demoralized in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I work in a school. There’s no way for a teacher or para to find out if a family is on Section 8 except reading a completed federal housing impact forms kids turn in rather than the family mailing. Not every family would make that error and others won’t complete the form anyway so your snooping would miss most Section 8 users. And why would you as an educator read their form anyway? There’s no academic benefit to gleaning that info.

Check out the cafeteria in the morning and during lunch. If it's filled, it's a good indication as to how many kids are FARMs and thus, living in subsidized housing. The two go hand-in-hand.

even so . . .

Most educators don't care to know this. Plus, they don't have time to go snooping around. What good does this knowledge do?

I would think that knowing that a child might come from an environment where there is housing insecurity and/or food insecurity would change the way in which they interact with them. Knowing where someone is coming from makes it a lot easier to reach them and understand why they may react or not in a certain way when things happen. It used to be that the teachers knew, really knew their students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in a school. There’s no way for a teacher or para to find out if a family is on Section 8 except reading a completed federal housing impact forms kids turn in rather than the family mailing. Not every family would make that error and others won’t complete the form anyway so your snooping would miss most Section 8 users. And why would you as an educator read their form anyway? There’s no academic benefit to gleaning that info.

Check out the cafeteria in the morning and during lunch. If it's filled, it's a good indication as to how many kids are FARMs and thus, living in subsidized housing. The two go hand-in-hand.

even so . . .

Most educators don't care to know this. Plus, they don't have time to go snooping around. What good does this knowledge do?

No, they don't. Please educate yourself. There is no "and thus" about it.

Also, OP works at an elementary school. Where else would the students be during lunch?

+1 the PP is just wrong that FARMs and subsidized housing go hand in hand. There is very little subsidized housing to be had and a much larger FARMs eligible population. That's why there's so many people living in one house/apartment. Because they are not receiving housing assistance/subsidies. If you actually do receive Section 8 there are a lot of rules about who and how many people can live with you. You can lose your voucher over someone staying with you longer than 2 weeks who is not on the lease.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in a school. There’s no way for a teacher or para to find out if a family is on Section 8 except reading a completed federal housing impact forms kids turn in rather than the family mailing. Not every family would make that error and others won’t complete the form anyway so your snooping would miss most Section 8 users. And why would you as an educator read their form anyway? There’s no academic benefit to gleaning that info.

Check out the cafeteria in the morning and during lunch. If it's filled, it's a good indication as to how many kids are FARMs and thus, living in subsidized housing. The two go hand-in-hand.

even so . . .

Most educators don't care to know this. Plus, they don't have time to go snooping around. What good does this knowledge do?

No, they don't. Please educate yourself. There is no "and thus" about it.

Also, OP works at an elementary school. Where else would the students be during lunch?

How would you like me to educate myself? Should I put in another 10 years beyond my retirement age?

Should I research the "W" schools to examine students' lunch habits?

One of my former colleagues was a principal intern at a mostly white, upper SES school. He is AA. Many kids with means aren't in the cafeteria during lunch. They bring their lunches and eat in the hallways, in teachers' classrooms, in the courtyards.

But hey - what the hell do I know, right? especially after putting in most of my years in the DCC and NEC

I'm just an idiot who needs to "educate" myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in a school. There’s no way for a teacher or para to find out if a family is on Section 8 except reading a completed federal housing impact forms kids turn in rather than the family mailing. Not every family would make that error and others won’t complete the form anyway so your snooping would miss most Section 8 users. And why would you as an educator read their form anyway? There’s no academic benefit to gleaning that info.

Check out the cafeteria in the morning and during lunch. If it's filled, it's a good indication as to how many kids are FARMs and thus, living in subsidized housing. The two go hand-in-hand.

even so . . .

Most educators don't care to know this. Plus, they don't have time to go snooping around. What good does this knowledge do?

No, they don't. Please educate yourself. There is no "and thus" about it.

Also, OP works at an elementary school. Where else would the students be during lunch?

How would you like me to educate myself? Should I put in another 10 years beyond my retirement age?

Should I research the "W" schools to examine students' lunch habits?

One of my former colleagues was a principal intern at a mostly white, upper SES school. He is AA. Many kids with means aren't in the cafeteria during lunch. They bring their lunches and eat in the hallways, in teachers' classrooms, in the courtyards.

But hey - what the hell do I know, right? especially after putting in most of my years in the DCC and NEC

I'm just an idiot who needs to "educate" myself.

Are you an idiot? I don't know. I do know that you don't much about housing assistance programs. Or about lunch policies in MCPS elementary schools.

[Anonymous]

Why do you care which children are on FARMS? The county already publishes bulk stats for each school beyond that why would it matter.

[Anonymous]

I'm calling troll on the person who claims to have taught in MCPS - in the NCC and DCC no less - and doesn't know that in high FARMS schools everyone has access to free breakfast.

That is, you would not "look at the cafeteria in the morning" to understand a school's FARMS rate (which is actually published) because a school with a FARMS rate of over about 35% would just flat out serve breakfast to everyone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm calling troll on the person who claims to have taught in MCPS - in the NCC and DCC no less - and doesn't know that in high FARMS schools everyone has access to free breakfast.

That is, you would not "look at the cafeteria in the morning" to understand a school's FARMS rate (which is actually published) because a school with a FARMS rate of over about 35% would just flat out serve breakfast to everyone.

This is NOT true at our ES.

We are at a high FARMS school in Silver Spring but not all kids are served breakfast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm calling troll on the person who claims to have taught in MCPS - in the NCC and DCC no less - and doesn't know that in high FARMS schools everyone has access to free breakfast.

That is, you would not "look at the cafeteria in the morning" to understand a school's FARMS rate (which is actually published) because a school with a FARMS rate of over about 35% would just flat out serve breakfast to everyone.

This is NOT true at our ES.

We are at a high FARMS school in Silver Spring but not all kids are served breakfast.

Same for our focus school. Not all kids are served breakfast but there are a lot in the cafeteria in the morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in a school. There’s no way for a teacher or para to find out if a family is on Section 8 except reading a completed federal housing impact forms kids turn in rather than the family mailing. Not every family would make that error and others won’t complete the form anyway so your snooping would miss most Section 8 users. And why would you as an educator read their form anyway? There’s no academic benefit to gleaning that info.

Check out the cafeteria in the morning and during lunch. If it's filled, it's a good indication as to how many kids are FARMs and thus, living in subsidized housing. The two go hand-in-hand.

even so . . .

Most educators don't care to know this. Plus, they don't have time to go snooping around. What good does this knowledge do?

I would think that knowing that a child might come from an environment where there is housing insecurity and/or food insecurity would change the way in which they interact with them. Knowing where someone is coming from makes it a lot easier to reach them and understand why they may react or not in a certain way when things happen. It used to be that the teachers knew, really knew their students.

No they do not go hand in hand. There are completely different criteria and applications. As a result, a child can be a FARMs recipient and not in subsidized housing. You really need to educate yourself because you don’t really know your students or basic facts about social services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One minute they are on homeless status living in a hotel and the next they have a 3 bedroom condo. Their cousins move into the condo with them and enroll at the school. You have lunch with a student and they tend to tell you a lot.

This isn’t happening via a housing voucher.

Shockingly, people move out of homelessness into housing through a variety of means that may or may not include a voucher. My cousin lived in three hotel rooms with her eight kids because they couldn’t find a 3 to 4 bedroom place that was wheelchair accessible. They received assistance in locating a suitable property and a one time grant of security deposit, but no voucher at any point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One minute they are on homeless status living in a hotel and the next they have a 3 bedroom condo. Their cousins move into the condo with them and enroll at the school. You have lunch with a student and they tend to tell you a lot.

This isn’t happening via a housing voucher.

Shockingly, people move out of homelessness into housing through a variety of means that may or may not include a voucher. My cousin lived in three hotel rooms with her eight kids because they couldn’t find a 3 to 4 bedroom place that was wheelchair accessible. They received assistance in locating a suitable property and a one time grant of security deposit, but no voucher at any point.

I can't imagine being the kind of dick person who would be upset about someone living in a condo with their cousins.

[Anonymous]

Wow, I’d feel demoralized too. It doesn’t seem like a safe working environment for students or for staff. It’s sad schools have become this way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I’d feel demoralized too. It doesn’t seem like a safe working environment for students or for staff. It’s sad schools have become this way.

It is not a safe environment.

And do you think your kids are able to learn with this BS going on? Ask them what goes on in the classroom.

If that type of nonsense went on at your job, you would be horrified. Somehow, it’s okay for our students and teachers to deal with it on a daily basis.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I’d feel demoralized too. It doesn’t seem like a safe working environment for students or for staff. It’s sad schools have become this way.

It is not a safe environment.

And do you think your kids are able to learn with this BS going on? Ask them what goes on in the classroom.

If that type of nonsense went on at your job, you would be horrified. Somehow, it’s okay for our students and teachers to deal with it on a daily basis.

My kids are learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow, I’d feel demoralized too. It doesn’t seem like a safe working environment for students or for staff. It’s sad schools have become this way.

It is not a safe environment.

And do you think your kids are able to learn with this BS going on? Ask them what goes on in the classroom.

If that type of nonsense went on at your job, you would be horrified. Somehow, it’s okay for our students and teachers to deal with it on a daily basis.

My kids are learning.