Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 20:43     Subject: How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
Agree with the PP's! Nothing short of 5 days in person is unacceptable for ES. Maybe select special classes will have to be concurrent for HS but not everything. It's getting ridiculous! Other parts of the country are open 5 days a week. Kids are masked and able to play on playground and even able participate in "fun" parts of elementary school (assemblies, special events) with little to no spread of covid. FCPS is bonkers!

I do not want to talk about politics and education. I'm tired of people saying Dems want this and Republicans want that. I think the majority of parents in FCPS want 5 days. Do parents have a voice? Should we all continue to email the school board and other leadership?
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 20:39     Subject: How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
Anonymous wrote:FCPS better get their act together by the fall and have kids back 5 days. This is beyond ridiculous.


Governor Northam has a bill at his desk (SB 1303) to require 5 days in-person except in cases of high in-building spread of COVID-19 (which shouldn't happen with masking and widespread vaccination) for fall. Encourage him to sign it. Then FCPS will have to literally break the law to offer less.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 20:20     Subject: How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
FCPS better get their act together by the fall and have kids back 5 days. This is beyond ridiculous.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 20:14     Subject: How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Juniors and seniors can get the Pfizer vaccine and need to be back in. K-3 are the lowest transmitters and worst hit by DL and need to be back in.

If FCPS is smart, they will commit to holding vaccine clinics this summer when supply loosens up and getting juniors and seniors vaccines and back 5 days a week, which starts to provide scheduling certainty. Then vaccinate 12-16 as a top priority, hopefully in early fall and put 7-10 back after vaccination.

K-3 goes back full time, and 4-6 follows after a month pause to course correct and make sure mitigation hold.

It’s pretty safe for K-6 if they cohort and 11-12 with the vaccine. But, it’s impossible to see secondary schools fully online until the 12-16 shot is approved.



Have you not followed what's happening all over the country? Schools are in-person, now, fully, 5 days, with masks and some (but not 6') distancing. Even high schools. And there is very little spread. Here's one high school open with migitation all year encouraging others to follow suit: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/25/us/education-ohio-high-school-open-wellness/index.html

In Europe they don't even encourage kids 12 and under to wear masks to school, and many European schools are open. Only 8 EU member nations are actually practicing social distancing in their schools according to the European CDC. So I'm failing to see how your vaccination for 4th-6th graders is required either.


Forget the country. In this area kids have been in all year. Kids should not have to be vaccinated. Elementary shouldn’t be held back if high school can’t go 5 days. Most of all, every effort needs to be made to get back to normal next year. Nothing else should even be considered. And virtual should be a district thing, not school based.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 19:34     Subject: How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
Anonymous wrote:If they separate out ES, ES can and should return to 5 days in person. If they want to tie it to MS and HS, sad to say, I predict concurrent.


They already promised virtual to everyone who wanted it in fall. Unless they match ES virtual kids to a virtual teacher, even 5 days will potentially be concurrent, just not hybrid (I hope!)
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 19:27     Subject: How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
If they separate out ES, ES can and should return to 5 days in person. If they want to tie it to MS and HS, sad to say, I predict concurrent.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 19:24     Subject: Re:How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There was a faculty meeting at one of the high schools this week. The principal told the teachers to prepare for concurrent teaching in the fall. This has not been announced at my school, and my principal is saying they don't know yet. Just wanted to put it out there for parents to know that there is discussion of concurrent as a possibility in the fall.
-hs teacher


If that is the case, I hope they don't bootstrap ES to what they may have to do for HS. There is no good reason to force these young kids into concurrent because there is not a great way to offer every elective, IB, or AP class to HS kids without concurrent. A centralized virtual ES is very reasonable. I have a first grader this year...so his K year was only a little more than half "normal" before school shut down; add this year for first grade...it will add up.


There is also no good reason to bootstrap vaccinated 11-12 to ES.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 19:13     Subject: Re:How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:A lot of teachers are suffering too. I am so unhappy about this hybrid concurrent model. Couldn’t they have at least done “just concurrent?” I will only get to see each student who is in person once per week! Do you know how hard it is going to be to establish comfortable classroom routines and rhythms? I hate it!


As a parent I have been pushing hard for 3' distancing and 4 days in-person (like most of the world). CDC's new guidelines influenced by NEA and AFT did NOT help with that one.


I was hoping we could do the 4 day a week schedule starting mid march when we will all be vaccinated. Then, yes, use the three feet rule. This inconsistency in scheduling makes it really difficult to teach the kids anything!


I hope the current model at least gets them in the door, then they can evolve it from there.


I hope teachers are working with parents who are comfortable with it to let administrators know that we should try the 4 day thing this spring- at least with younger kids, in preparation for figuring out fall.


You realize we could vaccinate juniors and seniors tomorrow and have them good to go in 5 weeks?
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 19:10     Subject: How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
Anonymous wrote:Juniors and seniors can get the Pfizer vaccine and need to be back in. K-3 are the lowest transmitters and worst hit by DL and need to be back in.

If FCPS is smart, they will commit to holding vaccine clinics this summer when supply loosens up and getting juniors and seniors vaccines and back 5 days a week, which starts to provide scheduling certainty. Then vaccinate 12-16 as a top priority, hopefully in early fall and put 7-10 back after vaccination.

K-3 goes back full time, and 4-6 follows after a month pause to course correct and make sure mitigation hold.

It’s pretty safe for K-6 if they cohort and 11-12 with the vaccine. But, it’s impossible to see secondary schools fully online until the 12-16 shot is approved.



Have you not followed what's happening all over the country? Schools are in-person, now, fully, 5 days, with masks and some (but not 6') distancing. Even high schools. And there is very little spread. Here's one high school open with migitation all year encouraging others to follow suit: https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/25/us/education-ohio-high-school-open-wellness/index.html

In Europe they don't even encourage kids 12 and under to wear masks to school, and many European schools are open. Only 8 EU member nations are actually practicing social distancing in their schools according to the European CDC. So I'm failing to see how your vaccination for 4th-6th graders is required either.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 19:10     Subject: How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The next battle will be around the online option. Staffing and what courses to offer. There absolutely will be an online option as long as there isn’t a pediatric vaccine, and if the pediatric vaccine takes a very long time, there could be an online option indefinitely if people get used to it and like it. Virtual Virginia won’t be the online option because FCPS doesn’t get funding for those students and they don’t want to give up $$. If FCPS decides to do the DL classes at each school like they are now, get ready for another school year of concurrent, even hybrid concurrent. Because they don’t have the staffing to run two school systems. If they can create a county-wide online campus, that could work and we could be free of the “going to school to watch teacher on a computer” nonsense, BUT they may be reluctant to do that because the online kids liked wouldn’t get the same course offerings as the in person kids.

The fact that they won’t relax the 6 feet rule is also a problem that could lead to hybrid next school year as well. Seems like they want no Covid at all before they relax the distancing requirements.


These are the biggest issues I can see.

The other would be if they fall back to using CDC's "community spread" guidelines over VDOE's "spread in school matrixed with community spread" guidelines. If they do that, then who knows when hybrid would end? The community spread guidelines from CDC to be full-time in-person are absurdly low.

In Brabrand's most recent family town hall he mentioned using an "equity" lens around online campuses, which in my read means another year of concurrent learning because they won't get creative to figure out how to do anything else (and they'll already have the concurrent technology plus have a lot more funding coming in from Biden's new stimulus).


Hybrid ends when no child left behind testing is no longer being waived. FCPS does not want to have to deal with a plethora of failing schools and principals don't want to waste their time developing improvement plans


Well, it’s not being waived this year.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 19:06     Subject: How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
Juniors and seniors can get the Pfizer vaccine and need to be back in. K-3 are the lowest transmitters and worst hit by DL and need to be back in.

If FCPS is smart, they will commit to holding vaccine clinics this summer when supply loosens up and getting juniors and seniors vaccines and back 5 days a week, which starts to provide scheduling certainty. Then vaccinate 12-16 as a top priority, hopefully in early fall and put 7-10 back after vaccination.

K-3 goes back full time, and 4-6 follows after a month pause to course correct and make sure mitigation hold.

It’s pretty safe for K-6 if they cohort and 11-12 with the vaccine. But, it’s impossible to see secondary schools fully online until the 12-16 shot is approved.

Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 19:03     Subject: How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
^^^

That's the VDOE school, not vava by k-12.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 19:03     Subject: Re:How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:There was a faculty meeting at one of the high schools this week. The principal told the teachers to prepare for concurrent teaching in the fall. This has not been announced at my school, and my principal is saying they don't know yet. Just wanted to put it out there for parents to know that there is discussion of concurrent as a possibility in the fall.
-hs teacher


If that is the case, I hope they don't bootstrap ES to what they may have to do for HS. There is no good reason to force these young kids into concurrent because there is not a great way to offer every elective, IB, or AP class to HS kids without concurrent. A centralized virtual ES is very reasonable. I have a first grader this year...so his K year was only a little more than half "normal" before school shut down; add this year for first grade...it will add up.


Personally I think the plan from Virtual Virginia for K-5 looks pretty reasonable as a DL experience, not that FCPS would ever give up the $$$ to let students go:
https://www.virtualvirginia.org/k-5/elementary/
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 19:02     Subject: Re:How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
Anonymous wrote:There was a faculty meeting at one of the high schools this week. The principal told the teachers to prepare for concurrent teaching in the fall. This has not been announced at my school, and my principal is saying they don't know yet. Just wanted to put it out there for parents to know that there is discussion of concurrent as a possibility in the fall.
-hs teacher


If that is the case, I hope they don't bootstrap ES to what they may have to do for HS. There is no good reason to force these young kids into concurrent because there is not a great way to offer every elective, IB, or AP class to HS kids without concurrent. A centralized virtual ES is very reasonable. I have a first grader this year...so his K year was only a little more than half "normal" before school shut down; add this year for first grade...it will add up.
Anonymous
Post 02/26/2021 19:01     Subject: Re:How do you think the fall will be in fcps?
Anonymous wrote:There was a faculty meeting at one of the high schools this week. The principal told the teachers to prepare for concurrent teaching in the fall. This has not been announced at my school, and my principal is saying they don't know yet. Just wanted to put it out there for parents to know that there is discussion of concurrent as a possibility in the fall.
-hs teacher


Hybrid concurrent or 5 day concurrent or they don't know yet?

SB 1303, if the governor signs it, would permit 5 day concurrent but only allow hybrid concurrent if there's high spread in a given school for the duration of the quarantine period for everyone (basically).