Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to go back to some sense of normalcy like everyone else, but frankly, as a teacher I don’t trust FCPS to make a sound call that’s protective to us. In case you all forgot, Brabrandt was planning to try and keep schools open.

The idea that we have so much control is laudable at best. Not a single one of these scenarios was developed using teacher input. We often get information until after it’s distributed to families.

I don’t know what the answer is here because I’m not an infectious disease expert. I do know that if my husbands office with 50 people has deemed it to unsafe to be in for the foreseeable future, I can’t see how it’s safe for teachers to be in a small space with 30 plus kids and in a building with thousands.

Are your husband and his co-workers effectively doing their jobs while tele-working? Work is still productive? Business is still good? My guess is yes, hence his office seems the risk of having everyone there unnecessary. If not, lay-offs would have already occurred.

Are you and your coworkers effectively doing your jobs through telework? Productivity is not reduced? All is still good and smooth running?

Not all jobs are conducive to telework. There are plenty of us, myself included, that still need to report to the office even in a pandemic because the type of work we do involves being there. And before you bring up money- my salary is definitely less then most FCPS teachers, nor do I have a lovely pension plan.

I’m all for FCPS moving to a full time professional and established DL program. Moving to the Virtual VA or K12 platform where the teachers there already have a vast amount of DL experience and I know my kids will get appropriate lessons.

That would leave teachers like you out of a job with FCPS but hey, you don’t actually want to work during the pandemic anyway. So win-win all around.

Please move your kid to virtual VA. That would not impact the workforce in FCPS. So these goofy fantasies of teachers being put out of work during a pandemic are silly.

Teaching is much more conducive to telework than any other profession. It’s also the profession it makes the most sense for during times like these.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh please! Online education has been a thing for some time now. It just hasn't been as widespread or popular in the K12 market as it is in college, but it's been in existence and the families and teachers have been just fine.

Frankly, knowing teachers and accepting their authority/leadership is much LESS of an issue with DL. Everyone's there to learn and do their damn work. There's little room for the "Mr. X does like me! Mrs. Y is so mean!"

We'll see. Online education is an educational platform in and of itself. It's not simply a delivery vehicle, which we've seen during this pilot period. When expectations ramp up in Fall, both catching kids up and trying to move them forward in a gradable format, I suspect it's going to be a spectacular failure. I suspect FCPS leadership also knows this. Otherwise, they'd just call for DL right now instead of delaying the decision to July and looking to the Governor for guidance ('air cover').

The students who will need to have their hands held and be caught up in DL would have the same struggles in person.

The kids who would do well in the physical classroom in terms of keeping up will do well with DL.

Frankly DL will eliminate more problems than it will create.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I want to go back to some sense of normalcy like everyone else, but frankly, as a teacher I don’t trust FCPS to make a sound call that’s protective to us. In case you all forgot, Brabrandt was planning to try and keep schools open.

The idea that we have so much control is laudable at best. Not a single one of these scenarios was developed using teacher input. We often get information until after it’s distributed to families.

I don’t know what the answer is here because I’m not an infectious disease expert. I do know that if my husbands office with 50 people has deemed it to unsafe to be in for the foreseeable future, I can’t see how it’s safe for teachers to be in a small space with 30 plus kids and in a building with thousands.

Are your husband and his co-workers effectively doing their jobs while tele-working? Work is still productive? Business is still good? My guess is yes, hence his office seems the risk of having everyone there unnecessary. If not, lay-offs would have already occurred.

Are you and your coworkers effectively doing your jobs through telework? Productivity is not reduced? All is still good and smooth running?

Not all jobs are conducive to telework. There are plenty of us, myself included, that still need to report to the office even in a pandemic because the type of work we do involves being there. And before you bring up money- my salary is definitely less then most FCPS teachers, nor do I have a lovely pension plan.

I’m all for FCPS moving to a full time professional and established DL program. Moving to the Virtual VA or K12 platform where the teachers there already have a vast amount of DL experience and I know my kids will get appropriate lessons.

That would leave teachers like you out of a job with FCPS but hey, you don’t actually want to work during the pandemic anyway. So win-win all around.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh please! Online education has been a thing for some time now. It just hasn't been as widespread or popular in the K12 market as it is in college, but it's been in existence and the families and teachers have been just fine.

Frankly, knowing teachers and accepting their authority/leadership is much LESS of an issue with DL. Everyone's there to learn and do their damn work. There's little room for the "Mr. X does like me! Mrs. Y is so mean!"

We'll see. Online education is an educational platform in and of itself. It's not simply a delivery vehicle, which we've seen during this pilot period. When expectations ramp up in Fall, both catching kids up and trying to move them forward in a gradable format, I suspect it's going to be a spectacular failure. I suspect FCPS leadership also knows this. Otherwise, they'd just call for DL right now instead of delaying the decision to July and looking to the Governor for guidance ('air cover').

The students who will need to have their hands held and be caught up in DL would have the same struggles in person.

The kids who would do well in the physical classroom in terms of keeping up will do well with DL.

Frankly DL will eliminate more problems than it will create.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Oh please! Online education has been a thing for some time now. It just hasn't been as widespread or popular in the K12 market as it is in college, but it's been in existence and the families and teachers have been just fine.

Frankly, knowing teachers and accepting their authority/leadership is much LESS of an issue with DL. Everyone's there to learn and do their damn work. There's little room for the "Mr. X does like me! Mrs. Y is so mean!"

We'll see. Online education is an educational platform in and of itself. It's not simply a delivery vehicle, which we've seen during this pilot period. When expectations ramp up in Fall, both catching kids up and trying to move them forward in a gradable format, I suspect it's going to be a spectacular failure. I suspect FCPS leadership also knows this. Otherwise, they'd just call for DL right now instead of delaying the decision to July and looking to the Governor for guidance ('air cover').

Anonymous wrote:I want to go back to some sense of normalcy like everyone else, but frankly, as a teacher I don’t trust FCPS to make a sound call that’s protective to us. In case you all forgot, Brabrandt was planning to try and keep schools open.

The idea that we have so much control is laudable at best. Not a single one of these scenarios was developed using teacher input. We often get information until after it’s distributed to families.

I don’t know what the answer is here because I’m not an infectious disease expert. I do know that if my husbands office with 50 people has deemed it to unsafe to be in for the foreseeable future, I can’t see how it’s safe for teachers to be in a small space with 30 plus kids and in a building with thousands.

Anonymous wrote:I want to go back to some sense of normalcy like everyone else, but frankly, as a teacher I don’t trust FCPS to make a sound call that’s protective to us. In case you all forgot, Brabrandt was planning to try and keep schools open.

The idea that we have so much control is laudable at best. Not a single one of these scenarios was developed using teacher input. We often get information until after it’s distributed to families.

I don’t know what the answer is here because I’m not an infectious disease expert. I do know that if my husbands office with 50 people has deemed it to unsafe to be in for the foreseeable future, I can’t see how it’s safe for teachers to be in a small space with 30 plus kids and in a building with thousands.

Anonymous wrote:I completely understand why many parents are eager to have schools reopen. I can't imagine trying to manage my own job if I had young children at home. As a teacher, my main concern is social distancing and keeping us all healthy. Every single profession I can think of is going to require everybody to wear a mask. Are all students going to wear a mask? Even if they shrink class sizes to 10-12 kids, I cannot imagine being in my small, cramped windowless classroom with all of those students breathing, talking, laughing. That seems like an unacceptable risk to me. And since I teach high school, I will be in contact with many students throughout the day. I don't know what the answer is, but I do think there needs to be more discussion about the risk to teachers.

Anonymous wrote:I think FCPS could do a lot but accepting an online platform like Virtual Virginia. The curriculum is already there and the platform is already there. The Gov (I know I know) is also beefing it up.

There are other online platforms and curricula that could be investigated. Trying to replicate in person will not work.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp here. I didnt mention taxes at all. You are hearing it loud and clear: parents are appalled at the slipshod job done by FCPS. You own that. Step up like everyone around you is and try to help our country pull through this by doing the best in your profession.

"Clients/Customers" pay. What do you pay teachers to be considered such? My decoding skills are quite good, thank you.

Anonymous wrote:

Oh please! Online education has been a thing for some time now. It just hasn't been as widespread or popular in the K12 market as it is in college, but it's been in existence and the families and teachers have been just fine.

Frankly, knowing teachers and accepting their authority/leadership is much LESS of an issue with DL. Everyone's there to learn and do their damn work. There's little room for the "Mr. X does like me! Mrs. Y is so mean!"