over folks!

F*** off with this noise. Nobody had a “free ride” this year. Especially not parents OR teachers.

Also, a lot of employers are not requiring their staff to return to the office, ever. We’re probably moving away to a LCOL area due to this new freedom. Sucks to be you, I guess, chained to life so miserable that you want everyone else to be just as miserable.

Come on. Plenty of white collar workers did have basically a free ride this year. People have been admitting it all over other forums.

Raises her hand. Work has been a joke this year. My company has been great in letting people work from home but no one is actually doing their real job. What we are doing from home is a joke. I am not complaining, I appreciate having a job and being able to pay my bills, but this year has not been a hard one for us. I think most parents in this position have not said much here because there are so many other parents who are not in that position and it would be tone deaf to say this in threads. I love it when I am allowed to go into the building and get real work done, I have been asking to do that as much as possible, because I prefer to feel like I am working for my money then chilling at home.

There are plenty of parents not in that boat. There are plenty of parents who have had to make working from home work. And many of the parents I know in that position bemoan that their bosses think that they should be available for a far larger amount of time because they are a thome and should be reachable. The idea of set hours is pretty much gone.

And some jobs have been understanding about parents needing to flex hours because of kids needing help for virtual learning and other jobs have not been flexible. Meetings are held at the same time and people have to be there.

It has been a mixed bag for parents. I think the number of white collar workers coasting is actually pretty small but we are out there. I don't see the need to raise my hand in a topic where parents are actively trying to make a more demanding job and virtual learning work, it seems tone deaf.

For every person who's work was slow this year, there are those of us who ended up working many many more hours than ever to assist with the response to the pandemic and short staffing. My work went from 45 hours a week to 70+ hours. It hasn't slowed down since last March and I'm beyond burned out. My 4 yo's school closed and still hasn't reopened. My 7yo has really struggled with distance learning. My husband works out of the house so virtual learning falls entirely on my shoulders, plus home schooling the 4 yo so she learns at least something before kindergarten.

We did end up hiring a college student to help because I can't work and watch the 4 yo, but her level of maturity is low and she needs me to constantly answer questions and remind her what needs to be done. I also have to leave work calls regularly when my 7 yo melts down from DL. Care options are very limited.

This year has been awful and I have a lot of resentment for my 7 yo's teachers. I've asked for reasonable help when my kid is struggling and melting down and frustrated and not learning and have gotten zero support. None at all. They seem to resent this year so much that they are refusing to do anything but the bare minimum (or less if they can get away with it).

Or maybe your teachers are dealing with the same things in their households and doing the best they can.

Also, teachers were given additional supports and flexibilities--see: every Monday as an asynchronous day, shortened school days. Many employers have offered no such flexibilities to their employees to ease families burdens of dealing with supervising and facilitating remote learning. And I assure you at the K-2 level, it is nothing less than active supervision and facilitation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll be so glad come fall when all these whiny teachers (and also all my whiny co-workers) get forced back into the office full time. Free ride is over folks!

F*** off with this noise. Nobody had a “free ride” this year. Especially not parents OR teachers.

Also, a lot of employers are not requiring their staff to return to the office, ever. We’re probably moving away to a LCOL area due to this new freedom. Sucks to be you, I guess, chained to life so miserable that you want everyone else to be just as miserable.

Come on. Plenty of white collar workers did have basically a free ride this year. People have been admitting it all over other forums.

Raises her hand. Work has been a joke this year. My company has been great in letting people work from home but no one is actually doing their real job. What we are doing from home is a joke. I am not complaining, I appreciate having a job and being able to pay my bills, but this year has not been a hard one for us. I think most parents in this position have not said much here because there are so many other parents who are not in that position and it would be tone deaf to say this in threads. I love it when I am allowed to go into the building and get real work done, I have been asking to do that as much as possible, because I prefer to feel like I am working for my money then chilling at home.

There are plenty of parents not in that boat. There are plenty of parents who have had to make working from home work. And many of the parents I know in that position bemoan that their bosses think that they should be available for a far larger amount of time because they are a thome and should be reachable. The idea of set hours is pretty much gone.

And some jobs have been understanding about parents needing to flex hours because of kids needing help for virtual learning and other jobs have not been flexible. Meetings are held at the same time and people have to be there.

It has been a mixed bag for parents. I think the number of white collar workers coasting is actually pretty small but we are out there. I don't see the need to raise my hand in a topic where parents are actively trying to make a more demanding job and virtual learning work, it seems tone deaf.

For every person who's work was slow this year, there are those of us who ended up working many many more hours than ever to assist with the response to the pandemic and short staffing. My work went from 45 hours a week to 70+ hours. It hasn't slowed down since last March and I'm beyond burned out. My 4 yo's school closed and still hasn't reopened. My 7yo has really struggled with distance learning. My husband works out of the house so virtual learning falls entirely on my shoulders, plus home schooling the 4 yo so she learns at least something before kindergarten.

We did end up hiring a college student to help because I can't work and watch the 4 yo, but her level of maturity is low and she needs me to constantly answer questions and remind her what needs to be done. I also have to leave work calls regularly when my 7 yo melts down from DL. Care options are very limited.

This year has been awful and I have a lot of resentment for my 7 yo's teachers. I've asked for reasonable help when my kid is struggling and melting down and frustrated and not learning and have gotten zero support. None at all. They seem to resent this year so much that they are refusing to do anything but the bare minimum (or less if they can get away with it).

Or maybe your teachers are dealing with the same things in their households and doing the best they can.

Notice I said reasonable requests. These weren't big asks, but the answer was always "you're on your own."

For example:

My kid is struggling to pick books that are the right reading level. Can you make some suggestions? Answer: no.

My kid is melting down from trying to type fractions into Seesaw. Can she do this assignment on paper? Answer: no.

My kid is melting down from trying to arrange tiny boxes for math assignments in Seesaw, as they keep resizing and reformatting. Even I find it hard to manipulate. These assignments keep coming up and she's really frustrated. Do you have any suggestions? Answer: no.

My kid can't get the testing app to work. It's showing really small print that she can't read. What should we do? Answer: Just read silently whenever we use the app. She just won't get test scores this year.

None of these are above and beyond. They're all part of delivering distance education to a 7 yo.

I agree with you. It's a complete nightmare at that age, and little to no accommodations are being made to address that. But just wait for a poster to come along and say that their 7 year-old has made so much progress with DL, that they're being recruited by the CDC to help with variant sequencing. And that you're a parenting failure because you haven't achieved the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of us don’t fit into these categories. I understood several things:

-it was probably safe at the beginning of the year for hybrid but all the districts had dickered around too much all summer to have it actually planned and operational. Full in was not safe so DL it was

-it definitely wasn’t safe from Halloween-February when our numbers were horrendous

-it became very safe in February when numbers dropped and vaccines widely distributed

-it is incredibly safe now and I feel terrible for the kids and staff now stuck at home based on choices they made when things were not safe

Most of us adapted our viewpoint with the information we had at the time. Only the people who were rigidly in one camp the entire time lost out IMO. The never open people lost out on the opportunity to experience safe in person school now and the “open now” people spent a year being frothing and angry. The rest of made the best of it, changed our stance when needed, and are doing fine.

I wouldn't call it "changing my stance" but I would call it "adjusting my opinions after we had more data". Which is exactly what happened. In the fall they were still discussing surface transmission!

Otherwise, yes, I agree with the timeline here. Hindsight is always perfect. We *could* have opened in the fall, but I think the adjustment to virtual school all winter would have been brutal, so I don't really think it was a mistake not to. And after the HORROR show of Covid during December and January, I am glad my kids weren't going in person.

Vaccines are a game changer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
In short, I really think you guys are kind of the worst: a mix of sanctimony and hypocrisy that can't seem to make the obvious connections between the effects that what you are asking for would have on other people in our area. Nobody in my family died, you say, as a reason why increasing Arlington's mortality rate would be okay by you. You are saying that your kid's education is more important than a less fortunate kid's parents. Oh, north arlington, my home, what a huge collection of douchebags we all are, I hope we can all agree on that.

Hard agree on all of this, including the important douchebag issue.

You are my people, and I am yours. Not sure what we do about our neighbors, who I think often have jobs that require analytical skills but who displayed roughly none of them when it came to figuring out how to get people *enough* of what they needed during a pandemic, rather than everything they wanted, including having school be the way it was a couple of years earlier, when they were complaining about different stuff.

And to give a different perspective, I think people who can't understand why in-person school FOR CHILDREN should be prioritized OVER BARS BEING OPEN have no sense of the importance of caring for children in our society (which we generally do a crap job of). My kids are fine, you say, as a justification for why no child should have even the *option* for in-person school. Remember, no one was *forcing* *all* children back into the classroom. We were asking for the *option*.

But hey, I'm just someone who has expertise in child development, exposure to trauma/stress in early life and associated long-term consequences, and mental health. I'm not capable of braying "kids are resilient" and going about my day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And to give a different perspective, I think people who can't understand why in-person school FOR CHILDREN should be prioritized OVER BARS BEING OPEN have no sense of the importance of caring for children in our society (which we generally do a crap job of).

Had there been an option to vote for bars closed, retail and restaurants limited to curbside pickup only, financial support to people whose jobs dried up, and some form of in-person schooling, especially for groups that needed it most, I'd have been right there.

No one here is arguing that society/government prioritized the right things, just that certain actions weren't ours to approve or deny, APS made some defensible decisions.

This is Virginia, and this is the U.S. under a delusional, Trump-based government. This is the result.

I'd rather be in New Zealand/Aotearoa