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January Banter 2022


George BM
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15 hours ago, Yeoman said:

Did school systems not just invest hundreds of millions in tax money to support virtual learning? Why is that not being used in these situations? I don't get it.. 

 

14 hours ago, SnowenOutThere said:

we get 5 snow days then I don’t know what happens. Also have you no care for the mental health of kids?

What's with the sudden, emo, accusatory redirect on "mental health of kids??" A close relative works in an FCPS school, and I can assure you that administrators, teachers and staff are obsessed with student's mental health in a post-pandemic environment, following a year of remote learning...often to the detriment of actual, IN-PERSON learning right now. FFS, @Yeoman has a legit point and asks legit questions.

My own sons finally escaped FCPS last decade, but were were they still trapped in this ineffectual system I'd be asking the very same questions as a parent...hell, as a tax payer who continues to support FCPS's proven habits to spend like a drunken sailor (for over 30 years now), I'm STILL asking those same questions. Perfect example -- FCPS invested multi-millions in a new, supposedly world-class learning management system throughout 2019 and early 2020...only to have it fail miserably when remote learning was ramped up in March 2020.

Instead of focusing solely on getting THAT egregious, over-budget snafu fixed -- which never really was, and instead the fallback during the balance of 2020 was to an existing system of web/cloud-based systems held together with Kleenex & spit -- the FCPS superintendent and school board threw more good money after bad by hiring a panel of attorneys to conduct a study as to why the original LMS didn't work as designed. I'll let that sink in -- they hired a LAW FIRM to diagnose piss-poor technological and program management decisions.

This is typical FCPS -- inept leadership, and a once world-class school district continues to slowly circle the drain. To be clear, in my experience there are accomplished, caring and awesome educators scattered across FCPS...but they are being dragged down and held back by inept senior leaders and a tone-deaf school board that can't prioritize, nor make efficient, data-driven decisions.

As a federal government employee for 20+ years, I've been accustomed to successfully teleworking for most of those years. While we occasionally got full days off for bad snow back in the early 2000s, but I've been expected to remote-work on "inclement weather" days since at least the mid-2010s. The federal government wants us to be a flexible and adaptable workforce...I'm not only fine with that, I embrace that. This is the way it SHOULD work -- and the sooner the TikTok generation learns this work ethic, the better.

Again, Yeoman's questions are spot-on -- parents AND taxpayers have a right to expect that students in Fairfax County receive an education -- even on snow days now -- in an environment where remote learning should still be (mostly) a muscle memory. While the freezing rain threat didn't materialize in FfxCo this morning, I'll grant that many of our secondary roads are still in bad shape or impassable. Okay. So let's fire up the FCPS remote-learning machine...instead of giving students ANOTHER added day of holiday break.

/RANT OFF

P.S. -- Calling it here and now that FCPS will drag out school closings for this entire week...although they'll probably have to be somewhat creative in their justifications for tomorrow, currently forecast to be partly sunny with temps in the low-mid 40s.

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Just joking (kind of)...

I don't think we should expect kids to engage in remote learning on occasional snow days. Let kids enjoy the snow, FFS. They're kids! You could argue that we can ask kids to do so if there are extended periods of being out of school, but the county has inclement weather days baked in, so they're using them. And not only, that, but with COVID surging everywhere right after the holidays, using inclement weather as an excuse to keep kids out of school makes a difficult political decision a lot easier to sell.

I'd have been fine if my third-grader were required to do remote learning today, but the school system chose not to do that. I understand that it makes things very difficult for some families who rely on the school system to essentially provide child care, but my family is lucky not to be n that situation, so I'm not horribly opposed to the decisions they've made at this point.

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15 minutes ago, mattie g said:

Just joking (kind of)...

I don't think we should expect kids to engage in remote learning on occasional snow days. Let kids enjoy the snow, FFS. They're kids! You could argue that we can ask kids to do so if there are extended periods of being out of school, but the county has inclement weather days baked in, so they're using them. And not only, that, but with COVID surging everywhere right after the holidays, using inclement weather as an excuse to keep kids out of school makes a difficult political decision a lot easier to sell.

I'd have been fine if my third-grader were required to do remote learning today, but the school system chose not to do that. I understand that it makes things very difficult for some families who rely on the school system to essentially provide child care, but my family is lucky not to be n that situation, so I'm not horribly opposed to the decisions they've made at this point.

I see your side as well, especially adding in the in-person health concerns. But yeah....I'm also a curmedugeonly tax payer, who also hears intel about the sausage-making from several friends/loved ones who are employed in the system, and the depths of ineptitude and indecision are mind-boggling at times.  ;) 

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1 hour ago, vastateofmind said:

 

What's with the sudden, emo, accusatory redirect on "mental health of kids??" A close relative works in an FCPS school, and I can assure you that administrators, teachers and staff are obsessed with student's mental health in a post-pandemic environment, following a year of remote learning...often to the detriment of actual, IN-PERSON learning right now. FFS, @Yeoman has a legit point and asks legit questions.

My own sons finally escaped FCPS last decade, but were were they still trapped in this ineffectual system I'd be asking the very same questions as a parent...hell, as a tax payer who continues to support FCPS's proven habits to spend like a drunken sailor (for over 30 years now), I'm STILL asking those same questions. Perfect example -- FCPS invested multi-millions in a new, supposedly world-class learning management system throughout 2019 and early 2020...only to have it fail miserably when remote learning was ramped up in March 2020.

Instead of focusing solely on getting THAT egregious, over-budget snafu fixed -- which never really was, and instead the fallback during the balance of 2020 was to an existing system of web/cloud-based systems held together with Kleenex & spit -- the FCPS superintendent and school board threw more good money after bad by hiring a panel of attorneys to conduct a study as to why the original LMS didn't work as designed. I'll let that sink in -- they hired a LAW FIRM to diagnose piss-poor technological and program management decisions.

This is typical FCPS -- inept leadership, and a once world-class school district continues to slowly circle the drain. To be clear, in my experience there are accomplished, caring and awesome educators scattered across FCPS...but they are being dragged down and held back by inept senior leaders and a tone-deaf school board that can't prioritize, nor make efficient, data-driven decisions.

As a federal government employee for 20+ years, I've been accustomed to successfully teleworking for most of those years. While we occasionally got full days off for bad snow back in the early 2000s, but I've been expected to remote-work on "inclement weather" days since at least the mid-2010s. The federal government wants us to be a flexible and adaptable workforce...I'm not only fine with that, I embrace that. This is the way it SHOULD work -- and the sooner the TikTok generation learns this work ethic, the better.

Again, Yeoman's questions are spot-on -- parents AND taxpayers have a right to expect that students in Fairfax County receive an education -- even on snow days now -- in an environment where remote learning should still be (mostly) a muscle memory. While the freezing rain threat didn't materialize in FfxCo this morning, I'll grant that many of our secondary roads are still in bad shape or impassable. Okay. So let's fire up the FCPS remote-learning machine...instead of giving students ANOTHER added day of holiday break.

/RANT OFF

P.S. -- Calling it here and now that FCPS will drag out school closings for this entire week...although they'll probably have to be somewhat creative in their justifications for tomorrow, currently forecast to be partly sunny with temps in the low-mid 40s.

The distance learning still is not the best and also has not been tested this school year. It would be an absolute mess trying to set that up because they hate giving us directions so just let it be a day off. Yesterday I went sledding with some other friends from FCPS we got at least 10 times more memorable than any school day. I can also attest that this more than anything the school does helps me and my friends mental health. 

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7 minutes ago, SnowenOutThere said:

The distance learning still is not the best and also has not been tested this school year. It would be an absolute mess trying to set that up because they hate giving us directions so just let it be a day off. Yesterday I went sledding with some other friends from FCPS we got at least 10 times more memorable than any school day. I can also attest that this more than anything the school does helps me and my friends mental health. 

It doesn’t take a genius to log in to a Google meet lol

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13 minutes ago, SnowenOutThere said:

The distance learning still is not the best and also has not been tested this school year. It would be an absolute mess trying to set that up because they hate giving us directions so just let it be a day off. Yesterday I went sledding with some other friends from FCPS we got at least 10 times more memorable than any school day. I can also attest that this more than anything the school does helps me and my friends mental health. 

LOL. Thank you for so aptly proving at least a few of the points I made in my original rant.

Ferris_Bueller_I_weep_for_the_future.gif.c52656d883995e31573fb669a5010499.gif

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Lots of school hate up in here.  This will come off as FCPS defender type post but given how large a system they run and the full gambit of kids that need an education I challenge any of you to conceive of a "perfect" school system that is totally free of flaws.  I don't like bloat as much as anyone but when you need to offer things from lunches and breakfasts for low income kids(can ANY of you really be ok with kids being hungry?) to social services for kids that struggle to read due to a condition, to providing info and assistance for college or vocational schools, to running athletic depts so our kids can play sports without ti costing an arm and a leg.  

I wish they did things better.  They could and should fix a lot of things.  But a lot of kids need things and they have a right to that just as much as we do even if we don't use all the things a school system provides.

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1 minute ago, H2O said:

Lots of school hate up in here.  This will come off as FCPS defender type post but given how large a system they run and the full gambit of kids that need an education I challenge any of you to conceive of a "perfect" school system that is totally free of flaws.  I don't like bloat as much as anyone but when you need to offer things from lunches and breakfasts for low income kids(can ANY of you really be ok with kids being hungry?) to social services for kids that struggle to read due to a condition, to providing info and assistance for college or vocational schools, to running athletic depts so our kids can play sports without ti costing an arm and a leg.  

I wish they did things better.  They could and should fix a lot of things.  But a lot of kids need things and they have a right to that just as much as we do even if we don't use all the things a school system provides.

Great post!!

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7 minutes ago, WinterWxLuvr said:

I make SREF posts lol, but these HRRR people are the worst.

I said it with the last storm and I'll say it with this one - the mesoscale models have some value in their output of how the precipitation shield may look.  We can all agree that the GFS, and later the Euro, hit the past storm correctly, but they just didn't have the resolution to nail the sharp backside.  That's the value of the mesoscale models.  So, if the mesoscale models are hinting that there may be some lee side of the mountains effect, I'm going to pay attention to that even if we defer to the globals on track and intensity.

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11 minutes ago, MN Transplant said:

I said it with the last storm and I'll say it with this one - the mesoscale models have some value in their output of how the precipitation shield may look.  We can all agree that the GFS, and later the Euro, hit the past storm correctly, but they just didn't have the resolution to nail the sharp backside.  That's the value of the mesoscale models.  So, if the mesoscale models are hinting that there may be some lee side of the mountains effect, I'm going to pay attention to that even if we defer to the globals on track and intensity.

This. I was def paying attention to the HRRR leading up to Monday. Despite the GFS and Euro giving me decent accumulations Sunday, the HRRR was dry. 

I didn't see the 00z Euro Sunday night, but even the 00z GFS wasn't as good up my way, and HRRR was putrid. I knew before I went to sleep I wasn't going to see anything. 

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10 minutes ago, H2O said:

I just realized I did a file of lolz.  I think the word I should have used was gamut, not gambit.  

I'm stupid

I read it the way you meant it AND didn't even see the misspell...our brains are funny that way. I saw some exercise on the web a year or two ago, where you were given a paragraph of what APPEARED to be nonsensical writing on first pass....but which was actually a paragraph of words with intentional letter dropouts, miscapitalizations, effed-up punctuation, etc. And yeah, while it took a minute longer to read, your brain actually fills in and "cleans up" the text as you read, and you COULD read it...which was pretty damn amazing.

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7 minutes ago, WEATHER53 said:

Discerning minds, which yours  isn’t,  have discussed for years the idea of full and no moon having proven effects on tides and the possible effects on atmospheric storm systems   The “amplification” aspects are scientific in nature.  Otherwise you can shove your snotty ass derision up your simpleton ass as you try and make fun of a forecaster who is Way Better than your limp dick  wishy  washy ass. 

Spicy!! I like it..

Unfortunately you're confusing me with someone who cares about your nonsense posts.. I was making a joke - sun angle vs moon angle given this is happening at night.

Don't forget to take your Geritol!

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