Has Duran gone mad? (APS)

[Anonymous]

It would be a lot easier to take seriously the DL people here and on AEM saying “but we shouldn’t go back during the surge” if those same people weren’t also strongly advocating for full DL in summer and early fall.

It’s an easy talking point now for them to say “but the case load is so high!” What was their excuse 5 months ago?

It wouldn’t bother me so much except I know these are the same people (at least on AEM, where posters are not anonymous) who are so quick to accuse APE members (I’m not a member, just an AEM observer) of changing their narrative to fit their present circumstances. Pot, meet kettle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It would be a lot easier to take seriously the DL people here and on AEM saying “but we shouldn’t go back during the surge” if those same people weren’t also strongly advocating for full DL in summer and early fall.

It’s an easy talking point now for them to say “but the case load is so high!” What was their excuse 5 months ago?

It wouldn’t bother me so much except I know these are the same people (at least on AEM, where posters are not anonymous) who are so quick to accuse APE members (I’m not a member, just an AEM observer) of changing their narrative to fit their present circumstances. Pot, meet kettle.

Hindsight is 20/20. We didn’t k ow how much higher the case rates would go.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Don’t get it. if the grocery stores are safe then the managers should be there. And the regional managers should be stopping in periodically for the day. Seems to me that the school board and senior leaders can handle a live meeting every 2 weeks if community spread makes it safe enough to return to school!

It’s been explained repeatedly. If you’re incapable of understanding, we can’t help you.

“Teachers and kids and the lowest paid earners like grocery store clerks and servers should be at work at risk but everyone else should still be able to work at home safely.” We know.

+1. If the School Board said, "Hey, we are meeting virtually because we want to keep community spread as low as possible, and we want the BOS and our national leaders to shut down all non-essential businesses and require telework for everyone who is not an essential worker so that schools can remain open and health systems don't get overrun", that would be one thing. They aren't saying that. They're meeting virtually because THEY don't want to risk exposure to Covid but can't say so because it's terrible optics.

School Board doesn’t need to be in person to do their job effectively. Teachers do.

Disagree. My kids are doing great with virtual learning, thanks to their teachers. I would also disagree that the School Board has been doing an effective job virtually. Maybe they should try meeting in person.

DP. I completely agree with you. Our kids are thriving and making progress with DL. They are quite happy doing DL and not having to deal with the misbehaving idiots who get 90% of the teacher's time because she's trying to keep them in line. Now those kids can't act out in a way that disrupts learning so it is a complete win-win for my kids. Finally!

How are you measuring progress as compared to a traditional school year?

The younger two are learning the exact same thing their older sibling learned in previous years. iReady scores look great. I'm not sure whether they're doing the IAAT, but I expect our oldest child to do well on it if they do. His school sent out a couple sample questions and he had no problem with them.

They're receiving curriculum at the same pace and depth?

Yes. I think they're more focused and learning more than in previous years because there are not classroom disruptions and they have more time during the day to work independently.

So regardless of COVID, going back to in-person instruction this/next year is going to be detrimental to your kid's education. I imagine that's going to be disappointing.

No, because they have good adaptability skills and will be fine either way. They aren't going back to in person instruction this year, as we've chosen DL for the school year. I expect they'll be back next school year though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be a lot easier to take seriously the DL people here and on AEM saying “but we shouldn’t go back during the surge” if those same people weren’t also strongly advocating for full DL in summer and early fall.

It’s an easy talking point now for them to say “but the case load is so high!” What was their excuse 5 months ago?

It wouldn’t bother me so much except I know these are the same people (at least on AEM, where posters are not anonymous) who are so quick to accuse APE members (I’m not a member, just an AEM observer) of changing their narrative to fit their present circumstances. Pot, meet kettle.

Hindsight is 20/20. We didn’t k ow how much higher the case rates would go.

Lol what?? Every projection out there said we were going to have a surge starting in late fall and through the winter.

[Anonymous]

I just can't see how 2-day per week hybrid, with all sorts of time-wasting procedures, is going to be this magical tool to prevent learning loss.

The issues are still going to be there with some kids ahead and some behind in the classroom, degrading the educational experience for everyone.

As soon as mitigation measures are in place I support 5 days per week. Much safer than hybrid, with so many other childcare groups mixing.

I am fed up with the infighting. Truly, the County Board and School Board should be doing more. Kids and working parents have been left high and dry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be a lot easier to take seriously the DL people here and on AEM saying “but we shouldn’t go back during the surge” if those same people weren’t also strongly advocating for full DL in summer and early fall.

It’s an easy talking point now for them to say “but the case load is so high!” What was their excuse 5 months ago?

It wouldn’t bother me so much except I know these are the same people (at least on AEM, where posters are not anonymous) who are so quick to accuse APE members (I’m not a member, just an AEM observer) of changing their narrative to fit their present circumstances. Pot, meet kettle.

Hindsight is 20/20. We didn’t k ow how much higher the case rates would go.

Yes you did. People told you. You called them fearmongers or teachers who “didn’t want to work.” We tried to tell you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I just can't see how 2-day per week hybrid, with all sorts of time-wasting procedures, is going to be this magical tool to prevent learning loss.

The issues are still going to be there with some kids ahead and some behind in the classroom, degrading the educational experience for everyone.

As soon as mitigation measures are in place I support 5 days per week. Much safer than hybrid, with so many other childcare groups mixing.

I am fed up with the infighting. Truly, the County Board and School Board should be doing more. Kids and working parents have been left high and dry.

It’s not. If never was about “learning loss.” It’s about supervision.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be a lot easier to take seriously the DL people here and on AEM saying “but we shouldn’t go back during the surge” if those same people weren’t also strongly advocating for full DL in summer and early fall.

It’s an easy talking point now for them to say “but the case load is so high!” What was their excuse 5 months ago?

It wouldn’t bother me so much except I know these are the same people (at least on AEM, where posters are not anonymous) who are so quick to accuse APE members (I’m not a member, just an AEM observer) of changing their narrative to fit their present circumstances. Pot, meet kettle.

Hindsight is 20/20. We didn’t k ow how much higher the case rates would go.

Lol what?? Every projection out there said we were going to have a surge starting in late fall and through the winter.

Exactly. Every single one. This is a well-educated part of the country. I can't understand how we have so many ignorant and foolish people living here. The projections were very clear.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It would be a lot easier to take seriously the DL people here and on AEM saying “but we shouldn’t go back during the surge” if those same people weren’t also strongly advocating for full DL in summer and early fall.

It’s an easy talking point now for them to say “but the case load is so high!” What was their excuse 5 months ago?

It wouldn’t bother me so much except I know these are the same people (at least on AEM, where posters are not anonymous) who are so quick to accuse APE members (I’m not a member, just an AEM observer) of changing their narrative to fit their present circumstances. Pot, meet kettle.

Hindsight is 20/20. We didn’t k ow how much higher the case rates would go.

Lol what?? Every projection out there said we were going to have a surge starting in late fall and through the winter.

Exactly. Every single one. This is a well-educated part of the country. I can't understand how we have so many ignorant and foolish people living here. The projections were very clear.

We tried to tell them and they insisted we were making it up. “Oh the surge is always 2 weeks away huh.” “Just admit you don’t want to go in to work lazy teacher “

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Don’t get it. if the grocery stores are safe then the managers should be there. And the regional managers should be stopping in periodically for the day. Seems to me that the school board and senior leaders can handle a live meeting every 2 weeks if community spread makes it safe enough to return to school!

It’s been explained repeatedly. If you’re incapable of understanding, we can’t help you.

“Teachers and kids and the lowest paid earners like grocery store clerks and servers should be at work at risk but everyone else should still be able to work at home safely.” We know.

+1. If the School Board said, "Hey, we are meeting virtually because we want to keep community spread as low as possible, and we want the BOS and our national leaders to shut down all non-essential businesses and require telework for everyone who is not an essential worker so that schools can remain open and health systems don't get overrun", that would be one thing. They aren't saying that. They're meeting virtually because THEY don't want to risk exposure to Covid but can't say so because it's terrible optics.

School Board doesn’t need to be in person to do their job effectively. Teachers do.

Disagree. My kids are doing great with virtual learning, thanks to their teachers. I would also disagree that the School Board has been doing an effective job virtually. Maybe they should try meeting in person.

DP. I completely agree with you. Our kids are thriving and making progress with DL. They are quite happy doing DL and not having to deal with the misbehaving idiots who get 90% of the teacher's time because she's trying to keep them in line. Now those kids can't act out in a way that disrupts learning so it is a complete win-win for my kids. Finally!

How are you measuring progress as compared to a traditional school year?

The younger two are learning the exact same thing their older sibling learned in previous years. iReady scores look great. I'm not sure whether they're doing the IAAT, but I expect our oldest child to do well on it if they do. His school sent out a couple sample questions and he had no problem with them.

They're receiving curriculum at the same pace and depth?

I am the "DP" and I agree with the poster talking about her younger two. I am able to measure our kids' against their older siblings. Homework is similar. Tests are similar. Pacing is similar (one kid the order has changed but the pacing is about right). For all the talk about the shortened week I think my kids' teachers are getting more done because they don't have to deal with the behavior problems. I really feel like my kids are learning more than their siblings because of that.

[Anonymous]

^as a teacher you have NO idea how much faster we can move because the kids who don’t want to learn are now just... silent. A black box. Or not there. Do I have to take time later for contact and catching them up? Yes. But do they impact all the other kids who are engaged and learning anymore? NO. And kids get *so tired* of this because they know the game. They know their peers who misbehave and distract and interrupt eat up attention and waste time. It’s so frustrating for them! So yeah DL has a lot of issues most of which are to blame on the fact districts copped out creating anything new and decided to just “do a normal school day” online with nothing different but this, this one thing is a huge benefit.

Parents of kids who show up to learn and work and they will see that. There is no doubt though that some of the most frustrated parents right now are the parents of the kids who, no longer able to disrupt their class for attention and to ware time, have resorted to off task annoying behavior at HOME. And parents think that means DL doesn’t work when really that kid was doing that all along. They’re just the ones who see and deal with it now.

[Anonymous]

That is insightful. Maybe it explains the massive disconnect from parents. Parents with generally attentive and enthusiastic students think this is tolerable til it is safer. Parents of disruptive , in attentive students think it’s a disaster.l and worth the risks. Insightful. But doesn’t change the fact that teachers have no say at all and have the greatest risks. Can we wait til March to bring them back for goodness sake. At least the ones in middle and high who will be exposed to 50+ kids per day in hybrid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That is insightful. Maybe it explains the massive disconnect from parents. Parents with generally attentive and enthusiastic students think this is tolerable til it is safer. Parents of disruptive , in attentive students think it’s a disaster.l and worth the risks. Insightful. But doesn’t change the fact that teachers have no say at all and have the greatest risks. Can we wait til March to bring them back for goodness sake. At least the ones in middle and high who will be exposed to 50+ kids per day in hybrid.

Yes but a) the districts can no longer withstand public pressure to open and b) have decided lack of data = proof it’s safe and c) the parents struggling most with the kinds of kids I mentioned are loud, persistent, and antagonistic. And they are being heard. And are causing so much ruckus the entire system is bowing to their wants and tantrums to hush them up and just give them what they want to be quiet ... kinda like... their kids... tend to do... in their classes.

[Anonymous]

Ah, to go back a year ago when the parents biggest concern was whether or not their vacations would be ruined by a before Labor Day start the school year!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That is insightful. Maybe it explains the massive disconnect from parents. Parents with generally attentive and enthusiastic students think this is tolerable til it is safer. Parents of disruptive , in attentive students think it’s a disaster.l and worth the risks. Insightful. But doesn’t change the fact that teachers have no say at all and have the greatest risks. Can we wait til March to bring them back for goodness sake. At least the ones in middle and high who will be exposed to 50+ kids per day in hybrid.

Yes but a) the districts can no longer withstand public pressure to open and b) have decided lack of data = proof it’s safe and c) the parents struggling most with the kinds of kids I mentioned are loud, persistent, and antagonistic. And they are being heard. And are causing so much ruckus the entire system is bowing to their wants and tantrums to hush them up and just give them what they want to be quiet ... kinda like... their kids... tend to do... in their classes.

Word. Couldn’t have said it any better. They are the parents of THOSE kids.