Will the WTU illegally strike? Not return on 2/1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they strike I will never ever support teachers, the union again. This is insane. Over and over, the science shows that schools are not a place of spread. If my kids teacher doesnt show on monday, he will definitely here it from me.

But what will you really do about it? That's the rub. There's nothing parents can truly do to fight back.

Maybe consider asking why they would consider striking and possibly fight that hard to fix the problems at the school. I’m getting sick of all the anger and energy at teachers and Unions but absolutely no energy into having any idea what is actually the problem at these schools. Fight to fix the schools not to demonize people. Geez. Have you even schedule time to do walk throughs, do you have a pulse on what the problems are?

Fight to fix the HVAc! Fix the fact they had to contract out people instead of put a nurse in every school.

I think some of you all just want to be victims snd point at people to be bad guys but put no actual work in listening and fixing the very real
Problems (like mice) that exist in our schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they strike I will never ever support teachers, the union again. This is insane. Over and over, the science shows that schools are not a place of spread. If my kids teacher doesnt show on monday, he will definitely here it from me.

But what will you really do about it? That's the rub. There's nothing parents can truly do to fight back.

Maybe consider asking why they would consider striking and possibly fight that hard to fix the problems at the school. I’m getting sick of all the anger and energy at teachers and Unions but absolutely no energy into having any idea what is actually the problem at these schools. Fight to fix the schools not to demonize people. Geez. Have you even schedule time to do walk throughs, do you have a pulse on what the problems are?

Fight to fix the HVAc! Fix the fact they had to contract out people instead of put a nurse in every school.

I think some of you all just want to be victims snd point at people to be bad guys but put no actual work in listening and fixing the very real
Problems (like mice) that exist in our schools.

why should I fight those things? I think you don’t get it - we don’t trust or respect the union, so we’re not about to rally around their demands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they strike I will never ever support teachers, the union again. This is insane. Over and over, the science shows that schools are not a place of spread. If my kids teacher doesnt show on monday, he will definitely here it from me.

But what will you really do about it? That's the rub. There's nothing parents can truly do to fight back.

Maybe consider asking why they would consider striking and possibly fight that hard to fix the problems at the school. I’m getting sick of all the anger and energy at teachers and Unions but absolutely no energy into having any idea what is actually the problem at these schools. Fight to fix the schools not to demonize people. Geez. Have you even schedule time to do walk throughs, do you have a pulse on what the problems are?

Fight to fix the HVAc! Fix the fact they had to contract out people instead of put a nurse in every school.

I think some of you all just want to be victims snd point at people to be bad guys but put no actual work in listening and fixing the very real
Problems (like mice) that exist in our schools.

why should I fight those things? I think you don’t get it - we don’t trust or respect the union, so we’re not about to rally around their demands.

Also I don't think those things are the issue at all. I don't have any faith that the Union's stated "problems" are really what they care about. They have moved the goal posts and been so slimy throughout this whole thing I now trust and believe them less than I do DCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they strike I will never ever support teachers, the union again. This is insane. Over and over, the science shows that schools are not a place of spread. If my kids teacher doesnt show on monday, he will definitely here it from me.

But what will you really do about it? That's the rub. There's nothing parents can truly do to fight back.

Maybe consider asking why they would consider striking and possibly fight that hard to fix the problems at the school. I’m getting sick of all the anger and energy at teachers and Unions but absolutely no energy into having any idea what is actually the problem at these schools. Fight to fix the schools not to demonize people. Geez. Have you even schedule time to do walk throughs, do you have a pulse on what the problems are?

Fight to fix the HVAc! Fix the fact they had to contract out people instead of put a nurse in every school.

I think some of you all just want to be victims snd point at people to be bad guys but put no actual work in listening and fixing the very real
Problems (like mice) that exist in our schools.

What do mice have to do with the pandemic? Mice and rats are gross — and are all over DC, in homes and business. When they crop up, you deal with them.

But saying we need to worry about mice when trying to reopen after Covid closure is exactly what moving the goalposts means.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they strike I will never ever support teachers, the union again. This is insane. Over and over, the science shows that schools are not a place of spread. If my kids teacher doesnt show on monday, he will definitely here it from me.

But what will you really do about it? That's the rub. There's nothing parents can truly do to fight back.

Maybe consider asking why they would consider striking and possibly fight that hard to fix the problems at the school. I’m getting sick of all the anger and energy at teachers and Unions but absolutely no energy into having any idea what is actually the problem at these schools. Fight to fix the schools not to demonize people. Geez. Have you even schedule time to do walk throughs, do you have a pulse on what the problems are?

Fight to fix the HVAc! Fix the fact they had to contract out people instead of put a nurse in every school.

I think some of you all just want to be victims snd point at people to be bad guys but put no actual work in listening and fixing the very real
Problems (like mice) that exist in our schools.

why should I fight those things? I think you don’t get it - we don’t trust or respect the union, so we’re not about to rally around their demands.

Also I don't think those things are the issue at all. I don't have any faith that the Union's stated "problems" are really what they care about. They have moved the goal posts and been so slimy throughout this whole thing I now trust and believe them less than I do DCPS.

This. I had already lost faith in DCPS before covid. Now I don’t trust - and will never again vote to support - the union. Neither has the best interests of the students at heart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they strike I will never ever support teachers, the union again. This is insane. Over and over, the science shows that schools are not a place of spread. If my kids teacher doesnt show on monday, he will definitely here it from me.

But what will you really do about it? That's the rub. There's nothing parents can truly do to fight back.

Maybe consider asking why they would consider striking and possibly fight that hard to fix the problems at the school. I’m getting sick of all the anger and energy at teachers and Unions but absolutely no energy into having any idea what is actually the problem at these schools. Fight to fix the schools not to demonize people. Geez. Have you even schedule time to do walk throughs, do you have a pulse on what the problems are?

Fight to fix the HVAc! Fix the fact they had to contract out people instead of put a nurse in every school.

I think some of you all just want to be victims snd point at people to be bad guys but put no actual work in listening and fixing the very real
Problems (like mice) that exist in our schools.

What do mice have to do with the pandemic? Mice and rats are gross — and are all over DC, in homes and business. When they crop up, you deal with them.

But saying we need to worry about mice when trying to reopen after Covid closure is exactly what moving the goalposts means.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they strike I will never ever support teachers, the union again. This is insane. Over and over, the science shows that schools are not a place of spread. If my kids teacher doesnt show on monday, he will definitely here it from me.

But what will you really do about it? That's the rub. There's nothing parents can truly do to fight back.

Maybe consider asking why they would consider striking and possibly fight that hard to fix the problems at the school. I’m getting sick of all the anger and energy at teachers and Unions but absolutely no energy into having any idea what is actually the problem at these schools. Fight to fix the schools not to demonize people. Geez. Have you even schedule time to do walk throughs, do you have a pulse on what the problems are?

Fight to fix the HVAc! Fix the fact they had to contract out people instead of put a nurse in every school.

I think some of you all just want to be victims snd point at people to be bad guys but put no actual work in listening and fixing the very real
Problems (like mice) that exist in our schools.

why should I fight those things? I think you don’t get it - we don’t trust or respect the union, so we’re not about to rally around their demands.

Also I don't think those things are the issue at all. I don't have any faith that the Union's stated "problems" are really what they care about. They have moved the goal posts and been so slimy throughout this whole thing I now trust and believe them less than I do DCPS.

Agree with these 2 pp's. We know what the problem is: teachers don't want to return to work. We don't agree with this so it makes no sense to support WTU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many of us didn't blame teachers, at least those without serious, documented health problems in the spring, or in the fall. Now plenty of us with children in DCPS do blame them.

As long as healthy teachers are allowed to refuse to teach in person en masse, tens of thousands of DC kids will continue to pay an unacceptably high price socially, mentally, physically and academically.

If teaching in person isn't acceptable to fairly healthy teachers this spring, let them find new jobs. I'd rather have competent grad students/educators willing to work in school buildings teach than open-ended DL. The Mayor just doesn't need to tolerate any more self-serving WTU hijinks.

You are ridiculous. As I’ve said before, no one is beating down the doors to teach your child. DCPS already has numerous vacancies for a reason. Stop asking good teachers to quit.

DP, but I think you are also carrying things too far. I don't think we're there yet, but there is a line where it makes sense to consider what the optinos are to go forward with different personnel. Again, we're not there yet, but with the WTU behavior we're closer than we were in August. For me, if we find ourselves in a position where the other strains that have emerged today are escaping the vaccines and teachers continue to balk at finding more effective ways to instruct, it's time to consider more radical options with our schooling dollars.

This. I wasn't thinking along these lines in April or even August, but schools have now been closed for almost a year and are only partially reopening in February with no plan to fully reopen. Many students won't have ANY opportunity for in person learning with a teacher from March, 2020 until September, 2021 at the earliest in the BEST CASE SCENARIO (and much later if WTU gets their way). I'd like to see some innovative ways to provide job opportunities to teachers willing to go back. DCPS could offer tuition reimbursement to paras so they could get their foot in the door to a higher-paying career. Student loan repayments for college grads. Signing bonuses with agreement to work x number of years. Waive certifications for a period of time. COVID won't be eradicated anytime soon and children need to go to school. Not just elementary students, but MS and HS too.

PS, we're not asking teachers to quit now. Rather DCPS would require teaching to be in person and the teacher could decide whether to meet the job requirements and return to work, quit, or if necessary then be removed for being AWOL. Keeping schools closed is a public health crisis and can't continue indefinitely.

I agree with this as well and think they actually should have thought through some of this before this school year started. Over the summer DCPS could have created standardized pre-recorded lessons for DL (as in 1 really excellent teacher giving 30 min lessons on topic A-D, another teacher on topics E-H, etc.) They could have used veteran teachers using their old lesson plans so it wouldn't be alot of extra work. They could have created these on the district level and that would have opened up teachers at the school level to have more small group and 1:1 time with students without increasing teacher workload. We could have avoided dumbing down the curriculum so much and spent more individualized time with the kids who need it most. I think it would have been more effective than what I am currently seeing, which is alot of time each morning with 5-10 wasted minutes getting everyone setup for a 30 minute session. I think it would have been less stressful on teachers and better for students. My disappointment at this point is the inability for DCPS to assess a situation and pivot. We've been in the same holding pattern for close to a year. And if there's any inkling of it continuing into fall, we need to pivot and rethink the system entirely. If teachers are going to leave, fine. Let's figure out who's going to leave, funnel that money to those that want to stay, and find workable solutions instead of treading water.

I'm the pp you're responding to and that's not at all what I said. DCPS needs to come up with ways to entice new *in-person* teachers with incentives to replace the teachers who can't/won't return to work, not come up with ways to tweak distance learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many of us didn't blame teachers, at least those without serious, documented health problems in the spring, or in the fall. Now plenty of us with children in DCPS do blame them.

As long as healthy teachers are allowed to refuse to teach in person en masse, tens of thousands of DC kids will continue to pay an unacceptably high price socially, mentally, physically and academically.

If teaching in person isn't acceptable to fairly healthy teachers this spring, let them find new jobs. I'd rather have competent grad students/educators willing to work in school buildings teach than open-ended DL. The Mayor just doesn't need to tolerate any more self-serving WTU hijinks.

You are ridiculous. As I’ve said before, no one is beating down the doors to teach your child. DCPS already has numerous vacancies for a reason. Stop asking good teachers to quit.

DP, but I think you are also carrying things too far. I don't think we're there yet, but there is a line where it makes sense to consider what the optinos are to go forward with different personnel. Again, we're not there yet, but with the WTU behavior we're closer than we were in August. For me, if we find ourselves in a position where the other strains that have emerged today are escaping the vaccines and teachers continue to balk at finding more effective ways to instruct, it's time to consider more radical options with our schooling dollars.

That’s fine. But you still won’t find teachers willing to work in DCPS. Maybe you can teach your kids your self. Since apparently the charters are not opening either.

That's what parents of young elementary students are doing right now.

[Anonymous]

Mice are obviously not a good example. But flagging issues relating to ventilation and hand soap and sealed windows are- and can be promptly fixed so the return to school can proceed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they strike I will never ever support teachers, the union again. This is insane. Over and over, the science shows that schools are not a place of spread. If my kids teacher doesnt show on monday, he will definitely here it from me.

But what will you really do about it? That's the rub. There's nothing parents can truly do to fight back.

Maybe consider asking why they would consider striking and possibly fight that hard to fix the problems at the school. I’m getting sick of all the anger and energy at teachers and Unions but absolutely no energy into having any idea what is actually the problem at these schools. Fight to fix the schools not to demonize people. Geez. Have you even schedule time to do walk throughs, do you have a pulse on what the problems are?

Fight to fix the HVAc! Fix the fact they had to contract out people instead of put a nurse in every school.

I think some of you all just want to be victims snd point at people to be bad guys but put no actual work in listening and fixing the very real
Problems (like mice) that exist in our schools.

What do mice have to do with the pandemic? Mice and rats are gross — and are all over DC, in homes and business. When they crop up, you deal with them.

But saying we need to worry about mice when trying to reopen after Covid closure is exactly what moving the goalposts means.

It's the ideal example though. The teachers live in a bubble where they have convinved themsleves that things are perfect for everyone else so they can hold out till life comes to them on a silver platter. With all their WTU protections they're disconnected from the world most others are in where you can't just tell your employeer you aren't showing up and expect to keep your job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they strike I will never ever support teachers, the union again. This is insane. Over and over, the science shows that schools are not a place of spread. If my kids teacher doesnt show on monday, he will definitely here it from me.

But what will you really do about it? That's the rub. There's nothing parents can truly do to fight back.

Maybe consider asking why they would consider striking and possibly fight that hard to fix the problems at the school. I’m getting sick of all the anger and energy at teachers and Unions but absolutely no energy into having any idea what is actually the problem at these schools. Fight to fix the schools not to demonize people. Geez. Have you even schedule time to do walk throughs, do you have a pulse on what the problems are?

Fight to fix the HVAc! Fix the fact they had to contract out people instead of put a nurse in every school.

I think some of you all just want to be victims snd point at people to be bad guys but put no actual work in listening and fixing the very real
Problems (like mice) that exist in our schools.

What do mice have to do with the pandemic? Mice and rats are gross — and are all over DC, in homes and business. When they crop up, you deal with them.

But saying we need to worry about mice when trying to reopen after Covid closure is exactly what moving the goalposts means.

It's the ideal example though. The teachers live in a bubble where they have convinved themsleves that things are perfect for everyone else so they can hold out till life comes to them on a silver platter. With all their WTU protections they're disconnected from the world most others are in where you can't just tell your employeer you aren't showing up and expect to keep your job.

Plus the special teacher bus that is supposed to pick them all up and get them to schools because public transportation is unsafe or inconvenient. Or the teacher day care center that is supposed to take care of their kids now.

[Anonymous]

Nasty non-low SES parents, I'm glad you don't care about mice, HVAC issues, broken windows, no soap, no toilet paper, a non-working heater, broken lights, etc. in some of our non-NW schools.

Thank you for showing our low SES Black and Brown families that you never cared about them but instead want to talk about how teachers as a collective do not want to do their jobs.

Perhaps if your heads weren't so far up your a**** you'd see that the issues schools have do relate to covid. I haven't seen a grocery store, restaurant, or hospital open with these issues.

Teachers are working, yes I do see even if it's more work it's a lesser quality. I 100% agree, but again it's a pandemic. You can compare to other nations all you want. I have family in Australia and Japan, the protocols were very different than here. I'm sorry no one here seems to want to let that be the truth.

Even though you may hate it some teachers have also discovered their worth through this pandemic, that public school teachers are actually ESSENTIAL to society. They want to be treated as such and that's still not happening. I definitely think that's part of the issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nasty non-low SES parents, I'm glad you don't care about mice, HVAC issues, broken windows, no soap, no toilet paper, a non-working heater, broken lights, etc. in some of our non-NW schools.

Thank you for showing our low SES Black and Brown families that you never cared about them but instead want to talk about how teachers as a collective do not want to do their jobs.

Perhaps if your heads weren't so far up your a**** you'd see that the issues schools have do relate to covid. I haven't seen a grocery store, restaurant, or hospital open with these issues.

Teachers are working, yes I do see even if it's more work it's a lesser quality. I 100% agree, but again it's a pandemic. You can compare to other nations all you want. I have family in Australia and Japan, the protocols were very different than here. I'm sorry no one here seems to want to let that be the truth.

Even though you may hate it some teachers have also discovered their worth through this pandemic, that public school teachers are actually ESSENTIAL to society. They want to be treated as such and that's still not happening. I definitely think that's part of the issue.

I think it’s not that people don’t care. It’s that you’re naming things that have literally nothing to do with the pandemic and admitting that teachers are holding kids’ educations hostage over demands that predate and are unrelated to the pandemic. I love that you jump to racism, but all of the evidence is that the lower SES you are, the farther behind you’re falling via DL. We can debate the reasons many of those students’ parents don’t want them to return anyway (a fact that I accept is true), but it’s still very much the case that the WTU is willing to hold hostage the futures of even low SES kids who do want to return. Remember when they even opposed CARES classrooms staffed by not them? Yeah. Not a lot of credibility left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nasty non-low SES parents, I'm glad you don't care about mice, HVAC issues, broken windows, no soap, no toilet paper, a non-working heater, broken lights, etc. in some of our non-NW schools.

Thank you for showing our low SES Black and Brown families that you never cared about them but instead want to talk about how teachers as a collective do not want to do their jobs.

Perhaps if your heads weren't so far up your a**** you'd see that the issues schools have do relate to covid. I haven't seen a grocery store, restaurant, or hospital open with these issues.

Teachers are working, yes I do see even if it's more work it's a lesser quality. I 100% agree, but again it's a pandemic. You can compare to other nations all you want. I have family in Australia and Japan, the protocols were very different than here. I'm sorry no one here seems to want to let that be the truth.

Even though you may hate it some teachers have also discovered their worth through this pandemic, that public school teachers are actually ESSENTIAL to society. They want to be treated as such and that's still not happening. I definitely think that's part of the issue.

Someday, hopefully someone will ask why DCPS elected to invest hundreds of millions of dollars in renovating DC high schools in a "if they build it they will come" campaign with the end result of under enrolled, low performing schools instead of investing all that hundreds of millions of dollars in elementary schools to fix all the problems that still exist today. Or the "Alice Deal for All" bullshit political campaign.

The problem starts at the top with the people making the decisions how the money is spent. Hold them accountable.