Anonymous wrote:APS admin here. What makes me scared is the plan for grading equity. How are kids going to learn to take responsibility if we take away all deadlines and just let them redo everything over and over?

Parent here. This already happens in APS. It has been rampant since the initial COVID shutdown.

Anonymous wrote:Still no answer to what he has fixed…

He's improved the literacy curriculum, is adding intensified classes in middle school, and is raising teacher pay?

Still no answer to what he has fixed…

If I were you, I’d let this go. You’re not going to get any traction with it, and I think your anger is really displaced. The pandemic sucks, but we’ve all got to deal with it.

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS teacher here- Dr Duran is great. He is demonstrating that he is committed to retaining good teachers and he is repeatedly shown that he is hearing feedback from teachers loud and clear. He has an impossible job with some of the toughest parents in the DMV. He is never going to make everyone happy and of course, in hindsight, APS should have handled certain aspects of the pandemic differently. But he is an intelligent, compassionate and forward-thinking guy. I don’t think it’s fair to tear him down before he has gotten a chance to focus on things besides Covid.

It was decided in August 2020 that virtual school for all grades was going to be the solution to the pandemic and here we are in 2022 where we are still fretting over whether school will go virtual again. No differentiation in planning contingencies for the pre-k to 2nd and special needs students vs. older kids. Actually we haven’t had much communicated to us at all about how possible staffing shortages will be handled. I fully expect APS to be caught with its pants down and canceling school with 12 hours notice with no plan in place. I’m not sure how any of this is forward thinking.

Duran is not fretting; YOU/parents are fretting.

That's because he doesn't care if kids learn anything. He cares about staying within budget and following adjacent school districts. That's it.

Oh joy. More irrational tantrums.

Irrational? Explain his plan for addressing learning loss beyond Lexia and Dreambox? Oh right, he doesn't have one.

Of course they are doing more. Do you even have a kid in APS right now?

Individual teachers are doing what they can, but its piecemeal and APS has no actual plan. Perhaps you could share a link to Duran's grand plan?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS teacher here- Dr Duran is great. He is demonstrating that he is committed to retaining good teachers and he is repeatedly shown that he is hearing feedback from teachers loud and clear. He has an impossible job with some of the toughest parents in the DMV. He is never going to make everyone happy and of course, in hindsight, APS should have handled certain aspects of the pandemic differently. But he is an intelligent, compassionate and forward-thinking guy. I don’t think it’s fair to tear him down before he has gotten a chance to focus on things besides Covid.

It was decided in August 2020 that virtual school for all grades was going to be the solution to the pandemic and here we are in 2022 where we are still fretting over whether school will go virtual again. No differentiation in planning contingencies for the pre-k to 2nd and special needs students vs. older kids. Actually we haven’t had much communicated to us at all about how possible staffing shortages will be handled. I fully expect APS to be caught with its pants down and canceling school with 12 hours notice with no plan in place. I’m not sure how any of this is forward thinking.

Duran is not fretting; YOU/parents are fretting.

That's because he doesn't care if kids learn anything. He cares about staying within budget and following adjacent school districts. That's it.

Oh joy. More irrational tantrums.

Irrational? Explain his plan for addressing learning loss beyond Lexia and Dreambox? Oh right, he doesn't have one.

Of course they are doing more. Do you even have a kid in APS right now?

Seriously! These APE soundbites are tired. My kids are doing amazingly well this year (elementary and middle), we're seeing tons of pull outs for kids, teachers are helping on lunch breaks, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS teacher here- Dr Duran is great. He is demonstrating that he is committed to retaining good teachers and he is repeatedly shown that he is hearing feedback from teachers loud and clear. He has an impossible job with some of the toughest parents in the DMV. He is never going to make everyone happy and of course, in hindsight, APS should have handled certain aspects of the pandemic differently. But he is an intelligent, compassionate and forward-thinking guy. I don’t think it’s fair to tear him down before he has gotten a chance to focus on things besides Covid.

It was decided in August 2020 that virtual school for all grades was going to be the solution to the pandemic and here we are in 2022 where we are still fretting over whether school will go virtual again. No differentiation in planning contingencies for the pre-k to 2nd and special needs students vs. older kids. Actually we haven’t had much communicated to us at all about how possible staffing shortages will be handled. I fully expect APS to be caught with its pants down and canceling school with 12 hours notice with no plan in place. I’m not sure how any of this is forward thinking.

Duran is not fretting; YOU/parents are fretting.

That's because he doesn't care if kids learn anything. He cares about staying within budget and following adjacent school districts. That's it.

Oh joy. More irrational tantrums.

Irrational? Explain his plan for addressing learning loss beyond Lexia and Dreambox? Oh right, he doesn't have one.

Of course they are doing more. Do you even have a kid in APS right now?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS teacher here- Dr Duran is great. He is demonstrating that he is committed to retaining good teachers and he is repeatedly shown that he is hearing feedback from teachers loud and clear. He has an impossible job with some of the toughest parents in the DMV. He is never going to make everyone happy and of course, in hindsight, APS should have handled certain aspects of the pandemic differently. But he is an intelligent, compassionate and forward-thinking guy. I don’t think it’s fair to tear him down before he has gotten a chance to focus on things besides Covid.

It was decided in August 2020 that virtual school for all grades was going to be the solution to the pandemic and here we are in 2022 where we are still fretting over whether school will go virtual again. No differentiation in planning contingencies for the pre-k to 2nd and special needs students vs. older kids. Actually we haven’t had much communicated to us at all about how possible staffing shortages will be handled. I fully expect APS to be caught with its pants down and canceling school with 12 hours notice with no plan in place. I’m not sure how any of this is forward thinking.

Duran is not fretting; YOU/parents are fretting.

That's because he doesn't care if kids learn anything. He cares about staying within budget and following adjacent school districts. That's it.

Oh joy. More irrational tantrums.

Irrational? Explain his plan for addressing learning loss beyond Lexia and Dreambox? Oh right, he doesn't have one.

I hope he opens every school with FRL >30% just to fck with the OpenSchools! Nuts of upper Caucasia.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS teacher here- Dr Duran is great. He is demonstrating that he is committed to retaining good teachers and he is repeatedly shown that he is hearing feedback from teachers loud and clear. He has an impossible job with some of the toughest parents in the DMV. He is never going to make everyone happy and of course, in hindsight, APS should have handled certain aspects of the pandemic differently. But he is an intelligent, compassionate and forward-thinking guy. I don’t think it’s fair to tear him down before he has gotten a chance to focus on things besides Covid.

It was decided in August 2020 that virtual school for all grades was going to be the solution to the pandemic and here we are in 2022 where we are still fretting over whether school will go virtual again. No differentiation in planning contingencies for the pre-k to 2nd and special needs students vs. older kids. Actually we haven’t had much communicated to us at all about how possible staffing shortages will be handled. I fully expect APS to be caught with its pants down and canceling school with 12 hours notice with no plan in place. I’m not sure how any of this is forward thinking.

Duran is not fretting; YOU/parents are fretting.

That's because he doesn't care if kids learn anything. He cares about staying within budget and following adjacent school districts. That's it.

Oh joy. More irrational tantrums.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS teacher here- Dr Duran is great. He is demonstrating that he is committed to retaining good teachers and he is repeatedly shown that he is hearing feedback from teachers loud and clear. He has an impossible job with some of the toughest parents in the DMV. He is never going to make everyone happy and of course, in hindsight, APS should have handled certain aspects of the pandemic differently. But he is an intelligent, compassionate and forward-thinking guy. I don’t think it’s fair to tear him down before he has gotten a chance to focus on things besides Covid.

It was decided in August 2020 that virtual school for all grades was going to be the solution to the pandemic and here we are in 2022 where we are still fretting over whether school will go virtual again. No differentiation in planning contingencies for the pre-k to 2nd and special needs students vs. older kids. Actually we haven’t had much communicated to us at all about how possible staffing shortages will be handled. I fully expect APS to be caught with its pants down and canceling school with 12 hours notice with no plan in place. I’m not sure how any of this is forward thinking.

This exactly. He's shared no data about why we were closed on Thurday other than some handwaving "more than 50% staff would be out" number. Nothing by school or breakdown of the reason for the vacancies. We have no info about staff shortages for the coming week. No threshold for switching to virtual. No plan if we do need to switch. Nothing.

If they decide we have too few staff, Loft will propose that we shut down for 2-4 days so teachers have time to plan and transition. She'll pretend the whole thing is totally unexpected. There will also be no time or effort made to keep the least capable of virtual learning in person, e.g., special needs and K-3. It's all or nothing, with nothing being the default.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS teacher here- Dr Duran is great. He is demonstrating that he is committed to retaining good teachers and he is repeatedly shown that he is hearing feedback from teachers loud and clear. He has an impossible job with some of the toughest parents in the DMV. He is never going to make everyone happy and of course, in hindsight, APS should have handled certain aspects of the pandemic differently. But he is an intelligent, compassionate and forward-thinking guy. I don’t think it’s fair to tear him down before he has gotten a chance to focus on things besides Covid.

It was decided in August 2020 that virtual school for all grades was going to be the solution to the pandemic and here we are in 2022 where we are still fretting over whether school will go virtual again. No differentiation in planning contingencies for the pre-k to 2nd and special needs students vs. older kids. Actually we haven’t had much communicated to us at all about how possible staffing shortages will be handled. I fully expect APS to be caught with its pants down and canceling school with 12 hours notice with no plan in place. I’m not sure how any of this is forward thinking.

Duran is not fretting; YOU/parents are fretting.

That's because he doesn't care if kids learn anything. He cares about staying within budget and following adjacent school districts. That's it.

Anonymous wrote:^ These are his words from his weekly message. This does not sound like someone trying to flip to virtual under the radar!

"I want to remind you that we are committed to keeping schools open for in-person instruction, in accordance with guidance from the Virginia Departments of Education and Health, the CDC, and the Arlington County Public Health Division. "

I will remind you he spewed that nonsense statement last year too. He should just say school is in person this year. That demonstrates commitment..

^ These are his words from his weekly message. This does not sound like someone trying to flip to virtual under the radar!

"I want to remind you that we are committed to keeping schools open for in-person instruction, in accordance with guidance from the Virginia Departments of Education and Health, the CDC, and the Arlington County Public Health Division. "

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:APS teacher here- Dr Duran is great. He is demonstrating that he is committed to retaining good teachers and he is repeatedly shown that he is hearing feedback from teachers loud and clear. He has an impossible job with some of the toughest parents in the DMV. He is never going to make everyone happy and of course, in hindsight, APS should have handled certain aspects of the pandemic differently. But he is an intelligent, compassionate and forward-thinking guy. I don’t think it’s fair to tear him down before he has gotten a chance to focus on things besides Covid.

Like students?

Exactly. He runs the school system as if the primary purpose of the school system is to employ adults. Educating students and providing a full school experience is a secondary concern.