And, to add, it is apparent that none if this happened across the street at Wilson. Ms. Martin has been pretty vocal about her frustrations with DCPS and seems like she tried just about everything to get the kids into school more. Our understanding from our Deal friends is that this is where the frustration lies, and I think parents are willing to cut Ms. Martin some slack because she actually tried to do something for the kids. One question for this board - instead of complaining here, is there any evidence that DCPS Central Office knows or cares about the issues? It would seem to be a bad look for them to have their flagship middle school go down the tubes due to poor leadership. |
+1. Some parents have documented our frustrations in any text options for surveys and emailed DCPS and the Mayor, so DCPS should know. Deal really is declining and I wouldn't expect it to correct course with Neal at the helm. To add to the list of reasons why parents lost confidence in Neal: She was very sneaky in the way she "reopened" by calling it IPL and omitting key facts such as it's really zoom in a room, not live instruction taught by a teacher for many of the students. Kids get to school and take virtual classes while the teacher in the room teaches a different class. Neal lied by omission, and I don't believe for a minute that there wasn't a way to get every child at least one live class. She lost all credibility, so she doesn't get any benefit of the doubt the way Martin does. |
This is fascinating to me; thank you for summarizing so well what is in fact a distorted, twisted sense of loyalty, but unfortunately all too common in this area. I wonder if this is unique to Washington, where so many adults are personally vested in "The System." They have worked for Government - or entities that are enabled by government - for their entire careers and, as you say, must support it at all cost, even at the expense of independent critical thinking. They can't bear to admit that their children are paying the price for this, so they double down and carry on about the dangers of the pandemic. I expect this extends to mask-wearing as well. I should have been a shrink, right? |
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1. Haven’t you been paying attention? Parents have spoken up only to be told to pipe down and check their privilege.
2. Pls point to any evidence of political power NW school families have. Do you think the schools would be so overcrowded if there was any political power in these parts of the city? |
I absolutely agree that some of this is unique to DC, specifically the need to align with the virtue signaling behaviors such as siding with the teachers. Plus it's not fun to be in conflict with your kid's school. I'm livid with WTU but my kid is participating in teachers appreciation week because I don't want them to feel left out, not because I believe in any way that their teacher who went on strike and was forced back to work kicking and screaming in any way deserves it. |
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Just got an email for RISE (for rising 6th graders) this summer. Guess what? It’s virtual! And runs 9-noon but not on Friday. So this means that my kid would have had to skip camp for the week to do this, but only be occupied for 4 half days?
So relieved my child is not going to Deal next year. |
Thank you. How big is the school? The Oyster Adams profile page says 731 kids for Pk-8th. I think this is great and I think Deal could do more but I do not think they could do this given their numbers. |
This is absurd. Schools all over the country and around the world are open. Just WTF. |
Thanks for letting us know! Are kids in set cohorts and if so do you know how many cohorts of students interact with a given teacher? And if they are maintaining 3 ft of space b/t students? (Trying to figure out if schools can make the choice not to follow the cohort and spacing guidance) |
+1 |
| We have love Deal. I really don't understand the problem. |
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So you are ok with ZERO(at least for my child) in person learning and 4 day a week online learning for over 1 year? Yes, you are the only one. |
They don't have the choice is my inderstanding. The choice was made dcps-wide to have classrooms of 15 kids biding by cohorting requirements. |
That's the normal schedule for RISE even in person. The virtual part, year 2 is inexcusable especially since they could do part of it outside easily. Is there not one person making decisions at that school who is looking for opportunities how to make things work in person? |