Are your schools in touch about their plans?

[Anonymous]

The only communication I have received is from a friend at the leadership meeting this week. She said school will run 8:30-4:00. It seems like this would be some good information to get out to parents and teachers as soon as possible.

[Anonymous]

Ferebee just sent a long email, but pertinent to this thread:

“We are designing school-specific schedules. Last week, we shared sample all-virtual schedules by grade band, and this week, school leadership teams are designing school-specific schedules with their students, staff, and programming in mind. Families can expect to receive their student’s individual schedule during the week of August 24.”

[Anonymous]

You're all being ridiculous. Just plan on your kids being "in school" from 9 to 3. So don't plan on visiting Auntie May on Tuesdays at 10 or going on a family bike ride every Thursday at 11.

[Anonymous]

Or work. Definitely don't plan on working from 9 to 3!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You're all being ridiculous. Just plan on your kids being "in school" from 9 to 3. So don't plan on visiting Auntie May on Tuesdays at 10 or going on a family bike ride every Thursday at 11.

What a JERK!!! This isn't about bike trips or whatever. This IS about when I can work & when I can not work! This IS about having young kids that can NOT sit in front of a computer half the day on their own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ferebee just sent a long email, but pertinent to this thread:

“We are designing school-specific schedules. Last week, we shared sample all-virtual schedules by grade band, and this week, school leadership teams are designing school-specific schedules with their students, staff, and programming in mind. Families can expect to receive their student’s individual schedule during the week of August 24.”

Given DCPS only expects to have the elementary age kids on-line for a couple hours a day why is this such a problem?? Hell, give a freaking window like RCN... Your kids will need to be on a computer for at least 1-2-3 hours between 8-11am or whatever.

[Anonymous]

Why, oh, why is it so impossible for DC to wrap their brains around the idea that this doesn't need to & should NOT try to be like a "normal school day" but on the computer?????
We all know kids can get the core subjects that they need in a much shorter amount of time. We all know that schools will need to take months & years to fill in the gaps in the future not weeks. accept it .. stop trying to make this something it is not!!!!!!! This is NOT a normal school day at home!!

[Anonymous]

Our middle school had a town hall on Wed pm. Plan is for A and B day schedules on Mon/ Tues and Thu/ Fri. Wednesday schedules will evolve, - but will be time for meeting with teachers, group discussions, but not specific classes. Not sure if city wide approach. We upgraded our speed for multiple people online this summer, but took almost 2 months to get a visit for upgrade. Much better speeds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher my school reached out with what trainings we should do before we go back. Only indication of future plans is that all teachers should be prepared to teach ELA and math.

Interesting! I wonder if my school is planning to un-departmentalize too.

Ours is not. Our principal said she did not want teachers learning new material during DL. So we are staying departmentalized. I teach at a JKLM school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only communication I have received is from a friend at the leadership meeting this week. She said school will run 8:30-4:00. It seems like this would be some good information to get out to parents and teachers as soon as possible.

The school day for DCPS ends at 3:15 and teachers end at 3:30. Why the switch to 4? I’m happy to work an extra 30 mins as a teacher but this is the issue at hand. DCPS has a collective bargaining agreement with the WTU. Why would this not be floated past the union? I can hear the ‘f:,& the union’ remarks already but if DCPS had good faith, it would stop with the surprises. It helps no one and further erodes the trust (what little there may be left).

[Anonymous]

Lafayette is presenting what they know/updating and answering parent questions live every Thursday. Happy with the communication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher my school reached out with what trainings we should do before we go back. Only indication of future plans is that all teachers should be prepared to teach ELA and math.

Interesting! I wonder if my school is planning to un-departmentalize too.

Ours is not. Our principal said she did not want teachers learning new material during DL. So we are staying departmentalized. I teach at a JKLM school

So wish this was true (I’m the PP who should be prepared to teach ELA). Haven’t taught reading in 6 years, never in DCPS and switching to a new grade level I haven’t taught in 15 years. I know nothing about the DCPS units of study or curriculum for ELA. I’ll have a week to learn it AND figure out how to teach it online. Fun!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only communication I have received is from a friend at the leadership meeting this week. She said school will run 8:30-4:00. It seems like this would be some good information to get out to parents and teachers as soon as possible.

The school day for DCPS ends at 3:15 and teachers end at 3:30. Why the switch to 4? I’m happy to work an extra 30 mins as a teacher but this is the issue at hand. DCPS has a collective bargaining agreement with the WTU. Why would this not be floated past the union? I can hear the ‘f:,& the union’ remarks already but if DCPS had good faith, it would stop with the surprises. It helps no one and further erodes the trust (what little there may be left).

You’re starting a half hour later, ending a half hour later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only communication I have received is from a friend at the leadership meeting this week. She said school will run 8:30-4:00. It seems like this would be some good information to get out to parents and teachers as soon as possible.

The school day for DCPS ends at 3:15 and teachers end at 3:30. Why the switch to 4? I’m happy to work an extra 30 mins as a teacher but this is the issue at hand. DCPS has a collective bargaining agreement with the WTU. Why would this not be floated past the union? I can hear the ‘f:,& the union’ remarks already but if DCPS had good faith, it would stop with the surprises. It helps no one and further erodes the trust (what little there may be left).

You’re starting a half hour later, ending a half hour later.

Parent here: This upsets me because I was planning on working from 3:30-6:30 and already had this portion approved by my boss. Now I’m hearing this may change? It’s things like this that make me mad. TELL THE PARENTS. We are trying to schedule our work day as well and this is use rude

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not going to name the school. But even 30-60 minutes a day isnt helpful if you don't know if it's going to be at 9am or 2pm. And my experience last year was that trying to get these young kids to sit and kinda pay attention for 5 minutes was a challenge. An hour will break all of us.

There seems to be zero consideration for parents. What do I tell my boss about my availability for the next couple of months? They need to know, too. Ive tried to show a lot of grace, but I can't anymore.

I agree with this. I’m a teacher and my kids go to a different school. I’d like to know what the exact schedule is for both so my spouse, nanny and I can plan our days. This general of 2-3 hours is ridiculous at this point. It’s rude to parents and teachers.

+1

The lack of clear communication is deafening. This is why the decision to do all virtual should have been announced in early July. Schools need time to plan and provide those plans to teachers and families.

+1 they should have ironed out a DL plan when they shut down 3 weeks early. They knew there would be a DL option even without hybrid