DCPS Employee Return to In Person Work Guidance

[Anonymous]

I’m so sick of everyone pretending this is definitely over in 6 months or a year. It’s possible there could be no vaccine ever. The idea that we’re just going to stop educating kids indefinitely is absurd. Back to school, with whatever restrictions can still accommodate 100% in person for whoever opts in. Rolling shutdowns as supplies of hospital beds or ICU beds get short whether from COVID or something else. We let quashing the curve go long ago, so it’s time to stop pretending that the flattening the curve approach we took doesn’t mean back to school now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What WTU “wants” isn’t clear; what it’s asking for at this point is definitely not just that some particular set of rules will ultimately be followed.

The 28 page Memorandum of Agreement is very specific in its demands.

[Anonymous]

From the CDC:


“Schools should be the first to open and the last to close,” the official said. “Kids need to physically be in school."
The officials comments' echo that of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which put out new guidance last week that "…strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.”


YES !!!! thank You

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the WTU planning a strike if they don’t get specific demands?

It is illegal to strike in DC. They are asking us to refuse to return to in-person learning. If we refuse, our options are to document with a medical reason and use one of the leave options or quit/be fired.

Wait....the WTU as an organization is asking its members to refuse to return to in-person learning? Am I understanding that correctly? So the union is not really advocating for conditions at schools but rather the ability to never do the job of teaching in-person? I really hope I'm misunderstanding you, PP.

You aren't understanding correctly. Or you only read one post. They have a (now) 28 page list of demands. If THOSE demands are not met, they will ask us to refuse to return to in person learning. "Motion 1: WTU Members will engage in distance learning only, until the health protections in the WTU Memorandum of Agreement and set by the CDC and OSSE are fully met and implemented in collaboration with the WTU."

How will compliance with cleaning and spacing of desks, PPE be established prior to re-open date

Seems logical to do inspections during the bridge program in August

Teachers can’t say “ you aren’t cleaning “ when schools are closed still and just act like miles and refuse to budge

There has to be some community effort and presumption of good faith here folks

It’s the kids that are suffering . Keep them at forefront

Teachers who refuse to go back even when inspections show cleaning and spacing criteria are met can be fired for abandoning their job ( sans Filed FMLA )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What WTU “wants” isn’t clear; what it’s asking for at this point is definitely not just that some particular set of rules will ultimately be followed.

The 28 page Memorandum of Agreement is very specific in its demands.

But many of the things can’t happen or be specified until a plan is nailed down which can’t happen until teachers answer their surveys. WTU is operating in such bad faith at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From the CDC:


“Schools should be the first to open and the last to close,” the official said. “Kids need to physically be in school."
The officials comments' echo that of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which put out new guidance last week that "…strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.”


YES !!!! thank You

So what level of distancing is CDC now recommending?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think a big problem is that teachers don't trust DCPS admin and that makes us reluctant to return to work when we feel like they probably won't take adequate steps to protect us. I would love to teach in person and see my students again but I don't have much faith that DCPS will do much to keep me safe. Most teachers I know feel the same. Nobody thinks that central office is going to help us because they never have up to now. IMPACT has seriously eroded trust in admin. There is a gotcha culture towards teachers. So now we don't feel safe. But we love our students and want to come back. It's not unreasonable to feel scared about it and nervous.

+1

To close out for this school year the teachers at my school were promised that there would be temperature checks at the door. There was no one at my school taking temps. My classroom had not been cleaned that entire distant learning time.

+1

When individual schools were closed for a deep cleaning in March, nothing was cleaned. Then central office staff came and lied to teachers saying cleaning crews came through. Nothing was moved on desks, kids' desks still dirty, etc. They really don't care.

Wow, this is awful. Thank you for sharing so now I understand what teachers are so concerned about. DCPS needs to take this much more seriously. What will it take? Asking seriously. In these areas charters have it better I feel, or can, if they are able to have more trust and care more about the individuals in the buildings. But, no one has extra funds for building upgrades - that has to come from somewhere. We can’t expect to have schools open on the same budgets as pre covid.

I'm a unionized DC nurse and a DCPS kindergarten parent. This is appalling. Our nursing and teaching unions should work in solidarity to push for better sanitation, facilities management, and support for all stakeholders in returning to school safely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also, keep in mind that schools won’t be able to rely on parents to supply wipes and other cleaning products the way they normally do. I’m not able to find appropriate products for my home, and this is my full time job as a SAHM.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What WTU “wants” isn’t clear; what it’s asking for at this point is definitely not just that some particular set of rules will ultimately be followed.

The 28 page Memorandum of Agreement is very specific in its demands.

But many of the things can’t happen or be specified until a plan is nailed down which can’t happen until teachers answer their surveys. WTU is operating in such bad faith at this point.

But so is DCPS. If they were just trying to survey for numbers, their questions would not have been so legally and strongly worded.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:.... and self assessment? Really? You think parents who send their kids in with fevers, ringworm and lice are going to tell the truth? You’ve got to be kidding

I can't wait to see how this plays out. I'm always going back and forth with the nurse and our administration about what to do with sick students. Principal tries to get us to allow them to just hang out and lie down in our classrooms instead of enforcing pick up by parents-that's not going to fly anymore (it never should have).

At least you have a nurse. We have like 3 not sure if we have a nurse every day. I know a lot of charters don’t. Concerning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Of the 500 or so kids 18 and younger who contracted covid ( out of 300 million population in Europe) , there were 4 fatalities:

Four patients, all older than 10 years, had a fatal outcome (CFR 0·69%, 95% CI 0·20–1·82), with death occurring at 3, 9, 11, and 17 days after symptom onset. Two patients had no known pre-existing medical conditions; one had a cardiorespiratory arrest before arrival at the hospital and resuscitation was unsuccessful and the other died while being mechanically ventilated in ICU. The third patient had undergone human stem cell transplant 15 months earlier. The fourth patient was managed palliatively (without intubation), due to the severity of their pre-existing medical conditions. The remaining 578 patients were alive when the study closed. 93 (16%) individuals never developed clinical symptoms. In 460 (80%) individuals, all symptoms had resolved without apparent sequelae, whereas 25 (4%) were still symptomatic or were requiring respiratory support when the study closed.

So , if your kid has had recent chemo or is on active immune supressants for bone marrow or organ transplant or has severe lung or cardiac disease , keep them home and they will get DL support. Its the law.

Thousands of children tested positive in Florida in the past few weeks.

Also several students at my school lost their parents to covid. It’s still going around in their homes and families as funerals and family gatherings have been occurring. I hope you are okay with those children being in the same room as your kids for 6 hours a day including lunch. Also be sure to send your kid to school with soap and toilet paper.

[Anonymous]

I just called and fmla does not provide income just job security.

You may qualify for paid time off for the birth or adoption of a child but that’s it.

There is a pot of money for those impacted by covid but it appears that many people will be applying for that across all professions with teachers being provided the option to work will likely not be able to access this.


Basically we can show up, quit, take our leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also, keep in mind that schools won’t be able to rely on parents to supply wipes and other cleaning products the way they normally do. I’m not able to find appropriate products for my home, and this is my full time job as a SAHM.

+1

As a teacher I’ve been trying to stock up this summer but boy supplies are hard to come by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:From the CDC:


“Schools should be the first to open and the last to close,” the official said. “Kids need to physically be in school."
The officials comments' echo that of the American Academy of Pediatrics, which put out new guidance last week that "…strongly advocates that all policy considerations for the coming school year should start with a goal of having students physically present in school.”


YES !!!! thank You

Yes, the ends are being used to justify the means. This is not a surprise to anyone. This economy is built on folks having lifestyles they cannot afford, on all sides of the SES spectrum. So we have accepted that we will sacrifice our lives- so you can continue to write food blog posts and lobby for your cause on the hill.

[Anonymous]

Not a comment on anything moving forward but please stop using perceived lack of cleaning when teachers went to pick up materials as a sign of anything. Deep cleaning/sanitizing is not needed if a room is empty for an extended period of time because the virus cannot survive that long in the environment. Also sanitizing may involve a fogging like cleaner that does not require things to be physically moved around.