We are NEVER going back until covid is 100% gone - MCPS has no leadership
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Anonymous
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According to article in Bethesda Beat, MCPS hasn't even started planning for returning to school. Since March, they have not made any effort to make schools safe.
MCPS NEVER had an intention to bring kids back. it's just too hard so we aren't going to do it. Smith makes 300k with the sweetest benefits packet. We have hundreds of overpaid staff in central office. And none of them have the leadership skills to get the kids back in school. Other districts here in the US and in other countries are moving forward. They have real leaders who aren't going to let the desires and special requests from each individual in the district stop them from meeting the educational needs of the larger population of kids. They know how this is affecting kids mentally, they just hired more counselors!! They know that a lot of teachers are realizing this isn't working, parents realize this isn't working. And I am not talking the small percentage of kids who are doing ok with DL, I am talking of the majority of kids. But they still haven't started outlining the plan for return. How hard is it to make few calls to other superintendents to get some guidance since no one has any clue what to do? Secure PPE, set up schools/classrooms with social distance desks with partitions, set out sanitizer stations throughout school, survey parents to find out who will be returning and who needs bus transportation, require masks and handwashing breaks (make these MANDATORY), work with building services to sanitize high touch areas, set up isolation room, involve school nurse, establish DL program for those who can't abide by rules and don't want to come into the school. Select DL teachers and assign kids to them from the entire county population.. A kid might not get a teacher from their school, but we all must make sacrifices. Unless you ask parents what option they want, you can't really plan, and they haven't even done that. There are so many staff who aren't working, but getting paid...assign jobs to them, there is plenty for everyone to do. At the end of the day, you will not please anyone, but you will have attempted to do what you are supposed to do...educate the kids. |
Anonymous
| It's ridiculous to say they haven't started planning for in-person. Come on. |
Anonymous
| At one of the back-to-school town halls last month, I heard our assistant principal (of a Bethesda-area high school) basically say that we won't be back in person during 2020-2021. |
Anonymous
They said it themselves...read the article. Jack Smith is ineffective. |
Anonymous
That should come as a surprise to no one. |
Anonymous
None of the school staff know anything about dates, whether good news or bad. It's early October. If every other area system goes back, MCPS won't be the lone holdout. |
Anonymous
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If they had "planned" to have a phased in approach for the fall before changing it, why not go with that plan?
Chances are that plan never existed. |
Anonymous
Assistant principals, whether of Bethesda-area high schools or non-Bethesda-area elementary schools, don't make these decisions and really don't know much more about the future than anybody else. |
Anonymous
Correct. |
Anonymous
If we all have to make sacrifices, we should stick with the current system, which at least requires the same sacrifice of everyone. All kids are doing DL. All teachers are doing DL. Once we start shifting some students at week 10 to teachers they have not started to build a relationship with, it creates a second first two weeks of school. My daughter has a great relationship with her AP teacher. We also had to share some sensitive info about a foster son with several teachers who now understand that he is so eager to not be trouble that he will suffer in all kind of silence rather than ask for help. All know to really check in on him even if he gives the thumbs up in Zoom in response to a generally query. |
Anonymous
Huh? The headline of that article is "MCPS begins planning for in-person instruction; no date for students’ return" https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/schools/mcps-begins-planning-for-in-person-instruction-no-date-for-students-return/ |
Anonymous
DP- my concern is that if a vaccine isn’t available next summer, we may not even go back next year. There’s just so much inertia and paralysis, the lack of leadership is really stunning. |
Anonymous
I think a shell of it existed but as soon as they realized how harrrrd it was going to be, they stopped trying to work out the details. Don’t get me wrong, I think hybrid would be logistically challenging to implement , With limited benefits because many younger kids would be in a child care setting the remainder of the week. I think offering the choice between in-person and DL is more practical for a number of reasons, but they’d need to streamline DL to require fewer teachers. |
Anonymous
PP, to make you feel better: MCPS WILL DO WHAT THE OTHER DISTRICTS DO. They won't be the only one to be closed when everyone else is open. They won't be the only one to be open when everyone else is closed. All of the districts in the area are going to more-or-less do what all of the other districts in the area are doing. |
Anonymous
Yes, I'm not sure how accurate OP's assertion is. If they have no plans for any in person instruction why would they give the teachers the 45 days notice? After they made the 45 day announcement, and we don't see any plans after .. say.. 90 days, that would make MCPS even look more dumb. |