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Anonymous wrote:The first graders are going to be fine. Yes, last year sucked but catching up K and 1st grade work isn’t going to be a big problem. I’m thankful I didn’t have an older child that was missing more advanced classes.

-parent of a 1st grader

The older kids are fine. Their teachers actually taught their full curriculum last year. And they already know how to function in a school environment.

Lmao! No one taught or learned the “full curriculum” last year, and no one learned anything for the last 1/3rd of 2020. No grade is fine.

My 8th grader is 100% fine, not behind, not struggling.

My 6th grade DD is 100% fine academically as well. It's been a rough transition for the whole school behaviorally, per the principal.

Yeah. Its sad when the discipline of the children is left up to the parents for 18 months, and this is the result. Previous generations of parents at least had behavioral expectations for their kids, and would have been upset at the child if they misbehaved at school, rather than blame the school.

Yeah, definitely the parents’ fault that young kids are having trouble with behaving appropriately in a classroom setting after being deprived of one for 18 months.

These kids are having trouble behaving in every setting including at home. Parents sometimes bring in their kids for conferences and then you can see who rules the roost at home (hint: it's not the parents).

Some kids literally haven’t heard the word NO in 18 months and it shows.

That is literally all they have heard. Can I go to my friend’s house and play? Can I go to school? Can I play basketball? Can I go ice skating? Gymnastics? Birthday party? Answer to all: NO.

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Anonymous wrote:I think schools would've stayed open if this pandemic had hit 30 years ago but now we have too many people who love to sue about everything. It probably took the schools so long to open so they could try to cover their asses in case of outbreaks. The testing waivers alone probably took months to come up with.

Parents should be suing schools for the developmental issues associated with 5 year olds being forced to sit in front of a screen for hours every day.

Many kids are on screens all day on non-school days. What's the difference?

You clearly didnt have a 5 yr old last year. No 5 yr old is ever on a screen all day long and even if they were on non-school days, this thread is not about how kids spend their weekends. Move along to a post that applies to you.

How do you know this? Many parents admit that their kids are on screens all day. They tell teachers this during conferences. Just because your kids aren't on screens all day doesn't mean other kids are not. I had a 1st grader last year who was online from 8-11:30 and 12:30-3:00 for school.

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Anonymous wrote:The first graders are going to be fine. Yes, last year sucked but catching up K and 1st grade work isn’t going to be a big problem. I’m thankful I didn’t have an older child that was missing more advanced classes.

-parent of a 1st grader

The older kids are fine. Their teachers actually taught their full curriculum last year. And they already know how to function in a school environment.

Lmao! No one taught or learned the “full curriculum” last year, and no one learned anything for the last 1/3rd of 2020. No grade is fine.

My 8th grader is 100% fine, not behind, not struggling.

My 6th grade DD is 100% fine academically as well. It's been a rough transition for the whole school behaviorally, per the principal.

Yeah. Its sad when the discipline of the children is left up to the parents for 18 months, and this is the result. Previous generations of parents at least had behavioral expectations for their kids, and would have been upset at the child if they misbehaved at school, rather than blame the school.

Look, I had a full-time nanny and kids who did in-person school all of last year, but I'm also not obtuse or rude enough to now acknowledge that many people struggled with having their kids home last year and many people cut corners in various areas just to survive. Blasting parents for not doing a better job disciplining their children last year is disgusting, and you should be ashamed of yourself.

We also need to talk about the emotional issues, not just academic. So many kids developed anxiety last year and don't know how to handle being around a lot of kids after being isolated for over a year. It's a huge problem.

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Anonymous wrote:I think schools would've stayed open if this pandemic had hit 30 years ago but now we have too many people who love to sue about everything. It probably took the schools so long to open so they could try to cover their asses in case of outbreaks. The testing waivers alone probably took months to come up with.

Parents should be suing schools for the developmental issues associated with 5 year olds being forced to sit in front of a screen for hours every day.

And you’ve clearly illustrated the PP’s point. The school district would have been fielding complaints and lawsuits when kids got sicked, quarantine, or died. They would be fielding lawsuits from students in quarantine or with medical issues and thus forced to receive poor DL because everyone one was focusing on others. Last year was a complicated non perfected time. MCPS has acknowledged this over and over and noted that they were trying their best to keep kids and staff safe and deliver education in an unprecedented time. And now that are trying to do the same and help kids and families recover. But it seems DCUM wants blood from a stone.

I just feel sad for the kids. I have a 1st grader and 4th grader. My kids had tutors throughout last year, which I am very thankful for. I sat with my kinder kid through every class and worked with him on reading/writing/math throughout the day. I still don't think my kids are where they would have been otherwise, but they are fine academically.

All that being said, it was NOT easy for us or them. We spent nearly $700 a month on tutoring. Than additional money on workbooks or worksheets or learning materials. My husband took off work every Wednesday and I took off work every Friday until the my agency finally permitted emergency leave and I took 2-3 days off a week depending on the week.

We were extremely lucky to be able to do this and even though we had all these advantages it was still so incredibly hard. WE fought more with the kids. My husband and I still had the same amount of work in a reduced time. We were all under a lot of stress and not our best selves emotionally.

I don't blame other parents for not having the privilege to do what we were able to do. At our school lots of parents struggled with meeting basic needs and certainly didn't have the ability to take off time during the week to educate their kids. Even parents who are better off financially not everyone has a job that lets them take time off or has a job where they can work with their kid throughout the day.

I don't think there is reason to blame anyone for the way things our now. Blaming isn't going to solve anything. The only thing we can do is try to fix things now. Schools need more resources so that they can address learning losses. Schools needs more counselors so they can address emotional issues. Heck parents probably need more emotional support too.

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Anonymous wrote:If you are such an academically superior specimen and we all need to learn from you, why are you a substitute teacher?

You need to work on your reading comp if that is what you got from my post. The reason I mentioned I was a substitute was to communicate that I’ve been in all grade levels this year (K-5) and first grade is struggling the most (followed closely by second grade.) I’m not saying anyone should learn from me (???) but if I had a first grader I would want to know what a hot mess the classroom is right now. I’m scared to suggest supplementing because everyone is really hostile, but I personally would be supplementing heavily my first or second grader this year. I absolutely agree that virtual schooling did not affect all grades/ages equally.

I really am trying to help. I work for $15/hour - I’m not there for the money.

New poster here, thanks OP, your post was really helpful and interesting. Not sure why you are getting flamed for the adhd comment and getting so many aggressive responses. I have a kid with learning disability and I totally understood what you meant. My kids are in 1st and 3rd grade. I am taking your Reco to supplement, it comforts me in what I was leaning towards.

And good luck with your career choices! It is nice to have caring substitutes but with such low pay I understand why you’d rather pack groceries

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Anonymous wrote:I think schools would've stayed open if this pandemic had hit 30 years ago but now we have too many people who love to sue about everything. It probably took the schools so long to open so they could try to cover their asses in case of outbreaks. The testing waivers alone probably took months to come up with.

Parents should be suing schools for the developmental issues associated with 5 year olds being forced to sit in front of a screen for hours every day.

Many kids are on screens all day on non-school days. What's the difference?

You clearly didnt have a 5 yr old last year. No 5 yr old is ever on a screen all day long and even if they were on non-school days, this thread is not about how kids spend their weekends. Move along to a post that applies to you.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think schools would've stayed open if this pandemic had hit 30 years ago but now we have too many people who love to sue about everything. It probably took the schools so long to open so they could try to cover their asses in case of outbreaks. The testing waivers alone probably took months to come up with.

Parents should be suing schools for the developmental issues associated with 5 year olds being forced to sit in front of a screen for hours every day.

Many kids are on screens all day on non-school days. What's the difference?

Umm, many teenagers drink/smoke pot but if the school district encouraged/required mine to do so I would absolutely sue them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think schools would've stayed open if this pandemic had hit 30 years ago but now we have too many people who love to sue about everything. It probably took the schools so long to open so they could try to cover their asses in case of outbreaks. The testing waivers alone probably took months to come up with.

Parents should be suing schools for the developmental issues associated with 5 year olds being forced to sit in front of a screen for hours every day.

Many kids are on screens all day on non-school days. What's the difference?

Anonymous wrote:I think schools would've stayed open if this pandemic had hit 30 years ago but now we have too many people who love to sue about everything. It probably took the schools so long to open so they could try to cover their asses in case of outbreaks. The testing waivers alone probably took months to come up with.

Parents should be suing schools for the developmental issues associated with 5 year olds being forced to sit in front of a screen for hours every day.

I think schools would've stayed open if this pandemic had hit 30 years ago but now we have too many people who love to sue about everything. It probably took the schools so long to open so they could try to cover their asses in case of outbreaks. The testing waivers alone probably took months to come up with.

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Anonymous wrote:This thread is so unforgiving of parents and families who were going through sheer hell before vaccines were widely available. DC's kindergarten teacher went to certain students homes several times a week to ensure they had food and learning materials and tutored them outside on the playground. And even with that amount of effort (which is absolutely above and beyond what a teacher needed to do) students still could not keep up. It is not parents' fault that they work several in-person jobs. And the relative who is watching several kids during the day cannot be expected to help with online school. If I were that relative, I would absolutely be relying on tablet-care.

Young kids are very resilient and I hope this shakes out okay for them in the coming years.

It absolutely is the parents responsibility to provide suitable care for their child, either themselves or someone capable of more than “tablet-care.” It’s called being a parent.

Well, when childcare in the form of school is suddenly no longer available, what then, genius?

Plenty of parents RELIED on public schools to care for their children, which is completely reasonable. When that was no longer an option here, parents did what they had to do. And for many, it came down to providing the basics of care (shelter, food) over being a full-time paraeducator for Zoom "school." So, yeah, this year is hard for many young kids. That's what happens when you have communities that place children at the bottom of the priority list.

It’s not the communities job to care for these children. It’s their parents job. I get that school served at childcare, but if that’s unavailable, parents need to step up.

Umm, yes communities do have certain obligations to their constituencies that are (or at least should be) part of social contract which was broken in 2020. As parents for many of us the school system is a huge part of our calculus as we decide which community to join, contribute to and pay taxes to and the receipt of free in person schooling in return has long been a mainstay benefit provided to parents that enables many of us to be productive members of said community. If the government suddenly announced that they were ceasing all social security payments for 18 months, but for some reason parents are expected to just take it on the chin and pay $20,000-$30,000 + in unanticipated childcare costs because that social contract was broken.

This is exactly what European countries understood and why they kept schools open, but what for whatever reason eludes American liberals.

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Anonymous wrote:Thank you for subbing! We NEED you!

+1000. I don’t know why so many people are being nasty to OP.

Education begins at home. I have a niece in 1st and a nephew in 3rd. They had a father working in COVID wards and a mother WFH in a high-stress job. They were put through Kumon to supplement the poor DL and they’re perfectly fine. Other parents chose not to do this and they’re being defensive. And don’t whine to me about their privilege. Many of you have the same privilege yet you failed your kids.

Perhaps because OP was being nasty about young kids and their parents.

Funny, I have a kid with ADHD that was undiagnosed until he returned in person at the end of second grade. I didn’t read OP’s post as faulting the parents at all (which is what the poster above is doing), but as a comment on what a massive and consequential policy failure it was not to treat teachers as essential workers and allow schools to remain closed for 1.5 years. I thought the nasty responses were likely from defensive teachers.

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Anonymous wrote:Not at all surprised to hear that some kids are really struggling to be back in school. Not everyone had parents who could work from home or dedicate hours during the workday to help them with virtual school. There was a kid in my 2nd grader’s class last year who had to do virtual school from his mother’s car. FROM THE CAR. Another kid in the same class was in a different location every day, it seemed, depending on her parents’ work schedule. There were other kids who sort of just disappeared and never logged on. Who knows what their home situation was last year.

So yeah, some kids probably didn’t hear the word “no” very much last year, or had way too much screen time. Maybe that was the best the parents could do given their situation. Hell, some kids have lost family members to COVID.

It’s ironic that we have teachers here saying “I can’t do this, it’s too hard” who are simultaneously blasting parents for not doing more last year when juggling their kids’ virtual school with full time jobs of their own.

DP here. We are blaming the behavioral issues on the parents. If it was just learning loss I think that would be easier to understand. But it’s the abysmal behavior too.

It’s two sides of the same coin. It wasn’t business as usual for most families. Parents were scrambling trying to hold down full time jobs while having to tend to their children at home when the world shut down last year. Some parents were essential workers who had to report to work as normal and had to find whatever child care they could because day cares were closed. Many parents weren’t readily available for their children because of the circumstances. Of course this will impact kids’ behavior. Remember when the parks and playgrounds were closed for months? Remember when the zoo, museums, and all the things that kids would typically do were closed? Kids endured a full year without normal experiences and interactions with their peers. But sure, blame parents.

I think most parents did the best they could under the circumstances. Blaming parents for all of these issues is a vast oversimplification and provides an easy scapegoat.

This.

I get it. We all want to blame someone. Teachers want to blame parents, parents want to blame teachers. Reality is that this was an extremely challenging time for everyone, and most of us were/are doing the absolute best we could.

Instead of placing blame and arguing, it would be nice if we could unite to help our kids, who have suffered more than us. If we just acknowledged it was a tough situation and showed some compassion, we could actually help our children.