How would you rate how Mayor Bowser has handled DCPS reopening?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:F.

Hardly anyone in DC even has coronavirus. Why is there no in-person schooling? Daycares are open. Private schools will be opening. Why is it ok for them to be open but not public schools?

How much lower does the coronavirus caseload have to get before schools reopen? Why aren’t there any clear metrics and standards for deciding when our kids can go back to school?

She just does whatever the teachers union tells her to do.

She is afraid to do anything that’s hard.

I agree on one level, but then the suburban school districts aren't re-opening, and neither are many private schools. Even Sidwell just announced 100% virtual learning. Bowser couldn't really go it alone.

[Anonymous]

No one is going to be open this fall. You can pout and foot stomp all you want. DCPS and the surrounding districts were never opening, even privates are now doing virtual. I’m sorry you got your hopes up, but you should have known this was going to be the result.

[Anonymous]

I think Bowser’s handling of all of this has been mismanaged from the jump. If you watch her body language and her reaction to Ferebee, it’s clear that she left him in charge of the reopening project and design. When he didn’t live up to it, she got heated and frustrated both with him and with reporters during her presser last week.

They are clearly unsure because neither are prepared. She delegated to him. He approached it without respect to the situation.

They both get an F.

She mismanaged and hired him to begin with after bumbling her first hire in Chancellor Wilson.

Then she hired Ferebee, who favors charter schools over public and put him in charge of a system that’s twice the size of what he’s used to in his previous position.

Inept management leads to poor decision making and in this case the city, parents, schools, kids, and teachers all suffer for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the context of other reopening activities, not well (C-). If schools can't open, the administration needs to demonstrate they are serious about getting us to the point where schools can open (e.g., stop all indoor dining).

Outdoor pools are closed but you can go to church with 70 friends and grab a bite to eat being served by a waiter that's been in close contact with fellow waitstaff all day.

Things need to make more sense and priorities need to be clearer.

I agree. The priorities are not clear. I think they should have prioritized a return to school, even hybrid, which would mean shutting down indoor dining, bars, gyms, and larger gatherings to reduce community spread. It also would have meant stockpiling PPE, tests, and other necessary supplies for schools, and creating a real plan for how school would work and how schools would deal with COVID cases among students and staff.

Everyone is winging it, I get that, and I think that DC government has done a decent job of listening to scientists and public health experts, but the decisions being made now don't make a lot of sense to me.

A thousand times this

Why should they have prioritized schools? There are over 700k people living in this city and only a quarter of them have children let alone children in DCPS.
I think the mayor no matter how much she wanted to make schools a number one priority she couldn’t because they aren’t. Schools are certainly in the top 5 but they’re not #1. A simple look at the past of public education could tell you that.
I’m honestly not sure why people are surprised.

I’d rate her a B- and the chancellor a C+

Because even before I had kids, it sucked when DCPS had a snow day and my co-workers had to come late/leave early/generally scramble.

Between people who have kids, kids themselves, everyone who works in schools, everyone who contracts with schools (service providers), and everyone who is tangentially affected by schools, you have a HUGE portion of what's needed to keep the economy going. And you know, keep people sane.

Bowser is in a hugely tough spot, and I appreciate much of what she's done. But the ReOpen DC plan clearly said Phase 2 = hybrid school reopening. If it turns out that's not safe or doable, fine. But then maybe we shouldn't be in Phase 2. Maybe we should reevaluate all the other allowable things too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the context of other reopening activities, not well (C-). If schools can't open, the administration needs to demonstrate they are serious about getting us to the point where schools can open (e.g., stop all indoor dining).

Outdoor pools are closed but you can go to church with 70 friends and grab a bite to eat being served by a waiter that's been in close contact with fellow waitstaff all day.

Things need to make more sense and priorities need to be clearer.

I agree. The priorities are not clear. I think they should have prioritized a return to school, even hybrid, which would mean shutting down indoor dining, bars, gyms, and larger gatherings to reduce community spread. It also would have meant stockpiling PPE, tests, and other necessary supplies for schools, and creating a real plan for how school would work and how schools would deal with COVID cases among students and staff.

Everyone is winging it, I get that, and I think that DC government has done a decent job of listening to scientists and public health experts, but the decisions being made now don't make a lot of sense to me.

A thousand times this

Why should they have prioritized schools? There are over 700k people living in this city and only a quarter of them have children let alone children in DCPS.
I think the mayor no matter how much she wanted to make schools a number one priority she couldn’t because they aren’t. Schools are certainly in the top 5 but they’re not #1. A simple look at the past of public education could tell you that.
I’m honestly not sure why people are surprised.

I’d rate her a B- and the chancellor a C+

Because even before I had kids, it sucked when DCPS had a snow day and my co-workers had to come late/leave early/generally scramble.

Between people who have kids, kids themselves, everyone who works in schools, everyone who contracts with schools (service providers), and everyone who is tangentially affected by schools, you have a HUGE portion of what's needed to keep the economy going. And you know, keep people sane.

Bowser is in a hugely tough spot, and I appreciate much of what she's done. But the ReOpen DC plan clearly said Phase 2 = hybrid school reopening. If it turns out that's not safe or doable, fine. But then maybe we shouldn't be in Phase 2. Maybe we should reevaluate all the other allowable things too.

Agree about closing things again. But she was VERY CLEAR when that report came out that it was just guidance and she was not required to following anything in it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mayor gets a D for her handling of the whole situation. Chancellor should be fired. These two clowns are as effective as the orange man.

Because.....?

[Anonymous]

It is also clear that if Bowser says schools cannot open due to community spread that she needs to make other changes.

[Anonymous]

Looks like NYC will have no indoor dining and open schools. That sounds like the right balance.

[Anonymous]

The fact that every student will not have required technology by the start of the school year is an abomination.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looks like NYC will have no indoor dining and open schools. That sounds like the right balance.

Ehhh. We couldn’t open under NYC guidance. The positivity rate needs to be below 3% (we are at 3.1%). Also they were very clear about what happens when people test positive. 2 kids in the school test positive and the school will shut down for two weeks. DCPS would not commit to any guidance on what happens when people test positive. Now the real question.....how long will NYC schools stay open????

Based on what we are seeing in Georgia? One week...max.

[Anonymous]

I was generally supporting in April and May that she took a relatively conservative approach but it feels like the reopening has been botched. Super frustrating that we linger in phase 2 hell with no sign of moving forward.

In particular the continued lack of public services is really frustrating. Why are there only a few libraries are open and those only allow 2 people in at a time? Why is it impossible to get an appointment at the DMV for many, many months? Why were no splash parks or pools open all summer? Being in a library involves less exposure than in-person dining but for some reason that is being subject to much stricter occupancy limits making it difficult for residents to access much needed services.

Or, if its too risky for people to get books or for the DMV to provide basic services, then lock everything back down.

It’s clear that schools are a complete screwup, but its not an isolated thing. It’s part of a pattern of a larger problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was generally supporting in April and May that she took a relatively conservative approach but it feels like the reopening has been botched. Super frustrating that we linger in phase 2 hell with no sign of moving forward.

In particular the continued lack of public services is really frustrating. Why are there only a few libraries are open and those only allow 2 people in at a time? Why is it impossible to get an appointment at the DMV for many, many months? Why were no splash parks or pools open all summer? Being in a library involves less exposure than in-person dining but for some reason that is being subject to much stricter occupancy limits making it difficult for residents to access much needed services.

Or, if its too risky for people to get books or for the DMV to provide basic services, then lock everything back down.

It’s clear that schools are a complete screwup, but its not an isolated thing. It’s part of a pattern of a larger problem. [/quote




I wouldn’t go to a library. Have you seen the news articles about the outbreaks of Covid in the librarians? The city is trying to cover it up but the Washington City Paper has covered it.

Bowser has done nothing to solve the increasing number of cases and the increased community spread. It makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:F.

Hardly anyone in DC even has coronavirus. Why is there no in-person schooling? Daycares are open. Private schools will be opening. Why is it ok for them to be open but not public schools?

How much lower does the coronavirus caseload have to get before schools reopen? Why aren’t there any clear metrics and standards for deciding when our kids can go back to school?

She just does whatever the teachers union tells her to do.

She is afraid to do anything that’s hard.

It must be nice to live in your bubble. A dean from my school died a couple of weeks ago. The architect who lives next door died last week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was generally supporting in April and May that she took a relatively conservative approach but it feels like the reopening has been botched. Super frustrating that we linger in phase 2 hell with no sign of moving forward.

In particular the continued lack of public services is really frustrating. Why are there only a few libraries are open and those only allow 2 people in at a time? Why is it impossible to get an appointment at the DMV for many, many months? Why were no splash parks or pools open all summer? Being in a library involves less exposure than in-person dining but for some reason that is being subject to much stricter occupancy limits making it difficult for residents to access much needed services.

Or, if its too risky for people to get books or for the DMV to provide basic services, then lock everything back down.

It’s clear that schools are a complete screwup, but its not an isolated thing. It’s part of a pattern of a larger problem. [/quote




I wouldn’t go to a library. Have you seen the news articles about the outbreaks of Covid in the librarians? The city is trying to cover it up but the Washington City Paper has covered it.

Bowser has done nothing to solve the increasing number of cases and the increased community spread. It makes no sense.

Yeah, the libraries are a mess. That was one of the things that really made me relieved at the decision not to reopen schools in September. The libraries have seen an alarming number of cases, librarians are reporting how challenging it has been to get people to comply with masking and social distancing rules, and the library administration has not been honest or responsive about the problems. DCPS would be this on a bigger scale.

I get frustrated because some of Bowser's initiatives are good. The mask mandate, the travel quarantine requirement (though voluntary), the big ramp up in testing -- all of that is good. But it's totally undercut by allowing in-person dining and other indoor services. You can't do this by half measures.

I was out for a run (wearing a mask) the other night and ran past a restaurant patio absolutely filled to the gills with people. The tables were all right next to each other, and each table had at least 5 people at it. Maybe some of those people were housemates but I doubt it -- I'm assuming they were mostly groups of friends from different households. And no one was wearing a mask. Not a single person. There must have been 50 people on that patio. Normally I don't worry much about outdoor transmission, but this was 50 people in extremely close proximity, under an awning, eating and drinking and laughing and yelling, all without masks.

I don't know how something like that is going on in a city where schools are closed, you are supposed to self-quarantine after travel, and where I am required to wear a mask while walking down the street. it makes no sense. and surely Bowser knows that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In the context of other reopening activities, not well (C-). If schools can't open, the administration needs to demonstrate they are serious about getting us to the point where schools can open (e.g., stop all indoor dining).

Outdoor pools are closed but you can go to church with 70 friends and grab a bite to eat being served by a waiter that's been in close contact with fellow waitstaff all day.

Things need to make more sense and priorities need to be clearer.

I agree. The priorities are not clear. I think they should have prioritized a return to school, even hybrid, which would mean shutting down indoor dining, bars, gyms, and larger gatherings to reduce community spread. It also would have meant stockpiling PPE, tests, and other necessary supplies for schools, and creating a real plan for how school would work and how schools would deal with COVID cases among students and staff.

Everyone is winging it, I get that, and I think that DC government has done a decent job of listening to scientists and public health experts, but the decisions being made now don't make a lot of sense to me.

A thousand times this

Why should they have prioritized schools? There are over 700k people living in this city and only a quarter of them have children let alone children in DCPS.
I think the mayor no matter how much she wanted to make schools a number one priority she couldn’t because they aren’t. Schools are certainly in the top 5 but they’re not #1. A simple look at the past of public education could tell you that.
I’m honestly not sure why people are surprised.

I’d rate her a B- and the chancellor a C+

Because even before I had kids, it sucked when DCPS had a snow day and my co-workers had to come late/leave early/generally scramble.

Between people who have kids, kids themselves, everyone who works in schools, everyone who contracts with schools (service providers), and everyone who is tangentially affected by schools, you have a HUGE portion of what's needed to keep the economy going. And you know, keep people sane.

Bowser is in a hugely tough spot, and I appreciate much of what she's done. But the ReOpen DC plan clearly said Phase 2 = hybrid school reopening. If it turns out that's not safe or doable, fine. But then maybe we shouldn't be in Phase 2. Maybe we should reevaluate all the other allowable things too.

That’s not everyone though. Should a quarter be number 1? Or should it be number 1 because it’s school? I’m not opposed to it being number 1 but in that case I think it’s time to treat teachers like professionals and re-model schools faster.
I think if classes weren’t already overcrowded and subs weren’t paid peanuts we could have reopened.