Anonymous wrote:Oh look. Whiny parents in Alexandria City hate their superintendent. Again.

What’s this, like five in row? Is that a record?

There is no pleasing some people.

Look, jackass. My kid is high risk due to lung problems. I have to take him to the ER sometimes if he catches a cold. I do not want to find out what Delta is going to do to him. So no, I don't like our self-serving superintendent who is more worried about his political career and virtue signaling than about high risk children and actually providing a good education.

We don’t need armed police officers to break up cafeteria scuffles. Unarmed security guards would suffice.

Now there are videos of violent fights in the high school cafeteria this week making the rounds on listservs, etc. All those kids, crowded around each other, some have masks on, others don’t, fighting (as in punching, rolling around, and some stomping on people on the ground). Remember no police officers anymore in schools.

And now the school board sends reminders it’s against school policy to videotape anything at school (not just the locker room or bathroom). How convenient. No statement. No acknowledgment what’s happening. Apparently there are on average 3 fights A DAY. Violent fights. Not just pushing and shoving.

But hey, we’re just whiny parents who like to complain. GMAFB.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh look. Whiny parents in Alexandria City hate their superintendent. Again.

What’s this, like five in row? Is that a record?

There is no pleasing some people.

+1

He’s the worst of the bunch (and there hasn’t been five in a row).

Oh look. Whiny parents in Alexandria City hate their superintendent. Again.

What’s this, like five in row? Is that a record?

There is no pleasing some people.


+1

Actually, he could please me quite easily by allowing me to give my son, who will turn 14 in a little over a month, permission to sit outside on the empty middle school field and eat a sandwich. I don't dine indoors, even though I am vaccinated, and lot of students in ACPS aren't eligible to be vaccinated.

Anonymous wrote:Oh look. Whiny parents in Alexandria City hate their superintendent. Again.

What’s this, like five in row? Is that a record?

There is no pleasing some people.

+1

My son goes to GW middle school, and I really do not understand why they cannot just give every child whose parents are willing to sign a permission slip or liability waiver permission to go outside to eat. These are older kids, many of whom, including mine, have a lot of freedom to go where they want in their free time, for the most part, without constant adult supervision. It would thin out the cafeteria for kids who do not have permission, so it would be safer for them too.

I told you so, and people would just claim I was racist. Interesting how people suddenly see the light and re-evaluate when the circumstances finally and directly affect you.

Looks like the final decision has been made: "not feasible", ACPSs favorite term. From the just released FAQs. So much for principal empowerment...

Will there be a policy regarding outdoor lunches, especially at the elementary school level?
Elementary and middle school students will eat meals in the school cafeteria with mitigating measures such as use of seating charts, podding and sign-in sheets. At the high school, sign-in sheets will be used during the lunch period and students can continue to use the traditional outdoor spaces as they have always utilized. Outdoor lunch at all levels is not feasible due to the number of students who have returned to in-person learning. Also, not all schools are equipped with regard to outdoor space to accommodate lunch. Eating outside is also not sustainable during times of inclement weather, extreme temperatures and poor air quality.

Our kids ate lunch in their classroom or outside last year (Catholic school). There was hot lunch available, but it was heat and serve (think hot pockets). Not the best, so we packed every day. I've seen the meals ACPS offers to free lunch families, and they were healthier. Why can't ACPS have kids do the same? Has any answer been given or has it just been a blanket no?

Anonymous wrote:Oh look. Whiny parents in Alexandria City hate their superintendent. Again.

What’s this, like five in row? Is that a record?

There is no pleasing some people.

OH, is this what you do with your time Dr Hutchings? This is so much more important that reading parent's legitimate health concerns about how you botched COVID safety plans? Well, then, welcome. There are a few other threads that likely need your attention - see SOLs.

Anonymous wrote:Oh look. Whiny parents in Alexandria City hate their superintendent. Again.

What’s this, like five in row? Is that a record?

There is no pleasing some people.

When (WHEN) kids get COVID, they will have to quarantine. When many kids are in a small space together, unmasked, eating and talking (I don’t care how much you coach kids on mask “etiquette” they are going to talk at lunch!) many kids, and teachers, will also have to quarantine. Eventually it becomes “unsustainable” to continue to large quarantine portions of the school, so we may as well go back to virtual. More failing students, further behind their peers than ever. More people of means opt out of ACPS, or move, and the cycle continues.

There’s nothing whiny about wanting all children to have equal access to a quality education, which means children in schools. Hutchings shows complete disregard for best practices (he says the VDH and CDC lists of best practices are just options, you don’t actually have to do them all!), and the current school board, most of them anyway, are either afraid to challenge him, or are too stupid to realize we can do better.

And we can do better.

I'm so upset about this. I really, really do not want my unvaccinated kids eating indoor lunch. I can't have them do virtual, because I have no one to take care of them (I am a teacher in another school district). My fully vaccinated andd very cautious SIL, who works in a school district outside Chicago, just contracted COVID. I don't feel like ACPS cares what happens to my kids' health.

Oh look. Whiny parents in Alexandria City hate their superintendent. Again.

What’s this, like five in row? Is that a record?

There is no pleasing some people.

Anonymous wrote:Sure you can get him fired but good luck with the next person.
They have churned through a lot of Superintendents over the past 15 years.

If parents really want a better education experience, than they will need to stop looking for candidates who say the most woke things or fit their bill as the most woke person.

ACPS is such a trainwreck at this point that the only person we'll be able to get is another person like him who just wants to use our kids for their own ambitions.