To teachers and parents: Have the kids gotten better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I am wondering what has been going on. I’ve been getting a bunch of emails about Discipline Town Hall from my child’s school. Maybe the adults are over stressed and need to chill. Why aren’t schools using the Covid funds to hire more therapists and counselors? I’m really worried about the mental health fallout when the kids reach college and young adulthood. I mean we are already seeing it with all the suicides happening on campuses that no one is really talking about.

It's a really tough time to hire.

+1 There are so many counselor positions going unfilled.

[Anonymous]

Things have gotten worse at my school. Kids have gotten comfortable and spring is here. That means, there has been an uptick in outrageous behaviors. Today, I had to half drag a kindergarten student upstairs to the office because he started hitting/hicking us. This afternoon, the entire downstairs at my school had to listen to screaming from a pre-k kid who has been running laps around the school for the last few weeks. I also have a student who eats everything and anything under the sun. Thankfully her classmates tell me when this happens so I can fish it out of her mouth (today it was a twist tie and a cap eraser). My student with the huge behavior issues was absent today so it was a pretty calm day.

I've heard awful stories from the middle school. The admin is always busy with them so they rarely have time to help us out. We are exhausted and we still have two weeks left before spring break. Teachers call in sick so much due to the stress and exhaustion and there are no subs (who can blame them with these behavior issues?) And our school isn't even that bad compared to others I've heard about.

[Anonymous]

Many kids at the school I teach in are improving. My class is actually really wonderful. My own teenage child was suicidal during the time school was closed and is doing much, much better, almost totally back to normal. But I do know teachers in schools where things have not gotten better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is also discussing the ongoing mental health challenges of kids. The original article is quite long but does a good job with nuance, in my opinion:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1046027.page

Parents need to handle mental health issues and stop expecting schools to parent. Much of this drama is due to parents demanding decreased expectations in terms of behavior, consequences and school/homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Things have gotten worse at my school. Kids have gotten comfortable and spring is here. That means, there has been an uptick in outrageous behaviors. Today, I had to half drag a kindergarten student upstairs to the office because he started hitting/hicking us. This afternoon, the entire downstairs at my school had to listen to screaming from a pre-k kid who has been running laps around the school for the last few weeks. I also have a student who eats everything and anything under the sun. Thankfully her classmates tell me when this happens so I can fish it out of her mouth (today it was a twist tie and a cap eraser). My student with the huge behavior issues was absent today so it was a pretty calm day.

I've heard awful stories from the middle school. The admin is always busy with them so they rarely have time to help us out. We are exhausted and we still have two weeks left before spring break. Teachers call in sick so much due to the stress and exhaustion and there are no subs (who can blame them with these behavior issues?) And our school isn't even that bad compared to others I've heard about.

Parents need to be called to pick up their kids or to sit with them in class if they cannot behave.

[Anonymous]

I think most students are terrible, but teachers, remember that even though you teach the same class each year, your students are taking it for the first time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things have gotten worse at my school. Kids have gotten comfortable and spring is here. That means, there has been an uptick in outrageous behaviors. Today, I had to half drag a kindergarten student upstairs to the office because he started hitting/hicking us. This afternoon, the entire downstairs at my school had to listen to screaming from a pre-k kid who has been running laps around the school for the last few weeks. I also have a student who eats everything and anything under the sun. Thankfully her classmates tell me when this happens so I can fish it out of her mouth (today it was a twist tie and a cap eraser). My student with the huge behavior issues was absent today so it was a pretty calm day.

I've heard awful stories from the middle school. The admin is always busy with them so they rarely have time to help us out. We are exhausted and we still have two weeks left before spring break. Teachers call in sick so much due to the stress and exhaustion and there are no subs (who can blame them with these behavior issues?) And our school isn't even that bad compared to others I've heard about.

Parents need to be called to pick up their kids or to sit with them in class if they cannot behave.

So they should just leave work every day to come to school? How realistic is that?

[Anonymous]

High school should be optional. Read The Case Against Education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ES Admin in a Title 1: Kids are fine behaviorally and academically. The district on the other hand has no interest in anything but testing, testing, and more testing which is burning out students & teachers alike

This must be APS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:High school should be optional. Read The Case Against Education.

HS Teacher - I think we need options. I like what much of Europe does, with the option to do a vocational school for high school instead of college prep. I have so many kids telling me that their dream is to go work on a cattle ranch, decorate cakes, or open a construction business, so reading Shakespeare and stumbling through precalculus aren't helping them achieve that. I wish we had more options for kids to do apprenticeships in high school.

I am very fortunate, I teach in an upper middle class school and we didn't have the behavior problems my colleagues at lower income schools are struggling with. My kids have been pretty good all year. They're starting to fade now, but that always happens in the spring. March is a long month. Our biggest issue is kids taking hall passes and wandering the building for 30 minutes at a time, but that's not that unusual.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is also discussing the ongoing mental health challenges of kids. The original article is quite long but does a good job with nuance, in my opinion:

https://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/1046027.page

Parents need to handle mental health issues and stop expecting schools to parent. Much of this drama is due to parents demanding decreased expectations in terms of behavior, consequences and school/homework.

Exactly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:High school should be optional. Read The Case Against Education.

HS Teacher - I think we need options. I like what much of Europe does, with the option to do a vocational school for high school instead of college prep. I have so many kids telling me that their dream is to go work on a cattle ranch, decorate cakes, or open a construction business, so reading Shakespeare and stumbling through precalculus aren't helping them achieve that. I wish we had more options for kids to do apprenticeships in high school.

I am very fortunate, I teach in an upper middle class school and we didn't have the behavior problems my colleagues at lower income schools are struggling with. My kids have been pretty good all year. They're starting to fade now, but that always happens in the spring. March is a long month. Our biggest issue is kids taking hall passes and wandering the building for 30 minutes at a time, but that's not that unusual.

PP here. I’m from PA and schools still bus kids to the regional “magnet” vocational school for grades 10-12 if they choose to apply in 9th. I believe they can apply in 10th, too. There’s cosmetology, welding, computer security, woodworking, and others I’m forgetting. They get the certifications you’d need for those professions while they’re in high school. They go to the Vo-tech for half-days, 5 days a week. Multiple school districts send their Vo-tech kids to the same building.

[Anonymous]

PP again. They can also get certified as a CNA or LPN.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things have gotten worse at my school. Kids have gotten comfortable and spring is here. That means, there has been an uptick in outrageous behaviors. Today, I had to half drag a kindergarten student upstairs to the office because he started hitting/hicking us. This afternoon, the entire downstairs at my school had to listen to screaming from a pre-k kid who has been running laps around the school for the last few weeks. I also have a student who eats everything and anything under the sun. Thankfully her classmates tell me when this happens so I can fish it out of her mouth (today it was a twist tie and a cap eraser). My student with the huge behavior issues was absent today so it was a pretty calm day.

I've heard awful stories from the middle school. The admin is always busy with them so they rarely have time to help us out. We are exhausted and we still have two weeks left before spring break. Teachers call in sick so much due to the stress and exhaustion and there are no subs (who can blame them with these behavior issues?) And our school isn't even that bad compared to others I've heard about.

Parents need to be called to pick up their kids or to sit with them in class if they cannot behave.

So they should just leave work every day to come to school? How realistic is that?

Perhaps that will motivate them to actually parent their out of control kids and/or get them psychiatrist help so that they won’t have to keep missing work. Shrug.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things have gotten worse at my school. Kids have gotten comfortable and spring is here. That means, there has been an uptick in outrageous behaviors. Today, I had to half drag a kindergarten student upstairs to the office because he started hitting/hicking us. This afternoon, the entire downstairs at my school had to listen to screaming from a pre-k kid who has been running laps around the school for the last few weeks. I also have a student who eats everything and anything under the sun. Thankfully her classmates tell me when this happens so I can fish it out of her mouth (today it was a twist tie and a cap eraser). My student with the huge behavior issues was absent today so it was a pretty calm day.

I've heard awful stories from the middle school. The admin is always busy with them so they rarely have time to help us out. We are exhausted and we still have two weeks left before spring break. Teachers call in sick so much due to the stress and exhaustion and there are no subs (who can blame them with these behavior issues?) And our school isn't even that bad compared to others I've heard about.

Parents need to be called to pick up their kids or to sit with them in class if they cannot behave.

So they should just leave work every day to come to school? How realistic is that?

Perhaps that will motivate them to actually parent their out of control kids and/or get them psychiatrist help so that they won’t have to keep missing work. Shrug.

They will just stop answering the phone when school calls.