This year virtually, for my children at least, school was punishment. And yet, somehow, they are expected to perform like normal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also think, at least at the elementary level, it’s crazy that a kid has as many as 10 things to submit in one day and we’re expected to micro manage from home all of that. In normal times, this would have been ordinary class work that parents never saw. It’s not homework. If you see your kid doing his work, if he has a demonstrated ability to manage the technology, why would you think you needed to micro manage in canvas? Until your kid has burned you by stealthfully disengaging with the submission process , it may be difficult to appreciate how irritating it is to learn your kid’s teacher is perfectly happy to just ignore the fact that all assignments are missing. Why should I be the only one who cares if my kid submitted a single assignment over a 3 month period? Even if I’m the worst mother ever, he’s entitled to an education and he deserves a teacher who will at least try to get to the bottom of the complete absence of any submitted course work for an entire quarter. Doesn’t matter that some moms check parentvue or canvas more regularly. Doesn’t matter how easy it is. That’s obviously not happening in the house of the kid who is missing 100 assignments, and that should be eye-poppingly clear to the teacher.

People here are so sympathetic about the poor immigrant families who don't have time to help their kids; but if you're not one of them, you're an incompetent parent with incompetent, irresponsible, lying children.
You are absolutely right - as a parent, we should be able to expect that the teacher would contact us if there's a problem they aren't able to resolve with the student. I wish people would make up their minds: are we supposed to let our children develop independence and responsibility and be more hands-off? or are we supposed to be micro-managing until they're out of high school?

I do wonder if this mom is one of the people on here that has been complaining that their kid hasn't done anything in class all year and hasn't learned anything, because if so I guess this explains why -- they were not actually following along in class and doing the work the other kids were doing.

But honestly, I would expect this teacher to try to get in touch with the parent/s. If a whole week of content has gone by, in elementary school, with no submissions from a kid and spotty attendance as well (I'm assuming?), then I would expect attempts at communication. It's weird to me that you weren't contacted, especially if you kid was not actually "appearing" in class. I think the schools are required to have contact in those situations. And you should have been receiving absentee reports from the school this whole time, like same- or next-day reports of absenteeism. Could there be a problem here where maybe dad was listed as contact and was not informing you of them and/or other school communications? I frankly have trouble believing that your kid in an Arlington school went 3 months without turning any except 1 assignment in and no teachers or administrators attempted to call you to warn you about the problem and to try to get more participation out of your kid. I dunno, sounds weird. But I agree, if true, bad. (Parents still should have been checking in on ParentVue and not expecting their elementary school kid to handle their education on their own, but even so, school should be taking steps as well.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So yesterday after reading this thread, I went into Canvas for the first time ever with my HS freshman's passcode. I found 4 assignments he said he didn't know about. I found unopened "announcements" from all the teachers giving instructions, etc. some months old. As of tomorrow he should finally be caught up after working non-stop this asynchronous week. I wish I had been monitoring Canvas more, but at the same time, he's old enough to figure it out. I'm not sure what the answer is.

I bet the answer is that now that he knows you’re checking, he’ll do the work! 😀

It is amazing how the people here refuse to even entertain the notion that there is any possibility of any degree of fault on APS' side. It's all 100+% the bad parents' irresponsible kids (unless they have a disability, then apparently it's excusable.) Clearly you all have perfect children. Give others a break.

What thread have YOU been reading? Plenty of people in here were sympathetic to the mom whose kid skipped 30 assignments but didn't get informed by a teacher and weren't given any advice by them re how to help. Some were NOT sympatheric when the parent said they hadn't checked Parentvue all semester -- and admittedly, if you're looking for things to do to help your kid, that's a relatively easy thing that parents at our school were told to do from Back to School night on, with emails from APS about checking up in parentvue throughout the year.

As far as your reaction to this other parent, I don't think this parent is being given a very hard time on this board or being called a "bad parent" anywhere. Have I missed something? This parent went in and checked and got their kid on task before grades are final. This also wasn't as dire a situation as the kid with 30 missing assignments, as this other kid was only missing 4 and unless they are all from the same class that's probably not going to be the difference between a pass and a fail, though 2 assignments could be the difference between an A and a C.

Are four missing assignments the fault of APS? For a ninth grader? I mean, Canvas could be easier, so I guess a little, but everybody has had to stretch a bit during this weird year.

Anonymous wrote:I’ve been defending APS for over a year. I am finally throwing in the towel. We all have problems, but the fall out lands only on one side. The kids. They are blamed for everything. Didn’t have a teacher who reminded you that you had an SOL? Your fault. Didn’t hover over your stupid canvas account to make sure the assignment was uploaded and stuck? Your fault. It’s late or missing. My chilled out DS has all As except for 2 B+s this year,, he is a total stress ball now waiting to see how they’re gonna screw him over with malfunctioning tech, MIA teachers, emails from the principal so confusing I have no idea what that guy means— yet it’s his fault. I’m ready for APS to lay off 50% of the staff starting with the principals.

APS is the worst. And to everyone who responded with “then you should leave snark, not all of us can. Many of us are stuck. Take your privilege elsewhere!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also think, at least at the elementary level, it’s crazy that a kid has as many as 10 things to submit in one day and we’re expected to micro manage from home all of that. In normal times, this would have been ordinary class work that parents never saw. It’s not homework. If you see your kid doing his work, if he has a demonstrated ability to manage the technology, why would you think you needed to micro manage in canvas? Until your kid has burned you by stealthfully disengaging with the submission process , it may be difficult to appreciate how irritating it is to learn your kid’s teacher is perfectly happy to just ignore the fact that all assignments are missing. Why should I be the only one who cares if my kid submitted a single assignment over a 3 month period? Even if I’m the worst mother ever, he’s entitled to an education and he deserves a teacher who will at least try to get to the bottom of the complete absence of any submitted course work for an entire quarter. Doesn’t matter that some moms check parentvue or canvas more regularly. Doesn’t matter how easy it is. That’s obviously not happening in the house of the kid who is missing 100 assignments, and that should be eye-poppingly clear to the teacher.

People here are so sympathetic about the poor immigrant families who don't have time to help their kids; but if you're not one of them, you're an incompetent parent with incompetent, irresponsible, lying children.
You are absolutely right - as a parent, we should be able to expect that the teacher would contact us if there's a problem they aren't able to resolve with the student. I wish people would make up their minds: are we supposed to let our children develop independence and responsibility and be more hands-off? or are we supposed to be micro-managing until they're out of high school?

Two things. First, your initial point underscores that privileged people, whether they know it or not, place low expectations on anyone outside of their social class. Second, I’d take with a grain of salt any Arlington parent’s claim that they were totally hands off about supervising their kids.

Anonymous wrote:I also think, at least at the elementary level, it’s crazy that a kid has as many as 10 things to submit in one day and we’re expected to micro manage from home all of that. In normal times, this would have been ordinary class work that parents never saw. It’s not homework. If you see your kid doing his work, if he has a demonstrated ability to manage the technology, why would you think you needed to micro manage in canvas? Until your kid has burned you by stealthfully disengaging with the submission process , it may be difficult to appreciate how irritating it is to learn your kid’s teacher is perfectly happy to just ignore the fact that all assignments are missing. Why should I be the only one who cares if my kid submitted a single assignment over a 3 month period? Even if I’m the worst mother ever, he’s entitled to an education and he deserves a teacher who will at least try to get to the bottom of the complete absence of any submitted course work for an entire quarter. Doesn’t matter that some moms check parentvue or canvas more regularly. Doesn’t matter how easy it is. That’s obviously not happening in the house of the kid who is missing 100 assignments, and that should be eye-poppingly clear to the teacher.

People here are so sympathetic about the poor immigrant families who don't have time to help their kids; but if you're not one of them, you're an incompetent parent with incompetent, irresponsible, lying children.
You are absolutely right - as a parent, we should be able to expect that the teacher would contact us if there's a problem they aren't able to resolve with the student. I wish people would make up their minds: are we supposed to let our children develop independence and responsibility and be more hands-off? or are we supposed to be micro-managing until they're out of high school?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So yesterday after reading this thread, I went into Canvas for the first time ever with my HS freshman's passcode. I found 4 assignments he said he didn't know about. I found unopened "announcements" from all the teachers giving instructions, etc. some months old. As of tomorrow he should finally be caught up after working non-stop this asynchronous week. I wish I had been monitoring Canvas more, but at the same time, he's old enough to figure it out. I'm not sure what the answer is.

I bet the answer is that now that he knows you’re checking, he’ll do the work! 😀

It is amazing how the people here refuse to even entertain the notion that there is any possibility of any degree of fault on APS' side. It's all 100+% the bad parents' irresponsible kids (unless they have a disability, then apparently it's excusable.) Clearly you all have perfect children. Give others a break.

Anonymous wrote:I also think, at least at the elementary level, it’s crazy that a kid has as many as 10 things to submit in one day and we’re expected to micro manage from home all of that. In normal times, this would have been ordinary class work that parents never saw. It’s not homework. If you see your kid doing his work, if he has a demonstrated ability to manage the technology, why would you think you needed to micro manage in canvas? Until your kid has burned you by stealthfully disengaging with the submission process , it may be difficult to appreciate how irritating it is to learn your kid’s teacher is perfectly happy to just ignore the fact that all assignments are missing. Why should I be the only one who cares if my kid submitted a single assignment over a 3 month period? Even if I’m the worst mother ever, he’s entitled to an education and he deserves a teacher who will at least try to get to the bottom of the complete absence of any submitted course work for an entire quarter. Doesn’t matter that some moms check parentvue or canvas more regularly. Doesn’t matter how easy it is. That’s obviously not happening in the house of the kid who is missing 100 assignments, and that should be eye-poppingly clear to the teacher.

Well, it would be shameful indeed, if teachers weren’t trying to correct this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We switched to APS mid year after a move from DCPS. Honestly, DCPS is so so much worse it isn’t funny. Arlington is a breath of fresh air and we couldn’t be happier. In this case, the grass was greener - remember you still have it better than 80 percent of the country.

Huh? Given how rich and bubbled Arlington is, it has it better overall than at least 98.5 percent of the country. Oddly, though, the schools aren’t anything special. Sort of good, but not very good.

How can it be both better than 98.5 pct of the country but not anything special?

Two different things, as I said—overall and the schools. Better overall in terms of wealth, safety, parks, education level, and the like. The schools are kind of good, at best. As I weigh things, subjectively, Arlington still beats the vast majority of places. But not so much on schools.

Anonymous wrote:So yesterday after reading this thread, I went into Canvas for the first time ever with my HS freshman's passcode. I found 4 assignments he said he didn't know about. I found unopened "announcements" from all the teachers giving instructions, etc. some months old. As of tomorrow he should finally be caught up after working non-stop this asynchronous week. I wish I had been monitoring Canvas more, but at the same time, he's old enough to figure it out. I'm not sure what the answer is.

The flurry of announcements, messages, notices from the cacophony of apps they use makes it completely untenable to manage the deluge. Their full time job is parsing all these interfaces and prioritizing. I would hate it if my company had 3 different apps for assigning me tasks.

I also think, at least at the elementary level, it’s crazy that a kid has as many as 10 things to submit in one day and we’re expected to micro manage from home all of that. In normal times, this would have been ordinary class work that parents never saw. It’s not homework. If you see your kid doing his work, if he has a demonstrated ability to manage the technology, why would you think you needed to micro manage in canvas? Until your kid has burned you by stealthfully disengaging with the submission process , it may be difficult to appreciate how irritating it is to learn your kid’s teacher is perfectly happy to just ignore the fact that all assignments are missing. Why should I be the only one who cares if my kid submitted a single assignment over a 3 month period? Even if I’m the worst mother ever, he’s entitled to an education and he deserves a teacher who will at least try to get to the bottom of the complete absence of any submitted course work for an entire quarter. Doesn’t matter that some moms check parentvue or canvas more regularly. Doesn’t matter how easy it is. That’s obviously not happening in the house of the kid who is missing 100 assignments, and that should be eye-poppingly clear to the teacher.

Anonymous wrote:So yesterday after reading this thread, I went into Canvas for the first time ever with my HS freshman's passcode. I found 4 assignments he said he didn't know about. I found unopened "announcements" from all the teachers giving instructions, etc. some months old. As of tomorrow he should finally be caught up after working non-stop this asynchronous week. I wish I had been monitoring Canvas more, but at the same time, he's old enough to figure it out. I'm not sure what the answer is.

I bet the answer is that now that he knows you’re checking, he’ll do the work! 😀

So yesterday after reading this thread, I went into Canvas for the first time ever with my HS freshman's passcode. I found 4 assignments he said he didn't know about. I found unopened "announcements" from all the teachers giving instructions, etc. some months old. As of tomorrow he should finally be caught up after working non-stop this asynchronous week. I wish I had been monitoring Canvas more, but at the same time, he's old enough to figure it out. I'm not sure what the answer is.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We switched to APS mid year after a move from DCPS. Honestly, DCPS is so so much worse it isn’t funny. Arlington is a breath of fresh air and we couldn’t be happier. In this case, the grass was greener - remember you still have it better than 80 percent of the country.

Huh? Given how rich and bubbled Arlington is, it has it better overall than at least 98.5 percent of the country. Oddly, though, the schools aren’t anything special. Sort of good, but not very good.

How can it be both better than 98.5 pct of the country but not anything special?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1. The complaint was that the parent had no clue that kids hadn't submitted things for weeks. Parent Vue might show something missing that was turned in. But in general, it would alert you to the general existence of a problem. But go ahead and continue to look for anyone else to blame.

+1. Astonishing for an adult not to check even ONE time, which could have caught the fact that their own kid was not bothering to do their work, in weeks and weeks. These sites are available 24/7, so no "but I had to wooooooork" excuses. But sure, it's the "school's fault."

Right. I do sympathize with many here, but these sites also have mobile apps. I've been known to check my kids' grades while on the elevator heading to a meeting at work...and make a note to myself to have a discussion with my DD about her grades once I get home.