APS School Board Caucus - Voting Underway

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I voted for Miranda. My takeaway from this is that many people in Arlington really are fine with how APS has handled the pandemic. I find this ... curious. Arlington is a weird place. I used to really love living here, but now I think we are a strange microcosm of a place. There's a lot to love but also ... I still can't really believe that most people are OK with APS providing very little instruction the past year.

And yes, yes, I know the teachers are working hard. I'm not blaming them. But virtual learning is so much a worse alternative than in-person, and other places have managed this so much better than Arlington, that's it's still a bit beyond me.

Most of Arlington is happy to leave schools part-time for three more weeks because it's the end of the year and, meh. Never mind that we have very little COVID in Arlington now and that those weeks could make a huge difference still for some of our kids ...

I just don't get it.

My kids are in high school, and that was not our experience.

I have been shocked -- not surprised, because there have been plenty of indications that this is the case, but I didn't want to believe it -- by the indifference of affluent parents to the experiences and needs of less-affluent families. Plenty of people seemed to view the news that those parents weren't comfortable returning to school as a sign that they needed to be convinced, not the the better-off parents needed to think harder about what they were asking for. And when told that APS needed a consistent approach to opening across schools, parents who had just been ranting that remote learning is garbage and we can't do that to children were suddenly of the opinion that families that wanted to choose remote should just do that and let other people choose differently.

It was gross.

Are you serious? Anyone who spoke out saying they wanted to support RTS for those communities was accused of “using brown kids” as an excuse to reopen schools. Then when someone says those families should be able to continue to choose virtual while other kids return, they’re gross for saying families who would like remote school should be able to do so.

If your child was struggling at home this year (like many of the younger Elementary kids were), it was a no win situation. We’ve so lost our way that parents cannot even advocate for their own children anymore because somebody somewhere has it worse. Which makes it a race to the bottom. If a small subset of kids can’t make it to school 5 days per week, then NO ONE’s kids should.

Meanwhile every family that possibly could set up pods, hired tutors, or went private. APS didn’t actually *do* anything to help less affluent families. They just made sure everyone else was equally deprived of a real education in the name of “equity” meanwhile widening the gap between the families with money for resources and those without. I think that is why so many families have grown complacent this past year, because they accepted they would need to buy their way out of this since they couldn’t rely on APS.

I’m fortunately in a position we could join a pod with a licensed educator, but I’m horrified for the families that couldn’t afford this type of assistance.

Just like there is now a giant wealth gap in this county, we are about to find ourselves in a giant educational gap. And instead of the county being able to focus on just a small subset of students who were not able to return in person, there are now too many students who are behind to even accommodate with summer school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just open up five days next year, as they will! deep cleaned, and well ventilated and ready to go. Jeez folks. Your trust funds will take care of the rest.

I resent that. DH worked his butt off to make partner, we had to make many compromises.

I'm sure you did. It's just that the sacrifices your family had to make during the pandemic are a teensy weensy bit different than a Latinx family who lives along Columbia Pike.

Myra they were worried about making rent if an adult got Covid so many kept their kids out of school. How many did they at Jamestown? 10%? How many fled to private from Jamestown this year? 20%? So sorry you had to cancel spring break and skim it in OBX last summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I voted for Miranda. My takeaway from this is that many people in Arlington really are fine with how APS has handled the pandemic. I find this ... curious. Arlington is a weird place. I used to really love living here, but now I think we are a strange microcosm of a place. There's a lot to love but also ... I still can't really believe that most people are OK with APS providing very little instruction the past year.

And yes, yes, I know the teachers are working hard. I'm not blaming them. But virtual learning is so much a worse alternative than in-person, and other places have managed this so much better than Arlington, that's it's still a bit beyond me.

Most of Arlington is happy to leave schools part-time for three more weeks because it's the end of the year and, meh. Never mind that we have very little COVID in Arlington now and that those weeks could make a huge difference still for some of our kids ...

I just don't get it.

My kids are in high school, and that was not our experience.

I have been shocked -- not surprised, because there have been plenty of indications that this is the case, but I didn't want to believe it -- by the indifference of affluent parents to the experiences and needs of less-affluent families. Plenty of people seemed to view the news that those parents weren't comfortable returning to school as a sign that they needed to be convinced, not the the better-off parents needed to think harder about what they were asking for. And when told that APS needed a consistent approach to opening across schools, parents who had just been ranting that remote learning is garbage and we can't do that to children were suddenly of the opinion that families that wanted to choose remote should just do that and let other people choose differently.

It was gross.

Are you serious? Anyone who spoke out saying they wanted to support RTS for those communities was accused of “using brown kids” as an excuse to reopen schools. Then when someone says those families should be able to continue to choose virtual while other kids return, they’re gross for saying families who would like remote school should be able to do so.

If your child was struggling at home this year (like many of the younger Elementary kids were), it was a no win situation. We’ve so lost our way that parents cannot even advocate for their own children anymore because somebody somewhere has it worse. Which makes it a race to the bottom. If a small subset of kids can’t make it to school 5 days per week, then NO ONE’s kids should.

Meanwhile every family that possibly could set up pods, hired tutors, or went private. APS didn’t actually *do* anything to help less affluent families. They just made sure everyone else was equally deprived of a real education in the name of “equity” meanwhile widening the gap between the families with money for resources and those without. I think that is why so many families have grown complacent this past year, because they accepted they would need to buy their way out of this since they couldn’t rely on APS.

I’m fortunately in a position we could join a pod with a licensed educator, but I’m horrified for the families that couldn’t afford this type of assistance.

Just like there is now a giant wealth gap in this county, we are about to find ourselves in a giant educational gap. And instead of the county being able to focus on just a small subset of students who were not able to return in person, there are now too many students who are behind to even accommodate with summer school.

That's because in Arlington:

"Equity" is for poor people
Rich people don't need or care about equity because they don't need to.
If APS institutes some policy that restricts something for students, no problem. They will just use a private provider for whatever service or good that was restricted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I voted for Miranda. My takeaway from this is that many people in Arlington really are fine with how APS has handled the pandemic. I find this ... curious. Arlington is a weird place. I used to really love living here, but now I think we are a strange microcosm of a place. There's a lot to love but also ... I still can't really believe that most people are OK with APS providing very little instruction the past year.

And yes, yes, I know the teachers are working hard. I'm not blaming them. But virtual learning is so much a worse alternative than in-person, and other places have managed this so much better than Arlington, that's it's still a bit beyond me.

Most of Arlington is happy to leave schools part-time for three more weeks because it's the end of the year and, meh. Never mind that we have very little COVID in Arlington now and that those weeks could make a huge difference still for some of our kids ...

I just don't get it.

The Establishment struck back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I voted for Miranda. May takeaway from this is that many people in Arlington really are fine with how APS has handled the pandemic. I find this ... curious. Arlington is a weird place. I used to really love living here, but now I think we are a strange microcosm of a place. There's a lot to love but also ... I still can't really believe that most people are OK with APS providing very little instruction the past year.

And yes, yes, I know the teachers are working hard. I'm not blaming them. But virtual learning is so much a worse alternative than in-person, and other places have managed this so much better than Arlington, that's it's still a bit beyond me.

Most of Arlington is happy to leave schools part-time for three more weeks because it's the end of the year and, meh. Never mind that we have very little COVID in Arlington now and that those weeks could make a huge difference still for some of our kids ...

I just don't get it.

I think your mistake is that Miranda’s supporters viewed this caucus as a referendum on RTS. What it showed, besides the power of the Dem machine, is that a lot of us are focused on the big picture of APS far beyond an issue that will be resolved by 1-Jan when the new member takes office. She never came around to showing herself as articulate and well-educated on all the other issues from capacity to budget shortfalls to VPMI and the list goes on. It was clear that she hadn’t given most of these issues any thoughts until she realized she needed a platform beyond RTS.

I’m a parent, and while I have many friends who did vote for Miranda, the majority of those I know, especially those who were active and engaged in APS prior to 2020, voted for Mary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I voted for Miranda. My takeaway from this is that many people in Arlington really are fine with how APS has handled the pandemic. I find this ... curious. Arlington is a weird place. I used to really love living here, but now I think we are a strange microcosm of a place. There's a lot to love but also ... I still can't really believe that most people are OK with APS providing very little instruction the past year.

And yes, yes, I know the teachers are working hard. I'm not blaming them. But virtual learning is so much a worse alternative than in-person, and other places have managed this so much better than Arlington, that's it's still a bit beyond me.

Most of Arlington is happy to leave schools part-time for three more weeks because it's the end of the year and, meh. Never mind that we have very little COVID in Arlington now and that those weeks could make a huge difference still for some of our kids ...

I just don't get it.

My kids are in high school, and that was not our experience.

I have been shocked -- not surprised, because there have been plenty of indications that this is the case, but I didn't want to believe it -- by the indifference of affluent parents to the experiences and needs of less-affluent families. Plenty of people seemed to view the news that those parents weren't comfortable returning to school as a sign that they needed to be convinced, not the the better-off parents needed to think harder about what they were asking for. And when told that APS needed a consistent approach to opening across schools, parents who had just been ranting that remote learning is garbage and we can't do that to children were suddenly of the opinion that families that wanted to choose remote should just do that and let other people choose differently.

It was gross.

Are you serious? Anyone who spoke out saying they wanted to support RTS for those communities was accused of “using brown kids” as an excuse to reopen schools. Then when someone says those families should be able to continue to choose virtual while other kids return, they’re gross for saying families who would like remote school should be able to do so.

If your child was struggling at home this year (like many of the younger Elementary kids were), it was a no win situation. We’ve so lost our way that parents cannot even advocate for their own children anymore because somebody somewhere has it worse. Which makes it a race to the bottom. If a small subset of kids can’t make it to school 5 days per week, then NO ONE’s kids should.

Meanwhile every family that possibly could set up pods, hired tutors, or went private. APS didn’t actually *do* anything to help less affluent families. They just made sure everyone else was equally deprived of a real education in the name of “equity” meanwhile widening the gap between the families with money for resources and those without. I think that is why so many families have grown complacent this past year, because they accepted they would need to buy their way out of this since they couldn’t rely on APS.

I’m fortunately in a position we could join a pod with a licensed educator, but I’m horrified for the families that couldn’t afford this type of assistance.

Just like there is now a giant wealth gap in this county, we are about to find ourselves in a giant educational gap. And instead of the county being able to focus on just a small subset of students who were not able to return in person, there are now too many students who are behind to even accommodate with summer school.

That's because in Arlington:

"Equity" is for poor people
Rich people don't need or care about equity because they don't need to.
If APS institutes some policy that restricts something for students, no problem. They will just use a private provider for whatever service or good that was restricted.

DP. Also “equity” is largely fake in the eyes of the already-privileged. One has to be in favor of it, through statements, but there, the real goal of the privileged is just to further strengthen THEIR grip on privilege. That is, by saying the right things, privileged people make sure that people in pursuit of equity won’t come after them. And yes, such rich folks will find the services elsewhere, if needed. At some point, one has to ask: what do such people get out of living in Arlington if schools are a concern. Solid parks and good commutes, I guess. The housing stock isn’t anything special.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I voted for Miranda. My takeaway from this is that many people in Arlington really are fine with how APS has handled the pandemic. I find this ... curious. Arlington is a weird place. I used to really love living here, but now I think we are a strange microcosm of a place. There's a lot to love but also ... I still can't really believe that most people are OK with APS providing very little instruction the past year.

And yes, yes, I know the teachers are working hard. I'm not blaming them. But virtual learning is so much a worse alternative than in-person, and other places have managed this so much better than Arlington, that's it's still a bit beyond me.

Most of Arlington is happy to leave schools part-time for three more weeks because it's the end of the year and, meh. Never mind that we have very little COVID in Arlington now and that those weeks could make a huge difference still for some of our kids ...

I just don't get it.

I think it just wasn’t that bad for middle and high and older elementary. So if you have younger elementary you might be outraged. But that is just a very small subset of voters, even if it encompasses all your friends.

I agree and I have a HS junior. What should have been the toughest year of HS was a joke and I just don't get it either. Thank God this is my 4th and last and we will be out of APS in a year. It has gone downhill since my oldest was in kindergarten but this year really was an eye-opener.

[Anonymous]

As much as I hate to admit it, I find DCUM illuminating at times.

I guess I am a unicorn, bc I live in NA but I am an "essential" worker and have never been able to stay home.
And, this year has been awful for my kids (and for me). I also think we (and I mean locally) should have prioritized kids through the pandemic, and APS did not. I know many on here will disagree and if you have had a great or even tolerable year where your kids did well, then great.

For me, the issues have been, 1, APS has not honored ANY of its commitments to kids or families this year, and 2, being able to see firsthand how bad the instruction is has pulled the wool off my eyes. There is a serious trust issue between APS and the general community and it seems like neither teachers nor parents seem confident in leadership. Folks, this is not a recipe for a good school system.

But APS was clearly in trouble before. Prior to COVID, I was revolted at how few of my allegedly progressive neighbors seemed bothered by APS having to settle the DOJ lawsuit regarding treatment of ELL kids and their families. People were mad that their (white) kid was going to lose some special program, not that APS had botched things so badly. I was and am genuinely upset that this is NEVER discussed.

Now that I have had 2 kids failing their APS classes, I have seen that APS does...really, nothing. There really does seem to be this expectation that the parents will somehow step in and fix it. I don't know if this was the case before but in talking with families whose kids have IEPs, it seems like this has always been the way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I voted for Miranda. May takeaway from this is that many people in Arlington really are fine with how APS has handled the pandemic. I find this ... curious. Arlington is a weird place. I used to really love living here, but now I think we are a strange microcosm of a place. There's a lot to love but also ... I still can't really believe that most people are OK with APS providing very little instruction the past year.

And yes, yes, I know the teachers are working hard. I'm not blaming them. But virtual learning is so much a worse alternative than in-person, and other places have managed this so much better than Arlington, that's it's still a bit beyond me.

Most of Arlington is happy to leave schools part-time for three more weeks because it's the end of the year and, meh. Never mind that we have very little COVID in Arlington now and that those weeks could make a huge difference still for some of our kids ...

I just don't get it.

I think your mistake is that Miranda’s supporters viewed this caucus as a referendum on RTS. What it showed, besides the power of the Dem machine, is that a lot of us are focused on the big picture of APS far beyond an issue that will be resolved by 1-Jan when the new member takes office. She never came around to showing herself as articulate and well-educated on all the other issues from capacity to budget shortfalls to VPMI and the list goes on. It was clear that she hadn’t given most of these issues any thoughts until she realized she needed a platform beyond RTS.

I’m a parent, and while I have many friends who did vote for Miranda, the majority of those I know, especially those who were active and engaged in APS prior to 2020, voted for Mary.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I voted for Miranda. My takeaway from this is that many people in Arlington really are fine with how APS has handled the pandemic. I find this ... curious. Arlington is a weird place. I used to really love living here, but now I think we are a strange microcosm of a place. There's a lot to love but also ... I still can't really believe that most people are OK with APS providing very little instruction the past year.

And yes, yes, I know the teachers are working hard. I'm not blaming them. But virtual learning is so much a worse alternative than in-person, and other places have managed this so much better than Arlington, that's it's still a bit beyond me.

Most of Arlington is happy to leave schools part-time for three more weeks because it's the end of the year and, meh. Never mind that we have very little COVID in Arlington now and that those weeks could make a huge difference still for some of our kids ...

I just don't get it.

You find it curious that people don't think exactly like you do? Really?

I expect individuals to disagree with me, of course. But that Arlington en masse is really just shrugging its shoulders and OK with this school year? Yes, I find that kind of shocking.

Personally, I thought the pandemic really sucked - including the impacts to education. But I think APS had a reasonable plan and did its best under the circumstances. They just couldn't pivot from model to model, making huge changes to staffing/classrooms/transportation within a few weeks. So if the vaccine was available earlier and the surge started to subside earlier and the CDC recommendations had already changes back in Jan/Feb then we could have gotten to 5 days. But the timing didn't work out given that all of those pieces fell into place so late in the year.

I do expect a strong plan for the fall for recovery. Guess we will see how they do on that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As much as I hate to admit it, I find DCUM illuminating at times.

I guess I am a unicorn, bc I live in NA but I am an "essential" worker and have never been able to stay home.
And, this year has been awful for my kids (and for me). I also think we (and I mean locally) should have prioritized kids through the pandemic, and APS did not. I know many on here will disagree and if you have had a great or even tolerable year where your kids did well, then great.

Maybe, but my kids had a tolerable year, and I think APS' longstanding shortcomings really showed themselves. So did the shortcomings of the privileged elements of the Arlington community.

APS has long screwed over kids with learning disabilities or other atypical traits. And although I guess some of those kids got back to school sooner than the average ATS kid, I wonder if it could have been sooner. I feel bad for those kids.

But the most vocal parents were the ones insisting since spring that we needed 5 days a week in person instruction. Occasionally there would be a proposal for at least one day, or getting a subset of kids back in person sooner, or having supervised pods at community centers, and the loudest (if not the largest, I don't know) voices would be parents saying "If you can do that, you can do five days a week in person for all students." There was a real failure on the part of the RTS crowd to think about exactly what elements of the traditional educational experience should be prioritized and for whom. And as long as they wanted to have their pre-pandemic lives back, they didn't seem to notice what was going wrong for other families unless they could use them as poster children.

I think APS could have done a better job of explaining why things had to be equal across schools and why it couldn't just do what private schools were doing. I'm not sure it would have calmed the hardcore RTS immediately if not sooner folks down, but it would have been a useful conversation for the rest of us. Maybe some of the people who started caring about mental health and learning disabilities would keep caring come September.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As much as I hate to admit it, I find DCUM illuminating at times.

I guess I am a unicorn, bc I live in NA but I am an "essential" worker and have never been able to stay home.
And, this year has been awful for my kids (and for me). I also think we (and I mean locally) should have prioritized kids through the pandemic, and APS did not. I know many on here will disagree and if you have had a great or even tolerable year where your kids did well, then great.

Maybe, but my kids had a tolerable year, and I think APS' longstanding shortcomings really showed themselves. So did the shortcomings of the privileged elements of the Arlington community.

APS has long screwed over kids with learning disabilities or other atypical traits. And although I guess some of those kids got back to school sooner than the average ATS kid, I wonder if it could have been sooner. I feel bad for those kids.

But the most vocal parents were the ones insisting since spring that we needed 5 days a week in person instruction. Occasionally there would be a proposal for at least one day, or getting a subset of kids back in person sooner, or having supervised pods at community centers, and the loudest (if not the largest, I don't know) voices would be parents saying "If you can do that, you can do five days a week in person for all students." There was a real failure on the part of the RTS crowd to think about exactly what elements of the traditional educational experience should be prioritized and for whom. And as long as they wanted to have their pre-pandemic lives back, they didn't seem to notice what was going wrong for other families unless they could use them as poster children.

I think APS could have done a better job of explaining why things had to be equal across schools and why it couldn't just do what private schools were doing. I'm not sure it would have calmed the hardcore RTS immediately if not sooner folks down, but it would have been a useful conversation for the rest of us. Maybe some of the people who started caring about mental health and learning disabilities would keep caring come September.

I respectfully disagree. I was emailing the County Board (not the SB) in spring of 2020 to ask about childcare (NOT school) and it's been apparent to me the whole time that both Arlington Co and APS favored a "you figure it out" approach. They could have started pods in community centers in the fall. They could have brought special needs kids back from day 1. I get what you're saying and I think one issue is that APS didn't want to do what the health data supported: kids from preK-2nd grade could have gone to school all year, high school kids could not. Clearly that would have pushed many parents over the edge, and the fact is that kids of all ages and abilities have lost out.

I wanted 5 days a week all year but would have settled for hybrid. #OneAPS people (at least some of whom have already left for private) were VERY vocal in the fall and were adamantly opposed to hybrid. APS was not willing to engage AT ALL about outdoor lunch. etc (which I emailed about in August) until Smart Restart people made it their mission. There were vocal parents all over the place who refused to consider the perspectives of others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just send your kids to private whiners

+10000000000000000000000000000000000000

APS is awful. I can't believe how much better private school is and mine are not even in a fancy expensive private school. I learned a long time ago that the SB and APS were a disaster. So glad my kids are in private school. Stop whining and just pull them from APS already. Mary's not going to change anything. Miranda probably wouldn't have either. Do your kids a favor and get them out. If you can't afford it talk to the school and ask for assistance. I know many who have gotten reduced tuition and scholarships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just send your kids to private whiners

+10000000000000000000000000000000000000

APS is awful. I can't believe how much better private school is and mine are not even in a fancy expensive private school. I learned a long time ago that the SB and APS were a disaster. So glad my kids are in private school. Stop whining and just pull them from APS already. Mary's not going to change anything. Miranda probably wouldn't have either. Do your kids a favor and get them out. If you can't afford it talk to the school and ask for assistance. I know many who have gotten reduced tuition and scholarships.

+1 Just here to observe the infighting. And it sure is entertaining. Wouldn't be quite as fun if I still had kids in APS. We saw the writing on the wall in March 2020.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just send your kids to private whiners

+10000000000000000000000000000000000000

APS is awful. I can't believe how much better private school is and mine are not even in a fancy expensive private school. I learned a long time ago that the SB and APS were a disaster. So glad my kids are in private school. Stop whining and just pull them from APS already. Mary's not going to change anything. Miranda probably wouldn't have either. Do your kids a favor and get them out. If you can't afford it talk to the school and ask for assistance. I know many who have gotten reduced tuition and scholarships.

If you're in a private school, then you are aware that they are basically all waitlisted. Do you have schools with openings that you recommend? Come on.