no progress on virtual learning plan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lol copy and paste doesn't mean cheat- means do what works elsewhere- mcps isn't that unique

If that’s cheating, i wish McPS would “cheat” and act more like Anne Arundel or Fairfax.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Anne Arundel county is looking pretty smart having an approved virtual learning plan for snow that they used during the last snow storm, and having built in 3 snow days into the calendar.

MCPS is the stupid Maryland county.

Baltimore County too- but apparently special needs and equity concerns only exist in mcps

Spare us your ignorant virtue signaling. NYC. And many districts in Long Island and New York State. And Boston and thousands of school districts around the country use virtual learning for weather emergencies.

If you look at the MSDE form, there's a requirement that MCPS submit the virtual learning plan form with an extensive section on accomodations for kids with IEPs. But yes, some less professional MCPS staffers prefer having more days off and preferring that MCPS kids get no education at all and try to ask Maryland for a waiver on the 180 days of required instruction so all MCPS kids can learn less.

sorry my sarcasm wasn't apparent-- i assume equity and special needs exists in nyc and baltimore county. and think switching to hours instead of days will shortchange our kids education.

It’s better to get some education than no education. Paras can be online and they can do services online.

You're obviously woefully unfamiliar with what paraeducators do. Our IEPs acknowledge that the supports can't be provided virtually. It has been a nonissue because MCPS doesn't have virtual. We're certainly not the only ones.

I am very familiar with it as I have a SN child who did virtual for four years till it was taken away from us. Maybe its an issue for you, but it worked very well for some of us.

+1. There’s someone on this forum spreading lies about what special needs services kids receive and how virtual learning affects them. You do not speak for all special needs families. They are not a homogenous lump you can trot out as an excuse for not giving MCPS their required instructional time.

They're not, but common special education supports and services cannot be provided virtually, and no one has provided a clear and credible proposal for how to accommodate those kidsZ

I would love to understand a concrete example of a special education support that would not be able to be provided for a virtual day or two, why this is such a big giant deal in the scheme of an entire school year, and why this should prevent all the other students in the district from having an opportunity to access instruction.

The real issue is they don't want to be bothered.

+1 Winner winner chicken dinner. MCPS could have copy and pasted their name into the plans submitted by Anne Arundel and Baltimore County. But they prefer this approach of not being expected to do virtual learning, because then they won't be required to do extra work, especially if the attitude from MCPS management is to keep seeking waivers so MCPS staff can work less than the 180 required days.

Reading that, now I understand why the kids engage in so much academic dishonesty. Their parents promote it.

By that analogy, your prefer that kids not turn in their assignments at all, if you want them to be like MCPS who promised a virtual learning plan for snow in 2024 and still hasn't done it.

Well, yes, it is preferable that students turn in nothing rather than cheat.

You’d rather that your kids cheat than turn in nothing?

You need to take a basic class on research and methods, and learn what academic dishonesty is. MCPS is welcome to reference the many existing virtual learning plans for snow emergencies that exist for thousands of districts around the country: Anne Arundel, Baltimore, PG County, Alexandria VA, NYC, Boston, San Francisco.

That is not cheating. That is considered smart research, rather than wasting MoCo taxpayer resources reinventing the wheel because MoCo wants to be a "special snowflake."

It is not preferable that MoCo turns in nothing, when it said to the BOE it would turn in a virtual learning plan for weather emergencies back in 2024.

Doing research and then tailoring the best ideas to your population is not the same as the “copy-pasting” that was suggested.

Don't be dim. Of course, MCPS could copy and paste if they chose, but presumably its central office staff are capable of more than that. I'm just a parent pointing out that virtual learning plans for snow are not these impossible things to produce. Other districts have them. Some even have them posted online.

The original comment literally said they should have copy pasted.

No, it's pasted in the thread above--it says MCPS "could have" copy pasted. Only some people on this forum would like to be pedantic and scream about how this would be "cheating" when these plans are available for all to see. At this point, I assume the state of Maryland would happily hand deliver copies that other districts have submitted for virtual learning to MCPS offices in Rockville, if it would end the chaos of MCPS scheduling.

Someone needs to learn the definition of "literally" because it says "could have" not "should have." And anyway, more importantly someone also needs to learn what constitutes cheating and why it's not applicable to a school district in this context.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Virtual learning does not work.

It will be a giant waste of time.

No more of a waste of time than sending kids to school for a half day on June 29 or 30.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Virtual learning does not work.

It will be a giant waste of time.

No more of a waste of time than sending kids to school for a half day on June 29 or 30.

You know MCPS can seek a waiver again now that they extended the school year more than 3 days, don't you?

They knew the first waiver would get denied because they didn't meet the legal threshold. It was just for show to try to push through the law letting them get rid of even more school days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Anne Arundel and PG County are both doing virtual learning today. They were smart enough to get their acts together and submit the required plan to Maryland.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2026/02/22/dc-maryland-virginia-school-closings-winter-storm-snow/

These are more functional school districts than MCPS.

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Anonymous wrote:Virtual learning is a no-brainer. It’s not perfect but these are exceptional circumstances. Half the kids won’t show up on extra days tacked on at the end or on any makeup days. Might as well do virtual learning.

Far more kids would attend and participate if they went with March 20, April 15, and June 18.

This is why it is so crazy. The three choices they could have made are:

1) school on 3/20, 4/15, 6/18 (would have high highest attendance)
2) a few virtual days during snow (would have less but still fine attendance)
3) add days the last week of June (will have least attendance)

Option 1 would cost the least $, option 2 would have a cost (some Chromebooks and hot spots although they do have many already) and option 3 has the highest cost (over 2 million per day).

I’m sorry but in a situation with tough choices they made the costliest one, that will yield the lowest attendance, and the most minimal educational outcomes. What the actual heck.

MCPS has 1-1 chromebooks for all students. They just have to send them home for ES. Most MS and HS students take theirs home daily as they do homework on it. There are low income internet plans.

[Anonymous]

I do not want virtual learning!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not want virtual learning!!!

Its not about you and virtual cannot be that bad if you are on here.

[Anonymous]

There's a discussion/action item on Thursday's BOE agenda: Approval of the 2026–2027 Inclement Weather Virtual Learning Plan

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DSAT4A75856B

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not want virtual learning!!!

Then homeschool your kids that day. And, if you are a student, get back to class.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I do not want virtual learning!!!

Then homeschool your kids that day. And, if you are a student, get back to class.

Be careful what you wish for, as more MCPS parents are doing just that: https://www.thebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/maryland-school-enrollment-shrinking-why-UDZRSMI5FZFC7GOYWCSVUCYDR4/

On top of that, far more families chose to homeschool their children after the pandemic. More than 42,000 kids now learn at home, compared to about 28,000 in 2020

If those numbers continue to go up, that will become a bigger problem for MCPS as enrollment drops lead to job cuts and budget reductions.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I do not want virtual learning!!!

Then homeschool your kids that day. And, if you are a student, get back to class.

Be careful what you wish for, as more MCPS parents are doing just that: https://www.thebanner.com/education/k-12-schools/maryland-school-enrollment-shrinking-why-UDZRSMI5FZFC7GOYWCSVUCYDR4/

On top of that, far more families chose to homeschool their children after the pandemic. More than 42,000 kids now learn at home, compared to about 28,000 in 2020

If those numbers continue to go up, that will become a bigger problem for MCPS as enrollment drops lead to job cuts and budget reductions.

Why would I care if people homeschooled? If they are qualified, go for it. Reality is that most homeschooling is online school. A chunk left when they closed the virtual school to do private virtual programs. One of my kids chose to stay virtual. I fully support it as it keeps them out of the hospital. I am not worried about what happens to enrollment, job cuts or budget reductions (which they need anyway, as they have plenty that is mismanaged) given MCPS has failed both my kids many times over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's a discussion/action item on Thursday's BOE agenda: Approval of the 2026–2027 Inclement Weather Virtual Learning Plan

https://go.boarddocs.com/mabe/mcpsmd/Board.nsf/goto?open&id=DSAT4A75856B

So it's only if and when all makeup days have been used up. Which means never?