So over APS

[Anonymous]

APS has always had good and bad. Always. There are known problems that really need to be fixed.

But we finally have a superintendent who may actually fix them and yet the clueless open up lobby wants to fire him. Makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Yeah. Still think you all are looking to blame others. Teaching your kid to work with their teachers and self advocate IS the point of parenting. I don’t micromanage. My kids aren’t perfect. They are middle schoolers. But I do check ParentVue weekly and then tell them to go on there and work with their teachers to figure it out. That’s normal parenting. And I’m sympathetic to immigrant families or those that have impediments to using the tech. Not at all sympathetic to the folks who post on DCUM whining about too many assignments or impossible to navigate site. Just look at ParentVue and tell your kid to follow up. This is middle and high of course. Not elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah. Still think you all are looking to blame others. Teaching your kid to work with their teachers and self advocate IS the point of parenting. I don’t micromanage. My kids aren’t perfect. They are middle schoolers. But I do check ParentVue weekly and then tell them to go on there and work with their teachers to figure it out. That’s normal parenting. And I’m sympathetic to immigrant families or those that have impediments to using the tech. Not at all sympathetic to the folks who post on DCUM whining about too many assignments or impossible to navigate site. Just look at ParentVue and tell your kid to follow up. This is middle and high of course. Not elementary.

Or....some parents are just sharing their experiences.

We managed but it was way more difficult than it needed to be. Technology (and how its implemented) should be making life easier, not harder.

Hopefully APS will be able to take feedback and improve the next round of technology (and implementation) so it performs better for users.

[Anonymous]

Here is the thing. You all want better technology, but guess what- no one does educational software for schools well because school systems can’t pay big money for software when compared to the amount developers can make for companies or for retail.

It isn’t APS who is in charge of the technology it’s the software developers who don’t do the educational market well because the educational market depends upon taxation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I really don't understand the APS apologists. We all agree that APS teachers were unhappy this year, right? They got poor info from administrators and a constantly changing story. The tech was terrible. The RTS planning atrocious. Disorganized and ever changing. So why is it so hard to believe that many teachers had terrible morale and underperformed? There was no incentive to do better. There was no enthusiasm. It was a long and terrible slog. I'm sure some with a naturally peppy disposition managed to keep their pep, but that surely wasn't universal.

Oh, I see, we are judging teacher quality on how "peppy" teachers are.

Yes, the entitled parents are judging on exactly that. Any time a teacher has said that they had kids not showing up, turning off their cameras and peacing out instead of doing their work or paying attention, the hysteri-mommies came rushing out of the woodwork to tell them that "my precious snowflake would participate if only YOU WERE MORE ENGAGING" (read: entertaining, dancing and cavorting like a party clown, and somehow magically able to compete with lack of parenting, lack of supervision, lack of clearly enforced parental expectations, oh, and video games and YouTube).

Ah yes, the peppiness patrol! Not just moms, though, we have at least one APS admin like this. She likes to point out that there aren’t behavior problems at birthday parties because the entertainers are so engaging, and wonders why we can’t be more like that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here is the thing. You all want better technology, but guess what- no one does educational software for schools well because school systems can’t pay big money for software when compared to the amount developers can make for companies or for retail.

It isn’t APS who is in charge of the technology it’s the software developers who don’t do the educational market well because the educational market depends upon taxation.

OK - and as end-users we can certainly complain that these tools are not as good as they should be and they aren't implemented as well as they could be.

Isn't that how we make progress? We identify the issues and then some get addressed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I really don't understand the APS apologists. We all agree that APS teachers were unhappy this year, right? They got poor info from administrators and a constantly changing story. The tech was terrible. The RTS planning atrocious. Disorganized and ever changing. So why is it so hard to believe that many teachers had terrible morale and underperformed? There was no incentive to do better. There was no enthusiasm. It was a long and terrible slog. I'm sure some with a naturally peppy disposition managed to keep their pep, but that surely wasn't universal.

Oh, I see, we are judging teacher quality on how "peppy" teachers are.

Yes, the entitled parents are judging on exactly that. Any time a teacher has said that they had kids not showing up, turning off their cameras and peacing out instead of doing their work or paying attention, the hysteri-mommies came rushing out of the woodwork to tell them that "my precious snowflake would participate if only YOU WERE MORE ENGAGING" (read: entertaining, dancing and cavorting like a party clown, and somehow magically able to compete with lack of parenting, lack of supervision, lack of clearly enforced parental expectations, oh, and video games and YouTube).

Ah yes, the peppiness patrol! Not just moms, though, we have at least one APS admin like this. She likes to point out that there aren’t behavior problems at birthday parties because the entertainers are so engaging, and wonders why we can’t be more like that.

She’s clearly never been to a kid’s birthday party

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I really don't understand the APS apologists. We all agree that APS teachers were unhappy this year, right? They got poor info from administrators and a constantly changing story. The tech was terrible. The RTS planning atrocious. Disorganized and ever changing. So why is it so hard to believe that many teachers had terrible morale and underperformed? There was no incentive to do better. There was no enthusiasm. It was a long and terrible slog. I'm sure some with a naturally peppy disposition managed to keep their pep, but that surely wasn't universal.

Oh, I see, we are judging teacher quality on how "peppy" teachers are.

Yes, the entitled parents are judging on exactly that. Any time a teacher has said that they had kids not showing up, turning off their cameras and peacing out instead of doing their work or paying attention, the hysteri-mommies came rushing out of the woodwork to tell them that "my precious snowflake would participate if only YOU WERE MORE ENGAGING" (read: entertaining, dancing and cavorting like a party clown, and somehow magically able to compete with lack of parenting, lack of supervision, lack of clearly enforced parental expectations, oh, and video games and YouTube).

Ah yes, the peppiness patrol! Not just moms, though, we have at least one APS admin like this. She likes to point out that there aren’t behavior problems at birthday parties because the entertainers are so engaging, and wonders why we can’t be more like that.

Hmmmm… could it also be due to the presence of CAKE??!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS has always had good and bad. Always. There are known problems that really need to be fixed.

But we finally have a superintendent who may actually fix them and yet the clueless open up lobby wants to fire him. Makes no sense.

Why do people have so much faith in Duran. Sure, I like that he emails families and seems more upfront about his (bad, IMO) plans. Why do so many have such confidence?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS has always had good and bad. Always. There are known problems that really need to be fixed.

But we finally have a superintendent who may actually fix them and yet the clueless open up lobby wants to fire him. Makes no sense.

Why do people have so much faith in Duran. Sure, I like that he emails families and seems more upfront about his (bad, IMO) plans. Why do so many have such confidence?

To me, I think his decisions thus far have shown that he’s smart, and he cares about kids. Their health is first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS has always had good and bad. Always. There are known problems that really need to be fixed.

But we finally have a superintendent who may actually fix them and yet the clueless open up lobby wants to fire him. Makes no sense.

Why do people have so much faith in Duran. Sure, I like that he emails families and seems more upfront about his (bad, IMO) plans. Why do so many have such confidence?

well for starters did you have any contact with Murphy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS has always had good and bad. Always. There are known problems that really need to be fixed.

But we finally have a superintendent who may actually fix them and yet the clueless open up lobby wants to fire him. Makes no sense.

Why do people have so much faith in Duran. Sure, I like that he emails families and seems more upfront about his (bad, IMO) plans. Why do so many have such confidence?

To me, I think his decisions thus far have shown that he’s smart, and he cares about kids. Their health is first.

+1

It's been a tough year and he's done a good job balancing various priorities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS has always had good and bad. Always. There are known problems that really need to be fixed.

But we finally have a superintendent who may actually fix them and yet the clueless open up lobby wants to fire him. Makes no sense.

Why do people have so much faith in Duran. Sure, I like that he emails families and seems more upfront about his (bad, IMO) plans. Why do so many have such confidence?

well for starters did you have any contact with Murphy?

+1 I was an employee and rarely heard from him after his beginning of the year visit. Duran’s weekly updates are a breath of fresh air.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS has always had good and bad. Always. There are known problems that really need to be fixed.

But we finally have a superintendent who may actually fix them and yet the clueless open up lobby wants to fire him. Makes no sense.

Why do people have so much faith in Duran. Sure, I like that he emails families and seems more upfront about his (bad, IMO) plans. Why do so many have such confidence?

well for starters did you have any contact with Murphy?

That says it all!

[Anonymous]

Like Duran a ton. He’s a leader who listens. He did pretty well brand new facing something utterly precedents. Thumbs up here. And he seems to care about teachers.