Bethesda Today: Behavioral issues, lack of support creating unsafe classrooms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So now a PTA president is being dragged down. An unpaid volunteer position. There are other parents at that school. And this issue is happening all around the county. The finger used to be pointed at teachers, now we are trying to find other scapegoats when it's a much wider issue.

You must be that person or her friend. Being a PTA president is not just an unpaid volunteer position to show your clout in the school. The PTA president should advocate on behalf of other parents, not just on behalf of your own kid.

The problem with this particular one was she did not push hard enough last year, but now when her daughter is attacked she goes to the media. Why didn't she push harder when a kid was choked, a teacher cried on seeing a kid attacking another with a pair of scissors?

Push for what exactly?

Whatever she is doing now for her own kids in JLES and Barnsley.

Stupid response. Again, what did you want her to push for?

[Anonymous]

I think it's clear that the only practical solution is to reopen the old Mark Twain school. The county needs a well-resourced alternative school for the violent and unruly students who are making life miserable for teachers and the vast majority of students who are there to learn. It's a small minority of students who are destroying education for everyone else. Get rid of them, and schools will return to being good environments for both teachers and students. We have let our schools become hijacked by bad kids and bad families. Enough is enough. This wasn't a problem when Mark Twain was still around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another teacher here. I’m pursuing a consultation with a lawyer due to admin harassment. They will write a teacher up before addressing concerns. I had a student pelting one of my special education students with hard candy the other day. This is a 14 year old. I reported it as soon as I found out. No one followed up with me. No one. I had another 8th grader attempting to flip tables in my classroom. No one came to my classroom to help when I called. We want students better placed. And I want all admin fired. We need a fresh start with competent adults who actually are trained in how to manage.

.

You had a student throwing candy in the room - But didn't catch it. You found out after the fact. Did you report it home? Did you implement a consequence? That is a teacher-managed behavior. You can't manage your own classroom - can't expect admin to manage it for you.

What consequences are teachers allowed to implement?

Anyone?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's clear that the only practical solution is to reopen the old Mark Twain school. The county needs a well-resourced alternative school for the violent and unruly students who are making life miserable for teachers and the vast majority of students who are there to learn. It's a small minority of students who are destroying education for everyone else. Get rid of them, and schools will return to being good environments for both teachers and students. We have let our schools become hijacked by bad kids and bad families. Enough is enough. This wasn't a problem when Mark Twain was still around.

Agree 100%. What was their excuse for closing it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's clear that the only practical solution is to reopen the old Mark Twain school. The county needs a well-resourced alternative school for the violent and unruly students who are making life miserable for teachers and the vast majority of students who are there to learn. It's a small minority of students who are destroying education for everyone else. Get rid of them, and schools will return to being good environments for both teachers and students. We have let our schools become hijacked by bad kids and bad families. Enough is enough. This wasn't a problem when Mark Twain was still around.

I agree that the need to EXPAND our alternative learning environments is clear. However, we shouldn't "reopen" the old Mark Twain school and it probably shouldn't be named that.

We need to build an alternative school that is truly rehabilitative and not a mini-prison. Both things can be true: Kids with trauma, or different needs sometimes need to be separated from the general ed environment. But that doesn't mean they should be relegated to a prison-like environment, which is what Mark Twain was and why it was closed, since it was full of primarily Black and Brown kids, while badly behaving White kids were allowed other options than going to Mark Twain.

[Anonymous]

Stop with your race bating, 10:30. We’re discussing the violent kids here. What sort of environment do you want for them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Stop with your race bating, 10:30. We’re discussing the violent kids here. What sort of environment do you want for them?

It is not race baiting to acknowledge that the disproportionality of the makeup of Mark Twain and the prison-like environment is what led to the closure of the school. If you want MCPS to reopen a Mark Twain-like school environment, you have to confront and deal with that reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop with your race bating, 10:30. We’re discussing the violent kids here. What sort of environment do you want for them?

It is not race baiting to acknowledge that the disproportionality of the makeup of Mark Twain and the prison-like environment is what led to the closure of the school. If you want MCPS to reopen a Mark Twain-like school environment, you have to confront and deal with that reality.

Stop evading the issue at hand.
Again, what sort of environment do you want for VIOLENT kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's clear that the only practical solution is to reopen the old Mark Twain school. The county needs a well-resourced alternative school for the violent and unruly students who are making life miserable for teachers and the vast majority of students who are there to learn. It's a small minority of students who are destroying education for everyone else. Get rid of them, and schools will return to being good environments for both teachers and students. We have let our schools become hijacked by bad kids and bad families. Enough is enough. This wasn't a problem when Mark Twain was still around.

I agree that the need to EXPAND our alternative learning environments is clear. However, we shouldn't "reopen" the old Mark Twain school and it probably shouldn't be named that.

We need to build an alternative school that is truly rehabilitative and not a mini-prison. Both things can be true: Kids with trauma, or different needs sometimes need to be separated from the general ed environment. But that doesn't mean they should be relegated to a prison-like environment, which is what Mark Twain was and why it was closed, since it was full of primarily Black and Brown kids, while badly behaving White kids were allowed other options than going to Mark Twain.

The older teens need a prison. They got rid of noyes too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it's clear that the only practical solution is to reopen the old Mark Twain school. The county needs a well-resourced alternative school for the violent and unruly students who are making life miserable for teachers and the vast majority of students who are there to learn. It's a small minority of students who are destroying education for everyone else. Get rid of them, and schools will return to being good environments for both teachers and students. We have let our schools become hijacked by bad kids and bad families. Enough is enough. This wasn't a problem when Mark Twain was still around.

I agree that the need to EXPAND our alternative learning environments is clear. However, we shouldn't "reopen" the old Mark Twain school and it probably shouldn't be named that.

We need to build an alternative school that is truly rehabilitative and not a mini-prison. Both things can be true: Kids with trauma, or different needs sometimes need to be separated from the general ed environment. But that doesn't mean they should be relegated to a prison-like environment, which is what Mark Twain was and why it was closed, since it was full of primarily Black and Brown kids, while badly behaving White kids were allowed other options than going to Mark Twain.

Most of us don’t care about the races as much as the behavior. They could also expand rica.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1197319.page

No clue why important thread was locked.
Anyway, no public school system in the world can afford to give every misbehaving, violent kid their own “support” person. How did the adults in charge get so stupid?

[Anonymous]

Leftist consequences.

So predictable

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop with your race bating, 10:30. We’re discussing the violent kids here. What sort of environment do you want for them?

It is not race baiting to acknowledge that the disproportionality of the makeup of Mark Twain and the prison-like environment is what led to the closure of the school. If you want MCPS to reopen a Mark Twain-like school environment, you have to confront and deal with that reality.

Stop evading the issue at hand.
Again, what sort of environment do you want for VIOLENT kids?

MCPS does have an under-utilized and very well-resourced alternative school, with three campuses - it’s called Blair G. Ewing. Their outcomes for students with serious behavior problems is terrible. It is poorly managed by Principal Damien Ingram, who is a demonstrably ineffective leader. If anyone at CO paid attention, they could significantly improve the program to meet the system’s needs.

[Anonymous]

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/schools/blairewing/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Stop with your race bating, 10:30. We’re discussing the violent kids here. What sort of environment do you want for them?

It is not race baiting to acknowledge that the disproportionality of the makeup of Mark Twain and the prison-like environment is what led to the closure of the school. If you want MCPS to reopen a Mark Twain-like school environment, you have to confront and deal with that reality.

Stop evading the issue at hand.
Again, what sort of environment do you want for VIOLENT kids?

MCPS does have an under-utilized and very well-resourced alternative school, with three campuses - it’s called Blair G. Ewing. Their outcomes for students with serious behavior problems is terrible. It is poorly managed by Principal Damien Ingram, who is a demonstrably ineffective leader. If anyone at CO paid attention, they could significantly improve the program to meet the system’s needs.

I always wondered why Blair Ewing is not utilized more.