Agree. My comment was not clear....i was politely stating that nothing has changed to make anyone think teaching is somehow improved and that is why we want kids back in school. Quality has not changed. To your point maybe it has gotten worse than people realized (while understanding there are good teachers out there).

My stance is peoples 'cries' for in-person education is not based on how well their kids will be educated but simply the need to have their kids somewhere while they work....

I'm a huge believer in public schools, and I think teachers get unfairly criticized way too much.

I can honestly say that a couple of high school teachers inspired and motivated me so much that I would not be where I am today without their hard work. I will forever be grateful and wish that every kid could have at least one teacher like that.

I've lived in two different states besides TX - grew up in the public schools of MS and lived in AL. Had we stayed in AL, my son would have gone to private (religiously-affiliated) schools.

When we moved to TX, I was blown away by the public schools, in particular the facilities. We've had our share of mediocre teachers, but overall, I've been happy with the schools in both districts we've attended.

With that said, I am skeptical of administrators, and I think there is deserved criticism at the district and state levels.

Districts should be able to keep more of their tax dollars. I understand there is need to subsidize poorer districts, but I don't like how our district (which is fairly wealthy) still has to beg borrow and steal for resources.

Schools, particularly high schools, are too big. I just can't even wrap my head around campuses with 3-5k students. It's too much. And that size is most certainly affecting the ability of schools to respond to this crisis.

Finally, we have a lot of people making important decisions who are simply out of touch with reality. The decision by AISD to lease out classrooms and let the YMCA charge $195 a week for childcare really galls me because 53% of the students in AISD are economically disadvantaged.

Money fixes a lot of problems, one of them being education. But money also makes any gap due to inequalities much wider. This is not a new problem.

I'd encourage everyone following this thread to listen to the podcast "Nice White Parents". The title is off-putting, but I guarantee you it's not what you expect (at least not entirely).

It should have been called "Nice Rich Parents". And if you don't think a wealthy group of people could swoop into any public school or district and wield enough influence to start operating it like a private school, you have your head in the sand.

This is also a very eye-opening story about how a small group of people with a specific agenda can take over a school district.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/534/a-not-so-simple-majority

Both are fantastic listens (and make me somewhat thankful I only have to make it 3 more years).

" 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. "

They are also on record on the rules of funding. Those rules have recently pissed off AISD thus the bs lazy plan.

Good luck on 9 weeks making anyone change their mind, with exception post the election. You very likely won't have in person until next Jan.

You may be right on AISD parents, they don't chose to fight, it's on them.

HowdyTexasAggies said:

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" 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. "

They are also on record on the rules of funding. Those rules have recently pissed off AISD thus the bs lazy plan.

Good luck on 9 weeks making anyone change their mind, with exception post the election. You very likely won't have in person until next Jan.

You may be right on AISD parents, they don't chose to fight, it's on them.

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Oh I agree with you in that statute says that an in person education has to be provided and that allows for a massive loophole where ISD's can essentially do a day care model for those in person students esp. when taken along with looser interpretations of attendance.

Remember TEA can't institute policy outside of statute, it has to be tied to law (federal or state).

Where the rubber meets the road is when/if accountability is brought to bear when ISD's and campuses don't meet benchmarks and get funds withheld. That's a slower rolling boulder but when it comes time to budget 2021-22 based on poor performance on top of what has to be a lower pool of local funding derived from property, sales tax etc. Now imagine if you will the pressure brought down from above on those ISD's who have been giving the finger to Abbott...Maybe Abbott taps the accountability angle maybe dictates that attendance is more strictly interpreted? No clue, but its problematic to be sure.

My take is that TEA doesn't feel they are being given the finger as they are in the position of giving guidance on a public health crisis when they are not a public health agency nor are they a governmental entity responsible for deciding how school funding works. They are there to implement the policy which is problematic in a state as large and diverse as Texas without a pandemic and impossible in the current situation.

If people think this latest thing is even in the top 10 of absurdities I've witnessed in this ongoing situation then I have a bridge to sell them.

As an aside it is not AISD alone, as others mentioned and confirmed by my TEA employed spouse that RRISD is doing largely the same thing. It is something that is happening all over the state. Its not one district leading the charge but they certainly gave air cover for others to do so. Another thing districts are dealing with is a large uptick in FMLA claims/requests from teachers as well. Some legit and some not, so some of this are ISD's wondering if they'll have the teachers to cover the in person learning if in fact they don't do something basically forces anyone with resources to handle remote learning to in fact handle education remotely.

It should also be noted that I've seen some districts that nobody would ever think would lead the charge in trying to do the right thing working tirelessly to do so...heroic effort by some districts to just get it done resources be damned so its not all stupidity and ignorance.

I had started to write up a long post about my views on this, but it was too long and detailed.

At the end of the day I base my opinion mostly on what I see and experience. We have run a manufacturing facility across from the RGV basically balls to the wall since late March. Making medical goods for CDC and government programs, PPE if you will. The demand for these goods has been very high.

Normally we don't make any of these type of things, and basically we had 4 working days to go from something completely different to making Isolation and Surgical gowns. For an education analogy it would be like a 4th grade teacher being informed on a Thursday that starting next Wednesday he/she was going to be teaching HS Chemistry, with all new materials, all new requirements, etc. And, while doing so he/she had to not only teach under, but also implement excessive, health and safety measures, with a very limited budget and a lack of supplies. But we did what we had to do and busted our ass to figure it out.

One of the things that we did in this facility, where we do normally have people stacked up, is we shut down our AC, think about that across from Rio Grande City right now, as the Mexican doc that I hired to help us implement a plan suggested it (plus it saves on the electric bill). Another facility to our east also converted over to medical goods about the time we did. They are slightly larger, but same demographic and same deal. But they are air conditioned and enclosed. We are about 120 people and thus far we have had 3 confirmed cases, and another 4 that have to be Covid. The other facility is about 260 people and they have had over 40 confirmed cases. Another manufacturing facility across from McAllen that we work with, again fully contained and air conditioned, has had over 150 cases out of 700+ with 2 deaths.

What I have lived, is that I see no reason why schools, with the ample land and physical plants that they have, could not go to outdoor classes in large tents, with ample distancing. Fans and utilities could be run to these. In Texas the weather is going to be good through the end of November. Classes could be condensed and maybe two shifts implemented. Say from 7:30am to 12:30pm and 3:30pm to 7:30pm. To avoid some of the heat. Lunches and meals could be handed out like schools are already doing.

Building physical plant facilities could be used for bathrooms and maybe some classes where crowding is way reduced.

The biggest problem I have with all of the school closures is that while other segments of society and business HAVE HAD TO FIGURE IT OUT it doesn't appear that the schools systems, which compared to business have much more funding and resources, have busted their asses to figure it out and help kids get back to something other than sitting at home in front of a computer.

And before all the bemoaning about temperatures and such, kids went to schools for hundreds of years with no AC and in make shift structures, no reason we couldn't do it again. It is going to be important for the kids and society for there to some semblance or effort to achieve some normalcy.

No offense but I'm pretty sure we all know who is blowing smoke around here...

There are definitely teachers that shut things down after testing. As far as my class goes, I teach 6th, 7th and 8th grade science, so I have all the same students three years straight. My kids are only tested in the 8th grade, but it's over all three years, so I'm teaching the curriculum to 6th and 7th all the way to the end.

I agree with you in the "not a knock on teachers" part. Teachers are very limited in what they can and can't do independently. They are micro-managed and held to rigorous guidelines of what they have to do and how.

My issue is with school boards and administration, especially these 6 and 7 figure superintendents. All these folks need to get up off their ass and lead and be proactive. Maybe they are, but from where I sit I am not seeing it a bit. I see capitulation to the situation.

One of my wife's distant cousins in an RN in the RGV, single mom. As she was telling family members, she is F'ed basically with an 6 year old and a 9 year old at home. How does she work and ensure that kids do what they need to do with school? Does she stay home all day and hire someone to come in and babysit at night so she can work an 8 hour shift or something like that?

This Covid deal has hit everything and everyone, and traditional support networks and safety parachutes of families are strained too. And many teachers are gonna get hammered as well.

The guys earning the big bucks at school districts need to get out in front and lead and help their customers, their employees, and the kids which are the only reasons they are there.

Schools have been working things, but it's been hard for several reasons out of their control and constant changes in rules/guidelines by both local and state leadership. They had solid plans just a few weeks ago and local authorities of course messed that up.

I do not envy the school districts having to work through this mess but what I'm hearing, the schools are doing all they can to get past this agenda driven local bad leadership.

1) What is the TEKS curriculum after STAAR? In our experience as parents, there is no prep for the next grade or significant review of material. Yes classrooms continued to move forward but the rigor was substantial less in the spring than many parents expected. This may have been because without STAAR there's not much guidance - certainly (another!) a major downside of STAAR being so important - and everyone was simply trying to figure out the tech side of things.

1a) STAAR is wasting the time and constrains the good teachers while propping up the bad ones...

2) My kids are GT so there's always plenty of 'free time.' Its often how they learn and work best. I think open self-directed learning can be highly effective but some parents don't see it that way. And to be fair, our kids dont even know their times tables (apparently they're not taught anymore) so maybe a little more rote teaching is needed. But some parents wont see down time this way. You don't have to explain it me but know some parents were taken aback by how much free time there seems to be during a school day.

We're simply letting you know how it looks from people outside of your profession that are also learning on the fly. Instead of criticizing the message you attack the messenger. We all understand teaching within this STAAR mandated, TEA top-down framework sucks and often teachers get stuck in the middle. We parents absolutely, need to direct our frustration toward the system that restricts teachers and places too much emphasis on STAAR. Please believe me when I say I am on your side but you must understand how others perceive what is going om especially in the face of more virtual learning which is admittedly subpar.

Jebber said:

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Schools have been working things, but it's been hard for several reasons out of their control and constant changes in rules/guidelines by both local and state leadership. They had solid plans just a few weeks ago and local authorities of course messed that up.

I do not envy the school districts having to work through this mess but what I'm hearing, the schools are doing all they can to get past this agenda driven local bad leadership.

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I need clarification because I honestly don't know 100%...which local govt authority caused schools to extend the virtual learning for the first 4 weeks? I know Abbot said he would still fund if schools chose to do so but what local entities greenlighted that option?

tysker said:

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1) What is the TEKS curriculum after STAAR? In our experience as parents, there is no prep for the next grade or significant review of material. Yes classrooms continued to move forward but the rigor was substantial less in the spring than many parents expected. This may have been because without STAAR there's not much guidance - certainly (another!) a major downside of STAAR being so important - and everyone was simply trying to figure out the tech side of things.

1a) STAAR is wasting the time and constrains the good teachers while propping up the bad ones...

2) My kids are GT so there's always plenty of 'free time.' Its often how they learn and work best. I think open self-directed learning can be highly effective but some parents don't see it that way. And to be fair, our kids dont even know their times tables (apparently they're not taught anymore) so maybe a little more rote teaching is needed. But some parents wont see down time this way. You don't have to explain it me but know some parents were taken aback by how much free time there seems to be during a school day.

We're simply letting you know how it looks from people outside of your profession that are also learning on the fly. Instead of criticizing the message you attack the messenger. We all understand teaching within this STAAR mandated, TEA top-down framework sucks and often teachers get stuck in the middle. We parents absolutely, need to direct our frustration toward the system that restricts teachers and places too much emphasis on STAAR. Please believe me when I say I am on your side but you must understand how others perceive what is going om especially in the face of more virtual learning which is admittedly subpar.

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You bring up points that I would love to address, and I will especially a discussion of the necessary evil of standardized testing.

My issue was that you questioned my sincerity.

I would argue you dont want to hear from a person with a different perspective. The fact that many teachers don't seem frustrated with the current events it what makes us parents frustrated.

Teachers and police have the hardest jobs in the US. Underpaid, having to deal with ****heads daily, dumped on by politicians and the public and blamed for everything wrong within a community. That's why we need teachers to stand up with us to fight back against the proposed solutions that only serve to harm the education of our children. Instead some want to fight back against us parents and agsint the students they teach. It makes no sense.


edit to add one more thing-
We move up the chain constantly; it has been the only way we've been able to get our kids advancement services. We had to have direct contact weekly with the head of GT services and speak frequently with ISD staff about what is best for our children. And our teachers praise us for it because they want to see good kids and good families be successful. We probably wouldn't have been as pushy had we not have support from our kids' teachers.

I don't have all the specifics memorized but Harris Co judge and health department mandated public schools and also pushing private to do online after several schools had plans in place to do both. I'm really starting to get past it all bc it's just so politically motivated and wrong but will be ready no matter what happens.

I do know majority of schools are working to get things in place to start in person first week of September now.

Jebber said:

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I don't have all the specifics memorized but Harris Co judge and health department mandated public schools and also pushing private to do online after several schools had plans in place to do both. I'm really starting to get past it all bc it's just so politically motivated and wrong but will be ready no matter what happens.

I do know majority of schools are working to get things in place to start in person first week of September now.

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Ok. I thought it was the School Districs making the decision most recently to extend the first 4 weeks as virtual based on an NBC DFW article that stated "PISD made the decision..."

If that is true, that PISD made the decision, then its hard to believe schools really had a plan (good plan) in place otherwise they would not have extended. Nothing has changed ultimately. Seems to me they dont know what they are doing and have no plan and are taking every chance to not get back in class they can get...

If its non-school officials making the call then my thoughts / response are not correct.

One thing that is also clouding the conversations is that we're talking about "school." There is a world of difference between elementary and high school, and we're (myself included) dumping them all together as though the students and teachers have identical needs and capabilities.

Not sure what they are doing up by you but public schools down here want to provide both options and let families decide. I believe private are primarily only doing in person and getting many new kids bc families that can are getting away from the uncertainty.

My school district was focused on both, than county did their mandate, so had to change to online start, than state said county can not do what they did on a what if and schools have the right to decide, so now school is working things to get back to original plan.

I know many details but best to not share on a forum such as this. Let's just says, there a few Karen's causing major headaches.

And the worm turns:
All New York schools are cleared to reopen for in-person classes, Cuomo says

The backlash to closing schools while opening for-profit "learning centers" must have been truly epic.

Get positivity below 5% (minimum) for opening! Even then, mitigation will be necessary! Same for sports attendance and many businesses . Why is it so hard to understand that one contagious person in twenty is a community threat?

He and his buddies must not have been in the profit loop of the "learning centers"

peachbasket said:

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Get positivity below 5% (minimum) for opening! Even then, mitigation will be necessary! Same for sports attendance and many businesses . Why is it so hard to understand that one contagious person in twenty is a community threat?

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Funny how the metric used to be case counts and now its "positivity rate."
It's going to be hard to justify continued shutdowns to citizens of Dallas if the current trends continue and there are less than 100 new daily cases and no daily deaths by the end of August.

peachbasket said:

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Get positivity below 5% (minimum) for opening! Even then, mitigation will be necessary! Same for sports attendance and many businesses . Why is it so hard to understand that one contagious person in twenty is a community threat?

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Because positivity is just a function of the number of tests given. If only "sick-feeling" people take tests the posistivity rate will be very high. If you give 3 tests and 2 are positive the rate is very high. It's a metric that doesn't mean much unless you standardize the denominator of tests given. The raw numbers matter too.

Man, I needed a laugh.

I did not realize the entire population was getting tested to actually see an accurate %!

planoaggie123 said:

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Jebber said:

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I don't have all the specifics memorized but Harris Co judge and health department mandated public schools and also pushing private to do online after several schools had plans in place to do both. I'm really starting to get past it all bc it's just so politically motivated and wrong but will be ready no matter what happens.

I do know majority of schools are working to get things in place to start in person first week of September now.

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Ok. I thought it was the School Districs making the decision most recently to extend the first 4 weeks as virtual based on an NBC DFW article that stated "PISD made the decision..."

If that is true, that PISD made the decision, then its hard to believe schools really had a plan (good plan) in place otherwise they would not have extended. Nothing has changed ultimately. Seems to me they dont know what they are doing and have no plan and are taking every chance to not get back in class they can get...

If its non-school officials making the call then my thoughts / response are not correct.

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In Harris County, it was by order of the Harris Co. Health Department and our county judge. To the best of my knowledge, districts were prepared to open with both distance and in-person learning until the local authorities decreed otherwise.

HowdyTexasAggies said:

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"EOT (or Staff please move to F16)"

Good lord.

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Sorry. I started the thread. Felt I had the "authority" to end it. I guess it doesn't work that way. Haha

If you are late to the game, this thread has definitely shifted from its original intent. Instead of informing others about what districts will do around the country to respond to the pandemic and how these mitigation strategies will be possible, it has become a space to teacher bash, yell at clouds, and bemoan leaders and health officials' guidance.

Instead of acknowledging the pandemic for what it is: a **** sandwich, posters want to lay blame at the feet of every politician, educational leader, and teacher.

As our president has stated, "It is what it is." Arguing what should be happening is indeed counterproductive. We need to recognize the reality we are living in and make the best out of a no win situation.

But. . .please join in on the fun. The water's cool, but people's tempers are simmering.

Certainly don't want to stir the hornets' nest, but please chime in with your thoughts:

https://news.yahoo.com/over-100-quarantined-school-district-162332816.html

I realize that those infected will (more than) most likely survive especially the children. What would you do if you were superintendent of a district about to reopen?

In addition, I'm wondering about the teachers that are protesting? Are they concerned about returning to campus or just want a extended break?

Do you support teachers' protesting and support those who protested mask mandates?

tysker said:

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Quote:

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My issue was that you questioned my sincerity.

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If I did I apologize. I never meant to come across as making these discussions personal and have edited posts specifically to come across as objective as possible. Ultimately, Its about the kids, not us.

Again I apologize if I questioned your sincerity. You're passion is obvious and I hope our kids get to have teachers throughout their lives with the same level of enthusiasm and dedication.

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I apologize also if I misunderstood this post:

Quote:

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No offense but I'm pretty sure we all know who is blowing smoke around here...

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You have been very conscientious with your posts. You have given me quite a bit to consider, and I will respond to your thinking by tomorrow.

Are you sure you want to end the thread?

IMO, by the end of September, almost every school in the country will be closed.

Fan said:

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planoaggie123 said:

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Jebber said:

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I don't have all the specifics memorized but Harris Co judge and health department mandated public schools and also pushing private to do online after several schools had plans in place to do both. I'm really starting to get past it all bc it's just so politically motivated and wrong but will be ready no matter what happens.

I do know majority of schools are working to get things in place to start in person first week of September now.

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Ok. I thought it was the School Districs making the decision most recently to extend the first 4 weeks as virtual based on an NBC DFW article that stated "PISD made the decision..."

If that is true, that PISD made the decision, then its hard to believe schools really had a plan (good plan) in place otherwise they would not have extended. Nothing has changed ultimately. Seems to me they dont know what they are doing and have no plan and are taking every chance to not get back in class they can get...

If its non-school officials making the call then my thoughts / response are not correct.

---

In Harris County, it was by order of the Harris Co. Health Department and our county judge. To the best of my knowledge, districts were prepared to open with both distance and in-person learning until the local authorities decreed otherwise.

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This is true, but then the AG came out and said the health depts don't have the authority to shut down schools.

Since then, our district has pushed back the start date to Sept 8 (in person or online). I this this decision was for three reasons 1) to appease county officials, 2) to appease parents who were prepared to go in-person and think three weeks of online learning is a waste of time (it is), and 3) because the district realized they weren't quite ready to open in person on Aug 18 (even though that was the original plan).

Austin/Travis Co had the same issue - the health department told them they couldn't open.

Houston ISD announced they were delaying in person before any county officials said anything.