Capitol Hill elementary schools reopening plans

[Anonymous]

Yes, but you can't expect the sun, the moon and the stars from school admins during this crises. They're dealing with all sorts of problems, including space crunches over over-crowded buildings that are in high demand by the IB population, e.g. Brent.

You can't expect admins to get the ball rolling to fire long-serving and well-respected teachers who don't volunteer to return to the building this spring. This may happen here and there, but won't be the norm in DCPS, not with the WTU calling the shots and the Mayor's people not pushing for teachers to be canned for not cooperating. Things are different in Chicago and Boston, but they're not one political party towns like the District.

[Anonymous]

Bruce Monroe plan seems well though out, we had a parent orientation yesterday. they provided info on number of students by grade returning. HVAC was all updated, wter fountains replaced with bottle fillers. No more than two kids allowed in bathroom, only two classrooms assigned to one bathroom.
Students use two differnent doors depending on grades for entrance an exit. Two nurses will be at each door doing a temp check. Parents sign permisson for symptomatic kids to be tested with rapid test at school or asymptomatic testing every 10 days for kids. Lunch in class room. Only one class on playground at a time. School will provide mask to kids who don't have them. All kids will have their own laptops as well.

[Anonymous]

L-T offered small person tours for anyone whose kids are returning in person. Protocols seem very similar to BM poster above. I know many of the school's teachers don't want to return, but I was impressed to be honest and will be surprised if the protocols don't stop almost all spread. (Certainly, I think school will be safer than things that the average person -- including most affected teachers -- are doing now.) I can understand why they're apprehensive -- it's weird to go into a public indoor space after 10 months at home & the union is telling them that it's unsafe & they are skeptical of DCPS for very good reason. But I think most of them will become more comfortable after they're back, just like almost everyone else whose had to go back to work.

I still wish the city has incentivized teachers to return to in person teaching from day 1. I'd be much happier if the teachers there were opting to return voluntarily and I think it could have been accomplished (e.g., bonus payment for remaining available (unless ill or quarantined) for the whole year; guaranteed sick leave for COVID for any teacher who came back in person even if they couldn't prove school transmission; guarantee of bonus payment accorded to highly effective teachers; added year of seniority).

[Anonymous]

Couldn't agree more, PP. Clearly not a nimble or inventive approach to recruiting volunteers to return to in-person, however the high-minded emails from the Chancellor read.

[Anonymous]

My child is going back to Maury (5th grade)

[Anonymous]

My child is going to Maury grade 4, but Peabody just announced that they will delay in-person reopening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child is going to Maury grade 4, but Peabody just announced that they will delay in-person reopening.

They have to. Watkins (which is currently housing Peabody physically too) is one of 3 schools the city lost the arbitration with respect to, because they didn’t do the walk-throughs properly. The city has 7 days to fix it and I’m sure they will, at least at the two elementary schools involved (Watkins and CHML), because both are newly modernized/in good shape and this seems more like an administrative screwup by those schools.