Last resort plan if DCPS / WTU doesn't do full-time IPL after all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Talk me down. Last night I woke up at 2am worried about this and never went back to sleep. We are a PK family and never got an IPL spot last year. Our school was among the worst in the city in terms of IPL last year (I am specifically not naming it because it's a struggling school for a variety of reasons and the failure is not necessarily about incompetence but more some terrible circumstances). We tried to lottery out of the school but have failed thus far and our numbers are not looking good. Our kid spent the second half of last year in a part time PK program that was great in many ways but really only a few hours a week and just not sufficient for our childcare needs. We can't afford that plus childcare, and we need childcare, so we didn't re-enroll this year. We're waitlisted at another private PK with a more comprehensive schedule that we think we can swing on our budget (it will be tight) but no guarantees we'll get in.

I am so scared things are going to shut down again. I think it will finally break me. We would have moved last year but we are in a condo and the market is not great -- we have a neighbor who has been on the market for months and we were hoping that would sell quickly and then we'd list but now I don't know. I am holding onto my job by a thread but I don't think I can do this another year. I feel like it's all going to happen again -- the last minute announcement of closure, the pointless DL for kids who can't really do it, the promises of reopening and it never materializing. I feel so stuck. Our families live very far away and don't have room for us if we went there. We'd have to rent something near them and I don't know how we'd do that if we couldn't rent our place out as well, which is no guarantee.

I'm just venting. It feels like it's all happening again.

I'm sorry you are feeling this. Totally understand what you are going through. I think that DCPS could do many different things and be creative about this. In the midst of delta, I don't think reopening all elementary schools for everyone, having 30 person classrooms, full cafeterias is a good idea. That said, why can't DCPS reopen for PK-2 because this is really the group that virtual makes the least sense (kids 3, 4, 5, 6 don't have the attention span or the maturity to sit through these virtual classes). Then DCPS can have a more flexible virtual/in-person for 3-5 to alleviate the crowding at elementary schools. Middle school and High schools should all be open because kids have access to vaccines. That is just one thought and there are probably many more, but DCSP is not thinking of alternate plans and burying their heads in the sand.

This is what should have been done from March 2020. I don't know about DCPS, but our charter would not entertain this idea at all for "equity reasons." I guess educating the younger ones in person---the ones who cannot learn remotely---when you can't have the older ones in the building is just not fair. You know, so punish everyone instead of helping a few. It's infuriating and has been the city's message all along.

[Anonymous]

Not opening is the death knell for student learning and excitement about learning. It will also kill the careers of parents (mostly women) and create even bigger gaps between rich and poor from an earnings, savings, and education perspective. The long term effects for society are terrible. I want to cry and now wish wr had paid for private prek3 for next year but it's too late.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't panic in a city with a high vaccination rate. The Delta Variant is only striking fast and hard in areas of this country where at least half, maybe two-thirds, of adults aren't vaccinated, mainly down South.

DCPS hasn't backed off its position of reopening full-time in the fall. I don't see cause to worry that they won't. You guys are going to existential funks for no good reason. Relax, have a little faith.

I really really really want to. But our charter -- a generally highly regarded one -- was one of the slowest to open last year with most kids getting a handful of in person days. They announced not reopening a week before the school year was supposed to start, oddly ended the school year early with very little explanation or warning, and kept saying it was all okay because they were providing high quality virtual learning (meanwhile my kids class covered 1/4 of the appropriate grade level standards). Faith in the system has been broken.

For that that would or last year did move to relatives homes, did you change residency for that one year? We would have to split up and have one parent in DC and one with the kids in another state and will do it, but just have to figure out logistics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Talk me down. Last night I woke up at 2am worried about this and never went back to sleep. We are a PK family and never got an IPL spot last year. Our school was among the worst in the city in terms of IPL last year (I am specifically not naming it because it's a struggling school for a variety of reasons and the failure is not necessarily about incompetence but more some terrible circumstances). We tried to lottery out of the school but have failed thus far and our numbers are not looking good. Our kid spent the second half of last year in a part time PK program that was great in many ways but really only a few hours a week and just not sufficient for our childcare needs. We can't afford that plus childcare, and we need childcare, so we didn't re-enroll this year. We're waitlisted at another private PK with a more comprehensive schedule that we think we can swing on our budget (it will be tight) but no guarantees we'll get in.

I am so scared things are going to shut down again. I think it will finally break me. We would have moved last year but we are in a condo and the market is not great -- we have a neighbor who has been on the market for months and we were hoping that would sell quickly and then we'd list but now I don't know. I am holding onto my job by a thread but I don't think I can do this another year. I feel like it's all going to happen again -- the last minute announcement of closure, the pointless DL for kids who can't really do it, the promises of reopening and it never materializing. I feel so stuck. Our families live very far away and don't have room for us if we went there. We'd have to rent something near them and I don't know how we'd do that if we couldn't rent our place out as well, which is no guarantee.

I'm just venting. It feels like it's all happening again.

I'm sorry you are feeling this. Totally understand what you are going through. I think that DCPS could do many different things and be creative about this. In the midst of delta, I don't think reopening all elementary schools for everyone, having 30 person classrooms, full cafeterias is a good idea. That said, why can't DCPS reopen for PK-2 because this is really the group that virtual makes the least sense (kids 3, 4, 5, 6 don't have the attention span or the maturity to sit through these virtual classes). Then DCPS can have a more flexible virtual/in-person for 3-5 to alleviate the crowding at elementary schools. Middle school and High schools should all be open because kids have access to vaccines. That is just one thought and there are probably many more, but DCSP is not thinking of alternate plans and burying their heads in the sand.

This is what should have been done from March 2020. I don't know about DCPS, but our charter would not entertain this idea at all for "equity reasons." I guess educating the younger ones in person---the ones who cannot learn remotely---when you can't have the older ones in the building is just not fair. You know, so punish everyone instead of helping a few. It's infuriating and has been the city's message all along.

In principle I agree, but I think the cut off is too early. Especially after having already gone through a year of DL, at least my rising third grader is in absolutely desperate need of getting back in the classroom. He is not neurotypical so that is part of it, but I’m sure he is not alone. After a year of this, most kids in elementary school need to get back. Even the older ones can only be subjected to this for so long. If the schools don’t open for him here, we will have to think of alternative solutions, which will likely mean moving temporarily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Talk me down. Last night I woke up at 2am worried about this and never went back to sleep. We are a PK family and never got an IPL spot last year. Our school was among the worst in the city in terms of IPL last year (I am specifically not naming it because it's a struggling school for a variety of reasons and the failure is not necessarily about incompetence but more some terrible circumstances). We tried to lottery out of the school but have failed thus far and our numbers are not looking good. Our kid spent the second half of last year in a part time PK program that was great in many ways but really only a few hours a week and just not sufficient for our childcare needs. We can't afford that plus childcare, and we need childcare, so we didn't re-enroll this year. We're waitlisted at another private PK with a more comprehensive schedule that we think we can swing on our budget (it will be tight) but no guarantees we'll get in.

I am so scared things are going to shut down again. I think it will finally break me. We would have moved last year but we are in a condo and the market is not great -- we have a neighbor who has been on the market for months and we were hoping that would sell quickly and then we'd list but now I don't know. I am holding onto my job by a thread but I don't think I can do this another year. I feel like it's all going to happen again -- the last minute announcement of closure, the pointless DL for kids who can't really do it, the promises of reopening and it never materializing. I feel so stuck. Our families live very far away and don't have room for us if we went there. We'd have to rent something near them and I don't know how we'd do that if we couldn't rent our place out as well, which is no guarantee.

I'm just venting. It feels like it's all happening again.

I'm sorry you are feeling this. Totally understand what you are going through. I think that DCPS could do many different things and be creative about this. In the midst of delta, I don't think reopening all elementary schools for everyone, having 30 person classrooms, full cafeterias is a good idea. That said, why can't DCPS reopen for PK-2 because this is really the group that virtual makes the least sense (kids 3, 4, 5, 6 don't have the attention span or the maturity to sit through these virtual classes). Then DCPS can have a more flexible virtual/in-person for 3-5 to alleviate the crowding at elementary schools. Middle school and High schools should all be open because kids have access to vaccines. That is just one thought and there are probably many more, but DCSP is not thinking of alternate plans and burying their heads in the sand.

No.

[Anonymous]

All of the kids need to get back in school. All of them. I have a rising 6th grader who generally handled virtual learning really well and we will move if DC schools don't open.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of the kids need to get back in school. All of them. I have a rising 6th grader who generally handled virtual learning really well and we will move if DC schools don't open.

this. if DCPS does not start with all kids in classrooms, we will move. I am fully expecting some quarantine disruption but there is zero reason not to fully reopen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All of the kids need to get back in school. All of them. I have a rising 6th grader who generally handled virtual learning really well and we will move if DC schools don't open.

9:36 here and I agree. Prioritization by age is something that might have made sense last year, but this year, every kid needs to go back, delta or not. We simply cannot keep doing this to kids to either protect adults or soothe our own anxiety. Too much damage has already been done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Talk me down. Last night I woke up at 2am worried about this and never went back to sleep. We are a PK family and never got an IPL spot last year. Our school was among the worst in the city in terms of IPL last year (I am specifically not naming it because it's a struggling school for a variety of reasons and the failure is not necessarily about incompetence but more some terrible circumstances). We tried to lottery out of the school but have failed thus far and our numbers are not looking good. Our kid spent the second half of last year in a part time PK program that was great in many ways but really only a few hours a week and just not sufficient for our childcare needs. We can't afford that plus childcare, and we need childcare, so we didn't re-enroll this year. We're waitlisted at another private PK with a more comprehensive schedule that we think we can swing on our budget (it will be tight) but no guarantees we'll get in.

I am so scared things are going to shut down again. I think it will finally break me. We would have moved last year but we are in a condo and the market is not great -- we have a neighbor who has been on the market for months and we were hoping that would sell quickly and then we'd list but now I don't know. I am holding onto my job by a thread but I don't think I can do this another year. I feel like it's all going to happen again -- the last minute announcement of closure, the pointless DL for kids who can't really do it, the promises of reopening and it never materializing. I feel so stuck. Our families live very far away and don't have room for us if we went there. We'd have to rent something near them and I don't know how we'd do that if we couldn't rent our place out as well, which is no guarantee.

I'm just venting. It feels like it's all happening again.

PP, have you looked at community-based PK options? https://www.myschooldc.org/find-schools/school-options-outside-my-school-dc We got a spot late last summer at one. It started offering hybrid learning way before DCPS (in January 2021), and went full-time, 5 days/week in May. They also have aftercare (at cost). If you tell me what neighborhood you live in I can maybe provide some recommendations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’ll do the same thing I did this year. Pull my children again and move back in with relatives in another state where they were/are open and send them to school there. It will suck again for me, but at least my kids were happy and went to school every day.

I will do this as well for my kindergarten and pre-k children. Plus I will do the same if they close school on the regular for quarantine/positive cases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll do the same thing I did this year. Pull my children again and move back in with relatives in another state where they were/are open and send them to school there. It will suck again for me, but at least my kids were happy and went to school every day.

I will do this as well for my kindergarten and pre-k children. Plus I will do the same if they close school on the regular for quarantine/positive cases.

What alarms me about this - which I think is understandable
- is the flight of middle/upper middle class families from the school district permanently

[Anonymous]

^^for those of you who might say "who cares if they leave? good riddance!"

Integration is very very important for all children involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll do the same thing I did this year. Pull my children again and move back in with relatives in another state where they were/are open and send them to school there. It will suck again for me, but at least my kids were happy and went to school every day.

I will do this as well for my kindergarten and pre-k children. Plus I will do the same if they close school on the regular for quarantine/positive cases.

What alarms me about this - which I think is understandable
- is the flight of middle/upper middle class families from the school district permanently

There will always be new crops of interested middle/upper income families flocking to DC to give public school a try, because DC has always been cool to live as an adult, and all the newly minted post-grad kids want to remain in the same city where they got drunk and hooked up. COVID is a temporary disaster that may chase out a few of those families, but honestly most of them would have left these public grounds anyway. DCPS is DCPS -- that is all there is to know, and all you need to know. Kind of timeless in that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’ll do the same thing I did this year. Pull my children again and move back in with relatives in another state where they were/are open and send them to school there. It will suck again for me, but at least my kids were happy and went to school every day.

I will do this as well for my kindergarten and pre-k children. Plus I will do the same if they close school on the regular for quarantine/positive cases.

What alarms me about this - which I think is understandable
- is the flight of middle/upper middle class families from the school district permanently

There will always be new crops of interested middle/upper income families flocking to DC to give public school a try, because DC has always been cool to live as an adult, and all the newly minted post-grad kids want to remain in the same city where they got drunk and hooked up. COVID is a temporary disaster that may chase out a few of those families, but honestly most of them would have left these public grounds anyway. DCPS is DCPS -- that is all there is to know, and all you need to know. Kind of timeless in that way.

We'll find out in a few years whether the moves out of DCPS are permanent or actually cause a dip in enrollment. But we won't know for a while. Probably there will be a dip in enrollment this upcoming year (if the 20% drop in applications is any indication).

But mostly no one cares if the middle class leaves DC, and many even wish that middle class white people would go. So it's not like DCPS really gives a sh*t; they aren't going to open in order to make sure families stay in DC.

[Anonymous]

You speak The Truth, PP! DCPS does not, and has never, given a shit about the people you refer to. DCPS does not perceive its purpose, in any aspect, to groom smart kids for the possibility of a post-graduate education. DCPS aims for the middle -- which, under the circumstances, is laudable goal, imo. Now, that goal should not exclude a secondary goal of promoting academic excellence, but Tell It To The Judge, it ain't gonna get you anywhere, noway. So the high-education parents GTFO. Always have, always will.