Deal 7th grade are virtual learning today

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for Ms. Neal. I hope she gets a break. So many crazy parents who seem untethered to reality. We are in a pandemic. Covid is going crazy. We don’t care if staff is sick or out. We want kids in school learning. And if kids are left unsupervised, we will go nuts. Parents are expecting the impossible of her. And I’m sure central office is also causing all sorts of issues for her. I hope she doesn’t quit.

I agree. I am not a huge Neal fan but this situation is impossible. I suppose if all the people on the fringes are pissed at you, you are probably doing the best thing. But it has to be difficult.

+1 Don’t worry; messaging on here is not consistent with what the general population feels. Just look at the dueling petitions that went out in the past week. The first, which was asking for transparency and metrics to pivot to virtual had over 3,000 signatures; the “open at all costs” has petered out at a little over 300.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Fairfax. Are you saying 11-13 yo kids showed up for middle school and were turned away, with no buses to take them home or any responsible adults keeping them at school and making sure an adult picked them up? You know, that's insane, right?

For clarification - there are no school buses. These are city buses the kids take to school.

Then the school admin should have called the Mayor to commandeer some buses to take these kids home. This is crazy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for Ms. Neal. I hope she gets a break. So many crazy parents who seem untethered to reality. We are in a pandemic. Covid is going crazy. We don’t care if staff is sick or out. We want kids in school learning. And if kids are left unsupervised, we will go nuts. Parents are expecting the impossible of her. And I’m sure central office is also causing all sorts of issues for her. I hope she doesn’t quit.

I agree. I am not a huge Neal fan but this situation is impossible. I suppose if all the people on the fringes are pissed at you, you are probably doing the best thing. But it has to be difficult.

She should not have turned kids away from school like that. That shows insanely poor judgment!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I live in Fairfax. Are you saying 11-13 yo kids showed up for middle school and were turned away, with no buses to take them home or any responsible adults keeping them at school and making sure an adult picked them up? You know, that's insane, right?

For clarification - there are no school buses. These are city buses the kids take to school.

Then the school admin should have called the Mayor to commandeer some buses to take these kids home. This is crazy.

I don’t think it works like that but it would be cool!

[Anonymous]

Yes, the timing was bad for those EOTP. My student knows which buses to take when the D is not running (often the case when they stay late at school). For city kids, it’s not as big a deal as it would be for kids in the counties who only take school buses.

[Anonymous]

I’m the OP and I chimed in to say my fully vaccinated 6th grader loves school and her friends regardless if there isn’t any instruction taken place. She wanted to attend on the last day before break as a few friends did secret Santa and they were looking forward to seeing one another.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was wrong to close school at 8:00 a.m., stranding middle school age kids. Make the call last night or at 5:00 a.m. This is extremely poor judgment.

The call had to be approved by Bowser first.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My son's 6th grade team at Deal sent a text an hour ago saying "glad most of you are staying safe and healthy today!" and then provided an assignment.

If they didn't want kids to go to school to learn, why not just say that? But to imply those of us who sent are kids have done the wrong this is insane. Talk about literally sending the wrong message to families.

My Deal 6th grader is at school today and we haven't received a text. If you're comfortable saying, which team is it?

Doula.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for Ms. Neal. I hope she gets a break. So many crazy parents who seem untethered to reality. We are in a pandemic. Covid is going crazy. We don’t care if staff is sick or out. We want kids in school learning. And if kids are left unsupervised, we will go nuts. Parents are expecting the impossible of her. And I’m sure central office is also causing all sorts of issues for her. I hope she doesn’t quit.

+1

Another in agreement. I certainly wouldn’t blame her for quitting, though, and if she does I hope she blows the whistle loudly on the way out the door. I can say with 100% confidence, after five years at Deal, that there’s no way Ms. Neal would have made this call at 8 a.m. if she had any other choice. In fact, I think we have proof in our email inboxes; she sent this email at 2:50 p.m. yesterday:

Good afternoon,

We are currently experiencing an uptick in new positive cases. We are working extremely hard to contact families and provide close contacts with appropriate notification. If in the event the operating status of school changes, we will notify you immediately.

Thank you for your patience and partnership.

Diedre L. Neal | Principal

Seems pretty clear she was working on/hoping for the ability to go virtual today and wasn’t allowed to make that call—and still for 7th grade only!—until 8 a.m. this morning when enough teachers had called in sick that they couldn’t staff the grade. Direct your fire at DCPS and Mayor Bowser.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what comes of being determined to stay open.

This is what comes of everything else being a higher priority to stay open: Gyms, restaurants, sporting events, concerts, malls, bars, airports and movie theaters are all wide open. Teachers aren't getting covid at school - they are getting it at non-essential services. Close everything else and keep schools - a vital service - open.

Wow. People really still believe this.

-a teacher with covid who goes nowhere else

I hope they're trolls, Teacher. The problem is that influential people with letters after their name have gone on social media to say that schools don't spread Covid, and their posts are repeated ad nauseam by desperate parents who will grab on to any straw, however illogical, to keep their jobs and keep their children in school (I feel for them). It's unconscionable, since obviously the maskless lunches are Covid spreaders. It works when cases are low, and doesn't when cases are high. That's a mathematical fact. Disinformation is rife and as usual, teachers bear the brunt of it.

Disinformation is rife, and you're spreading it. Schools have not been shown to be major vectors for COVID, and given the mildness of the Omicron variant (and the fact that we are likely to see it drop precipitously as it has in other countries already) the panic displayed on this thread and is completely irrational. The only people who should be fearful are the unvaccinated. If you're immunocompromised, you've already had to be extra cautious throughout the pandemic, and shouldn't stop now, but the vast majority of kids, including the unvaccinated kids, are not going to experience this variant as anything more than a cold. What we do know to be harmful are school closures and the attendant mental health issues and learning loss. That actively harms children. The only thing teachers should "bear the brunt" of is their own (and their union's) unscientific efforts to keep DC schools closed for as long as they did. They bear responsibility for the harm they caused children in this city. Parent's haven't forgotten that.

This. Schools all over the world have been in person…maskless…and do not have higher rates than we do. Mandate vaccines, get rid of masks, and let’s move on with our lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for Ms. Neal. I hope she gets a break. So many crazy parents who seem untethered to reality. We are in a pandemic. Covid is going crazy. We don’t care if staff is sick or out. We want kids in school learning. And if kids are left unsupervised, we will go nuts. Parents are expecting the impossible of her. And I’m sure central office is also causing all sorts of issues for her. I hope she doesn’t quit.

+1

Another in agreement. I certainly wouldn’t blame her for quitting, though, and if she does I hope she blows the whistle loudly on the way out the door. I can say with 100% confidence, after five years at Deal, that there’s no way Ms. Neal would have made this call at 8 a.m. if she had any other choice. In fact, I think we have proof in our email inboxes; she sent this email at 2:50 p.m. yesterday:

Good afternoon,

We are currently experiencing an uptick in new positive cases. We are working extremely hard to contact families and provide close contacts with appropriate notification. If in the event the operating status of school changes, we will notify you immediately.

Thank you for your patience and partnership.

Diedre L. Neal | Principal

Seems pretty clear she was working on/hoping for the ability to go virtual today and wasn’t allowed to make that call—and still for 7th grade only!—until 8 a.m. this morning when enough teachers had called in sick that they couldn’t staff the grade. Direct your fire at DCPS and Mayor Bowser.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for Ms. Neal. I hope she gets a break. So many crazy parents who seem untethered to reality. We are in a pandemic. Covid is going crazy. We don’t care if staff is sick or out. We want kids in school learning. And if kids are left unsupervised, we will go nuts. Parents are expecting the impossible of her. And I’m sure central office is also causing all sorts of issues for her. I hope she doesn’t quit.

NP. I agree. These parents are CRAZY. This is a no-win situation and I really hope she survives this. These past 22 months have been awful for all around, but to put the blame on one person is insane and disgraceful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the OP and I chimed in to say my fully vaccinated 6th grader loves school and her friends regardless if there isn’t any instruction taken place. She wanted to attend on the last day before break as a few friends did secret Santa and they were looking forward to seeing one another.

Whatever. Your kid can deal with it. We all have disappointment in our lives. Covid numbers are really bad right now. School staff is stretched thin. Give them a break. They are clearly trying to do the best they can

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel bad for Ms. Neal. I hope she gets a break. So many crazy parents who seem untethered to reality. We are in a pandemic. Covid is going crazy. We don’t care if staff is sick or out. We want kids in school learning. And if kids are left unsupervised, we will go nuts. Parents are expecting the impossible of her. And I’m sure central office is also causing all sorts of issues for her. I hope she doesn’t quit.

+1

Another in agreement. I certainly wouldn’t blame her for quitting, though, and if she does I hope she blows the whistle loudly on the way out the door. I can say with 100% confidence, after five years at Deal, that there’s no way Ms. Neal would have made this call at 8 a.m. if she had any other choice. In fact, I think we have proof in our email inboxes; she sent this email at 2:50 p.m. yesterday:

Good afternoon,

We are currently experiencing an uptick in new positive cases. We are working extremely hard to contact families and provide close contacts with appropriate notification. If in the event the operating status of school changes, we will notify you immediately.

Thank you for your patience and partnership.

Diedre L. Neal | Principal

Seems pretty clear she was working on/hoping for the ability to go virtual today and wasn’t allowed to make that call—and still for 7th grade only!—until 8 a.m. this morning when enough teachers had called in sick that they couldn’t staff the grade. Direct your fire at DCPS and Mayor Bowser.

This makes sense. She was probably waiting for an ok from the chancellor who is a total stooge. I’m sure he refused to make a decision until he got an ok from Bowser. The bigger question is why do we have a puppet for a chancellor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is what comes of being determined to stay open.

This is what comes of everything else being a higher priority to stay open: Gyms, restaurants, sporting events, concerts, malls, bars, airports and movie theaters are all wide open. Teachers aren't getting covid at school - they are getting it at non-essential services. Close everything else and keep schools - a vital service - open.

How on earth do you know where teachers are getting COVID? Perhaps it’s from the asymptotic students who are doing nonessential things? Perhaps it’s from a highly contagious variant that’s impossible to avoid doing essential things as carefully as possible?

I agree with your priorities though.