no progress on virtual learning plan?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am really tired of people who are pissed off that MCPS stayed closed too long during the pandemic trying to insist that virtual learning is useless and doesn't work at all. Yes, we get it, over the course of a whole year kids fell behind where they would have been if they'd been in in-person school. That absolutely does not mean that kids can't learn anything from a few virtual snow days.

People are allowed to be pissed that schools failed children for over a year. It's okay for parents to care about that.

It didn’t fail all kids. Mine thrived in it. It’s a few days. Take the material and teach them yourself.

You could do that. You don't need MCPS's permission to teach your own kids during snow closures.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virtual learning does not work.

It will be a giant waste of time.

Yes! Because no teacher in MCPS is capable of providing instruction virtually. Far better to follow the current MCPS plan of providing no learning at all and asking Maryland to waive the required number of instructional days. /s

Try to set aside your resentment of educators for a brief moment. Of course they are capable. That has no bearing on whether there is any value to virtual learning. The majority of students will receive no benefit.

On the contrary, I was mocking your denigration of educators. My kids have done virtual learning with MCPS during Covid and several of their teachers have done it really well. And they’re older now, and virtual classes are no big deal.

+1. One of my kid’s MS teachers was on medical leave for 2 weeks but didn’t want his students to fall too far behind with the sub and did 2 evening “extra help sessions” on zoom. I listened in and the session was great-same dynamic teacher on an electronic white board.

Anyone who says virtual learning has no benefit for kids needs to go to a remedial writing and research class to learn more about evidence and nuance and the danger of making generalizations.

It’s easier for mcps staff to just scream “virtual learning is bad” because doing nothing is a lot easier than trying to do something.

MCPS just caaaannnnttt. Because it’s special. No need to tell them that NYC which is 10x bigger as a school district did virtual learning the day after the snowstorm. Alexandria district schools did it starting the Wednesday after the storm.

Anne Arundel and Baltimore have approved plans for virtual learning for snow emergencies. McPS could just do a find/replace on the name of the school district.

Some other districts doing it doesn't make it a good idea. Many other districts aren't.

Yes I’m sure districts are dying to emulate MCPS and its management of snow emergencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am really tired of people who are pissed off that MCPS stayed closed too long during the pandemic trying to insist that virtual learning is useless and doesn't work at all. Yes, we get it, over the course of a whole year kids fell behind where they would have been if they'd been in in-person school. That absolutely does not mean that kids can't learn anything from a few virtual snow days.

People are allowed to be pissed that schools failed children for over a year. It's okay for parents to care about that.

It didn’t fail all kids. Mine thrived in it. It’s a few days. Take the material and teach them yourself.

You could do that. You don't need MCPS's permission to teach your own kids during snow closures.

You don’t believe that instruction by teachers is valuable? That parents can replace teachers instantly and that kids can YouTube and teach themselves.

I guess we don’t need schools then

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am really tired of people who are pissed off that MCPS stayed closed too long during the pandemic trying to insist that virtual learning is useless and doesn't work at all. Yes, we get it, over the course of a whole year kids fell behind where they would have been if they'd been in in-person school. That absolutely does not mean that kids can't learn anything from a few virtual snow days.

People are allowed to be pissed that schools failed children for over a year. It's okay for parents to care about that.

It didn’t fail all kids. Mine thrived in it. It’s a few days. Take the material and teach them yourself.

You could do that. You don't need MCPS's permission to teach your own kids during snow closures.

You don’t believe that instruction by teachers is valuable? That parents can replace teachers instantly and that kids can YouTube and teach themselves.

I guess we don’t need schools then

I absolutely think teachers are valuable. That's why virtual isn't an adequate substitute. I think kids need live instruction by teachers who can interact with them and see what they're doing. Things you can't do well over a video screen with a fixed, narrow-FoV, low-resolution camera.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am really tired of people who are pissed off that MCPS stayed closed too long during the pandemic trying to insist that virtual learning is useless and doesn't work at all. Yes, we get it, over the course of a whole year kids fell behind where they would have been if they'd been in in-person school. That absolutely does not mean that kids can't learn anything from a few virtual snow days.

People are allowed to be pissed that schools failed children for over a year. It's okay for parents to care about that.

It didn’t fail all kids. Mine thrived in it. It’s a few days. Take the material and teach them yourself.

Nothing fails every single kid. If you're still clinging to the idea that COVID era school closures were anything other than a colossal failure at a national level, then you're totally divorced from reality.

Your kids who "thrived" (always that one description) don't matter more than the millions who didn't.

[Anonymous]

i don't get the opposition to virtual school for snow days given the alternative is a bunch of half days in late June after exams/APS where it is fully known there is no learning happening. even if it's not perfect it seems far more likely to result in learning

(and i'm a psychologist and saw a high number of kids who thrived in virtual school-- and plenty who struggled and parents often discovering kids ADHD when watching them learn from home )

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am really tired of people who are pissed off that MCPS stayed closed too long during the pandemic trying to insist that virtual learning is useless and doesn't work at all. Yes, we get it, over the course of a whole year kids fell behind where they would have been if they'd been in in-person school. That absolutely does not mean that kids can't learn anything from a few virtual snow days.

People are allowed to be pissed that schools failed children for over a year. It's okay for parents to care about that.

Go ahead and be pissed, but also try to stay rational and reasonable rather than exaggerate and insist that kids can't and won't learn anything during virtual snow days.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i don't get the opposition to virtual school for snow days given the alternative is a bunch of half days in late June after exams/APS where it is fully known there is no learning happening. even if it's not perfect it seems far more likely to result in learning

(and i'm a psychologist and saw a high number of kids who thrived in virtual school-- and plenty who struggled and parents often discovering kids ADHD when watching them learn from home )

That's not the only alternative. We could build a calendar that has enough extra days that we can handle a snow day without either. We could use designated makeup days. That's options that are much easier to implement and more effective than virtual schooling. That's what people opposed to virtual want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i don't get the opposition to virtual school for snow days given the alternative is a bunch of half days in late June after exams/APS where it is fully known there is no learning happening. even if it's not perfect it seems far more likely to result in learning

(and i'm a psychologist and saw a high number of kids who thrived in virtual school-- and plenty who struggled and parents often discovering kids ADHD when watching them learn from home )

That's not the only alternative. We could build a calendar that has enough extra days that we can handle a snow day without either. We could use designated makeup days. That's options that are much easier to implement and more effective than virtual schooling. That's what people opposed to virtual want.

I would want to use the designated make up days first. But I’d prefer the option of a virtual day here or there rather than create a school calendar with 185 days “just in case” and then we give up a week of summer in August to be ready for snow that may not materialize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am really tired of people who are pissed off that MCPS stayed closed too long during the pandemic trying to insist that virtual learning is useless and doesn't work at all. Yes, we get it, over the course of a whole year kids fell behind where they would have been if they'd been in in-person school. That absolutely does not mean that kids can't learn anything from a few virtual snow days.

+1
I find this tiresome and upsetting, too.

What's tiresome and upsetting is going through this year after year because the BoE pretends to forget MCPS's incompetence at winter decision-making every year, passing calendars without enough school days.

This is shocking to me. Those useless half days in June last year should have been a lesson to McPS to plan better and include more snow days.

This is why the state needs to require MCPS to have a 185 day school year. It's just not willing to do the planning on its own. Instead, state lawmakers are considering permanently letting MCPS have under 180 days of school a year. What a joke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am really tired of people who are pissed off that MCPS stayed closed too long during the pandemic trying to insist that virtual learning is useless and doesn't work at all. Yes, we get it, over the course of a whole year kids fell behind where they would have been if they'd been in in-person school. That absolutely does not mean that kids can't learn anything from a few virtual snow days.

People are allowed to be pissed that schools failed children for over a year. It's okay for parents to care about that.

It didn’t fail all kids. Mine thrived in it. It’s a few days. Take the material and teach them yourself.

You could do that. You don't need MCPS's permission to teach your own kids during snow closures.

You don’t believe that instruction by teachers is valuable? That parents can replace teachers instantly and that kids can YouTube and teach themselves.

I guess we don’t need schools then

You will find any excuse not to work with your kids. Hire a tutor to cover the material if you don’t like virtual and will not do it yourself. In person has videos and flipped classrooms. You are in for a shock at what happens in hs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i don't get the opposition to virtual school for snow days given the alternative is a bunch of half days in late June after exams/APS where it is fully known there is no learning happening. even if it's not perfect it seems far more likely to result in learning

(and i'm a psychologist and saw a high number of kids who thrived in virtual school-- and plenty who struggled and parents often discovering kids ADHD when watching them learn from home )

+1. These people who claim to speak for “all parents” and say that virtual school failed everyone must not be very familiar with modern education. It certainly wasn’t ideal in all circumstances, but for kids older than grade 4, it’s fine. And if all kids don’t show up perfectly ready to learn online, let’s not forget the MCPS has a high degree of in-person absenteeism as well.

Sometimes you have to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. But I guess complaining about everything is a good excuse for McPS to do nothing even as the rest of the country adopts these plans to be prepared for emergencies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i don't get the opposition to virtual school for snow days given the alternative is a bunch of half days in late June after exams/APS where it is fully known there is no learning happening. even if it's not perfect it seems far more likely to result in learning

(and i'm a psychologist and saw a high number of kids who thrived in virtual school-- and plenty who struggled and parents often discovering kids ADHD when watching them learn from home )

That's not the only alternative. We could build a calendar that has enough extra days that we can handle a snow day without either. We could use designated makeup days. That's options that are much easier to implement and more effective than virtual schooling. That's what people opposed to virtual want.

That’s ideal but cannot happen this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i don't get the opposition to virtual school for snow days given the alternative is a bunch of half days in late June after exams/APS where it is fully known there is no learning happening. even if it's not perfect it seems far more likely to result in learning

(and i'm a psychologist and saw a high number of kids who thrived in virtual school-- and plenty who struggled and parents often discovering kids ADHD when watching them learn from home )

+1. These people who claim to speak for “all parents” and say that virtual school failed everyone must not be very familiar with modern education. It certainly wasn’t ideal in all circumstances, but for kids older than grade 4, it’s fine. And if all kids don’t show up perfectly ready to learn online, let’s not forget the MCPS has a high degree of in-person absenteeism as well.

Sometimes you have to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. But I guess complaining about everything is a good excuse for McPS to do nothing even as the rest of the country adopts these plans to be prepared for emergencies.

AGREE!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i don't get the opposition to virtual school for snow days given the alternative is a bunch of half days in late June after exams/APS where it is fully known there is no learning happening. even if it's not perfect it seems far more likely to result in learning

(and i'm a psychologist and saw a high number of kids who thrived in virtual school-- and plenty who struggled and parents often discovering kids ADHD when watching them learn from home )

I don't want the June half days. I think MCPS should act responsibly when they create their calendar. We all know we're going to have more than 1 snow day the vast majority of years. We need to go back to scheduling at least 183 days. And we need to identify mid-year contingency days and *automatically* use them when snow days are called.

Virtual learning should only be considered for exceptional events that cannot otherwise be reasonably planned for. A week of snow days is not exceptional.