All schools should offer an all-virtual option

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That isn't what OP is asking for. We want something that bridges the gap to the vaccine, creates a structure for the inevitable back-and-forth to virtual for those families who prefer in-person, and maintains the belonging to their own school community.

I want a 4 bedroom, 4 bathroom single family home with a large yard, near rock creek park but on the east side. And, I want it for 650k or less.

If we are taking about things we want that are completely unrealistic.

No, we are talking about strictly what was offered last year at plenty of schools around the country and in DC.
There are various names for it, depending on the state, simulcast in DC, concurrent elsewhere in the DMV.
Teachers and districts have a year+ of collective, global even, experience with it, and we have the delta variant staring us in the face.

You know what we educators have? Data. Data that shows what a gross disservice all of this was to many many many kids and mostly to the kids who were already struggling the most. If you can swing virtual fine, you can keep your kid learning fine. Select homeschool or a DC virtual option (there are more than one). Maybe not in your desired bilingual program but so be it, your choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Fairfax County, parents had to apply for a virtual “academy” and provide medical documentation that their child could not attend in person. They will not be taught by teachers from their neighborhood school, but by teachers that are hired specifically for this virtual academy. If approved, they are locked into the virtual academy until the halfway point of the school year.

In a school system of over 180K students, there are under 1000 that have been accepted grade K-12.

DC has one. In a school system of 51k students, hey've accepted 19 students and rejected 19.

That isn't what OP is asking for. We want something that bridges the gap to the vaccine, creates a structure for the inevitable back-and-forth to virtual for those families who prefer in-person, and maintains the belonging to their own school community.

No. Stop being selfish. You don’t get everything catered to you. You can homeschool or do an online charter.

And you can move to a red state for the year. Stop being selfish and risking so many lives just because you decided you need your kid in a school building.
It's kind of like that.

It is not like that, sorry. (a) You can stay in blue DC and have your child attend a virtual schools and (b) The risks you are ignoring are the ones that don't apply to your children. That's redder than the post you are replying to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Fairfax County, parents had to apply for a virtual “academy” and provide medical documentation that their child could not attend in person. They will not be taught by teachers from their neighborhood school, but by teachers that are hired specifically for this virtual academy. If approved, they are locked into the virtual academy until the halfway point of the school year.

In a school system of over 180K students, there are under 1000 that have been accepted grade K-12.

DC has one. In a school system of 51k students, hey've accepted 19 students and rejected 19.

That isn't what OP is asking for. We want something that bridges the gap to the vaccine, creates a structure for the inevitable back-and-forth to virtual for those families who prefer in-person, and maintains the belonging to their own school community.

No. Stop being selfish. You don’t get everything catered to you. You can homeschool or do an online charter.

And you can move to a red state for the year. Stop being selfish and risking so many lives just because you decided you need your kid in a school building.
It's kind of like that.

It is not like that, sorry. (a) You can stay in blue DC and have your child attend a virtual schools and (b) The risks you are ignoring are the ones that don't apply to your children. That's redder than the post you are replying to.

If you are opposed to virtual class, are you comfortable with the idea that your kid would be completely isolated from their school apart from some homework assignments for weeks on time multiple times at unpredictable interval through the year, sometimes just your kids, sometimes their whole class?
That sounds awful.
What we're asking for sounds less awful for everyone.
A contingent following along from home, a less densely packed classroom, quarantining kids occasionally joining those following along virtually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With all the bad news about Delta, there are enough parents that would prefer to keep their kids all virtual for the few months until they get vaccinated. Schools should offer this. It would get kids out of the classroom, making it safer for the kids choosing in-person. Parents should not be forced to choose to leave their school in order to keep their kids safe.

I don't understand where this few months idea is originating. Perhaps in a few months YOUR kids might be vaccinated. But, that will mean nothing for the overall safety for the school community. (And, while I hope you are right, we have no idea when there will be approval.)

Also, you are not at your school when you are online everyday. There is no high quality virtual instruction. If it worked well for your family last year, that's because you have undeniable resources not available to many/most others. That's not bad ... they will serve you well at an online charter if that's what you want. But the idea that you're being forced to leave your school community when what you want is to not be there is a bit silly. (If this is a dual language school by any chance, even more so, because high quality dual language at home just doesn't happen.)

Finally, its not feasible. It may seem nice to you that kids in school would have fewer peers around but they would also have fewer teachers around and an administration trying to be two things at once. Which we saw last year, didn't work well at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

If you are opposed to virtual class, are you comfortable with the idea that your kid would be completely isolated from their school apart from some homework assignments for weeks on time multiple times at unpredictable interval through the year, sometimes just your kids, sometimes their whole class?
That sounds awful.
What we're asking for sounds less awful for everyone.
A contingent following along from home, a less densely packed classroom, quarantining kids occasionally joining those following along virtually.

My kids were online all last year and it was isolating, often unpredictable, and not an education. So, I am comfortable if we need to be home some weeks, if other weeks we are getting actual full day instruction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

If you are opposed to virtual class, are you comfortable with the idea that your kid would be completely isolated from their school apart from some homework assignments for weeks on time multiple times at unpredictable interval through the year, sometimes just your kids, sometimes their whole class?
That sounds awful.
What we're asking for sounds less awful for everyone.
A contingent following along from home, a less densely packed classroom, quarantining kids occasionally joining those following along virtually.

My kids were online all last year and it was isolating, often unpredictable, and not an education. So, I am comfortable if we need to be home some weeks, if other weeks we are getting actual full day instruction.

So you want the best for your kids, half the time, accepting that half the time nobody gets anything, and everyone is forced to take on the same amount of historical risk, instead of letting virtual families follow along. It's just so weird of you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all the bad news about Delta, there are enough parents that would prefer to keep their kids all virtual for the few months until they get vaccinated. Schools should offer this. It would get kids out of the classroom, making it safer for the kids choosing in-person. Parents should not be forced to choose to leave their school in order to keep their kids safe.

I don't understand where this few months idea is originating. Perhaps in a few months YOUR kids might be vaccinated. But, that will mean nothing for the overall safety for the school community. (And, while I hope you are right, we have no idea when there will be approval.)

Also, you are not at your school when you are online everyday. There is no high quality virtual instruction. If it worked well for your family last year, that's because you have undeniable resources not available to many/most others. That's not bad ... they will serve you well at an online charter if that's what you want. But the idea that you're being forced to leave your school community when what you want is to not be there is a bit silly. (If this is a dual language school by any chance, even more so, because high quality dual language at home just doesn't happen.)

Finally, its not feasible. It may seem nice to you that kids in school would have fewer peers around but they would also have fewer teachers around and an administration trying to be two things at once. Which we saw last year, didn't work well at all.

+1

As has been the case since March 2020, many parents have tunnel vision and when they talk about "schools" or "students" or "families", they are really only talking about their school, their student, their family.

My child is under 6. She will not be vaccinated in a few months. There are strong odds she might not be vaccinated in a year or more. She also absolutely cannot do virtual school. Trust me, if we could we would have figured it out by now. I went part time this year to try and make it work. It didn't. She needs to be in school.

If someone has an older child for whom distance learning works and does not want to be in person because of fears of delta, I support them in exploring home schooling options. But if they try to change DCPS policy to accommodate their unique minority position while arguing for what "kids need" then I will fight tooth and nail to make sure they understand that not all kids are like their kids. Stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With all the bad news about Delta, there are enough parents that would prefer to keep their kids all virtual for the few months until they get vaccinated. Schools should offer this. It would get kids out of the classroom, making it safer for the kids choosing in-person. Parents should not be forced to choose to leave their school in order to keep their kids safe.

I don't understand where this few months idea is originating. Perhaps in a few months YOUR kids might be vaccinated. But, that will mean nothing for the overall safety for the school community. (And, while I hope you are right, we have no idea when there will be approval.)

Also, you are not at your school when you are online everyday. There is no high quality virtual instruction. If it worked well for your family last year, that's because you have undeniable resources not available to many/most others. That's not bad ... they will serve you well at an online charter if that's what you want. But the idea that you're being forced to leave your school community when what you want is to not be there is a bit silly. (If this is a dual language school by any chance, even more so, because high quality dual language at home just doesn't happen.)

Finally, its not feasible. It may seem nice to you that kids in school would have fewer peers around but they would also have fewer teachers around and an administration trying to be two things at once. Which we saw last year, didn't work well at all.

What she obviously really wants is not to lose her spot at the charter or OOB school she lotteried into. It’s not really about “remaining part of the school community”.

[Anonymous]

No No No. Please stop trying to derail the return to in-person schooling in DC. I am absolutely horrified at how the supposedly well-educated DCUM parent population in DC is unbelievably incapable of critical thinking and understanding data about risk. We you not paying attention the past 18 months? DCPS schools do not have the infrastructure or staffing to manage anything less than full-time in person instruction. If you don’t want that and you do not have the proper medical justification for the virtual academy, then you pay pay for private or homeschool your children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No No No. Please stop trying to derail the return to in-person schooling in DC. I am absolutely horrified at how the supposedly well-educated DCUM parent population in DC is unbelievably incapable of critical thinking and understanding data about risk. We you not paying attention the past 18 months? DCPS schools do not have the infrastructure or staffing to manage anything less than full-time in person instruction. If you don’t want that and you do not have the proper medical justification for the virtual academy, then you pay pay for private or homeschool your children.

We can pick this conversation back up in a few weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Fairfax County, parents had to apply for a virtual “academy” and provide medical documentation that their child could not attend in person. They will not be taught by teachers from their neighborhood school, but by teachers that are hired specifically for this virtual academy. If approved, they are locked into the virtual academy until the halfway point of the school year.

In a school system of over 180K students, there are under 1000 that have been accepted grade K-12.

DC has one. In a school system of 51k students, hey've accepted 19 students and rejected 19.

That isn't what OP is asking for. We want something that bridges the gap to the vaccine, creates a structure for the inevitable back-and-forth to virtual for those families who prefer in-person, and maintains the belonging to their own school community.

No. Stop being selfish. You don’t get everything catered to you. You can homeschool or do an online charter.

And you can move to a red state for the year. Stop being selfish and risking so many lives just because you decided you need your kid in a school building.
It's kind of like that.

you HAVE options. homeschool or online charters. but you want to be catered to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In Fairfax County, parents had to apply for a virtual “academy” and provide medical documentation that their child could not attend in person. They will not be taught by teachers from their neighborhood school, but by teachers that are hired specifically for this virtual academy. If approved, they are locked into the virtual academy until the halfway point of the school year.

In a school system of over 180K students, there are under 1000 that have been accepted grade K-12.

DC has one. In a school system of 51k students, hey've accepted 19 students and rejected 19.

That isn't what OP is asking for. We want something that bridges the gap to the vaccine, creates a structure for the inevitable back-and-forth to virtual for those families who prefer in-person, and maintains the belonging to their own school community.

No. Stop being selfish. You don’t get everything catered to you. You can homeschool or do an online charter.

And you can move to a red state for the year. Stop being selfish and risking so many lives just because you decided you need your kid in a school building.
It's kind of like that.

It is not like that, sorry. (a) You can stay in blue DC and have your child attend a virtual schools and (b) The risks you are ignoring are the ones that don't apply to your children. That's redder than the post you are replying to.

If you are opposed to virtual class, are you comfortable with the idea that your kid would be completely isolated from their school apart from some homework assignments for weeks on time multiple times at unpredictable interval through the year, sometimes just your kids, sometimes their whole class?
That sounds awful.
What we're asking for sounds less awful for everyone.
A contingent following along from home, a less densely packed classroom, quarantining kids occasionally joining those following along virtually.

no. I would rather have my kid do multiple quarantines than that.

[Anonymous]

OP, you had a chance to choose virtual. Why didn’t you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:With all the bad news about Delta, there are enough parents that would prefer to keep their kids all virtual for the few months until they get vaccinated. Schools should offer this. It would get kids out of the classroom, making it safer for the kids choosing in-person. Parents should not be forced to choose to leave their school in order to keep their kids safe.

So...,just go to a virtual school. Attending virtually is the functional equivalent at not being at a particular school.

[Anonymous]

I think we are paying attention to both the past 18 months and the evolving science. No answer is going to be perfect and we want the best for all our kids.