Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is wondering how APS teachers feel about a specific group of parents, here is an APS teacher (now former) who put her name on it --
At first, when schools moved to online instruction in the spring of 2020 and parents saw firsthand the hardships teachers were enduring, plaudits poured in for the educators showing remarkable commitment to their profession in a difficult situation they had never trained for. Virtual teaching took much more time to prepare, execute and evaluate. And because students were often not required to turn on their cameras, it was a lot like teaching into a void. But as time crawled on and schools remained closed to in-person instruction, parents became critical, even angry. The hostility parents leveled against teachers was astonishing. In September 2021 alone, 30,000 public school teachers nationwide gave notice. Between August 2020 and August 2021, Florida’s teacher vacancies surged 67 percent, according to a count by the Florida Education Association. In 2021, California’s largest district, Los Angeles Unified, had five times the number of vacancies as in previous years, according to Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district. The number of retirements skyrocketed, and I joined the exodus. I was within a couple of years of my target retirement date, but I left earlier than planned because of the mounting stress around the pandemic and an ever-increasing workload.
I have a teacher in my immediate family and this really resonates.
Thanks for the anecdote. Here’s mine: I’ve got four northern VA teachers in my immediate family and they all wanted to be back in the classroom way before they were allowed. And I’ve got another teacher in my immediate family in a state that opened the schools in the fall of 2020 and thought what was going on here was insane.
Did you even read the article? It's not about wanting to be back on the classroom or not. It's about how a certain group of parents affiliated with the OPEN SCHOOLS NOW movement, treated teachers during virtual. And it's written by an APS teacher who actually put her name to it, so I'm going to credit it over anonymous comments by so called "teachers" on here
Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is wondering how APS teachers feel about a specific group of parents, here is an APS teacher (now former) who put her name on it --
At first, when schools moved to online instruction in the spring of 2020 and parents saw firsthand the hardships teachers were enduring, plaudits poured in for the educators showing remarkable commitment to their profession in a difficult situation they had never trained for. Virtual teaching took much more time to prepare, execute and evaluate. And because students were often not required to turn on their cameras, it was a lot like teaching into a void. But as time crawled on and schools remained closed to in-person instruction, parents became critical, even angry. The hostility parents leveled against teachers was astonishing. In September 2021 alone, 30,000 public school teachers nationwide gave notice. Between August 2020 and August 2021, Florida’s teacher vacancies surged 67 percent, according to a count by the Florida Education Association. In 2021, California’s largest district, Los Angeles Unified, had five times the number of vacancies as in previous years, according to Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district. The number of retirements skyrocketed, and I joined the exodus. I was within a couple of years of my target retirement date, but I left earlier than planned because of the mounting stress around the pandemic and an ever-increasing workload.
The raw, misdirected hostility towards teachers was so crazy. I’m still shocked by what some parents did.
My kid was on teams **in class** when a parent interrupted and started screaming and cursing at the teacher. In front of all of the kids!!! The teacher handled it well, but WTAF?!
Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is wondering how APS teachers feel about a specific group of parents, here is an APS teacher (now former) who put her name on it --
At first, when schools moved to online instruction in the spring of 2020 and parents saw firsthand the hardships teachers were enduring, plaudits poured in for the educators showing remarkable commitment to their profession in a difficult situation they had never trained for. Virtual teaching took much more time to prepare, execute and evaluate. And because students were often not required to turn on their cameras, it was a lot like teaching into a void. But as time crawled on and schools remained closed to in-person instruction, parents became critical, even angry. The hostility parents leveled against teachers was astonishing. In September 2021 alone, 30,000 public school teachers nationwide gave notice. Between August 2020 and August 2021, Florida’s teacher vacancies surged 67 percent, according to a count by the Florida Education Association. In 2021, California’s largest district, Los Angeles Unified, had five times the number of vacancies as in previous years, according to Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district. The number of retirements skyrocketed, and I joined the exodus. I was within a couple of years of my target retirement date, but I left earlier than planned because of the mounting stress around the pandemic and an ever-increasing workload.
The raw, misdirected hostility towards teachers was so crazy. I’m still shocked by what some parents did.
My kid was on teams **in class** when a parent interrupted and started screaming and cursing at the teacher. In front of all of the kids!!! The teacher handled it well, but WTAF?!
Yup. And then a lot of parents who were angry about schools closing took their kids out of APS and left for private schools, including one of our school bd candidates, so this is a problem they created for others to deal with.
Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is wondering how APS teachers feel about a specific group of parents, here is an APS teacher (now former) who put her name on it --
At first, when schools moved to online instruction in the spring of 2020 and parents saw firsthand the hardships teachers were enduring, plaudits poured in for the educators showing remarkable commitment to their profession in a difficult situation they had never trained for. Virtual teaching took much more time to prepare, execute and evaluate. And because students were often not required to turn on their cameras, it was a lot like teaching into a void. But as time crawled on and schools remained closed to in-person instruction, parents became critical, even angry. The hostility parents leveled against teachers was astonishing. In September 2021 alone, 30,000 public school teachers nationwide gave notice. Between August 2020 and August 2021, Florida’s teacher vacancies surged 67 percent, according to a count by the Florida Education Association. In 2021, California’s largest district, Los Angeles Unified, had five times the number of vacancies as in previous years, according to Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district. The number of retirements skyrocketed, and I joined the exodus. I was within a couple of years of my target retirement date, but I left earlier than planned because of the mounting stress around the pandemic and an ever-increasing workload.
The raw, misdirected hostility towards teachers was so crazy. I’m still shocked by what some parents did.
My kid was on teams **in class** when a parent interrupted and started screaming and cursing at the teacher. In front of all of the kids!!! The teacher handled it well, but WTAF?!
Yup. And then a lot of parents who were angry about schools closing took their kids out of APS and left for private schools, including one of our school bd candidates, so this is a problem they created for others to deal with.
I don't know how we repair the damage they did.
Certainly not by choosing a SB member who thought their actions were acceptable enough to partner with them.
Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is wondering how APS teachers feel about a specific group of parents, here is an APS teacher (now former) who put her name on it --
At first, when schools moved to online instruction in the spring of 2020 and parents saw firsthand the hardships teachers were enduring, plaudits poured in for the educators showing remarkable commitment to their profession in a difficult situation they had never trained for. Virtual teaching took much more time to prepare, execute and evaluate. And because students were often not required to turn on their cameras, it was a lot like teaching into a void. But as time crawled on and schools remained closed to in-person instruction, parents became critical, even angry. The hostility parents leveled against teachers was astonishing. In September 2021 alone, 30,000 public school teachers nationwide gave notice. Between August 2020 and August 2021, Florida’s teacher vacancies surged 67 percent, according to a count by the Florida Education Association. In 2021, California’s largest district, Los Angeles Unified, had five times the number of vacancies as in previous years, according to Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district. The number of retirements skyrocketed, and I joined the exodus. I was within a couple of years of my target retirement date, but I left earlier than planned because of the mounting stress around the pandemic and an ever-increasing workload.
The raw, misdirected hostility towards teachers was so crazy. I’m still shocked by what some parents did.
My kid was on teams **in class** when a parent interrupted and started screaming and cursing at the teacher. In front of all of the kids!!! The teacher handled it well, but WTAF?!
Yup. And then a lot of parents who were angry about schools closing took their kids out of APS and left for private schools, including one of our school bd candidates, so this is a problem they created for others to deal with.
I don't know how we repair the damage they did.
Certainly not by choosing a SB member who thought their actions were acceptable enough to partner with them.
Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is wondering how APS teachers feel about a specific group of parents, here is an APS teacher (now former) who put her name on it --
At first, when schools moved to online instruction in the spring of 2020 and parents saw firsthand the hardships teachers were enduring, plaudits poured in for the educators showing remarkable commitment to their profession in a difficult situation they had never trained for. Virtual teaching took much more time to prepare, execute and evaluate. And because students were often not required to turn on their cameras, it was a lot like teaching into a void. But as time crawled on and schools remained closed to in-person instruction, parents became critical, even angry. The hostility parents leveled against teachers was astonishing. In September 2021 alone, 30,000 public school teachers nationwide gave notice. Between August 2020 and August 2021, Florida’s teacher vacancies surged 67 percent, according to a count by the Florida Education Association. In 2021, California’s largest district, Los Angeles Unified, had five times the number of vacancies as in previous years, according to Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district. The number of retirements skyrocketed, and I joined the exodus. I was within a couple of years of my target retirement date, but I left earlier than planned because of the mounting stress around the pandemic and an ever-increasing workload.
The raw, misdirected hostility towards teachers was so crazy. I’m still shocked by what some parents did.
My kid was on teams **in class** when a parent interrupted and started screaming and cursing at the teacher. In front of all of the kids!!! The teacher handled it well, but WTAF?!
Yup. And then a lot of parents who were angry about schools closing took their kids out of APS and left for private schools, including one of our school bd candidates, so this is a problem they created for others to deal with.
I don't know how we repair the damage they did.
Certainly not by choosing a SB member who thought their actions were acceptable enough to partner with them.
What a slap in the face that would be to our teachers.
Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is wondering how APS teachers feel about a specific group of parents, here is an APS teacher (now former) who put her name on it --
At first, when schools moved to online instruction in the spring of 2020 and parents saw firsthand the hardships teachers were enduring, plaudits poured in for the educators showing remarkable commitment to their profession in a difficult situation they had never trained for. Virtual teaching took much more time to prepare, execute and evaluate. And because students were often not required to turn on their cameras, it was a lot like teaching into a void. But as time crawled on and schools remained closed to in-person instruction, parents became critical, even angry. The hostility parents leveled against teachers was astonishing. In September 2021 alone, 30,000 public school teachers nationwide gave notice. Between August 2020 and August 2021, Florida’s teacher vacancies surged 67 percent, according to a count by the Florida Education Association. In 2021, California’s largest district, Los Angeles Unified, had five times the number of vacancies as in previous years, according to Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district. The number of retirements skyrocketed, and I joined the exodus. I was within a couple of years of my target retirement date, but I left earlier than planned because of the mounting stress around the pandemic and an ever-increasing workload.
The raw, misdirected hostility towards teachers was so crazy. I’m still shocked by what some parents did.
My kid was on teams **in class** when a parent interrupted and started screaming and cursing at the teacher. In front of all of the kids!!! The teacher handled it well, but WTAF?!
Yup. And then a lot of parents who were angry about schools closing took their kids out of APS and left for private schools, including one of our school bd candidates, so this is a problem they created for others to deal with.
I don't know how we repair the damage they did.
Certainly not by choosing a SB member who thought their actions were acceptable enough to partner with them.
What a slap in the face that would be to our teachers.
*OR* maybe our teachers would be thrilled to have a SB member lobbying for higher pay and smaller class sizes?
Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is wondering how APS teachers feel about a specific group of parents, here is an APS teacher (now former) who put her name on it --
At first, when schools moved to online instruction in the spring of 2020 and parents saw firsthand the hardships teachers were enduring, plaudits poured in for the educators showing remarkable commitment to their profession in a difficult situation they had never trained for. Virtual teaching took much more time to prepare, execute and evaluate. And because students were often not required to turn on their cameras, it was a lot like teaching into a void. But as time crawled on and schools remained closed to in-person instruction, parents became critical, even angry. The hostility parents leveled against teachers was astonishing. In September 2021 alone, 30,000 public school teachers nationwide gave notice. Between August 2020 and August 2021, Florida’s teacher vacancies surged 67 percent, according to a count by the Florida Education Association. In 2021, California’s largest district, Los Angeles Unified, had five times the number of vacancies as in previous years, according to Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district. The number of retirements skyrocketed, and I joined the exodus. I was within a couple of years of my target retirement date, but I left earlier than planned because of the mounting stress around the pandemic and an ever-increasing workload.
The raw, misdirected hostility towards teachers was so crazy. I’m still shocked by what some parents did.
My kid was on teams **in class** when a parent interrupted and started screaming and cursing at the teacher. In front of all of the kids!!! The teacher handled it well, but WTAF?!
Yup. And then a lot of parents who were angry about schools closing took their kids out of APS and left for private schools, including one of our school bd candidates, so this is a problem they created for others to deal with.
I don't know how we repair the damage they did.
Certainly not by choosing a SB member who thought their actions were acceptable enough to partner with them.
What a slap in the face that would be to our teachers.
*OR* maybe our teachers would be thrilled to have a SB member lobbying for higher pay and smaller class sizes?
Everyone wants these things. But OK, I'll bite. Just how does she plan to pay for that?
Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is wondering how APS teachers feel about a specific group of parents, here is an APS teacher (now former) who put her name on it --
At first, when schools moved to online instruction in the spring of 2020 and parents saw firsthand the hardships teachers were enduring, plaudits poured in for the educators showing remarkable commitment to their profession in a difficult situation they had never trained for. Virtual teaching took much more time to prepare, execute and evaluate. And because students were often not required to turn on their cameras, it was a lot like teaching into a void. But as time crawled on and schools remained closed to in-person instruction, parents became critical, even angry. The hostility parents leveled against teachers was astonishing. In September 2021 alone, 30,000 public school teachers nationwide gave notice. Between August 2020 and August 2021, Florida’s teacher vacancies surged 67 percent, according to a count by the Florida Education Association. In 2021, California’s largest district, Los Angeles Unified, had five times the number of vacancies as in previous years, according to Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district. The number of retirements skyrocketed, and I joined the exodus. I was within a couple of years of my target retirement date, but I left earlier than planned because of the mounting stress around the pandemic and an ever-increasing workload.
The raw, misdirected hostility towards teachers was so crazy. I’m still shocked by what some parents did.
My kid was on teams **in class** when a parent interrupted and started screaming and cursing at the teacher. In front of all of the kids!!! The teacher handled it well, but WTAF?!
Yup. And then a lot of parents who were angry about schools closing took their kids out of APS and left for private schools, including one of our school bd candidates, so this is a problem they created for others to deal with.
I don't know how we repair the damage they did.
Certainly not by choosing a SB member who thought their actions were acceptable enough to partner with them.
Sorry but this entire thread reads as sock puppeting.
I don’t plan to vote, but I’m not sure how you can say someone who 1) doesn’t have children, 2) has never been inside an aps building, and 3) has lived in Arlington for less than a month is more qualified than anyone. Miranda is way more qualified, and if the Arl dems want to stay relevant and continue the endorsement process, Miranda should be the clear favorite.
Anonymous wrote:I honestly do not understand some of you. What happened during COVID was horrific for many parents and children. Some kids were basically abandoned by society, and the consequences for that were and remain awful. And yes, during this awful time, some people were awful as well.
As far as I can tell, Miranda Turner was not one of those people. She was part of a big group of parents, some of whom acted in terrible ways, but who, as a whole, were right to be fighting for more in-person learning time for kids. This is born out now by national and local data.
I do not understand why some of you blame her for the actions of a few people. The APE FB group has over 1000 members. She was supposed to personally control all of them? And also, keep in mind, some of these families were suffering hugely from APS' decisions.
I am not condoning the worst of the behavior, but it was a hard time and MANY people did and said things I hope they regret now. That also includes people who wanted schools closed, who basically said anyone who wanted schools open wanted to murder teachers. There was A LOT of rhetoric both ways, please keep in mind.
Unless you have evidence Miranda Turner personally was yelling at teachers, this is a completely unfair discussion.
Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is wondering how APS teachers feel about a specific group of parents, here is an APS teacher (now former) who put her name on it --
At first, when schools moved to online instruction in the spring of 2020 and parents saw firsthand the hardships teachers were enduring, plaudits poured in for the educators showing remarkable commitment to their profession in a difficult situation they had never trained for. Virtual teaching took much more time to prepare, execute and evaluate. And because students were often not required to turn on their cameras, it was a lot like teaching into a void. But as time crawled on and schools remained closed to in-person instruction, parents became critical, even angry. The hostility parents leveled against teachers was astonishing. In September 2021 alone, 30,000 public school teachers nationwide gave notice. Between August 2020 and August 2021, Florida’s teacher vacancies surged 67 percent, according to a count by the Florida Education Association. In 2021, California’s largest district, Los Angeles Unified, had five times the number of vacancies as in previous years, according to Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district. The number of retirements skyrocketed, and I joined the exodus. I was within a couple of years of my target retirement date, but I left earlier than planned because of the mounting stress around the pandemic and an ever-increasing workload.
The raw, misdirected hostility towards teachers was so crazy. I’m still shocked by what some parents did.
My kid was on teams **in class** when a parent interrupted and started screaming and cursing at the teacher. In front of all of the kids!!! The teacher handled it well, but WTAF?!
Yup. And then a lot of parents who were angry about schools closing took their kids out of APS and left for private schools, including one of our school bd candidates, so this is a problem they created for others to deal with.
I don't know how we repair the damage they did.
Certainly not by choosing a SB member who thought their actions were acceptable enough to partner with them.
Sorry but this entire thread reads as sock puppeting.
I don’t plan to vote, but I’m not sure how you can say someone who 1) doesn’t have children, 2) has never been inside an aps building, and 3) has lived in Arlington for less than a month is more qualified than anyone. Miranda is way more qualified, and if the Arl dems want to stay relevant and continue the endorsement process, Miranda should be the clear favorite.
There are multiple people posting.
He is absolutely less qualified. He also didn’t lead a group that has done so much damage to our community.
Where do they stand on boundary changes and dealing with facilities? Now that we’re not in a pandemic and the issue is not whether to have in-person instruction, these are the issues that tend to ignite passions.
Anonymous wrote:APE members still are angry. In any thread you walk in, they still can't get over 2020. While it was awful, it's done and will never, ever happen again. I need a candidate who can stop talking about it, acknowledge the past, but look to the future. Miranda ain't it.
Are you kidding me? I follow AEM and APE. The only place I see people fighting about 2020 is on AEM. It's not APE that is stuck in 2020.
Looking at the last dozen or so comments still angry at angry people in 2020, this is spot on. Most people are no longer angry and some of the loudest and most obnoxious left aps and Facebook forums and good riddance. Most parents want to move on and help kids recover because we see they are not ok.
+1
If it's appropriate to group all members of a group according to its weakest links, then why don't we hold all teachers to the same level? Some teachers are really awful. Therefore no teacher should ever be promoted to principal, Asst Superintendent, or superintendent. And no teacher should ever be elected to the school board because some teachers are incompetent, some rudely don't respond to messages or are curt with answers to questions. Let's hold all the others responsible and punish them for their colleagues' shortcomings and personalities.
Anonymous wrote:Jeff/Admin: Can you explain why posts in this thread keep getting deleted if they mention APE?
There is a post directly above yours that mentions APE that did not get deleted. Posts are getting deleted for that reason. They are getting deleted for making false statements.
This group, which a SB candidate led for years, was an open schools group in Arlington. They were abusive online and in school board meetings. Some of their most aggressive, vocal members were anti-maskers, anti-CRT, pro-voucher. They were aligned with open schools groups out in FCPS and LCPS. Including Ian Prior, PDE (Koch bro), etc.
I really hope the normal lurkers on this page are not buying these defamatory lies. Literally none of this true. It'd be laughable if we we're living in an era of mis-information and conspiracy theory uptake. Please do your own research and look into this group, read their newsletters, and explore their website. I know some of them personally and they are all very active in their school communities and closely aligned with many APS teachers. There are a few deranged trolls on this page (likely the same people making the same outlandish claims on AEM) that are obsessed and continue to spread lies. They make accusation with no evidence or links. They associate people who have long been kicked out of APE if they went against their values and mission as being "leaders." It's disturbing.
No,PP, they are true. I'm involved in school issues, know MT, know APE. I can respect different views and I respect her for some of her advocacy. But APE was unhinged for a while, and MT didn't see that forest for the trees until later. Their level of anger and personal attacks turned off people like me who were open to their original advocacy.
I will never forget the hostility and abuse they showed to teachers.
+1
And administrators and parents.
It’s shocking that they have the audacity to move forward without some massive apology to the community. Are they hoping that we all just forgot?
I don't think they are hoping. More like gaslighting.
This former APS teacher remembers it like it was:
At first, when schools moved to online instruction in the spring of 2020 and parents saw firsthand the hardships teachers were enduring, plaudits poured in for the educators showing remarkable commitment to their profession in a difficult situation they had never trained for. Virtual teaching took much more time to prepare, execute and evaluate. And because students were often not required to turn on their cameras, it was a lot like teaching into a void. But as time crawled on and schools remained closed to in-person instruction, parents became critical, even angry. The hostility parents leveled against teachers was astonishing.
Are you a secondary teacher? Because elementary school in APS wasn't anything like this in spring of 2020. For K-2, APS prohibited any teaching whatsoever, so my child didn't see her teacher after the schools closed and didn't get any work from her. For 3-5, no new instruction was permitted, so my older child's teacher sent repetitive worksheets every day (she was great, this was not her fault) and had once weekly video check ins. I didn't and don't blame the teachers for this; these were APS decisions. But for elementary parents, we were very much on our own and we saw our kids suffer from the complete lack of instruction and limited engagement from their teachers. I'm not a member of APE or any other group. But I think it's important to remember the context to understand how disappointed and concerned parents were when APS decided in the summer of 2020 to keep schools closed.
Are you saying the context justified the hostility the parents in the OPEN SCHOOLS NOW group showed to teachers (and others too)? I cannot agree with that.
Bad behavior is bad behavior all around and should not be considered acceptable. However, let's also not forget the, "Open Coffins Now" teachers that did their own protests mock coffins included!
I don't ever remember teachers attacking parents. That is the difference.
You don't remember the open coffins? You don't remember accusations here and on AEM that parents just wanted babysitters? You don't remember the incessant gaslighting that kids were resilient and if they weren't it was their parents fault? There was even a teacher or staff member with a phony name on AEM who was vicious to parents. The vast majority of teachers did not engage in those actions, but there were a few who did. To be clear, we had great teachers. They showed up every day that hard virtual year with nothing but enthusiasm, often while their own kids were at home. I understood only a smidge of what they had to do to show up like that every day in a zoom room. I was disappointed in APS and lack of leadership from our school board and county board to not work together more on real solutions. But was never disappointed in my kids' teachers.
I do not remember any open coffins. Where are you getting that from?
I DO remember parents who reported teachers for their principals just because teachers who were concerned for their health expressed a position on social media. Do you consider this kind of attack on their job ok? I sure don't. And I don't know of anything comparable that teachers did to parents.
Teachers in nearby PWC protested with open coffins (as did others across nation). Their teacher’s association had to apologize for it. You can find the news articles. In APS, not sure about open coffins but remember there was a car parade with problematic signs. And absolutely beyond the pale for parents to report teachers. I understood teachers were scared. Not angry at the very few who went a little too far.
Are you serious? This is a thread about ARLINGTON and you're citing things teachers did in other school districts?! That is irrelevant. Come on.
It's just one more way for these parents to attack APS teachers, coming up with fake stories that did not happen.
Are you saying none of the other things happened? Open coffins happened (I don’t have new clips in APS to back it up but there were problematic protests here too). You want to quibble about one point but don’t deny any of the gaslighting, the fake profile by an APS employee who repeatedly attacked parents. People, including teachers, repeatedly saying parents wanted babysitters. You don’t remember it that way. Fine. But the record stands that some people, including teachers, failed the test. The rest of would like to move on. Including me. Won’t be posting further on this because I’m not trying to attack teachers. Like I said, the vast majority were our glue in those virtual days. As much as i hated virtual, I loved the teachers streaming into our house.
It really sounds like you are trying to attack teachers, and you won't let this go.
Different poster--but, I remember it too. I'm not a teacher hater, but, think it's unfair for all parents to be painted as teacher haters or RWNJ, just because they wanted kids back in person school sooner than APS made it happen, or because they remember teacher protests where there were literal physical mock coffins made and carried around by teachers, with the slogan "Open Coffins Now" as a counter to parents who wanted schools open. I still remember teachers that I know personally posting on social media that schools should not return until there were "no new cases", which was an obviously impossible place to reach. I still remember teachers I know getting priority vaccination and then still resisting returning to in person teaching.
IMO, one of the bigger issues is that anyone who says anything remotely critical re: APS or teachers is broadly labeled anti-teacher or anti-education. It is like the Salem Witch Trials if you have anything less than glowing sympathy for APS and teachers in general. I come from a family of educators--who do not live in red states--and were appalled by how APS handled things related to COVID. I think teachers have incredibly difficult jobs, I think they should be paid more.
However, I will not pretend like virtual learning was anything less than incredibly detrimental to my child in kindergarten at the time. I will not pretend like learning loss is not real. I will not pretend that APS has failed to provide supports to kids who need additional support following virtual school. I will not pretend that APS was a poor steward of recovery funds and squandered it on a failed virtual program that served a miniscule amount of students.
Basically, I refuse to be gaslit. And APS' leadership stupid head in the sand, look over here--there's some kids that are thriving according to XYZ test result is just obnoxious and entirely out of touch with the kids who are struggling. If we think there's a mental health and substance use crisis now--wait until all of the kids who continue to not receive the interventions and supports they need continue to be passed through the system, and watch where they end up.
IMO, one of the bigger issues is that anyone who says anything remotely critical re: APS or teachers is broadly labeled anti-teacher or anti-education. It is like the Salem Witch Trials if you have anything less than glowing sympathy for APS and teachers in general.
THIS!
There ARE bad teachers, people. There are a lot of great ones, too. But why do we have to praise all teachers as though they are all gods and goddesses; but villainize all APE members as the devil because of the few bad eggs? What is the rule for determining whether we label everyone according to the bad egg or to the good egg?
Both groups had/have both. Is Miranda one of the best of the APE eggs? I don't know. But I definitely don't see her as one of the bad ones.
Anonymous wrote:In case anyone is wondering how APS teachers feel about a specific group of parents, here is an APS teacher (now former) who put her name on it --
At first, when schools moved to online instruction in the spring of 2020 and parents saw firsthand the hardships teachers were enduring, plaudits poured in for the educators showing remarkable commitment to their profession in a difficult situation they had never trained for. Virtual teaching took much more time to prepare, execute and evaluate. And because students were often not required to turn on their cameras, it was a lot like teaching into a void. But as time crawled on and schools remained closed to in-person instruction, parents became critical, even angry. The hostility parents leveled against teachers was astonishing. In September 2021 alone, 30,000 public school teachers nationwide gave notice. Between August 2020 and August 2021, Florida’s teacher vacancies surged 67 percent, according to a count by the Florida Education Association. In 2021, California’s largest district, Los Angeles Unified, had five times the number of vacancies as in previous years, according to Shannon Haber, a spokeswoman for the district. The number of retirements skyrocketed, and I joined the exodus. I was within a couple of years of my target retirement date, but I left earlier than planned because of the mounting stress around the pandemic and an ever-increasing workload.
I have a teacher in my immediate family and this really resonates.
As a parent, I think this is all very true and how I've perceived things. HOWEVER, not ALL teachers are heroes. There ABSOLUTELY WERE teachers seemingly not making much effort during virtual learning and there ARE ABSOLUTELY teachers who didn't and still don't pull their weight in the classroom. Not all teachers are good teachers. Why is it so unconscionable to suggest that?
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