APS school board meeting, anything new?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Also read the board named the Reed school "Cardinal Elementary". So uninspired.

The Cardinal Cardinals.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’m very confused. Didn’t the school board ask Duran for a plan to get kids in school more days in the week? But then he showed up and just said no!? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills because the board is just rolling over. Do they need to be reminded who works for who?

Priddy was almost embarrassed when he said he would like to see kids in more days. PRIDDY HE WORKS FOR YOU--- YOU TOLD HIM TO BRING YOU A PLAN FOR MORE KIDS AND HE DIDN'T DO IT-- HOLD THE MAN ACCOUNTABLE.

Can we get someone, anyone on the SB with a backbone for crying out loud?!?!!? This is unacceptable. the man needs to be fired!!!!

No, he doesn't. He's actually trying to follow CDC guidelines.

UMM.. so APS is different than every other neighboring school district why/how??

Overcrowded, smaller schools.

The school overcrowding at all levels has been an issue for a decade, and how comes home to roost now.

Cant wait for post-pandemic distance learning and night shift school to address overcrowding.

I mean SB hired a former “equity officer” not someone who does real leadership or manage a full school district. I am all for investing in at need kids, but it ends up being a zero sum game unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Given that the CDC change makes busing simpler, why can't we extend in person days to the normal length? Has Duran answered this question?

I think this is a principal call not Duran. Immersion has been on a normal schedule this entire time. I thought the reason for shortening the schedule was so virtual kids wouldn't be too burned out. But maybe I am wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Given that the CDC change makes busing simpler, why can't we extend in person days to the normal length? Has Duran answered this question?

I think this is a principal call not Duran. Immersion has been on a normal schedule this entire time. I thought the reason for shortening the schedule was so virtual kids wouldn't be too burned out. But maybe I am wrong.

Wrong. This is an APS call. They don’t make the bus schedules. They can’t just extend dismissal to 1:10 later. It would affect the whole bus schedule at other levels.

[Anonymous]

APS teacher here who has been in person since September. Very confused by the “Addendum B” to the budget. Are we now getting a step increase except for top of scale? Or did they reduce our 2% increase more?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:APS teacher here who has been in person since September. Very confused by the “Addendum B” to the budget. Are we now getting a step increase except for top of scale? Or did they reduce our 2% increase more?

I don't have an answer to your question but thank you for being in-person since September!!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I’m very confused. Didn’t the school board ask Duran for a plan to get kids in school more days in the week? But then he showed up and just said no!? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills because the board is just rolling over. Do they need to be reminded who works for who?

Priddy was almost embarrassed when he said he would like to see kids in more days. PRIDDY HE WORKS FOR YOU--- YOU TOLD HIM TO BRING YOU A PLAN FOR MORE KIDS AND HE DIDN'T DO IT-- HOLD THE MAN ACCOUNTABLE.

Can we get someone, anyone on the SB with a backbone for crying out loud?!?!!? This is unacceptable. the man needs to be fired!!!!

No, he doesn't. He's actually trying to follow CDC guidelines.

UMM.. so APS is different than every other neighboring school district why/how??

Are we though? FCC is able to get their 4 whole schools back more days. Loudoun is getting just the littles in 4 days right now. Fairfax says they are going to send kids back more but have already rolled that back because it’s not realistic with the time left in the year. Let me know if I missed something...

You missed something! FCPS had a SB meeting last night and schools having difficulty accommodating students wanting 4 days in-person were to reach out for help. Suddenly today many schools in FCPS seem to be making offers to start 4-days either next week or 4/20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I’m very confused. Didn’t the school board ask Duran for a plan to get kids in school more days in the week? But then he showed up and just said no!? I feel like I’m taking crazy pills because the board is just rolling over. Do they need to be reminded who works for who?

Priddy was almost embarrassed when he said he would like to see kids in more days. PRIDDY HE WORKS FOR YOU--- YOU TOLD HIM TO BRING YOU A PLAN FOR MORE KIDS AND HE DIDN'T DO IT-- HOLD THE MAN ACCOUNTABLE.

Can we get someone, anyone on the SB with a backbone for crying out loud?!?!!? This is unacceptable. the man needs to be fired!!!!

No, he doesn't. He's actually trying to follow CDC guidelines.

UMM.. so APS is different than every other neighboring school district why/how??

Are we though? FCC is able to get their 4 whole schools back more days. Loudoun is getting just the littles in 4 days right now. Fairfax says they are going to send kids back more but have already rolled that back because it’s not realistic with the time left in the year. Let me know if I missed something...

You missed something! FCPS had a SB meeting last night and schools having difficulty accommodating students wanting 4 days in-person were to reach out for help. Suddenly today many schools in FCPS seem to be making offers to start 4-days either next week or 4/20.

You missed something! These are the under enrolled schools.

[Anonymous]

As long as we open full-time in the fall (and I believe we will), I’m okay with finishing the year like this. How many bus stop changes can we take??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

He has said "5 days in the fall" multiple times. He has been very clear with his communication so that is on you if you can't keep up.

On in person days, my kid is still mostly being taught over the iPad. She gets 40 minutes of in person teaching as an elementary student, and that 40 minutes is concurrent with another in person class.

APS is allowing more than one elementary class to be taught by a single teacher, effectively doubling class sizes while the virtual class' teacher just "supervises" instead of teaching. This is happening.

Even when the teacher is present, they are often choosing to play pre recorded videos instead of offering live teaching. Yesterday was a gloriously beautiful day. For PE, the kids watched a video in the gym of the PE teacher giving a lesson, who was present and not doing anything.

APS needs to up its game and stop relying on screens. It's so so lazy and there is zero reason to believe that this is going to change in the fall.

What does that have to do with the fall?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To the person dropping the "F" bomb and telling others to shut-up, this is the entirety of what Duran said in your 4/6 school talk on this subject:

"Plan for five-day schedules for summer school and the 2021-22 school year. We will be providing a full in-person model and a full distance learning model of five days of learning for the 2021-22 school year. I will continue to keep you informed about the details, as plans develop."

APS was also planning for hybrid to start in September last year, so pardon me if I'm not entirely taking APS at its word here without a lot more information.

You want it in blood?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:We need to start a recall effort. There is no other way. Duran needs to be fired.

I wish I was smart enough to initiate that.. I'll certainly sign it though. Couldn't agree more he needs to be fired. It's unbelievable what that man is getting away with. In any other profession he would be fired by now.

Seriously? You are going to try to get a superintendent who hasn’t even been in the seat for 9 months fired? He was hired during a pandemic and has appeared level headed and calm this whole time. There are a lot of school systems that are operating on similar hybrid schedules still. It’s not like APS is this random outlier here. No one is ever going to be 100% loved by everyone- I hated Murphy and think he would have been awful during this time. At least Duran communicates and is transparent. I’d love to get kids back more days a week but at this point I will settle for what we have- which is switching kids from virtual to hybrid and get kids in 5 days a week in August.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have the worst school board and it wasn't great under Murphy who was way worse as a super.

Please remember that APS lost a huge lawsuit on how ELS kids were educated here and he was hired to fix that, not global pandemic or even manage this $600M dollar "business".

I think what I am saying may be controversial, but I will say it any way. I think because the majority of ELS kids are choosing virtual is why there is no big push for 4 days week in person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As long as we open full-time in the fall (and I believe we will), I’m okay with finishing the year like this. How many bus stop changes can we take??

Considering I spent from 7am to 9pm last night dealing with APS transportation not much more lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

He has said "5 days in the fall" multiple times. He has been very clear with his communication so that is on you if you can't keep up.

On in person days, my kid is still mostly being taught over the iPad. She gets 40 minutes of in person teaching as an elementary student, and that 40 minutes is concurrent with another in person class.

APS is allowing more than one elementary class to be taught by a single teacher, effectively doubling class sizes while the virtual class' teacher just "supervises" instead of teaching. This is happening.

Even when the teacher is present, they are often choosing to play pre recorded videos instead of offering live teaching. Yesterday was a gloriously beautiful day. For PE, the kids watched a video in the gym of the PE teacher giving a lesson, who was present and not doing anything.

APS needs to up its game and stop relying on screens. It's so so lazy and there is zero reason to believe that this is going to change in the fall.

So sorry OP that is awful. My kids get PE live, in the gym, every time they’re at school and they love it!. Only regret is that it’s shorter than last year.