Anonymous wrote:For those who are defending Dr Duran and APS, I would like them to walk in the footsteps of one young for one even day. I challenge those people to try to learn for six hours a day on a 5 x 7 iPad. I want to know how long you can stay attentive? I want to know how much you’ve learned? I want know if your eyes burn? I would know if your back hurts? Are you feeling depressed and do you miss your friends? Are you a child trying to navigate this all alone because your parents are working full-time? How lonely do you feel? Do you feel suicidal?

These are the exact things that go through my mind when I see my child on an iPad learning in APS. I’ve watched this suffering for more than a year. For those people who didn’t read the studies that showed schools were not Covid spreaders and chose to ignore the data and spread fear in our community, you should be ashamed of yourself. The data has been clear since Dec from Harvard, Tulane, CDC, and Wisconsin that the schools have been safe. Duran was informed about all the research. The data was clear that the kids were suffering and mental illness was worsening and the kids were falling so behind. He ignored everything!

In my opinion, this was all for nothing. My friends children in Cleveland, Florida, PA, RI and local private schools, and every Arlington Catholic school has been in school hybrid or full-time since September . No one has died and everyone has thrived and gotten a years worth of education. The teachers are wearing masks and teaching. I think it’s just unconscionable to see how safe schools have been and still to advocate to keep schools closed.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just think these other measures you're talking about are harder than you think and because of that don't merit the extreme anger you have about them. (For example, there are lots of people out there like you who are upset there isn't more school but who actually have middle school and high school kids -- you take it as a given that these parents aren't going to be angry that their chance at in person school is being totally cut off by another group of kids, but in Arlington that's something that could totally happen. Get off my lawn! And then arguments for another month before the school board would need to make a contentious ruling. there may be other reasons why a high school building might not be appropriate for an elementary school kid, just in terms of safety, like some of the very very long wide staircases. Had you even considered something like that? But to you this is something you can send the kids into blind.) But whatever, you're not going to convince me and I'm not going to convince you and it's pointless to argue anymore.

You’re right. It’s just too hard. Which is why all the surrounding school districts are in the same position ... oh wait.

I agree with the PP that it’s too late now to change anything even though there’s close to zero cases of COVID in Arlington (many of us saw the writing on the wall weeks ago that this was the direction we were headed). Onward to the fall, but it’s still worth discussing how poorly the pandemic was handled compared to surrounding jurisdictions.

Maybe using high schools wouldn’t have worked, but why didn’t APS even re-poll parents about their learning preferences sooner. Duran was citing old data for months about selections from November. The email that came out after 95% of families selected in-person learning for fall read as if this came as a shock. He was incredibly out of touch and seemed caught off guard that the vast vast majority of families want in-person learning.

And he didn’t do a very good job of communicating what, if any, creative solutions had been looked into for sending the younger kids back. They got pumped in with all the other students who can actually read and operate Teams meetings on their own. The fact they didn’t separate out reopening talks for the youngest age group shows me how little APS cares about early education. Instead we get excused about logistical challenges. Then he clung on to the phrase “equity” as an excuse for inaction.

To you, the logistics of sending kids back would have been easy because you have no idea what's entailed so of course it's possible. You don't care if buildings are over capacity or classrooms are too small to work (in ways that perhaps other locations don't need to deal with) -- to you it's easy because your knowledge of APS doesn't get in the way of making assumptions about how easy it is. And nothing anyone else tells you about it makes a difference, either, because your cousin has a seven year old in Missouri who is back in school full time.

This is what makes it not worth having a discussion with you. It's not a discussion, it's a willful imposition of your opinion on everyone else. No thanks, I'm good.

Cousin in Missouri? Are you joking? How about Falls Church City. Loudoun. Fairfax. I’m sorry you’re ok accepting excuses just because Duran said so.

And the thing is, I hired a retired teacher to come help tutor my child (in addition all the extra work DH and I put in to help with school work this year). Our child is actually academically ahead this year. But I have genuine concerns about the number of kids beginning their public school education behind the curve and with no chance to catch up because even summer school offerings are limited. Even assuming opening schools more days this past year was absolutely not doable (as you’re so blindly willing to believe), don’t you at least expect APS to put together a plan to catch kids up? I’m concerned next year is going to be full of remedial work for all students to catch up the ones lagging behind. Which is going to cause the kids who are on track or ahead to have another year of not being academically challenged. Why does APS not seem to have any plans to fix anything? Simply opening the doors in the fall is the least they can do, yet some parents act as if we should be celebrating basic competence.

Anonymous wrote:For those who are defending Dr Duran and APS, I would like them to walk in the footsteps of one young for one even day. I challenge those people to try to learn for six hours a day on a 5 x 7 iPad. I want to know how long you can stay attentive? I want to know how much you’ve learned? I want know if your eyes burn? I would know if your back hurts? Are you feeling depressed and do you miss your friends? Are you a child trying to navigate this all alone because your parents are working full-time? How lonely do you feel? Do you feel suicidal?

These are the exact things that go through my mind when I see my child on an iPad learning in APS. I’ve watched this suffering for more than a year. For those people who didn’t read the studies that showed schools were not Covid spreaders and chose to ignore the data and spread fear in our community, you should be ashamed of yourself. The data has been clear since Dec from Harvard, Tulane, CDC, and Wisconsin that the schools have been safe. Duran was informed about all the research. The data was clear that the kids were suffering and mental illness was worsening and the kids were falling so behind. He ignored everything!

In my opinion, this was all for nothing. My friends children in Cleveland, Florida, PA, RI and local private schools, and every Arlington Catholic school has been in school hybrid or full-time since September . No one has died and everyone has thrived and gotten a years worth of education. The teachers are wearing masks and teaching. I think it’s just unconscionable to see how safe schools have been and still to advocate to keep schools closed.

Anonymous wrote:Let's just a take a moment of silence to reflect on just how bad Duran's decision was not to send kids back for more in person days this year.

- COVID rates are continuing to drop precipitously. Only three cases in Arlington, yesterday, with a very strong downward trend.

- All teachers had the chance to be vaccinated months ago. High risk persons had the opportunity to get vaccinated in March.

- More than half of Arlington adults are vaccinated

- Arlington is hosting walk up vaccine clinics so anyone who wants a vaccine has no excuse. It's also widely available at pharmacies and grocery stores.

- Kids ages 12-15 can now get vaccinated and doses are available. By next week there will be lots of options to get your older kid vaccinated.

- The weather is great for outdoor lunch. And schools haven't been found to be a significant source of transmission. (If anything open schools and close down sports teams.)

Yet APS has decided to keep the same model that was judged appropriate in January. APS isn't offering summer school even to kids with serious need, let alone kids with some learning loss over the past year. Yet APS has decided to squander the last 6-8 weeks of the school year. Those weeks are far more than what is being offered over the summer. They could make a real difference. Shame on you, APS.

Anonymous wrote:Also I'm not sure it's correct that there are 0 new cases of Covid right now, because according to the docs linked on the APS dashboard, there were 5 new cases of ARLINGTON STUDENTS testing positive for Covid just within the last week, so ...

May 18 20218:42pm EDT Washington-Liberty High School Positive Diagnosis or Positive Test Thursday/Friday
May 18 20218:45pm EDT Washington-Liberty High School Positive Diagnosis or Positive Test Thursday/Friday
May 19 20219:47am EDT Jefferson Middle School Positive Diagnosis or Positive Test Tuesday/Wednesday
May 19 202111:21am EDT Jamestown Elementary School Positive Diagnosis or Positive Test Thursday/Friday
May 20 20213:37pm EDT Arlington Career Center Positive Diagnosis or Positive Test Thursday/Friday

https://apsva.co1.qualtrics.com/reports/RC/public/YXBzdmEtNjA0MjliZDQzYTI2NjAwMDBmOWFmN2RmLVVSXzJ6QkpuNWJ5ZXo1bGVGWg==

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just think these other measures you're talking about are harder than you think and because of that don't merit the extreme anger you have about them. (For example, there are lots of people out there like you who are upset there isn't more school but who actually have middle school and high school kids -- you take it as a given that these parents aren't going to be angry that their chance at in person school is being totally cut off by another group of kids, but in Arlington that's something that could totally happen. Get off my lawn! And then arguments for another month before the school board would need to make a contentious ruling. there may be other reasons why a high school building might not be appropriate for an elementary school kid, just in terms of safety, like some of the very very long wide staircases. Had you even considered something like that? But to you this is something you can send the kids into blind.) But whatever, you're not going to convince me and I'm not going to convince you and it's pointless to argue anymore.

You’re right. It’s just too hard. Which is why all the surrounding school districts are in the same position ... oh wait.

I agree with the PP that it’s too late now to change anything even though there’s close to zero cases of COVID in Arlington (many of us saw the writing on the wall weeks ago that this was the direction we were headed). Onward to the fall, but it’s still worth discussing how poorly the pandemic was handled compared to surrounding jurisdictions.

Maybe using high schools wouldn’t have worked, but why didn’t APS even re-poll parents about their learning preferences sooner. Duran was citing old data for months about selections from November. The email that came out after 95% of families selected in-person learning for fall read as if this came as a shock. He was incredibly out of touch and seemed caught off guard that the vast vast majority of families want in-person learning.

And he didn’t do a very good job of communicating what, if any, creative solutions had been looked into for sending the younger kids back. They got pumped in with all the other students who can actually read and operate Teams meetings on their own. The fact they didn’t separate out reopening talks for the youngest age group shows me how little APS cares about early education. Instead we get excused about logistical challenges. Then he clung on to the phrase “equity” as an excuse for inaction.

To you, the logistics of sending kids back would have been easy because you have no idea what's entailed so of course it's possible. You don't care if buildings are over capacity or classrooms are too small to work (in ways that perhaps other locations don't need to deal with) -- to you it's easy because your knowledge of APS doesn't get in the way of making assumptions about how easy it is. And nothing anyone else tells you about it makes a difference, either, because your cousin has a seven year old in Missouri who is back in school full time.

This is what makes it not worth having a discussion with you. It's not a discussion, it's a willful imposition of your opinion on everyone else. No thanks, I'm good.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just think these other measures you're talking about are harder than you think and because of that don't merit the extreme anger you have about them. (For example, there are lots of people out there like you who are upset there isn't more school but who actually have middle school and high school kids -- you take it as a given that these parents aren't going to be angry that their chance at in person school is being totally cut off by another group of kids, but in Arlington that's something that could totally happen. Get off my lawn! And then arguments for another month before the school board would need to make a contentious ruling. there may be other reasons why a high school building might not be appropriate for an elementary school kid, just in terms of safety, like some of the very very long wide staircases. Had you even considered something like that? But to you this is something you can send the kids into blind.) But whatever, you're not going to convince me and I'm not going to convince you and it's pointless to argue anymore.

You’re right. It’s just too hard. Which is why all the surrounding school districts are in the same position ... oh wait.

I agree with the PP that it’s too late now to change anything even though there’s close to zero cases of COVID in Arlington (many of us saw the writing on the wall weeks ago that this was the direction we were headed). Onward to the fall, but it’s still worth discussing how poorly the pandemic was handled compared to surrounding jurisdictions.

Maybe using high schools wouldn’t have worked, but why didn’t APS even re-poll parents about their learning preferences sooner. Duran was citing old data for months about selections from November. The email that came out after 95% of families selected in-person learning for fall read as if this came as a shock. He was incredibly out of touch and seemed caught off guard that the vast vast majority of families want in-person learning.

And he didn’t do a very good job of communicating what, if any, creative solutions had been looked into for sending the younger kids back. They got pumped in with all the other students who can actually read and operate Teams meetings on their own. The fact they didn’t separate out reopening talks for the youngest age group shows me how little APS cares about early education. Instead we get excused about logistical challenges. Then he clung on to the phrase “equity” as an excuse for inaction.

Anonymous wrote:APE-types: Where is all the evidence that opening schools caused higher Covid numbers? You guys can't show any proof!
non-APE types: Here is a study showing increased Covid numbers in Texas where schools opened early...
APE-types: NOT THAT EVIDENCE!

Anonymous wrote:I just think these other measures you're talking about are harder than you think and because of that don't merit the extreme anger you have about them. (For example, there are lots of people out there like you who are upset there isn't more school but who actually have middle school and high school kids -- you take it as a given that these parents aren't going to be angry that their chance at in person school is being totally cut off by another group of kids, but in Arlington that's something that could totally happen. Get off my lawn! And then arguments for another month before the school board would need to make a contentious ruling. there may be other reasons why a high school building might not be appropriate for an elementary school kid, just in terms of safety, like some of the very very long wide staircases. Had you even considered something like that? But to you this is something you can send the kids into blind.) But whatever, you're not going to convince me and I'm not going to convince you and it's pointless to argue anymore.

Anonymous wrote:I just think these other measures you're talking about are harder than you think and because of that don't merit the extreme anger you have about them. (For example, there are lots of people out there like you who are upset there isn't more school but who actually have middle school and high school kids -- you take it as a given that these parents aren't going to be angry that their chance at in person school is being totally cut off by another group of kids, but in Arlington that's something that could totally happen. Get off my lawn! And then arguments for another month before the school board would need to make a contentious ruling. there may be other reasons why a high school building might not be appropriate for an elementary school kid, just in terms of safety, like some of the very very long wide staircases. Had you even considered something like that? But to you this is something you can send the kids into blind.) But whatever, you're not going to convince me and I'm not going to convince you and it's pointless to argue anymore.