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Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Did DCPS back to school plan consider teacher's needs, I mean at all? (draft)

Let me acknowledge that this must be hard, no, make that incredibly hard, and no matter what the district would have announced it was bound to have criticism, lots of criticism. That being said this is the job they signed up for and I have a big criticism and that's the district didn't seem to consider teachers and staff at all.

Two big observations, if kids are going to switch classes, they should be required to wear masks and it's incredibly reckless that they aren't going to be required to. If we kept them in pods where one group stayed together all the time and staff  rotated to them, then if somebody got sick you would know who they interacted with and be able to isolate them and take them out of the mix. However if all the kids are interacting with all the kids, then if somebody gets sick, now the entire school will be taken out of commission.

Good luck having kids wear masks as they switch classes, if masks are optional in the class, the thing is if you want to make masks optional have them optional in the same group, not the entire school.   

Then a big WTF to their plan for center schools, basically the district just said good luck. Children with disabilities are dying at a faster rate than most groups and if we are going to take extra precautions anywhere then this is the spot, however it doesn't seem like we are taking extra precautions any where. I get it too, distance learning didn't work for a lot our more seriously disabled students, but do you know what will work worse? Getting sick and dying. If any group needs an A/B day it is this group.

Then why announce the plan now? Instead why not send it to the staff to get their ideas, their concerns and their feedback, I mean they are the ones who will be doing the job they probably know better than those in the ivory tower. Look I am a sooner the better guy but I am also a collaborative guy, and those people doing the work should be included.

I can't help but think it they said this was a tentative plan and they sent it to teachers, they could make it much better. 

So if the district is planing on offering in class and Duval Homeroom, are teachers going to be required to do both?

What about teachers who have underlying conditions? What thought has been given to them? Are they going to be invited to join DVIA?

I hope this is just a starting point because it leaves tons of questions unanswered.   

Like I said this is hard, but it might be easier if it was just more than Greene and her cabinet brainstorming. 

One of my chief complaints is the district does things that affect staff without thinking how it will affect staff until it affects staff, this is more of that, I think we can and should be doing better than that.

To see the plan, click the link, https://www.teamduval.org/2020/06/23/dr-greene-presents-plan-for-reopening-schools/? 

1 comment:

  1. Are teachers especially at the elementary level teaching Duval Homeroom for the students that select that option as well as their brick and mortar classes? I know middle and high schools have the hybrid plan but elementary plan looks to be all or nothing. Will elementary teachers be paid double if they are pulling double duty? Just curious.

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