Jun 15 school board meeting & Return in Fall presentation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They said that 5500 students transferred out of the district to homeschool/private school (half homeschool and 1/4 regular private and 1/4 parochial) and 1400 have re-enrolled.

It's less than I thought had transferred and less than I thought would return.

We plan to re-enroll but haven’t done so yet. I wouldn’t have even thought to do so this early.

The sooner you re-enroll the better, at least for your school. As soon as a class hits the maximum number of kids allowed, it starts the process of creating another class. That might mean hiring a new Teacher. The sooner your school can do that, the better quality Teacher your kid is likely to have.

This is the advice every Principal gives for people registering for Kindergarten. It normally is not a huge deal for other grades, because there is a certain level of attrition and new additions each year. This coming year is going to be different because of the number of people who withdrew their kids and are returning. The sooner people reenroll, the sooner Principals can deal with class assignments and potentially hire additional Teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The number in that slide is only people who started the year enrolled and dropped out. It does not include all the people who weren’t enrolled for 2020-2021 to begin with. I know 2 families who quit mid-year. I know many more who were new to homeschool or private from the start of the year. Most are not coming back.

Oh so they’re cooking the books in their favor to make themselves look better. I wish I could say I was surprised.

I think anyone who follows the actions of Gatehouse would be more surprised if they weren't cooking the books to make themselves look better (see: the grading policy changes, the pressure campaign for students to opt out of SOLs).

If anything is systemic in FCPS, it’s the lack of honesty and transparency with Brabrand and this School Board. Replace them all, along with rest of senior staff at Gatehouse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MORE professional development? Ughhhhh. As a teacher (and a parent), this is not what teachers (at least at my school) want. The professional development is always Gatehouse created to fit whatever their new priority for the year is (because we apparently can’t focus on the same thing for more than a year or two) and has never once been helpful to my curriculum area. The teacher workdays are helpful for grading and unit planning w my colleagues, but I would much rather have students on ALL of the professional development days than listen to hastily prepared Gatehouse presentations. This is a waste of time and just leads to more childcare needs for parents.

Another teacher here. Completely agree. Again, more people making decisions for educators who are so far removed from the classroom.

+1
DW and I plus another teacher friend were just talking about this tonight.

Parent here - if you all end up collective bargaining can you get them to stop hiring so many central office and administration types? The bureaucratic bloat is out of hand. People will never vote in the politicians who would make them.

That's pretty low on a teacher's wish list if and when we get collective bargaining.

It’s high on my list. Okay, I guess “unfreeze step increases” would be number one on the list at the moment, but I would hope the union would work to empower teachers and that means trimming bureaucratic fat. I *want* to be able to teach well, and I *want* an optimal learning environment for my students, and I feel like all administration thinks about is how to manipulate statistics to make themselves look good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MORE professional development? Ughhhhh. As a teacher (and a parent), this is not what teachers (at least at my school) want. The professional development is always Gatehouse created to fit whatever their new priority for the year is (because we apparently can’t focus on the same thing for more than a year or two) and has never once been helpful to my curriculum area. The teacher workdays are helpful for grading and unit planning w my colleagues, but I would much rather have students on ALL of the professional development days than listen to hastily prepared Gatehouse presentations. This is a waste of time and just leads to more childcare needs for parents.

Another teacher here. Completely agree. Again, more people making decisions for educators who are so far removed from the classroom.

+1
DW and I plus another teacher friend were just talking about this tonight.

Parent here - if you all end up collective bargaining can you get them to stop hiring so many central office and administration types? The bureaucratic bloat is out of hand. People will never vote in the politicians who would make them.

That's pretty low on a teacher's wish list if and when we get collective bargaining.

It’s high on my list. Okay, I guess “unfreeze step increases” would be number one on the list at the moment, but I would hope the union would work to empower teachers and that means trimming bureaucratic fat. I *want* to be able to teach well, and I *want* an optimal learning environment for my students, and I feel like all administration thinks about is how to manipulate statistics to make themselves look good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MORE professional development? Ughhhhh. As a teacher (and a parent), this is not what teachers (at least at my school) want. The professional development is always Gatehouse created to fit whatever their new priority for the year is (because we apparently can’t focus on the same thing for more than a year or two) and has never once been helpful to my curriculum area. The teacher workdays are helpful for grading and unit planning w my colleagues, but I would much rather have students on ALL of the professional development days than listen to hastily prepared Gatehouse presentations. This is a waste of time and just leads to more childcare needs for parents.

Another teacher here. Completely agree. Again, more people making decisions for educators who are so far removed from the classroom.

+1
DW and I plus another teacher friend were just talking about this tonight.

Parent here - if you all end up collective bargaining can you get them to stop hiring so many central office and administration types? The bureaucratic bloat is out of hand. People will never vote in the politicians who would make them.

That's pretty low on a teacher's wish list if and when we get collective bargaining.

It’s high on my list. Okay, I guess “unfreeze step increases” would be number one on the list at the moment, but I would hope the union would work to empower teachers and that means trimming bureaucratic fat. I *want* to be able to teach well, and I *want* an optimal learning environment for my students, and I feel like all administration thinks about is how to manipulate statistics to make themselves look good.

I've never felt like Gatehouse how impacted my teaching. Is there something specific you are referring to? For example: I hate administering iReady but that is the only way that I feel like Gatehouse/admin forces us to do things...the other items are more directly related to state requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do vaccinated people have to wear masks in school buildings but Gatehouse is mask-optional?

Oh, are you effing kidding me? Just another reason to loathe Gatehouse.

All of the school board members and district reps were unmasked and not distancing at all of the graduations.

One look at a graduation photo from any fcps high school ceremony, and you will see what a fake show of safety this whole masking everyone at school, includijg recess is.

[Anonymous]

We need to petition to have all who are fully vaccinated unmasked indoors this summer. It’s both a government recommendation, and an incentive for those who are holding out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do vaccinated people have to wear masks in school buildings but Gatehouse is mask-optional?

Oh, are you effing kidding me? Just another reason to loathe Gatehouse.

All of the school board members and district reps were unmasked and not distancing at all of the graduations.

One look at a graduation photo from any fcps high school ceremony, and you will see what a fake show of safety this whole masking everyone at school, includijg recess is.

Elementary students are not vaccinated (yet). The CDC is (currently) requiring masks at school.

Loathing Gatehouse for this? Really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do vaccinated people have to wear masks in school buildings but Gatehouse is mask-optional?

Oh, are you effing kidding me? Just another reason to loathe Gatehouse.

All of the school board members and district reps were unmasked and not distancing at all of the graduations.

One look at a graduation photo from any fcps high school ceremony, and you will see what a fake show of safety this whole masking everyone at school, includijg recess is.

Elementary students are not vaccinated (yet). The CDC is (currently) requiring masks at school.

Loathing Gatehouse for this? Really?

Exactly, they should follow CDC guidelines...good or bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We need to petition to have all who are fully vaccinated unmasked indoors this summer. It’s both a government recommendation, and an incentive for those who are holding out.

Petition the CDC then. For better or for worse VDH, VDOE, FCHD, and FCPS are following their guidelines.

https://wwwn.cdc.gov/DCS/ContactUs/Form

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MORE professional development? Ughhhhh. As a teacher (and a parent), this is not what teachers (at least at my school) want. The professional development is always Gatehouse created to fit whatever their new priority for the year is (because we apparently can’t focus on the same thing for more than a year or two) and has never once been helpful to my curriculum area. The teacher workdays are helpful for grading and unit planning w my colleagues, but I would much rather have students on ALL of the professional development days than listen to hastily prepared Gatehouse presentations. This is a waste of time and just leads to more childcare needs for parents.

Another teacher here. Completely agree. Again, more people making decisions for educators who are so far removed from the classroom.

+1
DW and I plus another teacher friend were just talking about this tonight.

Parent here - if you all end up collective bargaining can you get them to stop hiring so many central office and administration types? The bureaucratic bloat is out of hand. People will never vote in the politicians who would make them.

That's pretty low on a teacher's wish list if and when we get collective bargaining.

It’s high on my list. Okay, I guess “unfreeze step increases” would be number one on the list at the moment, but I would hope the union would work to empower teachers and that means trimming bureaucratic fat. I *want* to be able to teach well, and I *want* an optimal learning environment for my students, and I feel like all administration thinks about is how to manipulate statistics to make themselves look good.

I've never felt like Gatehouse how impacted my teaching. Is there something specific you are referring to? For example: I hate administering iReady but that is the only way that I feel like Gatehouse/admin forces us to do things...the other items are more directly related to state requirements.

Sorry, you are not an FCPS teacher… or maybe you are a coach? Are you a Gatehouse employee?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to petition to have all who are fully vaccinated unmasked indoors this summer. It’s both a government recommendation, and an incentive for those who are holding out.

Petition the CDC then. For better or for worse VDH, VDOE, FCHD, and FCPS are following their guidelines.

https://wwwn.cdc.gov/DCS/ContactUs/Form

Don’t the CDC guidelines indicate those who are vaccinated don’t have to wear masks? I still had to wear a mask in school even when my HS students weren’t there… and was reminded about these rules by people who went maskless at our graduation ceremony!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MORE professional development? Ughhhhh. As a teacher (and a parent), this is not what teachers (at least at my school) want. The professional development is always Gatehouse created to fit whatever their new priority for the year is (because we apparently can’t focus on the same thing for more than a year or two) and has never once been helpful to my curriculum area. The teacher workdays are helpful for grading and unit planning w my colleagues, but I would much rather have students on ALL of the professional development days than listen to hastily prepared Gatehouse presentations. This is a waste of time and just leads to more childcare needs for parents.

Another teacher here. Completely agree. Again, more people making decisions for educators who are so far removed from the classroom.

+1
DW and I plus another teacher friend were just talking about this tonight.

Parent here - if you all end up collective bargaining can you get them to stop hiring so many central office and administration types? The bureaucratic bloat is out of hand. People will never vote in the politicians who would make them.

That's pretty low on a teacher's wish list if and when we get collective bargaining.

It’s high on my list. Okay, I guess “unfreeze step increases” would be number one on the list at the moment, but I would hope the union would work to empower teachers and that means trimming bureaucratic fat. I *want* to be able to teach well, and I *want* an optimal learning environment for my students, and I feel like all administration thinks about is how to manipulate statistics to make themselves look good.

I've never felt like Gatehouse how impacted my teaching. Is there something specific you are referring to? For example: I hate administering iReady but that is the only way that I feel like Gatehouse/admin forces us to do things...the other items are more directly related to state requirements.

Sorry, you are not an FCPS teacher… or maybe you are a coach? Are you a Gatehouse employee?

Agree. No way you are a veteran FCPS teacher. The actual content area curriculum specialists are needed, but there are so many pet project positions. Many of the people in the positions are lovely and do their job, but the positions are simply unnecessary. Things like Global Awareness Project (many of the teachers supported by this had existing connections…we dont need an office for this), tons of random MTSS office people who show up at meetings, all of those equity specialists who did the truly terrible professional development sessions this year, the specialists who just jump from special project to special project rather than go back to the classroom, Get2Green (sorry Elaine), POG POL, PBL…do we need like 5 people for this stuff? These are all great programs, but they get away from “keep the main thing the main thing.” The main thing is teaching kids in a classroom. We should be focusing on things like improving reading instruction and lowering class sizes, not seeking out opportunities to collaborate with children in France (while cool, we have kids who can’t read).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to petition to have all who are fully vaccinated unmasked indoors this summer. It’s both a government recommendation, and an incentive for those who are holding out.

Petition the CDC then. For better or for worse VDH, VDOE, FCHD, and FCPS are following their guidelines.

https://wwwn.cdc.gov/DCS/ContactUs/Form

Don’t the CDC guidelines indicate those who are vaccinated don’t have to wear masks? I still had to wear a mask in school even when my HS students weren’t there… and was reminded about these rules by people who went maskless at our graduation ceremony!

There's a special carve out for schools on the school guidelines page saying don't change anything. Same with in the Governor's executive order dropping everything but masks for the unvaccinated at the end of May.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do vaccinated people have to wear masks in school buildings but Gatehouse is mask-optional?

Oh, are you effing kidding me? Just another reason to loathe Gatehouse.

All of the school board members and district reps were unmasked and not distancing at all of the graduations.

One look at a graduation photo from any fcps high school ceremony, and you will see what a fake show of safety this whole masking everyone at school, includijg recess is.

Elementary students are not vaccinated (yet). The CDC is (currently) requiring masks at school.

Loathing Gatehouse for this? Really?

Absolutely. Gatehouse and the school board have been ignoring recommendations all year


Masking elementary kids, particularly at outdoor recess, and their vaccinated teachers is not supported by science.