Does DCPS have a plan to remediate the learning loss caused by their long-term pandemic closure?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a thread about this a while ago. The answer is that Ferebee, Paul Kihn, and other DCPS leaders promised that extensive "high-dosage" tutoring programs would make up for learning loss. They haven't.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1036781.page

They kind of did in the sense that they provided the ability and the funds. But like I said in a previous post, they counted on teachers wanting $40 an hour to do it. No one on my team wanted to do it so no one in my grade level was offered it. And there was no back up plan. They just assumed we’d all be scrambling to sign up I guess.

Not to mention that if it's anywhere like it is at my school around the city, unvaccinated kids are losing crazy amounts of in-person instruction due to mandatory quarantines. The students that I currently have and should be getting high dosage tutoring have missed 30-60 days of school this year.

THIS. This is the #1 travesty right now - we are compounding learning loss with absurd and discriminatory quarantine policies. DCPS still requires mandatory quarantine for unvaccinated close contacts. Vaccine rates are lower for the more vulnerable (generally Black) kids. And there is NO public health reason for this - vaccines unfortunately do not appear to play a big role in limiting transmission. Even if they play a small role, at this point, it is totally unjustifiable to kick unvaccinated kids out of class.

It's particularly crazy when they're allowing test-to-stay for PK. So at our Hill elementary, that means (predominantly) white unvaccinated kids get to test-to-stay while (almost exclusively) black unvaccinated kids get quarantined. The optics are so awful that I can only hope even teachers (who have favored quarantines over test-to-stay at our school) are starting to have second thoughts.

really unconscionable.

Ok then get your kid vax if you want them to stay in school. Looks like these parents place a higher priority on not getting the vaccine than having their kids stay in schools. I’m guessing this is how DCPS is trying to force parents hands in getting kids vax. You also need to think about the picture at large. The kids who are most likely unvax are the ones most likely with family members who are unvax.

It’s not a closed loop just in the schools. The ramifications of exposure and giving Covid to higher risk unvax family members causing mortality and morbidity in lower SES communities is significant. We already saw this in the numbers before vaccines came out. It will be even more significant now where majority of high SES families are vax while majority of low SES families are not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a thread about this a while ago. The answer is that Ferebee, Paul Kihn, and other DCPS leaders promised that extensive "high-dosage" tutoring programs would make up for learning loss. They haven't.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1036781.page

They kind of did in the sense that they provided the ability and the funds. But like I said in a previous post, they counted on teachers wanting $40 an hour to do it. No one on my team wanted to do it so no one in my grade level was offered it. And there was no back up plan. They just assumed we’d all be scrambling to sign up I guess.

Not to mention that if it's anywhere like it is at my school around the city, unvaccinated kids are losing crazy amounts of in-person instruction due to mandatory quarantines. The students that I currently have and should be getting high dosage tutoring have missed 30-60 days of school this year.

THIS. This is the #1 travesty right now - we are compounding learning loss with absurd and discriminatory quarantine policies. DCPS still requires mandatory quarantine for unvaccinated close contacts. Vaccine rates are lower for the more vulnerable (generally Black) kids. And there is NO public health reason for this - vaccines unfortunately do not appear to play a big role in limiting transmission. Even if they play a small role, at this point, it is totally unjustifiable to kick unvaccinated kids out of class.

It's particularly crazy when they're allowing test-to-stay for PK. So at our Hill elementary, that means (predominantly) white unvaccinated kids get to test-to-stay while (almost exclusively) black unvaccinated kids get quarantined. The optics are so awful that I can only hope even teachers (who have favored quarantines over test-to-stay at our school) are starting to have second thoughts.

really unconscionable.

Ok then get your kid vax if you want them to stay in school. Looks like these parents place a higher priority on not getting the vaccine than having their kids stay in schools. I’m guessing this is how DCPS is trying to force parents hands in getting kids vax. You also need to think about the picture at large. The kids who are most likely unvax are the ones most likely with family members who are unvax.

It’s not a closed loop just in the schools. The ramifications of exposure and giving Covid to higher risk unvax family members causing mortality and morbidity in lower SES communities is significant. We already saw this in the numbers before vaccines came out. It will be even more significant now where majority of high SES families are vax while majority of low SES families are not.

But the fact that the parents don't care if their kids are in school - that's not normally a decision we just let parents make. Your kids should be in school whether you think that's important or not. And clearly, it's not having the desired effect. Some of these parents don't even want their kids back in school at all, which also would not be ok. And vaccines really by and large are about lowering your own likelihood of serious illness or death, not infection or transmission, so the gain here even if it did work would be minimal. The main effect is that a lot of kids miss school who need to be in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a thread about this a while ago. The answer is that Ferebee, Paul Kihn, and other DCPS leaders promised that extensive "high-dosage" tutoring programs would make up for learning loss. They haven't.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1036781.page

They kind of did in the sense that they provided the ability and the funds. But like I said in a previous post, they counted on teachers wanting $40 an hour to do it. No one on my team wanted to do it so no one in my grade level was offered it. And there was no back up plan. They just assumed we’d all be scrambling to sign up I guess.

Not to mention that if it's anywhere like it is at my school around the city, unvaccinated kids are losing crazy amounts of in-person instruction due to mandatory quarantines. The students that I currently have and should be getting high dosage tutoring have missed 30-60 days of school this year.

THIS. This is the #1 travesty right now - we are compounding learning loss with absurd and discriminatory quarantine policies. DCPS still requires mandatory quarantine for unvaccinated close contacts. Vaccine rates are lower for the more vulnerable (generally Black) kids. And there is NO public health reason for this - vaccines unfortunately do not appear to play a big role in limiting transmission. Even if they play a small role, at this point, it is totally unjustifiable to kick unvaccinated kids out of class.

It's particularly crazy when they're allowing test-to-stay for PK. So at our Hill elementary, that means (predominantly) white unvaccinated kids get to test-to-stay while (almost exclusively) black unvaccinated kids get quarantined. The optics are so awful that I can only hope even teachers (who have favored quarantines over test-to-stay at our school) are starting to have second thoughts.

really unconscionable.

Ok then get your kid vax if you want them to stay in school. Looks like these parents place a higher priority on not getting the vaccine than having their kids stay in schools. I’m guessing this is how DCPS is trying to force parents hands in getting kids vax. You also need to think about the picture at large. The kids who are most likely unvax are the ones most likely with family members who are unvax.

It’s not a closed loop just in the schools. The ramifications of exposure and giving Covid to higher risk unvax family members causing mortality and morbidity in lower SES communities is significant. We already saw this in the numbers before vaccines came out. It will be even more significant now where majority of high SES families are vax while majority of low SES families are not.

I understand why DCPS may have set the system up like this, but it is obviously not working. At this point, it is just further punishing kids whose parents already make bad decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was a thread about this a while ago. The answer is that Ferebee, Paul Kihn, and other DCPS leaders promised that extensive "high-dosage" tutoring programs would make up for learning loss. They haven't.

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1036781.page

They kind of did in the sense that they provided the ability and the funds. But like I said in a previous post, they counted on teachers wanting $40 an hour to do it. No one on my team wanted to do it so no one in my grade level was offered it. And there was no back up plan. They just assumed we’d all be scrambling to sign up I guess.

Not to mention that if it's anywhere like it is at my school around the city, unvaccinated kids are losing crazy amounts of in-person instruction due to mandatory quarantines. The students that I currently have and should be getting high dosage tutoring have missed 30-60 days of school this year.

THIS. This is the #1 travesty right now - we are compounding learning loss with absurd and discriminatory quarantine policies. DCPS still requires mandatory quarantine for unvaccinated close contacts. Vaccine rates are lower for the more vulnerable (generally Black) kids. And there is NO public health reason for this - vaccines unfortunately do not appear to play a big role in limiting transmission. Even if they play a small role, at this point, it is totally unjustifiable to kick unvaccinated kids out of class.

It's particularly crazy when they're allowing test-to-stay for PK. So at our Hill elementary, that means (predominantly) white unvaccinated kids get to test-to-stay while (almost exclusively) black unvaccinated kids get quarantined. The optics are so awful that I can only hope even teachers (who have favored quarantines over test-to-stay at our school) are starting to have second thoughts.

really unconscionable.

Ok then get your kid vax if you want them to stay in school. Looks like these parents place a higher priority on not getting the vaccine than having their kids stay in schools. I’m guessing this is how DCPS is trying to force parents hands in getting kids vax. You also need to think about the picture at large. The kids who are most likely unvax are the ones most likely with family members who are unvax.

It’s not a closed loop just in the schools. The ramifications of exposure and giving Covid to higher risk unvax family members causing mortality and morbidity in lower SES communities is significant. We already saw this in the numbers before vaccines came out. It will be even more significant now where majority of high SES families are vax while majority of low SES families are not.

Oh, so kicking black kids out of school disproportionately is actually helping them. Got it!

[Anonymous]

Are principals asking for vax cards? Ours is just like “call me if your kid is not vaxxed and in Mrs. Smith’s class. They should quarantine.” I’m quite sure plenty of unvaxxed kids at our school aren’t quarantining (which I’m fine with).

[Anonymous]

At our WOTP elementary they are getting rid of world languages in favor of additional academic supports. I wonder if the Covid year is why this school all of a sudden needs these additional supports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our WOTP elementary they are getting rid of world languages in favor of additional academic supports. I wonder if the Covid year is why this school all of a sudden needs these additional supports.

Nah I think I know the school you’re referencing and the principal was tired of students learning the same thing in Spanish from PK - 5 and thought money could be used better

[Anonymous]

DCPS has been advertising summer school on the main banner of their website for a couple months now. Many sites are full but all of them. Sign your kids up if you think they need it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At our WOTP elementary they are getting rid of world languages in favor of additional academic supports. I wonder if the Covid year is why this school all of a sudden needs these additional supports.

Nah I think I know the school you’re referencing and the principal was tired of students learning the same thing in Spanish from PK - 5 and thought money could be used better

The federal covid money dried up and there's a budget shortfall. They increased the 4th and 5th grade class sizes too. Those particular classes were 1st and 2nd graders when virtual started. I don't think it was about learning loss since those cohorts were among the most impacted. Sounds like they had some extra savings after the cuts and tried to ameliorate the larger class sizes.

[Anonymous]

No. Moving on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kids have been in person the entire school year. If they are struggling get them a tutor or work with them. Summer is coming. Get some workbooks and help them.

OP here. Not sure if you are talking to me, but I didn’t post this because my kids are struggling academically. And you do realize that not everybody has the means to hire a tutor, or the ability to teach them, right? If you read the article, you would know that an enormous amount of tutoring hours will be needed to make up the losses incurred during the closures. You cannot minimize this anymore the way you have since 2020.

You do understand that none of that is going to happen, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCPS has been advertising summer school on the main banner of their website for a couple months now. Many sites are full but all of them. Sign your kids up if you think they need it.

This thread is about a large *systemic* issue, not my kids. If you had read the article, you'd know a little bit of summer school is not going to solve it, because many kids lost the equivalent of 22 weeks of progress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Moving on.

So you don't care about any kids but your own. Got it. Or you missed the point of the thread?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your kids have been in person the entire school year. If they are struggling get them a tutor or work with them. Summer is coming. Get some workbooks and help them.

OP here. Not sure if you are talking to me, but I didn’t post this because my kids are struggling academically. And you do realize that not everybody has the means to hire a tutor, or the ability to teach them, right? If you read the article, you would know that an enormous amount of tutoring hours will be needed to make up the losses incurred during the closures. You cannot minimize this anymore the way you have since 2020.

You do understand that none of that is going to happen, right?

Yes. That is the depressing message of the article. But at least it needs to be called out, so that maybe *something* will happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Honestly these kids will be a lost generation. They will never recover from the harm. The only thing left to do IMO is vote against any candidate that supports teacher unions, so they can’t harm yet more children.

Your solution is to cast the most vulnerable aside because you think you can vote a different system into place?

Oh, I don’t want to cast them aside. The union and administrators have already done that, though. Voting to support them is endorsing the people who have destroyed education for our most vulnerable kids and who have already and permanently case these most vulnerable kids aside.

I will never trust a union-endorsed candidate again.

This is also what’s guiding my voting now. Where did they stand on school closing?