Takeaways from the Brabrand virtual town hall

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everything is up to the Governor, than all of Virginia public schools need to do the same thing. It would be unfair for Fairfax to be paying for all the schools in the rest of the state that will open on time and as normal and then force our kids to sit at home and lose out on another year of education. Especially for high schoolers who would be competing against those kids and private school kids for in state college spots.

Exactly. Fcps needs to open. There is no actual data driving our school closures. Just pure panic.

Will you just STFU with your opinions passed off as conclusions?

I have no idea what the right answer is here. Neither do you. That's the problem. And what other areas are doing doesn't really matter. It's helpful information but not dispositive. There is a discussion of what to do. Numbers are changing. Numbers can be viewed different ways. And even if the numbers are trending favorably to open, there are still safety precautions that need to be observed -and they will HAVE to do so for a number of reasons- and those precautions are difficult. Esp in public schools with overcrowded classrooms.

So this is not easy peasy in terms of what to do. Stop pretending like it is. Have some patience and, if you need to, send in your thoughts to those who are making the decisions. You are not smarter than anyone else on this. So zip it.

You do realize this a public online forum right? You can zip it yourself.

Yes, I do. And I can't stop it. But you or the PP spouting bullshit as facts of what must be done b/c of "data", without naming it or citing it or, really, anything, is wrong. And stupid. And yeah, I'm going to point it out as such. So (middle finger) to you, friend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If everything is up to the Governor, than all of Virginia public schools need to do the same thing. It would be unfair for Fairfax to be paying for all the schools in the rest of the state that will open on time and as normal and then force our kids to sit at home and lose out on another year of education. Especially for high schoolers who would be competing against those kids and private school kids for in state college spots.

Exactly. Fcps needs to open. There is no actual data driving our school closures. Just pure panic.

Will you just STFU with your opinions passed off as conclusions?

I have no idea what the right answer is here. Neither do you. That's the problem. And what other areas are doing doesn't really matter. It's helpful information but not dispositive. There is a discussion of what to do. Numbers are changing. Numbers can be viewed different ways. And even if the numbers are trending favorably to open, there are still safety precautions that need to be observed -and they will HAVE to do so for a number of reasons- and those precautions are difficult. Esp in public schools with overcrowded classrooms.

So this is not easy peasy in terms of what to do. Stop pretending like it is. Have some patience and, if you need to, send in your thoughts to those who are making the decisions. You are not smarter than anyone else on this. So zip it.

+1 on this.

Men are four:
He who knows not and knows not he knows not, he is a fool—shun him;
He who knows not and knows he knows not, he is simple—teach him;
He who knows and knows not he knows, he is asleep—wake him;
He who knows and knows he knows, he is wise—follow him!
Lady Burton—Life of Sir Richard Burton

Shun you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our kids simply cannot stay home for the rest of the summer and then months on end following that. Outside of DC and New York, the entire rest of the country is moving on. And NY will likely even move on to normal classroom instruction in the fall. We cannot allow this area be the only one in the country not returning our kids to school. How can something so straightforward be so out of our control?

Something has to give. Right now we are supposed to move to Phase II of reopening by June 12. Yet we are going to keep the schools closed in the fall. We'll be the laughingstocks of the country if we do that.

[Anonymous]

So, in short, the takeaway is FCPS is lame, doesn’t know what the f#%k they are doing, will mess things up in the fall no matter what.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first 30-45 minutes had mostly to do with the Covid response, then they started talking more about equity issues in the schools in general. I had to log off around 7, but I think they went about another hour judging by the length of the Facebook Live video. Not sure if more Covid info was discussed toward the end of the meeting. But here were my takeaways:


They want to make a final decision on next school year by July. They will have more information on the three options by June 15. It sounded like there is another town hall/virtual meeting scheduled for around June 15 where the options will be discussed in greater detail.

The three options are all distance learning; some kind of hybrid model where there are things like half-days, 3 days a week in school, some kids in school and some not, classes on Saturdays, etc. and the remainder will be distance learning some of the time; and all kids back in school with the option for any student to continue distance learning

Braband stated that August would be too late to make a final decision because they can’t turn things around within 2 weeks no matter what the decision is. So decision for 2020-2021 school year will likely come in July.

They need further guidance from the state and from the education/return to school committee formed by the Governor

I was struck by how many teachers in the comments on the FB live did not want to return to classroom teaching - lots of whining, lots of “our kids health is MORE important right now.” Many teachers did want to return but a larger (or more vocal?) amount absolutely did not. I was surprised about this because of how many teachers are also parents. Can't do your own classroom's distance learning and home tech troubleshooting at the same time you're trying to help your kids with distance learning, though perhaps they are all parents of older MS kids and up who can be more self-sufficient?

Preschool special ed classrooms weren't discussed, this was disappointing as this is a section of students who really can't distance learn

There was no real plan about, if there is distance learning, how to get ELL families more involved, “family training,” etc. A speaker brought up the fact that many parents have no idea how to help their students in distance learning. These students are falling very far behind compared to kids that have always been involved in things like Kumon, tutoring, Outschool etc.

They are distributing more devices to elementary and middle kids.

Equity issues are at play with Covid and in general, including not just race/ethnicity but also students with special needs, LGBT, and where you actually live in the county/what school you attend

Also I believe later in the meeting there was information discussed about AAP - did anyone catch that? It sounded like it was in the realm of expanding access to AAP for diverse students.

Preschool special ed should be the last piece of the puzzle


In no way should preschool be a priority above high school, middle school, kindergartners and elementary kids.

Wow, I guess we know where you stand. Say that to a parent with a special needs child. All the kids deserve an equal chance.

Preschool is not the focus of the public school system.

Preschool should never take precedence over K through 12 learning.

Preschool should not even be involved in the discussion of whether or not FCPS should open or not open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first 30-45 minutes had mostly to do with the Covid response, then they started talking more about equity issues in the schools in general. I had to log off around 7, but I think they went about another hour judging by the length of the Facebook Live video. Not sure if more Covid info was discussed toward the end of the meeting. But here were my takeaways:


They want to make a final decision on next school year by July. They will have more information on the three options by June 15. It sounded like there is another town hall/virtual meeting scheduled for around June 15 where the options will be discussed in greater detail.

The three options are all distance learning; some kind of hybrid model where there are things like half-days, 3 days a week in school, some kids in school and some not, classes on Saturdays, etc. and the remainder will be distance learning some of the time; and all kids back in school with the option for any student to continue distance learning

Braband stated that August would be too late to make a final decision because they can’t turn things around within 2 weeks no matter what the decision is. So decision for 2020-2021 school year will likely come in July.

They need further guidance from the state and from the education/return to school committee formed by the Governor

I was struck by how many teachers in the comments on the FB live did not want to return to classroom teaching - lots of whining, lots of “our kids health is MORE important right now.” Many teachers did want to return but a larger (or more vocal?) amount absolutely did not. I was surprised about this because of how many teachers are also parents. Can't do your own classroom's distance learning and home tech troubleshooting at the same time you're trying to help your kids with distance learning, though perhaps they are all parents of older MS kids and up who can be more self-sufficient?

Preschool special ed classrooms weren't discussed, this was disappointing as this is a section of students who really can't distance learn

There was no real plan about, if there is distance learning, how to get ELL families more involved, “family training,” etc. A speaker brought up the fact that many parents have no idea how to help their students in distance learning. These students are falling very far behind compared to kids that have always been involved in things like Kumon, tutoring, Outschool etc.

They are distributing more devices to elementary and middle kids.

Equity issues are at play with Covid and in general, including not just race/ethnicity but also students with special needs, LGBT, and where you actually live in the county/what school you attend

Also I believe later in the meeting there was information discussed about AAP - did anyone catch that? It sounded like it was in the realm of expanding access to AAP for diverse students.

Preschool special ed should be the last piece of the puzzle


In no way should preschool be a priority above high school, middle school, kindergartners and elementary kids.

Wow, I guess we know where you stand. Say that to a parent with a special needs child. All the kids deserve an equal chance.

There is a separate preschool forum for preschool discussions.

This forum is for Virginia public schools.

That means kindergarten through 12th grade public education.

Preschool is not a part of it.

[Anonymous]

Hello everyone,

FCPS (Brabrand and school board) aren't going to be making up the plan based on their own wits and whims! That's about the only thing we can be thankful for!

Can you imagine how that would go if they were left to their own devining? Megan would have read an article somewhere sometime ago about how the Air Force academy is doing education or a school in Bristol... and that would be her reasoning for X. Another would claim that we can't do X b/c it will affect the pocket of lower "Chanprovidlandria" b/c they don't have the time/supplies/interest in X. Then another person will say that his/her spouse is a teacher and shouldn't have to teach under those conditions, etc.

But, I digress... The good news is that the state working group will have a plan with specific criteria for doing school one way and criteria for doing it another way. For sure, the school board will be eager to follow that plan (after beating it to death with their opinions and "concerns" for multiple school board meetings. That way, they can off-load responsibility to the state working group. And that's really not a bad thing either, because no school board in VA is supposed to be an expert in virology or infectious diseases or epidemiology. That's WAY above the pay grade of our FCPS school board members.

So, let's not get caught up in worrying about how the school board and Brabrand are going to figure this out. The state knows that ALL the school districts are dealing with this and they (the local districts) don't have the expertise to handle it. Even Northam knows he doesn't have the expertise to make the detailed roadmap that schools need. He, like every governor, used a hatchet to shut things down to buy some time to figure out what this virus was all about. But, now, he's leaving it to a group that can think about all the details of running schools to give much more nuanced directions.

At least for now, have faith in the state working group and the expectation that they will be dealing with a lot of the details -- just like other working groups have created detailed plans for Phase 1, 2, and 3.

And have faith that the FCPS school board would be HAPPY to off-load the workload and responsibility to someone else (i.e. the directives of the working group). When hard decisions have to be made, most people are more than happy to rely on someone else to take the heat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks for the update. It doesn’t surprise me that teachers are pushing for distance learning—most people consider working from home a perq and don’t want to give it up.

The hybrid plan sounds like a logistical nightmare.

Doesn't surprise me either. Said it on a different thread and got called a troll.

OP here: I saw that comment on another thread and thought “no, most teachers must realize that this isn’t sustainable and many, many kids need in class instruction” then I read the FB live comments and, wow. You were right.

I don’t think they were thinking of it as a “perk” thing, more like absolutely petrified of catching Covid. Probably the “shelter in place until there’s a vaccine” crowd, they just happen to also be teachers.

I wonder if they teach in the communities that have been most affected by COVID (in Fairfax County, Hispanic/Latino COVID cases are twice that of non-Hispanic/Latino cases). I also wonder if they may be vulnerable themselves or have vulnerable parents. My parents and MIL are in their 80s and while they are not in ill health, they are still vulnerable. I get very frustrated when people dismiss the value of my parents and ILs' lives simply because they are older.

I teach at one of those communities. The thought of going back to work is very overwhelming. I follow the rules, stay home and wear a mask when I need to go out. My whole family has been home since schools shut down. 20+ student in my classroom is overwhelming, over 600 kids in the school building is overwhelming. FCPS hasn't addressed this for us working in those zipcodes...

I want my kids start school in the Fall too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first 30-45 minutes had mostly to do with the Covid response, then they started talking more about equity issues in the schools in general. I had to log off around 7, but I think they went about another hour judging by the length of the Facebook Live video. Not sure if more Covid info was discussed toward the end of the meeting. But here were my takeaways:


They want to make a final decision on next school year by July. They will have more information on the three options by June 15. It sounded like there is another town hall/virtual meeting scheduled for around June 15 where the options will be discussed in greater detail.

The three options are all distance learning; some kind of hybrid model where there are things like half-days, 3 days a week in school, some kids in school and some not, classes on Saturdays, etc. and the remainder will be distance learning some of the time; and all kids back in school with the option for any student to continue distance learning

Braband stated that August would be too late to make a final decision because they can’t turn things around within 2 weeks no matter what the decision is. So decision for 2020-2021 school year will likely come in July.

They need further guidance from the state and from the education/return to school committee formed by the Governor

I was struck by how many teachers in the comments on the FB live did not want to return to classroom teaching - lots of whining, lots of “our kids health is MORE important right now.” Many teachers did want to return but a larger (or more vocal?) amount absolutely did not. I was surprised about this because of how many teachers are also parents. Can't do your own classroom's distance learning and home tech troubleshooting at the same time you're trying to help your kids with distance learning, though perhaps they are all parents of older MS kids and up who can be more self-sufficient?

Preschool special ed classrooms weren't discussed, this was disappointing as this is a section of students who really can't distance learn

There was no real plan about, if there is distance learning, how to get ELL families more involved, “family training,” etc. A speaker brought up the fact that many parents have no idea how to help their students in distance learning. These students are falling very far behind compared to kids that have always been involved in things like Kumon, tutoring, Outschool etc.

They are distributing more devices to elementary and middle kids.

Equity issues are at play with Covid and in general, including not just race/ethnicity but also students with special needs, LGBT, and where you actually live in the county/what school you attend

Also I believe later in the meeting there was information discussed about AAP - did anyone catch that? It sounded like it was in the realm of expanding access to AAP for diverse students.

Preschool special ed should be the last piece of the puzzle


In no way should preschool be a priority above high school, middle school, kindergartners and elementary kids.

Wow, I guess we know where you stand. Say that to a parent with a special needs child. All the kids deserve an equal chance.

There is a separate preschool forum for preschool discussions.

This forum is for Virginia public schools.

That means kindergarten through 12th grade public education.

Preschool is not a part of it.

Certain schools-ours included-have preschools for at risk populations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our kids simply cannot stay home for the rest of the summer and then months on end following that. Outside of DC and New York, the entire rest of the country is moving on. And NY will likely even move on to normal classroom instruction in the fall. We cannot allow this area be the only one in the country not returning our kids to school. How can something so straightforward be so out of our control?

Something has to give. Right now we are supposed to move to Phase II of reopening by June 12. Yet we are going to keep the schools closed in the fall. We'll be the laughingstocks of the country if we do that.

And Phase 3 says to open schools!!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The first 30-45 minutes had mostly to do with the Covid response, then they started talking more about equity issues in the schools in general. I had to log off around 7, but I think they went about another hour judging by the length of the Facebook Live video. Not sure if more Covid info was discussed toward the end of the meeting. But here were my takeaways:


They want to make a final decision on next school year by July. They will have more information on the three options by June 15. It sounded like there is another town hall/virtual meeting scheduled for around June 15 where the options will be discussed in greater detail.

The three options are all distance learning; some kind of hybrid model where there are things like half-days, 3 days a week in school, some kids in school and some not, classes on Saturdays, etc. and the remainder will be distance learning some of the time; and all kids back in school with the option for any student to continue distance learning

Braband stated that August would be too late to make a final decision because they can’t turn things around within 2 weeks no matter what the decision is. So decision for 2020-2021 school year will likely come in July.

They need further guidance from the state and from the education/return to school committee formed by the Governor

I was struck by how many teachers in the comments on the FB live did not want to return to classroom teaching - lots of whining, lots of “our kids health is MORE important right now.” Many teachers did want to return but a larger (or more vocal?) amount absolutely did not. I was surprised about this because of how many teachers are also parents. Can't do your own classroom's distance learning and home tech troubleshooting at the same time you're trying to help your kids with distance learning, though perhaps they are all parents of older MS kids and up who can be more self-sufficient?

Preschool special ed classrooms weren't discussed, this was disappointing as this is a section of students who really can't distance learn

There was no real plan about, if there is distance learning, how to get ELL families more involved, “family training,” etc. A speaker brought up the fact that many parents have no idea how to help their students in distance learning. These students are falling very far behind compared to kids that have always been involved in things like Kumon, tutoring, Outschool etc.

They are distributing more devices to elementary and middle kids.

Equity issues are at play with Covid and in general, including not just race/ethnicity but also students with special needs, LGBT, and where you actually live in the county/what school you attend

Also I believe later in the meeting there was information discussed about AAP - did anyone catch that? It sounded like it was in the realm of expanding access to AAP for diverse students.

Preschool special ed should be the last piece of the puzzle


In no way should preschool be a priority above high school, middle school, kindergartners and elementary kids.

Wow, I guess we know where you stand. Say that to a parent with a special needs child. All the kids deserve an equal chance.

There is a separate preschool forum for preschool discussions.

This forum is for Virginia public schools.

That means kindergarten through 12th grade public education.

Preschool is not a part of it.

Ever heard of IDEA and Title I? VPI? Head Start?