Will the WTU illegally strike? Not return on 2/1

[Anonymous]

Please do not speak for all teachers. I have been frustrated by the union’s approach since last summer. I’m going back Monday and am satisfied by the safety measures in place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“ But Elizabeth Davis, president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, said that opening schools safely requires more than vaccines. It’s also about health metrics and safety measures in schools.

“Having the vaccine available for teachers,” she said at a town hall Monday with parents and educators, “does not solve all the problems.”“

So predictable. Sigh.

+1. How does that not solve the damn problem if the efficacy of the vaccine is 95%. This is almost the best number you can get people. I’m in healthcare and initially the gov was willing to accept greater than 50%. 98% people WILL develop immunity.

What the hell more do the WTU and teachers want?

I am a WTU member and even I have no clue anymore. If paying into the union wasn’t already automatically taken out of my paycheck I’d leave the union for the next few years.

It’s not automatic. In fact a few years ago there was a Supreme Court case that said unions can’t charge agency fees and they automatically STOPPED taking it out of our paychecks. If you’ve already signed up, you probably just have to send them a letter asking to stop.

Thanks I’ll have to look into that. I was under the impression that I have to pay a chunk of the union fees regardless of whether I’m in the union or not. This is through the DCPS contract. But I’ll check it out.

[Anonymous]

WTU is going to screw the DCPS kids.

My prediction is that charters are going to move forward to opening with their teachers getting the vaccine.

[Anonymous]

But you're NOT doing all of your teacher job from home; parents are doing a large portion of it for you.

Teachers of young kids teaching from home are about as useless as a nurse changing a bed pan from home. This has gotten ridiculous.

Sorry this has been your experience but your feelings are not universal. My youngest has a mediocre at best teacher and because I’m working from home (more hours than before) I can’t work with him. Everyday he puts work in basket for me to photograph and turn in. He went from writing about 15 letters to writing sentences. He is also a lot more attentive to the teacher talking than even a month ago. She’s very patient and tries to get the kids up moving. They use the eureka math assignments. She made packets with cubes and plays doh etc that they use. It’s not great but I feel now that teachers got better at this in the last few months and they can do this virtually to keep us safe. It’s not ideal, but neither is a pandemic.

I’ve changed my perspective since thanksgiving and am committing to virtual for my kid for the rest of the year. My only fear is class size going up to accommodate in person learning. I imagine a lot of parents will decline last minute because we got the emails this week there were a few cases. So it will suck to have 35 kindergarteners in a virtual class to accommodate 4 kids in person. That seems like a terrible waste or resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a DCPS parent and I support the WTU.

I'm a teacher and WTU member, and I don't. I have been misrepresented, mislead and lied to.

And posting this on a public forum is going to do what exactly? Why don’t you communicate with your union instead of DCUM.

Because they are a troll. Just like 80% of the comments on this thread. Probably someone from the mayors office or DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If Feb 1 isn't going to happen, I sure as hell expect DCPS and the WTU to come to that decision BEFORE Feb 1. I've rolled with it thus far. And when we were offered an in-person spot we didn't ask for, we debated and decided to give it a try because that was the only way for my daughter to keep her teacher. But if thousands of children are brought to school on Feb 1 and all teachers are on strike and my child is sitting with a babysitting sub or administrator I'm going snap. It was hard enough to convince her that she should give in-person a try but the selling point is that her teacher would be there. If I inadvertently bait and switch her, it will damage trust big time.

The chancellor went on record today saying he doesn’t know how many parents want in seat spots so schools can’t make plans and students will definitely lose their teachers because those kids that come in definitely need teachers since they are the ones most at risk for academic failure. So under this current plan students will be shuffled. A lot. Last minute.

Like I just got an email from my students teacher that she was called to work in person starting tomorrow to work with 2 confirmed students. She apologized that she would not be able to say good bye because she didn’t know today was her last day. Her class will be absorbed by the other two teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:THIS quote from the article

“ Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) asked Ferebee and a health official whether there were any coronavirus numbers — such as a high infection rate or weekly virus cases — that would force schools to close.
“I want to reiterate the point that it’s all about what safety measures that are in place to help protect the community,” said Ankoor Shah, a D.C. health official. “I apologize, I do not have a specific number.”


WTF - They don’t have a number!

This!!! We get emails everyday about covid cases at my kids school but actually have no idea how many there are. Active and recovered. Plus there are like 6 kids and 10 adults, how are we getting emails everyday of cases. Sorry folks, I don’t think DCPS will be ready to open and I can’t say it’s because of the WTU. That article clearly makes the case that DCPS doesn’t have a solid plan.


Do you guys trust your school to keep your kids safe? I’m trying to get a pulse on this. Is it really safe. The plan sounds weak. I talked to my kids principal who said the repairs weren’t made in the school for some parts and do they have a great plan where no one goes to that part of the school. I’m not sure I trust a plan from someone who spends 24 million on air purifiers but doesn’t fix the plumbing and HVAc. But maybe that’s crazy. Maybe it is safe.

What do you guys think? Would you send your kid to school if you got the email there were new covid cases the past few days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THIS quote from the article

“ Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) asked Ferebee and a health official whether there were any coronavirus numbers — such as a high infection rate or weekly virus cases — that would force schools to close.
“I want to reiterate the point that it’s all about what safety measures that are in place to help protect the community,” said Ankoor Shah, a D.C. health official. “I apologize, I do not have a specific number.”


WTF - They don’t have a number!

This!!! We get emails everyday about covid cases at my kids school but actually have no idea how many there are. Active and recovered. Plus there are like 6 kids and 10 adults, how are we getting emails everyday of cases. Sorry folks, I don’t think DCPS will be ready to open and I can’t say it’s because of the WTU. That article clearly makes the case that DCPS doesn’t have a solid plan.


Do you guys trust your school to keep your kids safe? I’m trying to get a pulse on this. Is it really safe. The plan sounds weak. I talked to my kids principal who said the repairs weren’t made in the school for some parts and do they have a great plan where no one goes to that part of the school. I’m not sure I trust a plan from someone who spends 24 million on air purifiers but doesn’t fix the plumbing and HVAc. But maybe that’s crazy. Maybe it is safe.

What do you guys think? Would you send your kid to school if you got the email there were new covid cases the past few days?

These people do not care. They just keep screaming that it's "safe," when in reality they don't care who gets COVID, because they assume their kids are special and won't get it, and if they do get it, they'll be lucky. Whoever they spread it to asymptomatically or presymptomatically? Who cares? They likely won't even have to be bothered with knowing about it.

Selfish, selfish, selfish.

[Anonymous]

Anyone who thought this entry would roll out smoothly was kidding themselves. It was and will be messy. And that is why it must happen. Think of it like jumping into a pool. At first it is a shock to the system and then everyone adjusts.

Those without a tolerance for ambiguity need not apply to take an in person spot.

I will also say that is is ESSENTIAL that we do this now- messiness and all. My kids are in MCPS and I fully aware that if they do not open this winter/spring we will be virtual again next fall.

The band=aid needs to be ripoed off. It will not get easier with the passing of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“ But Elizabeth Davis, president of the Washington Teachers’ Union, said that opening schools safely requires more than vaccines. It’s also about health metrics and safety measures in schools.

“Having the vaccine available for teachers,” she said at a town hall Monday with parents and educators, “does not solve all the problems.”“

So predictable. Sigh.

+1. How does that not solve the damn problem if the efficacy of the vaccine is 95%. This is almost the best number you can get people. I’m in healthcare and initially the gov was willing to accept greater than 50%. 98% people WILL develop immunity.

What the hell more do the WTU and teachers want?

I am a WTU member and even I have no clue anymore. If paying into the union wasn’t already automatically taken out of my paycheck I’d leave the union for the next few years.

It’s not automatic. In fact a few years ago there was a Supreme Court case that said unions can’t charge agency fees and they automatically STOPPED taking it out of our paychecks. If you’ve already signed up, you probably just have to send them a letter asking to stop.

Thanks I’ll have to look into that. I was under the impression that I have to pay a chunk of the union fees regardless of whether I’m in the union or not. This is through the DCPS contract. But I’ll check it out.

FYI if you're not part of the union you cannot get a bonus. That's the only reason I'm part of it.

[Anonymous]

My child's preschool closed due to a child testing positive for covid. All of the children were tested (pcr) and all came back negative. I believe that this is the most common case: a child gets covid outside of school and does not pass it on to classmates, in particular where precautions are taken. This is why DC health has said that they are not seeing community spread in schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THIS quote from the article

“ Council member Janeese Lewis George (D-Ward 4) asked Ferebee and a health official whether there were any coronavirus numbers — such as a high infection rate or weekly virus cases — that would force schools to close.
“I want to reiterate the point that it’s all about what safety measures that are in place to help protect the community,” said Ankoor Shah, a D.C. health official. “I apologize, I do not have a specific number.”


WTF - They don’t have a number!

This!!! We get emails everyday about covid cases at my kids school but actually have no idea how many there are. Active and recovered. Plus there are like 6 kids and 10 adults, how are we getting emails everyday of cases. Sorry folks, I don’t think DCPS will be ready to open and I can’t say it’s because of the WTU. That article clearly makes the case that DCPS doesn’t have a solid plan.


Do you guys trust your school to keep your kids safe? I’m trying to get a pulse on this. Is it really safe. The plan sounds weak. I talked to my kids principal who said the repairs weren’t made in the school for some parts and do they have a great plan where no one goes to that part of the school. I’m not sure I trust a plan from someone who spends 24 million on air purifiers but doesn’t fix the plumbing and HVAc. But maybe that’s crazy. Maybe it is safe.

What do you guys think? Would you send your kid to school if you got the email there were new covid cases the past few days?

These people do not care. They just keep screaming that it's "safe," when in reality they don't care who gets COVID, because they assume their kids are special and won't get it, and if they do get it, they'll be lucky. Whoever they spread it to asymptomatically or presymptomatically? Who cares? They likely won't even have to be bothered with knowing about it.

Selfish, selfish, selfish.

it’s been a WHOLE YEAR with schools closed. They need to reopen.

[Anonymous]

Also CDC published a study that says that schools are low risk with proper precautions. Contact tracing and testing revealed that it was extremely rare for children to spread the virus in school with proper precautions, any rare spread would not contribute significantly to spread in the community, and that rates of covid were lower in schools than on the surrounding community making them relatively safe places: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/health/covid-19-school-transmission-mitigation-measures/index.html
Given the recent research on masks however, I am sending my children with masks that have several layers. It seems that the mask issue at school should be revisited, because type of mask makes a difference, in particular the number of layers. We are saving the single layer masks for outdoors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also CDC published a study that says that schools are low risk with proper precautions. Contact tracing and testing revealed that it was extremely rare for children to spread the virus in school with proper precautions, any rare spread would not contribute significantly to spread in the community, and that rates of covid were lower in schools than on the surrounding community making them relatively safe places: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/health/covid-19-school-transmission-mitigation-measures/index.html
Given the recent research on masks however, I am sending my children with masks that have several layers. It seems that the mask issue at school should be revisited, because type of mask makes a difference, in particular the number of layers. We are saving the single layer masks for outdoors.

If you actually read the CDC study. It says that inperson dining in restaurants and bars should be closed in order to keep community spread low and keep schools safe to open. People still need to be hounding the mayor about open restaurants

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also CDC published a study that says that schools are low risk with proper precautions. Contact tracing and testing revealed that it was extremely rare for children to spread the virus in school with proper precautions, any rare spread would not contribute significantly to spread in the community, and that rates of covid were lower in schools than on the surrounding community making them relatively safe places: https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/26/health/covid-19-school-transmission-mitigation-measures/index.html
Given the recent research on masks however, I am sending my children with masks that have several layers. It seems that the mask issue at school should be revisited, because type of mask makes a difference, in particular the number of layers. We are saving the single layer masks for outdoors.

If you actually read the CDC study. It says that inperson dining in restaurants and bars should be closed in order to keep community spread low and keep schools safe to open. People still need to be hounding the mayor about open restaurants

I’m not certain that the CDC recommendations include places like DC. The one that I saw was rural Wisconsin? also, do we really trust that DCPS is implementing these things to keep our kids safe. The data says if, if, if the recommendations are done it can be safe. But do we trust that DCPS is actually following the recommendations?