Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TO be fair to Central, a lot of the disorganization is coming from the top. The Mayor. She didn't want distance learning, she didn't want city money spent on technology, she wanted to find private funding for technology, she wanted to ignore COVID and get people back to work, she wanted to ignore the requests of the teachers union, etc. The Chancellor, doing what the Mayor told him to do, tells the Board of Education/City Council that DCPS doesn't need money, that the situation is under control, etc. All roads lead to the Mayor. The Chancellor, if he wants to keep his job, does whatever she tells him to do. Even if it isn't in the best interest of the schools/children. He is completely worthless- the Mayor's mouthpiece.

Central Office staffers are just as confused as the teachers/schools. They are being told different things on a daily basis. Their managers do not know any more information. Everything is changing constantly. The technology team is worthless... in a time when they are most needed to shine. The good ones are working insane hours, are stressed out of their minds, and doing their best to help the situation- to the detriment of their own physical and mental well being. Burn-out is rampant. It is a mess...all the way up the organization and to the top.

So yes, Central Office is problematic. But let us lay the blame squarely where it belongs. The Mayor.

Accurate. Also, can you give schools a break on not having schedules done yet? You may remember the mayor just announced the remote plan 8 days ago which require schools to build entirely new schedule types they have never done before in just a few weeks when they normally have months. Everyone complaining about why they should have schedules already has NO idea how complicated it is. No idea.

What I don't understand is why schools, Central office and the Mayor or whomever didn't spend less time fighting over in-person vrs DL. And just build plans for each concurrently.
It isn't hard make 2 teams- 1) plans DL only outline - then meets with school administrators to figure out how to practically apply that plan. Has a outline of rules, how much how long etc.
AT THE SAME TIME
Team 2 works on the hybrid plan and again meets with schools to figure out how to best apply this
MAYBE 3 that figures out the transition between the two.

ALL of this should have been well under way and ground work figured out in the spring. The summer should have mailed down the details. Not that freaking hard... Just takes actual planning. I mean we live in a city with TONS of government and military... Having a fully vested plan A, B,C shouldn't be a new concept.

I agree. There should have been an A team and a B team planning separately.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TO be fair to Central, a lot of the disorganization is coming from the top. The Mayor. She didn't want distance learning, she didn't want city money spent on technology, she wanted to find private funding for technology, she wanted to ignore COVID and get people back to work, she wanted to ignore the requests of the teachers union, etc. The Chancellor, doing what the Mayor told him to do, tells the Board of Education/City Council that DCPS doesn't need money, that the situation is under control, etc. All roads lead to the Mayor. The Chancellor, if he wants to keep his job, does whatever she tells him to do. Even if it isn't in the best interest of the schools/children. He is completely worthless- the Mayor's mouthpiece.

Central Office staffers are just as confused as the teachers/schools. They are being told different things on a daily basis. Their managers do not know any more information. Everything is changing constantly. The technology team is worthless... in a time when they are most needed to shine. The good ones are working insane hours, are stressed out of their minds, and doing their best to help the situation- to the detriment of their own physical and mental well being. Burn-out is rampant. It is a mess...all the way up the organization and to the top.

So yes, Central Office is problematic. But let us lay the blame squarely where it belongs. The Mayor.

Accurate. Also, can you give schools a break on not having schedules done yet? You may remember the mayor just announced the remote plan 8 days ago which require schools to build entirely new schedule types they have never done before in just a few weeks when they normally have months. Everyone complaining about why they should have schedules already has NO idea how complicated it is. No idea.

What I don't understand is why schools, Central office and the Mayor or whomever didn't spend less time fighting over in-person vrs DL. And just build plans for each concurrently.
It isn't hard make 2 teams- 1) plans DL only outline - then meets with school administrators to figure out how to practically apply that plan. Has a outline of rules, how much how long etc.
AT THE SAME TIME
Team 2 works on the hybrid plan and again meets with schools to figure out how to best apply this
MAYBE 3 that figures out the transition between the two.

ALL of this should have been well under way and ground work figured out in the spring. The summer should have mailed down the details. Not that freaking hard... Just takes actual planning. I mean we live in a city with TONS of government and military... Having a fully vested plan A, B,C shouldn't be a new concept.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TO be fair to Central, a lot of the disorganization is coming from the top. The Mayor. She didn't want distance learning, she didn't want city money spent on technology, she wanted to find private funding for technology, she wanted to ignore COVID and get people back to work, she wanted to ignore the requests of the teachers union, etc. The Chancellor, doing what the Mayor told him to do, tells the Board of Education/City Council that DCPS doesn't need money, that the situation is under control, etc. All roads lead to the Mayor. The Chancellor, if he wants to keep his job, does whatever she tells him to do. Even if it isn't in the best interest of the schools/children. He is completely worthless- the Mayor's mouthpiece.

Central Office staffers are just as confused as the teachers/schools. They are being told different things on a daily basis. Their managers do not know any more information. Everything is changing constantly. The technology team is worthless... in a time when they are most needed to shine. The good ones are working insane hours, are stressed out of their minds, and doing their best to help the situation- to the detriment of their own physical and mental well being. Burn-out is rampant. It is a mess...all the way up the organization and to the top.

So yes, Central Office is problematic. But let us lay the blame squarely where it belongs. The Mayor.

The Mayor's plan sounded pretty good to me. A hybrid model if you want it or distance learning if you do not. The blame seems to fall on WTU for preventing the Mayor from staffing schools.

The WTU did NOT prevent the Mayor from staffing schools. All they requested was for the district to meet CDC requirements for a safe opening. The Mayor was unable to provide any assurance at all that the opening would be safe. And before anyone mentions other countries, daycares, etc, please note that education has been underfunded for decades and you can’t just scale up what works in a small organization to DCPS. If you really want to go up the chain of command, start with the federal government. Blaming teachers is both ridiculous and cruel.

The WTU represents teachers and not students. WTU requiring schools to be safe for students is not their fight. With minimal changes in the environment, teachers can be safe even if every child is infected. They need PPE and the ability to remove students that refuse to wear masks and maintain physical distance from the teacher. Teachers are being overly sensitive to their risks and are biased because they often need childcare for their own families. While I would not send my child to school regardless of the precautions put in place, the lack of that option is purely because of WTU.

No the lack of that option is because of the virus. The WTU does not control Maryland or Virginia schools. Virginia schools don’t even have a union. Bowser was NOT going to be the only school in the DMV to open. It doesn’t matter what the WTU said.

Why not? It would have signalled her willingness to make a tough decision to help the massive numbers of DC kids who are at high risk of experiencing disastrous consequences of being out of school. Kids who are more likely to get covid anyway because their parents are essential workers. Our case numbers are lower in DC than they are in some other jurisdictions. She's a coward.

The virus doesn't control schools, either.

She could have appointed local neighborhood deputy chancellors or allowed each school to decide for itself to open on a hybrid schedule. There are so many things she could have done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TO be fair to Central, a lot of the disorganization is coming from the top. The Mayor. She didn't want distance learning, she didn't want city money spent on technology, she wanted to find private funding for technology, she wanted to ignore COVID and get people back to work, she wanted to ignore the requests of the teachers union, etc. The Chancellor, doing what the Mayor told him to do, tells the Board of Education/City Council that DCPS doesn't need money, that the situation is under control, etc. All roads lead to the Mayor. The Chancellor, if he wants to keep his job, does whatever she tells him to do. Even if it isn't in the best interest of the schools/children. He is completely worthless- the Mayor's mouthpiece.

Central Office staffers are just as confused as the teachers/schools. They are being told different things on a daily basis. Their managers do not know any more information. Everything is changing constantly. The technology team is worthless... in a time when they are most needed to shine. The good ones are working insane hours, are stressed out of their minds, and doing their best to help the situation- to the detriment of their own physical and mental well being. Burn-out is rampant. It is a mess...all the way up the organization and to the top.

So yes, Central Office is problematic. But let us lay the blame squarely where it belongs. The Mayor.

Accurate. Also, can you give schools a break on not having schedules done yet? You may remember the mayor just announced the remote plan 8 days ago which require schools to build entirely new schedule types they have never done before in just a few weeks when they normally have months. Everyone complaining about why they should have schedules already has NO idea how complicated it is. No idea.

Anonymous wrote:TO be fair to Central, a lot of the disorganization is coming from the top. The Mayor. She didn't want distance learning, she didn't want city money spent on technology, she wanted to find private funding for technology, she wanted to ignore COVID and get people back to work, she wanted to ignore the requests of the teachers union, etc. The Chancellor, doing what the Mayor told him to do, tells the Board of Education/City Council that DCPS doesn't need money, that the situation is under control, etc. All roads lead to the Mayor. The Chancellor, if he wants to keep his job, does whatever she tells him to do. Even if it isn't in the best interest of the schools/children. He is completely worthless- the Mayor's mouthpiece.

Central Office staffers are just as confused as the teachers/schools. They are being told different things on a daily basis. Their managers do not know any more information. Everything is changing constantly. The technology team is worthless... in a time when they are most needed to shine. The good ones are working insane hours, are stressed out of their minds, and doing their best to help the situation- to the detriment of their own physical and mental well being. Burn-out is rampant. It is a mess...all the way up the organization and to the top.

So yes, Central Office is problematic. But let us lay the blame squarely where it belongs. The Mayor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Massively happy we've moved to a charter. Even if it was perfect, large school systems are just not going to be able to pivot the way small schools can.

This! So happy to be at a Charter where they moving quickly based on changed circumstances and adapting. No school system the size of DCPS (whether well run or not, and I don't think DCPS central has done a good job) could maneuver as quickly as a Charter with only 1 or 2 schools to manage.

Pointless post

I thought the point was pretty clear, actually. It is easier to change course on a speedboat than a cruise ship. Do you need me to draw you a map?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Massively happy we've moved to a charter. Even if it was perfect, large school systems are just not going to be able to pivot the way small schools can.

This! So happy to be at a Charter where they moving quickly based on changed circumstances and adapting. No school system the size of DCPS (whether well run or not, and I don't think DCPS central has done a good job) could maneuver as quickly as a Charter with only 1 or 2 schools to manage.

Pointless post

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TO be fair to Central, a lot of the disorganization is coming from the top. The Mayor. She didn't want distance learning, she didn't want city money spent on technology, she wanted to find private funding for technology, she wanted to ignore COVID and get people back to work, she wanted to ignore the requests of the teachers union, etc. The Chancellor, doing what the Mayor told him to do, tells the Board of Education/City Council that DCPS doesn't need money, that the situation is under control, etc. All roads lead to the Mayor. The Chancellor, if he wants to keep his job, does whatever she tells him to do. Even if it isn't in the best interest of the schools/children. He is completely worthless- the Mayor's mouthpiece.

Central Office staffers are just as confused as the teachers/schools. They are being told different things on a daily basis. Their managers do not know any more information. Everything is changing constantly. The technology team is worthless... in a time when they are most needed to shine. The good ones are working insane hours, are stressed out of their minds, and doing their best to help the situation- to the detriment of their own physical and mental well being. Burn-out is rampant. It is a mess...all the way up the organization and to the top.

So yes, Central Office is problematic. But let us lay the blame squarely where it belongs. The Mayor.

The Mayor's plan sounded pretty good to me. A hybrid model if you want it or distance learning if you do not. The blame seems to fall on WTU for preventing the Mayor from staffing schools.

The WTU did NOT prevent the Mayor from staffing schools. All they requested was for the district to meet CDC requirements for a safe opening. The Mayor was unable to provide any assurance at all that the opening would be safe. And before anyone mentions other countries, daycares, etc, please note that education has been underfunded for decades and you can’t just scale up what works in a small organization to DCPS. If you really want to go up the chain of command, start with the federal government. Blaming teachers is both ridiculous and cruel.

The WTU represents teachers and not students. WTU requiring schools to be safe for students is not their fight. With minimal changes in the environment, teachers can be safe even if every child is infected. They need PPE and the ability to remove students that refuse to wear masks and maintain physical distance from the teacher. Teachers are being overly sensitive to their risks and are biased because they often need childcare for their own families. While I would not send my child to school regardless of the precautions put in place, the lack of that option is purely because of WTU.

No the lack of that option is because of the virus. The WTU does not control Maryland or Virginia schools. Virginia schools don’t even have a union. Bowser was NOT going to be the only school in the DMV to open. It doesn’t matter what the WTU said.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TO be fair to Central, a lot of the disorganization is coming from the top. The Mayor. She didn't want distance learning, she didn't want city money spent on technology, she wanted to find private funding for technology, she wanted to ignore COVID and get people back to work, she wanted to ignore the requests of the teachers union, etc. The Chancellor, doing what the Mayor told him to do, tells the Board of Education/City Council that DCPS doesn't need money, that the situation is under control, etc. All roads lead to the Mayor. The Chancellor, if he wants to keep his job, does whatever she tells him to do. Even if it isn't in the best interest of the schools/children. He is completely worthless- the Mayor's mouthpiece.

Central Office staffers are just as confused as the teachers/schools. They are being told different things on a daily basis. Their managers do not know any more information. Everything is changing constantly. The technology team is worthless... in a time when they are most needed to shine. The good ones are working insane hours, are stressed out of their minds, and doing their best to help the situation- to the detriment of their own physical and mental well being. Burn-out is rampant. It is a mess...all the way up the organization and to the top.

So yes, Central Office is problematic. But let us lay the blame squarely where it belongs. The Mayor.

The Mayor's plan sounded pretty good to me. A hybrid model if you want it or distance learning if you do not. The blame seems to fall on WTU for preventing the Mayor from staffing schools.

The WTU did NOT prevent the Mayor from staffing schools. All they requested was for the district to meet CDC requirements for a safe opening. The Mayor was unable to provide any assurance at all that the opening would be safe. And before anyone mentions other countries, daycares, etc, please note that education has been underfunded for decades and you can’t just scale up what works in a small organization to DCPS. If you really want to go up the chain of command, start with the federal government. Blaming teachers is both ridiculous and cruel.

The WTU represents teachers and not students. WTU requiring schools to be safe for students is not their fight. With minimal changes in the environment, teachers can be safe even if every child is infected. They need PPE and the ability to remove students that refuse to wear masks and maintain physical distance from the teacher. Teachers are being overly sensitive to their risks and are biased because they often need childcare for their own families. While I would not send my child to school regardless of the precautions put in place, the lack of that option is purely because of WTU.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TO be fair to Central, a lot of the disorganization is coming from the top. The Mayor. She didn't want distance learning, she didn't want city money spent on technology, she wanted to find private funding for technology, she wanted to ignore COVID and get people back to work, she wanted to ignore the requests of the teachers union, etc. The Chancellor, doing what the Mayor told him to do, tells the Board of Education/City Council that DCPS doesn't need money, that the situation is under control, etc. All roads lead to the Mayor. The Chancellor, if he wants to keep his job, does whatever she tells him to do. Even if it isn't in the best interest of the schools/children. He is completely worthless- the Mayor's mouthpiece.

Central Office staffers are just as confused as the teachers/schools. They are being told different things on a daily basis. Their managers do not know any more information. Everything is changing constantly. The technology team is worthless... in a time when they are most needed to shine. The good ones are working insane hours, are stressed out of their minds, and doing their best to help the situation- to the detriment of their own physical and mental well being. Burn-out is rampant. It is a mess...all the way up the organization and to the top.

So yes, Central Office is problematic. But let us lay the blame squarely where it belongs. The Mayor.

The Mayor's plan sounded pretty good to me. A hybrid model if you want it or distance learning if you do not. The blame seems to fall on WTU for preventing the Mayor from staffing schools.

The WTU did NOT prevent the Mayor from staffing schools. All they requested was for the district to meet CDC requirements for a safe opening. The Mayor was unable to provide any assurance at all that the opening would be safe. And before anyone mentions other countries, daycares, etc, please note that education has been underfunded for decades and you can’t just scale up what works in a small organization to DCPS. If you really want to go up the chain of command, start with the federal government. Blaming teachers is both ridiculous and cruel.

The WTU represents teachers and not students. WTU requiring schools to be safe for students is not their fight. With minimal changes in the environment, teachers can be safe even if every child is infected. They need PPE and the ability to remove students that refuse to wear masks and maintain physical distance from the teacher. Teachers are being overly sensitive to their risks and are biased because they often need childcare for their own families. While I would not send my child to school regardless of the precautions put in place, the lack of that option is purely because of WTU.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Massively happy we've moved to a charter. Even if it was perfect, large school systems are just not going to be able to pivot the way small schools can.

This! So happy to be at a Charter where they moving quickly based on changed circumstances and adapting. No school system the size of DCPS (whether well run or not, and I don't think DCPS central has done a good job) could maneuver as quickly as a Charter with only 1 or 2 schools to manage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TO be fair to Central, a lot of the disorganization is coming from the top. The Mayor. She didn't want distance learning, she didn't want city money spent on technology, she wanted to find private funding for technology, she wanted to ignore COVID and get people back to work, she wanted to ignore the requests of the teachers union, etc. The Chancellor, doing what the Mayor told him to do, tells the Board of Education/City Council that DCPS doesn't need money, that the situation is under control, etc. All roads lead to the Mayor. The Chancellor, if he wants to keep his job, does whatever she tells him to do. Even if it isn't in the best interest of the schools/children. He is completely worthless- the Mayor's mouthpiece.

Central Office staffers are just as confused as the teachers/schools. They are being told different things on a daily basis. Their managers do not know any more information. Everything is changing constantly. The technology team is worthless... in a time when they are most needed to shine. The good ones are working insane hours, are stressed out of their minds, and doing their best to help the situation- to the detriment of their own physical and mental well being. Burn-out is rampant. It is a mess...all the way up the organization and to the top.

So yes, Central Office is problematic. But let us lay the blame squarely where it belongs. The Mayor.

The Mayor's plan sounded pretty good to me. A hybrid model if you want it or distance learning if you do not. The blame seems to fall on WTU for preventing the Mayor from staffing schools.

The WTU did NOT prevent the Mayor from staffing schools. All they requested was for the district to meet CDC requirements for a safe opening. The Mayor was unable to provide any assurance at all that the opening would be safe. And before anyone mentions other countries, daycares, etc, please note that education has been underfunded for decades and you can’t just scale up what works in a small organization to DCPS. If you really want to go up the chain of command, start with the federal government. Blaming teachers is both ridiculous and cruel.

The WTU represents teachers and not students. WTU requiring schools to be safe for students is not their fight. With minimal changes in the environment, teachers can be safe even if every child is infected. They need PPE and the ability to remove students that refuse to wear masks and maintain physical distance from the teacher. Teachers are being overly sensitive to their risks and are biased because they often need childcare for their own families. While I would not send my child to school regardless of the precautions put in place, the lack of that option is purely because of WTU.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:TO be fair to Central, a lot of the disorganization is coming from the top. The Mayor. She didn't want distance learning, she didn't want city money spent on technology, she wanted to find private funding for technology, she wanted to ignore COVID and get people back to work, she wanted to ignore the requests of the teachers union, etc. The Chancellor, doing what the Mayor told him to do, tells the Board of Education/City Council that DCPS doesn't need money, that the situation is under control, etc. All roads lead to the Mayor. The Chancellor, if he wants to keep his job, does whatever she tells him to do. Even if it isn't in the best interest of the schools/children. He is completely worthless- the Mayor's mouthpiece.

Central Office staffers are just as confused as the teachers/schools. They are being told different things on a daily basis. Their managers do not know any more information. Everything is changing constantly. The technology team is worthless... in a time when they are most needed to shine. The good ones are working insane hours, are stressed out of their minds, and doing their best to help the situation- to the detriment of their own physical and mental well being. Burn-out is rampant. It is a mess...all the way up the organization and to the top.

So yes, Central Office is problematic. But let us lay the blame squarely where it belongs. The Mayor.

The Mayor's plan sounded pretty good to me. A hybrid model if you want it or distance learning if you do not. The blame seems to fall on WTU for preventing the Mayor from staffing schools.

The WTU did NOT prevent the Mayor from staffing schools. All they requested was for the district to meet CDC requirements for a safe opening. The Mayor was unable to provide any assurance at all that the opening would be safe. And before anyone mentions other countries, daycares, etc, please note that education has been underfunded for decades and you can’t just scale up what works in a small organization to DCPS. If you really want to go up the chain of command, start with the federal government. Blaming teachers is both ridiculous and cruel.

Anonymous wrote:Massively happy we've moved to a charter. Even if it was perfect, large school systems are just not going to be able to pivot the way small schools can.