testify to SAVE Mayoral control of DCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there are some teachers and a small group of parents who are VERY VERY angry at DCPS. Then there are others who see things that could be improved. The V.V. Angry people place all blame on the mayor, but don't really have any comprehension of how changing mayoral control would solve any of the problems. They are just mad. It's like the people that were so mad that there was a Black president that they voted for Trump. It's not like he solved any problem at all, but that vote satisfied their need to "stick it to authority" or something.

? The mayor framed mayoral control as important bc “schools weren’t getting textbooks on time.”

This year alone:
Many schools don’t have functioning hvac
Many schools don’t have water
Many schools have staffing shortages
Teachers can’t get access to their contractual supply funds bc OCTO can’t figure out how to distribute without getting hacked

These are four major problems that could probably be satisfied if it wasn’t one big circle of people being appointed into patronage jobs by a mayor, and instead a system of checks and balances.

Much prefer patronage jobs as opposed to a union-controlled OSSE and/or DCPS. In case you missed it the union shut down the schools. That’s kinda a bigger deal than anything else.

Shutting down schools was a big deal, for sure. But are you seriously going to argue that having students in a school building all day without functioning HVAC, water, or staff is less of an issue? If that is the case, then apparently your priority is having students in the building, and learning is secondary. Do you really think learning is happening when students are overheating and dehydrated? No, this is not hyperbolic - I just spent the day in a Title 1 school. Water is not an issue for us, as we have water-bottle refill stations attached to the water fountains, which is great. With the HVAC not functioning and no windows because its a newer building, most classrooms hit 80 degrees, which makes concentrating (especially in a mask) extremely difficult. But that's ok, because your kids are probably in a perfectly fine school, as the other kids don't matter as long as your precious children are in well functioning school buildings.

I think you are lying/exaggerating. There were not schools with no HVAC or water.

+1. This is also a recycled union-that-shall-remain-nameless talking point. They used it to say we can't reopen, but now that they're not fighting reopening they're using it to say we can't have mayoral control. As if DCPS facilities weren't FAR worse prior to mayoral control of schools. They just keep coming up with any meritless argument to get more for themselves at the expense of children.

It’s not, my school uses those gallon waters. And not all the toilets flush. Our hvac isn’t fully function but those rooms have extra noisy filters. It is you who do not realize the things schools don’t tell parents.

No air or heater, broken lights, broken toilets, holes in the roof are just some infrastructure problems schools deal with.

So yeah, that's not great, but some broken toilets and noisy HVAC is worlds apart from "no water or HVAC"

Look, I think it should be fixed, but the extreme hyperbole isn't doing you any favors.

Someone just posted that if the WTU had their way, schools would still be closed. Teachers are making lived in claims about broken facilities. Which one is using extreme hyperbole?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there are some teachers and a small group of parents who are VERY VERY angry at DCPS. Then there are others who see things that could be improved. The V.V. Angry people place all blame on the mayor, but don't really have any comprehension of how changing mayoral control would solve any of the problems. They are just mad. It's like the people that were so mad that there was a Black president that they voted for Trump. It's not like he solved any problem at all, but that vote satisfied their need to "stick it to authority" or something.

? The mayor framed mayoral control as important bc “schools weren’t getting textbooks on time.”

This year alone:
Many schools don’t have functioning hvac
Many schools don’t have water
Many schools have staffing shortages
Teachers can’t get access to their contractual supply funds bc OCTO can’t figure out how to distribute without getting hacked

These are four major problems that could probably be satisfied if it wasn’t one big circle of people being appointed into patronage jobs by a mayor, and instead a system of checks and balances.

Much prefer patronage jobs as opposed to a union-controlled OSSE and/or DCPS. In case you missed it the union shut down the schools. That’s kinda a bigger deal than anything else.

Shutting down schools was a big deal, for sure. But are you seriously going to argue that having students in a school building all day without functioning HVAC, water, or staff is less of an issue? If that is the case, then apparently your priority is having students in the building, and learning is secondary. Do you really think learning is happening when students are overheating and dehydrated? No, this is not hyperbolic - I just spent the day in a Title 1 school. Water is not an issue for us, as we have water-bottle refill stations attached to the water fountains, which is great. With the HVAC not functioning and no windows because its a newer building, most classrooms hit 80 degrees, which makes concentrating (especially in a mask) extremely difficult. But that's ok, because your kids are probably in a perfectly fine school, as the other kids don't matter as long as your precious children are in well functioning school buildings.

I think you are lying/exaggerating. There were not schools with no HVAC or water.

+1. This is also a recycled union-that-shall-remain-nameless talking point. They used it to say we can't reopen, but now that they're not fighting reopening they're using it to say we can't have mayoral control. As if DCPS facilities weren't FAR worse prior to mayoral control of schools. They just keep coming up with any meritless argument to get more for themselves at the expense of children.

It’s not, my school uses those gallon waters. And not all the toilets flush. Our hvac isn’t fully function but those rooms have extra noisy filters. It is you who do not realize the things schools don’t tell parents.

No air or heater, broken lights, broken toilets, holes in the roof are just some infrastructure problems schools deal with.

So yeah, that's not great, but some broken toilets and noisy HVAC is worlds apart from "no water or HVAC"

Look, I think it should be fixed, but the extreme hyperbole isn't doing you any favors.

Someone just posted that if the WTU had their way, schools would still be closed. Teachers are making lived in claims about broken facilities. Which one is using extreme hyperbole?

I don’t think you understand what hyperbole is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there are some teachers and a small group of parents who are VERY VERY angry at DCPS. Then there are others who see things that could be improved. The V.V. Angry people place all blame on the mayor, but don't really have any comprehension of how changing mayoral control would solve any of the problems. They are just mad. It's like the people that were so mad that there was a Black president that they voted for Trump. It's not like he solved any problem at all, but that vote satisfied their need to "stick it to authority" or something.

? The mayor framed mayoral control as important bc “schools weren’t getting textbooks on time.”

This year alone:
Many schools don’t have functioning hvac
Many schools don’t have water
Many schools have staffing shortages
Teachers can’t get access to their contractual supply funds bc OCTO can’t figure out how to distribute without getting hacked

These are four major problems that could probably be satisfied if it wasn’t one big circle of people being appointed into patronage jobs by a mayor, and instead a system of checks and balances.

Much prefer patronage jobs as opposed to a union-controlled OSSE and/or DCPS. In case you missed it the union shut down the schools. That’s kinda a bigger deal than anything else.

Shutting down schools was a big deal, for sure. But are you seriously going to argue that having students in a school building all day without functioning HVAC, water, or staff is less of an issue? If that is the case, then apparently your priority is having students in the building, and learning is secondary. Do you really think learning is happening when students are overheating and dehydrated? No, this is not hyperbolic - I just spent the day in a Title 1 school. Water is not an issue for us, as we have water-bottle refill stations attached to the water fountains, which is great. With the HVAC not functioning and no windows because its a newer building, most classrooms hit 80 degrees, which makes concentrating (especially in a mask) extremely difficult. But that's ok, because your kids are probably in a perfectly fine school, as the other kids don't matter as long as your precious children are in well functioning school buildings.

I think you are lying/exaggerating. There were not schools with no HVAC or water.

+1. This is also a recycled union-that-shall-remain-nameless talking point. They used it to say we can't reopen, but now that they're not fighting reopening they're using it to say we can't have mayoral control. As if DCPS facilities weren't FAR worse prior to mayoral control of schools. They just keep coming up with any meritless argument to get more for themselves at the expense of children.

To say that asking for HVAC and water is in spite of kids is really something. Must be nice to have the privilege to not worry about it

It's not that you're asking for HVAC and water (and you're not); it's that you're using it as an excuse to keep schools closed, move control to union-that-shall-remain-nameless supporting SBOE, lobby to elect Robert White who is in the pocket of the union-that-shall-remain-nameless. These are all things that aren't in children's best interests yet you're hiding behind the false veneer of looking out for their best interests when in fact you're only looking out for your own.

+1

pretty telling that they're advocating for a change in leadership structure instead of directly for the things they say they want

So then I guess we are just going to ignore the negotiations over these things in the MOA (not that DCPS is doing what they agreed to), or the testimony by teachers to the council, or the advocacy and petitions around specific issues. But ok, you only noticed when it was the big thing.

Uh well I noticed the HVAC court case which said all schools except for two had decent HVAC. What do you have to say about that?

I'd say that the WTU is really bad at collecting and presenting evidence. My school wasn't one of those two and my lived experience is that it's not working.

Name the school. You’ll forgive everyone here if we believe an adjudicated court case over the word of some internet rando with an axe to grind.

[Anonymous]

there have been Council hearings about the HVACs, with testimony. There are independent records of the HVACS being broken. The solution has been the temporary A/C's which are loud and (I guess) not particularly effective at cooling.

Like, the Council's recent emergency legislation has a piece about DGS because of the HVACs.

The broken HVACs are a real thing.

[Anonymous]

e.g., https://wtop.com/dc/2021/09/the-d-c-council-gets-an-earful-on-issues-with-hvac-systems-in-schools/

[Anonymous]

I mean, it sounds like the HVAC issues are due to two things right now:

1) the supply chain issues plaguing everything

2) DGS needs more employees, at least temporarily, due to an influx of work orders (maybe a backlog from the pandemic?)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, it sounds like the HVAC issues are due to two things right now:

1) the supply chain issues plaguing everything

2) DGS needs more employees, at least temporarily, due to an influx of work orders (maybe a backlog from the pandemic?)

And this is why we shouldn’t have mayoral control! The SBOE would fix the global supply chain AND the labor shortage

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:there have been Council hearings about the HVACs, with testimony. There are independent records of the HVACS being broken. The solution has been the temporary A/C's which are loud and (I guess) not particularly effective at cooling.

Like, the Council's recent emergency legislation has a piece about DGS because of the HVACs.

The broken HVACs are a real thing.

So what I’m hearing is that they do have AC, it’s just not a perfect solution and it is temporary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, it sounds like the HVAC issues are due to two things right now:

1) the supply chain issues plaguing everything

2) DGS needs more employees, at least temporarily, due to an influx of work orders (maybe a backlog from the pandemic?)

And this is why we shouldn’t have mayoral control! The SBOE would fix the global supply chain AND the labor shortage

LOL

I was thinking, though, that it would be even worse under SBOE. DGS is under the mayor, right? Would then be even less responsive to a SBOE?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, it sounds like the HVAC issues are due to two things right now:

1) the supply chain issues plaguing everything

2) DGS needs more employees, at least temporarily, due to an influx of work orders (maybe a backlog from the pandemic?)

And this is why we shouldn’t have mayoral control! The SBOE would fix the global supply chain AND the labor shortage

But our school has had a non-functioning HVAC system for years. This is the issue, the Mayor has been short changing schools west of the park for years. Now there is a legit reason for the delays, but what about in 2018, 2019, etc. Maybe totally mayoral control would work if the mayor in question cared about schools. This one doesn't. I'm hopeful this threat causes her to take more action but I'm not hopeful.

(a long time DCPS parent, not a teacher)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I mean, it sounds like the HVAC issues are due to two things right now:

1) the supply chain issues plaguing everything

2) DGS needs more employees, at least temporarily, due to an influx of work orders (maybe a backlog from the pandemic?)

pages and pages on this thread accusing people of lying about HVAC issues.
person submits evidence of HVAC issues

Oh yeah, well we knew that was going to happen

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, it sounds like the HVAC issues are due to two things right now:

1) the supply chain issues plaguing everything

2) DGS needs more employees, at least temporarily, due to an influx of work orders (maybe a backlog from the pandemic?)

pages and pages on this thread accusing people of lying about HVAC issues.
person submits evidence of HVAC issues

Oh yeah, well we knew that was going to happen

What evidence?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, it sounds like the HVAC issues are due to two things right now:

1) the supply chain issues plaguing everything

2) DGS needs more employees, at least temporarily, due to an influx of work orders (maybe a backlog from the pandemic?)

pages and pages on this thread accusing people of lying about HVAC issues.
person submits evidence of HVAC issues

Oh yeah, well we knew that was going to happen

Well, I'm the person who submitted the "evidence", but let's ease up on the hyperbole ("pages and pages").

Also the point about the HVAC issue is whether the root problem can be solved by mayoral control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think there are some teachers and a small group of parents who are VERY VERY angry at DCPS. Then there are others who see things that could be improved. The V.V. Angry people place all blame on the mayor, but don't really have any comprehension of how changing mayoral control would solve any of the problems. They are just mad. It's like the people that were so mad that there was a Black president that they voted for Trump. It's not like he solved any problem at all, but that vote satisfied their need to "stick it to authority" or something.

? The mayor framed mayoral control as important bc “schools weren’t getting textbooks on time.”

This year alone:
Many schools don’t have functioning hvac
Many schools don’t have water
Many schools have staffing shortages
Teachers can’t get access to their contractual supply funds bc OCTO can’t figure out how to distribute without getting hacked

These are four major problems that could probably be satisfied if it wasn’t one big circle of people being appointed into patronage jobs by a mayor, and instead a system of checks and balances.

Much prefer patronage jobs as opposed to a union-controlled OSSE and/or DCPS. In case you missed it the union shut down the schools. That’s kinda a bigger deal than anything else.

Shutting down schools was a big deal, for sure. But are you seriously going to argue that having students in a school building all day without functioning HVAC, water, or staff is less of an issue? If that is the case, then apparently your priority is having students in the building, and learning is secondary. Do you really think learning is happening when students are overheating and dehydrated? No, this is not hyperbolic - I just spent the day in a Title 1 school. Water is not an issue for us, as we have water-bottle refill stations attached to the water fountains, which is great. With the HVAC not functioning and no windows because its a newer building, most classrooms hit 80 degrees, which makes concentrating (especially in a mask) extremely difficult. But that's ok, because your kids are probably in a perfectly fine school, as the other kids don't matter as long as your precious children are in well functioning school buildings.

I think you are lying/exaggerating. There were not schools with no HVAC or water.

+1. This is also a recycled union-that-shall-remain-nameless talking point. They used it to say we can't reopen, but now that they're not fighting reopening they're using it to say we can't have mayoral control. As if DCPS facilities weren't FAR worse prior to mayoral control of schools. They just keep coming up with any meritless argument to get more for themselves at the expense of children.

It’s not, my school uses those gallon waters. And not all the toilets flush. Our hvac isn’t fully function but those rooms have extra noisy filters. It is you who do not realize the things schools don’t tell parents.

No air or heater, broken lights, broken toilets, holes in the roof are just some infrastructure problems schools deal with.

So yeah, that's not great, but some broken toilets and noisy HVAC is worlds apart from "no water or HVAC"

Look, I think it should be fixed, but the extreme hyperbole isn't doing you any favors.

Someone just posted that if the WTU had their way, schools would still be closed. Teachers are making lived in claims about broken facilities. Which one is using extreme hyperbole?

On August 26 the SBOE argued that the Mayor should institute unlimited hybrid or virtual. This would have been tremendously disruptive and resulted in effective closures of schools.

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/education/dc-public-schools-covid-mayor-muriel-bowser-washington-district-dcps-board-of-education/65-822e1563-8fad-488b-847e-aed41e9e8926

Also, I think it's very important to note that all the catastrophizers have been dead, 100% wrong to cater to fears of covid through a virtual option. Covid cases have declined week over week in DCPS - there were only 29 in the last week with full data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I mean, it sounds like the HVAC issues are due to two things right now:

1) the supply chain issues plaguing everything

2) DGS needs more employees, at least temporarily, due to an influx of work orders (maybe a backlog from the pandemic?)

And this is why we shouldn’t have mayoral control! The SBOE would fix the global supply chain AND the labor shortage

But our school has had a non-functioning HVAC system for years. This is the issue, the Mayor has been short changing schools west of the park for years. Now there is a legit reason for the delays, but what about in 2018, 2019, etc. Maybe totally mayoral control would work if the mayor in question cared about schools. This one doesn't. I'm hopeful this threat causes her to take more action but I'm not hopeful.

(a long time DCPS parent, not a teacher)

Nonfunctioning, as in you have zero heat, ventilation, or cooling?