- Julie F.

“Whenever I get asked how my boys are doing with virtual schooling, I reply, ‘Fine’, with a shrug. Because, the truth is, they are fine. Not good, not great, just fine. Teachers are working hard! Yet, my 8th grader tells me frequently he is learning about 20% of what he used to. My first instinct is to be all over him like white on rice about how he needs to improve, be more focused, rise to the occasion. Then, I realize he is ‘fine’. He is not depressed, he is not overeating, he smiles and laughs. He is simply completely unmotivated to learn in this format. Maybe that actually means he is doing great comparatively to other kids his age who are now struggling with mental health issues. He, more than any of my other children, NEEDS in person schooling. He needs the day-to-day contact, the teacher input, the occasional stink eye from the teachers. He is not ‘sporty’ like his siblings. He has no other outlet. I get emails weekly from one teacher or another about his assignments - both the quality (usually lack thereof) or the status (usually not turned in).  I have never helicopter parented my kids. I do not check PowerSchool and Schoology often. Their job is school, my job is actually 3 separate paying jobs and running the household and defining expectations and giving them the tools they need to accomplish that. Virtual schooling for 12 months has brought us to our knees as it has upended our traditional parenting style and really made me recalibrate expectations - of myself and of my kids. I am flummoxed why my nephews (same ages as my two left at home) are in full time school and have been so since September and my kids are not. We actually have far less community transmission than where they live. I am flummoxed at why my teacher friends in other states are happily in school full time and reporting to me that all is well and they only have the occasional case in school. Many of whom live in Florida where the case load is way higher. 

I used to think that our school district was special. I purposefully moved here for the schools many years ago. I pay an inordinate amount in property taxes exactly for these schools. And yet, despite every opportunity to go back in the fall, switch to virtual through the December/January period and then back again, we are now approaching 12 months of virtual school. What I thought was a student-centered school district, has honestly seemed all about the teachers and less about the parents and students. I guess I am envious that the teachers managed to command the greater voice. We have exceptional teachers in our system, for sure! I respect our teachers and admire all the shifts they have made. However, now is the time to focus on the kids. To stop acting out of fear and complete risk aversion. My kids are ‘fine’, but they need some normalcy. They need some socialization. Most importantly, they need the quality education they deserve.  Schools are about the kids. The kids have been last in my opinion. I am not hysterical. I am not shouty. I am advocating for my children like a Mama Bear. I want to be able to trust our school district, but honestly that trust is destroyed at present. So many flip flops, so much contradictory information. So many times the Superintendent had chastised parents for trying to do the best for their kids when that should have been the focus of the school system the entire time. I teach strategy at an MBA level and I don’t see one that prioritizes getting the kids back full time. Good planning means you are concentrating on the present, the short term and the long term all at once. The science is here telling us that schools can be reopened full time. Why is our district ignoring the science? We, of all districts, should have been able to do this. I am disillusioned as a parent. It is a remarkable time in history for sure. In times like these we are put to the test and the strong rise like Phoenix’s out of the chaos. Falls Church City schools is still grounded. Tied down with weights of fear, total risk aversion, and lack of strategy and leadership. We are not special, just average.

My kids hobble along. They are fine. I am fine. I am just disappointed and wary, and so are they.”