How are DCPS/charter school surveys being done? Are they for real?

[Anonymous]

I've seen some DCPS and charter schools delay reopening plans based on informal surveys done among parents.

The overwhelming majority of parents on this board and other boards + every parent I talk to + pediatricians and health experts all over the country agree it's safe for schools to reopen with appropriate safety measures.

How are these surveys being done? How much information are schools giving on how many parents participated in the surveys? What constitutes a "majority" opinion?

Seems like they are not being done rigorously enough to justify their delays in trying to reopen.

[Anonymous]

Not for real.

DCPS does not want real parent engagement.
The surveys they do are designed to get the answers they want.

DCPS and charter schools alike are highly afraid of parental organization or engagement. (Did you see what Scott Pearson said last year as he stepped down from the charter school board? He basically said he intentionally avoids getting parent feedback because when parents organize they disagree with what charter school leaders and funders want to do.)

[Anonymous]

And the DCPS Chancellor was trained by the charter sector -- Teach For America, the Broad, etc.

[Anonymous]

The DCPS ones are for real but they're all astroturf. Will do what Mayor wants regardless of outcomes.

[Anonymous]

This shouldn't need to be said, but this board is not representative of the full community of parents in DC. It skews wealthier and whiter. Loud voices on an anonymous message board and agreement among your social circle don't show "overwhelming" support throughout the city. There's a diversity of opinion here and elsewhere:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/polls-on-reopening-schools-are-all-over-the-map/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This shouldn't need to be said, but this board is not representative of the full community of parents in DC. It skews wealthier and whiter. Loud voices on an anonymous message board and agreement among your social circle don't show "overwhelming" support throughout the city. There's a diversity of opinion here and elsewhere:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/polls-on-reopening-schools-are-all-over-the-map/

+1

There are plenty of DC parents who chose NOT to send their kids back to school in person. That doesn't mean that schools shouldn't reopen, but it does mean that not "everyone" agrees with you. There are people who, for a variety of reasons, do not support reopening. Or who don't trust that the "appropriate safety measures" will be taken. People might be okay with hybrid schooling with reduced class sizes and six feet of distance, but not support full-time full classrooms. Or might not trust the school's HVAC system. Or might not trust other parents not to send exposed/sick kids to school, or trust the kids at school to mask properly. Or might believe that any risk of a kid bringing COVID home is too high, because they share a household with a particularly vulnerable person, or because they lack paid sick leave and couldn't afford to lose time at work if they got sick.

[Anonymous]

There are phone who deny the science in a walks of life so no surprise that school re-openings are the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are phone who deny the science in a walks of life so no surprise that school re-openings are the same.

Typo: people not phone

[Anonymous]

Funny: because all the MC white families I talk to have no interest in returning ASAP. You don't think you are self selecting who you talk to?

We all want to return but when its safe.

Scream I'm a WTU shill but that is what I'm hearing.

[Anonymous]

You people are so delusional.

We will not be sending our child back this year under any circumstance. I don't have faith that even mild childhood covid cases won't have longlasting effects we don't yet know about. Our child will not be returning to school until they are vaccinated. We are not alone in our opinions. Not everyone agrees with you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Funny: because all the MC white families I talk to have no interest in returning ASAP. You don't think you are self selecting who you talk to?

We all want to return but when its safe.

Scream I'm a WTU shill but that is what I'm hearing.

OP may be a real honest to god white middle class parent. Or they may be a conservative troll trying to divide public school families for political reasons. See the other thread about how the main conservative agenda right now is to use public schools to divide America and win back suburban votes.

I'm serious - I'm not saying the OP is literally paid by conservative donors, but they could be consuming conservative media which IS paid for by conservative donors and thus they now believe the conservative political talking points.

Anyway, OP is nothing like the other middle-class parents I know who are fairly split about returning. I know many real-life DCPS white middle class families that have turned down in-person spots.

In 1-3 months, the pandemic will hopefully have turned around, we'll have avoided a fourth surge, many teachers and grandparents will be vaccinated, and schools will go back.

[Anonymous]

I'm white and a two-fed family parent in Columbia Heights and I think the division is between west of Rock Creek Park and white parents east of Rock Creek Park. Here, we are in one of the city's COVID hotspots. Several nearby schools have reopened AND CLOSED due to COVID. We are in proximity to people getting COVID and looking out for our neighbors.

I'm going to stereotype you all west of Rock Creek Park, but you are nowhere in proximity to COID and reopening would allow you to telework better. You wonder why school can't just open and want to blame the union.

Over here white politics are different, we vote for Janeese Lewis George, not Brandon Todd, we support unions generally and the WTU (at least vaguely) and DCPS does stuff to us rather than with us (see, e.g., let's put Lafayette at the old LAMB location instead of let it serve the neighborhood, DCPS telling us they've got enough computers and hotspots for everybody, DGS "repairs" and all of that).

So it's a different lived experience and people shouldn't be surprised if the politics are different, even if scientists say "look, risk to kids and for transmission in schools is low." So I get that, but then what about air flow issues, closed windows, etc., that are not being reliably resolved, or confidence after cases of COVID are showing up IN YOUR KID'S CLASS?

Just - give a little leeway for lived experience, some of this stuff isn't so slam dunk in real life sometimes, unfortunately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm white and a two-fed family parent in Columbia Heights and I think the division is between west of Rock Creek Park and white parents east of Rock Creek Park. Here, we are in one of the city's COVID hotspots. Several nearby schools have reopened AND CLOSED due to COVID. We are in proximity to people getting COVID and looking out for our neighbors.

I'm going to stereotype you all west of Rock Creek Park, but you are nowhere in proximity to COID and reopening would allow you to telework better. You wonder why school can't just open and want to blame the union.

Over here white politics are different, we vote for Janeese Lewis George, not Brandon Todd, we support unions generally and the WTU (at least vaguely) and DCPS does stuff to us rather than with us (see, e.g., let's put Lafayette at the old LAMB location instead of let it serve the neighborhood, DCPS telling us they've got enough computers and hotspots for everybody, DGS "repairs" and all of that).

So it's a different lived experience and people shouldn't be surprised if the politics are different, even if scientists say "look, risk to kids and for transmission in schools is low." So I get that, but then what about air flow issues, closed windows, etc., that are not being reliably resolved, or confidence after cases of COVID are showing up IN YOUR KID'S CLASS?

Just - give a little leeway for lived experience, some of this stuff isn't so slam dunk in real life sometimes, unfortunately.

+1 - White, MC family in Columbia Heights

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Funny: because all the MC white families I talk to have no interest in returning ASAP. You don't think you are self selecting who you talk to?

We all want to return but when its safe.

Scream I'm a WTU shill but that is what I'm hearing.

OP may be a real honest to god white middle class parent. Or they may be a conservative troll trying to divide public school families for political reasons. See the other thread about how the main conservative agenda right now is to use public schools to divide America and win back suburban votes.

I'm serious - I'm not saying the OP is literally paid by conservative donors, but they could be consuming conservative media which IS paid for by conservative donors and thus they now believe the conservative political talking points.

Anyway, OP is nothing like the other middle-class parents I know who are fairly split about returning. I know many real-life DCPS white middle class families that have turned down in-person spots.

In 1-3 months, the pandemic will hopefully have turned around, we'll have avoided a fourth surge, many teachers and grandparents will be vaccinated, and schools will go back.

I do wonder about this a lot. I also wonder if some posters are the children in DC just being mischievous. I totally would have done this in my teens.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You people are so delusional.

We will not be sending our child back this year under any circumstance. I don't have faith that even mild childhood covid cases won't have longlasting effects we don't yet know about. Our child will not be returning to school until they are vaccinated. We are not alone in our opinions. Not everyone agrees with you.

No one in your household leaves for any reason then?