Larry T. Spider

It’s one of the things that we discussed this week. If you add minutes to each day, you don’t have to add as many days at the end of the year.

Canvas is not user friendly for young kids but it counts clicks for proof kids are doing shit. Welcome to 2020.

"More for another thread about the TEA itself, but it would be great if this woke a lot of people about TEA/state BOE stuff." Amen. I understand that they are a compliance organization, but they don't have to work against us at every turn. There is no rule saying that this can't be a collaborative process.

Because TEA was forcing us to take kids that claim they don’t have reliable technology starting day 1 as of last Tuesday. Some schools were expecting hundreds to show up on the first day.

Based on the info I’m getting this morning, including from trustees, the 8th is looking likely. They don’t want to force schools to physically open on August 18th as tea would require for some students. Many schools would be expecting hundreds of students and teacher resignations are already adding up. Sadly, this is probably the only way around TEA’s bullshit.

Long story short, TEA forced our hand. Abbott saw what is happening and tried to walk it back but it’s probably too little too late. I don’t really feel bad for Abbott but he has a lot of clowns to wrangle in the Texas state government.

I worked for a different district that was going through severe budget cuts after the 2011 legislative session and everything was on the table for cuts. We were able to find some stuff at the central office level but it was much harder than we initially expected. We all wanted less administrative staff that isn’t tied to a campus as it would mean more money for other district functions. But, there is an unfunded mandate with ridiculous reporting requirements for everything under the sun. The regulations are so specific and ever-changing that you need a person that just deals with that area or your district is going to get hammered. Some of it is federal and some is TEA. There are complicated regulations, reporting requirements, parent support, and staff training provided for special education, section 504, esl/bilingual programs, state assessments (telpas and staar), McKinney-Vento act, advanced academics (GT), and on and on. The above list doesn’t take into account the people that manage basic functions such as facilities, food service, finances, academic departments, HR, transportation, technology, textbooks, the warehouse, legal department and a million other things.

Also on team Hands On A Hard Body at Dobie. I was in high school at the time though.

They have a new and supposedly improved system of collecting chromebooks and getting them to kids. Parents can sign up in the parent cloud, check status, ask questions, etc. HOPEFULLY that means they will be delivering what they have very quickly. I think the main reason deliveries stopped last time was that they simply ran out of devices. Even all of our pta purchased devices were collected and distributed. Either way, thanks for thinking of kids beyond your own. It does make a big difference when people think that way.

Everything we bought won’t be delivered for weeks because every district is trying to do the same thing. If you have the ability to do so, I would just buy your own. It also means you won’t have to go through the district to get it updated later.

The main difference with schools will be the average age of the person working with kids. It’s a range from 23-65 instead of your typical camp counselor that is 18-25. Many more risk factors involved.

Just google all the summer camps shutting down due to kids getting covid. Why would schools be any different?

Hell, we can’t even get the legal Hispanics to vote consistently.

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I think that in this environment people will confront the people standing outside of polling places to intimidate. Neither side is backing down right now.

100% chance of legit brawls at polling places this November.

You could drive from the Idaho/Canada border to the beach in Georgia without hitting a Democrat state. But the democratic would have won the electoral college 373-165. Still would put Texas as pink though.

For virtual, we have to see the kid in a zoom, get work turned in, or make some other contact with them for them to be counted as present. If not, no funding for that day. If even 10% of those kids stay awol, it can destroy the budget. We haven’t even started to talk about how the next budget cycle that will be hashed out in the legislature next spring will be brutal. Not trying to be chicken little, but the effects of this will be with us for years after day to day life gets back to normal.

It’s not just that they have terrible ideas and are holding money hostage. It’s that they keep changing the rules weekly. We are smart enough to find a way to make it work if you give us one set of plans. 52 hours after their last blackmail “guidance”, they still haven’t explained to district leaders what all of their conflicting statements actually mean.

The problem is that we typically combine some classes when they go to special areas to make the numbers work. This is no longer allowable, which makes it a cluster. Especially true for pe as there are state requirements for minutes. The most immediate issue that we are working through is that the state is saying that we have to open our doors to students without technology starting on day 1 if we want funding. Many principals feel that they will be dealing will so many students that it makes social distancing difficult. The other question is who is going to teach them? All the other teachers will be teaching the kids learning virtually. What staff is willing to come to school right now? It quickly starts to look like warehousing kids in places where they can do the same online work the other kids are doing at home. Seems miserable for the kids and the schools. I’ll just say that we are looking at all options and many are drastic changes from what we were planning three days ago. I felt like we actually had a decent plan until tea dropped this on us.

Gsoda: chromebooks mostly. Should be able to start delivery by the end of August but the start date is the 18th. These are the issues that we are working though. Remember that TEA is stating that every parent that wants in person instruction will get it once we are required to go back. The current max of virtual is 4 weeks, with a 4 week add on. Obviously that could change based on the document that came out yesterday. How do we fill a classroom with students but maintain 6 feet of social distancing? How do we do arrival procedures that allows teachers to be in their room to welcome students but enough staff to socially distance and temp check 500+ kids? How do teachers get a duty free lunch and conference period with everything being done in the classroom? Basically nobody is willing to be a substitute teacher right now. What do we do when teachers are out? If we have too many teachers that meet the requirements to stay at home and want to, what are we doing with the kids that show up? How do we work with a person that is showing symptoms of covid without them going to the health room, where the most medically fragile students get treatment? What do we do with students when their teacher tests positive or has had direct contact with somebody that has? Who teaches them? Socially distancing on a bus? Lulz. How many teachers will quit? One AISD school had 5 quit last week. Passing periods for middle/high school? Obviously the list goes on and on.

I haven't been able to keep up with the thread as the days have gotten quite long. TEA issued a new document last night that could throw a wrench in the current reopening plans. Its tied to funding and pushes face to face instruction. At this point we don't know what it all means because it contradicts previous orders and what Abbott has said. Im 99% sure that we will be able to figure out a way to avoid it, but in person on August 18th is back on the table. At least for students without access to technology, possibly more. It also (99% unlikely) puts a push back of the start date on the table. We have purchased millions of dollars worth of technology but it won't be delivered by the start of school because every other institution is trying to do the exact same thing. The way this typically goes is: Morath and TEA puts out some onerous orders about hoops to jump through for funding, districts tell people what they actually looks like on a campus, Abbott tells TEA to stay in their lane. Probably not usable information for parents, but just trying to give some insight into what we are working on. Temp checks for every student were out yesterday morning but back by the evening. Operational procedures for running a school during covid is a complete bitch. Just getting enough staff to monitor students all day, let alone teach them anything, is going to be a challenge.

According to the twitterz, this is heading to the ballot.

Do you get -4 points if you had that one?

Lots of people cooperate with the police. Right before they get fucked in the ass by police.