APS - School on Monday?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I need someone to give it to me straight. What are we thinking for Monday re staffing? Please tell me my kids will be in school..

100% chance they will be in school early in the week. Later in the week, who knows. Depends how bad it goes w/ substitutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I need someone to give it to me straight. What are we thinking for Monday re staffing? Please tell me my kids will be in school..

100% chance they will be in school early in the week. Later in the week, who knows. Depends how bad it goes w/ substitutes.

Does APS have any planning in place? Have I missed some metrics as to when school will need to go virtual due to staffing issues? And will they close just certain unstaffed classrooms, entire grades, the whole school? How will staffing be prioritized (e.g. will special needs or younger Elementary kids be prioritized, can substitutes and bus drivers be allocated toward the most in need students?). And will virtual be mandatory? Distance learning didn’t work for us last year. I’d rather just go on vacation than spend the time at home on an iPad. If my kid can’t get a real education for a week or two, then I’d rather use that forced time off work for something enjoyable since I only get limited PTO.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I need someone to give it to me straight. What are we thinking for Monday re staffing? Please tell me my kids will be in school..

100% chance they will be in school early in the week. Later in the week, who knows. Depends how bad it goes w/ substitutes.

Does APS have any planning in place? Have I missed some metrics as to when school will need to go virtual due to staffing issues? And will they close just certain unstaffed classrooms, entire grades, the whole school? How will staffing be prioritized (e.g. will special needs or younger Elementary kids be prioritized, can substitutes and bus drivers be allocated toward the most in need students?). And will virtual be mandatory? Distance learning didn’t work for us last year. I’d rather just go on vacation than spend the time at home on an iPad. If my kid can’t get a real education for a week or two, then I’d rather use that forced time off work for something enjoyable since I only get limited PTO.

I can sympathize that virtual did not work for your child, but it would be very unfair to expect your child's teacher to catch them up and allow make up week if you decide to vacation during virtual. Not only that, you'd have 10 days of unexcused absences... which is an issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I need someone to give it to me straight. What are we thinking for Monday re staffing? Please tell me my kids will be in school..

100% chance they will be in school early in the week. Later in the week, who knows. Depends how bad it goes w/ substitutes.

Does APS have any planning in place? Have I missed some metrics as to when school will need to go virtual due to staffing issues? And will they close just certain unstaffed classrooms, entire grades, the whole school? How will staffing be prioritized (e.g. will special needs or younger Elementary kids be prioritized, can substitutes and bus drivers be allocated toward the most in need students?). And will virtual be mandatory? Distance learning didn’t work for us last year. I’d rather just go on vacation than spend the time at home on an iPad. If my kid can’t get a real education for a week or two, then I’d rather use that forced time off work for something enjoyable since I only get limited PTO.

I can sympathize that virtual did not work for your child, but it would be very unfair to expect your child's teacher to catch them up and allow make up week if you decide to vacation during virtual. Not only that, you'd have 10 days of unexcused absences... which is an issue.

I wouldn’t expect my child’s teacher to catch them up. Absent being able to throw together a pod like last year (which barely got us through) there will be no real substantive learning even if I hover for 6.5 hours over the iPad. Either school is open for learning or it is closed. I know a lot of other parents of young elementary kids feel similarly. What are they going to do, come after all of us for truancy if we don’t throw together some means of getting our kids to sit on an iPad for 10 days?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I need someone to give it to me straight. What are we thinking for Monday re staffing? Please tell me my kids will be in school..

100% chance they will be in school early in the week. Later in the week, who knows. Depends how bad it goes w/ substitutes.

Does APS have any planning in place? Have I missed some metrics as to when school will need to go virtual due to staffing issues? And will they close just certain unstaffed classrooms, entire grades, the whole school? How will staffing be prioritized (e.g. will special needs or younger Elementary kids be prioritized, can substitutes and bus drivers be allocated toward the most in need students?). And will virtual be mandatory? Distance learning didn’t work for us last year. I’d rather just go on vacation than spend the time at home on an iPad. If my kid can’t get a real education for a week or two, then I’d rather use that forced time off work for something enjoyable since I only get limited PTO.

I can sympathize that virtual did not work for your child, but it would be very unfair to expect your child's teacher to catch them up and allow make up week if you decide to vacation during virtual. Not only that, you'd have 10 days of unexcused absences... which is an issue.

I wouldn’t expect my child’s teacher to catch them up. Absent being able to throw together a pod like last year (which barely got us through) there will be no real substantive learning even if I hover for 6.5 hours over the iPad. Either school is open for learning or it is closed. I know a lot of other parents of young elementary kids feel similarly. What are they going to do, come after all of us for truancy if we don’t throw together some means of getting our kids to sit on an iPad for 10 days?

You have connection issues. Can’t argue with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I need someone to give it to me straight. What are we thinking for Monday re staffing? Please tell me my kids will be in school..

100% chance they will be in school early in the week. Later in the week, who knows. Depends how bad it goes w/ substitutes.

Does APS have any planning in place? Have I missed some metrics as to when school will need to go virtual due to staffing issues? And will they close just certain unstaffed classrooms, entire grades, the whole school? How will staffing be prioritized (e.g. will special needs or younger Elementary kids be prioritized, can substitutes and bus drivers be allocated toward the most in need students?). And will virtual be mandatory? Distance learning didn’t work for us last year. I’d rather just go on vacation than spend the time at home on an iPad. If my kid can’t get a real education for a week or two, then I’d rather use that forced time off work for something enjoyable since I only get limited PTO.

To answer your first questions, APS has no plan and has disclosed no metrics. They're flying by the seat of their pants. Zero leadership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I need someone to give it to me straight. What are we thinking for Monday re staffing? Please tell me my kids will be in school..

100% chance they will be in school early in the week. Later in the week, who knows. Depends how bad it goes w/ substitutes.

Does APS have any planning in place? Have I missed some metrics as to when school will need to go virtual due to staffing issues? And will they close just certain unstaffed classrooms, entire grades, the whole school? How will staffing be prioritized (e.g. will special needs or younger Elementary kids be prioritized, can substitutes and bus drivers be allocated toward the most in need students?). And will virtual be mandatory? Distance learning didn’t work for us last year. I’d rather just go on vacation than spend the time at home on an iPad. If my kid can’t get a real education for a week or two, then I’d rather use that forced time off work for something enjoyable since I only get limited PTO.

I can sympathize that virtual did not work for your child, but it would be very unfair to expect your child's teacher to catch them up and allow make up week if you decide to vacation during virtual. Not only that, you'd have 10 days of unexcused absences... which is an issue.

I wouldn’t expect my child’s teacher to catch them up. Absent being able to throw together a pod like last year (which barely got us through) there will be no real substantive learning even if I hover for 6.5 hours over the iPad. Either school is open for learning or it is closed. I know a lot of other parents of young elementary kids feel similarly. What are they going to do, come after all of us for truancy if we don’t throw together some means of getting our kids to sit on an iPad for 10 days?

Mom of 1st grader here and I am with you. We wouldn’t go anywhere (I have another in a private that is almost sure to stay open) but my 1st grader will learn more wandering the house with me and reading some books than sitting on that iPad. We definitely wouldn’t participate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I need someone to give it to me straight. What are we thinking for Monday re staffing? Please tell me my kids will be in school..

100% chance they will be in school early in the week. Later in the week, who knows. Depends how bad it goes w/ substitutes.

Does APS have any planning in place? Have I missed some metrics as to when school will need to go virtual due to staffing issues? And will they close just certain unstaffed classrooms, entire grades, the whole school? How will staffing be prioritized (e.g. will special needs or younger Elementary kids be prioritized, can substitutes and bus drivers be allocated toward the most in need students?). And will virtual be mandatory? Distance learning didn’t work for us last year. I’d rather just go on vacation than spend the time at home on an iPad. If my kid can’t get a real education for a week or two, then I’d rather use that forced time off work for something enjoyable since I only get limited PTO.

To answer your first questions, APS has no plan and has disclosed no metrics. They're flying by the seat of their pants. Zero leadership.

There are metrics put out by VDH that guide how to implement SB1303. A school can close if staff absenteeism or student absenteeism reaches a “critical level” and I think it’s defined in that guidance.

A parent can always fail their kid on the screener and then the absences will be excused because they are not allowed to be on school grounds. The kid is also then entitled access to quarantine learning that’s specified on the APS website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I need someone to give it to me straight. What are we thinking for Monday re staffing? Please tell me my kids will be in school..

100% chance they will be in school early in the week. Later in the week, who knows. Depends how bad it goes w/ substitutes.

Does APS have any planning in place? Have I missed some metrics as to when school will need to go virtual due to staffing issues? And will they close just certain unstaffed classrooms, entire grades, the whole school? How will staffing be prioritized (e.g. will special needs or younger Elementary kids be prioritized, can substitutes and bus drivers be allocated toward the most in need students?). And will virtual be mandatory? Distance learning didn’t work for us last year. I’d rather just go on vacation than spend the time at home on an iPad. If my kid can’t get a real education for a week or two, then I’d rather use that forced time off work for something enjoyable since I only get limited PTO.

To answer your first questions, APS has no plan and has disclosed no metrics. They're flying by the seat of their pants. Zero leadership.

There are metrics put out by VDH that guide how to implement SB1303. A school can close if staff absenteeism or student absenteeism reaches a “critical level” and I think it’s defined in that guidance.

A parent can always fail their kid on the screener and then the absences will be excused because they are not allowed to be on school grounds. The kid is also then entitled access to quarantine learning that’s specified on the APS website.

I've read SB1303 and it doesn't define critical staff absences, nor did I see it in the Virginia State guidance. If it's specified, what is the threshold? To my understanding each school district gets to define it themselves....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All kids should have their devices— APS made even K kinds bring them home daily this year in case we go virtual. But really, they can’t just keep closing school for staffing issues, right?

So your child will sit in a classroom with...who?

Just because 1 or 2 schools has staffing issues doesn’t mean the whole system should shut down. Sure we may need to close schools on a case by case basis but the blanket closures need to stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Alright, I need someone to give it to me straight. What are we thinking for Monday re staffing? Please tell me my kids will be in school..

100% chance they will be in school early in the week. Later in the week, who knows. Depends how bad it goes w/ substitutes.

Does APS have any planning in place? Have I missed some metrics as to when school will need to go virtual due to staffing issues? And will they close just certain unstaffed classrooms, entire grades, the whole school? How will staffing be prioritized (e.g. will special needs or younger Elementary kids be prioritized, can substitutes and bus drivers be allocated toward the most in need students?). And will virtual be mandatory? Distance learning didn’t work for us last year. I’d rather just go on vacation than spend the time at home on an iPad. If my kid can’t get a real education for a week or two, then I’d rather use that forced time off work for something enjoyable since I only get limited PTO.

To answer your first questions, APS has no plan and has disclosed no metrics. They're flying by the seat of their pants. Zero leadership.

There are metrics put out by VDH that guide how to implement SB1303. A school can close if staff absenteeism or student absenteeism reaches a “critical level” and I think it’s defined in that guidance.

A parent can always fail their kid on the screener and then the absences will be excused because they are not allowed to be on school grounds. The kid is also then entitled access to quarantine learning that’s specified on the APS website.

I've read SB1303 and it doesn't define critical staff absences, nor did I see it in the Virginia State guidance. If it's specified, what is the threshold? To my understanding each school district gets to define it themselves....

In the VDH’s Interim Guidance to K-12 School Reopening, VDH lays out the steps that school districts should undertake when making these determinations. Step 3 is considering the level of impact to a school. There are 3 criteria to consider: 1) transmission within school; 2) student absenteeism; and 3) staff capacity. There are 3 levels of school impact listed: 1) low; 2) medium; and 3) high. Look at page 6 of that guidance.

[Anonymous]

Interesting that student absenteeism is considered. May keep mine home and take (another) day off from work and homeschool.

[Anonymous]

Hoping for virtual for HS as soon as possible. Most kids can manage themselves, AP students have an opportunity to not fall behind (because fewer teachers will get infected and be out), and working parents shouldn’t need to take a day off from work to supervise them (they should be able to fix their own lunch at this point).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hoping for virtual for HS as soon as possible. Most kids can manage themselves, AP students have an opportunity to not fall behind (because fewer teachers will get infected and be out), and working parents shouldn’t need to take a day off from work to supervise them (they should be able to fix their own lunch at this point).

It would be great if APS could be proactive and do that. But their hands are tied by 1303. Thanks, APE and OpenFCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hoping for virtual for HS as soon as possible. Most kids can manage themselves, AP students have an opportunity to not fall behind (because fewer teachers will get infected and be out), and working parents shouldn’t need to take a day off from work to supervise them (they should be able to fix their own lunch at this point).

It would be great if APS could be proactive and do that. But their hands are tied by 1303. Thanks, APE and OpenFCPS.

As someone with early elementary kids, I'm enormously grateful that APS is pressured to stay open. Virtual is worthless.