Code yellow (2 hr delay) for Monday 2/23

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools are having asynchronous learning. Is that what people want?

Are we sending home hotspots and chromebooks home with every student that expresses a need at the beginning of every December and what happens when they aren’t returned. We can’t force FARMS families to pay. Next option is to send home work packets but then those quickly become irrelevant.

My school already sent out an email that we are not allowed to print class sets of assignments anymore. We have to use Copy Plus which has been taking forever.

Yes, there’s not an equitable way to offer asynchronous or online instruction unless they raise the budget to provide everyone that needs a hotspot and chrome book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS can absolutely let child care providers decide if they can open. They did it for years and have stopped because the current MCPS leadership DGAF, they just want to do the bare minimum. They are even trying to change the law so they can shorten the school year by 14 days. It's disgusting

What if a parent walking kid into the school slips and falls? If they decide to sue, won’t they sue MCPS not the child care provider? And if a child care worker parks their car and then slips and falls in the school parking lot, I assume they can also sue MCPS.

Doesn't this all come back to the allegation that a CO staffer threatened to sue after slipping? Historically there was a higher bar for closing central office (and hence childcare providers), which always made sense to me. But that distinction has pretty much disappeared.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a lot of these parents are just angry they didn't become teachers for the sweet snow day benefits.

Applications are open for next year.

I love how you all think this is some clever gotcha instead of a tone deaf assumption that parents can't possibly have their own jobs that are important to the functioning of society.

Many teachers are parents too.

Yes, teacher jobs are important, but this is a discussion about parents that aren't teachers allegedly being jealous of teacher snow days

Well, some of us teachers are jealous of those of you with remote jobs or flexible schedules. Taking time off work is a pain in the butt for teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools are having asynchronous learning. Is that what people want?

Are we sending home hotspots and chromebooks home with every student that expresses a need at the beginning of every December and what happens when they aren’t returned. We can’t force FARMS families to pay. Next option is to send home work packets but then those quickly become irrelevant.

My school already sent out an email that we are not allowed to print class sets of assignments anymore. We have to use Copy Plus which has been taking forever.

Yes, there’s not an equitable way to offer asynchronous or online instruction unless they raise the budget to provide everyone that needs a hotspot and chrome book.

They have all the chromebooks and hot spots and most people have internet as there are low income options. Most people, especially teens also have phones they can use to log into.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a lot of these parents are just angry they didn't become teachers for the sweet snow day benefits.

Applications are open for next year.

I love how you all think this is some clever gotcha instead of a tone deaf assumption that parents can't possibly have their own jobs that are important to the functioning of society.

Many teachers are parents too.

Yes, teacher jobs are important, but this is a discussion about parents that aren't teachers allegedly being jealous of teacher snow days

Well, some of us teachers are jealous of those of you with remote jobs or flexible schedules. Taking time off work is a pain in the butt for teachers

Lazy parents who don't want to parent or support their kids' education. It's funny they use others as talking points for not being able to get online when they are here online and have the time to post. Imagine for the younger ones if they took that 30 minutes and worked with their kids on reading, writing and math.

And, huge thank you to the teachers who work with parents and communicate with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone counted the number of actual school days since Dec? It feels like 10. All the rest holidays and snow days

I know it’s more than 14 because I taught a 14 lesson mini-unit after Jan 6. I can add it up if anyone likes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools are having asynchronous learning. Is that what people want?

Are we sending home hotspots and chromebooks home with every student that expresses a need at the beginning of every December and what happens when they aren’t returned. We can’t force FARMS families to pay. Next option is to send home work packets but then those quickly become irrelevant.

My school already sent out an email that we are not allowed to print class sets of assignments anymore. We have to use Copy Plus which has been taking forever.

Or, you just plan a few weeks ahead, not hard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a lot of these parents are just angry they didn't become teachers for the sweet snow day benefits.

Applications are open for next year.

I love how you all think this is some clever gotcha instead of a tone deaf assumption that parents can't possibly have their own jobs that are important to the functioning of society.

I'm not that poster, but a lot of the posts suggest that teachers have some easy-street gig. Considering we live in a capitalist society where people can easily change jobs, if it was really such an easy-street job, they would be flooded with applications. But they aren't. Which suggests that there are other reason why people don't view it as a desirable job, despite the snow days -- either the pay/benefits, dealing with kids/parents/ the bureacracy, etc. Personally, I don't think I could deal with being at work consistently by 8 a.m. each day -- that's my big reason for not applying for a teaching job. My kids also say I would be bad at the discipline and kids would walk all over me, which might be true.

MCPS elementary school teacher here...
Our contract hours are 8:45 to 4:15
Just sayin! Maybe you should apply.

That’s pretty sweet. Maybe I should switch to elementary school. I teach HS and have to leave my house at 7 am. And then I have to deal with kids in first period who are either late, half asleep or fully asleep. MCPS needs to fix HS start times because they ain’t working for kids. And we would need less 2h delays if kids were not having to wait for the bus at 6 or 6.30 am

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools are having asynchronous learning. Is that what people want?

Are we sending home hotspots and chromebooks home with every student that expresses a need at the beginning of every December and what happens when they aren’t returned. We can’t force FARMS families to pay. Next option is to send home work packets but then those quickly become irrelevant.

My school already sent out an email that we are not allowed to print class sets of assignments anymore. We have to use Copy Plus which has been taking forever.

Or, you just plan a few weeks ahead, not hard.

It is hard to plan several weeks ahead if you are a teacher who has been teaching for less than 5 years. Good planning is hard. Anyone can quickly plan crappy lessons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Has anyone counted the number of actual school days since Dec? It feels like 10. All the rest holidays and snow days

Northwood HS has had less. They did 4 days of WIDA testing for ESOL kids where there was no real learning for anyone

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS can absolutely let child care providers decide if they can open. They did it for years and have stopped because the current MCPS leadership DGAF, they just want to do the bare minimum. They are even trying to change the law so they can shorten the school year by 14 days. It's disgusting

What if a parent walking kid into the school slips and falls? If they decide to sue, won’t they sue MCPS not the child care provider? And if a child care worker parks their car and then slips and falls in the school parking lot, I assume they can also sue MCPS.

By that standard they should never open schools when it rains, as somebody might slip and sue

That’s a stupid argument because obviously the risk is a lot higher with snow and ice. You can end up with 15 or more lawsuits compared to zero or one with rain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS can absolutely let child care providers decide if they can open. They did it for years and have stopped because the current MCPS leadership DGAF, they just want to do the bare minimum. They are even trying to change the law so they can shorten the school year by 14 days. It's disgusting

What if a parent walking kid into the school slips and falls? If they decide to sue, won’t they sue MCPS not the child care provider? And if a child care worker parks their car and then slips and falls in the school parking lot, I assume they can also sue MCPS.

By that standard they should never open schools when it rains, as somebody might slip and sue

That’s a stupid argument because obviously the risk is a lot higher with snow and ice. You can end up with 15 or more lawsuits compared to zero or one with rain.

15 lawsuits? Lol

[Anonymous]

I have kids in both public and private. Private school does not follow mcps and gives first day as a snow day; after that it’s asynchronous learning for MS and HS (LS does sort of a mix of zoom and activitues).

I do not understand why it is so difficult for MCPS to plan ahead re forecasted weather and send kids who do not have a home computer home with a chromebook or worksheets or gasp an actual hardcopy book. That wouldn’t have fixed everything for the previous storm because of the long time off but it would have been better than nothing. It’s not like these were surprise weather events.

And re the low income issue—I used to teach in a school with high FARMS and those kids may not have home computers but they absolutely have cell phones (and therefore hotspots). But again—even just something as simple as sending kids home with books on Friday would help. You don’t need a perfect solution or parity for in class instruction, but keeping kids actively learning even when you cannot physically open school should be a priority.

—parent and former teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have kids in both public and private. Private school does not follow mcps and gives first day as a snow day; after that it’s asynchronous learning for MS and HS (LS does sort of a mix of zoom and activitues).

I do not understand why it is so difficult for MCPS to plan ahead re forecasted weather and send kids who do not have a home computer home with a chromebook or worksheets or gasp an actual hardcopy book. That wouldn’t have fixed everything for the previous storm because of the long time off but it would have been better than nothing. It’s not like these were surprise weather events.

And re the low income issue—I used to teach in a school with high FARMS and those kids may not have home computers but they absolutely have cell phones (and therefore hotspots). But again—even just something as simple as sending kids home with books on Friday would help. You don’t need a perfect solution or parity for in class instruction, but keeping kids actively learning even when you cannot physically open school should be a priority.

—parent and former teachers

MCPS wouldn't even email homework assignments from workbooks we have at home. This isn't about equity, that is just a word they use to justify their terrible decisions

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Private schools are having asynchronous learning. Is that what people want?

Are we sending home hotspots and chromebooks home with every student that expresses a need at the beginning of every December and what happens when they aren’t returned. We can’t force FARMS families to pay. Next option is to send home work packets but then those quickly become irrelevant.

My school already sent out an email that we are not allowed to print class sets of assignments anymore. We have to use Copy Plus which has been taking forever.

Or, you just plan a few weeks ahead, not hard.

Kinda hard when the original post was calling for snow day packets. How am I supposed to know 3 weeks in advance I'll need supplemental snow day materials. Big old dummy