Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Its a real shame that MCPS did absolutely nothing to try to make up the instructional time when the kids really need it now and not at the end of the year. They could have eliminated last week's "professional day" and the rest of the half days for the year. I spoke to a staff member at my daughter's school last week and found out that teachers did not even need to report to the school last Friday, but could "work" from home. I was shocked given how many days the kids have missed. It may not effect the elementary school kids, but the high school students are getting slammed by having the teachers throw the curriculum at them to get through it and it may impact students not having the right amount of time to prepare for AP exams etc. MCPS really messed up and now the kids will pay the price. The kids may have enjoyed playing in the snow, but the reality is that its not as if they had the choice to go to school, it was closed.

Yes, teachers, like many other professionals, are sometimes allowed to telework. I'm not sure why you found this shocking, or why you're putting the "work" in quotation marks.

Because my daughter told me that one of her teachers had mentioned that she was headed off for a long weekend with her husband because she had finished all of her grading for the marking period. I'm not saying that teachers don't have a difficult job because I know they do, but when I get to work from home I actually have to do my work, otherwise I take a vacation day. The high school kids that I know are completely stressed out about the extra heavy workload that has been put on them. I'm not sure how much they are learning and how much they are just regurgitating on a test.

Anonymous wrote:Finally a superintendent with a backbone. Let them go to school six days a week or extend the school day. Maybe next year the whining moms won't demand that schools be closed every time there are more than five flakes of snow.

+1000

Anonymous wrote:Its a real shame that MCPS did absolutely nothing to try to make up the instructional time when the kids really need it now and not at the end of the year. They could have eliminated last week's "professional day" and the rest of the half days for the year. I spoke to a staff member at my daughter's school last week and found out that teachers did not even need to report to the school last Friday, but could "work" from home. I was shocked given how many days the kids have missed. It may not effect the elementary school kids, but the high school students are getting slammed by having the teachers throw the curriculum at them to get through it and it may impact students not having the right amount of time to prepare for AP exams etc. MCPS really messed up and now the kids will pay the price. The kids may have enjoyed playing in the snow, but the reality is that its not as if they had the choice to go to school, it was closed.

Yes, teachers, like many other professionals, are sometimes allowed to telework. I'm not sure why you found this shocking, or why you're putting the "work" in quotation marks.

Its a real shame that MCPS did absolutely nothing to try to make up the instructional time when the kids really need it now and not at the end of the year. They could have eliminated last week's "professional day" and the rest of the half days for the year. I spoke to a staff member at my daughter's school last week and found out that teachers did not even need to report to the school last Friday, but could "work" from home. I was shocked given how many days the kids have missed. It may not effect the elementary school kids, but the high school students are getting slammed by having the teachers throw the curriculum at them to get through it and it may impact students not having the right amount of time to prepare for AP exams etc. MCPS really messed up and now the kids will pay the price. The kids may have enjoyed playing in the snow, but the reality is that its not as if they had the choice to go to school, it was closed.

I love it saves me a week of tuition for summer camp for 2 kids, easily a $600 savings for me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They could add 45 minutes or so to every school day.

I wonder how much extra learning the high school kids will get with their additional 5.6 minutes per class.

Well, since the start and end of classes are usually taken up by transitions, I'd guess an extra 5-6 minutes of solid instruction time would be very helpful.

Anonymous wrote:Thank you Lowery. Make sure to send her an email thanking her!!

I will

Anonymous wrote:They could add 45 minutes or so to every school day.

I wonder how much extra learning the high school kids will get with their additional 5.6 minutes per class.

Anonymous wrote:They should eliminate the specials and cut back on recess. Problem solved.

And other problems created.

Thank you Lowery. Make sure to send her an email thanking her!!

Anonymous wrote:They should eliminate the specials and cut back on recess. Problem solved.

Are you a complete idiot? If not, I assume you are joking.

I am deeply grateful that the state did not just roll over on this issue. I wondered when I saw that they had denied Anne Arundel county's waiver request. You can't have it both ways in life, and you can't be a credible school system that doesn't stand by its own written policies.

And yes, as a 2-career family, I'd be thrilled for one less week of camp to pay for. I already paid for the snow days by losing vacation time and paying for extra babysitting. I usually book at least 8 weeks of the summer by mid-February, but this year I held off because I wondered what might happen with the calendar.

I'm very happy that it was denied!

They could add 45 minutes or so to every school day.

They should eliminate the specials and cut back on recess. Problem solved.