Elementary schools falling apart?

[Anonymous]

My friends' kids at the local (richer-neighborhood) are constantly complaining that they don't learn in school because the teachers are dealing with kids acting wild.

My older kids didn't mention that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My friends' kids at the local (richer-neighborhood) are constantly complaining that they don't learn in school because the teachers are dealing with kids acting wild.

My older kids didn't mention that.

That’s true for my ES. Behavioral issues of one or two kids hijack the whole class from learning anything.

[Anonymous]

This is true at our Focus School too. When I heard about all the problems at my kid's school-- disruptive kids requiring "evacuation" of the other kids into another classroom, teachers leaving en masse -- we started frantically searching for a new neighborhood in Potomac or Rockville, but now I'm thinking it's not worth spending $1M because the issues at my kid's school might be universal to MCPS. . .

[Anonymous]

There are 136 elementary schools in MCPS. Each school reflects it's own community and has various pros and cons. Each classroom can be different in each school. Making a sweeping broad generalization is not very useful. Are some classrooms affected by more behavioral issues with some students compared to 5 years ago? Yes. That's a society wide problem right now. Is it every classroom to the extent that no children can learn anything? No.

What is your real concern? Is it a specific issue? Are you interested in discussing society solutions that would benefit classroom experiences? If you are here to just MCPS bash, go join the MCPS is atrocious thread. https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1133252.page . You'll find like-minded folks there.

[Anonymous]

It's almost like a hugely disruptive global pandemic is continuing to have disruptive effects...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's almost like a hugely disruptive global pandemic is continuing to have disruptive effects...

It’s almost as though my kid didn’t have those issues at her private school this past year.

But sure. Continue to pretend it’s like that everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's almost like a hugely disruptive global pandemic is continuing to have disruptive effects...

This stuff was happening before the pandemic. Every year in elementary, my kids have had 1-2 disruptive kids in their class that demand disproportionate amounts of teacher attention. Maybe coincidence, but the kids are always the children of single mothers, and I've noticed quite a few of them move to different schools after a year or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's almost like a hugely disruptive global pandemic is continuing to have disruptive effects...

It’s almost as though my kid didn’t have those issues at her private school this past year.

But sure. Continue to pretend it’s like that everywhere.

It's almost like schools that can choose whom to admit and whom to kick out have fewer disruptive students than public schools that are required to accept everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's almost like a hugely disruptive global pandemic is continuing to have disruptive effects...

This stuff was happening before the pandemic. Every year in elementary, my kids have had 1-2 disruptive kids in their class that demand disproportionate amounts of teacher attention. Maybe coincidence, but the kids are always the children of single mothers, and I've noticed quite a few of them move to different schools after a year or two.

Bless your heart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's almost like a hugely disruptive global pandemic is continuing to have disruptive effects...

It’s almost as though my kid didn’t have those issues at her private school this past year.

But sure. Continue to pretend it’s like that everywhere.

It's almost like schools that can choose whom to admit and whom to kick out have fewer disruptive students than public schools that are required to accept everyone.

When I was a kid, they disciplined disruptive kids and separated out kids who are unable to sit quietly to learn. Consequently I actually learned something from real hard copy textbooks and teachers actually taught grammar and we read high quality works.

I feel sorry for sped students who are unable to sit quietly to learn and end up wandering around the classroom, and then often meltdown by the end of the day. How is this good for the sped student? The class atmosphere is inappropriate for them and it is difficult for neurotypical students to learn in this environment.

Suspensions were a serious matter and too many could lead to being expelled. Consequently, the well behaved students were rewarded for their good behavior and the disruptive students faced consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's almost like a hugely disruptive global pandemic is continuing to have disruptive effects...

It’s almost as though my kid didn’t have those issues at her private school this past year.

But sure. Continue to pretend it’s like that everywhere.

It's almost like schools that can choose whom to admit and whom to kick out have fewer disruptive students than public schools that are required to accept everyone.

When I was a kid, they disciplined disruptive kids and separated out kids who are unable to sit quietly to learn. Consequently I actually learned something from real hard copy textbooks and teachers actually taught grammar and we read high quality works.

I feel sorry for sped students who are unable to sit quietly to learn and end up wandering around the classroom, and then often meltdown by the end of the day. How is this good for the sped student? The class atmosphere is inappropriate for them and it is difficult for neurotypical students to learn in this environment.

Suspensions were a serious matter and too many could lead to being expelled. Consequently, the well behaved students were rewarded for their good behavior and the disruptive students faced consequences.

Exactly. Public schools can do quite a bit, up to and including expulsions. They just choose not to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is true at our Focus School too. When I heard about all the problems at my kid's school-- disruptive kids requiring "evacuation" of the other kids into another classroom, teachers leaving en masse -- we started frantically searching for a new neighborhood in Potomac or Rockville, but now I'm thinking it's not worth spending $1M because the issues at my kid's school might be universal to MCPS. . .

I could have written this exact post. We are also at a Focus school and the behavior issues are horrible! It was pretty much on a daily basis last school year - one kid would run out of the classroom constantly, there were multiple physical fights IN the classroom, one kid occasionally threw furniture, like a trash can or a chair.

But I think this seems to be the case all over MCPS, so not sure the wealthier schools have an advantage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's almost like a hugely disruptive global pandemic is continuing to have disruptive effects...

I don’t think that’s the only issue.

I agree that Montgomery County kept school buildings closer for far too long and that had a negative effect on students.

But I have had 3 kids go through MCPS and we started to see some crazy classroom behavior at my older DD’s elementary school even before Covid.

[Anonymous]

Your kid was lucky. There was bad behavior before covid too. Covid is not to blame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's almost like a hugely disruptive global pandemic is continuing to have disruptive effects...

It’s almost as though my kid didn’t have those issues at her private school this past year.

But sure. Continue to pretend it’s like that everywhere.

It's almost like schools that can choose whom to admit and whom to kick out have fewer disruptive students than public schools that are required to accept everyone.

When I was a kid, they disciplined disruptive kids and separated out kids who are unable to sit quietly to learn. Consequently I actually learned something from real hard copy textbooks and teachers actually taught grammar and we read high quality works.

I feel sorry for sped students who are unable to sit quietly to learn and end up wandering around the classroom, and then often meltdown by the end of the day. How is this good for the sped student? The class atmosphere is inappropriate for them and it is difficult for neurotypical students to learn in this environment.

Suspensions were a serious matter and too many could lead to being expelled. Consequently, the well behaved students were rewarded for their good behavior and the disruptive students faced consequences.

Exactly. Public schools can do quite a bit, up to and including expulsions. They just choose not to.

Public schools cannot expel elementary schoolers, or at least not without a massive struggle. Nor do we want them to be able to expel elementary schoolers because that's terrible for society.