do you know a lot of people who are leaving DCPS next year?

[Anonymous]

Sitting here looking at homecoming pix from a friend’s high schoolers in NC with normal school, while talking to another friend whose high schooler developed severe anxiety this year being virtual and lost interest in her extracurricular passions and is now heading to community college instead of taking a a scholarship to a four year away from home.

If you’re not leaving I hope you’re doing what is best for your kid. Not everyone can leave but the toll on kids can’t be overstated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One of us is taking our 3rd grader to NY to in-laws for 5 day/week public school for the 4th quarter. The NYC suburban school system was fine with our registering the kid as long as one parent stays with my in-laws as well.

Kid hasn't done well with DL for over a year now, as much socially/emotionally as academically. We'll see how it goes, but if 4th grade is 5 days/week in NY and 2 or 3 days a week in DC, I'm guessing that one of us will still be in NY come Sept.

Call us anecdotal evidence perhaps but we're bailing.

More would leave in this situation if they had such an option.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sitting here looking at homecoming pix from a friend’s high schoolers in NC with normal school, while talking to another friend whose high schooler developed severe anxiety this year being virtual and lost interest in her extracurricular passions and is now heading to community college instead of taking a a scholarship to a four year away from home.

If you’re not leaving I hope you’re doing what is best for your kid. Not everyone can leave but the toll on kids can’t be overstated.

+100. Certain kids do much better at DL than others. For those who aren't thriving, or even holding steady, plaudits to the parents who go if they can.

[Anonymous]

We are leaving.

Remote learning is just that , whatever learning is happening is remote to our experience.

I have little faith in DCPS and less trust of unions. The schools have tried, but failed.

DL has been the most miserable year of my 42 years on this planet. Not because of the isolation but because watching my kids absolutely crumble emotionally has drained me of all my resources and happiness. They are miserable. I am miserable.

We’ve accepted elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Good for you, PP. Our experience has been similar. We, too, are done with the pretense that DL is working for our little kids and won't return to DCPS in the fall.

Teachers and admins have done their level best at our school and aren't to be blamed for our misery.

We get it. Nobody up the chain in DCPS, the DC government, or the WTU will will miss the likes of us (despite our hundreds of volunteers hours for the school over a 7-year period).

[Anonymous]

We're taking an opportunity and leaving. We stuck with DCPS through upper elementary and planned to stay but just can't do it any longer.

We're not just concerned about schools being fully open 5 days a week in the fall but all of the other problems returning to school will bring - discipline issues after 1 1/2 years at home, focus on rememdial work for those behind (understandable) without doing anything for those who are ahead and bored (unacceptable) and too much time spent on social emotional nonsense rather than instruction.

We'll miss the school community, but we have to do what's best for our kids. We feel pretty fortunate to have options.

[Anonymous]

Are people leaving DC entirely or just DCPS. I don’t have a handle of whether people are just going to private schools or leaving DC entirely?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are people leaving DC entirely or just DCPS. I don’t have a handle of whether people are just going to private schools or leaving DC entirely?

i suspect it's both. A LOT of people moved out of DC last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are leaving.

Remote learning is just that , whatever learning is happening is remote to our experience.

I have little faith in DCPS and less trust of unions. The schools have tried, but failed.

DL has been the most miserable year of my 42 years on this planet. Not because of the isolation but because watching my kids absolutely crumble emotionally has drained me of all my resources and happiness. They are miserable. I am miserable.

We’ve accepted elsewhere.

Same here. We are out of DCPS next year an have accepted private spots. We've been part of DCPS for 11 years and have donated hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars (roughly $22K between auction (cash) donations and student support fees) during that time.
But everyone on here seems confident that we'll be easily replaced. I hope so.

[Anonymous]

There are a number of people here who are saying something like "well, if kids can't read after kindergarten, they're not bright, so it's not the school's fault."

Schools should serve children of average and below average intelligence as well, and if you think otherwise, you are a really awful person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are people leaving DC entirely or just DCPS. I don’t have a handle of whether people are just going to private schools or leaving DC entirely?

i suspect it's both. A LOT of people moved out of DC last year.

No one I know has moved out of our Deal feeder neighborhood. I do know a handful of people who are enrolling in private.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're taking an opportunity and leaving. We stuck with DCPS through upper elementary and planned to stay but just can't do it any longer.

We're not just concerned about schools being fully open 5 days a week in the fall but all of the other problems returning to school will bring - discipline issues after 1 1/2 years at home, focus on rememdial work for those behind (understandable) without doing anything for those who are ahead and bored (unacceptable) and too much time spent on social emotional nonsense rather than instruction.

We'll miss the school community, but we have to do what's best for our kids. We feel pretty fortunate to have options.

+100. I hear you on remedial education and more time-wasting social emotional nonsense down the track.

We're OK with math DL instruction, much of that was on-line even before Covid (IXL, Zearn etc.). But we've seen little progress or enthusiasm otherwise for a kid who used to love school, scored 5s on PARCC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are a number of people here who are saying something like "well, if kids can't read after kindergarten, they're not bright, so it's not the school's fault."

Schools should serve children of average and below average intelligence as well, and if you think otherwise, you are a really awful person.

That's us, really awful people for wanting challenge and strong instruction for our kids during and after the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're taking an opportunity and leaving. We stuck with DCPS through upper elementary and planned to stay but just can't do it any longer.

We're not just concerned about schools being fully open 5 days a week in the fall but all of the other problems returning to school will bring - discipline issues after 1 1/2 years at home, focus on rememdial work for those behind (understandable) without doing anything for those who are ahead and bored (unacceptable) and too much time spent on social emotional nonsense rather than instruction.

We'll miss the school community, but we have to do what's best for our kids. We feel pretty fortunate to have options.

+100. I hear you on remedial education and more time-wasting social emotional nonsense down the track.

We're OK with math DL instruction, much of that was on-line even before Covid (IXL, Zearn etc.). But we've seen little progress or enthusiasm otherwise for a kid who used to love school, scored 5s on PARCC.

This is us. I ask kids teacher weekly to provide more challenging assisgnments. Its double edged sword though, we got lucky to get an IPL spot but 95% of class are kids with IEPs, major acamedic issues or other social challenges, since they were prioritized for IPL. but that achievement gap has definitely gotten wider and heck of a lot more obvious to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're taking an opportunity and leaving. We stuck with DCPS through upper elementary and planned to stay but just can't do it any longer.

We're not just concerned about schools being fully open 5 days a week in the fall but all of the other problems returning to school will bring - discipline issues after 1 1/2 years at home, focus on rememdial work for those behind (understandable) without doing anything for those who are ahead and bored (unacceptable) and too much time spent on social emotional nonsense rather than instruction.

We'll miss the school community, but we have to do what's best for our kids. We feel pretty fortunate to have options.

+100. I hear you on remedial education and more time-wasting social emotional nonsense down the track.

We're OK with math DL instruction, much of that was on-line even before Covid (IXL, Zearn etc.). But we've seen little progress or enthusiasm otherwise for a kid who used to love school, scored 5s on PARCC.

This is us. I ask kids teacher weekly to provide more challenging assisgnments. Its double edged sword though, we got lucky to get an IPL spot but 95% of class are kids with IEPs, major acamedic issues or other social challenges, since they were prioritized for IPL. but that achievement gap has definitely gotten wider and heck of a lot more obvious to me.

I turned down the in person spot in part because it was essentially a self-contained SN class and I didn’t want my DS there. He does have an IEP but I didn’t want the academics to be even further watered down - plus the math teacher was staying online. It was a really sh*tty choice to have to make.