Reply to My two cents why Code Purple was never going to fly . . .

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My two cents why Code Purple was never going to fly, with just a day’s notice to staff and students:

One, there has been no significant investment in training or retraining how to use zoom or canvas to anyone, really, whether it's teachers or students in the district, even though it should have been built-in the first month of school and reiterated before the start of the winter season;

Two, the majority of elementary schools went to a cart system, which makes it incredibly time-consuming to remove not just the chromebooks but dismantle the cart just to get to their chargers, of which some might be broken or defective; (Never mind the idiocy of taking apart the carts, only to put them together the following Monday?) (And whom would pull this off, realistically? ITSSs are shared and stretched thin among three to four schools, already.);

Three, to build on the above, two months ago, MCPS indicated that they were effectively out of chargers, and that the financial responsibility would now fall onto the individual schools. (A budget freeze announced two Fridays ago was just an additional slap to the face.);

Four, when students came back from the pandemic, most of the laptop bags were thrown out and recycled, as they were downright disgusting and in no shape for further use. They were not replaced. So the chromebooks would have to go home into their backpacks;

Five, someone on DCUM commented that the schools could simply send the chromebooks home, without their charging cables, as their stated battery life was eight hours. Please note that that was when they were brand-new, not four years old, and this also assumes that they were being plugged in, constantly. (Ha.);

Six, the Dell teacher laptops that would be expected to pull off zoom are straight-up POSs. So many have failed for various reasons just over the last few months that a lot of people are frustrated. I can't imagine using them;

Seven, the total confusion and lack of communication or even miscommunication over what a Code Purple was, how it would be implemented, and more was simply monumentally screwed up. The expectations and conditions to trigger such a code should have been codified and publicized to the entire community way ahead of time;

This is just a few of the things that naturally occurred to me. (If there’s others, you’re welcome to chime in!) Bottom line: nothing was learned from the pandemic.

There were, however, some easy actions that could have been taken to offset some of this:

one, such as regular use or formal integration of zoom / canvas throughout the school year;
two, transitioning from closed carts to something a bit more flexible, like open-air charging stations; 
three, updating the Acer 740s to Google Flex to keep them modern and useful, in case the school system decided to send home relatively-disposable laptops
four, set into motion exactly how and when a Code Purple comes into play; and so much more.

It’s not rocket science.[/quote]

The state allows for 3 asynchronous inclement weather days. Other counties have been able to plan for those days, and some have even used  both asynchronous and synchronous virtual days this year, without any major issues. It's not that complicated of a solution to use some virtual days, especially if 3 can be asynchronous. [/quote]

They l've used them, but they've ranged from disasters (attempts at virtual instruction) to worthless (asynchronous).

We've got make-up days for a reason. We should use those. Virtual should only be considered if there's another Snowmageddon.[/quote]

Asynchronous days work for every other county. They’ll work here too, despite your incessant complaining.[/quote]

They only "work" as a way of getting rid of a school day. They don't have an educational benefit.[/quote]

And so many kids will miss out on those tacked on dates because their families already have plans. At the end of the year, summer vacations, spring break, spring break vacations. I don’t think there’s a perfect answer, but I like the virtual options over adding days.[/quote]

Exactly. I don't understand how other parent son this forum don't understand this. It's like they just need something to be upset about instead of thinking rationally about how kids actually are during make-up days. Asynchronous has been working for PG post-pandemic for two years now. Anne Arundel just did virtual last week. It's not about "getting a day off"- kids are checked out in person during make-up days too. [/quote]

If only we had make-up days that didn't interfere with "end of the year, summer vacations, spring break, [or] spring break vacations."

Oh wait, we do! Three of them! [/quote]

Yes… one is Eid, and another is Passover. I expect we shouldn’t continue disenfranchising religious groups [/quote]

If it really offends your sensibilities that much to have school on religious holidays, then you should have made that comment when they created the calendar.

The reality is, though, those are already holidays celebrated at night. And there are far too many religious holidays to avoid them all. We bend over for religions too much as it is. You do you, but it isn't reasonable to impact everyone else.[/quote]

Your statement really highlights our struggle and your ignorance. Eid holidays are NOT celebrated only at night. That’s just when the Muslim day begins. Eid prayer happens in the morning the day after. Families get together generally AFTER that as well for lunches and dinners and visits to friends.

We’ve had so many years where we didn’t even get the day off, that it was even progress for them to give the day as a professional day. We’ve been lobbying (unsuccessfully) for them to make it a full day off for teachers also, as they do for TWO Jewish high holidays. The Muslim teachers we have struggle to get the day off because it’s hard to get permission to take days off reserved for planning and development—and they have to use one of their ONLY 3 or so available days.

Muslim students for years just accepted that the system didn’t recognize or care about their holidays. They would either not celebrate at all or have to make up work on their own time somehow. So when the school system gives us the day as a planning day, that’s already the result of decades of struggle for recognition. Because our holiday shifts, we didn’t even ask for 2 days for something like a decade because one Eid was in the summer. Something tells me they will refuse to recognize them again once they come back to the beginning of the school year, when they cannot be clawed back as makeup days. [/quote]

You make a very good arguement detailing why it would be silly and short-sighted to fight it as a make-up day. If it can't actually be used as a make-ip day, it's probably going to be an annually-scheduled school day.

If you actually want to preserve Eid as a day off, then focus you'd be better off pushing *for* a different day, rather than pushing *against* Eid. January 29th would be a popular choice among parents, if you can get MCEA to agree to a full day.[/quote]

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