Started working at an elementary school last week. Shocked and sad. AMA

[Anonymous]

Informal AMA thread. I am already shocked and saddened by the state of public elementary. This is in a wealthy suburb. There’s is a free lunch contingent but test scores are excellent and if you watch morning drop off it’s a lot of luxury vehicles.

I’m shocked at how we enroll and keep some kids who have academic and social needs we can’t possibly meet. Often a helper is assigned to one of these kids to try to keep the kid safe while 20 other 6 years old try to ignore yelling and crying and distraction to learn from their teacher. I’ve heard 7 year olds using language I’d feel guilty about even repeating! I’ve watched teacher be kicked and punched and slapped, again by 6 and 7 year olds! And the hot lunches shocked me. The other day I watched one kid eat the following for lunch: giant chocolate chip muffin, chocolate milk, sugary Dannon yogurt, low fat string cheese. This is a “balanced” meal provided by the school.

Maybe I am just out of touch, but I feel many typical parents would be surprised to hear what elementary school is like for their kids.

[Anonymous]

Do you think our kids don’t tell us this stuff? We know.

What are you doing to help get troubled kids the help they need? (That the school frequently refuses to provide.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Informal AMA thread. I am already shocked and saddened by the state of public elementary. This is in a wealthy suburb. There’s is a free lunch contingent but test scores are excellent and if you watch morning drop off it’s a lot of luxury vehicles.

I’m shocked at how we enroll and keep some kids who have academic and social needs we can’t possibly meet. Often a helper is assigned to one of these kids to try to keep the kid safe while 20 other 6 years old try to ignore yelling and crying and distraction to learn from their teacher. I’ve heard 7 year olds using language I’d feel guilty about even repeating! I’ve watched teacher be kicked and punched and slapped, again by 6 and 7 year olds! And the hot lunches shocked me. The other day I watched one kid eat the following for lunch: giant chocolate chip muffin, chocolate milk, sugary Dannon yogurt, low fat string cheese. This is a “balanced” meal provided by the school.

Maybe I am just out of touch, but I feel many typical parents would be surprised to hear what elementary school is like for their kids.

Ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think our kids don’t tell us this stuff? We know.

What are you doing to help get troubled kids the help they need? (That the school frequently refuses to provide.)

That the school does not have reasources to provide

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think our kids don’t tell us this stuff? We know.

What are you doing to help get troubled kids the help they need? (That the school frequently refuses to provide.)

I know that some of the parents don’t want to admit their kids may have any problems. One is a kid who the school has pushed to get tested and parents refuse. For another kid who is consistently violent and disruptive, I don’t know what can be done by the school beyond what’s been done. I’ve been to told to document.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think our kids don’t tell us this stuff? We know.

What are you doing to help get troubled kids the help they need? (That the school frequently refuses to provide.)

Are you surprised or disappointed by it? I’m really troubled by it and I’m feeling nervous about my own kid joining the district.

[Anonymous]

How are the teachers holding up? And why do you think things have escalated to this extent? My kids are tweens/teens and they had very "normal," positive elementary experiences.

[Anonymous]

No child left behind REALLY screwed so many kids. It hasn't helped kids avoid being academically left behind. And "least restrictive environment" isn't helpful when the kid is verbally disruptive.

[Anonymous]

I had this feeling too. I volunteered at a kindergarten party in my sons class. 30 kids one teacher one aid. The aid spent the entire time trying to get 3 kids under control. They were throwing chairs in the reading corner, tackling each other, yelling and screaming. I finally understood why when I had the parent teacher conference it seemed like the teacher had no clue who my average child was. He was lost in the noise, sometimes literally. It was heartbreaking. I don’t fault the teachers I fault government actors who have consistently fought to under support public education for the last 40 years and the push to mainstream all children which does not provide those most in need with environs conducive to their own healthy growth and learning and undermines the education of more average performers. It’s doing so much damage to our nation and children. I don’t know what can be done.

[Anonymous]

My child has special needs and I volunteered extensively at his Bethesda elementary. I saw a couple of children with very disruptive needs that impacted instructional time. These kids needed non-mainstream placement, but either the parents refused it, or there was no room in the right MCPS special program, or, MCPS did not wish to pay for SN private school outplacement, for the most severe cases.

It’s sad. However, all my kids have good memories of this school, and the Principal and IEP teams did their level best with the resources they had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How are the teachers holding up? And why do you think things have escalated to this extent? My kids are tweens/teens and they had very "normal," positive elementary experiences.

I think teachers are focused on their own classes. In elementary, most of the time is spent with their home room teachers. The teachers with more disruptive kids or kids with significant emotional needs are obviously the most drained. I can’t believe one person is expected to teach 24 neurotypical kids and somehow monitor and manage 1-3 kids with significant needs. I was in one of the classes and saw that some of the mainstream 1st graders could write their names (barely) and not much else. I don’t think this was noticed because usually the teacher had to redirect the 2 hands on kids. Often the kids also redirect their classmates and nobody focuses on actual learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My child has special needs and I volunteered extensively at his Bethesda elementary. I saw a couple of children with very disruptive needs that impacted instructional time. These kids needed non-mainstream placement, but either the parents refused it, or there was no room in the right MCPS special program, or, MCPS did not wish to pay for SN private school outplacement, for the most severe cases.

It’s sad. However, all my kids have good memories of this school, and the Principal and IEP teams did their level best with the resources they had.

I went to public school in the 80's and 90's and even in the early 80's figured out that my elementary had a class for the dumb kids, two average classes and a class for the smart kids, and remember in first grade telling my mom they should divide the dumb class into two - one for kids who were just slow and one for kids who were badly behaved. Unfortunately they went in the opposite direction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No child left behind REALLY screwed so many kids. It hasn't helped kids avoid being academically left behind. And "least restrictive environment" isn't helpful when the kid is verbally disruptive.

+1. If you haven’t been in a classroom as either a student or a staff member in the past 20 years, you have no idea.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No child left behind REALLY screwed so many kids. It hasn't helped kids avoid being academically left behind. And "least restrictive environment" isn't helpful when the kid is verbally disruptive.

+1. If you haven’t been in a classroom as either a student or a staff member in the past 20 years, you have no idea.

Having a one-on-one aid is a great idea if you want to put two kids who are disorganized and a little slow in a mainstream class. The aid can help them keep papers organized, transition to new projects and subjects through the day, and re-explain things the teacher's just said. But those kids HAVE to be well-behaved and trying. If they are running around screaming or being loud they aren't learning and are distracting the other kids from learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Informal AMA thread. I am already shocked and saddened by the state of public elementary. This is in a wealthy suburb. There’s is a free lunch contingent but test scores are excellent and if you watch morning drop off it’s a lot of luxury vehicles.

I’m shocked at how we enroll and keep some kids who have academic and social needs we can’t possibly meet. Often a helper is assigned to one of these kids to try to keep the kid safe while 20 other 6 years old try to ignore yelling and crying and distraction to learn from their teacher. I’ve heard 7 year olds using language I’d feel guilty about even repeating! I’ve watched teacher be kicked and punched and slapped, again by 6 and 7 year olds! And the hot lunches shocked me. The other day I watched one kid eat the following for lunch: giant chocolate chip muffin, chocolate milk, sugary Dannon yogurt, low fat string cheese. This is a “balanced” meal provided by the school.

Maybe I am just out of touch, but I feel many typical parents would be surprised to hear what elementary school is like for their kids.

Yep. It is like this. Imagine in a not affluent area.

You know how people consider being in the military to being a stepping stone/asset/sort of requirement to holding elected office? I think that spending time in a public school should replace or go along side that qualification. It is in the schools where so many of the social and economic issues affecting families is apparent. It is really laid bare.