The state of MCPS is atrocious

[Anonymous]

And they want to raise taxes 10% to pay for more of this crap:

https://www.reddit.com/r/MontgomeryCountyMD/comments/13kjvil/im_tired_of_getting_mentally_abused_by_the/


How exactly do you still get a 50% if you skip school every single day and get a 60% to pass if you submit 3 assignments the whole time?

MoCo is in steep decline, and property values are so overinflated it is funny. You can't even use the schools argument anymore to support property values. And why should people pay more taxes 'for the schools!' when they're already that much of an abject failure, as discussed in that chat?

[Anonymous]

That teacher is not at a school with high property values.

If kids refuse to learn, that's a tragedy, but not harming others.

If a kid has a terrible behavior case, teacher shouldn't complain about skipping! That's a tragedy and a home and societal failure, but not the school's job.

MCPS needs to remove distruptive students from the classroom with the students who behave well, though. That's the main thing the admin can fix.

[Anonymous]

It's not in a steep decline. It hit rock bottom a while ago.

[Anonymous]

So tired of the anti-tax people complaining about MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Insight from a teacher:

Recently graduated from college and got hired at my first teaching job this year. Work at a high school, internship was at an MCPS middle school. Here are some of the issues as I see them as a first year:

Lack of consequences. You can only get suspended for drugs or fighting or some sort of physical threat. Even then, kids that harass teachers don’t really get sh*t done as a consequence.

You can skip class every single day and still pass. There are no consequences for skipping class. Kids roam the halls for 7 hours a day and we do not have enough security to stalk them into going to class and there’s really no consequences.

You get 50% for work you don’t do. In high school. The only way you can get a 0 is if parents have been told and acknowledged deadlines, specifically okay a zero, or the kid cheated. You can choose to do 3 assignments per quarter and pass with a 60% despite not knowing the content.

We cannot confiscate or require students to put their cellphones in a designated place. Being the cellphone police is exhausting since there’s really f**k all we can do.

Student attitude. I’m only a first year but even then, the shit I see… Kids will just walk out of the room if they don’t like a rule, tell you to go f**k yourself. Got called an a**hole over a seating chart because I had to move a kid away from his friends because they wouldn’t shut up. Got told to f**k off by another kid. Kid told me i’m a heartless b***h when I gave them a 0 for plagiarism. Different kid told me to give them a 0 on an assignment they refused to make up because they didn’t wanna talk to me anymore. List goes on.

Lack of parent involvement. I make it VERY easy for parents to be involved in their kid’s education experience. Regardless of if you have Synergy or Canvas as a parent, I will text out assignment deadlines, grade check ins, and reminders on a biweekly basis so parents know when their kids have assignments due. You’ll never guess how many parents don’t acknowledge them and act surprised when their kid is failing.

Parents not parenting. I have some parents of problematic kids that are very responsible, apologetic, and communicative. I get told by them that they’ve never had a teacher spend so much time telling them about their child’s performance and behavior and they appreciate the enlightenment. For every 1 involved parent, I have 9 that are completely blase and don’t even bother responding to messages OR don’t send their damn kid to school.

I see no lies told. These are the things that teachers and parents would like MCPS to address, but they won't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Insight from a teacher:

Recently graduated from college and got hired at my first teaching job this year. Work at a high school, internship was at an MCPS middle school. Here are some of the issues as I see them as a first year:

Lack of consequences. You can only get suspended for drugs or fighting or some sort of physical threat. Even then, kids that harass teachers don’t really get sh*t done as a consequence.

You can skip class every single day and still pass. There are no consequences for skipping class. Kids roam the halls for 7 hours a day and we do not have enough security to stalk them into going to class and there’s really no consequences.

You get 50% for work you don’t do. In high school. The only way you can get a 0 is if parents have been told and acknowledged deadlines, specifically okay a zero, or the kid cheated. You can choose to do 3 assignments per quarter and pass with a 60% despite not knowing the content.

We cannot confiscate or require students to put their cellphones in a designated place. Being the cellphone police is exhausting since there’s really f**k all we can do.

Student attitude. I’m only a first year but even then, the shit I see… Kids will just walk out of the room if they don’t like a rule, tell you to go f**k yourself. Got called an a**hole over a seating chart because I had to move a kid away from his friends because they wouldn’t shut up. Got told to f**k off by another kid. Kid told me i’m a heartless b***h when I gave them a 0 for plagiarism. Different kid told me to give them a 0 on an assignment they refused to make up because they didn’t wanna talk to me anymore. List goes on.

Lack of parent involvement. I make it VERY easy for parents to be involved in their kid’s education experience. Regardless of if you have Synergy or Canvas as a parent, I will text out assignment deadlines, grade check ins, and reminders on a biweekly basis so parents know when their kids have assignments due. You’ll never guess how many parents don’t acknowledge them and act surprised when their kid is failing.

Parents not parenting. I have some parents of problematic kids that are very responsible, apologetic, and communicative. I get told by them that they’ve never had a teacher spend so much time telling them about their child’s performance and behavior and they appreciate the enlightenment. For every 1 involved parent, I have 9 that are completely blase and don’t even bother responding to messages OR don’t send their damn kid to school.

I see no lies told. These are the things that teachers and parents would like MCPS to address, but they won't.

They think LiM and restorative justice will fix it all.

[Anonymous]

Teachers need legal immunity to whoop some ass. Bring back public switching. Fail out any kid with more than 10 absences.

Kids that can't even read or write a paragraph in AP courses according to that discussion. Absolutely absurd. And they'll push trash students onto universities who'll be forced to water down their standards for these lowlifes in the classroom.

Whip some ass.

[Anonymous]

PP looks like one of those people who failed up to graduation...

[Anonymous]

The 50% grade thing for doing nothing was done in the name of equity. They foujnd that too many kids of certain groups were not doing any work. By giving 50% for doing nothing, then if they at least did one or two assignments, it would be enough for a D and they'd pass.

Otherwise, MCPS would fail its equity goals because certain groups would have too high of a failure rate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers need legal immunity to whoop some ass. Bring back public switching. Fail out any kid with more than 10 absences.

Kids that can't even read or write a paragraph in AP courses according to that discussion. Absolutely absurd. And they'll push trash students onto universities who'll be forced to water down their standards for these lowlifes in the classroom.

Whip some ass.

I do believe in discipline. Kids need boundaries. But what will you do about the awful parents? That's the core of the majority of the problems. Make parents liable BUT offer them parenting classes also. Have to start early...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The 50% grade thing for doing nothing was done in the name of equity. They foujnd that too many kids of certain groups were not doing any work. By giving 50% for doing nothing, then if they at least did one or two assignments, it would be enough for a D and they'd pass.

Otherwise, MCPS would fail its equity goals because certain groups would have too high of a failure rate.

As a POC, it's a sick, twisted fix and I don't agree with it in the name of equity.

I do understand mathematically that too many zeros can make it mathematically impossible for a kid to recover from mistakes, but that's why I think due dates and deadlines are already a good grace that allows for revision and correction. Also, I think a policy that drops the three lowest grades, which used to be in effect when I was in MCPS in the '90s for some classes, also works too.

But the 50% automatic rule lowers the bar too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 50% grade thing for doing nothing was done in the name of equity. They foujnd that too many kids of certain groups were not doing any work. By giving 50% for doing nothing, then if they at least did one or two assignments, it would be enough for a D and they'd pass.

Otherwise, MCPS would fail its equity goals because certain groups would have too high of a failure rate.

As a POC, it's a sick, twisted fix and I don't agree with it in the name of equity.

I do understand mathematically that too many zeros can make it mathematically impossible for a kid to recover from mistakes, but that's why I think due dates and deadlines are already a good grace that allows for revision and correction. Also, I think a policy that drops the three lowest grades, which used to be in effect when I was in MCPS in the '90s for some classes, also works too.

But the 50% automatic rule lowers the bar too much.

+1000 agree. When I went to HS eons ago in a rough area with not a lot of high achievers, high FARMS rate, they also let us drop the few lowest test scores. That is a much better way to deal with recovery because it still encourages them to try.

This 50% rule BS is not doing those kids any favors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 50% grade thing for doing nothing was done in the name of equity. They foujnd that too many kids of certain groups were not doing any work. By giving 50% for doing nothing, then if they at least did one or two assignments, it would be enough for a D and they'd pass.

Otherwise, MCPS would fail its equity goals because certain groups would have too high of a failure rate.

As a POC, it's a sick, twisted fix and I don't agree with it in the name of equity.

I do understand mathematically that too many zeros can make it mathematically impossible for a kid to recover from mistakes, but that's why I think due dates and deadlines are already a good grace that allows for revision and correction. Also, I think a policy that drops the three lowest grades, which used to be in effect when I was in MCPS in the '90s for some classes, also works too.

But the 50% automatic rule lowers the bar too much.

+1000 agree. When I went to HS eons ago in a rough area with not a lot of high achievers, high FARMS rate, they also let us drop the few lowest test scores. That is a much better way to deal with recovery because it still encourages them to try.

This 50% rule BS is not doing those kids any favors.

But a lot more kids, especially of certain groups, now pass due to the 50% rule. Therefore, MCPS's policy is working.

[Anonymous]

Many schools don’t want parents involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 50% grade thing for doing nothing was done in the name of equity. They foujnd that too many kids of certain groups were not doing any work. By giving 50% for doing nothing, then if they at least did one or two assignments, it would be enough for a D and they'd pass.

Otherwise, MCPS would fail its equity goals because certain groups would have too high of a failure rate.

As a POC, it's a sick, twisted fix and I don't agree with it in the name of equity.

I do understand mathematically that too many zeros can make it mathematically impossible for a kid to recover from mistakes, but that's why I think due dates and deadlines are already a good grace that allows for revision and correction. Also, I think a policy that drops the three lowest grades, which used to be in effect when I was in MCPS in the '90s for some classes, also works too.

But the 50% automatic rule lowers the bar too much.

+1000 agree. When I went to HS eons ago in a rough area with not a lot of high achievers, high FARMS rate, they also let us drop the few lowest test scores. That is a much better way to deal with recovery because it still encourages them to try.

This 50% rule BS is not doing those kids any favors.

To be Devil’s advocate on just this one point, what is so wrong with a kid coasting through and barely passing with straight D’s? The alternative is not that they will somehow get their sh*t together and become model students. The alternative is that dropout rates will go through the roof. These kids aren’t going to college. Straight D’s aren’t much of a prize. They just mean maybe you can qualify for a menial job.