Anonymous wrote:“Our children are being compelled to go back in person as scapegoats for getting infected, hospitalized…”

That is not what scapegoat means, like…at all. I used to teach remedial writing at a community college and it sounded like this.

She meant guinea pigs.

Anonymous wrote:
All public schools should provide a virtual option for the pandemic, then permanently to serve those populations for whom in-person has never worked: students with medical or behavioral needs, students in the performing arts or athletes, students who work... Public education means reaching ALL children, not just the easy majority.

Is your child in one of those categories?

“Our children are being compelled to go back in person as scapegoats for getting infected, hospitalized…”

That is not what scapegoat means, like…at all. I used to teach remedial writing at a community college and it sounded like this.

Anonymous wrote:Who are these entitled parents pushing this idea? Just go ahead and homeschool your kids because that is basically what you are asking for since most elementary school students require the assistance of an adult IN THE ROOM to be able to access virtual content. Did you not learn anything last year? Are you not aware of the thousands of DC students who were completely failed by virtual education? How unbelievable selfish.

If your parenting skills are so stunted that you cannot properly evaluate the risk of COVID to a child against the risk of not getting an education, then go ahead and pull out your child. But what you are asking for is that schools divert resources away from other students to meet your own irrational needs and I definitely do not support that.

This. There were thousands of kids in DC that did not logon at all for 18 months. Many more logged on only a handful of times. These are the kid that DCPS is making policy around (as well they should). DCPS does not care about your privileged NW kids---never has and never will. They will be fine. If you don't want to send them, you have the option of homeschooling them.

I work with the kids in the inner city and I am SO freaking sick of upper NW moaning about wanting a virtual option for all. In-person school is protective for many kids and sadly of the kids who need it most do not have parents who will choose it if there is a virtual option. These kids need to be in school. If there is no in-person school, they won't learn anything. There is no adult in many homes to police learning. There is no internet in most homes. Virtual learning was and will be a disaster for so many kids in DC.

Please get your head out of your bubble for just a minute

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This takes resources away from other students.

Doesn't DC have a surplus of Federal Covid Funds precisely to re-open society as best able in Covid circumstances, which would include special educational measures necessitated by the emergency? My understanding is DC has been using these monies to do things like fund the 8 family shelters, which they should have had a revenue stream for already when they conceptualized and built them.

So you want to take money away from homeless shelters? That's your argument?

If that money wasn't meant to be used for homeless shelters, then yes, it should be used for the intended purpose. That's how government works.

So you do! Wow I didn't think you'd say it.

Please include in the petition that you'd like to take away money currently being used for homeless shelters to fund your virtual option.

When these people claim they want a virtual option but don’t want to take resources away from other children, clearly that was a lie. These are wealthy parents explicitly wanting to take from the MOST vulnerable.

All public schools should provide a virtual option for the pandemic, then permanently to serve those populations for whom in-person has never worked: students with medical or behavioral needs, students in the performing arts or athletes, students who work... Public education means reaching ALL children, not just the easy majority.

Anonymous wrote:Friendship is fully enrolled. DCPS’s “virtual option” requires a physician’s sign off with an incredibly high bar - that the child is all caps REQUIRED to be in virtual school.

So no. There are no virtual options.

If they aren’t REQUIRED to do virtual they can be in person.

Who are these entitled parents pushing this idea? Just go ahead and homeschool your kids because that is basically what you are asking for since most elementary school students require the assistance of an adult IN THE ROOM to be able to access virtual content. Did you not learn anything last year? Are you not aware of the thousands of DC students who were completely failed by virtual education? How unbelievable selfish.

If your parenting skills are so stunted that you cannot properly evaluate the risk of COVID to a child against the risk of not getting an education, then go ahead and pull out your child. But what you are asking for is that schools divert resources away from other students to meet your own irrational needs and I definitely do not support that.

Anonymous wrote:This takes resources away from other students.

Yes, and it's extremely hard for a teacher to accommodate two different groups of students while teaching at the same time.

I had to do this year, not in DC, and it was the worst few months in teaching I've ever had. It was even worse than in 2020 when "2 weeks to flatten the curve" turned into the rest of the school year with a mad scramble to figure things out.

I had to try to teach to 16 virtual students while simultaneously teaching to 5 in-person students when schools opened back up. All students got the short end of the stick during those months and it would have been better to remain 100% virtual. At least that way I was teaching to everyone at the same time on the same platform.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This takes resources away from other students.

Doesn't DC have a surplus of Federal Covid Funds precisely to re-open society as best able in Covid circumstances, which would include special educational measures necessitated by the emergency? My understanding is DC has been using these monies to do things like fund the 8 family shelters, which they should have had a revenue stream for already when they conceptualized and built them.

So you want to take money away from homeless shelters? That's your argument?

If that money wasn't meant to be used for homeless shelters, then yes, it should be used for the intended purpose. That's how government works.

So you do! Wow I didn't think you'd say it.

Please include in the petition that you'd like to take away money currently being used for homeless shelters to fund your virtual option.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This takes resources away from other students.

Doesn't DC have a surplus of Federal Covid Funds precisely to re-open society as best able in Covid circumstances, which would include special educational measures necessitated by the emergency? My understanding is DC has been using these monies to do things like fund the 8 family shelters, which they should have had a revenue stream for already when they conceptualized and built them.

So you want to take money away from homeless shelters? That's your argument?

If that money wasn't meant to be used for homeless shelters, then yes, it should be used for the intended purpose. That's how government works.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This takes resources away from other students.

Doesn't DC have a surplus of Federal Covid Funds precisely to re-open society as best able in Covid circumstances, which would include special educational measures necessitated by the emergency? My understanding is DC has been using these monies to do things like fund the 8 family shelters, which they should have had a revenue stream for already when they conceptualized and built them.

So you want to take money away from homeless shelters? That's your argument?

Anonymous wrote:This takes resources away from other students.

Doesn't DC have a surplus of Federal Covid Funds precisely to re-open society as best able in Covid circumstances, which would include special educational measures necessitated by the emergency? My understanding is DC has been using these monies to do things like fund the 8 family shelters, which they should have had a revenue stream for already when they conceptualized and built them.

People this has been discussed for 40 pages: https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/990452.page

Aside from the new thing that is the petition, all the discussion can be found there.

There is a virtual option.