Is the MCPS "Climate Survey" just a racial demographics profile?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's MCPS school is pushing hard for 90% of families to complete this survey, which I'd been ignoring. However, when I went to answer it, the only questions were about my kid's gender and race. It asks for my kid's school ID number too; it's not anonymous?

Does anyone know what the actual intention of this is? Given the political climate, it seems "sus" at best, and potentially dangerous.

If your school isn't nagging you to fill it out and/or you haven't seen it yet: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2024-2025/Community-Message-20250603.html

Your kid’s ID number tells them who to target if they don’t like your answers.

Who, exactly, is doing the targeting here? Like, walk me through your process. Which specific school employees, to whom you entrust your child every day, do you think would retaliate?

+100 Who do you think has time to look at one single person’s answers and then retaliate? It’s for data purposes only to ensure results are not skewed by people answering multiple times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's MCPS school is pushing hard for 90% of families to complete this survey, which I'd been ignoring. However, when I went to answer it, the only questions were about my kid's gender and race. It asks for my kid's school ID number too; it's not anonymous?

Does anyone know what the actual intention of this is? Given the political climate, it seems "sus" at best, and potentially dangerous.

If your school isn't nagging you to fill it out and/or you haven't seen it yet: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2024-2025/Community-Message-20250603.html

Your kid’s ID number tells them who to target if they don’t like your answers.

Who, exactly, is doing the targeting here? Like, walk me through your process. Which specific school employees, to whom you entrust your child every day, do you think would retaliate?

I love how you're naive enough to believe that this stays with school employees, forever, and could never be used for nefarious purposes. Bless your heart!

What 'nefarious' purposes would this be used for? Be specific.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate how specific the racial demographics will be in the results. I’ve long said that the experience of African American students is vastly different than a Nigerian or Ethiopian student. However, MCPS assumes everyone interprets their labels the same way. I think it would be helpful for MCPS to also aggregate the data based on a family’s immigration status and experience.

I would take issue with the word "vastly" different.

There are certainly differences and nuances in the experiences of an African-American students vs a child of African immigrants, but at the end of the day they still both fall under the umbrella of experiencing MCPS through the lens of the Black identity, so it's still important to assess and aggregate data at the broader race level of Black as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Those are the initial questions to make sure parents only do it once per kid. Once you get to the next screen, there are real questions..

This is a lie. Most online anonymous surveys easily prevent multiple retakes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid's MCPS school is pushing hard for 90% of families to complete this survey, which I'd been ignoring. However, when I went to answer it, the only questions were about my kid's gender and race. It asks for my kid's school ID number too; it's not anonymous?

Does anyone know what the actual intention of this is? Given the political climate, it seems "sus" at best, and potentially dangerous.

If your school isn't nagging you to fill it out and/or you haven't seen it yet: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2024-2025/Community-Message-20250603.html

Your kid’s ID number tells them who to target if they don’t like your answers.

Who, exactly, is doing the targeting here? Like, walk me through your process. Which specific school employees, to whom you entrust your child every day, do you think would retaliate?

I love how you're naive enough to believe that this stays with school employees, forever, and could never be used for nefarious purposes. Bless your heart!

These people have your children's bodies in their possession for 180 days a year for 12 years!

And you're worried about them being "nefarious" with survey data?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate how specific the racial demographics will be in the results. I’ve long said that the experience of African American students is vastly different than a Nigerian or Ethiopian student. However, MCPS assumes everyone interprets their labels the same way. I think it would be helpful for MCPS to also aggregate the data based on a family’s immigration status and experience.

Are you a member of either of the groups you are opining about?

+1 if you are, I want to know the difference.

You can think of any difference in experience between being a native born 7th generation descendant of slaves and Jim Crow laws, and being an immigrant from an African nation that has a different native language?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate how specific the racial demographics will be in the results. I’ve long said that the experience of African American students is vastly different than a Nigerian or Ethiopian student. However, MCPS assumes everyone interprets their labels the same way. I think it would be helpful for MCPS to also aggregate the data based on a family’s immigration status and experience.

Are you a member of either of the groups you are opining about?

Yes, I am.

[Anonymous]

School leadership teams rely heavily on this data to determine school improvement goals. Of course academic data is an appointment part of these goals too, but culture and climate is extremely important. This survey is one way schools gather culture and climate data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School leadership teams rely heavily on this data to determine school improvement goals. Of course academic data is an appointment part of these goals too, but culture and climate is extremely important. This survey is one way schools gather culture and climate data.

This is exactly how you people are ignoring the classroom violence.

You should all be fired for neglecting your #1 responsibility:
keeping students and teachers safe from routine violence perpetrated by mentally ill kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate how specific the racial demographics will be in the results. I’ve long said that the experience of African American students is vastly different than a Nigerian or Ethiopian student. However, MCPS assumes everyone interprets their labels the same way. I think it would be helpful for MCPS to also aggregate the data based on a family’s immigration status and experience.

I would take issue with the word "vastly" different.

There are certainly differences and nuances in the experiences of an African-American students vs a child of African immigrants, but at the end of the day they still both fall under the umbrella of experiencing MCPS through the lens of the Black identity, so it's still important to assess and aggregate data at the broader race level of Black as well.

Are you African American or the child of African immigrants?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School leadership teams rely heavily on this data to determine school improvement goals. Of course academic data is an appointment part of these goals too, but culture and climate is extremely important. This survey is one way schools gather culture and climate data.

Why not first make the classrooms safe?

[Anonymous]

I quit when they added a requirement for student id.

High schools get graded by the state on participation on these surveys.

At the high school I teach at they required it in English classes because doing it in homeroom was a huge failure in previous years.

I also object to some of the vague phrasing of the statements as it always seems designed to elicit a favorable response rather than a negative response. It makes me respond much more harshly in response.

Example: “Someone in the building cares about me.” A teacher next door? Maybe yes. Admin? Hell no. So, I will respond in the negative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid's MCPS school is pushing hard for 90% of families to complete this survey, which I'd been ignoring. However, when I went to answer it, the only questions were about my kid's gender and race. It asks for my kid's school ID number too; it's not anonymous?

Does anyone know what the actual intention of this is? Given the political climate, it seems "sus" at best, and potentially dangerous.

If your school isn't nagging you to fill it out and/or you haven't seen it yet: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2024-2025/Community-Message-20250603.html

I stand by my opinions about my kid's school, with or without anonymity. Try it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I quit when they added a requirement for student id.

High schools get graded by the state on participation on these surveys.

At the high school I teach at they required it in English classes because doing it in homeroom was a huge failure in previous years.

I also object to some of the vague phrasing of the statements as it always seems designed to elicit a favorable response rather than a negative response. It makes me respond much more harshly in response.

Example: “Someone in the building cares about me.” A teacher next door? Maybe yes. Admin? Hell no. So, I will respond in the negative.

They obviously want to tag you with the ID requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I appreciate how specific the racial demographics will be in the results. I’ve long said that the experience of African American students is vastly different than a Nigerian or Ethiopian student. However, MCPS assumes everyone interprets their labels the same way. I think it would be helpful for MCPS to also aggregate the data based on a family’s immigration status and experience.

Are you a member of either of the groups you are opining about?

DP: An immigrant experience is different from a native ADOS experience. Being from a relatively privileged family in one’s home country, leaving that country and culture, and seeking opportunities is different from a history that includes segregation and a minority experience. That’s just for starters.

And, yes, I’m a member of one of the groups that I’m opining about. I also have experience working in school settings, in multi-cultural settings, and doing social science research.