APS - why are teachers so terrified?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I blame APS's piss poor planning and foresight for this. However the numbers here were high. APS wasn't wrong or the only one to remain virtual. Yes, people in Georgia and Kentucky returned sooner. That doesn't mean they should have when their numbers were higher than ours or that we were in the wrong because we didn't. COVID is a rapidly changing environment because we have been learning as we go. Remember last year when we were wiping down cereal boxes with clorox wipes? Now we know that isn't needed. We have learned and now have a vaccine.

But also all the other districts are pretty much still virtual too. Our cousins who have kids in MCPS (Potomac) upper elementary aren't returning until after spring break. My APS kid is returning next week. Same number of days. FCPS also returning on about the same schedule. APS isn't some sort of outlier in this area.

There are 6 school districts in NOVA. APS, ACPS, FCPS, FCCPS, PW, and LW.
LW has elementary back, and returns middle and high this week.
PW has elementary back and returns middle and high this week.
FCCPS returned all students last week.


FCPS, ACPS, and APS are lagging behind.

[Anonymous]

FCCPS is a 4 school district. Tiny.
LCPS and PWCPS are both more rural than FCPS, ACPS, and APS.

Bottom line, APS is not an outlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCCPS is a 4 school district. Tiny.
LCPS and PWCPS are both more rural than FCPS, ACPS, and APS.

Bottom line, APS is not an outlier.

honest question- why is the fact that FCCPS is tiny or the fact that LCPs and LWCPS are more rural than APS make them not good comparators for return to school?
the size of the elementary schools at FCCPS is the same as most APS elementary schools- or a little larger. If we are talking about capacity in buildings how does it make any difference to return to school whether they need to open 2 buildings or 26? Its not like Duran is walking around personally doing temperature checks.
SImilarly- how on earth does the 'more rural' nature of LCPS and PWCPS make it easier for those schools to return? PWCPS has consistently had the worst COVID numbers in the area.. like today PW is at 20 cases 7 day average per 100,000- and Arlington is at 17.3.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCCPS is a 4 school district. Tiny.
LCPS and PWCPS are both more rural than FCPS, ACPS, and APS.

Bottom line, APS is not an outlier.

honest question- why is the fact that FCCPS is tiny or the fact that LCPs and LWCPS are more rural than APS make them not good comparators for return to school?
the size of the elementary schools at FCCPS is the same as most APS elementary schools- or a little larger. If we are talking about capacity in buildings how does it make any difference to return to school whether they need to open 2 buildings or 26? Its not like Duran is walking around personally doing temperature checks.
SImilarly- how on earth does the 'more rural' nature of LCPS and PWCPS make it easier for those schools to return? PWCPS has consistently had the worst COVID numbers in the area.. like today PW is at 20 cases 7 day average per 100,000- and Arlington is at 17.3.

because nationwide smaller or more rural districts are more likely to have returned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents just want someone to blame. COVID is to blame.
Teachers have had no power to determine when school resumed. None. We have been told when to report and we are doing it. Full stop.

I would say parents and staff actively working to APS virtual are to blame. COVID is not to blame - if it was than how come so many public schools around the country and private schools right here have been open successfully?

Most kids in the US have been virtual this year. Stop acting like that wasn’t a reasonable, precautious approach.

In the fall, the virus was running rampant and numbers were skyrocketing. 500k++ people have died FFS.

Now numbers are dropping and we have the vaccine. And guess what? WE ARE OPENING.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FCCPS is a 4 school district. Tiny.
LCPS and PWCPS are both more rural than FCPS, ACPS, and APS.

Bottom line, APS is not an outlier.

honest question- why is the fact that FCCPS is tiny or the fact that LCPs and LWCPS are more rural than APS make them not good comparators for return to school?
the size of the elementary schools at FCCPS is the same as most APS elementary schools- or a little larger. If we are talking about capacity in buildings how does it make any difference to return to school whether they need to open 2 buildings or 26? Its not like Duran is walking around personally doing temperature checks.
SImilarly- how on earth does the 'more rural' nature of LCPS and PWCPS make it easier for those schools to return? PWCPS has consistently had the worst COVID numbers in the area.. like today PW is at 20 cases 7 day average per 100,000- and Arlington is at 17.3.

How overcapacity are the schools in PWC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I blame APS's piss poor planning and foresight for this. However the numbers here were high. APS wasn't wrong or the only one to remain virtual. Yes, people in Georgia and Kentucky returned sooner. That doesn't mean they should have when their numbers were higher than ours or that we were in the wrong because we didn't. COVID is a rapidly changing environment because we have been learning as we go. Remember last year when we were wiping down cereal boxes with clorox wipes? Now we know that isn't needed. We have learned and now have a vaccine.

But also all the other districts are pretty much still virtual too. Our cousins who have kids in MCPS (Potomac) upper elementary aren't returning until after spring break. My APS kid is returning next week. Same number of days. FCPS also returning on about the same schedule. APS isn't some sort of outlier in this area.

There are 6 school districts in NOVA. APS, ACPS, FCPS, FCCPS, PW, and LW.
LW has elementary back, and returns middle and high this week.
PW has elementary back and returns middle and high this week.
FCCPS returned all students last week.

FCPS, ACPS, and APS are lagging behind.

OMG - FCCPS RETURNED ONE WEEK EARLIER!!!!!!!!

You people are ridiculous.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents just want someone to blame. COVID is to blame.
Teachers have had no power to determine when school resumed. None. We have been told when to report and we are doing it. Full stop.

I would say parents and staff actively working to APS virtual are to blame. COVID is not to blame - if it was than how come so many public schools around the country and private schools right here have been open successfully?

Most kids in the US have been virtual this year. Stop acting like that wasn’t a reasonable, precautious approach.

In the fall, the virus was running rampant and numbers were skyrocketing. 500k++ people have died FFS.

Now numbers are dropping and we have the vaccine. And guess what? WE ARE OPENING.

And, as more teachers get vaccinated, more schools are opening. Children are disease vectors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents just want someone to blame. COVID is to blame.
Teachers have had no power to determine when school resumed. None. We have been told when to report and we are doing it. Full stop.

I would say parents and staff actively working to APS virtual are to blame. COVID is not to blame - if it was than how come so many public schools around the country and private schools right here have been open successfully?

Most kids in the US have been virtual this year. Stop acting like that wasn’t a reasonable, precautious approach.

In the fall, the virus was running rampant and numbers were skyrocketing. 500k++ people have died FFS.

Now numbers are dropping and we have the vaccine. And guess what? WE ARE OPENING.

Fact check from the Burbio school opening tracker March 1 update (here):

"The number of US K-12 students attending virtual only schools started at a high of 62% at Labor Day, dropped to just under 37% by early November, and rose back to 55% the first week after the New Year due to rising Covid 19 rates. Since then we have seen a near-universal return of schools that were in-person as of November plus a gradual return of parts of the country that had been "Always Virtual" (never had students in the classroom) and the national "virtual" number is at its lowest point since we began tracking at 27.5%."

* so while "most" were virtual at the start of the year, by November "most" were not, and "most" certainly ARE NOT now.

"Less than 25% of K-5 students now attend "virtual only" schools. We saw a big drop in 6-8 virtual-only - 34.6% to 29.0%, or 5.6% percentage points - which reflects the various phased approaches we are seeing where 6-8 goes into the classroom after K-5 begins. "

In fact if you take out DC/MD/VA and the West Coast from the Burbio data, only 15% of the country is now virtual-only. 15%.

[Anonymous]

My concern is the "hybrid" reopening for APS isn't real. My kid is in hybrid but will only be getting 3 hours of in person instruction per week. All other instruction on in person days will be delivered virtually via her iPad. (Not concurrent, as she's K-2, but fully virtual. Teachers are refusing to teach in person so the principal has said it is okay for them to teach virtually on in person days.) It's a joke and not what parents expected or what APS is billing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents just want someone to blame. COVID is to blame.
Teachers have had no power to determine when school resumed. None. We have been told when to report and we are doing it. Full stop.

I would say parents and staff actively working to APS virtual are to blame. COVID is not to blame - if it was than how come so many public schools around the country and private schools right here have been open successfully?

Most kids in the US have been virtual this year. Stop acting like that wasn’t a reasonable, precautious approach.

In the fall, the virus was running rampant and numbers were skyrocketing. 500k++ people have died FFS.

Now numbers are dropping and we have the vaccine. And guess what? WE ARE OPENING.

Fact check from the Burbio school opening tracker March 1 update (here):

"The number of US K-12 students attending virtual only schools started at a high of 62% at Labor Day, dropped to just under 37% by early November, and rose back to 55% the first week after the New Year due to rising Covid 19 rates. Since then we have seen a near-universal return of schools that were in-person as of November plus a gradual return of parts of the country that had been "Always Virtual" (never had students in the classroom) and the national "virtual" number is at its lowest point since we began tracking at 27.5%."

* so while "most" were virtual at the start of the year, by November "most" were not, and "most" certainly ARE NOT now.

"Less than 25% of K-5 students now attend "virtual only" schools. We saw a big drop in 6-8 virtual-only - 34.6% to 29.0%, or 5.6% percentage points - which reflects the various phased approaches we are seeing where 6-8 goes into the classroom after K-5 begins. "

In fact if you take out DC/MD/VA and the West Coast from the Burbio data, only 15% of the country is now virtual-only. 15%.

Burbio data is crap. They use wonky calculations based on a subsection of school districts.

Over 50% were virtual in the fall. And more schools are going back every day.

It was a reasonable approach given the circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents just want someone to blame. COVID is to blame.
Teachers have had no power to determine when school resumed. None. We have been told when to report and we are doing it. Full stop.

I would say parents and staff actively working to APS virtual are to blame. COVID is not to blame - if it was than how come so many public schools around the country and private schools right here have been open successfully?

Most kids in the US have been virtual this year. Stop acting like that wasn’t a reasonable, precautious approach.

In the fall, the virus was running rampant and numbers were skyrocketing. 500k++ people have died FFS.

Now numbers are dropping and we have the vaccine. And guess what? WE ARE OPENING.

Not use that most kids in US have been virtual. Only 40% of had only a virtual option. 60% have had a hybrid or 5 day option all along.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My concern is the "hybrid" reopening for APS isn't real. My kid is in hybrid but will only be getting 3 hours of in person instruction per week. All other instruction on in person days will be delivered virtually via her iPad. (Not concurrent, as she's K-2, but fully virtual. Teachers are refusing to teach in person so the principal has said it is okay for them to teach virtually on in person days.) It's a joke and not what parents expected or what APS is billing.

That's unfortunate. We have a teacher and an assistant who are both excited to be back 2 days/week. The teacher told us she wishes the class could go 4 days/week. There are probably going to be some classes that have an excellent hybrid experience and some that do not.

[Anonymous]

Histrionics. They aren’t terrified. Stop it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My concern is the "hybrid" reopening for APS isn't real. My kid is in hybrid but will only be getting 3 hours of in person instruction per week. All other instruction on in person days will be delivered virtually via her iPad. (Not concurrent, as she's K-2, but fully virtual. Teachers are refusing to teach in person so the principal has said it is okay for them to teach virtually on in person days.) It's a joke and not what parents expected or what APS is billing.

What school is this that teachers are refusing to return and principals are allowing it? I'm an APS teacher and I don't see that happening at any school where I know teachers and I know people at lots of schools.