My kids aren't doing too well so I'm praying for normalcy, but perhaps with mask.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1000. The WTU has its own agenda, weaponizing Covid fear-mongering to hem, haw and drag feet.

The WTU could just as easily have supported innovating to reopen elementary schools as safely as possible. That's being done all around the country and the world.

I don’t agree. I think DCPS teachers are very high risk for getting very sick. With that said, I think kids will be back in school in the Fall.

Why do you think this? The data show teachers who teach in person are at no higher risk of infection than the general population.

What’s the risk for the “general population”? I work from home, I have a much lower risk than someone who works in a grocery store or a hospital.

And why do you think it's ok for teachers to demand a lower risk than other essential workers?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1000. The WTU has its own agenda, weaponizing Covid fear-mongering to hem, haw and drag feet.

The WTU could just as easily have supported innovating to reopen elementary schools as safely as possible. That's being done all around the country and the world.

I don’t agree. I think DCPS teachers are very high risk for getting very sick. With that said, I think kids will be back in school in the Fall.

Why do you think this? The data show teachers who teach in person are at no higher risk of infection than the general population.

What’s the risk for the “general population”? I work from home, I have a much lower risk than someone who works in a grocery store or a hospital.

Anonymous wrote:It’s unbelievable that people are spouting such vitriol about schools opening in 2021 as if teachers never want to return to the buildings.

Please continue this outrage when school is back to normal. Make your kids do their schoolwork, stop letting them stay up all night, stop taking two week vacations to ski during the middle of the school year. Ask your principal why your school smells, where is the hand soap, where are the paper towels? Please keep it going!

Your resentful comment is awful. Read this thread and the comments of parents and kids who are suffering through the DL ordeal:
https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/938532.page

Trust me, parents who take two weeks to go "ski vacations" are the least hurt by all of this. They are in private schools by now or in pods with tutors.

You should care more about how your students are doing instead of bashing parents who want the best for their DC.

It’s unbelievable that people are spouting such vitriol about schools opening in 2021 as if teachers never want to return to the buildings.

Please continue this outrage when school is back to normal. Make your kids do their schoolwork, stop letting them stay up all night, stop taking two week vacations to ski during the middle of the school year. Ask your principal why your school smells, where is the hand soap, where are the paper towels? Please keep it going!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+1000. The WTU has its own agenda, weaponizing Covid fear-mongering to hem, haw and drag feet.

The WTU could just as easily have supported innovating to reopen elementary schools as safely as possible. That's being done all around the country and the world.

I don’t agree. I think DCPS teachers are very high risk for getting very sick. With that said, I think kids will be back in school in the Fall.

Why do you think this? The data show teachers who teach in person are at no higher risk of infection than the general population.

Come on, all DCPS teachers aren't at high risk of getting sick, let alone most. This thinking is just another "pander to the lowest common denominator" tactic. It's true that some DCPS elementary schools don't have the plant facilities to open safely. Most do. My kids' DCPS has already reopened for around 1/4 of the kids, with teachers teaching. By the 3rd quarter, looks like we'll have at least half back. Nobody involved has been sick.

Open the elementary schools that have good ventilation this winter, and think outside the box to meet the needs of the kids whose plant facilities are inadequate, and are likely to remain so for the rest of the school year.

Hint: dozens of DCPS middle and high school buildings with good HVAC systems, windows that open etc. are sitting empty. Teach elementary school kids in these buildings, pronto. Focus on getting all the ES kids back into school in the 3rd quarter, even if they have to sit at desks designed for teens. Just do it.

Anonymous wrote:+1000. The WTU has its own agenda, weaponizing Covid fear-mongering to hem, haw and drag feet.

The WTU could just as easily have supported innovating to reopen elementary schools as safely as possible. That's being done all around the country and the world.

I don’t agree. I think DCPS teachers are very high risk for getting very sick. With that said, I think kids will be back in school in the Fall.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes I have seen a lot of this on Reddit teachers forum as well. Now the kids should be vaccinated before opening. I’m so worried about my one child that I have in public school trying to figure out if I should pull him into private. My other already is. The one in public is doing awful and it’s disheartening to hear it may be next year too if kids need to vaccinated?

I'm also very concerned and can't afford private for my child. I think it's time for parents to make their voices heard and go out and protest! Let's start organizing or this issue will drag on forever.

There is already a Change.org petition and a private Facebook group. The problem really is that many DC parents are either too scared or too politically correct or too comfortable with pods and tutors to clamor for schools to open.

Thanks, I didn’t know that, but unfortunately at this point a Change.org petition will do nothing. I think if WTU forces schools to keep closed by fall 21 (which was the original question in this thread) it’s time to use the same pressure tactics they use & protest. Organize through this forum & go out. All threads on this topic show a majority of parents wanting schools to open next year. I mean, who wouldn’t? It’s common sense.

No, this is a good opportunity to make DCPS use all that money they received to fix schools over the summer. It’d be nice if the toilets worked, air conditioning, heater, lights

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes I have seen a lot of this on Reddit teachers forum as well. Now the kids should be vaccinated before opening. I’m so worried about my one child that I have in public school trying to figure out if I should pull him into private. My other already is. The one in public is doing awful and it’s disheartening to hear it may be next year too if kids need to vaccinated?

I'm also very concerned and can't afford private for my child. I think it's time for parents to make their voices heard and go out and protest! Let's start organizing or this issue will drag on forever.

There is already a Change.org petition and a private Facebook group. The problem really is that many DC parents are either too scared or too politically correct or too comfortable with pods and tutors to clamor for schools to open.

Thanks, I didn’t know that, but unfortunately at this point a Change.org petition will do nothing. I think if WTU forces schools to keep closed by fall 21 (which was the original question in this thread) it’s time to use the same pressure tactics they use & protest. Organize through this forum & go out. All threads on this topic show a majority of parents wanting schools to open next year. I mean, who wouldn’t? It’s common sense.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes I have seen a lot of this on Reddit teachers forum as well. Now the kids should be vaccinated before opening. I’m so worried about my one child that I have in public school trying to figure out if I should pull him into private. My other already is. The one in public is doing awful and it’s disheartening to hear it may be next year too if kids need to vaccinated?

I'm also very concerned and can't afford private for my child. I think it's time for parents to make their voices heard and go out and protest! Let's start organizing or this issue will drag on forever.

There is already a Change.org petition and a private Facebook group. The problem really is that many DC parents are either too scared or too politically correct or too comfortable with pods and tutors to clamor for schools to open.

Lack of parental support? Could likely be that the petition doesn't have the support the organizers were hoping for. Sorry to break it to you but maybe it is not the best time to open up schools in February as the virus rages on. If the numbers go down, teachers get the vaccine, and schools have been prepared, then full steam ahead for kids being back in late spring.

Yes, lack of parental support is exactly what I was talking about. You aren't breaking anything to me. Unlike you, I believe the lack of support from parents, which we have seen since the spring and through times of low spread, is not due to valid concerns, but to irrational fears and the political polarization of this country.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes I have seen a lot of this on Reddit teachers forum as well. Now the kids should be vaccinated before opening. I’m so worried about my one child that I have in public school trying to figure out if I should pull him into private. My other already is. The one in public is doing awful and it’s disheartening to hear it may be next year too if kids need to vaccinated?

I'm also very concerned and can't afford private for my child. I think it's time for parents to make their voices heard and go out and protest! Let's start organizing or this issue will drag on forever.

There is already a Change.org petition and a private Facebook group. The problem really is that many DC parents are either too scared or too politically correct or too comfortable with pods and tutors to clamor for schools to open.

Lack of parental support? Could likely be that the petition doesn't have the support the organizers were hoping for. Sorry to break it to you but maybe it is not the best time to open up schools in February as the virus rages on. If the numbers go down, teachers get the vaccine, and schools have been prepared, then full steam ahead for kids being back in late spring.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes I have seen a lot of this on Reddit teachers forum as well. Now the kids should be vaccinated before opening. I’m so worried about my one child that I have in public school trying to figure out if I should pull him into private. My other already is. The one in public is doing awful and it’s disheartening to hear it may be next year too if kids need to vaccinated?

I'm also very concerned and can't afford private for my child. I think it's time for parents to make their voices heard and go out and protest! Let's start organizing or this issue will drag on forever.

There is already a Change.org petition and a private Facebook group. The problem really is that many DC parents are either too scared or too politically correct or too comfortable with pods and tutors to clamor for schools to open.

Anonymous wrote:Yes I have seen a lot of this on Reddit teachers forum as well. Now the kids should be vaccinated before opening. I’m so worried about my one child that I have in public school trying to figure out if I should pull him into private. My other already is. The one in public is doing awful and it’s disheartening to hear it may be next year too if kids need to vaccinated?

I'm also very concerned and can't afford private for my child. I think it's time for parents to make their voices heard and go out and protest! Let's start organizing or this issue will drag on forever.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anything but a normal, full-time school year would be a complete failure. There is no reason why school can’t open full-time in the fall.

Schools all over the US have been open and fully operational during the worst of this all. If DC can't open doors after 8 months of vaccine implementation I don't see the system recovering fully for years and years.

+1 The fact that this question is even being asked is insane. Yes. Schools should be open 5 days a week in the fall. They should probably start in august to make up for learning loss.

If you're vaccinated and the kids are too then yes.

Posting this comment written in a similar DCUrban thread about a WaPo piece on the failure of schools to open:

"I am from Germany and think American liberals have it completely backwards on this issue. It's crazy that opening public schools has become branded as right-wing in the US. It's of course related to the politicization of the pandemic overall in the US. Trump's denial of Covid has led the left to go to the other extreme. The way the danger of the virus as a lethal threat to everyone is being hyped in the US has strongly contributed to parents' reluctance to send their kids back, and has stoked hysteria among teachers and the general public. The discourse in Germany isn't nearly as dramatic - the problem of Covid and the need for lockdowns is usually presented as a matter of preventing hospitals from being overrun, not of every infection being a likely death sentence or a high risk for long-term disability."

Yes to all of the above. It's common sense, folks. Kids need to go back to school.