Concerned about DCPS Term 4

[Anonymous]

The schools that are at capacity probably won’t be adding more classrooms/teachers for the rest of the year, unless DOH revises its guidelines for how many students can be in the same room at the same time. Something like 60% of teachers qualify for FMLA or CARES leave, so they won’t be coming back until the fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Principal Neal said that her hope is to bring more kids into the building at Deal as teachers get vaccinated and volunteer to return.

This is the key. Vaccines for all teachers and staff so they can return, which will lead to more IPL. Pretty simple solution. Sadly, only teachers who started this week, or had been teaching, got the vaccine last week, some just days before they started IPL.

This is the key to understanding that unlike her predecessors, Principal Neal prioritizes teachers over students. As far as I know, the DCPS position is not “we will open classrooms when there are enough teacher volunteers.” The DCPS position is teachers should be in the classroom unless you have a legal reason to stay home. I find it infuriating that Neal put no effort into bringing students back for classes. She is bringing in students who are failing into the school on Wednesdays for intervention - which really should have been happening at every DCPS school all year. That is not opening the school in my book - its the equivalent of an after school program, which would be happening after 3:30 on an afternoon in normal times. It just happens to be happening on a Wednesday morning due to the ridiculous schedule we have this year. If you all will recall, we were sold a lie last summer about how we need to keep Wednesdays open to “clean the schoo” for when we come back for hybrid. Well guess what - many schools have decided there will be no hybrid, so why is there still no instruction on Wednesdays? My Deal 8th grader sees each teacher 2x each week instead of 5 times, for roughly the same amount of time. That’s 40% instruction.

I get that people were hoping for more in person instruction at Wilson, but I do not think we should be underestimating the mental health boost students are getting by being out of the house one time each week. At least Principal Martin didn’t “ask for volunteers”. She told teachers that everyone must come in and we will share the burden evenly.

This is why I thought it would be better if they just waited until term 4 and then opened in a big way including using outdoor space

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Principal Neal said that her hope is to bring more kids into the building at Deal as teachers get vaccinated and volunteer to return.

This is the key. Vaccines for all teachers and staff so they can return, which will lead to more IPL. Pretty simple solution. Sadly, only teachers who started this week, or had been teaching, got the vaccine last week, some just days before they started IPL.

A simple solution and a dismal situation at the same time. At some point teachers are going to have to go back to work in person even if a Principal like Neal gave them all the flexibility for term 3. There is probably a core group of DCPS educators that would like never to return to school, something will have to give although it's more likely to be DCPS than at the individual school level. Some schools decided to meet (or try to meet) parent demand while others did not. All the flexibility at the school level created the disparity of what is being offered. But there didn't appear to be another choice after the staffing survey from September was ruled invalid.

I think DCPS has an expectation that most students will be in school in Term 4, and the public health numbers should support that, but I don’t see any pathway that Deal gets there, and there is no accountability. Neal admitted in one of the video calls that way more parents want their kids in school than she is willing to allow and so she just made a call. And she sent us down a pathway that keeps kids out of school for nearly 1.5 school years. She could have started down a hybrid road that cohorted kids within their teams and aligned their schedules, and started to bring back some kids. But instead she alone decided to mostly ignore the needs of more than 1300 kids and focus on a smaller figure. I don’t argue that those who are failing middle school should get extra support, but I object to doing that at the expense of the other 90%.

Yes, something like 70% want their kids back in school. If the end result was going to be based solely on teacher willingness to return, why even ask parents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The biggest hurdle is osse’s bathroom rule. One one child in at a time, and it has to sit empty for 15 minutes. If this gets relaxed, many more kids can be back.

This is stupid. There is no such rule for restaurants of course which is why we can all eat out but kids are not in school. 😔

Another stupid rule is that there needs to be a deep cleaning between two cohorts. Haven't we learned that surface transmission is not a significant factor?

Oh, and of course there is no scientific basis for the 11 student per class rule. 3 feet of distance are enough when masked.

In my classroom the 11 students are only 3 feet apart. That’s as far apart as we could get them given the space of my room.

[Anonymous]

I initially was very supportive of the teachers concerns, but as the fall came and went and DCPS seemed to put forward more than one good faith attempt at safely opening schools it seemed like the WTU kept moving the goal posts. With the current vaccine priority for teachers if the schools are not open in Term 4 for any kid that wants to attend in person then I think the WTU will have done irreparable harm to the esteem in which teachers are held. The oft used phrase employed by politicians of honorable public servants like “cops, nurses, firefighters, and teachers” will have to change and teachers will become just another category of working stiffs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I initially was very supportive of the teachers concerns, but as the fall came and went and DCPS seemed to put forward more than one good faith attempt at safely opening schools it seemed like the WTU kept moving the goal posts. With the current vaccine priority for teachers if the schools are not open in Term 4 for any kid that wants to attend in person then I think the WTU will have done irreparable harm to the esteem in which teachers are held. The oft used phrase employed by politicians of honorable public servants like “cops, nurses, firefighters, and teachers” will have to change and teachers will become just another category of working stiffs.

Maybe....but police are definitely off that list first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My impression is that they don’t plan to make changes for Term 4. And, I agree, IT IS VERY WRONG. 1.5 years without school is malpractice. 3 months of this year would be far better than none if this year.

One problem is some if OSSE’s requirements need to be relaxed. Some of the cleaning and spacing protocols border on the absurd. For example, if a classroom has a AM and PM cohorts, then the classroom has to be fully sanitized between cohorts — but also the teacher has to have a unique, otherwise unused office or classroom to go to during cleaning time.

For Term 4, they just need to open the windows and let buildings be more fully utilized.

And, I agree with PP that the willful overcrowding of WTOP was an abomination before and is a complete disaster in the pandemic.

Actually the rules are even more stringent. At our school the am and pm cohorts have to have TWO SEPARATE classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My impression is that they don’t plan to make changes for Term 4. And, I agree, IT IS VERY WRONG. 1.5 years without school is malpractice. 3 months of this year would be far better than none if this year.

One problem is some if OSSE’s requirements need to be relaxed. Some of the cleaning and spacing protocols border on the absurd. For example, if a classroom has a AM and PM cohorts, then the classroom has to be fully sanitized between cohorts — but also the teacher has to have a unique, otherwise unused office or classroom to go to during cleaning time.

For Term 4, they just need to open the windows and let buildings be more fully utilized.

And, I agree with PP that the willful overcrowding of WTOP was an abomination before and is a complete disaster in the pandemic.

Actually the rules are even more stringent. At our school the am and pm cohorts have to have TWO SEPARATE classrooms.

Yes, this is a crazy and outdated rule that needs to go. Follow the science!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the thing..there are TONS of inperson slots available throughout the district. These are in schools where most of dcum would never send their kids. I wish bowser would let you go to a new school temporarily if you really want the in person spot. I’m pretty sure no one would take her up on it, but she should offer.

Yes! Agree. We are at a school where there are no more IPL slots. I would gladly drive somewhere else to get a half year of K in person. We are trying to get a meeting with our own principal to talk about options but to no avail. Not sure who the right person is to ask/suggest. Anyone know? I do have a feeling one barrier will be concern that the WOTP families are taking slots away from EOTP families, even though those slots are currently unused.

They 100% won't go for this, the logistics would be too difficult.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Does anyone have anymore ideas about term 4 or the fall? The great news is that according to CDC schools can reopen safely with proper precautions without contributing significantly to community spread, so there is no need to make a choice between children and older adults in terms of sacrifice.

Does anyone know if ADA accommodations are for the whole year? If it really is as safe to reopen schools then it would make sense that ADA accommodations would be much more limited (eg immunocompromised or cannot take the vaccine). I would love to see more students back in term 4 but am also concerned about the the fall, where many ADA accommodations could mean students distance learning from a classroom, as is the case for much of the current in person learning. includes some in The fact that many in person learners have specials online from school worries me. If vaccinated specials teachers are exempted due to potential exposure to too many students the same principle could apply in the fall too meaning that in person school may include multiple periods of distance learning.

[Anonymous]

There should be 5 day a week school once the teachers are vaccinated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There should be 5 day a week school once the teachers are vaccinated.

No. The variants are arriving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There should be 5 day a week school once the teachers are vaccinated.

No. The variants are arriving.

They will always be arriving. The madness needs to stop, now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here is the thing..there are TONS of inperson slots available throughout the district. These are in schools where most of dcum would never send their kids. I wish bowser would let you go to a new school temporarily if you really want the in person spot. I’m pretty sure no one would take her up on it, but she should offer.

Yes! Agree. We are at a school where there are no more IPL slots. I would gladly drive somewhere else to get a half year of K in person. We are trying to get a meeting with our own principal to talk about options but to no avail. Not sure who the right person is to ask/suggest. Anyone know? I do have a feeling one barrier will be concern that the WOTP families are taking slots away from EOTP families, even though those slots are currently unused.

They 100% won't go for this, the logistics would be too difficult.

We are a Hearst family (1 K classroom and a couple of Cares rooms but that's it). If EoTP families didn't want spots, we'd definitely drive to an open spot. Would be nice to just have the opportunity. Instead, nada. Couldn't be less impressed. So glad we are leaving the school after this year. Not even given a shot at returning this year. But great job teachers for being out there saying this is acceptable. Just b/c our kid is doing fine with the 12-hour per week curriculum, doesn't mean she isn't a mess in different ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Does anyone have anymore ideas about term 4 or the fall? The great news is that according to CDC schools can reopen safely with proper precautions without contributing significantly to community spread, so there is no need to make a choice between children and older adults in terms of sacrifice.

Does anyone know if ADA accommodations are for the whole year? If it really is as safe to reopen schools then it would make sense that ADA accommodations would be much more limited (eg immunocompromised or cannot take the vaccine). I would love to see more students back in term 4 but am also concerned about the the fall, where many ADA accommodations could mean students distance learning from a classroom, as is the case for much of the current in person learning. includes some in The fact that many in person learners have specials online from school worries me. If vaccinated specials teachers are exempted due to potential exposure to too many students the same principle could apply in the fall too meaning that in person school may include multiple periods of distance learning.

ADA accommodations are for the remainder of the school year. They will not be revisited until the fall.