Is this the end of parents in schools (ACPS)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been reading all the posts. Frankly, I don't want any of you in the school building while my kid is there. You all sound off your rockers. You are more interested in your own self-interest than you are about the safety, health and physical, of the children in the schools.

After hours? Have at it. While students are in the building? Nope, there is no reason for you to be there.

If you want to attend your child's "graduation" from kindergarten or fifth grade or eighth grade, then those ceremonies can be held after school when other students are not in the building. The high school graduation is already off campus so that is not germane to this discussion.

What danger is there to students if a small groups of masked new-to-school parents are shown around the premises? For goodness' sake.

It is a public school. You don't get to shop. If you want to shop, then you go to private. Otherwise, wait until summer when there are no kids there and THEN get the tour.

Nonsense. I can say definitively that at one point prospective parents were allowed to tour ACPS schools while school was in session. So the idea that this is somehow outrageous speaks both to how far people are willing to lower their standards to justify this district's chaos and how delusional people are in thinking even the most basic requests are outside the norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been reading all the posts. Frankly, I don't want any of you in the school building while my kid is there. You all sound off your rockers. You are more interested in your own self-interest than you are about the safety, health and physical, of the children in the schools.

After hours? Have at it. While students are in the building? Nope, there is no reason for you to be there.

If you want to attend your child's "graduation" from kindergarten or fifth grade or eighth grade, then those ceremonies can be held after school when other students are not in the building. The high school graduation is already off campus so that is not germane to this discussion.

What danger is there to students if a small groups of masked new-to-school parents are shown around the premises? For goodness' sake.

It is a public school. You don't get to shop. If you want to shop, then you go to private. Otherwise, wait until summer when there are no kids there and THEN get the tour.

Nonsense. I can say definitively that at one point prospective parents were allowed to tour ACPS schools while school was in session. So the idea that this is somehow outrageous speaks both to how far people are willing to lower their standards to justify this district's chaos and how delusional people are in thinking even the most basic requests are outside the norm.

Absolutely. We toured the ACPS elementary before kindergarten six years ago.

[Anonymous]

Yes. In the past tours of school during school hours was completely commonplace.

[Anonymous]

And now that needs to change. Tours can be held after school when the little ones are out of the building. If your purpose is, as you state, to see the school then you will see far more of it if there are no children there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would never leave my child in a school where I was not welcome to visit. Find a new school this is a ridiculous ask.

I’m sorry you’ve just awakened from a two-year coma. Must be tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS allowed parents into the school this school year starting in the fall. Doesn't seem right that Alexandria is still hiding behind covid when the schools are open and mask optional. I will contact the school board. I suggest you do the same. Hopefully things will change by September.

You demanded your kids be back in person and they are. You screamed it was OMG ABOUT EDUCATION!!! Sit down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our public schools seem to consider parents a hassle, so why deal with parents if they aren’t forced to?

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And now that needs to change. Tours can be held after school when the little ones are out of the building. If your purpose is, as you state, to see the school then you will see far more of it if there are no children there.

This is such a bizarre take but totally in line with the “F you” attitude that has become commonplace when someone pushes back on the ACPS choices that have driven people away.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents should NOT be allowed in the building during Covid. It adds another health of threat to kids and teachers. I think the number of outsiders, non-school staff or visitors, should be very limited and virtually non-existent. There is no reason why a parent needs to be in the building for an IEP or a parent-teacher conference. There also is no reason for a parent to be in the building during the school day while other kids and school staff are there.

I am sorry, but two thirds (probably) of teachers, staff and kids at a school of nearly 900 kids have been walking around unmasked, eating lunch together, not spaced out in a crowded cafeteria indoors, with no outbreaks, for months. But parent teacher conferences, scheduled parent volunteers, Back to School Night, Concerts, annual 504/IEP meetings, field trips, and literally everything else are all online, if they are even happening. We have never been just roaming the halls unfettered before COVID, but blaming this on student safety is BS. And if they really want to protect kids they can do events outdoors, make them hybrid for uncomfortable parents (I mean, your kids are in public school FFS), and require masks for those non-students in attendance (no governor mandate on parents). I just don’t understand why we are still acting like it’s March 2021 just about this one thing. It’s almost like they are afraid of the additional accountability having parents in schools might mean (not me over here not trusting ACPS to do what’s best for kids).

Do you not read the news? Do you not follow the statistics on Covid?

Some of you are pretty unbelievable in your ignorance about the pandemic. No wonder we're still floundering.

I am very COVID cautious and in reality it would have been better to keep everyone masked in school and allow parents in wearing masks. Unmasking teachers and students, while using COVID as an excuse for keeping parents out of buildings falls flat in terms of a valid COVID precaution.

OP here and this exactly. And despite our “floundering”, hospitals aren’t overrun and there is no crisis anymore. No one in my office wears a mask anymore. As long as we are back to normal everywhere else (planes, buses, restaurants, workplaces) it does not make sense to keep saying “Oh, but COVID” when it comes to schools or just makes teachers and administrators’ jobs easier. Not to mention that the risk for children is so very low, and they have had plenty of opportunities to get vaccinated if they want (5+, or all elementary and up).

Has it escaped your notice that an office environment is completely different than a school environment?

In an office environment you have 1 person per every 100 square feet (9 people in 900 square feet). In a school environment you have 1 person per every 20 square feet (45 people in 900 square feet). That's a pretty big difference in occupancy loads.

The risk is schools is much higher than the risk in a normal office.

I don’t know about you, but I sit in conference rooms with more than 1 person per 100 sq ft daily, and for hours at a time, and my staff sits less than 6’ apart from each other. And the school risk existed before parents showed up anyway. Where do you think kids are heading home to every night?

ACPS dragged a bunch of ACHS seniors, none of whom my kids know, on a walking tour/photo op through my kids’ elementary school with school board members in tow, none wearing masks, indoors, in crowded hallways with kids cheering, yet I’m not allowed in for a parent teacher conference or to watch my *own* child’s performance? Where are the priorities? It was never about student safety or risk and still isn’t. Take your ACPS Kool-aid and serve it somewhere else.

This is absolutely inappropriate when parents can't come in the building for any reason.

And do what, be disruptive? Why do you need to be there besides for parent pick-up, conferences, PTA, and events you were invited to?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been reading all the posts. Frankly, I don't want any of you in the school building while my kid is there. You all sound off your rockers. You are more interested in your own self-interest than you are about the safety, health and physical, of the children in the schools.

After hours? Have at it. While students are in the building? Nope, there is no reason for you to be there.

If you want to attend your child's "graduation" from kindergarten or fifth grade or eighth grade, then those ceremonies can be held after school when other students are not in the building. The high school graduation is already off campus so that is not germane to this discussion.

What danger is there to students if a small groups of masked new-to-school parents are shown around the premises? For goodness' sake.

It is a public school. You don't get to shop. If you want to shop, then you go to private. Otherwise, wait until summer when there are no kids there and THEN get the tour.

Nonsense. I can say definitively that at one point prospective parents were allowed to tour ACPS schools while school was in session. So the idea that this is somehow outrageous speaks both to how far people are willing to lower their standards to justify this district's chaos and how delusional people are in thinking even the most basic requests are outside the norm.

Teachers, admin, and staff don’t want you there are the time. Is that really hard to understand? COVID finally gave schools the power to set new ground rules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I've been reading all the posts. Frankly, I don't want any of you in the school building while my kid is there. You all sound off your rockers. You are more interested in your own self-interest than you are about the safety, health and physical, of the children in the schools.

After hours? Have at it. While students are in the building? Nope, there is no reason for you to be there.

If you want to attend your child's "graduation" from kindergarten or fifth grade or eighth grade, then those ceremonies can be held after school when other students are not in the building. The high school graduation is already off campus so that is not germane to this discussion.

What danger is there to students if a small groups of masked new-to-school parents are shown around the premises? For goodness' sake.

It is a public school. You don't get to shop. If you want to shop, then you go to private. Otherwise, wait until summer when there are no kids there and THEN get the tour.

Nonsense. I can say definitively that at one point prospective parents were allowed to tour ACPS schools while school was in session. So the idea that this is somehow outrageous speaks both to how far people are willing to lower their standards to justify this district's chaos and how delusional people are in thinking even the most basic requests are outside the norm.

Teachers, admin, and staff don’t want you there are the time. Is that really hard to understand? COVID finally gave schools the power to set new ground rules.

Was that supposed to be “all the time”? Sorry, that was really hard to understand.

The teachers and staff at my ACPS school didn’t seem to mind the free help I and others gave when they asked for it: tutoring, shelving books in the library, helping with K science. And I was glad to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
And do what, be disruptive? Why do you need to be there besides for parent pick-up, conferences, PTA, and events you were invited to?

Oh gee IDK to SEE THE FACILITIES our kids will be learning in? How daft are you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents should NOT be allowed in the building during Covid. It adds another health of threat to kids and teachers. I think the number of outsiders, non-school staff or visitors, should be very limited and virtually non-existent. There is no reason why a parent needs to be in the building for an IEP or a parent-teacher conference. There also is no reason for a parent to be in the building during the school day while other kids and school staff are there.

I am sorry, but two thirds (probably) of teachers, staff and kids at a school of nearly 900 kids have been walking around unmasked, eating lunch together, not spaced out in a crowded cafeteria indoors, with no outbreaks, for months. But parent teacher conferences, scheduled parent volunteers, Back to School Night, Concerts, annual 504/IEP meetings, field trips, and literally everything else are all online, if they are even happening. We have never been just roaming the halls unfettered before COVID, but blaming this on student safety is BS. And if they really want to protect kids they can do events outdoors, make them hybrid for uncomfortable parents (I mean, your kids are in public school FFS), and require masks for those non-students in attendance (no governor mandate on parents). I just don’t understand why we are still acting like it’s March 2021 just about this one thing. It’s almost like they are afraid of the additional accountability having parents in schools might mean (not me over here not trusting ACPS to do what’s best for kids).

Do you not read the news? Do you not follow the statistics on Covid?

Some of you are pretty unbelievable in your ignorance about the pandemic. No wonder we're still floundering.

I am very COVID cautious and in reality it would have been better to keep everyone masked in school and allow parents in wearing masks. Unmasking teachers and students, while using COVID as an excuse for keeping parents out of buildings falls flat in terms of a valid COVID precaution.

OP here and this exactly. And despite our “floundering”, hospitals aren’t overrun and there is no crisis anymore. No one in my office wears a mask anymore. As long as we are back to normal everywhere else (planes, buses, restaurants, workplaces) it does not make sense to keep saying “Oh, but COVID” when it comes to schools or just makes teachers and administrators’ jobs easier. Not to mention that the risk for children is so very low, and they have had plenty of opportunities to get vaccinated if they want (5+, or all elementary and up).

Has it escaped your notice that an office environment is completely different than a school environment?

In an office environment you have 1 person per every 100 square feet (9 people in 900 square feet). In a school environment you have 1 person per every 20 square feet (45 people in 900 square feet). That's a pretty big difference in occupancy loads.

The risk is schools is much higher than the risk in a normal office.

I don’t know about you, but I sit in conference rooms with more than 1 person per 100 sq ft daily, and for hours at a time, and my staff sits less than 6’ apart from each other. And the school risk existed before parents showed up anyway. Where do you think kids are heading home to every night?

ACPS dragged a bunch of ACHS seniors, none of whom my kids know, on a walking tour/photo op through my kids’ elementary school with school board members in tow, none wearing masks, indoors, in crowded hallways with kids cheering, yet I’m not allowed in for a parent teacher conference or to watch my *own* child’s performance? Where are the priorities? It was never about student safety or risk and still isn’t. Take your ACPS Kool-aid and serve it somewhere else.

This is absolutely inappropriate when parents can't come in the building for any reason.

And do what, be disruptive? Why do you need to be there besides for parent pick-up, conferences, PTA, and events you were invited to?

Isn’t OP’s point that parents are not being invited to any in person events?

[Anonymous]

Parent tours aren't that great anyway. When we did ours, we weren't exactly told about all the mold and asbestos in the school and the classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
And do what, be disruptive? Why do you need to be there besides for parent pick-up, conferences, PTA, and events you were invited to?

Oh gee IDK to SEE THE FACILITIES our kids will be learning in? How daft are you?

See the facilities? It’s a bunch of rooms with desks and chairs, then they show you the gymnasium and cafeteria. Use your imagination, it’ll look like that.