hilariously tone deaf tweet by CM Robert White

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like Robert White, generally support WTU, and don't really understand the Tweet. I could understand it as a call to help make virtual learning work for students who need more, e.g., students with IEPs. I don't think enough effort has been made there by DCPS; it's probably hard to decide to make that effort if return to school is "just around the corner."

I'd like to see schools reopen, but I'd like to do it on a schedule the majority of parents who don't speak English and the majority of parents in Ward 7 and Ward 8 would choose.

I would like the State Board of Education to have power over DC education, not all, but not none. I would like it to have DCPS teachers and charter teachers on it. Partly for the same reason I would like to have more parents of DCPS students on the DC Council. Mayoral control is not responsive. It's not democratic. It's typical of the technocratic DC run either poorly by people like DGS or DCRA or highhandedly with business in mind like the Federal City Council.

A real elected board democratizes and devolves education to our elected choices.

I see here that not everyone shares these views or beliefs about our leaders' motivations.

+100. It is not a black and white issue even though we would like it to be

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if a publicly elected school board is the answer but it does seem like something is broken. The council does not seem to be able to provide any type of oversight. The past few chancellors have been really flawed. Not to mention the mayor is still way too in the weeds on some things to protect her interests and punish others.

Running DCPS is by no means an easy job. However I don't think anyone thinks we are getting good service from the current system.

We definitely are not, but the answer is definitely NOT to give more control to teachers unions who will further prioritize themselves at the expense of what’s good for kids.

I actually don’t agree with you. I think teachers are behaving this way exactly because they have never been listened to and they feel disenfranchised. Teachers as a block are treated very poorly in this country and now it is coming to bite us. If the mayor and the chancellor spent some time actually listening to teachers and principals and taking their views seriously, the WTU would have a lot less power and I believe teachers would, for the most part, step up and take on more responsibility. But the mayor likes to rule by fiat and the chancellor is her puppet so here we are.

[Anonymous]

Another problem with the legislation proposed by White and George is that they're suggesting that DCPS can't reopen as it was pre-pandemic due to not serving certain groups of children well. So they can say we're not ready to reopen until systemic racism and discrimination are resolved. The issues they want to resolve would take lifetimes. And who would decide when DCPS is ready to open if this passes? WTU and their supporters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if a publicly elected school board is the answer but it does seem like something is broken. The council does not seem to be able to provide any type of oversight. The past few chancellors have been really flawed. Not to mention the mayor is still way too in the weeds on some things to protect her interests and punish others.

Running DCPS is by no means an easy job. However I don't think anyone thinks we are getting good service from the current system.

We definitely are not, but the answer is definitely NOT to give more control to teachers unions who will further prioritize themselves at the expense of what’s good for kids.

I actually don’t agree with you. I think teachers are behaving this way exactly because they have never been listened to and they feel disenfranchised. Teachers as a block are treated very poorly in this country and now it is coming to bite us. If the mayor and the chancellor spent some time actually listening to teachers and principals and taking their views seriously, the WTU would have a lot less power and I believe teachers would, for the most part, step up and take on more responsibility. But the mayor likes to rule by fiat and the chancellor is her puppet so here we are.

This has to be one of the dumbest arguments I've ever seen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like Robert White, generally support WTU, and don't really understand the Tweet. I could understand it as a call to help make virtual learning work for students who need more, e.g., students with IEPs. I don't think enough effort has been made there by DCPS; it's probably hard to decide to make that effort if return to school is "just around the corner."

I'd like to see schools reopen, but I'd like to do it on a schedule the majority of parents who don't speak English and the majority of parents in Ward 7 and Ward 8 would choose.

I would like the State Board of Education to have power over DC education, not all, but not none. I would like it to have DCPS teachers and charter teachers on it. Partly for the same reason I would like to have more parents of DCPS students on the DC Council. Mayoral control is not responsive. It's not democratic. It's typical of the technocratic DC run either poorly by people like DGS or DCRA or highhandedly with business in mind like the Federal City Council.

A real elected board democratizes and devolves education to our elected choices.

I see here that not everyone shares these views or beliefs about our leaders' motivations.

Sure, let the people with the least education make decisions about education. That has got to result in good policy that benefits most kids!

[Anonymous]

If you'd like we could just let the people with Ph.Ds vote. Maybe even M.D.s?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you'd like we could just let the people with Ph.Ds vote. Maybe even M.D.s?

How about only absent fathers who haven't paid child support for a year? They should be the only ones that vote on education. Yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if a publicly elected school board is the answer but it does seem like something is broken. The council does not seem to be able to provide any type of oversight. The past few chancellors have been really flawed. Not to mention the mayor is still way too in the weeds on some things to protect her interests and punish others.

Running DCPS is by no means an easy job. However I don't think anyone thinks we are getting good service from the current system.

We definitely are not, but the answer is definitely NOT to give more control to teachers unions who will further prioritize themselves at the expense of what’s good for kids.

I actually don’t agree with you. I think teachers are behaving this way exactly because they have never been listened to and they feel disenfranchised. Teachers as a block are treated very poorly in this country and now it is coming to bite us. If the mayor and the chancellor spent some time actually listening to teachers and principals and taking their views seriously, the WTU would have a lot less power and I believe teachers would, for the most part, step up and take on more responsibility. But the mayor likes to rule by fiat and the chancellor is her puppet so here we are.

This has to be one of the dumbest arguments I've ever seen.

Makes perfect sense to me. I think you didn’t get what this poster is saying. Things don’t happen in a vacuum. History and precedence cannot just be ignored because it is inconvenient to your viewpoint

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, I’m not having this legislation. Kick the charter teachers off the SBOE too - I agree that part makes no sense. But regardless of the terrible way that the chancellor and mayor have handled reopening (which has indeed been bad) WTU has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt they DO NOT have the kids best interests in mind. They advocate only for themselves. You can say that’s the purpose of a union, which is fine, but they absolutely should not be allowed to run the schools with no oversight! Completely unacceptable.

This. All of it, but especially the bolded.

Shut the Fffffff up. Where were you when they were able to raise funding for schools?
Oh wait you’re privileged a** only cares about other privileged a**es.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you'd like we could just let the people with Ph.Ds vote. Maybe even M.D.s?

How about only absent fathers who haven't paid child support for a year? They should be the only ones that vote on education. Yes.

How about no racist white can vote? That’d be even better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, I’m not having this legislation. Kick the charter teachers off the SBOE too - I agree that part makes no sense. But regardless of the terrible way that the chancellor and mayor have handled reopening (which has indeed been bad) WTU has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt they DO NOT have the kids best interests in mind. They advocate only for themselves. You can say that’s the purpose of a union, which is fine, but they absolutely should not be allowed to run the schools with no oversight! Completely unacceptable.

This. All of it, but especially the bolded.

Shut the Fffffff up. Where were you when they were able to raise funding for schools?
Oh wait you’re privileged a** only cares about other privileged a**es.

Do you have a link or something that could describe the WTU efforts?

But also: there have been people in this forum saying they are WTU members, telling everyone that the union’s job is to protect its members, not advocate for children.

[Anonymous]

If DCPS is not fully open in the fall, the effects will be felt for generations. The city’s school system will completely lose (if it hasn’t already) the credibility it has built up over the past two decades. MC/UMC families will flee to MD and VA, worsening test scores and depriving the city of tax revenue. Crime will continue to increase as bored and disillusioned teenagers get their kicks from ripping off other people’s stuff. Most importantly, the achievement gap - already monumental (ahem!) - will widen further as kids across the rest of the world go on learning while DCPS flails away with its surface tablets. If Robert White thinks that peddling such a future is going to get him elected mayor fine, but by then, DC won’t be much of a city to be mayor of.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If DCPS is not fully open in the fall, the effects will be felt for generations. The city’s school system will completely lose (if it hasn’t already) the credibility it has built up over the past two decades. MC/UMC families will flee to MD and VA, worsening test scores and depriving the city of tax revenue. Crime will continue to increase as bored and disillusioned teenagers get their kicks from ripping off other people’s stuff. Most importantly, the achievement gap - already monumental (ahem!) - will widen further as kids across the rest of the world go on learning while DCPS flails away with its surface tablets. If Robert White thinks that peddling such a future is going to get him elected mayor fine, but by then, DC won’t be much of a city to be mayor of.

I don’t think it is fair to misquote Robert White. He has not said anything about schools not opening in the fall. The chancellor alluded to it but then hastily retreated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If DCPS is not fully open in the fall, the effects will be felt for generations. The city’s school system will completely lose (if it hasn’t already) the credibility it has built up over the past two decades. MC/UMC families will flee to MD and VA, worsening test scores and depriving the city of tax revenue. Crime will continue to increase as bored and disillusioned teenagers get their kicks from ripping off other people’s stuff. Most importantly, the achievement gap - already monumental (ahem!) - will widen further as kids across the rest of the world go on learning while DCPS flails away with its surface tablets. If Robert White thinks that peddling such a future is going to get him elected mayor fine, but by then, DC won’t be much of a city to be mayor of.

I don’t think it is fair to misquote Robert White. He has not said anything about schools not opening in the fall. The chancellor alluded to it but then hastily retreated.

DME also said something to the effect that the fall would not be normal due to the lack of a pediatric vaccine... I hope that was also something he is not going to stand by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nope, I’m not having this legislation. Kick the charter teachers off the SBOE too - I agree that part makes no sense. But regardless of the terrible way that the chancellor and mayor have handled reopening (which has indeed been bad) WTU has shown beyond a shadow of a doubt they DO NOT have the kids best interests in mind. They advocate only for themselves. You can say that’s the purpose of a union, which is fine, but they absolutely should not be allowed to run the schools with no oversight! Completely unacceptable.

This. All of it, but especially the bolded.

Shut the Fffffff up. Where were you when they were able to raise funding for schools?
Oh wait you’re privileged a** only cares about other privileged a**es.

Do you have a link or something that could describe the WTU efforts?

But also: there have been people in this forum saying they are WTU members, telling everyone that the union’s job is to protect its members, not advocate for children.

Oh wow seriously? So you can remember #onlywhenit'ssafe but not #fullyfundourschools?

That's hilarious. And yes, the union's main duty is to protect teachers, however prior to this I assure you they were doing very little for teachers and all their focus was on students (title 1 students specifically W 7/8) and changing impact.