Anonymous wrote:What do you think is easier for the teachers? Parents who are totally frazzled, missing stuff and dropping balls because they're trying to multi-task actual jobs? Or a hired caregiver who can give schooling their full attention and not screw things up? Do you think teachers would prefer to come back to a classroom that's 100% below grade level, or a classroom that's 50% below grade level?

Classrooms will either be nearly 100% prepared or nearly 100% below grade level. Parents won’t want to touch mixed-ability schools once this is over.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having my kids fall behind doesn’t help anyone else. I reject your premise, OP.

But I think they won't if influential parents demand better instead of checking out.

What if we compromise. Don't form pods till December and spend three months trying to get your school to deliver a good education to your kids (and everyone else's kids) If it doesn't work and what they are giving you, after all your complaints to the teacher and principal and PTA, is still things like chaotic weekly meetings, busywork worksheets, ed tech, and videos followed by poorly worded online quizzes, then form your pod and educate your own kids. But I really think they will figure out how to do it if they have to. But it won't be cheap so parents are going to have to stay and make them have to.

Absolutely not! I completely reject your premise that delivering quality to my own kids is in any way incompatible with activism on behalf of others or for the quality of DL. It's bizarre that you think under-serving my kids would make a difference to anyone at all. It's not like I can hold their education hostage to extract concessions from the teachers. "Oh noes, high-income parents are letting their kids watch TV, we better provide them some higher-quality stuff!" Said no teacher ever. And also, I'm satisfied with my school's DL right now. I just want to be able to work during the day, so I need to hire someone else to be with the kids. I need to do my actual job now, I can't put it off until December.

You need to stop being so naive about DCPS. It's not like they don't understand that parents want quality. Parents have been demanding better for decades. They do it all the time. "Demand better" is not going to get the job done. The problems are very deeply rooted and require a tremendous amount of time and money to address. A vast quantity of money from the council would help. Maybe you should focus on that.

Look, I was a PTA president at a Title I school-- a very poorly regarded one-- for two years. And I learned that persuading people to under-serve their own child never, ever works. They just won't do it. They'll do all kinds of things as long as their child still gets an education that they perceive as adequate, and as long as you don't ask them to make themselves miserable with too much of a time commitment. But they won't accept a bad education for their own child. Especially if they don't think it will actually benefit any other child. If you want to ask for solidarity, go ahead. But ask for something that will actually make a difference.

Thanks for saying this. I agree.

This. And if you come at them with philosophical stuff or ideas that don't make any sense, they won't want to work with you at all. If you come at them with a specific proposal that makes sense, or ask their support for a specific policy change, they might support it. If you ask them to do something that really plays to their interests, skills, or expertise, they will often jump at the chance and do a great job. So ask for those things. You can push people a little on philosophical stuff, and they'll accept some disadvantage for their child if they think the tradeoffs really are beneficial to others in a significant way. But this BS idea that if everyone underserves their own kid, the school system will suddenly have enough money to do quality DL, will just make people write you off as a nut.

This is just a rehash of all forms of inequality. Some families will always have more. Parents choose private, or charters, move or supplement etc This was happening way before COVID. This is just another form of it. Its going to happen, no one can or will stop it. And as soon as I can get my kid into a pod, I am going to jump at that chance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having my kids fall behind doesn’t help anyone else. I reject your premise, OP.

But I think they won't if influential parents demand better instead of checking out.

What if we compromise. Don't form pods till December and spend three months trying to get your school to deliver a good education to your kids (and everyone else's kids) If it doesn't work and what they are giving you, after all your complaints to the teacher and principal and PTA, is still things like chaotic weekly meetings, busywork worksheets, ed tech, and videos followed by poorly worded online quizzes, then form your pod and educate your own kids. But I really think they will figure out how to do it if they have to. But it won't be cheap so parents are going to have to stay and make them have to.

Absolutely not! I completely reject your premise that delivering quality to my own kids is in any way incompatible with activism on behalf of others or for the quality of DL. It's bizarre that you think under-serving my kids would make a difference to anyone at all. It's not like I can hold their education hostage to extract concessions from the teachers. "Oh noes, high-income parents are letting their kids watch TV, we better provide them some higher-quality stuff!" Said no teacher ever. And also, I'm satisfied with my school's DL right now. I just want to be able to work during the day, so I need to hire someone else to be with the kids. I need to do my actual job now, I can't put it off until December.

You need to stop being so naive about DCPS. It's not like they don't understand that parents want quality. Parents have been demanding better for decades. They do it all the time. "Demand better" is not going to get the job done. The problems are very deeply rooted and require a tremendous amount of time and money to address. A vast quantity of money from the council would help. Maybe you should focus on that.

Look, I was a PTA president at a Title I school-- a very poorly regarded one-- for two years. And I learned that persuading people to under-serve their own child never, ever works. They just won't do it. They'll do all kinds of things as long as their child still gets an education that they perceive as adequate, and as long as you don't ask them to make themselves miserable with too much of a time commitment. But they won't accept a bad education for their own child. Especially if they don't think it will actually benefit any other child. If you want to ask for solidarity, go ahead. But ask for something that will actually make a difference.

Thanks for saying this. I agree.

Anonymous wrote:Pods have a lot of purposes. For me, it is both supplementing the education, but MOST IMPORTANTLY, it is childcare trade with some socialization for the kid. I cannot work and supervise daily education.

So, yes, it is not good that poor kids may be excluded from pods for a variety of reasons. But I can't fix this without demanding schools open childcare, and I don't think they will listen to my demand, so I'm going to have to solve my childcare problem in order to keep my job.

COVID is hurting poor kids. Failure of national leadership is hurting poor kids.

+1

People on these threads have been telling parents to make plans for the fall, take care of their own kids, school isn't childcare, etc. Pods are one of the ways parents are addressing these issues. Working and doing DL in the spring was a nightmare and I was exhausted. It is not sustainable in the fall and therefore I have to outsource by hiring someone to school my kid. So I don't get fired and maintain my sanity.

What do you think is easier for the teachers? Parents who are totally frazzled, missing stuff and dropping balls because they're trying to multi-task actual jobs? Or a hired caregiver who can give schooling their full attention and not screw things up? Do you think teachers would prefer to come back to a classroom that's 100% below grade level, or a classroom that's 50% below grade level?

Corona hurts all kids

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did it ever cross your mind that hiring some childcare to manage the DL would free up my time for this kind of advocacy?

Just join an advocacy group and stop hassling people. All we want is an adequate education and 30 seconds of peace and quiet to do our jobs. The jobs that fund the taxes and donations that pay for what you want. See?

This isn't about joining an advocacy group, it's about not checking out of your school and demanding your school does a good job.

Just a thought. I started this thread because I've been mulling in my head the answer to the question - how does getting my kids what they need hurt other kids. And this is how.

I'm not trying to make people do or don't do things, just to think about it.

And you think this is a new idea unique to DL? Come on.

Agreed. But accelerated and exacerbated. The "regular" kids will get much less than usual and the "pod" kids will get much more.

I just don't think letting my kids fall behind is any kind of solution. The school system does not need even more kids who are below grade level. There are lots of sacrifices and donations I would happily make, but I have to think the tradeoffs are worth it.

I suppose, in my optimism, that I believe if parents in a school stuck together and made demands, kids wouldn't fall behind because we'd get something better. It would cost the school more in time and treasure and innovation, but they'd have no choice if the influential parents, the ones currently joining pods, were making a stink alongside the non-influential ones. It's not the path of least resistance though.

WTF? "Time and treasure"? Like they have some supply of money and extra staff time and they're just holding out on us? Come on. Influential parents ask for things all the time, and the school tells them no, all the time! Because the school has a finite budget and most of the money is allocated to really obvious things already. It seems like you've never actually been involved in a school. It has a budget. They can't just magically get more. At a mostly high-income school parents might be able to put in $100,000 or $200,000 in addition to what they already raise, but it is a DROP IN THE BUCKET compared to the need that exists. You might be able to get some "innovation", but going in there like an oblivious, inexperienced fool who thinks they have infinite money is going to make them not listen to you at all.

Anonymous wrote:I'm sorry I'm not sacrificing my kids for your politics.

so much for BLM...

Pods have a lot of purposes. For me, it is both supplementing the education, but MOST IMPORTANTLY, it is childcare trade with some socialization for the kid. I cannot work and supervise daily education.

So, yes, it is not good that poor kids may be excluded from pods for a variety of reasons. But I can't fix this without demanding schools open childcare, and I don't think they will listen to my demand, so I'm going to have to solve my childcare problem in order to keep my job.

COVID is hurting poor kids. Failure of national leadership is hurting poor kids.

The pod is not the thing hurting the poor kids. You need to flip the dialog and put the focus in the right place. Covid is hurting poor kids. Our inability to get the virus under control is hurting poor kids. Etc. etc. etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Having my kids fall behind doesn’t help anyone else. I reject your premise, OP.

But I think they won't if influential parents demand better instead of checking out.

What if we compromise. Don't form pods till December and spend three months trying to get your school to deliver a good education to your kids (and everyone else's kids) If it doesn't work and what they are giving you, after all your complaints to the teacher and principal and PTA, is still things like chaotic weekly meetings, busywork worksheets, ed tech, and videos followed by poorly worded online quizzes, then form your pod and educate your own kids. But I really think they will figure out how to do it if they have to. But it won't be cheap so parents are going to have to stay and make them have to.

Absolutely not! I completely reject your premise that delivering quality to my own kids is in any way incompatible with activism on behalf of others or for the quality of DL. It's bizarre that you think under-serving my kids would make a difference to anyone at all. It's not like I can hold their education hostage to extract concessions from the teachers. "Oh noes, high-income parents are letting their kids watch TV, we better provide them some higher-quality stuff!" Said no teacher ever. And also, I'm satisfied with my school's DL right now. I just want to be able to work during the day, so I need to hire someone else to be with the kids. I need to do my actual job now, I can't put it off until December.

You need to stop being so naive about DCPS. It's not like they don't understand that parents want quality. Parents have been demanding better for decades. They do it all the time. "Demand better" is not going to get the job done. The problems are very deeply rooted and require a tremendous amount of time and money to address. A vast quantity of money from the council would help. Maybe you should focus on that.

Look, I was a PTA president at a Title I school-- a very poorly regarded one-- for two years. And I learned that persuading people to under-serve their own child never, ever works. They just won't do it. They'll do all kinds of things as long as their child still gets an education that they perceive as adequate, and as long as you don't ask them to make themselves miserable with too much of a time commitment. But they won't accept a bad education for their own child. Especially if they don't think it will actually benefit any other child. If you want to ask for solidarity, go ahead. But ask for something that will actually make a difference.

It is possible to fight for better pubic education and make sure your won child is getting the best education you as a parent can give them.

THANK YOU!!!!!!

OP's argument makes no sense, because many parents supplement learning even when school is regularly in session. My parents had tutors for me 35 years ago, and I went to one of the best public school systems in America at that time. It's just what happens. It doesn't have to do with the teachers or the materials, necessarily. It just has to do with parents wanting the best education for their child.