DCPS parents: if you’re worried about the return plan, contact the mayor and council members

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t get how people complain, but have no practical advice. It’s like when a subordinate comes to me with a list of problems but zero ideas on how to fix them. Bring me solutions, not complaints.

I was sympathetic to the teachers, but they’ve really lost my total support by scheduling multiple “parent zoom calls”, presumably behind the schools back, to bash the plan and to instill fear and division in parents. Half of what they say comes from a union pamphlet.

Should the schools be safe? Yes.
Is the plan perfect? No
Will some kids benefit and some not? Yes
Should teachers not have evaluations ? No

It’s just a huge complaint festival, and it ignores the harsh realities that there simply aren’t enough classrooms or teachers to go back to hybrid right now, and the union is steadfastly digging in on this, wasting my teachers time, and mine.

I don’t know what anyone hopes to achieve with this. DCPS isn’t going to go “oh alright, we’ll just open everything back up”, because they can’t - half the student body would chose to stay DL, schools are shutting back down in other states, and teachers - and the union - won’t go back until they get concessions that have nothing to do with safety.

A lot of folks are being easily manipulated.

Signed, an ex union negotiator.

DCPS parent here, and I've had a similar path. I started out very sympathetic to teachers concerned about safety issues. But then DCPS is spending $24M on HVAC upgrades plus millions more on other safety measures. Meanwhile WTU is moving the goal posts and the final straw for me was them asking for things that had nothing to do with safety and also making ridiculous demands regarding impossible to meet safety measures. Now WTU is trying to enlist parents to join forces with them, and some idiotic parents are taking the bait.

This will be the first year we're not donating to our WOTP schools, because our HSA President for our ES has been supporting these obstructionist WTU tactics on social media and our LSAT Team for our MS actually sent an email spewing WTU talking points and encouraging parents to join forces with WTU. I'm so glad that we haven't donated yet this year. I would never trust their judgment again, and would never risk my donations to be used to support WTU in any way.