You should do a story on how the public school system is failing the working families.
The board of education put out the plan for fall 2020 that requires attendance and they are doing live instruction only - they are not recording their lesson plans so parents can do the lessons around their work schedule.
I have called the school my son goes to and was told to wait and see what the teacher says.
I called the board of Education and I was transferred two times to two different people and have not received a call back... my question is simple. What are families that work suppose to do?! They are setting us up for failure.
To add my son is 5 so he can’t do this alone. He’s in daycare while we work and his daycare is unsure how to make this work with their school aged raging from kindergarten to fifth grade.
I hope you can bring some light to this issue!
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
65 comments:
Calm down. Take breath. He's in kindergarten. The Sat's don't start for another 10 yrs or more.
The board only cares about politics not students or parents
Why would anyone expect competence from government employees?
Simple answer. That’s your problem. What are we teacher’s supposed to do? Schedule our personal time to match your time? Kids attend school between 9am and 2pm. Not when it’s convenient for you.
You're not alone. They also haven't answered what people who live in the country are supposed to do for internet. They are offering Verizon air cards, but some people live in areas where there is no reception from Verizon towers. So then what?!
This situation needs to be made a priority by County Council. Everyone is left in a fog
Heres the solution.
The number of people who have tested positive in Maryland for Covid is approximately 101,000, with only 3500 deaths (two thirds of whom were in Nursing home facilities). That means most people recovered having experienced mild to no symptoms JUST LIKE THE CDC AND MARYLAND WEBSITE SAYS.
So open up the dam schools and quit punishing people. End of story.
What will it take?
The teachers and BOE just see an opportunity to do less and make the same.
Liberal Democrats control the clustermuck they call the Education system.
It’s as bad as Detroit.
Home school or private school.
STOP THE INDOCTRINATION
The great thing about America is you have freedom. If you don't like public school then go to a private school if you don't like private schools then home school.
No live school, nobody pay taxes!
Elementary age kids need to be in school. Middle and high can do online. If all these daycare centers can have kids with no serious spikes, then our smart teachers can figure this out. Give them a chance. They can spread out, use the entire school, outdoors, indoors, gym etc.
Who's keeping track of the teacher's kids while they are teaching? My guess is they are in a private daycare or school.
Amen! People just can't afford to leave their jobs, they need to do more accommodate working families.
I’m so glad trump has clearly made America great...
Keep being a slave, it will work itself out!!!
Wait and see what the teacher says? As if teachers will make decisions about whether lessons will be available when parents are home from work. Please don't think teachers control what this parent seeks.
The Apocalypse begins!
wboe employees are still getting paid though! how many teachers do you need to put together online courses? one, for each subject!
Here is the new math:
Wicomico BOE = No Accountability
They don't want to record it so we can see what they are teaching. There is no reason why it can't be recorded unless they are trying to hide something.
We wouldn’t have this problem if you sorry a$$ teachers would go back to work like you’re supposed to.
Waste in the county schools
If schools are closed why do we need to pay school nurses
If schools are closed why doesn’t the county still have a huge transportation department.
If schools are closed why do we need to continue full staffing in the individual offices in schools?
If schools are closed why do we need to pay in school suspension staff?
If schools are close why do we need behavior specialists
If schools are closed why do we need vice principals and all dean of students?
If schools are closed why do we need cafeteria staff?
If schools are close why do we need all the janatorial staff at each school?
If schools are closed why do we need all the educational one on ones?
If schools are closed why do we need education assistance for the students?
If schools are closed why do we need physical education teachers?
If schools are all closed why do we need all the top heavy staff at the board of Ed?
If schools are closed why do we need math and read coaches????
Can someone explain all this to me??? It would seem like a lot of saving the citizens of the community can get back...
Maybe put that tax money in to day care
Exactly
Initially, they talked about recording, so kids could do the work later if they were at daycare and couldn’t access during the normal time. What changed?
I sincerely hope you aren't actually a teacher because you clearly don't care one bit about children receiving an education. If you really are a teacher, you're part of the problem of us not going back because you want to sit home on your lazy behind and collect a check while your health declines from excess food and lack of exercise.
I see the Recovery Plan is about 43 pages long. It's obvious that many of you have not bothered reading it. It's also obvious that a lot of you have no idea about what goes on in the schools. Also a lot of you have proven a point that I've always had. That point is that what you care about is that you use the schools as a baby sitting service and have no idea about what your kid is doing as long as you can go about your day. So sad.
So what you're saying is the basics like learning to read and learning sight words don't matter? Okay liberal.
Maybe they like the public school they PAY FOR ALREADY with taxes and just want their child to have access to it?
TRUMP 2020 !!!!
MAGA / KAG !!!!
And yet we haven't laid off any of the maintenance staff that are sitting around empty schools collecting a check. And yes the aur conditioning is running in empty buildings as you read this. Teachers have to be some of the least capable among us. Look at the thought process
Parents, if at all possible please home school your children. They deserve an education not an indoctrination and, as I see it, the only way for that to happen is to home school them. They are our future and we sure as hell don't need more Pelosi's and Schumer's walking among us, there's enough of them already.
How can anyone with a brain in their head make a comment about "homeschooling" in response to an article by someone who is concerned about their child having to stay home?
There is no doubt that this is a very difficult situation for many working families, but your opening statement is the biggest flaw in your reasoning. It is NOT the responsibility of the public school system to support working families. It IS the responsibility of the school system to provide the best possible educational opportunities to the students in its care.
Would you prefer that your child be going back to the classroom with all other students? Then you should ask yourself how your employment schedule would work if your child contracted the virus and could not attend school because of illness.
Would you prefer that there not even be an ATTEMPT at teaching and learning AT ALL (online OR in person) for the next five months? Then you would blame the school system when your child fell behind in their reading, writing, and mathematical skills.
What you WOULD prefer is that the entire system cater to YOUR wishes regarding what would be most convenient for YOU. Anything else is unacceptable, right? And venting on Joe's blog will solve it ALL, right?
We are in difficult times. My advice would be to spend a little less time on social media and a little more time reflecting on the best choices for your family to make it THROUGH these times.
Best wishes!
You can add a lot of other state and county services to that group. Start naming departments that are doing less while making the same.
defund wboe!
Looking at public schools and colleges that have reopened, it is difficult to believe the safety measures are working.
As a support staff at one of the schools we are not being paid. Still have no idea when we can get back to work. Unable to draw unemployment.
Will a BOE employee please answer the question, what about the teachers and staff children? Where will they be? So many single parents or dual working parents that are BOE employees. Who's making sure your kids are doing their virtual learning while you are dutifully teaching or working at some capacity in the schools? The rest of us want to know where you trust your kids to be safe.
Teaching isn’t your calling
Neighborhood school houses need a come back
The teachers and county school system administrators on here get very belligerent and accuse parents of not caring about education and only wanting a babysitter. These same "educators" set up about over the past decade ensuring parents are captive to the system by offering free meals, after school care, earlier and earlier pre-K and the like. Parents have come to depend on these services, which is exactly what these unscrupulous "educators" wanted. Now they dare to accuse parents of selfishness now that they are totally dependent. I feel very sorry for these parents who were trusting that the system actually cared about their children. For once my being a skeptic has paid off and thank God I am not in this position. Give us our tax money back you utterly immoral, narcissistic leeches.
We are allowed to have our children in our classrooms. We are responsible for monitoring them.
That's not true, not in middle schools in Wicomico County anyway. We have been told we are absolutely not allowed to bring our kids in.
So schools are safe enough for a teacher's child but not anyone else's? Teacher's are no different than any other parent who has to find daycare. People please, please call the Board members, county council members and the State Dept of Education. I will be doing it tomorrow. This is just wrong!!!!
How lovely for teachers, how does that work for other staff? Office staff, IT department, janitors, BOE staff? Are all those kids going to be in the school? What the BOE is saying without saying anything is that the school is safe for you and yours, but not for mine. Very interesting.
Ok teachers and boe, I have a question for you. During the worst of the early covid learning curve where mortality and illness rates were not as well known as they are now (mortality rate of .o4% right now), did you go to the store and buy anything, did you go to the restaurant and get takeout, did you go to the home supply store to get supplies for home projects with your stimulus money? Did you ever take into account that many of those employees you interacted with had left their children to serve your needs, risked exposure to thousands of strangers every day they worked? They were deemed essential workers and I was one of them. Now its your turn to be there for those who served you at a time where risk was less known than now. Somehow though, teachers are some how more important than everyine else who is working now and have been working the whole time. Teachers somehow are above serving those who served them for the past 4 months. I am looking foe any boe employee or teacher to justify this position with a straight face and a logical argument... I'm waiting...
So teacher friends, put yourself in our shoes for a minute. What if the BOE did not allow you to bring your dumplings to school and hang with mom/dad. What would you do? Quit your job? Sacrifice your home, all the things you have worked for? That is the position we are in. No, the teacher is not a babysitter, but I know plenty of single parents that do not have the ability to stay home without losing everything!
What would you do if the BOE changed their minds and said no, you may not bring little Johnny to work with you.
Really, what would you do with your child/children so you could work and earn your salary, keep food on the table and pay your bills, and keep your kids save from Covid at the same time?
I'm a teacher and I COMPLETELY agree with you. We need to go back to work. Unfortunately those like me who want to actually teach so that kids can learn are in the minority and the fearful liberals and hypochondriacs are winning out.
You deflated your own argument. The "best possible educational opportunities" happen in a real live classroom with human interaction. Not half a curriculum quasi-taught online. And education has been set up one way and people have decided their lines of work and careers with that structure in mind. Not everyone can just change jobs or work from home or swing private school tuition. Some of us have mortgages and bills that require both of us to work just to get by. You're the selfish one by putting your fear about something that won't actually kill you above the true education of an entire generation of kids.
8:43 I am no teacher but I can answer your question and the answer is yes. Plus did alot more....just go back and look at their Facebook posts i.e. sitting on beach, water-skiing, oc board walk, etc. All the while getting paid. Not saying they didn't have the right to do it. Just saying they didn't have the right to do it on the clock during the school day while getting paid!
I'm a teacher and single parent and was told I am not allowed to bring my kids in and I can take a leave of absence until school goes back. They don't care.
@312, what we are going to do is fire the teachers as there jobs will no longer be needed and you can learn to code, dig ditches, or flip burgers.
Actually. If it can be done without them , then do it. Homeschool.
Daycare providers should refuse to aid in it. They don't usually have school age children during the day, only before and after school. How are that many people going to stream classes at once?
Wait to you see the buses picking up kids on 9/8 or around that time, then the phone calls will start. Wait to you see who they are picking up for their "small" groups.
@August 18, 2020 at 8:43 PM
Agreed but it is even worse. BOE Maintenance and Operations "essential employees" were required to go in to work to actually earn their 40 hr. paychecks instead of sitting at home, or the beach... All the normal maintenance and scheduled projects proceeded in the schools to be prepared for a possible Sept opening, and this was a good idea since many teachers are coming back Sep 8.
Other departments though could somehow "work from home" or only be permitted to come in to their office one day per week, but Maintenance and Operations had to report daily.
Not even a "Thank You" for coming in while others can sit at home has been offered to these employees.
Throughout the summer there has been no disinfecting of facilities that have had staff and numerous multiple contractors working in them daily - and many of these contractors not even wearing masks. Once school starts and teachers will be in their classrooms these areas will be disinfected daily though!...
Directors were allowed to determine the work schedules and apparently the health and safety environments for their staff instead of a knowledgeable medical Doctor. If the BOE doesn't seem to value the health and safety of their own "essential" employees, why would they care about others?
Please tell us who gets to come in for a small group because I've got kids in an area with zero internet and they've yet to tell me what their plan is for my kids. I've reached out to multiple people and all I've heard is "we're working on it."
Maybe this will help https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362473-Local-recording
Vouchers are the only answer. Force competition and give parents the real choice of taking the state/federal money assigned for their child and Spend it the way they choose to. I know for a fact that two Christian schools here in Worcester are full with waiting lists - imagine if that money went to those schools?
The Wicomico Board and Administration are absolutely abysmal.
3:12pm...you are what's wrong with teaching. You having degraded this job to something less than a profession. You'd do well to work at something more in line with your thinking. Say McDonald's or perhaps Burger King.
most teachers are un-engaged idiots
What are you going to do?? My child is not attending any wat shape or manner
For those uninformed individuals who believe that school staff has not been working during this shut down, they need to stop speaking about something they no nothing about. Work has not stopped for any of us. You people are clueless yet throwing stones at the individuals your children count on to be there for them. Great job taking out your personal frustrations on people who don't deserve it. You should be so proud.
The Wicomico County Board of Education has not issued a directive regarding children of staff in the buildings. They should. Any school that has given that permission likely does not have the right to do so. It is 100% NOT OK for them to bring their children into the buildings if other children can't be in school. Teachers and support staff, except office personnel, have been given the option to work from home, from their classrooms, or a mix of both. Most teachers have been participating in many, many professional development and online classes over the Summer and have spent countless hours learning the best methods of teaching online. Yes, there were a handful of teachers/staff members in the County that made very poor decisions last Spring and went out of town, worked other jobs, etc., during school hours. Stupidly, they put their excursions on Social Media. Supposedly, the WCBOE monitors Facebook, etc. If so, why have they not confronted these individuals? Where is the HR Department now? Most of the support staffs only work 9 1/2 - 10 months out of the year, so of course they can't collect unemployment benefits during the Summer months! I'm really confused as to why some think they should? If they are not brought back this Fall, THEN they can likely collect unemployment benefits. Believe what you wish, but the decision not to open schools was not up to the teachers. I completely understand that this situation is extremely difficult for many families. It amazes me that there are so many parents willing to take the chance that their children could get COVID-19 and possibly be hospitalized or pass away. Personally, I would never take that chance. If the kids DID go back to school and behaved as normal children do, masks would not stay on and social distancing, etc., would be almost impossible. What would parents do if their child was so sick they missed a month of school? Or what would happen if their child's class was quarantined multiple times? I would think arranging something that suits each family for online learning would be a much more consistent solution, not to mention safer for the children (yes, the staff, too). It hurts my heart to hear the horrid things people are saying about teachers. Don't blame it on them! The WCBOE IS offering hotspots to those without internet, so to those that say there is no help for their situation, you're clearly not paying attention to the many telephone messages, e-mails, social media posts, or the WCPS website and your individual school websites. I know the whole COVID-19 situation is awful in so many ways (not just school), but let's all be grown-ups and just deal with what we can't change!
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