Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 22:10     Subject: wtf no delay?
I'm hearing several DCPS schools had 75% of the kids not even show up today. How much teaching and learning actually happened?
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 21:34     Subject: wtf no delay?
There really isn't an easy answer here.

On one hand, the idea that failing to salt/plow the roads was the problem is laughable. The roads on Capitol Hill were fine as of 8am even though they had not been plowed. The much much bigger problem is people not realizing that this was a dry snow and that their cars weigh more than a ton---you are going to slip and slide but as long as you don't completely freak out, it won't be a problem. But people do freak out. They either ignore it and try to drive normally or overreact the other way and go 5 mph (which is actually worse).

On the other hand, is it really fair to expect people to adapt as adults to living with snow? At a certain point, you just need to accept that people, including many in this thread, are not going to have the same coping skills.

Lastly, let me debunk this idea that the difference between DC and NY/CHI is an army of snow plows. That is a very small part of it. For the most part people are just more accustomed to dealing with it. NY doesn't run out all the snow plows everytime an inch or two falls.
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 21:26     Subject: wtf no delay?
Anonymous wrote:DCPS is the most DYSFUNCTIONAL school system I've ever taught in! I live in Anne Arundel County so my commute this morning was 2.5 hours, to have 10 out of 27 students.
Can you say a review/board game day!
They never take into account the over half of their teachers/staff DO NOT LIVE IN THE CITY!! How can we even afford to!?!
I get it-the children need to eat. So set up feeding stations like every other urban metropolis and be considerate of the people that sacrifice so much by being in these classrooms everyday and all of the outside work that we do!
And they wonder why people are fleeing this system...tuh.


Well said. Even though the situation is better than it once was, it's still amazing how little DCPS or other DC government agencies consider and adopt best practices from other cities around the U.S. In some quarters, it seems that there's still an innate preference for the "DC way" and inherent suspicion or hostility to ideas or experts with a proven record of success elsewhere.
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 21:24     Subject: wtf no delay?
Anonymous wrote:DCPS is the most DYSFUNCTIONAL school system I've ever taught in! I live in Anne Arundel County so my commute this morning was 2.5 hours, to have 10 out of 27 students.
Can you say a review/board game day!
They never take into account the over half of their teachers/staff DO NOT LIVE IN THE CITY!! How can we even afford to!?!
I get it-the children need to eat. So set up feeding stations like every other urban metropolis and be considerate of the people that sacrifice so much by being in these classrooms everyday and all of the outside work that we do!
And they wonder why people are fleeing this system...tuh.



Did you see the other teacher's post? She lives in Glover Park (in the city) and it took her hours to get to her school as well.
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 21:20     Subject: wtf no delay?
DCPS is the most DYSFUNCTIONAL school system I've ever taught in! I live in Anne Arundel County so my commute this morning was 2.5 hours, to have 10 out of 27 students.
Can you say a review/board game day!
They never take into account the over half of their teachers/staff DO NOT LIVE IN THE CITY!! How can we even afford to!?!
I get it-the children need to eat. So set up feeding stations like every other urban metropolis and be considerate of the people that sacrifice so much by being in these classrooms everyday and all of the outside work that we do!
And they wonder why people are fleeing this system...tuh.
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 21:16     Subject: wtf no delay?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:


I am the teacher who detailed my commute. I'm not asking for anything. This was the sad reality of my commute today, down to the minute. I imagine many others (teachers, parents, children, whoever) had similar difficulties.


Another teacher here,

I teach in Petworth. It was horrible. The assumption that everyone walks to their neighborhood school is misguided. I'm at a charter. At least half of the kids are commuting from outside a 2 mile radius. We're a Title I school and most of the kids come by bus. Half of the teachers live in MD. Half of the teachers called out and two-thirds of the students called out. There were no "hot meals" today, because the company who delivers our food couldn't get to the school due to the roads.

I made it fine, but three of the teachers had major accidents. Two parents called out saying they totaled their cars. With so many of the kids absent, we couldn't follow our lesson plans. We reviewed a few things, but that's it. The gains of today weren't worth the risk.


DCPS does not control the opening and closings of charter schools. Your charter school had the option of delaying or closing the school.



She didn't say it did. She just spoke about her experience.
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 21:12     Subject: wtf no delay?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:


I am the teacher who detailed my commute. I'm not asking for anything. This was the sad reality of my commute today, down to the minute. I imagine many others (teachers, parents, children, whoever) had similar difficulties.


Another teacher here,

I teach in Petworth. It was horrible. The assumption that everyone walks to their neighborhood school is misguided. I'm at a charter. At least half of the kids are commuting from outside a 2 mile radius. We're a Title I school and most of the kids come by bus. Half of the teachers live in MD. Half of the teachers called out and two-thirds of the students called out. There were no "hot meals" today, because the company who delivers our food couldn't get to the school due to the roads.

I made it fine, but three of the teachers had major accidents. Two parents called out saying they totaled their cars. With so many of the kids absent, we couldn't follow our lesson plans. We reviewed a few things, but that's it. The gains of today weren't worth the risk.


DCPS does not control the opening and closings of charter schools. Your charter school had the option of delaying or closing the school.
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 20:46     Subject: wtf no delay?
Anonymous wrote:


I am the teacher who detailed my commute. I'm not asking for anything. This was the sad reality of my commute today, down to the minute. I imagine many others (teachers, parents, children, whoever) had similar difficulties.


Another teacher here,

I teach in Petworth. It was horrible. The assumption that everyone walks to their neighborhood school is misguided. I'm at a charter. At least half of the kids are commuting from outside a 2 mile radius. We're a Title I school and most of the kids come by bus. Half of the teachers live in MD. Half of the teachers called out and two-thirds of the students called out. There were no "hot meals" today, because the company who delivers our food couldn't get to the school due to the roads.

I made it fine, but three of the teachers had major accidents. Two parents called out saying they totaled their cars. With so many of the kids absent, we couldn't follow our lesson plans. We reviewed a few things, but that's it. The gains of today weren't worth the risk.
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 20:32     Subject: wtf no delay?
Anonymous wrote:For what it's worth our principal assured us that Kaya will not delay things tomorrow. I don't care. I can get to work just fine. But this 'only hot meal' of the day stuff is weak. That is a social services issue.



She should. Tons of buses will be on snow detours and delays. The sidewalks and many residential streets will be like sheets of ice.
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 20:30     Subject: wtf no delay?
For what it's worth our principal assured us that Kaya will not delay things tomorrow. I don't care. I can get to work just fine. But this 'only hot meal' of the day stuff is weak. That is a social services issue.
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 20:20     Subject: wtf no delay?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a Pre-K teacher in Columbia Heights. I live in Glover Park. This was my commute today:

7 am- get to the bus stop. I built in an extra 20 mins for this "dusting to one inch." Commute usually takes 40 minutes. 7:35- bus finally arrives; has to take detour off of regular route to get to Dupont Circle. 8:25- Bus arrives at Dupont. Run into Firehook bakery to get coffee; the power's out there and all up and down Connecticut Ave. No coffee. Wait at bus stop for bus to Columbia Heights. Feet turn into blocks of ice. 8:50- Bus finally arrives. Get on. 9:00- Bus spins out trying to get up Connecticut and smashes backward into a trash can. Get off bus. Wait for another bus. No luck hailing a cab. Freeze. 9:20- Another bus finally arrives. 9:45- Finally arrive at school with a pounding headache from no caffeine and nearly frostbitten extremities. Six out of 20 children are present. Needless to say I'm not looking forward to the odyssey home.

So if that was my commute as a teacher, what were others' commutes like? Half of my colleagues were late as well. The children are herded into multipurpose rooms when we can't get there.


Thank you for providing a teacher's perspective. I am also a teacher who relies on public transportation to get to work so what should take 15-20 minutes took over an hour because of infrequent/rerouted buses. Several colleagues were late so coverage had to be arranged for some classrooms. Kids who commute across town were either late or absent. I'm not saying today was a total wash, but a 2-hour delay would have helped.


everyone had a bad commute to work today but we still had to go and we still had to be there as soon as we could get there. No one is bitching about the boss not giving a two hour work delay?! And not only do you want a two hour work delay for yourself, you want a 3 hour delay for thousand of working parents who can't drop off their kids till 10 or 11am?!



Calm down. Yikes.
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 19:32     Subject: wtf no delay?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a Pre-K teacher in Columbia Heights. I live in Glover Park. This was my commute today:

7 am- get to the bus stop. I built in an extra 20 mins for this "dusting to one inch." Commute usually takes 40 minutes. 7:35- bus finally arrives; has to take detour off of regular route to get to Dupont Circle. 8:25- Bus arrives at Dupont. Run into Firehook bakery to get coffee; the power's out there and all up and down Connecticut Ave. No coffee. Wait at bus stop for bus to Columbia Heights. Feet turn into blocks of ice. 8:50- Bus finally arrives. Get on. 9:00- Bus spins out trying to get up Connecticut and smashes backward into a trash can. Get off bus. Wait for another bus. No luck hailing a cab. Freeze. 9:20- Another bus finally arrives. 9:45- Finally arrive at school with a pounding headache from no caffeine and nearly frostbitten extremities. Six out of 20 children are present. Needless to say I'm not looking forward to the odyssey home.

So if that was my commute as a teacher, what were others' commutes like? Half of my colleagues were late as well. The children are herded into multipurpose rooms when we can't get there.


Thank you for providing a teacher's perspective. I am also a teacher who relies on public transportation to get to work so what should take 15-20 minutes took over an hour because of infrequent/rerouted buses. Several colleagues were late so coverage had to be arranged for some classrooms. Kids who commute across town were either late or absent. I'm not saying today was a total wash, but a 2-hour delay would have helped.


everyone had a bad commute to work today but we still had to go and we still had to be there as soon as we could get there. No one is bitching about the boss not giving a two hour work delay?! And not only do you want a two hour work delay for yourself, you want a 3 hour delay for thousand of working parents who can't drop off their kids till 10 or 11am?!



I am the teacher who detailed my commute. I'm not asking for anything. This was the sad reality of my commute today, down to the minute. I imagine many others (teachers, parents, children, whoever) had similar difficulties.


You are definitely a teacher! Only a teacher would be calm and nice to someone who is such a brat.
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 19:21     Subject: wtf no delay?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a Pre-K teacher in Columbia Heights. I live in Glover Park. This was my commute today:

7 am- get to the bus stop. I built in an extra 20 mins for this "dusting to one inch." Commute usually takes 40 minutes. 7:35- bus finally arrives; has to take detour off of regular route to get to Dupont Circle. 8:25- Bus arrives at Dupont. Run into Firehook bakery to get coffee; the power's out there and all up and down Connecticut Ave. No coffee. Wait at bus stop for bus to Columbia Heights. Feet turn into blocks of ice. 8:50- Bus finally arrives. Get on. 9:00- Bus spins out trying to get up Connecticut and smashes backward into a trash can. Get off bus. Wait for another bus. No luck hailing a cab. Freeze. 9:20- Another bus finally arrives. 9:45- Finally arrive at school with a pounding headache from no caffeine and nearly frostbitten extremities. Six out of 20 children are present. Needless to say I'm not looking forward to the odyssey home.

So if that was my commute as a teacher, what were others' commutes like? Half of my colleagues were late as well. The children are herded into multipurpose rooms when we can't get there.


Thank you for providing a teacher's perspective. I am also a teacher who relies on public transportation to get to work so what should take 15-20 minutes took over an hour because of infrequent/rerouted buses. Several colleagues were late so coverage had to be arranged for some classrooms. Kids who commute across town were either late or absent. I'm not saying today was a total wash, but a 2-hour delay would have helped.


everyone had a bad commute to work today but we still had to go and we still had to be there as soon as we could get there. No one is bitching about the boss not giving a two hour work delay?! And not only do you want a two hour work delay for yourself, you want a 3 hour delay for thousand of working parents who can't drop off their kids till 10 or 11am?!



I am the teacher who detailed my commute. I'm not asking for anything. This was the sad reality of my commute today, down to the minute. I imagine many others (teachers, parents, children, whoever) had similar difficulties.
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 19:17     Subject: wtf no delay?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I'm a Pre-K teacher in Columbia Heights. I live in Glover Park. This was my commute today:

7 am- get to the bus stop. I built in an extra 20 mins for this "dusting to one inch." Commute usually takes 40 minutes. 7:35- bus finally arrives; has to take detour off of regular route to get to Dupont Circle. 8:25- Bus arrives at Dupont. Run into Firehook bakery to get coffee; the power's out there and all up and down Connecticut Ave. No coffee. Wait at bus stop for bus to Columbia Heights. Feet turn into blocks of ice. 8:50- Bus finally arrives. Get on. 9:00- Bus spins out trying to get up Connecticut and smashes backward into a trash can. Get off bus. Wait for another bus. No luck hailing a cab. Freeze. 9:20- Another bus finally arrives. 9:45- Finally arrive at school with a pounding headache from no caffeine and nearly frostbitten extremities. Six out of 20 children are present. Needless to say I'm not looking forward to the odyssey home.

So if that was my commute as a teacher, what were others' commutes like? Half of my colleagues were late as well. The children are herded into multipurpose rooms when we can't get there.


Thank you for providing a teacher's perspective. I am also a teacher who relies on public transportation to get to work so what should take 15-20 minutes took over an hour because of infrequent/rerouted buses. Several colleagues were late so coverage had to be arranged for some classrooms. Kids who commute across town were either late or absent. I'm not saying today was a total wash, but a 2-hour delay would have helped.


everyone had a bad commute to work today but we still had to go and we still had to be there as soon as we could get there. No one is bitching about the boss not giving a two hour work delay?! And not only do you want a two hour work delay for yourself, you want a 3 hour delay for thousand of working parents who can't drop off their kids till 10 or 11am?!
Anonymous
Post 01/06/2015 18:59     Subject: wtf no delay?
Anonymous wrote:I'm a Pre-K teacher in Columbia Heights. I live in Glover Park. This was my commute today:

7 am- get to the bus stop. I built in an extra 20 mins for this "dusting to one inch." Commute usually takes 40 minutes. 7:35- bus finally arrives; has to take detour off of regular route to get to Dupont Circle. 8:25- Bus arrives at Dupont. Run into Firehook bakery to get coffee; the power's out there and all up and down Connecticut Ave. No coffee. Wait at bus stop for bus to Columbia Heights. Feet turn into blocks of ice. 8:50- Bus finally arrives. Get on. 9:00- Bus spins out trying to get up Connecticut and smashes backward into a trash can. Get off bus. Wait for another bus. No luck hailing a cab. Freeze. 9:20- Another bus finally arrives. 9:45- Finally arrive at school with a pounding headache from no caffeine and nearly frostbitten extremities. Six out of 20 children are present. Needless to say I'm not looking forward to the odyssey home.

So if that was my commute as a teacher, what were others' commutes like? Half of my colleagues were late as well. The children are herded into multipurpose rooms when we can't get there.


Thank you for providing a teacher's perspective. I am also a teacher who relies on public transportation to get to work so what should take 15-20 minutes took over an hour because of infrequent/rerouted buses. Several colleagues were late so coverage had to be arranged for some classrooms. Kids who commute across town were either late or absent. I'm not saying today was a total wash, but a 2-hour delay would have helped.