Agree. We have a governor who is allowing teachers to not work from the classroom. Take that mandate away and teachers will be in their room teaching kids. Our governor has said teachers are more precious/important than daycare workers.

TXTransplant said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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Agree. We have a governor who is allowing teachers to not work from the classroom. Take that mandate away and teachers will be in their room teaching kids. Our governor has said teachers are more precious/important than daycare workers.

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I kind of expect politicians to be hypocritical and out of touch elitists.

But given the number of "regular" people I've seen lecturing us all on the evils of "privilege" over the past few months, this whole situation with schools has left me speechless and disgusted. It's like I'm living in a Monty Python movie.

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We are living in times I pray that we look upon years to come as ridiculous and not the new normal.

planoaggie123 said:

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Agree. We have a governor who is allowing teachers to not work from the classroom. Take that mandate away and teachers will be in their room teaching kids. Our governor has said teachers are more precious/important than daycare workers.

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How exactly is the governor doing this? I don't see him issuing any of these orders.

Funding.

Yes
Pretty much my point from the start when all the school opening discussion started getting real a couple of months ago.

School should be about education. I have not heard one person state online is better option for that reason.

Also tired of hearing we shut down and did online at the end of the school year, why not now. Night and day from then.

This whole thing is ridiculous. So is the constant claim that teachers (insinuating that it's all teachers) are against opening schools. Teachers unions are nothing but political groups looking for power and money. I know zero teachers personally that don't want to be back in full operation. I personally am 100% ready to go full steam ahead but I've been throttled back to about 50% by politics and lack of balls by others.

planoaggie123 said:

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Funding.

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What can the governor fund without the legislature initiating it?

He extended the time that schools can be allowed to do online only while still receiving funding.

Oh, so you want him to CUT funding. Got it.

tysker said:

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If you want to be in the classroom and believe online learning is detrimental to children, are willing to take a stand against ISD requiring virtual mandates? How about social distancing and mask requirements that can cause unnecessary mental and emotional fatigue, confusion and fear (not unlike lockdown drills). I am unable to understand how the current 'safety' proposals square with providing the best education to students especially given the science, data and knowledge we have gained over the last several months. I think some have admitted fear has taken hold even in the face of data. That is not how science works and it's unfortunate that fear is being promoted, even advocated, by the same people and system that we have asked to teach our kids how to use and understand science, analytical thinking and fact-based decision making.

Clearly many want to be in the classroom but it kind of comes across that they will do so only in the manner preferable to themselves, not in a way the best suits the needs and development of the students. Believe me when I say, I appreciate your efforts and passion and I completely understand you are not in charge of the framework and are working within limited choices. Poor choices at that. However, the system and leadership doesn't appear to be putting the educational needs of the students first and any business or organization that has employees putting themselves ahead of its clients is easily corrupted and ultimately doomed to fail.

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That is a thoughtful post. The logistical nightmare that all of the mitigation strategies we will use to control and contain the virus will make effective instruction nearly impossible for many teachers. I will not be able to place my students in groups, I don't know how close I should be from a student. Proxmity is such a powerful tool for classroom management and conferencing. The mitigation measures will not only affect instructional efficacy, but they will be detrimental to emotional growth also.

I think I have a better grasp of your thinking here. Since schools are responsible for teaching students the sciences, they should use data to inform their actions in this real life situation. Thus,strict mitigation efforts are not justifiable based on children's lack of severe illness and lower transmission rates. When has this been the response to this virus? And regardless of any evidence leaders and health officials receive regarding children and the virus, they are not using this information as a primary reason to go to "business as usual."Look at Kenya. They have cancelled school for the year so those students without Internet will not fall further behind those students who have access. Students will have to retake the entire year with this one year reset.

What is also interesting to me is the pervasive nationwide attack on teachers and the public education system for as long as I've be in the classroom prior to the virus. Now, when campuses are potentially going to close, teachers are essential to the social, emotional, and intellectual growth of their students, and distance learning is going to cause irreparable damage to children's growth. They cynic in me wants to think that the outcry for students to be on campus is more about having a free babysitter rather than the quality of instruction they will receive.

I'd be curious to see if private school enrollments are increasing. I suspect the answer to that will not jive with the accusation that people only want a "free" babysitter.

If the county ever stands down and let's the private schools open here I'll be sending my son. It's a Catholic school, so at 15k it's cheap for my area. That goes on top of the income tax, sales tax, and 10k in property tax I pay my county for "free" school.

I think its hit and miss but i dont want to pretend to know everything.

Seems like some of the private schools north of dallas are going to be in-class quicker than private which is proving to be attractive option for families that can afford it but hadn't wanted to spend the money in the past. Now they see it as worth it. As such, I would think private schools see an increase in enrollment.

One poster mentioned that private school teachers get paid less and often have less incentive to need to work so if they feel "unsafe" it would be interesting if private schools get in a bind needing teachers.

I feel like there are a million options being considered between my wife and I.

We are fortunate in that she is a stay at home mom. I have done well enough that we can make it work but not so awesome to be able to put 2 kids in private school. Years ago she thought about going back to work to get our kids in private school and now that discussion is surfacing again. I think its one of the least likely options but it may come in to play. She is worried if we wait and make a decision 1 year from now it may keep getting harder and harder to find a spot at a good private school...

Fenrir said:

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I'd be curious to see if private school enrollments are increasing. I suspect the answer to that will not jive with the accusation that people only want a "free" babysitter.

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What schools weren't at 100% with a wait-list as big as the enrollment already? Dallas had a massive boom from California and they swamped the schools with apps.

HowdyTexasAggies said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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I want him to cut funding if schools dont offer in-person teaching...yes.

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And, or, they should also cut funding for districts like AISD. They are saying they are offering in person, but sending a kid to one class room, holding them there all day, making them do online from that classroom is not in person instruction.

I hope TEA hammers them. Hopefully AISD parents will rise up and sue them.

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TEA is not going to "hammer" them. Its an election year, nobody is going to pull school funding during an election year in a potential battle ground state. You thought COVID was a political football wait and see if or when the state comes up for grabs from an electoral math perspective.

Now 2021 is a different matter all together as the state is going to face a massive budget shortfall that will extend not only to funding of schools but also to local funding as well since their tax revenues will be down as well.

AISD parents are not going to rise up...AISD is a shrinking school district whose most affluent residents (those who have the means to rise up) don't utilize ISD services at scale either by way of private schools or by residing in more affluent ISD's. Those more affluent parents will grumble and complain and then set up tutor pods with their peer group(s).

There are quite a few districts doing the above based on the calls I'm hearing on the other side of my house. In fact the district my kids attend is one of those districts (RRISD). I know of campuses in our district who are deciding on what teachers are virtual (although leading those lessons from campus) via a lottery. My understanding is that the district is also dealing with numerous/elevated FMLA requests as well.

TEA is on record and has been since Feb/March that they will be as flexible as possible when it comes to funding to allow for districts to adjust their models.

My take is that I think we should have a virtual and on campus model that is a traditional model that kicks off after the first 9 week grading period. I believe that gives districts and parents time to assess whether the positive numbers we are seeing are sustained and risk is lowered enough for more people to be comfortable with sending their kids back to campus and teachers are more comfortable teaching in person.

I'm comfortable sending my elementary kiddos back today, but not if its going to be virtual learning done on school campus in one room. My middle school child is probably going to do virtual all year but that is more about it really being successful for her vs. any serious concern around COVID. There was initial concern around how it would effect helping my elderly parents, but my mom (40+ year retired teacher) told me to send them back to campus and she'd wear masks and we'd wear masks when interacting.

I am hearing that many districts around Austin and the states are more than likely to extend virtual starts through the first 9 weeks.

Well i am not going to say that many people's opinion on the quality of education is changing because of the pandemic.

But regardless of if you people like how the teacher does or not, they need to have their kids in school. It is how our society is set up and people make life decisions based on them being open and available.


Edit: change 'you' to 'people' as this isnt directed to you obiously....

planoaggie123 said:

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Well i am not going to say that many people's opinion on the quality of education is changing because of the pandemic.

But regardless of if you people like how the teacher does or not, they need to have their kids in school. It is how our society is set up and people make life decisions based on them being open and available.


Edit: change 'you' to 'people' as this isnt directed to you obiously....

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I think part of the disconnect for a lot of these conversations is that the public school system in America has a lot of fundamental flaws, and provides a sub-par to terrible education for way too many students. However, there are lots of very, very good public schools. Especially for white-collar professionals who live in the suburbs. My own public elementary school is fantastic, including a special-needs program that has allowed my autistic son to thrive. I would literally change nothing about the school, teachers or staff and am heartsick that it's all been lost; even with in-person it won't be the same and I'm sorry. Lots of parents at all levels probably feel like I do.

However, my experience is not the norm for a lot of parents and schools nation-wide, and especially when you see large teacher's unions from other states on the news (like LA or NY or Washington DC) refusing to come to work and saying that they don't want to teach online either, see cities setting up YMCA psuedo-daycares that cost money to attend, and listing out demands for social justice and hoping to kill school reforms like vouchers, and it infuriates people. Utterly infuriates them. Hence the "teacher-hate", which isn't really associated with particular schools and teachers but is just generalized for a professional population that seems far less interested in finding effective ways of doing their job than grocery clerks, factory workers, garbagemen, municipal services, police, delivery drivers or any of the millions of people who have kept this country running for the last 6 months.

It's not fair to good teachers, which includes just about every teacher I know personally (including my brother who lives in VA and is not allowed to teach in-person). But perceptions do matter, especially when so many occupations are doing everything they can to get us back to normal.

HowdyTexasAggies said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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I want him to cut funding if schools dont offer in-person teaching...yes.

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And, or, they should also cut funding for districts like AISD. They are saying they are offering in person, but sending a kid to one class room, holding them there all day, making them do online from that classroom is not in person instruction.

I hope TEA hammers them. Hopefully AISD parents will rise up and sue them.

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I think that's much worse than doing distance learning from home. At least at home kids are free to move around, go outside, and interact with other humans.

Agree that in such a situation 'at home' would be better than in class staring at a computer isolated....assuming families actually have capacity to accomdate...


Such a teaching method would prove that the ISD did nothing to plan or think through options but chose the laziest way out...

culdeus said:

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Fenrir said:

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I'd be curious to see if private school enrollments are increasing. I suspect the answer to that will not jive with the accusation that people only want a "free" babysitter.

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What schools weren't at 100% with a wait-list as big as the enrollment already? Dallas had a massive boom from California and they swamped the schools with apps.

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Multiple in my area are accepting.

planoaggie123 said:

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Well i am not going to say that many people's opinion on the quality of education is changing because of the pandemic.

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I'm not so sure about that. We as parents have been somewhat gleefully ignorant (willfully blind?) of what goes on in classrooms and at schools nowadays. The online learning in the spring gave parents a peak behind the curtain. Many parents were shocked to find out that there's no real learning done after STAAR testing. Its as if parents were amazed that the last two weeks of grade school was one big hangout session. Obviously it will look different starting this month and through the fall but virtual learning allows parents can see a modified version of what really goes on in a classroom setting and touch base with our kids in realtime during the day. For example, during any given day/class there's may be fair amount of 'down time' or 'free time' and I would not be surprised if some parents start to view this as as 'wasting time' or doing nothing.

AISD clearly has chosen a path to give the finger to TEA, Paxton and Abbott. I had an email forwarded to me that is from an AISD elem magnate school principal. The protocols are clearly written to create a very uninviting environment to dissuade in person and the principle admitted as much in the letter.

what parents are going to see is the very best teachers that the school has to offer doing the online only classes due to the level of scrutiny they're going to get. the in-person kids will get the leftovers. assuming they get to go back at some point.

tysker said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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Well i am not going to say that many people's opinion on the quality of education is changing because of the pandemic.

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t the last two weeks of grade school was one big hangout session.

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the last two weeks of elementary school were awesome as a kid. teacher rachet over here....

planoaggie123 said:

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Agree that in such a situation 'at home' would be better than in class staring at a computer isolated....assuming families actually have capacity to accomdate...


Such a teaching method would prove that the ISD did nothing to plan or think through options but chose the laziest way out...

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Precisely! I'm a retired principal, and I know my friends and former co-workers have been working and worrying all summer so they can create the best possible experience for their students regardless of the physical location. I can't think of any data or pedagogy that would lead educators to decide this was the best option available. In my opinion, it reeks of something that might be convenient for some adults, but it's certainly not what's best for kids.