Anonymous wrote:Keeping the kids out of school also risks lives. My sister in law works for a non profit. They found a five year- old not in school who had not eaten in five days.

There parent can walk over to their local DC school to pick up food? Which schools still do.
Sounds like child neglect.

Stop trying to make schools responsible for children.

Keeping the kids out of school also risks lives. My sister in law works for a non profit. They found a five year- old not in school who had not eaten in five days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We took the kids abroad to enroll them in school. Everything has been fine. Levels of covid are similar to the U.S. where we are. Few of the schools are closed due to covid, since it does not spread a lot within schools. There is some extra cleaning being done, and opening of windows once per day, but no masks for elementary school students. No one at the school, neither teachers nor students, are worried about covid. The only downside is that it is difficult for teachers to have to wear masks all day. Parents have even been invited inside the school (with masks) for back to school night and parent teacher conferences. To calm down spikes in the virus, the government is shutting down restaurants and bars, which are places that are sources of transmission as opposed to schools.

Sounds amazing. What country is that?

Utopia

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is remarkable that this is even a question. The mayor and chancellor have lost all credibility on their talk of equity and closing the achievement gap. I would not be surprised if this exercise in distanced learning is doing more in 6 months to widen the achievement than the past 30 years in this city. To think that it would be acceptable to keep kids out of school for 18 months is so depressing. Those who are already on the upward side of the gap are going to do relatively fine in distanced learning. It is those students who already are behind who are falling further behind.

What is particularly frustrating is that I have the full expectation that the Chancellor will use this as another reason to divert money from the overpopulated 4 and 5 star schools and throw that money at the problem that the school district has exasperated this year. Because the only possible way of closing the achievement gap now will be to bring down the top.

This! My SN kids are falling through the cracks and the gap is expanding. I've stopped working and turned into a FT teacher for my 3 kids, and it's not good enough. I'm not a qualified teacher, plus it's soooo much better if a qualified professional/not the parent provides the interventions. So I'm killing my relationship with my kids while they fall behind. Two of them cry almost every day because remote therapies aren't working and they hate virtual learning. We're further behind where we were one year ago, and the backslide started when we went virtual in March. It's a constant struggle and we're still losing ground.

And I have a masters degree and spending 10+ hours a day on school and homework. I can't even imagine what it's like for low achieving kids without a parent to spend this kind of time on their education. Meanwhile, parents with non-SN MC/UMC kids can plop them in front of the computer, spending only an hour or two on schoolwork with them and they advance.

This is insanity.

As a parent of two kids with special needs I couldn’t agree more. We feel further behind than a year ago too and every day is a major struggle. Just know you aren’t alone, which I know it feels like some days.

PP here. Thank you so much. It really helps to know we're not alone. This feels so isolating because our struggles are so different from the struggles for families with neurotypical kids so my other parent friends aren't in the same boat. I'm thisclose to a complete breakdown. I'll try to hold it together, but my kids need to go back to in-person school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, schools will be open. I would put money on 5 days a week with aftercare, but at a minimum hybrid.

Virtually all stakeholders are motivated to get kids back in school. Parents need it, employers need it, teachers prefer teaching in-person, many public services rely on in-person school to reach at-risk kids, politicians want to be able to say they've done it, etc. If schools aren't open by next fall, I think we're looking at an actual breakdown of society, both social and economic.

People saying "oh this is the death knell of the public school system" are either religious/private/charter school nuts trying sway public opinion, or belong in a very tiny sliver of the general population for whom longterm homeschooling or switching to private is a genuine option. The vast majority of parents don't have a good alternative to traditional public schools.

Also, and not that anyone asked them, but kids desperately want/need to be back in the classroom. There may be exceptions, but every kid I know would celebrate getting to go back to school at this point.

Not mine. They have had a few in person days at school and both have said how much they prefer DL. This, of course, is why I think they DO need to be back in school, but I'm no going to risk anyone's life over it.

Anonymous wrote:We took the kids abroad to enroll them in school. Everything has been fine. Levels of covid are similar to the U.S. where we are. Few of the schools are closed due to covid, since it does not spread a lot within schools. There is some extra cleaning being done, and opening of windows once per day, but no masks for elementary school students. No one at the school, neither teachers nor students, are worried about covid. The only downside is that it is difficult for teachers to have to wear masks all day. Parents have even been invited inside the school (with masks) for back to school night and parent teacher conferences. To calm down spikes in the virus, the government is shutting down restaurants and bars, which are places that are sources of transmission as opposed to schools.

Sounds amazing. What country is that?

We took the kids abroad to enroll them in school. Everything has been fine. Levels of covid are similar to the U.S. where we are. Few of the schools are closed due to covid, since it does not spread a lot within schools. There is some extra cleaning being done, and opening of windows once per day, but no masks for elementary school students. No one at the school, neither teachers nor students, are worried about covid. The only downside is that it is difficult for teachers to have to wear masks all day. Parents have even been invited inside the school (with masks) for back to school night and parent teacher conferences. To calm down spikes in the virus, the government is shutting down restaurants and bars, which are places that are sources of transmission as opposed to schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I predict self-contained in November, hybrid 2 days a week (optional) in January lasting the rest of the year. And then back to a more normal schedule in the fall if a vaccine is available.

What informs your opinion? Mayor's statements? or familiarity with DCPS leadership or union? Legitimately curious.

PP is the mayor, actually.

Heaven hell us if the mayor is still ‘predicting’ about November.
How about a plan?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is remarkable that this is even a question. The mayor and chancellor have lost all credibility on their talk of equity and closing the achievement gap. I would not be surprised if this exercise in distanced learning is doing more in 6 months to widen the achievement than the past 30 years in this city. To think that it would be acceptable to keep kids out of school for 18 months is so depressing. Those who are already on the upward side of the gap are going to do relatively fine in distanced learning. It is those students who already are behind who are falling further behind.

What is particularly frustrating is that I have the full expectation that the Chancellor will use this as another reason to divert money from the overpopulated 4 and 5 star schools and throw that money at the problem that the school district has exasperated this year. Because the only possible way of closing the achievement gap now will be to bring down the top.

This! My SN kids are falling through the cracks and the gap is expanding. I've stopped working and turned into a FT teacher for my 3 kids, and it's not good enough. I'm not a qualified teacher, plus it's soooo much better if a qualified professional/not the parent provides the interventions. So I'm killing my relationship with my kids while they fall behind. Two of them cry almost every day because remote therapies aren't working and they hate virtual learning. We're further behind where we were one year ago, and the backslide started when we went virtual in March. It's a constant struggle and we're still losing ground.

And I have a masters degree and spending 10+ hours a day on school and homework. I can't even imagine what it's like for low achieving kids without a parent to spend this kind of time on their education. Meanwhile, parents with non-SN MC/UMC kids can plop them in front of the computer, spending only an hour or two on schoolwork with them and they advance.

This is insanity.

As a parent of two kids with special needs I couldn’t agree more. We feel further behind than a year ago too and every day is a major struggle. Just know you aren’t alone, which I know it feels like some days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes. I predict self-contained in November, hybrid 2 days a week (optional) in January lasting the rest of the year. And then back to a more normal schedule in the fall if a vaccine is available.

What informs your opinion? Mayor's statements? or familiarity with DCPS leadership or union? Legitimately curious.

PP is the mayor, actually.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, schools will be open. I would put money on 5 days a week with aftercare, but at a minimum hybrid.

Virtually all stakeholders are motivated to get kids back in school. Parents need it, employers need it, teachers prefer teaching in-person, many public services rely on in-person school to reach at-risk kids, politicians want to be able to say they've done it, etc. If schools aren't open by next fall, I think we're looking at an actual breakdown of society, both social and economic.

People saying "oh this is the death knell of the public school system" are either religious/private/charter school nuts trying sway public opinion, or belong in a very tiny sliver of the general population for whom longterm homeschooling or switching to private is a genuine option. The vast majority of parents don't have a good alternative to traditional public schools.

Also, and not that anyone asked them, but kids desperately want/need to be back in the classroom. There may be exceptions, but every kid I know would celebrate getting to go back to school at this point.

Yes, schools will be open. I would put money on 5 days a week with aftercare, but at a minimum hybrid.

Virtually all stakeholders are motivated to get kids back in school. Parents need it, employers need it, teachers prefer teaching in-person, many public services rely on in-person school to reach at-risk kids, politicians want to be able to say they've done it, etc. If schools aren't open by next fall, I think we're looking at an actual breakdown of society, both social and economic.

People saying "oh this is the death knell of the public school system" are either religious/private/charter school nuts trying sway public opinion, or belong in a very tiny sliver of the general population for whom longterm homeschooling or switching to private is a genuine option. The vast majority of parents don't have a good alternative to traditional public schools.

Also, and not that anyone asked them, but kids desperately want/need to be back in the classroom. There may be exceptions, but every kid I know would celebrate getting to go back to school at this point.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Spring 2022. I think we are in this mode through 2021.

NOOOOOOO... Sorry! Nothing meaningful to add. I work in the school system and what we are doing now is not sustainable. I'd rather go back with strict safety measures. I think as many teachers will quit if we stay in this mode as will quit if we go back. Seriously.

Yes, teachers are unhappy. They are working harder than they've ever worked in their life and they are loosing their students. Their students are in tears daily. Any teacher who cares at all about their students and their students' academic progress and emotional health will advocate hard for getting back to school. I imagine we'll be hybrid after Christmas break but absolutely no later than fall 2021. It is possible we'll be fully in person with masks and no touching rules, special teachers come to classroom rules, eat in your classroom rules in fall 2021.

I’m unhappy but I’m working as hard as usual, I didn’t realize so many teachers aren’t doing so well. Perhaps because I’m a self contained teacher I’m already used to any kind of emergency and have a plan B,C, and D. The new platforms were also very easy for me to figure out. My kids aren’t crying or their parents, of course we all want normal but understand the circumstances.

I imagine hybrid through fall 2021, guess we’ll see. Hope the future isn’t as difficult as I’m imagining.

Are you sure? Just twice we've told my daughter's teacher that she cried though she has cried every single day. My son has cried just a coupe of times and we haven't told his teacher. His work is terribly done and late or missing. So she sees that. I cannot poison my relationship with him by riding him harder than I already am.

It is awful here and I can't imagine teachers don't see this.

Positive. I don’t assign crazy amounts of work or have a million platforms. We have our ‘mindful moments’ and do class team building virtually. Some kids voice they are sad and or stressed and we deal with that. My school especially hired a counselor this year because of Covid and we have our other mental health staff.

I’m not saying it’s perfect but no one is crying in my class. Other students are but students also cry during the regular school year. We teach them it’s ok to feel these emotions and how we are going to get through it together.

Anonymous wrote:I think public schools are done. Working class families really depend on public schools for childcare. They, and their advocates, used to be able to appeal to MC/UMC families who were using the schools. What these families are realizing is that they can switch to a exclusive pod based home schooling system where they can hire a tutor/teacher to watch over a carefully selected group of friends.

Couple that with pressure from conservatives for school choice and the UMC+ families who go the private route and there is not going to be a real push to reopen schools.

Local governments will be able to lower taxes and talk about how distance learning will allow everybody to have access to the same schooling and will result in diversification of neighborhoods and I do not see how schools survive.

You’re absolutely incorrect.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/09/24/covid-parents-school-wisconsin/?utm_campaign=wp_main&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook#comments-wrapper

Maybe this is one reason to keep schools closed. It happens with norovirus, it happens with flu, it happens with strep - parents send their kids to school regardless of whether they are sick and in violation of the medical policies. You know people are going to lie, dose their children with Tylenol and NOT keep them home for 14 days.