Burgundy Farm

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“ Again, what's the solution? DL for a 5, 6, or 7 year old is not a viable solution for parents who work full-time and don't have the luxury of telecommuting for all of that time. Recognizing that this logistically does not work for my family does not mean we are choosing not to give teachers grace, or choosing to focus on the negative.

I'll be at work. My DH will be at work. My kids will be in child care where they won't always be able to DL. Again, how is Burgundy helping me to come up with a solution here? They're not. Instead, I get to pay a lot of money for nothing. I feel like my family doesn't matter.”

Do what many of us are being forced to do. Quietly form a “pod” with other parents at Burgundy.

Are you all running background checks on the other parents? There are a couple of parents who I know well, but many who I don't know well at all. Logistically, how does this work? If 2-3 kids are in each pod, then each family has to take off work to each 1-2 times per week, every week? Not doable for every family.

We are hiring someone to supervise the distance learning and outdoor activities. Google it and you can get a ton of information. DCUM public school section has a lot of tips, etc. We are hiring a college student on a gap year to supervise and moving the pod to different homes each week. Going rate is $200-$400 a kid. FCPS teachers on leave of absences for the year are also offering this service, but you have to ask around to find them because they will loose their teaching position for 2021-2022 if they get caught.

Thanks for the info. Did you have any trouble finding someone considering that at this point, you can only commit for a few weeks in September...until we get the announcement that we are DL for the rest of 2020?

Also, this makes me really worry for those families who may not be able to afford to hire someone to participate in one of these pods. This whole thing is just really, really unfair. I hope Burgundy is paying attention.

Not to mention...what are we paying 35K for exactly if we still have to pay to hire people to assist with learning? It’s a bitter pill to swallow when we are getting the same thing as the public’s and they are free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Burgundy’s mandatory GRADED online specials is the stupidest thing they have Come up with yet. Will they kick us out if my kid just skips art, drama and PE? What a joke!

It’s their attempt to make DL “robust.” It just makes our kids suffer more.

+100 I don’t know of any other school REQUIRING and GRADING online PE, Art, drama, etc. Does Burgundy understand that the kids do not need hours of non-academic classes? Please give us the academic core classes daily, but stop requiring and grading additional hours online in front of a screen. We can handle the art and PE at home for our middle school kid. This approach is the complete opposite of progressive education model.

I disagree. Asynchronous specials in the spring were a disaster. I spent all day except maybe 2 hours trying to occupy my kids while working by finding stuff for them to do at home. Synchronous specials are preferable I guess for that reason. But now our kids will be on Zoom all day. Disastrous. This is why distance learning is not an acceptable alternative for k-8!

Offer synchronous specials but do not REQUIRE or GRADE participation.

I am pretty sure you can’t record synchronous classes if any children are visible (zoom, etc.). It is a liability issue.
+1. That's the answer. Don't make it required, but offer synchronous and record so parents who are too busy to manage to log in at 1:37pm can catch up with their kid later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“ Again, what's the solution? DL for a 5, 6, or 7 year old is not a viable solution for parents who work full-time and don't have the luxury of telecommuting for all of that time. Recognizing that this logistically does not work for my family does not mean we are choosing not to give teachers grace, or choosing to focus on the negative.

I'll be at work. My DH will be at work. My kids will be in child care where they won't always be able to DL. Again, how is Burgundy helping me to come up with a solution here? They're not. Instead, I get to pay a lot of money for nothing. I feel like my family doesn't matter.”

Do what many of us are being forced to do. Quietly form a “pod” with other parents at Burgundy.

Are you all running background checks on the other parents? There are a couple of parents who I know well, but many who I don't know well at all. Logistically, how does this work? If 2-3 kids are in each pod, then each family has to take off work to each 1-2 times per week, every week? Not doable for every family.

We are hiring someone to supervise the distance learning and outdoor activities. Google it and you can get a ton of information. DCUM public school section has a lot of tips, etc. We are hiring a college student on a gap year to supervise and moving the pod to different homes each week. Going rate is $200-$400 a kid. FCPS teachers on leave of absences for the year are also offering this service, but you have to ask around to find them because they will loose their teaching position for 2021-2022 if they get caught.

Thanks for the info. Did you have any trouble finding someone considering that at this point, you can only commit for a few weeks in September...until we get the announcement that we are DL for the rest of 2020?

Also, this makes me really worry for those families who may not be able to afford to hire someone to participate in one of these pods. This whole thing is just really, really unfair. I hope Burgundy is paying attention.

Not to mention...what are we paying 35K for exactly if we still have to pay to hire people to assist with learning? It’s a bitter pill to swallow when we are getting the same thing as the public’s and they are free.

I agree and feel like my family made a HUGE mistake by not switching to public for next year. If it makes you feel better, most private school parents are in exactly the same situation and many are paying $45k+. We all took a risk by signing the contract during a pandemic and not withdrawing by June 1st.

[Anonymous]

Burgundy admin and board: please take note of Beauvoir's plans, which are very explicitly laid out. Why can't we have the same, with different plans for changing scenarios?

https://www.beauvoirschool.org/covid-19/reopening-plans

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Burgundy’s mandatory GRADED online specials is the stupidest thing they have Come up with yet. Will they kick us out if my kid just skips art, drama and PE? What a joke!

It’s their attempt to make DL “robust.” It just makes our kids suffer more.

+100 I don’t know of any other school REQUIRING and GRADING online PE, Art, drama, etc. Does Burgundy understand that the kids do not need hours of non-academic classes? Please give us the academic core classes daily, but stop requiring and grading additional hours online in front of a screen. We can handle the art and PE at home for our middle school kid. This approach is the complete opposite of progressive education model.

I disagree. Asynchronous specials in the spring were a disaster. I spent all day except maybe 2 hours trying to occupy my kids while working by finding stuff for them to do at home. Synchronous specials are preferable I guess for that reason. But now our kids will be on Zoom all day. Disastrous. This is why distance learning is not an acceptable alternative for k-8!

Offer synchronous specials but do not REQUIRE or GRADE participation.

I am pretty sure you can’t record synchronous classes if any children are visible (zoom, etc.). It is a liability issue.
+1. That's the answer. Don't make it required, but offer synchronous and record so parents who are too busy to manage to log in at 1:37pm can catch up with their kid later.

The teacher can record themselves with their webcam and not record the zoom screen.

[Anonymous]

Congressional is no longer 5 days in person on Sept 2nd FYI. It’s a strange reopening roll out that just was announced. It’s honestly hard to follow but my guess is my DD will not be in-person for long. They are trying to have everyone full day five days by mid September, but there are quite a few days where my DD (middle schooler) has listed “at home, asynchronous, no computers). Wtf?!

[Anonymous]

Burgundy families, how optimistic are you that you’ll be in person come October? Did the school see the fall out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Burgundy families, how optimistic are you that you’ll be in person come October? Did the school see the fall out?

Did the school see what fall out? I don't understand your question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Burgundy families, how optimistic are you that you’ll be in person come October? Did the school see the fall out?

Did the school see what fall out? I don't understand your question.

I think the poster means the “fall out” in terms of how parents reacted and the backlash to the lack of in-person classes.

We are still waiting to see how this unfolds and what they announce for Oct.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Burgundy families, how optimistic are you that you’ll be in person come October? Did the school see the fall out?

Did the school see what fall out? I don't understand your question.

Fall out from the schools decision to go remote+ was brutal. PR disaster for the school.
Parents are fuming. The school advertised starting full time in person all summer and then abruptly abandoned those plans with no notice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Burgundy families, how optimistic are you that you’ll be in person come October? Did the school see the fall out?

Did the school see what fall out? I don't understand your question.

Fall out from the schools decision to go remote+ was brutal. PR disaster for the school.
Parents are fuming. The school advertised starting full time in person all summer and then abruptly abandoned those plans with no notice

And then the school ordered parents to quit complaining. And then parents started complaining about each other. It’s a pretend parent co-op that is actually run by exactly one person, whose stock is sinking rapidly.

[Anonymous]

This school has been a communication and administrative disaster these past 3 months. So disappointed. And for the teachers to refuse to come to work. Terrible. They just abandoned their students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: And for the teachers to refuse to come to work. Terrible. They just abandoned their students.

I understand your frustration but I have spoken with teachers and for many of them it was a hard decision. They themselves are high risk or have family members who are high risk. These teachers are heroes during a normal school year but they are not given hazard pay. Unlike the Navy, they did not sign up knowing there was a possibility they would die.

Again, I understand your position and I feel for you. We are fortunate that remote learning works for our family. But please show the teachers some grace.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: And for the teachers to refuse to come to work. Terrible. They just abandoned their students.

I understand your frustration but I have spoken with teachers and for many of them it was a hard decision. They themselves are high risk or have family members who are high risk. These teachers are heroes during a normal school year but they are not given hazard pay. Unlike the Navy, they did not sign up knowing there was a possibility they would die.

Again, I understand your position and I feel for you. We are fortunate that remote learning works for our family. But please show the teachers some grace.

So start school with outside classrooms and move to distance learning in mid-October. Do people really believe we will suddenly go back in 3 weeks to in person school? Are the teachers ok with this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: And for the teachers to refuse to come to work. Terrible. They just abandoned their students.

I understand your frustration but I have spoken with teachers and for many of them it was a hard decision. They themselves are high risk or have family members who are high risk. These teachers are heroes during a normal school year but they are not given hazard pay. Unlike the Navy, they did not sign up knowing there was a possibility they would die.

Again, I understand your position and I feel for you. We are fortunate that remote learning works for our family. But please show the teachers some grace.

So what you’re saying is that we won’t actually be going back on campus in October. If their situations don’t allow them to come on campus now, how would that change in October?