Deal parking lot

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:For those of us whose kids are new to Deal, where are some good places a few blocks away to drop off/pick up, in order to stay away from the parking lot?

The best advice is to stay outside of the triangle formed by Nebraska, Cumberland, and Connecticut during drop off and pick up. You will sit and sit and sit once you enter that Bermuda triangle.

Take a look at a map and consider that Janney, Wilson, Deal, and Murch, with ~3500 people, are all within less than a 1 mile radius of each other, and now all the drop offs are happening simultaneously with people converging on the circle of schools from every direction and then back out again, all in the span of ~30 minutes. So, if you are headed to Deal, go somewhere northwest of the school and have the student use the path from Fessenden St. or south of Cumberland and walk a few blocks. If you try east of Deal, you get into the triangle and absolute mess around Murch and St. Paul's, if you try south of Deal you hit the Wilson traffic, particularly pedestrian traffic, if you try southwest, you get into the Janney and Metro pedestrian foot traffic and Wisconsin Ave. commuters. Keep in mind that soon, GDS to the west, Sidwell, to the south and Sheridan to the southeast will also be having drop off using the same main roads and cut throughs. Give yourselves a lot of time and be patient. Most kids walk to the preschools and elementary schools in the neighborhood, so please be mindful and careful.

A lot more people are driving to Deal and Wilson who previously would have been using public transportation. It has been a mess out there this week. Similar congestion is happening across town too.

Yours is actually the second best advice. The ACTUAL best advice from a traffic perspective would be to return about 1000 kids from Deal and Wilson to their neighborhood schools.

I went to Deal and Wilson in the 90s when they were more than 50% OOB kids. I don't know anyone who was driven to school on a regular basis. Everyone took the bus or metro or walked. Once we hit Wilson and kids would drive some kids would drive and park nearby so they could do sports practices but again, there were not tons of kids getting dropped off. Parents were not allowed in the Deal driveway at all. This issue has zero to do with OOB kids and everything to do with people driving thier kids short distances that could be covered by so many other transportation options.

Were you taking a crowded metro or bus in the middle of a pandemic? Didn't think so.

I am the PP you are responding to, and no, I walked 1.5 miles to Deal and Wilson growing up so I was not one of the ones taking the bus. I did take a crowded bus too work today in the pandemic, does that count?

People clearly don't understand the ideas of layers of risk.

Yes, I send my kid to in person school. I'm willing to accept the increased risk of covid because the tradeoff is hugely beneficial. However, I will drive my kid there because the increased risk of covid from being on a crowded bus is not something I am willing to accept since we have an alternative that is safer.

It's all about cost benefit choices; all of it.

Right. And I’m sure you’re kid is having play date, playing sports etc. This is BS and you know it.

Yep, my kid is playing sports. Outside on a playing field where the chance of transmission is almost nil.

Covid mitigation, like all other risk mitigation, is not black or white. It's about percentages and tradeoffs. If you don't get that, you need to work on a bit more nuanced understanding of statistics ... and real life.

Yes. And your likely vaccinated kid is at more risk of injury being driven in your car after school than catching and being injured from Covid. Do you really want to talk about your understanding of statistics now?

Except that he's a 6th grader. So he's not, as was articulated above. But nice try.

Again, your unvaccinated 6th grader is more likely to be injured in your car than catching Covid and getting sick/dying from a bus ride home. Try again.

Really, because that bus is PACKED. Like kids are chest to chest for 30+ minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are we allowed to talk about what a horrible idea the Deal WMATA bus is in the current pandemic environment?

It’s fine. The kids are masked and largely vaccinated.

Huh? That bus is going to be the worst vector in the city. Kids from every grade, many unvaccinated, from countless teams, packed in an enclosed space, for 30+ minutes, twice a day, with no way to do contact tracing. It’s a ticking time bomb and completely foreseeable. What’s wrong with DCPS?

[Anonymous]

DCPS does not provide school busses. They don't run the Deal "bus"; it is a city bus that WMATA designates for Deal because no adult wants to commute on a bus jam packed with 11-14 year olds fresh off the end of a school day. I think some PP's saying its no problem to put your kids on the bus are picturing a nice orderly school bus in the suburbs - this is a jam packed, standing room only, public city bus full of kids.

Which is why so many more parents are driving this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS does not provide school busses. They don't run the Deal "bus"; it is a city bus that WMATA designates for Deal because no adult wants to commute on a bus jam packed with 11-14 year olds fresh off the end of a school day. I think some PP's saying its no problem to put your kids on the bus are picturing a nice orderly school bus in the suburbs - this is a jam packed, standing room only, public city bus full of kids.

Which is why so many more parents are driving this year.

My kid takes a Deal bus. He is vaccinated and keeps his KN95 mask on during the ride. I feel safe with that. If I were to pick him up, I wouldn’t be an a%% and insist on giving him front door service. He can happily walk 2-3 blocks to save the drama and reduce dangerous conditions for the kid’s that do walk and teachers that need to depart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS does not provide school busses. They don't run the Deal "bus"; it is a city bus that WMATA designates for Deal because no adult wants to commute on a bus jam packed with 11-14 year olds fresh off the end of a school day. I think some PP's saying its no problem to put your kids on the bus are picturing a nice orderly school bus in the suburbs - this is a jam packed, standing room only, public city bus full of kids.

Which is why so many more parents are driving this year.

My kid takes a Deal bus. He is vaccinated and keeps his KN95 mask on during the ride. I feel safe with that. If I were to pick him up, I wouldn’t be an a%% and insist on giving him front door service. He can happily walk 2-3 blocks to save the drama and reduce dangerous conditions for the kid’s that do walk and teachers that need to depart.

Perhaps the Mayor needs to petition wants for an additional bus to come at same time, and capacity limits? I find it strange to go through all the Covid protocols In a busing, but ignore the to and fro.

[Anonymous]

Sorry, petition "WMATA" ,

[Anonymous]

OOB parent her. I have my 6th grader taking the D bus to Mt. Pleasant where she walks over to her siblings school where I pick them both up.

The first day of school did it for me, shoot the orientation day too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS does not provide school busses. They don't run the Deal "bus"; it is a city bus that WMATA designates for Deal because no adult wants to commute on a bus jam packed with 11-14 year olds fresh off the end of a school day. I think some PP's saying its no problem to put your kids on the bus are picturing a nice orderly school bus in the suburbs - this is a jam packed, standing room only, public city bus full of kids.

Which is why so many more parents are driving this year.

My kid takes a Deal bus. He is vaccinated and keeps his KN95 mask on during the ride. I feel safe with that. If I were to pick him up, I wouldn’t be an a%% and insist on giving him front door service. He can happily walk 2-3 blocks to save the drama and reduce dangerous conditions for the kid’s that do walk and teachers that need to depart.

Masks for kids are pretty much useless by 3:30pm as they have been removed multiple times throughout the day for lunch, water, etc. and no longer fit properly. And KN95 masks are generally a waste unless the user has received proper fit training and testing. So, yeah, a bus packed to the gills with tired and loud kids is a problem for those kids and the school overall. It’s like watching a medical journal article being written in real time but everyone is afraid to say something because of equity concerns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS does not provide school busses. They don't run the Deal "bus"; it is a city bus that WMATA designates for Deal because no adult wants to commute on a bus jam packed with 11-14 year olds fresh off the end of a school day. I think some PP's saying its no problem to put your kids on the bus are picturing a nice orderly school bus in the suburbs - this is a jam packed, standing room only, public city bus full of kids.

Which is why so many more parents are driving this year.

My kid takes a Deal bus. He is vaccinated and keeps his KN95 mask on during the ride. I feel safe with that. If I were to pick him up, I wouldn’t be an a%% and insist on giving him front door service. He can happily walk 2-3 blocks to save the drama and reduce dangerous conditions for the kid’s that do walk and teachers that need to depart.

Masks for kids are pretty much useless by 3:30pm as they have been removed multiple times throughout the day for lunch, water, etc. and no longer fit properly. And KN95 masks are generally a waste unless the user has received proper fit training and testing. So, yeah, a bus packed to the gills with tired and loud kids is a problem for those kids and the school overall. It’s like watching a medical journal article being written in real time but everyone is afraid to say something because of equity concerns.

why not more buses?

[Anonymous]

also, vaccine passports for 12+ without medical exemptions, to ride public transport?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS does not provide school busses. They don't run the Deal "bus"; it is a city bus that WMATA designates for Deal because no adult wants to commute on a bus jam packed with 11-14 year olds fresh off the end of a school day. I think some PP's saying its no problem to put your kids on the bus are picturing a nice orderly school bus in the suburbs - this is a jam packed, standing room only, public city bus full of kids.

Which is why so many more parents are driving this year.

My kid takes a Deal bus. He is vaccinated and keeps his KN95 mask on during the ride. I feel safe with that. If I were to pick him up, I wouldn’t be an a%% and insist on giving him front door service. He can happily walk 2-3 blocks to save the drama and reduce dangerous conditions for the kid’s that do walk and teachers that need to depart.

Masks for kids are pretty much useless by 3:30pm as they have been removed multiple times throughout the day for lunch, water, etc. and no longer fit properly. And KN95 masks are generally a waste unless the user has received proper fit training and testing. So, yeah, a bus packed to the gills with tired and loud kids is a problem for those kids and the school overall. It’s like watching a medical journal article being written in real time but everyone is afraid to say something because of equity concerns.

Please state supporting links. It’s fine, you want to hand deliver your kid. Also, I trust the vaccine will prevent my kid from getting sick. Maybe you should home school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCPS does not provide school busses. They don't run the Deal "bus"; it is a city bus that WMATA designates for Deal because no adult wants to commute on a bus jam packed with 11-14 year olds fresh off the end of a school day. I think some PP's saying its no problem to put your kids on the bus are picturing a nice orderly school bus in the suburbs - this is a jam packed, standing room only, public city bus full of kids.

Which is why so many more parents are driving this year.

My kid takes a Deal bus. He is vaccinated and keeps his KN95 mask on during the ride. I feel safe with that. If I were to pick him up, I wouldn’t be an a%% and insist on giving him front door service. He can happily walk 2-3 blocks to save the drama and reduce dangerous conditions for the kid’s that do walk and teachers that need to depart.

Masks for kids are pretty much useless by 3:30pm as they have been removed multiple times throughout the day for lunch, water, etc. and no longer fit properly. And KN95 masks are generally a waste unless the user has received proper fit training and testing. So, yeah, a bus packed to the gills with tired and loud kids is a problem for those kids and the school overall. It’s like watching a medical journal article being written in real time but everyone is afraid to say something because of equity concerns.

Please state supporting links. It’s fine, you want to hand deliver your kid. Also, I trust the vaccine will prevent my kid from getting sick. Maybe you should home school.

“ A: While N95 masks are the United States standard for respirator masks, KN95 masks are the Chinese standard. The masks are considered to be “equivalent” and “can be expected to function very similarly to one another, based on the performance requirements stated in the standards and confirmed during conformity,” according to manufacturer 3M. Here is a list of technical differences.

However, KN95 masks are treated differently than respirators in the U.S. While they filtrate better than a surgical, Level 3 mask, they are not considered a respirator and therefore do not need to meet the same FDA standards as respirators. Many will have ear loops vs. elastic headbands and do not need to be fit tested. As a result, you will not see KN95 masks listed on FDA or CDC documentation.”

https://www.benco.com/benco-dental-u/faq/everything-you-want-to-know-about-n95-and-kn95-masks-but-were-afraid-to-ask/

[Anonymous]

From CDC:

“Traveling on public transportation increases a person’s risk of getting and spreading COVID-19 by bringing people in close contact with others, often for prolonged periods, and exposing them to frequently touched surfaces.”

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/travelers/face-masks-public-transportation.html

[Anonymous]

DCPS actually has a school bus safety “kit.” It was created before delta was even a thing. Let’s just say this ain’t the Deal bus.

“There will be single row, "Z style" seating for students, meaning every other seat from left to right.
Siblings (students exiting and returning to the same residence) will be permitted to sit next
to one another.”

https://osse.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/osse/page_content/attachments/DOT%20Bus%20Safety%20Kit.pdf

[Anonymous]

Op- I didn’t see any U-turns today! Thank you!