Parent volunteers - crazy recess

[Anonymous]

I work at an ES. There is a huge shortage of paraeducators (they cover lunch and recess), because most positions are TPT (Temporary Part Time, meaning low hourly wage, no benefits and no guara tee of a job next year).

See if the Principal will allow parents to cover, and if the PTA will organize the parent volunteers (assuming there are any). This is how it worked at my children's ES, but nothing is happening at my ES - it's a disaster

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all - I will follow up with the teacher and school. I don’t think the teachers do lunch or recess. My DD says there is a lot of pushing, kicking, hitting, etc. and that the recess teachers (paraeducators?) are nice but it seems there may be several extreme behavior issues within the class/grade. It is concerning that there are only 2 adults for 70-80 kids. I am a member of the PTA and will speak to them about this, and try and get something set up. Do volunteers need to be background checked by MCPS? Does MCPS usually try to hire more support staff throughout the year? I guess I’m also wondering if these recess behaviors are typical? My older DD is in middle school and I remember volunteering during lunch when she was younger. I remember there being the usual chaos from kids running around but I am getting more worried about things being out of control this year. I also think the recess teachers are doing a great job and don’t want my feedback to be a reflection of them (if that makes sense).

Volunteers need to have the fingerprints and background checks before they can be allowed to volunteer in the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all - I will follow up with the teacher and school. I don’t think the teachers do lunch or recess. My DD says there is a lot of pushing, kicking, hitting, etc. and that the recess teachers (paraeducators?) are nice but it seems there may be several extreme behavior issues within the class/grade. It is concerning that there are only 2 adults for 70-80 kids. I am a member of the PTA and will speak to them about this, and try and get something set up. Do volunteers need to be background checked by MCPS? Does MCPS usually try to hire more support staff throughout the year? I guess I’m also wondering if these recess behaviors are typical? My older DD is in middle school and I remember volunteering during lunch when she was younger. I remember there being the usual chaos from kids running around but I am getting more worried about things being out of control this year. I also think the recess teachers are doing a great job and don’t want my feedback to be a reflection of them (if that makes sense).

Volunteers need to have the fingerprints and background checks before they can be allowed to volunteer in the school.

And be vaccinated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don't worry about the recess teachers' feelings OP. Some of what you're describing is common (see 2 adults for 70-80 kids) and some of it is due to pandemic lack of socialization. No, McPS does not try to hire more support staff throughout the year. They don't have the funds.

Well, actually, they DO have the funds. It’s just that MCPS chooses to spend money on other things - bocce, $2M to the Kid Museum, free backpacks, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't worry about the recess teachers' feelings OP. Some of what you're describing is common (see 2 adults for 70-80 kids) and some of it is due to pandemic lack of socialization. No, McPS does not try to hire more support staff throughout the year. They don't have the funds.

Well, actually, they DO have the funds. It’s just that MCPS chooses to spend money on other things - bocce, $2M to the Kid Museum, free backpacks, etc.

Stop dramatizing. Principals can’t use staffing funds to purchase instructional materials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all - I will follow up with the teacher and school. I don’t think the teachers do lunch or recess. My DD says there is a lot of pushing, kicking, hitting, etc. and that the recess teachers (paraeducators?) are nice but it seems there may be several extreme behavior issues within the class/grade. It is concerning that there are only 2 adults for 70-80 kids. I am a member of the PTA and will speak to them about this, and try and get something set up. Do volunteers need to be background checked by MCPS? Does MCPS usually try to hire more support staff throughout the year? I guess I’m also wondering if these recess behaviors are typical? My older DD is in middle school and I remember volunteering during lunch when she was younger. I remember there being the usual chaos from kids running around but I am getting more worried about things being out of control this year. I also think the recess teachers are doing a great job and don’t want my feedback to be a reflection of them (if that makes sense).

Volunteers need to have the fingerprints and background checks before they can be allowed to volunteer in the school.

And be vaccinated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't worry about the recess teachers' feelings OP. Some of what you're describing is common (see 2 adults for 70-80 kids) and some of it is due to pandemic lack of socialization. No, McPS does not try to hire more support staff throughout the year. They don't have the funds.

Well, actually, they DO have the funds. It’s just that MCPS chooses to spend money on other things - bocce, $2M to the Kid Museum, free backpacks, etc.

Stop dramatizing. Principals can’t use staffing funds to purchase instructional materials.

NP. Dramatization aside, I think there is a fair criticism here about how MCPS spends its resources. And I think our principals can and should do more to get more resources - they need to at least ASK for increased funds and continue to make a case for it if they're told no. I've been frustrated that the principal of our ES does not seem interested in asking for more funds to provide supervision at lunch and recess. We've had frank conversations about it and she has acknowledged that they have the bare minimum of aides but she won't take any action to argue for a bigger budget. No one gets a bigger budget unless they ask for it and makes a compelling case and puts pressure on those making the allocations. Those are the responsibilities of anyone leading a group in a large institution. Telling parents that the only solution is for them to come supervise recess (and use leave from their full-time job to go volunteer!) without assessing the funding priorities at the school or pushing the MCPS budget office to provide more funds is incredibly frustrating. I wouldn't be so grumpy about it if it seemed like our principal was actively trying to secure more funds or otherwise search for creative ways to address a growing problem.

I also don't understand how a county with so much wealth can't provide the most basic resources to and maintenance for the schools. A group of parents started mowing the grounds at our school this year. I'd rather MCPS pay workers to mow the grass and put soap and toilet paper in the bathrooms than provide Chromebooks to each student.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all - I will follow up with the teacher and school. I don’t think the teachers do lunch or recess. My DD says there is a lot of pushing, kicking, hitting, etc. and that the recess teachers (paraeducators?) are nice but it seems there may be several extreme behavior issues within the class/grade. It is concerning that there are only 2 adults for 70-80 kids. I am a member of the PTA and will speak to them about this, and try and get something set up. Do volunteers need to be background checked by MCPS? Does MCPS usually try to hire more support staff throughout the year? I guess I’m also wondering if these recess behaviors are typical? My older DD is in middle school and I remember volunteering during lunch when she was younger. I remember there being the usual chaos from kids running around but I am getting more worried about things being out of control this year. I also think the recess teachers are doing a great job and don’t want my feedback to be a reflection of them (if that makes sense).

Volunteers need to have the fingerprints and background checks before they can be allowed to volunteer in the school.

And be vaccinated.

That’s still a requirement whether we agree with it or not. Kids are not required to be vaccinated so it doesn’t make sense.

[Anonymous]

Pre-Covid, our desperately overcrowded elementary school would have a single para cover lunch (one grade ate at a time and each grade cohort had 130-180 students). The noise was deafening, and paras have no training and little authority to discipline kids, so the lunch para resorted to crowd control measures that lead to parents and students petitioning the principal to have the para relieved of lunch duty.

Simultaneously, another grade (another 130-180 students) would be outside at recess with just 2 paras. The playground had shrunk to accommodate 10-12 portable classrooms, so it was mayhem, but even worse when they had indoor recess and the 2 recess paras had to cover 5-6 classrooms at once.

The PTA is not permitted to fund extra staffing, so there was nothing parents could do to help except volunteer. The school actively recruited volunteers, especially for kindergarteners who struggle to open food packaging. I believe this was derailed by Covid. I have no idea what they do now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't worry about the recess teachers' feelings OP. Some of what you're describing is common (see 2 adults for 70-80 kids) and some of it is due to pandemic lack of socialization. No, McPS does not try to hire more support staff throughout the year. They don't have the funds.

Well, actually, they DO have the funds. It’s just that MCPS chooses to spend money on other things - bocce, $2M to the Kid Museum, free backpacks, etc.

Stop dramatizing. Principals can’t use staffing funds to purchase instructional materials.

NP. Dramatization aside, I think there is a fair criticism here about how MCPS spends its resources. And I think our principals can and should do more to get more resources - they need to at least ASK for increased funds and continue to make a case for it if they're told no. I've been frustrated that the principal of our ES does not seem interested in asking for more funds to provide supervision at lunch and recess. We've had frank conversations about it and she has acknowledged that they have the bare minimum of aides but she won't take any action to argue for a bigger budget. No one gets a bigger budget unless they ask for it and makes a compelling case and puts pressure on those making the allocations. Those are the responsibilities of anyone leading a group in a large institution. Telling parents that the only solution is for them to come supervise recess (and use leave from their full-time job to go volunteer!) without assessing the funding priorities at the school or pushing the MCPS budget office to provide more funds is incredibly frustrating. I wouldn't be so grumpy about it if it seemed like our principal was actively trying to secure more funds or otherwise search for creative ways to address a growing problem.

I also don't understand how a county with so much wealth can't provide the most basic resources to and maintenance for the schools. A group of parents started mowing the grounds at our school this year. I'd rather MCPS pay workers to mow the grass and put soap and toilet paper in the bathrooms than provide Chromebooks to each student.

MCPS is a toxic workplace. Principals who kiss up to the central office and don’t ask for anything get patted on the head. The central office spends the money on their pet projects, more central office staff to lesson workloads, and giving contracts to friends and family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don't worry about the recess teachers' feelings OP. Some of what you're describing is common (see 2 adults for 70-80 kids) and some of it is due to pandemic lack of socialization. No, McPS does not try to hire more support staff throughout the year. They don't have the funds.

Well, actually, they DO have the funds. It’s just that MCPS chooses to spend money on other things - bocce, $2M to the Kid Museum, free backpacks, etc.

Stop dramatizing. Principals can’t use staffing funds to purchase instructional materials.

The money wasn't available for staffing, it was allocated to other things. You'd think the highly educated people on this board would understand how budgets allocations work.

[Anonymous]

Yes, parents can volunteer at recess. Yes, every year kinder parents used to a small preK we shocked by the Lord of the Flies nature of public school recess.

[Anonymous]

My kids' schools always wanted recess volunteers, some wanted lunch volunteers, a few wanted classroom volunteers.

We had a situation at elementary lunch where the volume was out of control, and the paras started insisting the kids had to be absolutely silent. They had the "red light " on and yelled a lot. I started volunteering, reading stories over the PA system. Kids were happy and relatively quiet.

Recess always wanted more parents for extra supervision. Teachers were taking their lunch, and it would be just a couple of paras for like 100 kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn't want parents there

Which school do you run?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you all - I will follow up with the teacher and school. I don’t think the teachers do lunch or recess. My DD says there is a lot of pushing, kicking, hitting, etc. and that the recess teachers (paraeducators?) are nice but it seems there may be several extreme behavior issues within the class/grade. It is concerning that there are only 2 adults for 70-80 kids. I am a member of the PTA and will speak to them about this, and try and get something set up. Do volunteers need to be background checked by MCPS? Does MCPS usually try to hire more support staff throughout the year? I guess I’m also wondering if these recess behaviors are typical? My older DD is in middle school and I remember volunteering during lunch when she was younger. I remember there being the usual chaos from kids running around but I am getting more worried about things being out of control this year. I also think the recess teachers are doing a great job and don’t want my feedback to be a reflection of them (if that makes sense).

Volunteers need to have the fingerprints and background checks before they can be allowed to volunteer in the school.

And be vaccinated.

Oh, I agree with your eye roll. There is no good reason to require parents to be vaccinated to volunteer, but it is what MCPS is requiring.

Public health officials in this area love their vaccine/booster mandates. Despite the fact that these mandates are not supported by science.