Reply to All schools should offer an all-virtual option

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]PG isn’t comparable in that they don’t have half of kids attending charters.  Logistically a very different story.[/quote]

That makes things EASIER for DCPS. [/quote]

No, offering a virtual option at every school means charters as well, and no central option for the entirety of DC.[/quote]

I also think charters (and the entire lottery system, for that matter) inhibit DCPS's ability to offer strong centralized leadership as PGPS has. There are so many competing interests in DCPS, it's very hard to unite school communities behind any big idea.

I also think the way DC public schooling is structured contributes to a culture of families not really caring about each other on a basic level. You compete in a lottery for spots, even IB spots at the PK level can be competitive. And then you have school themselves competing with one another for resources. It's a system that isolates families within it. And I think that's one reason you see some of the attitudes on display on this thread and in the whole IPL versus virtual debate. [b]There is always a sense that someone is trying to take something away from you, whether it's a slot at a school or resources or access to a program. That may not be the intention of the system, but that's the effect. [/b]

So now parents who have the means to keep their kids virtual want to do so. And I get that, honestly. If I had a way of keeping my kid out of school this year I'd be seriously considering it. The problem is that I don't have that option -- for me, it's in person public school or just sheer misery (maybe job loss, maybe a mental breakdown, it's hard to say at this point). And when I see parents agitating for virtual options in a way that feels designed to undermine in person schooling, yeah, I get anxious. Because I need in person school. Like NEED it.

I wish DCPS could figure out a way to do this that gave everyone what the wanted and needed. But I'm afraid they won't (they never do) and I don't want to wind up with the short end of the stick this time. I can't afford it, frankly.[/quote]

No, this is always the case in public policy. There are limited resources, and therefore, competition for them, which is particularly harsh in a large system with extremely divergent populations, interests, etc. Adding virtual at this point would require resources that are now allocated to the kind of robust and safe in person schooling that we need.

Diverting resources to virtual, whether personnel or financial, would certainly change this calculus and may even take in person slots away. We already experienced the complete dominance of the virtual-anxious people all of last year, removing any possibility of in person for those who wanted it for most schools for most of the year. Enough.

The competitiveness has nothing, or little to do with charters, but is happening in all the major cities.

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