DC charters - which ones are open? hybrid model? plans of reopening?

[Anonymous]

After reading this thread and my own experience with a charter, I want to reach out to people at local government and see what kind of further coordination/support/pressure can be used to safely support in-person learning at charters.

Does any one have advice on who at OSSE, DC public charter school board, or Mayor's office to contact?

I know, I'm only one person, but I do want to at least speak up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After reading this thread and my own experience with a charter, I want to reach out to people at local government and see what kind of further coordination/support/pressure can be used to safely support in-person learning at charters.

Does any one have advice on who at OSSE, DC public charter school board, or Mayor's office to contact?

I know, I'm only one person, but I do want to at least speak up.

The PCSB DGAF about parents. They only care about "flexibility", including the flexibility to underserved the kids and generally be crappy. I have no idea who at OSSE would care either. The Mayor does whatever charters want so she won't help you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After reading this thread and my own experience with a charter, I want to reach out to people at local government and see what kind of further coordination/support/pressure can be used to safely support in-person learning at charters.

Does any one have advice on who at OSSE, DC public charter school board, or Mayor's office to contact?

I know, I'm only one person, but I do want to at least speak up.

I will join you! If there was a coordinated effort maybe there would be some pressure on charters to be more responsive and come up with a plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After reading this thread and my own experience with a charter, I want to reach out to people at local government and see what kind of further coordination/support/pressure can be used to safely support in-person learning at charters.

Does any one have advice on who at OSSE, DC public charter school board, or Mayor's office to contact?

I know, I'm only one person, but I do want to at least speak up.

I will join you! If there was a coordinated effort maybe there would be some pressure on charters to be more responsive and come up with a plan.

OSSE is a useless agency. Good luck getting them to do anything. It is full of patronage hires.

[Anonymous]

Are any schools requiring vaccination for teachers? Or is it optional?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are any schools requiring vaccination for teachers? Or is it optional?

There's no place in the world that requires the vaccine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at ITDS and the meetings they have held are a whole lot of nothing really. They just keep saying "when it is safe" which is unclear and mean different things to different people. Other school in the area have safely opened to at least some students a few days a week or full-time and other have done nothing. I would be less frustrated if they stopped pushing through the learning as if it was a typical school year though it seems that is really out of the teachers control.
We loved the school before though we have only a couple years experience at ITDS. Now I am not loving it much at all. They have put in a lot of effort in a lot of ways but for me it falls short and expectations seem out of balance. Also, they really should have at risk kids in class rooms at least part of the week.
I still like most of the teams and teachers we have worked with. The principals, board members and who ever else is in charge of curriculum and policies.. I have lost a lot of faith in and respect for them.
I don't know if we should be playing the lottery or home school or what. I wouldn't have said that last fall or winter so idk.

We feel the exact same way! Poor communication from ITDS! Very frustrated!

Also it is ridiculously overstaffed. THREE principals plus a director really ought to be able to figure out how to keep parents up to date.

Do you think you are not up to date? Is there a secret plan in place that they’ve just decided not to prioritize communicating? I really doubt it.

The communication style is very much to say NOTHING until there is absolute CERTAINTY about a plan.

Is it annoying at times? Yes.

I’m almost certain they are in talks with staff about reopening plans. Until they complete staff surveys, etc etc etc we parents are not going to hear a darn peep.

What makes you so certain? I'm at a different charter, and we've heard little to nothing about reopening plans. But I don't assume they are talking with staff, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t heard a peep from Two River’s parents. Guess no CARES classes or plans for hybrid at all I’m assuming.

They do currently have a very small Cares type class, and they are starting to bring some PK3 and PK4 kids for in person learning a few days a week. That’s the last I heard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCB parent here - very minimal plans for any reopening (6 kids per class, now planned for March hopefully).

Slots will be for 6 kids that are not engaging in virtual learning or really struggling to meet goals.

There is some talk of getting to 12 kids per class, but no timeline.

If those 12 kids per class are offered, it will only be 2 days per week. There will be no prioritization of younger kids, no CARES classrooms or similar. When you ask school staff what you are supposed to do with your kids the other three days a week they have no answers other than that "school is not childcare".

Oh, teachers getting vaccinated is "irrelevant" to their plans - as in, although they are working with and encouraging teachers to get vax'd, it will not lead them to offer more in-person learning opportunities.

Sorry to hear PP. BTW the “school is not childcare” response is totally inappropriate and gives off the vibe that they don’t GAF about struggling parents. I mean even if you don’t care, it’s not very professional or empathetic to parents.

Also that is BS in regards to teachers getting vaccinated and it being irrelevant. Follow the science, and it should 100% be relevant to their plans. Are the parents not calling out these responses during your meetings at all and not pushing back?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Haven’t heard a peep from Two River’s parents. Guess no CARES classes or plans for hybrid at all I’m assuming.

They do currently have a very small Cares type class, and they are starting to bring some PK3 and PK4 kids for in person learning a few days a week. That’s the last I heard.

+1 No definitive plans that I have heard...very frustrated at the lack of communication on planning—there may be detailed planning underway but all the communication has been pretty vague.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at ITDS and the meetings they have held are a whole lot of nothing really. They just keep saying "when it is safe" which is unclear and mean different things to different people. Other school in the area have safely opened to at least some students a few days a week or full-time and other have done nothing. I would be less frustrated if they stopped pushing through the learning as if it was a typical school year though it seems that is really out of the teachers control.
We loved the school before though we have only a couple years experience at ITDS. Now I am not loving it much at all. They have put in a lot of effort in a lot of ways but for me it falls short and expectations seem out of balance. Also, they really should have at risk kids in class rooms at least part of the week.
I still like most of the teams and teachers we have worked with. The principals, board members and who ever else is in charge of curriculum and policies.. I have lost a lot of faith in and respect for them.
I don't know if we should be playing the lottery or home school or what. I wouldn't have said that last fall or winter so idk.

We feel the exact same way! Poor communication from ITDS! Very frustrated!

Also it is ridiculously overstaffed. THREE principals plus a director really ought to be able to figure out how to keep parents up to date.

Do you think you are not up to date? Is there a secret plan in place that they’ve just decided not to prioritize communicating? I really doubt it.

The communication style is very much to say NOTHING until there is absolute CERTAINTY about a plan.

Is it annoying at times? Yes.

I’m almost certain they are in talks with staff about reopening plans. Until they complete staff surveys, etc etc etc we parents are not going to hear a darn peep.

What makes you so certain? I'm at a different charter, and we've heard little to nothing about reopening plans. But I don't assume they are talking with staff, etc.

+100. This past year has pretty much absolved me of any faith and assumptions I had that leaders are leading. Until I see plan details, I will never again assume that my school has their act together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCB parent here - very minimal plans for any reopening (6 kids per class, now planned for March hopefully).

Slots will be for 6 kids that are not engaging in virtual learning or really struggling to meet goals.

There is some talk of getting to 12 kids per class, but no timeline.

If those 12 kids per class are offered, it will only be 2 days per week. There will be no prioritization of younger kids, no CARES classrooms or similar. When you ask school staff what you are supposed to do with your kids the other three days a week they have no answers other than that "school is not childcare".

Oh, teachers getting vaccinated is "irrelevant" to their plans - as in, although they are working with and encouraging teachers to get vax'd, it will not lead them to offer more in-person learning opportunities.

Sorry to hear PP. BTW the “school is not childcare” response is totally inappropriate and gives off the vibe that they don’t GAF about struggling parents. I mean even if you don’t care, it’s not very professional or empathetic to parents.

Also that is BS in regards to teachers getting vaccinated and it being irrelevant. Follow the science, and it should 100% be relevant to their plans. Are the parents not calling out these responses during your meetings at all and not pushing back?

Original poster here - I'm kind of at my wit's end. School admin does not seem to care about parents trying to work. My spouse and I can't really afford a full-time dedicated nanny, and we've been sending our kids back to daycare indefinitely but we can't do that next year, they're really too old for it.

Re vaccines - I know! you would think that teachers being vaccinated would change reopening plans. However, DCB administrators say that because Dept of Health sets classroom sizes under COVID, that's the key policy that would need to change to allow in-person education more than 2 days a week (for whatever reason, they are really dedicated to 2 days a week - and this is hypothetical, not currently being offered). School admin says they hope that as vaccination rates lead to lower community spread, classroom sizes will change. I think the concern here is with staff vax'd the kids will still give COVID to each other?! I don't think it makes much sense given that children typically don't drive community transmission, and my kids are 5, not 17 yos!

Also, I'm not optimistic they'll provide in-person education in the Fall (2021) given all of the above.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are at ITDS and the meetings they have held are a whole lot of nothing really. They just keep saying "when it is safe" which is unclear and mean different things to different people. Other school in the area have safely opened to at least some students a few days a week or full-time and other have done nothing. I would be less frustrated if they stopped pushing through the learning as if it was a typical school year though it seems that is really out of the teachers control.
We loved the school before though we have only a couple years experience at ITDS. Now I am not loving it much at all. They have put in a lot of effort in a lot of ways but for me it falls short and expectations seem out of balance. Also, they really should have at risk kids in class rooms at least part of the week.
I still like most of the teams and teachers we have worked with. The principals, board members and who ever else is in charge of curriculum and policies.. I have lost a lot of faith in and respect for them.
I don't know if we should be playing the lottery or home school or what. I wouldn't have said that last fall or winter so idk.

We feel the exact same way! Poor communication from ITDS! Very frustrated!

We do as well. I'm feeling very disappointed in the school I have loved for the past few years.

[Anonymous]

Question to the PP who was asking about parents pressuring school admins. Do folks have examples of how to do that successfully? We are at a school that, at least until now, had long waitlists for every grade, we have a PTO, but of course neither they or other families have a direct line of authority to school admins. Have reached out to the school board itself with middling results — empathy but not action. Would love specific advice. Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCB parent here - very minimal plans for any reopening (6 kids per class, now planned for March hopefully).

Slots will be for 6 kids that are not engaging in virtual learning or really struggling to meet goals.

There is some talk of getting to 12 kids per class, but no timeline.

If those 12 kids per class are offered, it will only be 2 days per week. There will be no prioritization of younger kids, no CARES classrooms or similar. When you ask school staff what you are supposed to do with your kids the other three days a week they have no answers other than that "school is not childcare".

Oh, teachers getting vaccinated is "irrelevant" to their plans - as in, although they are working with and encouraging teachers to get vax'd, it will not lead them to offer more in-person learning opportunities.

Sorry to hear PP. BTW the “school is not childcare” response is totally inappropriate and gives off the vibe that they don’t GAF about struggling parents. I mean even if you don’t care, it’s not very professional or empathetic to parents.

Also that is BS in regards to teachers getting vaccinated and it being irrelevant. Follow the science, and it should 100% be relevant to their plans. Are the parents not calling out these responses during your meetings at all and not pushing back?

Original poster here - I'm kind of at my wit's end. School admin does not seem to care about parents trying to work. My spouse and I can't really afford a full-time dedicated nanny, and we've been sending our kids back to daycare indefinitely but we can't do that next year, they're really too old for it.

Re vaccines - I know! you would think that teachers being vaccinated would change reopening plans. However, DCB administrators say that because Dept of Health sets classroom sizes under COVID, that's the key policy that would need to change to allow in-person education more than 2 days a week (for whatever reason, they are really dedicated to 2 days a week - and this is hypothetical, not currently being offered). School admin says they hope that as vaccination rates lead to lower community spread, classroom sizes will change. I think the concern here is with staff vax'd the kids will still give COVID to each other?! I don't think it makes much sense given that children typically don't drive community transmission, and my kids are 5, not 17 yos!

Also, I'm not optimistic they'll provide in-person education in the Fall (2021) given all of the above.

Their teachers are currently getting vaccinated and the big plan is to bring back SIX kids a class for 2 days a week only starting MID MARCH. Which has nothing at all to do with OSSE guidelines since those would allow for all kids to get 2 days a week while still meeting the only 11 kids at a time regulation.

They don't want to come back.