The District can pretend they care with a video, but their actions speak a lot louder than their words.Ask, and ye shall receive. Here is a DCPS PSA for staff; please watch it and try not to cry, spit out your mile or smash your computer. Warning that will be a challenge. Once again, no mention of the pandemic; you know it's like it's not happening. That is a problem, a big problem. Can you imagine the production meeting? Hey, there is a pandemic going on; should we mention it? How about those sch
It's also the little things that make you think DCPS really doesn't care.If DCPS really cared about the welfare of students and staff, they would cancel all-district testing, tell each group to do their best, get through this, and if we have things to make up post-pandemic, we will, and that staying right, should be your only priority. But they aren't. Instead, they are putting more pressure on teachers than ever before, and for kids, well, it's business as usual. So
In DCPS it is risk your life and get a gift card… maybeIt’s surreal the disdain for staff and students the district has, it really is. Forcing staff to give up their planning, and to violate CDC guidelines is just the tip of the iceberg. The latest affront is the balls to the wall effort to get students in DHR to come in for district testing. Teachers at one school have told me that they have even been offered to be put into a drawing for a really sw
School Board Chair Andersen says teachers have free will when it comes to social distancing in schools.Board Chair Andersen says teachers have a choice when it comes to social distancing, not any good choices but choices. I have been writing about the things our local education leaders have said and done for over a decade. Sometimes they get mad at me and say, well, even though those are my words, it's not what I meant. I believe words have power, and Andersen’s words were when it comes to sociall
Board chair Elizabeth Andersen accuses me of spreading false narrativesI asked her which narratives were false? That contact tracing was terrible that teachers have been threatened to social distance or the fact that the school board got a 6200 dollar raise while many veterans are about to take a pay cut. All of those things, whether she wants to acknowledge it or not, have happened on her watch. On the Artilces About Public Facebook page, Mrs. Andersen posted about
DCPS admits they were wrong… after they got caughtThis year teachers have often had more to do and less time to do it. So what did many schools do? If you guessed bent over backward to find more time for teachers, you would be wrong, and instead, they required many teachers
The DCPS administration has degenerated into bullies and thugsI know those are harsh words but what else should I call an administration that tells its staff to violate CDC guidelines or face consequences, and tells parents to bring their kids in for an often worthless test or risk promotion or assignment to magnets? What do I call people that seem to have no idea there is a pandemic who willingly throwing safety to the wind? I ask because those things are
Elizabeth Andersen has chugged the kool aide.I had a spit out the milk type moment. While watching the school board meeting, Andersen laid praise of Superintendent Green like a hype man on speed. My question is, is Andersen willfully ignorant or complicit in the slow-moving car wreck that is Greene's leadership. What does Andersen like best, the woeful contact tracing? Cajoling teachers to ignore CDC guidelines? Intimidating parents to send
Why is it impossible for DCPS to read the room?I think it is because they have their heads stuck up there, well, you know, but the thing is, District leadership seems oblivious to almost everything, and for some reason making people miserable is their default. If they could read the room, they could have avoided so much heartbreak, angst, and trauma. When DCPS proposed @#$ing veteran teachers, I get it, the state does us no favors, but I thou
New York Times Editorial Board goes after teachersDavid Brooks editorial going after teachers, and I say teachers and not union leaders because that is a distinction without a difference, was very disappointing and more than a little reckless. Teacher Unions are made up of teachers; they represent our interests, not some secret agenda and wanting to keep teachers safe should be at the top of everyone’s agendas. Last spring when the entire nation
The heroism of saying no.I recently read two articles about teachers that made me shake my head. One was about a kindergarten teacher, giving remote instruction from the chemo ward, and the second was about a principal with a second-night job at Walmart who donated those checks to struggling families. Both were presented as heroes, but the reality is they are a big part of the problem. Society has the resources to take c
Can somebody please tell Superintendent Greene there is a pandemic?I mean, really, she is acting like there isn’t one. Having kids come back to the school for district testing. This is just another example of the district not being able to read the room. The federal government will give a waiver for high stakes testing this year sooner or later. Now it is true Florida may pass on it, but who cares? We all know Florida is terrible, and nobody should take any resu
DCPS must just sit around and think of ways to %$@# with people part 2A couple weeks back, I wrote about how certificated staff without classroom responsibilities, interventionists, lead teachers, etc., were being required to cover classes because of a lack of subs and not being compensated for it. The original post is below. I wrote Greene and the school board about this too, and Greene got back to me. Mr. Guerrieri, Thank you for contacting the Board concerning p
