Deal MS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher and parent here. What hasn’t gotten adequate air time is the effect of teacher/sub/misc. other employee shortage on schools. Unfortunately, teachers are resigning in droves with no clear replacement because education school graduate numbers have been dropping for years and are currently disturbingly low. Anyone who works in a school can tell you this is affecting students negatively, and the future isn’t bright.

This absolutely. We have been in dcps since 2009 and had a kid finish Deal right before the pandemic. School was crowded but well running. Now is more crowded and we experience lots of absences among teachers. They got sick unfortunately (notwithstanding the parents ranting above about coward teachers, teachers went to school and did their jobs and got covid in many cases, or their kids got sick and they had to stay home). My kid has lost weeks of language instruction and I don’t think the teacher will be able to be back. The school has organized a boot camp on saturdays but the reality is that my kid truly has not learned much in that subject. I heard similar complaints from friends with kids at Walls and others in MOCO. My kid at Wilson did not have a physics teacher until November this year, with thr semester class ending in January, same happens to the class of AP physics to the point that a parent volunteered and went to teach.

Some parents still rants about closures last year and don’t see that there are no teachers for their kids. If remote learning was bad for them, wait for an in-person class with no teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher and parent here. What hasn’t gotten adequate air time is the effect of teacher/sub/misc. other employee shortage on schools. Unfortunately, teachers are resigning in droves with no clear replacement because education school graduate numbers have been dropping for years and are currently disturbingly low. Anyone who works in a school can tell you this is affecting students negatively, and the future isn’t bright.

This absolutely. We have been in dcps since 2009 and had a kid finish Deal right before the pandemic. School was crowded but well running. Now is more crowded and we experience lots of absences among teachers. They got sick unfortunately (notwithstanding the parents ranting above about coward teachers, teachers went to school and did their jobs and got covid in many cases, or their kids got sick and they had to stay home). My kid has lost weeks of language instruction and I don’t think the teacher will be able to be back. The school has organized a boot camp on saturdays but the reality is that my kid truly has not learned much in that subject. I heard similar complaints from friends with kids at Walls and others in MOCO. My kid at Wilson did not have a physics teacher until November this year, with thr semester class ending in January, same happens to the class of AP physics to the point that a parent volunteered and went to teach.

Some parents still rants about closures last year and don’t see that there are no teachers for their kids. If remote learning was bad for them, wait for an in-person class with no teacher

The crazy thing is that there are materially fewer students enrolled at Deal now compared to pre-pandemic.
However - the instability of staff and the students who are enrolled make it feel more disruptive. What DCPS needed to do was over staff for this school year. It would have been the smartest use of taxpayer dollars. But we do not have an educational leader in DC with our chancellor.

[Anonymous]

The number of teachers leaving /have left is concerning for next year.

[Anonymous]

Agree, the true test is coming into the fall and will be teaching staffing and support. My hunch is that we're being way to myopoic right now looking backward and need to realize the impact of not having enough staff. The Atlantic had an article today on covid predictions that were wrong (e.g. mass evictions, a deeper economic impact on women is what they cited) - will teacher shortages be an example of that. I hope so - but am certainly concerned.

[Anonymous]

Pp- The English teacher on our team quit last week.

[Anonymous]

Like I can’t even get wrapped around the axil over what happened with the pandemic. It’s over. I’m am extremely concerned about teachers leaving. The DC Metro area had problems with substitutes before the pandemic. I’m really concerned about teachers next year and class size.

[Anonymous]

but....a lot of the problems now are caused by what happened last year. I mean, there are ways to remedy this, but it's not happening. Did you really think all those extra resources needed would happen? It's not like there are even people to HIRE, even if the money was there.

(I remember having a convo last year, being shocked about everyone being good with the school closures, and people not realizing the repercussions it will have in the long term to public education)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pp- The English teacher on our team quit last week.

what grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp- The English teacher on our team quit last week.

what grade?

7th

[Anonymous]

In addition to teacher vacancies and absences, there have been issues with specialized services. My child gets specialized counselling support under a 504 plan, but had NO sessions until February due to staffing. People ask specifically how Deal doesn't serve students with disabilities...if your kid needs counselling or help with Ex Functioning (delivered by SW or other counselling teams) that capacity just doesn't exist. We have gotten ZERO support for our 504 plan for two years...I think they care, but don't have capacity. This is a size issue, but also a funding issue and largely DCPS not investing in the school because they think PTO will supplement. Be weary if your kid has any special needs....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In addition to teacher vacancies and absences, there have been issues with specialized services. My child gets specialized counselling support under a 504 plan, but had NO sessions until February due to staffing. People ask specifically how Deal doesn't serve students with disabilities...if your kid needs counselling or help with Ex Functioning (delivered by SW or other counselling teams) that capacity just doesn't exist. We have gotten ZERO support for our 504 plan for two years...I think they care, but don't have capacity. This is a size issue, but also a funding issue and largely DCPS not investing in the school because they think PTO will supplement. Be weary if your kid has any special needs....

Agree -
7th grade social worker had absolutely no engagement with my child. My child was supposed to get behavioral support services in 7th grade and when we met with the social worker in April, she did not know my child. This was pre-covid!
Current 8th grade social worker is leaving Deal

[Anonymous]

I think the point is that behavior in the past is indicative of future behavior. Not a Deal parent, but it does sound to me like the school is overwhelmed and underresourced. It also doesn't seem like a ringing endorsement to say it's a crapshoot if your kid will have a great or a horrible experience. We've got a few more years, but as of now I'm leaning toward MoCo...

[Anonymous]

I have 5 more years till my Kids hit deal -- but I'm wondering what you guys think will happen in the next 5 years...

-- I see a lot of people complain about the "size of deal" ... but 500 kids per grade seems to be normal.. (BCC has 600 in their 9th grade class, Whitman has 500) .. are you complaining because the building is too small to house that many kids? What do you think may happen to fix overcrowding?

-- I know a lot of people that live in crestwood/ 16th street heights are still grandfathered into Deal/Wilson ..I think that only applies to older kids now thouh (they are likely in 9th by now?) Does anyone remember?

-- Do we know what year they will revisit boundaries again?

-- If MacArthur High is approved, are IBs families more likely to stay at deal due to a potential positive effect on wilson?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In addition to teacher vacancies and absences, there have been issues with specialized services. My child gets specialized counselling support under a 504 plan, but had NO sessions until February due to staffing. People ask specifically how Deal doesn't serve students with disabilities...if your kid needs counselling or help with Ex Functioning (delivered by SW or other counselling teams) that capacity just doesn't exist. We have gotten ZERO support for our 504 plan for two years...I think they care, but don't have capacity. This is a size issue, but also a funding issue and largely DCPS not investing in the school because they think PTO will supplement. Be weary if your kid has any special needs....

Agree -
7th grade social worker had absolutely no engagement with my child. My child was supposed to get behavioral support services in 7th grade and when we met with the social worker in April, she did not know my child. This was pre-covid!
Current 8th grade social worker is leaving Deal

Small silver lining is that he’s moving on to Jackson-Reed and will work with the 9th graders there next year (or at least that’s what my 8th grader heard). So those kids will get continuity and probably higher-quality support as a result, which is really nice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have 5 more years till my Kids hit deal -- but I'm wondering what you guys think will happen in the next 5 years...

-- I see a lot of people complain about the "size of deal" ... but 500 kids per grade seems to be normal.. (BCC has 600 in their 9th grade class, Whitman has 500) .. are you complaining because the building is too small to house that many kids? What do you think may happen to fix overcrowding?

-- I know a lot of people that live in crestwood/ 16th street heights are still grandfathered into Deal/Wilson ..I think that only applies to older kids now thouh (they are likely in 9th by now?) Does anyone remember?

-- Do we know what year they will revisit boundaries again?

-- If MacArthur High is approved, are IBs families more likely to stay at deal due to a potential positive effect on wilson?

500-600 per grade is normal for high school but not for middle school. The populations and expectations and support needs are different. That’s the issue.