Who leaked the MCPS attendance documents to the Washington Post?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No. I am assuming most students are in between (love and hate) school. Those who hate school will not be affected much by these punishments.
The punishments works on those in between.

Before you decide on consequences for skipping school, it would be a good idea to find out (not assume) WHY students are skipping school.[/quote

It would be a good idea to find out why. But that is simply another aspect of the problem which no one opposes. People are arguing on whether we should keep the punishment in place, not whether we should find out why.

And I don't think that is a prerequisition for establishing a punishment policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No. I am assuming most students are in between (love and hate) school. Those who hate school will not be affected much by these punishments.
The punishments works on those in between.

Before you decide on consequences for skipping school, it would be a good idea to find out (not assume) WHY students are skipping school.

It would be a good idea to find out why. But that is simply another aspect of the problem which no one opposes. People are arguing on whether we should keep the punishment in place, not whether we should find out why.

And I don't think that is a prerequisition for establishing a punishment policy.

You don't think understanding *why* students are skipping is relevant to establishing an effective policy about skipping?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No. I am assuming most students are in between (love and hate) school. Those who hate school will not be affected much by these punishments.
The punishments works on those in between.

Before you decide on consequences for skipping school, it would be a good idea to find out (not assume) WHY students are skipping school.

It would be a good idea to find out why. But that is simply another aspect of the problem which no one opposes. People are arguing on whether we should keep the punishment in place, not whether we should find out why.

And I don't think that is a prerequisition for establishing a punishment policy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No. I am assuming most students are in between (love and hate) school. Those who hate school will not be affected much by these punishments.
The punishments works on those in between.

Before you decide on consequences for skipping school, it would be a good idea to find out (not assume) WHY students are skipping school.

It would be a good idea to find out why. But that is simply another aspect of the problem which no one opposes. People are arguing on whether we should keep the punishment in place, not whether we should find out why.

And I don't think that is a prerequisition for establishing a punishment policy.

You don't think understanding *why* students are skipping is relevant to establishing an effective policy about skipping?

It is relevant. So no one is saying that the school should not care about "why".

It can affect how effective a policy could be, but it is not the only factor that needs to be considered.

We are now talking about whether punishment would be useful, not trying to provide a full scope policy that works perfectly for MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

It is relevant. So no one is saying that the school should not care about "why".

It can affect how effective a policy could be, but it is not the only factor that needs to be considered.

We are now talking about whether punishment would be useful, not trying to provide a full scope policy that works perfectly for MCPS.

Whether punishment would be useful depends on why students are skipping. And on what the punishment is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:More SJW bs

If you don't know the material you should fail the class
If you disrupt the classroom you should be out of the class

If this means more low income Hispanic and black students so be it

Social promotion and showing that you can get by by doing nothing doesn't do these kids any favors. It just reinforces bad habits.

In the real world jobs don't care if you are an URM. Your ass is fired if you can't do the work and/or can't show up on time/at all

Are you a SIJW?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure there is an issue but I also know that my kids often have unexcused absences that were entered wrong that no one bothers to correct. Sometimes we do not even know till we get the report card. Or we get an email and it is a field trip or sports.

Don't make excuses.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/can-you-skip-47-days-of-english-class-and-still-graduate-from-high-school/2019/05/25/be3318ca-1b84-11e9-88fe-f9f77a3bcb6c_story.html?utm_term=.a076946cf709

This has been going on for a LONG time. Someone had the balls to bring it to the surface.

This is how it works:

In Montgomery, educators in a string of high schools have told The Post that attendance practices are lax, vague or inconsistent. Some say they feel pressured to give makeup work, extend deadlines, excuse assignments or find other ways to help repeatedly absent students pass — and that the problem is not just a matter of seniors’ losing interest as their high school days wind down.

So yes, a kid can miss instruction but teachers are FORCED to re-teach/re-assess, which pulls the responsibility away from the kid. And how much learning can be done through "tutoring?" Do you really think that Jo Jo, who's absent 3/5 days each week, is learning? even WITH "re-teaching?"

absolutely disgusting!

Teachers are supposed to reteach and reassess anyway. If a child is missing 3 days a week consistently, do you think the biggest concern they are facing is how to make up missed instruction?

Address whatever the root cause is!

When I taught high school, I had sisters miss AM classes because it was only safe to sleep after a predatory adult male in the home had left for work. A student was responsible for watching her 5 younger siblings while the parents worked nights. Sometimes the parents were too exhausted to takeover in the morning so she had to get the little ones to school at 9 am, making her miss first block.

OK - look

I have over 25 years in this system teaching in high FARMs/high ESOL schools. I'm sure you can name them. MS-13? lol - just another part of my crew - And it high school, they can get ugly very quickly.

So we KNOW the root causes. Why do you think those teachers were anonymous when they shared their experiences?

The procedures around re-teaching/re-assessing and total BS with attendance and with grades were mandated b/c the county REFUSED to fail minority students b/c numbers were high at the challenging schools. At the wealthy schools, the county didn't want to fight lawsuits for unethical absences. So the kids were placed in IIS (formerly HHT) and they returned with doctors' notes from some highly unethical practitioners.

I'm done with excuses. I've discussed ROOT CAUSES until I was blue in the face. I'm NOT the problem, and I refuse to be the scapegoat. This is why teachers shut down. This is why instruction is uninspiring. How much longer can this go on?

I'm glad someone leaked this information! I hope more and more people stand up for what's right.

Kids aren't learning. It's a joke. As are BS. If Johnny can earn an A for being absent 40% of the time b/c a teacher was FORCED to re-teach/re-assess, the A is meaningless. why? b/c it's not ONLY about the content

It's about responsibility

and academic ENDURANCE and ethics. Do you think we're graduating kids who possess these qualities? I don't.

STOP MAKING EXCUSES!

+1000

[Anonymous]

Certainly adds an interesting aspect to the WJ / Woodward / Einstein boundary discussions on this board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More SJW bs

If you don't know the material you should fail the class
If you disrupt the classroom you should be out of the class

If this means more low income Hispanic and black students so be it

Social promotion and showing that you can get by by doing nothing doesn't do these kids any favors. It just reinforces bad habits.

In the real world jobs don't care if you are an URM. Your ass is fired if you can't do the work and/or can't show up on time/at all

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. This is what happens if you are an URM. In MCPS secondary schools and in the real world, allowances are made for white and wealthy people when they engage in the exact same behaviors as poor people of color.

If that were really the case, go for those who made the rules for the "allowances". Don't try to compensate for that using our school system.

Start by demanding that family vacations are not excused regardless of the socioeconomic status of the family. Write letters to the BOE and Smith on this issue specifically. Ask why a week at Disney is an educational experience, but attending the funeral of a cousin is an excused absence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

No. I am assuming most students are in between (love and hate) school. Those who hate school will not be affected much by these punishments.
The punishments works on those in between.

Before you decide on consequences for skipping school, it would be a good idea to find out (not assume) WHY students are skipping school.

+1000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:More SJW bs

If you don't know the material you should fail the class
If you disrupt the classroom you should be out of the class

If this means more low income Hispanic and black students so be it

Social promotion and showing that you can get by by doing nothing doesn't do these kids any favors. It just reinforces bad habits.

In the real world jobs don't care if you are an URM. Your ass is fired if you can't do the work and/or can't show up on time/at all

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. This is what happens if you are an URM. In MCPS secondary schools and in the real world, allowances are made for white and wealthy people when they engage in the exact same behaviors as poor people of color.

If that were really the case, go for those who made the rules for the "allowances". Don't try to compensate for that using our school system.

Start by demanding that family vacations are not excused regardless of the socioeconomic status of the family. Write letters to the BOE and Smith on this issue specifically. Ask why a week at Disney is an educational experience, but attending the funeral of a cousin is an excused absence.

That's an item we should address too, but how about first addressing the larger issue -- no consequences for piling up unexcused absences?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It is relevant. So no one is saying that the school should not care about "why".

It can affect how effective a policy could be, but it is not the only factor that needs to be considered.

We are now talking about whether punishment would be useful, not trying to provide a full scope policy that works perfectly for MCPS.

Whether punishment would be useful depends on why students are skipping. And on what the punishment is.

Students are skipping for different reasons. Punishments are useful for some reasons. That is good enough. I am not talking about a "work-for-all" method.
If you want to pursue other ways to help students getting back to school, as long as it does not require significantly more resources, I think you can propose that to schools too. It is in no way contradicting to having a punishment system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It is relevant. So no one is saying that the school should not care about "why".

It can affect how effective a policy could be, but it is not the only factor that needs to be considered.

We are now talking about whether punishment would be useful, not trying to provide a full scope policy that works perfectly for MCPS.

Whether punishment would be useful depends on why students are skipping. And on what the punishment is.

Students are skipping for different reasons. Punishments are useful for some reasons. That is good enough. I am not talking about a "work-for-all" method.
If you want to pursue other ways to help students getting back to school, as long as it does not require significantly more resources, I think you can propose that to schools too. It is in no way contradicting to having a punishment system.

Punishments might work if students have reasons for non-attendance that don’t put outweigh the punishment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

It is relevant. So no one is saying that the school should not care about "why".

It can affect how effective a policy could be, but it is not the only factor that needs to be considered.

We are now talking about whether punishment would be useful, not trying to provide a full scope policy that works perfectly for MCPS.

Whether punishment would be useful depends on why students are skipping. And on what the punishment is.

Students are skipping for different reasons. Punishments are useful for some reasons. That is good enough. I am not talking about a "work-for-all" method.
If you want to pursue other ways to help students getting back to school, as long as it does not require significantly more resources, I think you can propose that to schools too. It is in no way contradicting to having a punishment system.

Punishments might work if students have reasons for non-attendance that don’t put outweigh the punishment.

True. And we have to realize: the punishments are there, not ONLY to BRING BACK students who skip school, but also to stop other students from doing the same thing for trivia reasons.
Punishments may not really work for those who frequently skip school since they don't care, but they would certainly work as a hold-back for other students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

True. And we have to realize: the punishments are there, not ONLY to BRING BACK students who skip school, but also to stop other students from doing the same thing for trivia reasons.
Punishments may not really work for those who frequently skip school since they don't care, but they would certainly work as a hold-back for other students.

You (or somebody) keeps focusing on punishments for students who skip school because they don't care. What are punishments going to do for students who skip school for other reasons?