Silver Creek Middle School for ADHD kid

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My DS will be a 6th grader next year at Silver Creek. He’s not ADHD but quite verbose and misses social cues. He’s also incredibly kind. Perhaps they can find each other at recess or after school activities.

Op here. I sure hope so!

[Anonymous]

Current scms 6th grade boy parent. He is bullied relentlessly (called fag or gay). He doesn’t have adhd but does have social anxiety. He told a teacher this is happening and the teacher that unless they see it or unless he reports it nothing can be done. He is terrified to report for fear of making the bullying worse. I thought about personally reaching out to the school but my kid (and husband) didn’t want me to for fear or more bullying. So if bullying is a really concern stay in private. We are considering a switch next year due to this. He has not come out but is small for his age and is very soft spoken. I do think the principal and teachers are lovely. The other issue is that they require kids to go on outdoor service learning (mcps wide). I think he will be “sick” those days bc I worry about the impact of the bullying (which is sad bc I wish he would make more friends). We moved to the area during the pandemic. Good luck OP!

[Anonymous]

PP, that is awful. I don’t understand — if he told a teacher about it, how does that not count as “reporting”? Why isn’t the teacher helping to address the situation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Middle school is the weakest part of MCPS. I’d keep him in private and then move for B-CC.

Why would BCC be better then middle school?

In HS, you can take more exciting and challenging classes. This is, for the most part, not true in MS or to a much lesser extent. That makes the likelihood of finding peers harder. Also, MS is socially one of the worst ages where kids seem to be at the nadir of compassion towards their peers. Anything is possible but I'd also hold off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Current scms 6th grade boy parent. He is bullied relentlessly (called fag or gay). He doesn’t have adhd but does have social anxiety. He told a teacher this is happening and the teacher that unless they see it or unless he reports it nothing can be done. He is terrified to report for fear of making the bullying worse. I thought about personally reaching out to the school but my kid (and husband) didn’t want me to for fear or more bullying. So if bullying is a really concern stay in private. We are considering a switch next year due to this. He has not come out but is small for his age and is very soft spoken. I do think the principal and teachers are lovely. The other issue is that they require kids to go on outdoor service learning (mcps wide). I think he will be “sick” those days bc I worry about the impact of the bullying (which is sad bc I wish he would make more friends). We moved to the area during the pandemic. Good luck OP!

SCMS 8th grade parent here. Definitely reach out to the principal and the two assistant principals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Current scms 6th grade boy parent. He is bullied relentlessly (called fag or gay). He doesn’t have adhd but does have social anxiety. He told a teacher this is happening and the teacher that unless they see it or unless he reports it nothing can be done. He is terrified to report for fear of making the bullying worse. I thought about personally reaching out to the school but my kid (and husband) didn’t want me to for fear or more bullying. So if bullying is a really concern stay in private. We are considering a switch next year due to this. He has not come out but is small for his age and is very soft spoken. I do think the principal and teachers are lovely. The other issue is that they require kids to go on outdoor service learning (mcps wide). I think he will be “sick” those days bc I worry about the impact of the bullying (which is sad bc I wish he would make more friends). We moved to the area during the pandemic. Good luck OP!

I am so sorry this is happening to your son. I would not hesitate to reach out to the school for help. They can’t intervene/help nip the behavior if they don’t know this is happening. It was brave of your son to ask the teacher for help. It sounds like there was a miscommunication and that the teacher possibly wanted him to fill out the mcps bullying form since he or she didn’t witness the incidents directly and the form has a space for all the details. I would really give the school a chance to make this better for your son. There are a lot of really nice kids in that particular grade. With time, I’m confident your child will find his people as this ordeal is resolved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t have a good experience but my kid was there during the pandemic and diagnosed at the same time. Being a girl the school was also not picking up on stuff. I’d say keep him in private until high school but others may feel differently.

Social stuff? Or academic needs?

Academic needs. Socially she had the time of her life. Well as much as she could during a global pandemic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current scms 6th grade boy parent. He is bullied relentlessly (called fag or gay). He doesn’t have adhd but does have social anxiety. He told a teacher this is happening and the teacher that unless they see it or unless he reports it nothing can be done. He is terrified to report for fear of making the bullying worse. I thought about personally reaching out to the school but my kid (and husband) didn’t want me to for fear or more bullying. So if bullying is a really concern stay in private. We are considering a switch next year due to this. He has not come out but is small for his age and is very soft spoken. I do think the principal and teachers are lovely. The other issue is that they require kids to go on outdoor service learning (mcps wide). I think he will be “sick” those days bc I worry about the impact of the bullying (which is sad bc I wish he would make more friends). We moved to the area during the pandemic. Good luck OP!

I am so sorry this is happening to your son. I would not hesitate to reach out to the school for help. They can’t intervene/help nip the behavior if they don’t know this is happening. It was brave of your son to ask the teacher for help. It sounds like there was a miscommunication and that the teacher possibly wanted him to fill out the mcps bullying form since he or she didn’t witness the incidents directly and the form has a space for all the details. I would really give the school a chance to make this better for your son. There are a lot of really nice kids in that particular grade. With time, I’m confident your child will find his people as this ordeal is resolved.

It’s pretty awful that the teacher didn’t escalate this to the administration, regardless of whether the kid filled out the form. How hard is it to reach out to the principal so she can talk to the student and parents? -DP

[Anonymous]

I can't speak about the kids since my son is now in 10th grade at BCC but the teachers were great at accommodating his ADHD.

Only one teacher refused his accommodations and my son's counselor switched him out right away and that teacher ended up leaving.

There was some bullying and per MCPS policy - nothing can be done about it. Those kids are gone now though so hopefully it's better.

My son only went in person for a year and half because of Covid but it was a good experience overall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Current scms 6th grade boy parent. He is bullied relentlessly (called fag or gay). He doesn’t have adhd but does have social anxiety. He told a teacher this is happening and the teacher that unless they see it or unless he reports it nothing can be done. He is terrified to report for fear of making the bullying worse. I thought about personally reaching out to the school but my kid (and husband) didn’t want me to for fear or more bullying. So if bullying is a really concern stay in private. We are considering a switch next year due to this. He has not come out but is small for his age and is very soft spoken. I do think the principal and teachers are lovely. The other issue is that they require kids to go on outdoor service learning (mcps wide). I think he will be “sick” those days bc I worry about the impact of the bullying (which is sad bc I wish he would make more friends). We moved to the area during the pandemic. Good luck OP!

This is heartbreaking, PP. I am so sorry your DS is going through this. This week at SCMS they had a day of support for LGBTQ kids and allies and my DD told me it was great. It surprises me that kids there would use those words to bully, but then again I guess it doesn’t because there are lots of kids my DD probably doesn’t interact with much who she might not realize are behaving so terribly. I wish our kids could find each other!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Current scms 6th grade boy parent. He is bullied relentlessly (called fag or gay). He doesn’t have adhd but does have social anxiety. He told a teacher this is happening and the teacher that unless they see it or unless he reports it nothing can be done. He is terrified to report for fear of making the bullying worse. I thought about personally reaching out to the school but my kid (and husband) didn’t want me to for fear or more bullying. So if bullying is a really concern stay in private. We are considering a switch next year due to this. He has not come out but is small for his age and is very soft spoken. I do think the principal and teachers are lovely. The other issue is that they require kids to go on outdoor service learning (mcps wide). I think he will be “sick” those days bc I worry about the impact of the bullying (which is sad bc I wish he would make more friends). We moved to the area during the pandemic. Good luck OP!

SCMS 8th grade parent here. Definitely reach out to the principal and the two assistant principals.

BCC cluster parent. Please also file a bullying form in writing. There are many peers and parents who would support you if they knew. FWIW, IMO, as the parent of a queer BCC student, BCC students by and large are accepting of LGBTQIA peers and engaging in this kind of bullying at BCC would not make enemies not friends.