Are public schools everywhere in the US getting bad post-pandemic?

[Anonymous]

I'm in NOVA and the school situation is depressing. The biggest problem I see is that teachers can't control the behavioral problems of kids (not blaming teachers btw) so not a lot of learning is happening and the whole school environment is just really stressful for kids. I was honestly thinking about moving but I hear complaints about this from people in many different places. Are there any places in the US where this isn't the trend?

[Anonymous]

The schools aren't bad, they're just not equipped to hire and retain quality teachers so teachers are leaving, plus kids have emotional disregulation/trauma they can't articulate coming out of the pandemic that at this point, they've been repeatedly punished for and schools don't have the resources to help with that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The schools aren't bad, they're just not equipped to hire and retain quality teachers so teachers are leaving, plus kids have emotional disregulation/trauma they can't articulate coming out of the pandemic that at this point, they've been repeatedly punished for and schools don't have the resources to help with that.

What do you consider a "bad" school? Because it seems to me that if they don't have good teachers and kids cannot emotionally regulate themselves and schools don't have the resources to deal with it, that's not a good school. It isn't the schools fault necessarily but it's not good.

[Anonymous]

The policies in school are ridiculous. They need to change. The electronics, discipline, and requiring homework again. Why did we ever listen to that stupid Alfie Kohn who sent his kids to a private school in the best school district in Boston with homework while telling everyone else it was so stupid. If there are no expectations for class at the middle and high school level, then no one is prepared and it's easy to just get away with more poor behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The schools aren't bad, they're just not equipped to hire and retain quality teachers so teachers are leaving, plus kids have emotional disregulation/trauma they can't articulate coming out of the pandemic that at this point, they've been repeatedly punished for and schools don't have the resources to help with that.

What do you consider a "bad" school? Because it seems to me that if they don't have good teachers and kids cannot emotionally regulate themselves and schools don't have the resources to deal with it, that's not a good school. It isn't the schools fault necessarily but it's not good.

+1

[Anonymous]

The solution, for those who can afford it, is to buy into the wealthiest school district (or send your child to private). Those parents have the money to pay for therapies and assessments for their kids, and those schools have slightly better IEP teams and resources to recognize problems and address some of them with services and accommodations (if private school, they're not required to offer the same services as public schools).

This is what we did. Apart from the usual chaotic early elementary years (when parents of kids with issues are scrambling to realize what they're dealing with), none of my kids' classes have had major issues. My oldest is graduating high school this week, so we've done all K-12.

Now this isn't to say that some teachers don't have discipline problems in their class, or that the middle school afternoon bus isn't a war zone. But it's OK. I suspect that level of chaos has always existed in public schools. Our high school has a vaping issue in the bathroom. My high schooler was never bothered by the vapers. It's those types of things. Not kids throwing desks and punching teachers or fighting in the corridor on the daily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Oklahoma just made Religious privates part of taxpayer monies. You want that move his help your kids .

I legitimately don't know what you mean by this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The solution, for those who can afford it, is to buy into the wealthiest school district (or send your child to private). Those parents have the money to pay for therapies and assessments for their kids, and those schools have slightly better IEP teams and resources to recognize problems and address some of them with services and accommodations (if private school, they're not required to offer the same services as public schools).

This is what we did. Apart from the usual chaotic early elementary years (when parents of kids with issues are scrambling to realize what they're dealing with), none of my kids' classes have had major issues. My oldest is graduating high school this week, so we've done all K-12.

Now this isn't to say that some teachers don't have discipline problems in their class, or that the middle school afternoon bus isn't a war zone. But it's OK. I suspect that level of chaos has always existed in public schools. Our high school has a vaping issue in the bathroom. My high schooler was never bothered by the vapers. It's those types of things. Not kids throwing desks and punching teachers or fighting in the corridor on the daily.

Thank goodness we have public schools so education isn’t restricted to the wealthy. Of course, if you aren’t wealthy, going to a public school may not give you an actual education.

Are you somebody who opposes charter schools or private school vouchers because you think they undercut public schools?

[Anonymous]

Teachers leaving in droves is a national issue. Kids acting out post pandemic is a national issue. The lack of rigor and closing the achievement gap is a national issue.

yes, some place deal with it better than others. You need to move to a smaller and wealthier school district where the disparities are smaller.

[Anonymous]

I think it's the same here as everywhere more or less.

[Anonymous]

Time to man up and educate your kids at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in NOVA and the school situation is depressing. The biggest problem I see is that teachers can't control the behavioral problems of kids (not blaming teachers btw) so not a lot of learning is happening and the whole school environment is just really stressful for kids. I was honestly thinking about moving but I hear complaints about this from people in many different places. Are there any places in the US where this isn't the trend?

Yes, schools should be much more like prisons. Kids should wear orange jump suits and they should have armed guards at the front door. This will make everyone hate public schools even more and hopefully, they'll get shutdown so we can get taxpayers to fund our wacky religious schools. Oopps didn't mean to spill the beans on our agenda.

[Anonymous]

There is a huge lack of accountability right now in all aspects of education.

Any difference by race in school metrics can get schools in trouble. Graduation rate has become the number one way to judge schools systems, so some kids are used to getting promoted for little effort. The entire role of a teacher in content/skill transmission had been devalued.

Societal expectations have changed and parents have taught poor behaviors to their kids and aren't as interested in the academic success of their kids and peers in school. Even the best parents are struggling to support their kids due to cost of living and job access.

Political leaders dont care because the upper middle class and wealthy want to keep the status quo and isolate their kids from more struggling communities and schools.

[Anonymous]

I'm glad you started this thread. My oldest just finished first grade and I'm a bit shell shocked and overwhelmed. DH and I just can't imagine 11 more years of this. Our teachers have been good, it's just the problems they deal with daily are wild. The classroom spread is huge; one kid was basically a genius and another just came to America a few months ago, didn't know letters and couldn't speak english. The discipline problems are big too.

I remember schools being a magical place filled with bright students who liked to learn, but I was in Gifted. Every school had a regular, honors and then gifted classes, plus ESL for two years until kids learned English. They now have only one class for everyone, so the rich kids have fled to private or sold their homes and moved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a huge lack of accountability right now in all aspects of education.

Any difference by race in school metrics can get schools in trouble. Graduation rate has become the number one way to judge schools systems, so some kids are used to getting promoted for little effort. The entire role of a teacher in content/skill transmission had been devalued.

Societal expectations have changed and parents have taught poor behaviors to their kids and aren't as interested in the academic success of their kids and peers in school. Even the best parents are struggling to support their kids due to cost of living and job access.

Political leaders dont care because the upper middle class and wealthy want to keep the status quo and isolate their kids from more struggling communities and schools.

Sorry but this has always happened! Some parents have always not cared about school. It's just that those kids used to drop out, get expelled or were sent to schools for difficult students. Now we keep kids who don't want to learn in the classroom with everyone (and sometimes this takes up nearly all of the teacher's time). My grandma even had a story of the kids who lived down the street from her in the 20s. Their parents were abusive alcoholics who didn't want their kids in school and wanted them to drop out and work.