There WILL (probably) be 5 days a week in-person in all districts this fall

[Anonymous]

Teachers have been telling you this for months. It’s 5 day with masks. Nothing else is being discussed AT ALL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m not that thrilled. I think i and ii still leave it wide open for hybrid. But I’m not saying they could pass anything better.

I don't see how hybrid complies with this sentence:

"Each school board shall offer in-person instruction to each student enrolled in the local school division in a public elementary and secondary school for at least the minimum number of required instructional hours "

The required instruction hours are 990. A full school year. And they narrowly definite in-person instruction to exclude proctoring in the classroom with a remote teacher.

I think all that is caveated by having to follow cdc guidelines in ii.

“To the maximum extent possible”

The requirement for in person trumps using mitigation methods outlined by CDC.

Interesting. I’ll give this some thought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers have been telling you this for months. It’s 5 day with masks. Nothing else is being discussed AT ALL.

Nothing other than 5 day school "in the fall" was being discussed last spring either. They started murmuring about "hybrid" in what May or June, and the pulled the plug completely in July. There is still time for us to lose 5 days.

[Anonymous]

So basically a full year after millions of kids around the country already went back in the classroom...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers have been telling you this for months. It’s 5 day with masks. Nothing else is being discussed AT ALL.

Nothing other than 5 day school "in the fall" was being discussed last spring either. They started murmuring about "hybrid" in what May or June, and the pulled the plug completely in July. There is still time for us to lose 5 days.

Ummm no. You are wrong. 5 day fall was NEVER being discussed in the schools. In fact my AP told us the week we shut down prepare not to come back til 2021. The general public might have been thinking 5 day fall but never in the schools was that the plan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So basically a full year after millions of kids around the country already went back in the classroom...

Yes. But millions of other kids are being told that they won’t get five days in the fall, so this is still better than that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a bad idea. I hope that Northam sees through it and doesn't sign the bill. I don't understand why they are caving to the crazies. They need to leave some room for the school systems to make choices based on their needs and what they have to work with. The PP about the teacher shortage is right to bring that up.

We saw what happened when school systems were allowed to make choices- that's the whole reason the language passed

I don't have a problem with what the school systems have done. I think they've taken the right paths, and that includes ACPS, APS, FCPS, LCPS, etc. The legislature is hamstringing themselves with that language and it is going to bite them in the bottoms. Let the people who know what they're doing, the superintendents, make the right choices.

Said a teacher who does not want in school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a bad idea. I hope that Northam sees through it and doesn't sign the bill. I don't understand why they are caving to the crazies. They need to leave some room for the school systems to make choices based on their needs and what they have to work with. The PP about the teacher shortage is right to bring that up.

We saw what happened when school systems were allowed to make choices- that's the whole reason the language passed

I don't have a problem with what the school systems have done. I think they've taken the right paths, and that includes ACPS, APS, FCPS, LCPS, etc. The legislature is hamstringing themselves with that language and it is going to bite them in the bottoms. Let the people who know what they're doing, the superintendents, make the right choices.

Said a teacher who does not want in school

I'm a parent who said that. We are completely happy with how the school systems have handled the pandemic and schools. They did the right thing by shutting down inschool learning and transitioning to DL. It kept teachers, kids and families safe.

We are very pleased with the quality of education our children have received via DL. Our kids are happy and learning. Our kids are relaxed and enjoying themselves. They love all the extra time they have. They LOVE that all the "bad" kids have been sidelined and aren't taking up 80% of their teachers' time and wasting all the other students' time. They LOVE that their teachers are able to be on track and focus on communicating educational material and not having to monitor behavior. They use their teachers' Office Hours to positive effect.

Do I realize that some families, like yours perhaps, haven't been able to have as good of experience? Sure. I don't think that is the school systems' faults though. Mostly I think that responsibility falls onto the parents. In my mind, it would have behooved you to change your attitude and that would have changed your outcome. Even for those people with little kids.

The successful DL families I know with kinders, and 1st through 3rd grade kids, worked with their kids teachers to set up reasonable schedules. Those parents also made sure that one parent or adult was with the kid the whole time helping them with the online aspects, even when it meant substantially rearranging their day to accommodate that.

In my house, we walk our talk. For our family, my husband and I began work at 5 am and then took 2 hour shifts with the kids during the day in the schoolroom. It means long days and effort but a major reason why our kids have been successful with DL is because of the efforts that my husband and I put forth.

Again, the school systems did the right things at the right time. They kept teachers, kids and families safe. The push to return to 5 days a week school in the fall is premature at this time in our opinion. When there is more data, because right now we only have weeks of data about vaccinations and how they will help keep transmissions low (we all hope!), then it will be the right time to think about the fall. Right now is too soon and puts the cart before the horse.

[Anonymous]

^^^Perfect parent alert!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers have been telling you this for months. It’s 5 day with masks. Nothing else is being discussed AT ALL.

Nothing other than 5 day school "in the fall" was being discussed last spring either. They started murmuring about "hybrid" in what May or June, and the pulled the plug completely in July. There is still time for us to lose 5 days.

Ummm no. You are wrong. 5 day fall was NEVER being discussed in the schools. In fact my AP told us the week we shut down prepare not to come back til 2021. The general public might have been thinking 5 day fall but never in the schools was that the plan.

Please stop acting like you have any idea what will happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^^Perfect parent alert!!!

Hey, she's telling it like it is. Maybe you should reread it without the snide look on your face and maybe you'd learn something. Time to up your game. Our family adopted many of the same practices. I can tell you firsthand that we have come through this pretty well depsite a lot of emergencies that kept popping up and threatening to derail us.

[Anonymous]

I think it's adorable that some families don't know any essential workers who must be out of the home or single parents who are trying to make all this work.

I don't think it's so adorable that they are lecturing everyone else on safety while ignoring the scientific consensus that has been in literally every major news outlet for the past month that schools are safe enough places to be NOW, much less in fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a bad idea. I hope that Northam sees through it and doesn't sign the bill. I don't understand why they are caving to the crazies. They need to leave some room for the school systems to make choices based on their needs and what they have to work with. The PP about the teacher shortage is right to bring that up.

We saw what happened when school systems were allowed to make choices- that's the whole reason the language passed

I don't have a problem with what the school systems have done. I think they've taken the right paths, and that includes ACPS, APS, FCPS, LCPS, etc. The legislature is hamstringing themselves with that language and it is going to bite them in the bottoms. Let the people who know what they're doing, the superintendents, make the right choices.

Said a teacher who does not want in school

I'm a parent who said that. We are completely happy with how the school systems have handled the pandemic and schools. They did the right thing by shutting down inschool learning and transitioning to DL. It kept teachers, kids and families safe.

We are very pleased with the quality of education our children have received via DL. Our kids are happy and learning. Our kids are relaxed and enjoying themselves. They love all the extra time they have. They LOVE that all the "bad" kids have been sidelined and aren't taking up 80% of their teachers' time and wasting all the other students' time. They LOVE that their teachers are able to be on track and focus on communicating educational material and not having to monitor behavior. They use their teachers' Office Hours to positive effect.

Do I realize that some families, like yours perhaps, haven't been able to have as good of experience? Sure. I don't think that is the school systems' faults though. Mostly I think that responsibility falls onto the parents. In my mind, it would have behooved you to change your attitude and that would have changed your outcome. Even for those people with little kids.

The successful DL families I know with kinders, and 1st through 3rd grade kids, worked with their kids teachers to set up reasonable schedules. Those parents also made sure that one parent or adult was with the kid the whole time helping them with the online aspects, even when it meant substantially rearranging their day to accommodate that.

In my house, we walk our talk. For our family, my husband and I began work at 5 am and then took 2 hour shifts with the kids during the day in the schoolroom. It means long days and effort but a major reason why our kids have been successful with DL is because of the efforts that my husband and I put forth.

Again, the school systems did the right things at the right time. They kept teachers, kids and families safe. The push to return to 5 days a week school in the fall is premature at this time in our opinion. When there is more data, because right now we only have weeks of data about vaccinations and how they will help keep transmissions low (we all hope!), then it will be the right time to think about the fall. Right now is too soon and puts the cart before the horse.

You, PP, are the utter worst. Trash.

You know what? My first grader is struggling mightily with online learning. And listen, we walked the walk. We hired a full time nanny who was an IA in FCPS to basically facilitate online school. We turned our basement into a bright classroom. We followed up, brought on consequences, hired a reading teacher who comes to our house every day for an hour at 7 am (because my son's first grade class starts at 10 and ends at 4:45...you know when he's basically done learning. 1 maybe 2 pm.

I am so over people like you PP. And it's NOT parenting jerk. My kid who is 20 months older and in AAP in 3rd grade also struggles - though to a less degree -- because the amount of executive functioning required is NUTS. Distance ed as packaged now is NOT developmentally appropriate. The i-ready is NOT appropriate (I mean testing these kids until they get frustrated is cruel for a 5 year old...convince me otherwise).

And you -- you big jerk -- probably espoused the whole "no screens, blah blah blah judgment" and now effortlessly have your kids code python during their brainbreaks.

Take a seat, jack. You are insufferable, the worst, and everything that is terrible about the DC area.

And for the record -- I think our teachers are doing an amazing job managing a terrible situation. But to pretend the same learning is happening is quite frankly stupid as hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a bad idea. I hope that Northam sees through it and doesn't sign the bill. I don't understand why they are caving to the crazies. They need to leave some room for the school systems to make choices based on their needs and what they have to work with. The PP about the teacher shortage is right to bring that up.

We saw what happened when school systems were allowed to make choices- that's the whole reason the language passed

I don't have a problem with what the school systems have done. I think they've taken the right paths, and that includes ACPS, APS, FCPS, LCPS, etc. The legislature is hamstringing themselves with that language and it is going to bite them in the bottoms. Let the people who know what they're doing, the superintendents, make the right choices.

Said a teacher who does not want in school

I'm a parent who said that. We are completely happy with how the school systems have handled the pandemic and schools. They did the right thing by shutting down inschool learning and transitioning to DL. It kept teachers, kids and families safe.

We are very pleased with the quality of education our children have received via DL. Our kids are happy and learning. Our kids are relaxed and enjoying themselves. They love all the extra time they have. They LOVE that all the "bad" kids have been sidelined and aren't taking up 80% of their teachers' time and wasting all the other students' time. They LOVE that their teachers are able to be on track and focus on communicating educational material and not having to monitor behavior. They use their teachers' Office Hours to positive effect.

Do I realize that some families, like yours perhaps, haven't been able to have as good of experience? Sure. I don't think that is the school systems' faults though. Mostly I think that responsibility falls onto the parents. In my mind, it would have behooved you to change your attitude and that would have changed your outcome. Even for those people with little kids.

The successful DL families I know with kinders, and 1st through 3rd grade kids, worked with their kids teachers to set up reasonable schedules. Those parents also made sure that one parent or adult was with the kid the whole time helping them with the online aspects, even when it meant substantially rearranging their day to accommodate that.

In my house, we walk our talk. For our family, my husband and I began work at 5 am and then took 2 hour shifts with the kids during the day in the schoolroom. It means long days and effort but a major reason why our kids have been successful with DL is because of the efforts that my husband and I put forth.

Again, the school systems did the right things at the right time. They kept teachers, kids and families safe. The push to return to 5 days a week school in the fall is premature at this time in our opinion. When there is more data, because right now we only have weeks of data about vaccinations and how they will help keep transmissions low (we all hope!), then it will be the right time to think about the fall. Right now is too soon and puts the cart before the horse.

You, PP, are the utter worst. Trash.

You know what? My first grader is struggling mightily with online learning. And listen, we walked the walk. We hired a full time nanny who was an IA in FCPS to basically facilitate online school. We turned our basement into a bright classroom. We followed up, brought on consequences, hired a reading teacher who comes to our house every day for an hour at 7 am (because my son's first grade class starts at 10 and ends at 4:45...you know when he's basically done learning. 1 maybe 2 pm.

I am so over people like you PP. And it's NOT parenting jerk. My kid who is 20 months older and in AAP in 3rd grade also struggles - though to a less degree -- because the amount of executive functioning required is NUTS. Distance ed as packaged now is NOT developmentally appropriate. The i-ready is NOT appropriate (I mean testing these kids until they get frustrated is cruel for a 5 year old...convince me otherwise).

And you -- you big jerk -- probably espoused the whole "no screens, blah blah blah judgment" and now effortlessly have your kids code python during their brainbreaks.

Take a seat, jack. You are insufferable, the worst, and everything that is terrible about the DC area.

And for the record -- I think our teachers are doing an amazing job managing a terrible situation. But to pretend the same learning is happening is quite frankly stupid as hell.

Wait a second...your first grade son goes to school 6.75 hours a day PLUS an hour at 7 am for reading, AND you're wondering why it isn't working??? Sheesh. YOU ARE THE PROBLEM. You're doing exactly the opposite of what the other mother proposed. No wonder your kid is having problems. Stupid parenting leads to bad things for your kids. You're crazy.

[Anonymous]

I hope this happens. The parents who got spots at private schools are not coming back unless public schools open 5 days a week. This needs to happen.

The local Catholic school has kids 3 ft apart and has been open for in-person learning almost the entire school year. No spread in the school. Public systems can be open next year, and need to. We are harming our kids.

Good for you parents who can rearrange your lives to make it happen, but I have three kids at three levels and a full time job and I'm not qualified to teach HS math or science to my teens. How good of a chemistry education do you think DS is getting at home? It's crappy. And even when schools re-open, the chemistry teacher is not coming back, so still no labs. So basically, my kid has learned very little this year.