Individual School Plans?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent, I find some of these comments disturbing. You are starting to sound like an angry crazy mob. You do know there is a pandemic? You do know teachers will be able to get the first dose of the vaccine beginning Jan 25? I know it's been tough, I have 2 kids at home with me, but surely we can wait until term 4, when numbers will be lower and teachers will have been vaccinated.Just makes more sense.

What makes you think that DCPS elementary schools will reopen for Term 4? Because the WTU and the City Council are on board with the plan?

Hint: they aren't.

So is a February 1 reopening guaranteed?

Nothing is guaranteed during a pandemic, but it’s certainly looking like they are staying firm with the Feb 1 plans going forward.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent, I find some of these comments disturbing. You are starting to sound like an angry crazy mob. You do know there is a pandemic? You do know teachers will be able to get the first dose of the vaccine beginning Jan 25? I know it's been tough, I have 2 kids at home with me, but surely we can wait until term 4, when numbers will be lower and teachers will have been vaccinated.Just makes more sense.

What makes you think that DCPS elementary schools will reopen for Term 4? Because the WTU and the City Council are on board with the plan?

Hint: they aren't.

So is a February 1 reopening guaranteed?

Nothing is guaranteed during a pandemic, but it’s certainly looking like they are staying firm with the Feb 1 plans going forward.

Not sure. Ferebee has made clear during admin meetings that this whole thing could be called at the last minute due to the metrics getting worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent, I find some of these comments disturbing. You are starting to sound like an angry crazy mob. You do know there is a pandemic? You do know teachers will be able to get the first dose of the vaccine beginning Jan 25? I know it's been tough, I have 2 kids at home with me, but surely we can wait until term 4, when numbers will be lower and teachers will have been vaccinated.Just makes more sense.

What makes you think that DCPS elementary schools will reopen for Term 4? Because the WTU and the City Council are on board with the plan?

Hint: they aren't.

+1

There is plenty of evidence at this point that opening elementary schools in a hybrid model with precautions is safe. But that train has left the station. Now that teachers have been virtual for so long it will take a lot more to get them back. A lot of it is fear because they’ve been so isolated- no one I know who is working in person right now is scared of the virus. That includes doctors at hospitals, in person teachers, etc. You have to make people go back to see being in a room with someone does not mean you automatically contract COVID and die.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent, I find some of these comments disturbing. You are starting to sound like an angry crazy mob. You do know there is a pandemic? You do know teachers will be able to get the first dose of the vaccine beginning Jan 25? I know it's been tough, I have 2 kids at home with me, but surely we can wait until term 4, when numbers will be lower and teachers will have been vaccinated.Just makes more sense.

What makes you think that DCPS elementary schools will reopen for Term 4? Because the WTU and the City Council are on board with the plan?

Hint: they aren't.

So is a February 1 reopening guaranteed?

Nothing is guaranteed during a pandemic, but it’s certainly looking like they are staying firm with the Feb 1 plans going forward.

Not sure. Ferebee has made clear during admin meetings that this whole thing could be called at the last minute due to the metrics getting worse.

It looks like the Christmas spike is hitting now and it doesn't look as bad as the Tgiving spike because some of the numbers have stayed relatively high (daily case rate, for example.) But even case rates will probably peak in the next several days and then start decreasing. Meanwhile, rate of transmission continues to be low (less than 1 secondary case/positive case.) Positivity rate is the one measure that doesn't seem to indicate a steady decrease.

https://coronavirus.dc.gov/page/reopening-metrics

I wish more public health people would regularly post on this forum

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent, I find some of these comments disturbing. You are starting to sound like an angry crazy mob. You do know there is a pandemic? You do know teachers will be able to get the first dose of the vaccine beginning Jan 25? I know it's been tough, I have 2 kids at home with me, but surely we can wait until term 4, when numbers will be lower and teachers will have been vaccinated.Just makes more sense.

What makes you think that DCPS elementary schools will reopen for Term 4? Because the WTU and the City Council are on board with the plan?

Hint: they aren't.

So is a February 1 reopening guaranteed?

Nothing is guaranteed during a pandemic, but it’s certainly looking like they are staying firm with the Feb 1 plans going forward.

Not sure. Ferebee has made clear during admin meetings that this whole thing could be called at the last minute due to the metrics getting worse.

It looks like the Christmas spike is hitting now and it doesn't look as bad as the Tgiving spike because some of the numbers have stayed relatively high (daily case rate, for example.) But even case rates will probably peak in the next several days and then start decreasing. Meanwhile, rate of transmission continues to be low (less than 1 secondary case/positive case.) Positivity rate is the one measure that doesn't seem to indicate a steady decrease.

https://coronavirus.dc.gov/page/reopening-metrics

I wish more public health people would regularly post on this forum

I have read on this page though out the fall how we should NOT use the DC coronavirus metrics because they aren’t calculated correctly and instead should only use the Johns Hopkins calculations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent, I find some of these comments disturbing. You are starting to sound like an angry crazy mob. You do know there is a pandemic? You do know teachers will be able to get the first dose of the vaccine beginning Jan 25? I know it's been tough, I have 2 kids at home with me, but surely we can wait until term 4, when numbers will be lower and teachers will have been vaccinated.Just makes more sense.

What makes you think that DCPS elementary schools will reopen for Term 4? Because the WTU and the City Council are on board with the plan?

Hint: they aren't.

So is a February 1 reopening guaranteed?

Nothing is guaranteed during a pandemic, but it’s certainly looking like they are staying firm with the Feb 1 plans going forward.

Not sure. Ferebee has made clear during admin meetings that this whole thing could be called at the last minute due to the metrics getting worse.

It looks like the Christmas spike is hitting now and it doesn't look as bad as the Tgiving spike because some of the numbers have stayed relatively high (daily case rate, for example.) But even case rates will probably peak in the next several days and then start decreasing. Meanwhile, rate of transmission continues to be low (less than 1 secondary case/positive case.) Positivity rate is the one measure that doesn't seem to indicate a steady decrease.

https://coronavirus.dc.gov/page/reopening-metrics

I wish more public health people would regularly post on this forum

https://covidactnow.org/us/district_of_columbia-dc

This page has a different (higher) R0 and a lower positive rate.

[Anonymous]

I feel like nothing has been resolved since DCPS initially introduced this plan. We are still going to have in-person seats that will not go to those most in need with regards to certain IEPs, covid numbers are worse than they've ever been, many DL students will lose the teacher they've had for 5 months, DL classes will become even larger, and some teachers will have to simulcast. What exactly was addressed?

Also, what does this mean for Term 4? If teachers get vaccinated by then and covid numbers hopefully go down, more teachers will likely agree to do in-person, as will more parents. Do you then switch the kids back to their original teachers? Or are we assuming that the kids who get in-person are the only ones who will have it for the remainder of the year? It just feels like this is all so short-sighted. And please before you attack me for not wanting kids with needs and at-risk children to get a proper education, that is not what I'm saying at all. I 100% believe those kids should be in class, but I continue to believe this plan has so many flaws.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like nothing has been resolved since DCPS initially introduced this plan. We are still going to have in-person seats that will not go to those most in need with regards to certain IEPs, covid numbers are worse than they've ever been, many DL students will lose the teacher they've had for 5 months, DL classes will become even larger, and some teachers will have to simulcast. What exactly was addressed?

Also, what does this mean for Term 4? If teachers get vaccinated by then and covid numbers hopefully go down, more teachers will likely agree to do in-person, as will more parents. Do you then switch the kids back to their original teachers? Or are we assuming that the kids who get in-person are the only ones who will have it for the remainder of the year? It just feels like this is all so short-sighted. And please before you attack me for not wanting kids with needs and at-risk children to get a proper education, that is not what I'm saying at all. I 100% believe those kids should be in class, but I continue to believe this plan has so many flaws.

Other than this Hearst monstrosity, I think most schools are done for the year. Once they open with the cohorts there isn’t going to be any more coming back. There is no way a principal is going to redo classes a third time this year. So you are right, this is it.

It’s even more disgusting that they aren’t opening their self contained classes. There needs to be a serious discussion about why kids who are I. Self contained autism classes are not going back. That is exactly who should be returning.

[Anonymous]

I’ve given up on my kids going back this year. I don’t have the mental space to be mad about it any more.

[Anonymous]

The Hearst plan is pretty unfortunate. It is a small school but why couldn’t they muster at least one class in person per grade?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Hearst plan is pretty unfortunate. It is a small school but why couldn’t they muster at least one class in person per grade?

Don’t they have like two classes per grade? I’m guessing sending one teacher in person and having the other teacher stay virtual with 40 kids probably would have ticked parents off. No win situation, especially at tiny schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a parent, I find some of these comments disturbing. You are starting to sound like an angry crazy mob. You do know there is a pandemic? You do know teachers will be able to get the first dose of the vaccine beginning Jan 25? I know it's been tough, I have 2 kids at home with me, but surely we can wait until term 4, when numbers will be lower and teachers will have been vaccinated.Just makes more sense.

There are already teachers at our school saying they don’t want to get the vaccine and want to wait until children are vaccinated. So, yeah, I don’t think this is going to be a slam dunk. There’s a reason the WTU didn’t heavily push early vaccine access; they know that the truth is that lots of their members will refuse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like nothing has been resolved since DCPS initially introduced this plan. We are still going to have in-person seats that will not go to those most in need with regards to certain IEPs, covid numbers are worse than they've ever been, many DL students will lose the teacher they've had for 5 months, DL classes will become even larger, and some teachers will have to simulcast. What exactly was addressed?

Also, what does this mean for Term 4? If teachers get vaccinated by then and covid numbers hopefully go down, more teachers will likely agree to do in-person, as will more parents. Do you then switch the kids back to their original teachers? Or are we assuming that the kids who get in-person are the only ones who will have it for the remainder of the year? It just feels like this is all so short-sighted. And please before you attack me for not wanting kids with needs and at-risk children to get a proper education, that is not what I'm saying at all. I 100% believe those kids should be in class, but I continue to believe this plan has so many flaws.

Other than this Hearst monstrosity, I think most schools are done for the year. Once they open with the cohorts there isn’t going to be any more coming back. There is no way a principal is going to redo classes a third time this year. So you are right, this is it.

It’s even more disgusting that they aren’t opening their self contained classes. There needs to be a serious discussion about why kids who are I. Self contained autism classes are not going back. That is exactly who should be returning.

You have no idea if all the the teachers there qualified for FMLA and ADA. I am a CES teacher myself and I am returning even though I qualified for FMLA. Not all self contained classrooms are not opening. I only feel comfortable because I only have 3 students returning. Now I'll just have to figure out how to teach the others online at the same time, keep the same energy and make their home materials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like nothing has been resolved since DCPS initially introduced this plan. We are still going to have in-person seats that will not go to those most in need with regards to certain IEPs, covid numbers are worse than they've ever been, many DL students will lose the teacher they've had for 5 months, DL classes will become even larger, and some teachers will have to simulcast. What exactly was addressed?

Also, what does this mean for Term 4? If teachers get vaccinated by then and covid numbers hopefully go down, more teachers will likely agree to do in-person, as will more parents. Do you then switch the kids back to their original teachers? Or are we assuming that the kids who get in-person are the only ones who will have it for the remainder of the year? It just feels like this is all so short-sighted. And please before you attack me for not wanting kids with needs and at-risk children to get a proper education, that is not what I'm saying at all. I 100% believe those kids should be in class, but I continue to believe this plan has so many flaws.

Other than this Hearst monstrosity, I think most schools are done for the year. Once they open with the cohorts there isn’t going to be any more coming back. There is no way a principal is going to redo classes a third time this year. So you are right, this is it.

It’s even more disgusting that they aren’t opening their self contained classes. There needs to be a serious discussion about why kids who are I. Self contained autism classes are not going back. That is exactly who should be returning.

You have no idea if all the the teachers there qualified for FMLA and ADA. I am a CES teacher myself and I am returning even though I qualified for FMLA. Not all self contained classrooms are not opening. I only feel comfortable because I only have 3 students returning. Now I'll just have to figure out how to teach the others online at the same time, keep the same energy and make their home materials.

All self contained classrooms at Hearst are not opening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is the Hearst re-opening plan for real? I just looked at several other elementary school's plans on their websites (including my own kid's school) and they are bringing back a lot more students. Some elementary schools even have at least one in person class per grade. And Hearst's principal could only bring back 10 kids in K for in person learning, according to what was shared above? She completely prioritizes teachers over students and families. Virtual learning does not work for most elementary students, and she is bringing back 10 out of 330+ kids because one Hearst teacher agreed to go back. ONLY ONE! What happened to the Teacher's Union recalling teachers when more students wanted to go back?

Hearst parent here. We are so angry about this. Principal is having two townhalls next week and is going to hear it from my spouse and I. This is unbelievable. Where the hell is the leadership? Where is the teacher’s so-called devotion to teaching and students. Our support of the school is done. This is a huge betrayal.

You have every right to be angry. I'm not even a Hearst parent and I'm livid on your behalf.