Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t buy that teachers don’t get paid enough for back up childcare. The average teacher salary in Arlington is 80-100k. There is no reason they can not afford childcare care. All other employees from mall workers, grocery workers, sanitation workers, waitresses come to work. They make less than what the teachers make. This is now more about a woke, progressive culture taking over N Virginia to such an extreme level that people are looking out for themselves instead of the greater good and not taking personal responsibility. These people have no sense of professionalism anymore or duty. Dr Duran is a prime example of someone from that woke culture who will put employees first before students because he believes whole heartedly that this school system exists to employ teachers rather than a system made to educate the city’s children.

HAHA. I have a masters and make 62.

All - let's try comparing apples to apples here!! Teachers are NOT working year round with 2 weeks vacation and 9 holidays like many of us are.

So let's stop comparing teacher salaries to everyone else's. this is a one of the reasons why teachers are teaching - because they have the same time off as their kids. What other profession has this?? Teachers absolutely deserve every penny and beyond, but let's stop trying to compare teacher salary to other careers.. I would absolutely take a huge pay cut to have the same schedule as my kids, or at least very similar.

Anonymous wrote:I would like to see data. How many were actually affected that day by child care issues? How many sick? Do teachers have to report the reason why they’re absent and does it have to be verified? Not being argumentative just trying to understand.

Anonymous wrote:No one elected Duran but this absolute loser and failure of a superintendent is deciding our children’s fate. I wish we could go back to the days we hired people for their qualifications rather than to just fill diversity gaps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t buy that teachers don’t get paid enough for back up childcare. The average teacher salary in Arlington is 80-100k. There is no reason they can not afford childcare care. All other employees from mall workers, grocery workers, sanitation workers, waitresses come to work. They make less than what the teachers make. This is now more about a woke, progressive culture taking over N Virginia to such an extreme level that people are looking out for themselves instead of the greater good and not taking personal responsibility. These people have no sense of professionalism anymore or duty. Dr Duran is a prime example of someone from that woke culture who will put employees first before students because he believes whole heartedly that this school system exists to employ teachers rather than a system made to educate the city’s children.

Well that's not very much money for Arlington and back up child care is available in this area but the services are set up so an employer must purchase slots for their employees to use and then the employees can use the service for a daily fee. Of course there are other options and yes teachers just like other working professionals need to be prepared for instances when they need back up care. For example, many at home daycares don't close on snow days because they don't need to since the provider doesn't need to leave home to work.

1) The sub shortage is due to COVID (increased need for subs and decreased willingness of people to sub). This too shall pass.
2) If in the future the sub system is no longer to be relied upon, then I agree. HOWEVER lets not pretend it isn't a change and that teachers are slackers because their employers had a back up system in place and then that back up system failed.
3) I agree it would have made sense for Syphax to telework, maybe even to call it an additional teacher planning day. But no way is it reasonable to suddenly demand teachers have back up child care when the sub system starts to fail.

When my parent was a teacher they had only 7 days of leave during the school year (sick and personal combined). If my parent needed to miss an additional day for any reason they simply didn't get paid. How many on DCUM have that little leave?

And while I'm thinking about this, why should the job and NOT caring for a sick family member be the priority? Isn't that thinking exactly what is wrong with America's work culture?

What does a sub shortage have to do with back up child care? If a teacher is at a school that is going to open, but their child's school is not, the teacher would need to have back up child care available for their child.

The sub system is the backup child care system, especially on short notice.

But the sub system is set up to have a someone cover for them at work on short notice. Backup childcare would mean having an alternative childcare arrangement so that the employee can go to work. Many people have to figure out their own backup childcare in the scenario that a colleague cannot cover for them at work. Just wanted to point out the difference. I’m sure with short staffing lots of people are having a hard time finding someone to cover them and therefore have to find a school closure camp, family member, neighbor, spouse, etc. to watch their kid(s) while they work. This past Thursday “snow” day I spent $300 (essentially my salary for the day) for 2 kids to attend a snow day camp because I couldn’t take off again after all the leave I used for the previous snow week not to mention the past school year when trying to deal with virtual school. Being a working parent really freaking sucks right now for all of us, not just teachers. But parents don’t seem to be getting the same consideration from APS as teachers. The solution to more snow is virtual school, which again, sucks for working parents with young kids. They need to be finding ways to build back in-person learning and not relying on more free labor from parents to meet the obligation of educational hours for the school year.

I 100% agree being a working parent sucks right now. However, teaching is unique in that it is an industry that (with the exception of this one day) has a system in place to cover teachers when they are absent. Please don't blame teachers when they use that system, it fails, and administration decides their only recourse is to close all schools for the day. I promise you the teachers didn't ask for subs trying to shut down APS for a day. The fact that the school system has NOT shut down in the past on days when surrounding districts have PLANNED to be closed but APS is open reinforces that this was a one time system failure.

Now, if you want to say APS administration needs to make a plan to prevent this from happening in the future, I'd agree with you. To that end it would be interesting to see how many teachers at each school were asking for subs. Was it 50% of instructional staff at all schools? Could some schools have been opened but some not? Could Syphax staff have covered some of the classes? Would hundreds of students have had to spend half the day in the cafeteria doing independent work while supervised by the principal and an assistant principal?

I’m the immediate PP and I’m not trying to blame teachers for last Thursday off. In fact I don’t blame them for any of the craziness of the past 2 years. But I do have a grudge already against the school administration for making my kindergartner learn on an iPad the bulk of last year while the bars down the street operated as normal and other school districts went back more days than us.

The questions you raise are good ones and what I was trying to get at. It feels like all of APS’s sympathies lie with teachers and they lack any motivation to try to come up with solutions to help parents. Like for instance, I don’t think they should get to use virtual for the young elementary kids to count toward instructional time. No one I know actually plans to log their kids back on in the event of another snow day. So I want APS to give up the farce that virtual learning is a solution for young kids. Why can’t they look at getting rid of early release days or some other time off. I get that isn’t preferable for teachers, but in many professions it is common to have to make up work at a later time when you get an unexpected day off. And I saw that FCCPS opened its aftercare program once it became clear the snow was a bust last week. Why didn’t APS consider this to help working families?

I guess I just basically want to see this administration actually come up with a solution, hell *any* solution, that actually helps students and families beyond acting as if virtual learning is some sort of Godsend. We wasted SO much COVID relief money on VLP while throwing out pitiful “bonuses” to entice teachers into summer school that ultimately could not be fully staffed. Over and over, the priority is Duran’s pet virtual project.

Wholeheartedly agree.

Agreed. Duran needs to show that he actually cares about educating kids.

This is sad - especially as we are almost 2 years into covid. The administration had PLENTY of time to plan over the last two years and continues to be a complete failure. How on earth do we demand better?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t buy that teachers don’t get paid enough for back up childcare. The average teacher salary in Arlington is 80-100k. There is no reason they can not afford childcare care. All other employees from mall workers, grocery workers, sanitation workers, waitresses come to work. They make less than what the teachers make. This is now more about a woke, progressive culture taking over N Virginia to such an extreme level that people are looking out for themselves instead of the greater good and not taking personal responsibility. These people have no sense of professionalism anymore or duty. Dr Duran is a prime example of someone from that woke culture who will put employees first before students because he believes whole heartedly that this school system exists to employ teachers rather than a system made to educate the city’s children.

Well that's not very much money for Arlington and back up child care is available in this area but the services are set up so an employer must purchase slots for their employees to use and then the employees can use the service for a daily fee. Of course there are other options and yes teachers just like other working professionals need to be prepared for instances when they need back up care. For example, many at home daycares don't close on snow days because they don't need to since the provider doesn't need to leave home to work.

1) The sub shortage is due to COVID (increased need for subs and decreased willingness of people to sub). This too shall pass.
2) If in the future the sub system is no longer to be relied upon, then I agree. HOWEVER lets not pretend it isn't a change and that teachers are slackers because their employers had a back up system in place and then that back up system failed.
3) I agree it would have made sense for Syphax to telework, maybe even to call it an additional teacher planning day. But no way is it reasonable to suddenly demand teachers have back up child care when the sub system starts to fail.

When my parent was a teacher they had only 7 days of leave during the school year (sick and personal combined). If my parent needed to miss an additional day for any reason they simply didn't get paid. How many on DCUM have that little leave?

And while I'm thinking about this, why should the job and NOT caring for a sick family member be the priority? Isn't that thinking exactly what is wrong with America's work culture?

What does a sub shortage have to do with back up child care? If a teacher is at a school that is going to open, but their child's school is not, the teacher would need to have back up child care available for their child.

The sub system is the backup child care system, especially on short notice.

But the sub system is set up to have a someone cover for them at work on short notice. Backup childcare would mean having an alternative childcare arrangement so that the employee can go to work. Many people have to figure out their own backup childcare in the scenario that a colleague cannot cover for them at work. Just wanted to point out the difference. I’m sure with short staffing lots of people are having a hard time finding someone to cover them and therefore have to find a school closure camp, family member, neighbor, spouse, etc. to watch their kid(s) while they work. This past Thursday “snow” day I spent $300 (essentially my salary for the day) for 2 kids to attend a snow day camp because I couldn’t take off again after all the leave I used for the previous snow week not to mention the past school year when trying to deal with virtual school. Being a working parent really freaking sucks right now for all of us, not just teachers. But parents don’t seem to be getting the same consideration from APS as teachers. The solution to more snow is virtual school, which again, sucks for working parents with young kids. They need to be finding ways to build back in-person learning and not relying on more free labor from parents to meet the obligation of educational hours for the school year.

I 100% agree being a working parent sucks right now. However, teaching is unique in that it is an industry that (with the exception of this one day) has a system in place to cover teachers when they are absent. Please don't blame teachers when they use that system, it fails, and administration decides their only recourse is to close all schools for the day. I promise you the teachers didn't ask for subs trying to shut down APS for a day. The fact that the school system has NOT shut down in the past on days when surrounding districts have PLANNED to be closed but APS is open reinforces that this was a one time system failure.

Now, if you want to say APS administration needs to make a plan to prevent this from happening in the future, I'd agree with you. To that end it would be interesting to see how many teachers at each school were asking for subs. Was it 50% of instructional staff at all schools? Could some schools have been opened but some not? Could Syphax staff have covered some of the classes? Would hundreds of students have had to spend half the day in the cafeteria doing independent work while supervised by the principal and an assistant principal?

I’m the immediate PP and I’m not trying to blame teachers for last Thursday off. In fact I don’t blame them for any of the craziness of the past 2 years. But I do have a grudge already against the school administration for making my kindergartner learn on an iPad the bulk of last year while the bars down the street operated as normal and other school districts went back more days than us.

The questions you raise are good ones and what I was trying to get at. It feels like all of APS’s sympathies lie with teachers and they lack any motivation to try to come up with solutions to help parents. Like for instance, I don’t think they should get to use virtual for the young elementary kids to count toward instructional time. No one I know actually plans to log their kids back on in the event of another snow day. So I want APS to give up the farce that virtual learning is a solution for young kids. Why can’t they look at getting rid of early release days or some other time off. I get that isn’t preferable for teachers, but in many professions it is common to have to make up work at a later time when you get an unexpected day off. And I saw that FCCPS opened its aftercare program once it became clear the snow was a bust last week. Why didn’t APS consider this to help working families?

I guess I just basically want to see this administration actually come up with a solution, hell *any* solution, that actually helps students and families beyond acting as if virtual learning is some sort of Godsend. We wasted SO much COVID relief money on VLP while throwing out pitiful “bonuses” to entice teachers into summer school that ultimately could not be fully staffed. Over and over, the priority is Duran’s pet virtual project.

Wholeheartedly agree.

Agreed. Duran needs to show that he actually cares about educating kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t buy that teachers don’t get paid enough for back up childcare. The average teacher salary in Arlington is 80-100k. There is no reason they can not afford childcare care. All other employees from mall workers, grocery workers, sanitation workers, waitresses come to work. They make less than what the teachers make. This is now more about a woke, progressive culture taking over N Virginia to such an extreme level that people are looking out for themselves instead of the greater good and not taking personal responsibility. These people have no sense of professionalism anymore or duty. Dr Duran is a prime example of someone from that woke culture who will put employees first before students because he believes whole heartedly that this school system exists to employ teachers rather than a system made to educate the city’s children.

Well that's not very much money for Arlington and back up child care is available in this area but the services are set up so an employer must purchase slots for their employees to use and then the employees can use the service for a daily fee. Of course there are other options and yes teachers just like other working professionals need to be prepared for instances when they need back up care. For example, many at home daycares don't close on snow days because they don't need to since the provider doesn't need to leave home to work.

1) The sub shortage is due to COVID (increased need for subs and decreased willingness of people to sub). This too shall pass.
2) If in the future the sub system is no longer to be relied upon, then I agree. HOWEVER lets not pretend it isn't a change and that teachers are slackers because their employers had a back up system in place and then that back up system failed.
3) I agree it would have made sense for Syphax to telework, maybe even to call it an additional teacher planning day. But no way is it reasonable to suddenly demand teachers have back up child care when the sub system starts to fail.

When my parent was a teacher they had only 7 days of leave during the school year (sick and personal combined). If my parent needed to miss an additional day for any reason they simply didn't get paid. How many on DCUM have that little leave?

And while I'm thinking about this, why should the job and NOT caring for a sick family member be the priority? Isn't that thinking exactly what is wrong with America's work culture?

What does a sub shortage have to do with back up child care? If a teacher is at a school that is going to open, but their child's school is not, the teacher would need to have back up child care available for their child.

The sub system is the backup child care system, especially on short notice.

But the sub system is set up to have a someone cover for them at work on short notice. Backup childcare would mean having an alternative childcare arrangement so that the employee can go to work. Many people have to figure out their own backup childcare in the scenario that a colleague cannot cover for them at work. Just wanted to point out the difference. I’m sure with short staffing lots of people are having a hard time finding someone to cover them and therefore have to find a school closure camp, family member, neighbor, spouse, etc. to watch their kid(s) while they work. This past Thursday “snow” day I spent $300 (essentially my salary for the day) for 2 kids to attend a snow day camp because I couldn’t take off again after all the leave I used for the previous snow week not to mention the past school year when trying to deal with virtual school. Being a working parent really freaking sucks right now for all of us, not just teachers. But parents don’t seem to be getting the same consideration from APS as teachers. The solution to more snow is virtual school, which again, sucks for working parents with young kids. They need to be finding ways to build back in-person learning and not relying on more free labor from parents to meet the obligation of educational hours for the school year.

I 100% agree being a working parent sucks right now. However, teaching is unique in that it is an industry that (with the exception of this one day) has a system in place to cover teachers when they are absent. Please don't blame teachers when they use that system, it fails, and administration decides their only recourse is to close all schools for the day. I promise you the teachers didn't ask for subs trying to shut down APS for a day. The fact that the school system has NOT shut down in the past on days when surrounding districts have PLANNED to be closed but APS is open reinforces that this was a one time system failure.

Now, if you want to say APS administration needs to make a plan to prevent this from happening in the future, I'd agree with you. To that end it would be interesting to see how many teachers at each school were asking for subs. Was it 50% of instructional staff at all schools? Could some schools have been opened but some not? Could Syphax staff have covered some of the classes? Would hundreds of students have had to spend half the day in the cafeteria doing independent work while supervised by the principal and an assistant principal?

I’m the immediate PP and I’m not trying to blame teachers for last Thursday off. In fact I don’t blame them for any of the craziness of the past 2 years. But I do have a grudge already against the school administration for making my kindergartner learn on an iPad the bulk of last year while the bars down the street operated as normal and other school districts went back more days than us.

The questions you raise are good ones and what I was trying to get at. It feels like all of APS’s sympathies lie with teachers and they lack any motivation to try to come up with solutions to help parents. Like for instance, I don’t think they should get to use virtual for the young elementary kids to count toward instructional time. No one I know actually plans to log their kids back on in the event of another snow day. So I want APS to give up the farce that virtual learning is a solution for young kids. Why can’t they look at getting rid of early release days or some other time off. I get that isn’t preferable for teachers, but in many professions it is common to have to make up work at a later time when you get an unexpected day off. And I saw that FCCPS opened its aftercare program once it became clear the snow was a bust last week. Why didn’t APS consider this to help working families?

I guess I just basically want to see this administration actually come up with a solution, hell *any* solution, that actually helps students and families beyond acting as if virtual learning is some sort of Godsend. We wasted SO much COVID relief money on VLP while throwing out pitiful “bonuses” to entice teachers into summer school that ultimately could not be fully staffed. Over and over, the priority is Duran’s pet virtual project.

Wholeheartedly agree.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t buy that teachers don’t get paid enough for back up childcare. The average teacher salary in Arlington is 80-100k. There is no reason they can not afford childcare care. All other employees from mall workers, grocery workers, sanitation workers, waitresses come to work. They make less than what the teachers make. This is now more about a woke, progressive culture taking over N Virginia to such an extreme level that people are looking out for themselves instead of the greater good and not taking personal responsibility. These people have no sense of professionalism anymore or duty. Dr Duran is a prime example of someone from that woke culture who will put employees first before students because he believes whole heartedly that this school system exists to employ teachers rather than a system made to educate the city’s children.

Well that's not very much money for Arlington and back up child care is available in this area but the services are set up so an employer must purchase slots for their employees to use and then the employees can use the service for a daily fee. Of course there are other options and yes teachers just like other working professionals need to be prepared for instances when they need back up care. For example, many at home daycares don't close on snow days because they don't need to since the provider doesn't need to leave home to work.

1) The sub shortage is due to COVID (increased need for subs and decreased willingness of people to sub). This too shall pass.
2) If in the future the sub system is no longer to be relied upon, then I agree. HOWEVER lets not pretend it isn't a change and that teachers are slackers because their employers had a back up system in place and then that back up system failed.
3) I agree it would have made sense for Syphax to telework, maybe even to call it an additional teacher planning day. But no way is it reasonable to suddenly demand teachers have back up child care when the sub system starts to fail.

When my parent was a teacher they had only 7 days of leave during the school year (sick and personal combined). If my parent needed to miss an additional day for any reason they simply didn't get paid. How many on DCUM have that little leave?

And while I'm thinking about this, why should the job and NOT caring for a sick family member be the priority? Isn't that thinking exactly what is wrong with America's work culture?

What does a sub shortage have to do with back up child care? If a teacher is at a school that is going to open, but their child's school is not, the teacher would need to have back up child care available for their child.

The sub system is the backup child care system, especially on short notice.

But the sub system is set up to have a someone cover for them at work on short notice. Backup childcare would mean having an alternative childcare arrangement so that the employee can go to work. Many people have to figure out their own backup childcare in the scenario that a colleague cannot cover for them at work. Just wanted to point out the difference. I’m sure with short staffing lots of people are having a hard time finding someone to cover them and therefore have to find a school closure camp, family member, neighbor, spouse, etc. to watch their kid(s) while they work. This past Thursday “snow” day I spent $300 (essentially my salary for the day) for 2 kids to attend a snow day camp because I couldn’t take off again after all the leave I used for the previous snow week not to mention the past school year when trying to deal with virtual school. Being a working parent really freaking sucks right now for all of us, not just teachers. But parents don’t seem to be getting the same consideration from APS as teachers. The solution to more snow is virtual school, which again, sucks for working parents with young kids. They need to be finding ways to build back in-person learning and not relying on more free labor from parents to meet the obligation of educational hours for the school year.

I 100% agree being a working parent sucks right now. However, teaching is unique in that it is an industry that (with the exception of this one day) has a system in place to cover teachers when they are absent. Please don't blame teachers when they use that system, it fails, and administration decides their only recourse is to close all schools for the day. I promise you the teachers didn't ask for subs trying to shut down APS for a day. The fact that the school system has NOT shut down in the past on days when surrounding districts have PLANNED to be closed but APS is open reinforces that this was a one time system failure.

Now, if you want to say APS administration needs to make a plan to prevent this from happening in the future, I'd agree with you. To that end it would be interesting to see how many teachers at each school were asking for subs. Was it 50% of instructional staff at all schools? Could some schools have been opened but some not? Could Syphax staff have covered some of the classes? Would hundreds of students have had to spend half the day in the cafeteria doing independent work while supervised by the principal and an assistant principal?

I’m the immediate PP and I’m not trying to blame teachers for last Thursday off. In fact I don’t blame them for any of the craziness of the past 2 years. But I do have a grudge already against the school administration for making my kindergartner learn on an iPad the bulk of last year while the bars down the street operated as normal and other school districts went back more days than us.

The questions you raise are good ones and what I was trying to get at. It feels like all of APS’s sympathies lie with teachers and they lack any motivation to try to come up with solutions to help parents. Like for instance, I don’t think they should get to use virtual for the young elementary kids to count toward instructional time. No one I know actually plans to log their kids back on in the event of another snow day. So I want APS to give up the farce that virtual learning is a solution for young kids. Why can’t they look at getting rid of early release days or some other time off. I get that isn’t preferable for teachers, but in many professions it is common to have to make up work at a later time when you get an unexpected day off. And I saw that FCCPS opened its aftercare program once it became clear the snow was a bust last week. Why didn’t APS consider this to help working families?

I guess I just basically want to see this administration actually come up with a solution, hell *any* solution, that actually helps students and families beyond acting as if virtual learning is some sort of Godsend. We wasted SO much COVID relief money on VLP while throwing out pitiful “bonuses” to entice teachers into summer school that ultimately could not be fully staffed. Over and over, the priority is Duran’s pet virtual project.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t buy that teachers don’t get paid enough for back up childcare. The average teacher salary in Arlington is 80-100k. There is no reason they can not afford childcare care. All other employees from mall workers, grocery workers, sanitation workers, waitresses come to work. They make less than what the teachers make. This is now more about a woke, progressive culture taking over N Virginia to such an extreme level that people are looking out for themselves instead of the greater good and not taking personal responsibility. These people have no sense of professionalism anymore or duty. Dr Duran is a prime example of someone from that woke culture who will put employees first before students because he believes whole heartedly that this school system exists to employ teachers rather than a system made to educate the city’s children.

Well that's not very much money for Arlington and back up child care is available in this area but the services are set up so an employer must purchase slots for their employees to use and then the employees can use the service for a daily fee. Of course there are other options and yes teachers just like other working professionals need to be prepared for instances when they need back up care. For example, many at home daycares don't close on snow days because they don't need to since the provider doesn't need to leave home to work.

1) The sub shortage is due to COVID (increased need for subs and decreased willingness of people to sub). This too shall pass.
2) If in the future the sub system is no longer to be relied upon, then I agree. HOWEVER lets not pretend it isn't a change and that teachers are slackers because their employers had a back up system in place and then that back up system failed.
3) I agree it would have made sense for Syphax to telework, maybe even to call it an additional teacher planning day. But no way is it reasonable to suddenly demand teachers have back up child care when the sub system starts to fail.

When my parent was a teacher they had only 7 days of leave during the school year (sick and personal combined). If my parent needed to miss an additional day for any reason they simply didn't get paid. How many on DCUM have that little leave?

And while I'm thinking about this, why should the job and NOT caring for a sick family member be the priority? Isn't that thinking exactly what is wrong with America's work culture?

What does a sub shortage have to do with back up child care? If a teacher is at a school that is going to open, but their child's school is not, the teacher would need to have back up child care available for their child.

The sub system is the backup child care system, especially on short notice.

But the sub system is set up to have a someone cover for them at work on short notice. Backup childcare would mean having an alternative childcare arrangement so that the employee can go to work. Many people have to figure out their own backup childcare in the scenario that a colleague cannot cover for them at work. Just wanted to point out the difference. I’m sure with short staffing lots of people are having a hard time finding someone to cover them and therefore have to find a school closure camp, family member, neighbor, spouse, etc. to watch their kid(s) while they work. This past Thursday “snow” day I spent $300 (essentially my salary for the day) for 2 kids to attend a snow day camp because I couldn’t take off again after all the leave I used for the previous snow week not to mention the past school year when trying to deal with virtual school. Being a working parent really freaking sucks right now for all of us, not just teachers. But parents don’t seem to be getting the same consideration from APS as teachers. The solution to more snow is virtual school, which again, sucks for working parents with young kids. They need to be finding ways to build back in-person learning and not relying on more free labor from parents to meet the obligation of educational hours for the school year.

I 100% agree being a working parent sucks right now. However, teaching is unique in that it is an industry that (with the exception of this one day) has a system in place to cover teachers when they are absent. Please don't blame teachers when they use that system, it fails, and administration decides their only recourse is to close all schools for the day. I promise you the teachers didn't ask for subs trying to shut down APS for a day. The fact that the school system has NOT shut down in the past on days when surrounding districts have PLANNED to be closed but APS is open reinforces that this was a one time system failure.

Now, if you want to say APS administration needs to make a plan to prevent this from happening in the future, I'd agree with you. To that end it would be interesting to see how many teachers at each school were asking for subs. Was it 50% of instructional staff at all schools? Could some schools have been opened but some not? Could Syphax staff have covered some of the classes? Would hundreds of students have had to spend half the day in the cafeteria doing independent work while supervised by the principal and an assistant principal?

I’m the immediate PP and I’m not trying to blame teachers for last Thursday off. In fact I don’t blame them for any of the craziness of the past 2 years. But I do have a grudge already against the school administration for making my kindergartner learn on an iPad the bulk of last year while the bars down the street operated as normal and other school districts went back more days than us.

The questions you raise are good ones and what I was trying to get at. It feels like all of APS’s sympathies lie with teachers and they lack any motivation to try to come up with solutions to help parents. Like for instance, I don’t think they should get to use virtual for the young elementary kids to count toward instructional time. No one I know actually plans to log their kids back on in the event of another snow day. So I want APS to give up the farce that virtual learning is a solution for young kids. Why can’t they look at getting rid of early release days or some other time off. I get that isn’t preferable for teachers, but in many professions it is common to have to make up work at a later time when you get an unexpected day off. And I saw that FCCPS opened its aftercare program once it became clear the snow was a bust last week. Why didn’t APS consider this to help working families?

I guess I just basically want to see this administration actually come up with a solution, hell *any* solution, that actually helps students and families beyond acting as if virtual learning is some sort of Godsend. We wasted SO much COVID relief money on VLP while throwing out pitiful “bonuses” to entice teachers into summer school that ultimately could not be fully staffed. Over and over, the priority is Duran’s pet virtual project.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t buy that teachers don’t get paid enough for back up childcare. The average teacher salary in Arlington is 80-100k. There is no reason they can not afford childcare care. All other employees from mall workers, grocery workers, sanitation workers, waitresses come to work. They make less than what the teachers make. This is now more about a woke, progressive culture taking over N Virginia to such an extreme level that people are looking out for themselves instead of the greater good and not taking personal responsibility. These people have no sense of professionalism anymore or duty. Dr Duran is a prime example of someone from that woke culture who will put employees first before students because he believes whole heartedly that this school system exists to employ teachers rather than a system made to educate the city’s children.

Well that's not very much money for Arlington and back up child care is available in this area but the services are set up so an employer must purchase slots for their employees to use and then the employees can use the service for a daily fee. Of course there are other options and yes teachers just like other working professionals need to be prepared for instances when they need back up care. For example, many at home daycares don't close on snow days because they don't need to since the provider doesn't need to leave home to work.

1) The sub shortage is due to COVID (increased need for subs and decreased willingness of people to sub). This too shall pass.
2) If in the future the sub system is no longer to be relied upon, then I agree. HOWEVER lets not pretend it isn't a change and that teachers are slackers because their employers had a back up system in place and then that back up system failed.
3) I agree it would have made sense for Syphax to telework, maybe even to call it an additional teacher planning day. But no way is it reasonable to suddenly demand teachers have back up child care when the sub system starts to fail.

When my parent was a teacher they had only 7 days of leave during the school year (sick and personal combined). If my parent needed to miss an additional day for any reason they simply didn't get paid. How many on DCUM have that little leave?

And while I'm thinking about this, why should the job and NOT caring for a sick family member be the priority? Isn't that thinking exactly what is wrong with America's work culture?

What does a sub shortage have to do with back up child care? If a teacher is at a school that is going to open, but their child's school is not, the teacher would need to have back up child care available for their child.

The sub system is the backup child care system, especially on short notice.

But the sub system is set up to have a someone cover for them at work on short notice. Backup childcare would mean having an alternative childcare arrangement so that the employee can go to work. Many people have to figure out their own backup childcare in the scenario that a colleague cannot cover for them at work. Just wanted to point out the difference. I’m sure with short staffing lots of people are having a hard time finding someone to cover them and therefore have to find a school closure camp, family member, neighbor, spouse, etc. to watch their kid(s) while they work. This past Thursday “snow” day I spent $300 (essentially my salary for the day) for 2 kids to attend a snow day camp because I couldn’t take off again after all the leave I used for the previous snow week not to mention the past school year when trying to deal with virtual school. Being a working parent really freaking sucks right now for all of us, not just teachers. But parents don’t seem to be getting the same consideration from APS as teachers. The solution to more snow is virtual school, which again, sucks for working parents with young kids. They need to be finding ways to build back in-person learning and not relying on more free labor from parents to meet the obligation of educational hours for the school year.

I 100% agree being a working parent sucks right now. However, teaching is unique in that it is an industry that (with the exception of this one day) has a system in place to cover teachers when they are absent. Please don't blame teachers when they use that system, it fails, and administration decides their only recourse is to close all schools for the day. I promise you the teachers didn't ask for subs trying to shut down APS for a day. The fact that the school system has NOT shut down in the past on days when surrounding districts have PLANNED to be closed but APS is open reinforces that this was a one time system failure.

Now, if you want to say APS administration needs to make a plan to prevent this from happening in the future, I'd agree with you. To that end it would be interesting to see how many teachers at each school were asking for subs. Was it 50% of instructional staff at all schools? Could some schools have been opened but some not? Could Syphax staff have covered some of the classes? Would hundreds of students have had to spend half the day in the cafeteria doing independent work while supervised by the principal and an assistant principal?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think I'm the PP who first said teachers don't make enough to pay for backup care. I didn't mean for this to devolve into whether teachers are paid enough. Its hard for me to listen to complaining from UMC incomes about how they are expected to have back up care for their kids and so teachers should too when 1) UMC incomes earn a lot more than teachers so covering extra expenses should be easier 2) teachers do have a back up care plan in place. the sub system. the sub system failed. I think more than a few people were surprised, no?

I'm not a teacher and I understand this was frustrating after several days of winter related closures, but this is NOT something to blame teachers for.

x1 million

This comment is way too reasonable for DCUM.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t buy that teachers don’t get paid enough for back up childcare. The average teacher salary in Arlington is 80-100k. There is no reason they can not afford childcare care. All other employees from mall workers, grocery workers, sanitation workers, waitresses come to work. They make less than what the teachers make. This is now more about a woke, progressive culture taking over N Virginia to such an extreme level that people are looking out for themselves instead of the greater good and not taking personal responsibility. These people have no sense of professionalism anymore or duty. Dr Duran is a prime example of someone from that woke culture who will put employees first before students because he believes whole heartedly that this school system exists to employ teachers rather than a system made to educate the city’s children.

Well that's not very much money for Arlington and back up child care is available in this area but the services are set up so an employer must purchase slots for their employees to use and then the employees can use the service for a daily fee. Of course there are other options and yes teachers just like other working professionals need to be prepared for instances when they need back up care. For example, many at home daycares don't close on snow days because they don't need to since the provider doesn't need to leave home to work.

1) The sub shortage is due to COVID (increased need for subs and decreased willingness of people to sub). This too shall pass.
2) If in the future the sub system is no longer to be relied upon, then I agree. HOWEVER lets not pretend it isn't a change and that teachers are slackers because their employers had a back up system in place and then that back up system failed.
3) I agree it would have made sense for Syphax to telework, maybe even to call it an additional teacher planning day. But no way is it reasonable to suddenly demand teachers have back up child care when the sub system starts to fail.

When my parent was a teacher they had only 7 days of leave during the school year (sick and personal combined). If my parent needed to miss an additional day for any reason they simply didn't get paid. How many on DCUM have that little leave?

And while I'm thinking about this, why should the job and NOT caring for a sick family member be the priority? Isn't that thinking exactly what is wrong with America's work culture?

What does a sub shortage have to do with back up child care? If a teacher is at a school that is going to open, but their child's school is not, the teacher would need to have back up child care available for their child.

The sub system is the backup child care system, especially on short notice.

But the sub system is set up to have a someone cover for them at work on short notice. Backup childcare would mean having an alternative childcare arrangement so that the employee can go to work. Many people have to figure out their own backup childcare in the scenario that a colleague cannot cover for them at work. Just wanted to point out the difference. I’m sure with short staffing lots of people are having a hard time finding someone to cover them and therefore have to find a school closure camp, family member, neighbor, spouse, etc. to watch their kid(s) while they work. This past Thursday “snow” day I spent $300 (essentially my salary for the day) for 2 kids to attend a snow day camp because I couldn’t take off again after all the leave I used for the previous snow week not to mention the past school year when trying to deal with virtual school. Being a working parent really freaking sucks right now for all of us, not just teachers. But parents don’t seem to be getting the same consideration from APS as teachers. The solution to more snow is virtual school, which again, sucks for working parents with young kids. They need to be finding ways to build back in-person learning and not relying on more free labor from parents to meet the obligation of educational hours for the school year.