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has anyone seen the profoundly autistic kids who are in self contained classrooms move about a school? How about kids who are in ID-severe classes?
Profoundly autistic kids are NOT going to be able to wear a mask and they need to be attended to one-on-one or at most two-on-one while they move about the building and probably within the class as well. There goes social distancing. Do you understand some of these kids need to be physically restrained to keep them from running and ONLY the person at the school who has been trained to do that can lay hands on the child?
The ID severe kids are using feeding tubes and catheters. They can't wear masks either. Usually in wheelchairs and need to be fed if not on a tube. There goes your social distancing. If you had a medically fragile child who couldn't social distance, or wear a mask, would you put them on a transport with a driver who has been doing god knows what all summer? Would you want them out of the house interacting with people when they can't wear a mask and can't social distance? Did anyone consider the hard choice these parents are faced with and maybe - just maybe - it's a meeting with the parents voicing these concerns that led to the postponement? SPED isn't always little Johnny who is a terror without his Adderall, people. I get the sense some of y'all are thinking only in terms of kids who have a basic IEP or a 504 plan, not in terms of the most vulnerable population of SPED kids.
I don’t understand why you’re acting like you’re the sole person who understands what is involved with a special ed classroom. No I am not thinking of IEPs and 504s in the general classroom population.
I have to laugh that you’re even suggesting that it was special ed parents that fought to keep them out of schools. They had the choice all along to keep their children home - nobody was forcing them onsite.
I don’t understand why you’re acting like you’re the sole person who understands what is involved with a special ed classroom. No I am not thinking of IEPs and 504s in the general classroom population.
I have to laugh that you’re even suggesting that it was special ed parents that fought to keep them out of schools. They had the choice all along to keep their children home - nobody was forcing them onsite.
I'm not suggesting anything, I'm throwing ideas out there. YOU'RE the one who is seeing all of this in black and white terms. How do you know, for a fact, what choice they made all along? I'm guessing you don't. i don't either. If you've spent a significant amount of time in a self contained autism class or ID severe class, my apologies. You don't seem like someone who has spent a significant amount of time in a school, and I don't mean that meanly or offensively. You also seem to be of the opinion that every teacher wants to kick back and work from home. I know 3 teachers on my street alone, a couple others in the neighborhood and two TAs and all of them want to go back to in person instruction. The vocal and dramatic minority always get the most play.
WCPSS decision making machine is abysmal at best. That's not something I'm going to get too worked up over anymore. I have that luxury with only two years left in the system and a smart self motivated kid. I feel for others in a different position unfortunately I do not have the bandwidth to take on their cause. Trust me I have MORE than done my part over the years, (PTA board member, gone up against them about reassignment THAT DIDN'T AFFECT ME and with their insance bus routing among other ridiculous issues). And I'm ready to hand off the baton. But judging by attendance at PTA meetings and BOE meetings over the years, people talk a lot and DO a LITTLE.
This is more than just about special ed (although it’s obviously most important for special ed students to get back onsite). It’s also about WCPSS showing that they’re making an effort to gradually and safely get students back into schools, which will in turn make teachers, staff, and the general public more comfortable with the idea.
Now they’re just throwing their hands up and saying nope, we’re too scared to bring back any kids, which will have the exact opposite affect and will ultimately make it even more difficult.
This is more than just about special ed (although it’s obviously most important for special ed students to get back onsite). It’s also about WCPSS showing that they’re making an effort to gradually and safely get students back into schools, which will in turn make teachers, staff, and the general public more comfortable with the idea.
Now they’re just throwing their hands up and saying nope, we’re too scared to bring back any kids, which will have the exact opposite affect and will ultimately make it even more difficult.
I said it in April and I will say it now. A normal school year was never gonna happen - we will see how it goes places where they are trying for it. If it works there, maybe WCPSS does give it a shot in October. But while colleges have been planning for the safe return of students since March, WCPSS has had their head in the sand and has done little. I can tell you that's a fact straight from employees. And they promise things they then can't or won't deliver on. Perfect example is the masks - they promised every staff 5 masks. Staff gets to school for first workdays, asks where are masks. Response "oh do you need them? We thought you'd have your own". Well, we do but we were told. WCPSS talks a good game but the reality is completely different. The whole system, school district needs a complete re-set, the BOE is the most bumbling group of people who ever got together in one place, with the exception of Jim Martin who is actually VERY smart and the only one who responds to parent emails whether you are in his district or not. I mean, all you had to do is look at Bill Fletcher's re election website to get a feel for how he operates. And Lindsey Mahaffey being married to an Apex town councol member is a conflict of interest IMHO. BUT - we will see how people vote in November, won't we?
I'm not suggesting anything, I'm throwing ideas out there. YOU'RE the one who is seeing all of this in black and white terms. How do you know, for a fact, what choice they made all along? I'm guessing you don't. i don't either. If you've spent a significant amount of time in a self contained autism class or ID severe class, my apologies. You don't seem like someone who has spent a significant amount of time in a school, and I don't mean that meanly or offensively. You also seem to be of the opinion that every teacher wants to kick back and work from home. I know 3 teachers on my street alone, a couple others in the neighborhood and two TAs and all of them want to go back to in person instruction. The vocal and dramatic minority always get the most play.
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Whole lot of assumptions here that I’ll just leave be. Just because you know some people that want do get back into schools (I do as well), doesn’t mean there aren’t teachers complaining and refusing. I assume any loss of special ed teachers would make it very difficult to run the programs. It’s possible that there are too many teachers with legit vulnerability concerns to make it happen, but this would have been something that they would have known long before yesterday.
I am definitely not of the opinion that every teacher wants to work from home.
Whole lot of assumptions here that I’ll just leave be. Just because you know some people that want do get back into schools (I do as well), doesn’t mean there aren’t teachers complaining and refusing. .
Which, as I noted, is a very vocal and dramatic population.
Of course I'm making assumptions. You act like you're not. Unless you live with Cathy Moore, or Keith Sutton and know things we don't!
You can bang your head against the wall all you want but it's gonna get you some bruises and that's it. I'm unhappy about a lot of things pandemic-related right now, WCPSS is just the most tangible and easy to bash. I just can't let myself go there anymore because I have no control over what they are going to done. None. Zip. Not even worth writing to the BOE about. Because for every complaint like mine or yours they are getting some from the other side.
Choices right now are move, go private or homeschool. I regret not going private two years ago. Can't do anything about it now. Just hold my nose and steam through the next two years.
Which, as I noted, is a very vocal and dramatic population.
Of course I'm making assumptions. You act like you're not. Unless you live with Cathy Moore, or Keith Sutton and know things we don't!
You can bang your head against the wall all you want but it's gonna get you some bruises and that's it. I'm unhappy about a lot of things pandemic-related right now, WCPSS is just the most tangible and easy to bash. I just can't let myself go there anymore because I have no control over what they are going to done. None. Zip. Not even worth writing to the BOE about. Because for every complaint like mine or yours they are getting some from the other side.
Choices right now are move, go private or homeschool. I regret not going private two years ago. Can't do anything about it now. Just hold my nose and steam through the next two years.
You won’t change my mind that at the end of the day it’s teachers that are preventing the schools from opening. I understand what you’re saying in that it’s just a small vocal minority, but at the end of the day if you have unwilling teachers you can’t open the schools in a situation like this - you need every teacher you can get, and it’s not as easy as just hiring new teachers.
The longer we go on like this the harder it’s going to be mentally for people to get back into public and back into schools. People aren’t going to just all of a sudden be comfortable with it in October, or January for that matter. Gotta rip the band aid off and just get it done sooner than later. Once people see that’s it’s not as scary as it was made out to be, then people will start making the shift.
You won’t change my mind that at the end of the day it’s teachers that are preventing the schools from opening. I understand what you’re saying in that it’s just a small vocal minority, but at the end of the day if you have unwilling teachers you can’t open the schools in a situation like this - you need every teacher you can get, and it’s not as easy as just hiring new teachers.
The longer we go on like this the harder it’s going to be mentally for people to get back into public and back into schools. People aren’t going to just all of a sudden be comfortable with it in October, or January for that matter. Gotta rip the band aid off and just get it done sooner than later. Once people see that’s it’s not as scary as it was made out to be, then people will start making the shift.
Plenty of companies are working exclusively from home until there's a reliable vaccine that most people want to get. That means everyone in my company is working from home until at least 2021. We can't have the entire enterprise go down if the virus gets in an office and spreads. We actually got a notice last week that if essential personnel leaves their home state they need to notify their leadership. If they don't and they get sick and they can be terminated. When you work at a place that takes years to fire people, that's a pretty hefty statement. I'm just not sure why teaching is so different. If a bunch of teachers at School A get sick and can't come in, who is going to teach? You've already noted that hiring new ones just isn't that easy. Who wants to sub? Teachers were told if they were exposed they would have to quarantine for two weeks. If one kid gets sick on every grade level, now what? Now extrapolate that out.
Personally, I don't entirely disagree with you. We are going to look back on this as the start of a major mental health crisis. On the other hand, I can see the school district's thinking on it. As I said before whether I like it or not changes nothing. In a couple months we will know who was right and who was wrong.
Plenty of companies are working exclusively from home until there's a reliable vaccine that most people want to get. That means everyone in my company is working from home until at least 2021. We can't have the entire enterprise go down if the virus gets in an office and spreads. We actually got a notice last week that if essential personnel leaves their home state they need to notify their leadership. If they don't and they get sick and they can be terminated. When you work at a place that takes years to fire people, that's a pretty hefty statement. I'm just not sure why teaching is so different. If a bunch of teachers at School A get sick and can't come in, who is going to teach? You've already noted that hiring new ones just isn't that easy. Who wants to sub? Teachers were told if they were exposed they would have to quarantine for two weeks. If one kid gets sick on every grade level, now what? Now extrapolate that out.
Personally, I don't entirely disagree with you. We are going to look back on this as the start of a major mental health crisis. On the other hand, I can see the school district's thinking on it. As I said before whether I like it or not changes nothing. In a couple months we will know who was right and who was wrong.
I can assure you that there are essential workers still working in some of your offices. There are IT workers that need to manage the company’s infrastructure, security to keep that infrastructure and the buildings protected, facilities to keep those buildings and utilities running, etc. Not everyone is able to work from home.
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