If DMV schools don't open in the fall, are you moving?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you PP. Teaching kids perspective is crucial in understanding why schools are closed. It is just one small sacrifice our kids can do to protect everyone else. It won't be forever. I guess it's a bit like the marshmallow test, patience.

I agree it is important to teach kids perspective, but to say that being kept out of school and away from their peers for over a year is a SMALL sacrifice is irresponsibly and cluelessly minimizing the issue and disrespectful to kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m shocked by snarky teachers who pretend this is anywhere near OK for young kids. As we approach a year out of school it is not OK. Accept that fact and then figure out how we will all compensate when schools do open. My child cries and asks when she can see teachers and friends again. She has been too alone for too long and it is absolutely a mental health issue. In addition to vast loss of learning. If schools do not reopen in fall we will absolutely need to move.

Teachers aren’t saying this is okay for students. They are saying there is a pandemic so this is the best option for now.

Work could be done to improve DL, adjust hours for kids etc but DCPS wants to make ward 3 parents happen

But the truth is that it is not. It is possible to have schools open at least partially, at least at the elementary level. The trade-offs are not in favor of keeping schools closed completely.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/blogs/vinay-prasad/90658

[Anonymous]

Yes, moving if DC is still virtual. We can’t continue this way. Childhood is fleeting and you can’t get it back. A year and a half virtual. Enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you PP. Teaching kids perspective is crucial in understanding why schools are closed. It is just one small sacrifice our kids can do to protect everyone else. It won't be forever. I guess it's a bit like the marshmallow test, patience.

I agree it is important to teach kids perspective, but to say that being kept out of school and away from their peers for over a year is a SMALL sacrifice is irresponsibly and cluelessly minimizing the issue and disrespectful to kids.

Yes. This isn't a marshmallow.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m shocked by snarky teachers who pretend this is anywhere near OK for young kids. As we approach a year out of school it is not OK. Accept that fact and then figure out how we will all compensate when schools do open. My child cries and asks when she can see teachers and friends again. She has been too alone for too long and it is absolutely a mental health issue. In addition to vast loss of learning. If schools do not reopen in fall we will absolutely need to move.

Teachers aren’t saying this is okay for students. They are saying there is a pandemic so this is the best option for now.

Work could be done to improve DL, adjust hours for kids etc but DCPS wants to make ward 3 parents happen

Why can't more work be done to phase out DL? If DL is indeed the best option under the circumstances for all elementary school students, why are a small number of PreS3-5th grade DCPS and charter schools able to offer safe in-person learning taught by teachers in classrooms? Why are so many well-educated parents in these school communities pleased with a phased return to in-person learning? Because they're nuts?

Could it be that the other schools aren't trying anywhere near hard enough to offer in-person learning? Could it be that school admins aren't getting enough support from above, or the WTU, to innovate to offer safe in-person learning to many more students?

Why should DC parents have to accept school system leaders throwing their hands in the air for our tax dollars when municipalities all around the country with lower Covid spread rates have elementary school kids back in school 2-5 days a week?

[Anonymous]

Please do! dcum area needs more housing inventory.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m shocked by snarky teachers who pretend this is anywhere near OK for young kids. As we approach a year out of school it is not OK. Accept that fact and then figure out how we will all compensate when schools do open. My child cries and asks when she can see teachers and friends again. She has been too alone for too long and it is absolutely a mental health issue. In addition to vast loss of learning. If schools do not reopen in fall we will absolutely need to move.

Teachers aren’t saying this is okay for students. They are saying there is a pandemic so this is the best option for now.

Work could be done to improve DL, adjust hours for kids etc but DCPS wants to make ward 3 parents happen

No credible teacher I know believes that DL works in any way, we would be better off if the internet didn't exist so people would stop pretending. If it worked so well my colleagues would not be working toward suspension of IMPACT for a 2nd year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you PP. Teaching kids perspective is crucial in understanding why schools are closed. It is just one small sacrifice our kids can do to protect everyone else. It won't be forever. I guess it's a bit like the marshmallow test, patience.

I agree it is important to teach kids perspective, but to say that being kept out of school and away from their peers for over a year is a SMALL sacrifice is irresponsibly and cluelessly minimizing the issue and disrespectful to kids.

Yes. This isn't a marshmallow.

A year in the life of an 8 year-old is a looooooong time.

[Anonymous]

Ugh there is already so much education research on interrupted schooling in the US. A lot of this was based on responses to Hurricane Katrina, were a huge number of children faced significant interruptions to their education, including missing school entirely or regularly. COVID-19 educational researchers are using this as a starting place to evaluate what is happening to our children right now.

These children are much worse off today. Louisiana has a high rate of young people who are unemployed directly as a result of this event. It was only about 20% of students (almost certainly the most vulnerable) who were not enrolled or not attending regularly, but when they went back to schools in NO, it was chaos.

Kids were placed in the correct grade for their age, no matter enrollment status. Some students were of course vastly far ahead of their classmates. These gaps were mostly based on household income. This caused chaos in the classroom. A decade later, children were still behind in schooling, because you can't systematically make up these gaps.

Current education research tells us that DL is an extremely poor substitute for in-person education, and researchers consider this to be a variant of interrupted education. Every education researcher worth their salt agrees that this is traumatic and bad for children.

And yet, here we are, arguing that this situation is fine or a little inconvenient, despite the fact that we have mountains of evidence suggesting that a generation of kids will be permanently negatively affected by this last year.

As someone who is familiar with the research (and becoming more so), I feel like Cassandra trying to explain to you guys what we will be seeing in the next few years.

[Anonymous]

I hear real estate is cheap and plentiful in FL. Head on down folks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hear real estate is cheap and plentiful in FL. Head on down folks.

what a fun and easy way to not engage in a conversation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh there is already so much education research on interrupted schooling in the US. A lot of this was based on responses to Hurricane Katrina, were a huge number of children faced significant interruptions to their education, including missing school entirely or regularly. COVID-19 educational researchers are using this as a starting place to evaluate what is happening to our children right now.

These children are much worse off today. Louisiana has a high rate of young people who are unemployed directly as a result of this event. It was only about 20% of students (almost certainly the most vulnerable) who were not enrolled or not attending regularly, but when they went back to schools in NO, it was chaos.

Kids were placed in the correct grade for their age, no matter enrollment status. Some students were of course vastly far ahead of their classmates. These gaps were mostly based on household income. This caused chaos in the classroom. A decade later, children were still behind in schooling, because you can't systematically make up these gaps.

Current education research tells us that DL is an extremely poor substitute for in-person education, and researchers consider this to be a variant of interrupted education. Every education researcher worth their salt agrees that this is traumatic and bad for children.

And yet, here we are, arguing that this situation is fine or a little inconvenient, despite the fact that we have mountains of evidence suggesting that a generation of kids will be permanently negatively affected by this last year.

As someone who is familiar with the research (and becoming more so), I feel like Cassandra trying to explain to you guys what we will be seeing in the next few years.

Yes anyone arguing DL is good for kids is privileged and delusional about kids who aren’t high SES and neurotypical. We moved and I had my doubts but kids are now thriving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m shocked by snarky teachers who pretend this is anywhere near OK for young kids. As we approach a year out of school it is not OK. Accept that fact and then figure out how we will all compensate when schools do open. My child cries and asks when she can see teachers and friends again. She has been too alone for too long and it is absolutely a mental health issue. In addition to vast loss of learning. If schools do not reopen in fall we will absolutely need to move.

Teachers aren’t saying this is okay for students. They are saying there is a pandemic so this is the best option for now.

Work could be done to improve DL, adjust hours for kids etc but DCPS wants to make ward 3 parents happen

There are absolutely teachers on this thread alone saying this is no big deal for kids, it will all be fine, kids ar often years behind. That’s not true for many or even most. This is going on an extremely long time. My point is that teachers and admin need to stop glossing this over and come up with a real plan for the consequences of these decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ugh there is already so much education research on interrupted schooling in the US. A lot of this was based on responses to Hurricane Katrina, were a huge number of children faced significant interruptions to their education, including missing school entirely or regularly. COVID-19 educational researchers are using this as a starting place to evaluate what is happening to our children right now.

These children are much worse off today. Louisiana has a high rate of young people who are unemployed directly as a result of this event. It was only about 20% of students (almost certainly the most vulnerable) who were not enrolled or not attending regularly, but when they went back to schools in NO, it was chaos.

Kids were placed in the correct grade for their age, no matter enrollment status. Some students were of course vastly far ahead of their classmates. These gaps were mostly based on household income. This caused chaos in the classroom. A decade later, children were still behind in schooling, because you can't systematically make up these gaps.

Current education research tells us that DL is an extremely poor substitute for in-person education, and researchers consider this to be a variant of interrupted education. Every education researcher worth their salt agrees that this is traumatic and bad for children.

And yet, here we are, arguing that this situation is fine or a little inconvenient, despite the fact that we have mountains of evidence suggesting that a generation of kids will be permanently negatively affected by this last year.

As someone who is familiar with the research (and becoming more so), I feel like Cassandra trying to explain to you guys what we will be seeing in the next few years.

I also want to note that yes, there are exceptional teachers, like the one earlier in this thread, who can make up more than a year's worth of education for some children. There are also exceptional children.

We just don't make broad educational policies based on exceptions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ugh there is already so much education research on interrupted schooling in the US. A lot of this was based on responses to Hurricane Katrina, were a huge number of children faced significant interruptions to their education, including missing school entirely or regularly. COVID-19 educational researchers are using this as a starting place to evaluate what is happening to our children right now.

These children are much worse off today. Louisiana has a high rate of young people who are unemployed directly as a result of this event. It was only about 20% of students (almost certainly the most vulnerable) who were not enrolled or not attending regularly, but when they went back to schools in NO, it was chaos.

Kids were placed in the correct grade for their age, no matter enrollment status. Some students were of course vastly far ahead of their classmates. These gaps were mostly based on household income. This caused chaos in the classroom. A decade later, children were still behind in schooling, because you can't systematically make up these gaps.

Current education research tells us that DL is an extremely poor substitute for in-person education, and researchers consider this to be a variant of interrupted education. Every education researcher worth their salt agrees that this is traumatic and bad for children.

And yet, here we are, arguing that this situation is fine or a little inconvenient, despite the fact that we have mountains of evidence suggesting that a generation of kids will be permanently negatively affected by this last year.

As someone who is familiar with the research (and becoming more so), I feel like Cassandra trying to explain to you guys what we will be seeing in the next few years.

I also want to note that yes, there are exceptional teachers, like the one earlier in this thread, who can make up more than a year's worth of education for some children. There are also exceptional children.

We just don't make broad educational policies based on exceptions.

and for people who have these exceptional children, or who are able to provide excellent supplementation, and whose children will return to school perhaps even ahead of where they would be otherwise, consider what your child's classroom will look like when they return. your child's classroom will be chaos, unless you're in the very top of all dc schools. you will have children who are far behind and traumatized. teachers will (rightfully) pay more attention to their needs than to your child's. the school system will be (even more) chaos for YEARS