Will there be full time PK3 in the Fall?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take back my words about making a PK thread. It’s insane how some people think that PK teachers would sit back and teach other grades in the first place.
Or they haven’t lived here long enough to figure out how much value DCPS places in PK.

Or the value of starting school at this age, especially for children with special needs, HUGE gains can be made in PK. For people who ‘follow science’ they sure don’t know a lock about education.

I’m the PP who hit a nerve. I have two children in DCPS. My younger one is special needs and has had interventions since a toddler. He is now 10 and has an IEP because, even though interventions at the PK level help, most of these children need services long term. Schools absolutely cannot meet IEP requirements in a virtual setting that my child, and many other children, have and need. And let me tell you, for a lot of SN children the stakes are much higher at 10/12/15 years old than at 3. I’m living this nightmare and don’t wish it on anyone. But the focus needs to be on older kids getting back in the classroom first. The stakes are much higher, SN or not. It may not be a politically acceptable argument on DCUM, but it is reality that many of us live, and at this time when resources are scarce, hard and unpopular decisions need to be made.

My jaw is dropping at this poster who had early intervention for her kid, admits that interventions at the PK level help, and still thinks that her older kids should be prioritized over younger kids because "for a lot of SN kids the stakes are much higher."

I’m here. My child did not qualify for city services so I paid for private. Guess what. He needs more now. And now qualifies.

I’m done arguing. Good luck to you all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I take back my words about making a PK thread. It’s insane how some people think that PK teachers would sit back and teach other grades in the first place.
Or they haven’t lived here long enough to figure out how much value DCPS places in PK.

Or the value of starting school at this age, especially for children with special needs, HUGE gains can be made in PK. For people who ‘follow science’ they sure don’t know a lock about education.

I’m the PP who hit a nerve. I have two children in DCPS. My younger one is special needs and has had interventions since a toddler. He is now 10 and has an IEP because, even though interventions at the PK level help, most of these children need services long term. Schools absolutely cannot meet IEP requirements in a virtual setting that my child, and many other children, have and need. And let me tell you, for a lot of SN children the stakes are much higher at 10/12/15 years old than at 3. I’m living this nightmare and don’t wish it on anyone. But the focus needs to be on older kids getting back in the classroom first. The stakes are much higher, SN or not. It may not be a politically acceptable argument on DCUM, but it is reality that many of us live, and at this time when resources are scarce, hard and unpopular decisions need to be made.

My jaw is dropping at this poster who had early intervention for her kid, admits that interventions at the PK level help, and still thinks that her older kids should be prioritized over younger kids because "for a lot of SN kids the stakes are much higher."

I’m here. My child did not qualify for city services so I paid for private. Guess what. He needs more now. And now qualifies.

I’m done arguing. Good luck to you all.

I really hope you are not a lawyer because you’re mental thought process is completely incoherent. You are not arguing anything, you are stating your opinion that your child is more needy because he is older without citing any evidence. Nobody cares that you paid for private and that is a complete non-sequined since this thread is about PK kids, not 10 year old SN kids.

Seeing as this thread was specially started to discuss PK without PK parents having to defend themselves against parents like you who think their special snowflakes are more deserving of city services than our taxes pay for, yes please be done.

[Anonymous]

In a survey by the New York Times, pediatricians agree schools should be open, even if teachers aren't vaccinated and regardless of the coronavirus rates in the broader community.

“There is no situation in which schools can’t be open unless they have evidence of in-school transmission,” said Dr. David Rosen, an assistant professor of pediatric infectious diseases at Washington University in St. Louis.

The risks of being out of school were far greater, many of the experts said. “The mental health crisis caused by school closing will be a worse pandemic than Covid,” said Dr. Uzma Hasan, division chief of pediatric infectious diseases at RWJBarnabas Health in New Jersey.


https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/upshot/schools-reopening-coronavirus-experts.html

[Anonymous]

Saw this thread as I was looking to start my own on PK so thought I would revive this one. As the lottery period is drawing to a close are any PK parents concerned that PK3 classes will be cut which would change how the lottery shakes out? We have a current PK4 and a rising PK3. Our in bound historically has always let in in-bounds siblings so normally we wouldn't worry but now am concerned that if a PK 3 class gets cut to allow for more distancing then that dynamic would be off. We are debating putting our K kid into the lottery even though we really like our in bound in case we don't get our younger into the local PK and would then be able to have them together. Anyone chaining lottery strategy because of the pandemic for PK?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We won't know for a while, we don't even know how long the vaccine lasts.

And why a whole thread on PK?? All kids should have school in person.

Because when PK parents post in more general threads, people yell at us “Pk isn’t mandatory! Who cares? Let’s talk about the grades that actually matter!”

Of course all kids deserve to be in school, but it’s ok for PK parents to have a thread discussing concerns unique to them.

This x1000. Pay for daycare for another year.

What about my self contained pre-k child? I’ve seen more results with online school than his toddler day care! So FU. Pre-K deserves to be in person too!

Every child deserves to be in school in person, to be clear. But PK is a privilege, it's not a right. This is true even in non-pandemic years. No one is guaranteed a Pk spot. We are lucky to have PK spots available in this city, but they are not guaranteed. I can't speak for self-contained PK, I have no idea what the rights are for that.

What I'm tired of is PK parents taking up time and resources at my kids' school when they should be focusing those resources on getting K-5 back in person.

(Also, try to be a bigger person and don't curse out opinions you don't agree with.)

The fact that PK is not a required grade does not mean it isn't a grade that is supported by DC. We all pay taxes in DC, presumably you got free PK for your kids while they were younger. No one is stealing resources and PK parents are absolutely in their rights to want their kids to go back as well.

This.

Disagree. If 3-6’ distancing requirements mean additional classrooms are needed to accommodate students K and older, then we need to use the PK3 and PK4 classrooms to accommodate the maximum IPL number of K and older students. Period. K and up is compulsory, younger is not. Frankly I can’t believe that the littlest ones are back at school first. It’s completely backwards.

💯

[Anonymous]

PK deserves full class but half days. You don't need to do nap time at the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PK deserves full class but half days. You don't need to do nap time at the school.

I am a PK parent and would be fine with that; however my school has elected to have a fraction of the kids back full time rather than more kids back part time. My PK kid doesn't nap though anyway

[Anonymous]

Unpopular opinion- but there should not be. PreK should be half day and housed at rec centers. The amount of time and energy that is poured into ECE is not equitable or fair to other grades.
Love,
Your 6 figure ECE teacher

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unpopular opinion- but there should not be. PreK should be half day and housed at rec centers. The amount of time and energy that is poured into ECE is not equitable or fair to other grades.
Love,
Your 6 figure ECE teacher

You mean love trolling bitter parent. Who benefited from PK.

Ps. My sped child needs pk, early intervention is key.

Refrain from being complete fools please people.

[Anonymous]

Reading up on the history of preK in DC: the city, experts and teachers back then agreed it was a crucial way of reducing achievement and opportunity gaps in school, improving children’s academic and social and emotional development and many more benefits that go way beyond the resentful idea that parents only want "free daycare."

Try doing virtual DL with a 3 or 4-year-old, it's useless.

This thread was not meant to debate whether there should be full time preK3 in the fall. It's about whether there will be full time preK or not, and how we can best plan for a different scenario.

Those who want to debate the usefulness of preK & if they should be given priority or not in reopening plans can start their own thread.

Parents of toddlers commenting here know very well the importance of having preK and are looking for information and support to plan ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading up on the history of preK in DC: the city, experts and teachers back then agreed it was a crucial way of reducing achievement and opportunity gaps in school, improving children’s academic and social and emotional development and many more benefits that go way beyond the resentful idea that parents only want "free daycare."

Try doing virtual DL with a 3 or 4-year-old, it's useless.

This thread was not meant to debate whether there should be full time preK3 in the fall. It's about whether there will be full time preK or not, and how we can best plan for a different scenario.

Those who want to debate the usefulness of preK & if they should be given priority or not in reopening plans can start their own thread.

Parents of toddlers commenting here know very well the importance of having preK and are looking for information and support to plan ahead of time.

I am a parent of a toddler and struggling with this for next year. For us virtual PK is useless so we want a place that will have something in person but it is so hard to tell! It seems that so far the charters have not been doing great for re-opening. My in bounds doesn't seem to have a ton of in person options either so I am thinking of prioritizing schools that have more kids in their buildings but of course those are harder to get into OOB!

Did anyone do one of the virtual tours with the new Military Road PK and know what they might be planning for next year of class sizes need to be small?

[Anonymous]

DC either needs to declare that PK is a required grade or cut it altogether. If PK is such a priority then the District can make that official. Otherwise, tell parents to figure out PS3 and PK for themselves, like generations have done before them. Kindergarten used to be half-day! You decide to have children, you need to have a plan, and a back-up plan. If you want public education to be your only plan, get ready to be a tireless advocate.

[Anonymous]

It is insane that we dont have pre-K3 right now fully in person. Young children are the most coronavirus-resistant people on the planet, and they are the least likely to get anything out of zoom calls with teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC either needs to declare that PK is a required grade or cut it altogether. If PK is such a priority then the District can make that official. Otherwise, tell parents to figure out PS3 and PK for themselves, like generations have done before them. Kindergarten used to be half-day! You decide to have children, you need to have a plan, and a back-up plan. If you want public education to be your only plan, get ready to be a tireless advocate.

You sound like a voter from the reddest of states.

Free preK is one of the things that makes DC a great, progressive place to live. The whole point of preK is to help reduce achievement gap and give children & their working parents a huge benefit many otherwise would not be able to afford.

But go ahead and ask the city to cut off PK & tell parents to "figure it out", such a great idea!

[Anonymous]

doubtful that there will be full time any grade in DC. Teachers feel its easier to deal with 20 four year olds from their couch, understandably.