Thread by @kelly_j_baker

Our school board sent out a letter to parents today to say that county's virtual school academy will no longer exist for 3-12 grades as of the 25th of this month.

All of those kids will put in one of two completely different virtual options not run by the county.

For K-2, our school district will still have district teachers for their virtual classrooms, but it won't necessarily be the teachers that they have now.

My 1st grader could get a brand new teacher, and I didn't know about it until the first day of this semester.

It seems that our brand new superintendent realized that having teachers do both face-to-face ad remote teaching SIMULTANEOUSLY was bad for both the teachers and the kids.

I completely agree that it was a terrible idea.

However, it is remarkably uncool to surprise parents with this on the first day of school with absolutely no warning.

Additionally, the letter made it clear that the school district is only offering a remote option because the governor and Florida DOE *REQUIRE* them to.

The district wants all the kids in face-to-face school.

And in the letter, the district forcibly suggests that kids who are failing in virtual school should come back to face-to-face school immediately.

If these parents don't send their kids back to brick and mortar, then they have to sign a letter that admits their child will possibly fail in remote learning.

I pulled my 6th grader out of the county's virtual school because it seemed like superintendent didn't care if students succeeded or not in virtual school.

So, I'm not surprised that students are receiving failing grades because the virtual school was a SHITSHOW.

And the county's virtual school was a shitshow because it appeared that the superintendent wanted students to attend brick and mortar and not deal with remote schooling.

I am so pissed that our school district created terrible working conditions for students and teachers in the fall, and now, they are punishing students for their failure to provide quality virtual school.

TL:DR:

My school district failed students and teachers, and the teachers and students suffered through it.

And now, students, who haven't received the kind of schooling that they deserved and needed, are going to be punished for staying in remote schooling.

I feel like I should note that the district had to shut down the brick and mortar that my kids would have been attending before Thanksgiving because so many teachers and students were in quarantine because of Covid.

So, happy* first day of the new semester to me and all the other parents that now have to scramble to figure out how to keep their kids in virtual school!

*not fucking happy

My family is in a position to weather these changes. They will suck, but we can manage.

Other families in our county, however, will feel like there's no choice but to go back to brick and mortar schools, which still lack basic safety protections.

Our county's school district (rural Florida) only requires masks for class changes for grades 6-12 and on the bus. Masks are *recommended* not required for students, faculty and staff.

There's only social distancing WHEN THEY CAN.

More students in brick and mortar schools is only going to make the schools even less safe than they are now.

I'm bereft and so fucking angry.

Oh, and did I mention that my county has a weekly Covid positivity rate of 19%, which is rising?

Trying to get more students in brick and mortar schools right now is such a dangerous move.