What needs to be done to repair damage of Covid/school closures/quarantines/Covid policy in DCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not understanding why the OP is getting such pushback.

+1. It’s kind of shocking how many people can’t look back and accept that mistakes were made, agree we need a plan to address learning and social loss, and make a plan so that working families can once again rely on schools. I do not see what is so controversial about that. I thought the first reply had some great suggestions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What are the hurdles to hiring more support staff to aid with the learning losses? My understanding of the issues is:
1) no one to hire
2) pay probably sucks = no one to hire
3) DCPS is slow at hiring

But is there a lack of funding for such positions, even if there were people to hire? Because funding seems like something parents could advocate for. The finding of people seems like it would require maybe a training program. Idk.

+1, I think this is huge. The staffing shortage is hard to address, although signing bonuses and other incentives would help.

I know in DCPS, often PTOs raise money to hire more aids and support staff in the wealthier schools. But the learning losses are almost certainly concentrated in Title 1 schools. We are at a Title 1 and I know they have gotten extra funding for bridging learning gaps but it’s not clear to me if this is above and beyond what they get normally. Real transparency in where this money is coming from and where it is going would help.

I think we should have teachers aides past ECE. This past year, 1st and 2nd grade teachers were doing the work if kindergarten in many classrooms. Keep in mind for kids in ECE, learning losses include stuff like emotional awareness and regulation, life skills like putting on and taking off clothes, even bathroom etiquette. Because a lot of kids learn that stuff in PK and K in DCPS. Even though PK is non compulsory, it serves a very valuable purpose in DCPS. Some of these gaps are things even more fundamental than reading and math, and elementary teachers are having to make up the difference, which is contributing to burn out too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the hurdles to hiring more support staff to aid with the learning losses? My understanding of the issues is:
1) no one to hire
2) pay probably sucks = no one to hire
3) DCPS is slow at hiring

But is there a lack of funding for such positions, even if there were people to hire? Because funding seems like something parents could advocate for. The finding of people seems like it would require maybe a training program. Idk.

+1, I think this is huge. The staffing shortage is hard to address, although signing bonuses and other incentives would help.

I know in DCPS, often PTOs raise money to hire more aids and support staff in the wealthier schools. But the learning losses are almost certainly concentrated in Title 1 schools. We are at a Title 1 and I know they have gotten extra funding for bridging learning gaps but it’s not clear to me if this is above and beyond what they get normally. Real transparency in where this money is coming from and where it is going would help.

I think we should have teachers aides past ECE. This past year, 1st and 2nd grade teachers were doing the work if kindergarten in many classrooms. Keep in mind for kids in ECE, learning losses include stuff like emotional awareness and regulation, life skills like putting on and taking off clothes, even bathroom etiquette. Because a lot of kids learn that stuff in PK and K in DCPS. Even though PK is non compulsory, it serves a very valuable purpose in DCPS. Some of these gaps are things even more fundamental than reading and math, and elementary teachers are having to make up the difference, which is contributing to burn out too.

+2; in some of the best schools in nw there are paras in every classroom bc the pta can sponsor it. Dcps idea of funding for learning loss was to try and pay teachers below their hourly rate to work after school with no additional resources or curriculum. Basically they wanted teachers to do everything

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What are the hurdles to hiring more support staff to aid with the learning losses? My understanding of the issues is:
1) no one to hire
2) pay probably sucks = no one to hire
3) DCPS is slow at hiring

But is there a lack of funding for such positions, even if there were people to hire? Because funding seems like something parents could advocate for. The finding of people seems like it would require maybe a training program. Idk.

+1, I think this is huge. The staffing shortage is hard to address, although signing bonuses and other incentives would help.

I know in DCPS, often PTOs raise money to hire more aids and support staff in the wealthier schools. But the learning losses are almost certainly concentrated in Title 1 schools. We are at a Title 1 and I know they have gotten extra funding for bridging learning gaps but it’s not clear to me if this is above and beyond what they get normally. Real transparency in where this money is coming from and where it is going would help.

I think we should have teachers aides past ECE. This past year, 1st and 2nd grade teachers were doing the work if kindergarten in many classrooms. Keep in mind for kids in ECE, learning losses include stuff like emotional awareness and regulation, life skills like putting on and taking off clothes, even bathroom etiquette. Because a lot of kids learn that stuff in PK and K in DCPS. Even though PK is non compulsory, it serves a very valuable purpose in DCPS. Some of these gaps are things even more fundamental than reading and math, and elementary teachers are having to make up the difference, which is contributing to burn out too.

+2; in some of the best schools in nw there are paras in every classroom bc the pta can sponsor it. Dcps idea of funding for learning loss was to try and pay teachers below their hourly rate to work after school with no additional resources or curriculum. Basically they wanted teachers to do everything

Do the parents in these schools complain about learning loss, or advocate for more resources? Where could I learn about advocacy at schools that are not my own?

I ask this because I think it's in my own best interest to not live in a city with kids that have more limited outlooks due to lacking in education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Priority #1 is getting rid of quarantines.
For me, priority #2 is staffing up special ed and support staff. They are so burned out - and gaps there will make it hard to catch kids up.
#3 is ensuring the kids that missed all or part of K and 1st can read - however that happens.
#4 is encouraging kids that missed all or part of junior/senior year to enroll in college or finish HS if they dropped out.

I think #1 is important for kids, families, and teachers. I can't imagine it is good for classroom continuity that kids are in and out for weeks at a time. I'd imagine that might somehow get weighted into teachers' assessments, too, such that they don't like them.

But to end quarantines we'd have to accept covid as an illness like any other that we do not quarantine for. Is that even remotely possible?

Right now, only unvaccinated kids quarantine. We can institute test to stay.

How many vaccinated and unvaccinated kids in quarantine go on to test positive for Covid from their exposure? Very few. Massachusetts did test to stay last year. Only 1-2 % of close contacts tested positive for covid and most of those cases were during surges, therefore they could not conclude that they were indicative of transmission in school. 98-99% of kids being monitored did not get Covid.
They ended the program because it is not cost effective.. They will not be quarantining close contacts regardless of vaccine status next year. DC should do the same. Sending healthy kids home and denying them school should not be allowed again.

[Anonymous]

Didn’t the mayor say all kids will have to be vaccinated against Covid before school starts this fall? Are they really going to enforce it?

[Anonymous]

The bottom line is alot of the damage is irreversible in the low performing kids who did not have the support from parents or at home. It’s irreversible because DCPS failed to support or implement any effective program to catch these kids up in school this year.

That’s 2 years of learning loss. We already have the data how bad it was coming back from the pandemic. It won’t be much better after this school year. It’s challenging enough to catch these kids up from 3 months of summer learning loss - 2 years is just insurmountable.

If you think the achievement gap was bad before, it is much worst now and will be much more evident in the next school year as standards testing is robustly resumed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is alot of the damage is irreversible in the low performing kids who did not have the support from parents or at home. It’s irreversible because DCPS failed to support or implement any effective program to catch these kids up in school this year.

That’s 2 years of learning loss. We already have the data how bad it was coming back from the pandemic. It won’t be much better after this school year. It’s challenging enough to catch these kids up from 3 months of summer learning loss - 2 years is just insurmountable.

If you think the achievement gap was bad before, it is much worst now and will be much more evident in the next school year as standards testing is robustly resumed.

I would also add many of these kids lost a whole lot of school days this year with quarantine too.

[Anonymous]

A plan for the future is something for the mayor you may have voted for to solve.

And unfortunately with her behind the wheel you will get immense pushback and ‘strikes’ from the people on the ground.

I went back in 2021 and not because of the mayor’s plan but because I am a self contained teacher and had all of 5 kids in person. My school only had 3 other classes so the school was pretty empty. No worries about the unmasked, unvaccinated, or unhealthy people who are more susceptible, etc.

If you want a plan you better figure out how to get teaching staff what they want and need. Not every educator is going to risk their life, especially as we are being disrespected.

I think teachers would have felt safer if all the fixes were in place and they had half the class size. But our district will never figure that out so strikes it is and no one wins!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not understanding why the OP is getting such pushback.

+1. It’s kind of shocking how many people can’t look back and accept that mistakes were made, agree we need a plan to address learning and social loss, and make a plan so that working families can once again rely on schools. I do not see what is so controversial about that. I thought the first reply had some great suggestions.

Mistakes were made? It was an absolute disaster that will affect the poorest and most vulnerable kids for years.

Top victimizing kids who struggled before Covid and you did not care.

[Anonymous]

I care about poor kids getting an education because it impacts me. See: crime.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Priority #1 is getting rid of quarantines.
For me, priority #2 is staffing up special ed and support staff. They are so burned out - and gaps there will make it hard to catch kids up.
#3 is ensuring the kids that missed all or part of K and 1st can read - however that happens.
#4 is encouraging kids that missed all or part of junior/senior year to enroll in college or finish HS if they dropped out.

I think #1 is important for kids, families, and teachers. I can't imagine it is good for classroom continuity that kids are in and out for weeks at a time. I'd imagine that might somehow get weighted into teachers' assessments, too, such that they don't like them.

But to end quarantines we'd have to accept covid as an illness like any other that we do not quarantine for. Is that even remotely possible?

Right now, only unvaccinated kids quarantine. We can institute test to stay.

How many vaccinated and unvaccinated kids in quarantine go on to test positive for Covid from their exposure? Very few. Massachusetts did test to stay last year. Only 1-2 % of close contacts tested positive for covid and most of those cases were during surges, therefore they could not conclude that they were indicative of transmission in school. 98-99% of kids being monitored did not get Covid.
They ended the program because it is not cost effective.. They will not be quarantining close contacts regardless of vaccine status next year. DC should do the same. Sending healthy kids home and denying them school should not be allowed again.

that’s good info!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The bottom line is alot of the damage is irreversible in the low performing kids who did not have the support from parents or at home. It’s irreversible because DCPS failed to support or implement any effective program to catch these kids up in school this year.

That’s 2 years of learning loss. We already have the data how bad it was coming back from the pandemic. It won’t be much better after this school year. It’s challenging enough to catch these kids up from 3 months of summer learning loss - 2 years is just insurmountable.

If you think the achievement gap was bad before, it is much worst now and will be much more evident in the next school year as standards testing is robustly resumed.

I would also add many of these kids lost a whole lot of school days this year with quarantine too.

the quarantine on top of 2 yrs of closed school is really unforgivable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Didn’t the mayor say all kids will have to be vaccinated against Covid before school starts this fall? Are they really going to enforce it?

That was the Council who passed the resolution.

I agree that it should be ended, if the goal is to keep kids in schools.

[Anonymous]

so how do we get the Council and Mayor to:

1. stop quarantine
2. rescind the vaccination mandate

To keep kids in school.