Why is there no school on Wednesdays?

[Anonymous]

Does anyone know? Elementary parent here. Realized I have no idea why there’s no school but hours of homework for the parents to oversee. Kindergarten parent. Any insight would be appreciated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know? Elementary parent here. Realized I have no idea why there’s no school but hours of homework for the parents to oversee. Kindergarten parent. Any insight would be appreciated.

Because the teachers are going crazy with workload and they're giving them the day off to plan lessons.

Also as a fellow elementary parent: if your DCPS kindergartner is doing hours of homework something is wrong. Don't do more homework than you feel your kid can handle.

[Anonymous]

Why is there no school on Wednesdays?

The real answer is
(1) there is a pandemic
(2) the Trump administration and Republicans have massively mishandled the pandemic. Therefore your kid is not at school. So they have no school on Wednesdays.

If we wanted our kids to have school on Wednesdays, then the most impactful thing all of us could have done to control that is:
Voted for Hillary Clinton.

<realtalk>

[Anonymous]

The previous answers are both wrong.

It is because the original expectation was that at some point for in person learning classes would be split into two - one group coming in on Monday's and Tuesdays and the other group on Thursdays and Friday with the school getting a deep clean on Wednesdays and again over the weekend.

Now why DCPS has essentially no learning scheduled on Wednesdays is a question I have never seen an answer to and a status I don't consider at all acceptable and something they should be able to still get resolved especially since there obviously won't be any in person learning in the near future if at all this year.

[Anonymous]

The previous three answers are all correct they just cover different levels of answer.

The deep clean stuff was not realistic to anyone paying close attention to science by about June of this year. It was clearly hygiene theater.

And by end of September it was obvious teachers were way overloaded with four days per week of nonstop video calls, so there’s been no push to get them to five.

And the root cause of this is, yes, Trump and the Republicans. Even now Senate Republicans are sitting on a support bill that would fund schools to reopen. Farce. Republicans in Congress want you and your kids if you live in DC to hurt.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The previous answers are both wrong.

It is because the original expectation was that at some point for in person learning classes would be split into two - one group coming in on Monday's and Tuesdays and the other group on Thursdays and Friday with the school getting a deep clean on Wednesdays and again over the weekend.

Now why DCPS has essentially no learning scheduled on Wednesdays is a question I have never seen an answer to and a status I don't consider at all acceptable and something they should be able to still get resolved especially since there obviously won't be any in person learning in the near future if at all this year.

It is also for extended team/individual planning and PD day- basically all teachers have to rework all their lessons basically from scratch to adjust to delivering the content virtually, so they need to do more planning than usual.

[Anonymous]

No kid should be staring at screens for 5 days in a row. Also what the PPP said.

[Anonymous]

The reason doesn't matter, don't make your K do a bunch of homework they don't want to do. Use it as another weekend day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Why is there no school on Wednesdays?

The real answer is
(1) there is a pandemic
(2) the Trump administration and Republicans have massively mishandled the pandemic. Therefore your kid is not at school. So they have no school on Wednesdays.

If we wanted our kids to have school on Wednesdays, then the most impactful thing all of us could have done to control that is:
Voted for Hillary Clinton.

<realtalk>

Oh FFS. Trump has zero to do with why we have Wednesday's off and are doing DL. There are schools everywhere in this area that are open. Schools (and public health) are under LOCAL control, not federal control. This was a decision by politicians to fall in line with the teacher's union in liberal cities, no more no less.

[Anonymous]

It’s ridiculous they don’t have any school on Wed. The last several weeks my sons school has given less and less work. Now, I have to find a way to supplement for whatever reason. We’ll be attending private the rest of his school career after this. Even virtual they don’t water down the workload.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The previous three answers are all correct they just cover different levels of answer.

The deep clean stuff was not realistic to anyone paying close attention to science by about June of this year. It was clearly hygiene theater.

And by end of September it was obvious teachers were way overloaded with four days per week of nonstop video calls, so there’s been no push to get them to five.

And the root cause of this is, yes, Trump and the Republicans. Even now Senate Republicans are sitting on a support bill that would fund schools to reopen. Farce. Republicans in Congress want you and your kids if you live in DC to hurt.

"Way overloaded"? Ha. They spend from 9:30-12 teaching at our school. four days a week, with small groups about one day a week by one teacher. That's not "overload." That's significantly less time spent teaching than they did in person. If they dislike doing other administrative functions of their job by video call, too bad for them. Maybe they should have thought about that before insisting on working virtually. Ironically the one teacher who does make an effort to spend additional time teaching in small groups is also the only one providing regular, substantive feedback on work. So this has nothing to do with "overload" and everything to do with teachers not working.

And this is not a matter of funding - point to the hole in the DC budget that prevents us from reopening? That's a lie. This is 100% on DC and the union, not federal policy.

[Anonymous]

DCPS is closed due to DC's DEMOCRATIC politics. Zero to do with anything the feds did or did not do.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/11/10/partisanship-schools-reopening-virus-trump-unions/

"Contrary to the conventional understanding of school districts as localized and non-partisan actors, we find evidence that politics, far more than science, shaped school district decision-making. Mass partisanship and teacher union strength best explain how school boards approached reopening."

[Anonymous]

We made Wednesday an outdoor day when school started and it rapidly became the best day of the week. One of us takes a half day of work and we go hiking with DD in the morning, followed by a picnic lunch (or occasionally, drive through fast food as a treat) and then home for some quiet time while we catch up on work. Sometimes we talk about school on our hikes, but usually we talk about how she’s feeling, what’s making her happy or stressing her out.

Her teacher will send work to do on wednesdays and has even requested photos/videos of the kids working. We don’t do it and I don’t send anything. No one has ever said anything to either of us about it.

A big part of me is hoping in-person is hybrid next year so we can continue this. It’s good for all of us. I don’t care why there is no class on Wednesdays, I’m just grateful for the chance to take a break from the endless screen time and obligations.

[Anonymous]

Most of the surrounding VA school districts have one asynchronous day as well. Its because 5 days of learning online is too much for everyone and to give a little bit of extra planning time since everything is so different this year. Its also time for staff meetings, grade level team meetings, and IEP meetings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The reason doesn't matter, don't make your K do a bunch of homework they don't want to do. Use it as another weekend day.

OP here. This has been our approach. However the teachers have started shaming the kids (and parents) who do not complete the assignments. I’m ok with the no school on Wednesdays thing if there’s a good reason behind it but I am absolutely not ok with a teacher shaming 5 year olds bc their parents didn’t have time to do the mandatory homework.