First days of school

[Anonymous]

My middle schooler came back pretty depressed. Huge classes, teachers who didn’t seem interesting. I hope this was just a first day thing and he finds some educators who make this year a good one.

[Anonymous]

It was traumatizing for the kids to wake up early, to get them ready to go, and to figure out how to get them to their different buses. One bus was 20 minutes late. We stood waiting for half an hour. Hope the driver figures things out soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My middle schooler came back pretty depressed. Huge classes, teachers who didn’t seem interesting. I hope this was just a first day thing and he finds some educators who make this year a good one.

My 6th grader came back from school completely drained and barely able to talk or move. He likes school but it was a long day. Such a big shift to go from ES to MS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

How does it work with subs?

I believe the version MCPS is using is integrated into synergy so subs should have access as long as they have synergy access

They don’t at my school but I now see a sub log in for it so maybe that’ll change this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

What if a kid has an emergency?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It was traumatizing for the kids to wake up early, to get them ready to go, and to figure out how to get them to their different buses. One bus was 20 minutes late. We stood waiting for half an hour. Hope the driver figures things out soon.

Drive your kids and get them mental health treatment. That’s not trauma that’s a parenting issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

But what about kid #16 who really needs to go … like now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

But what about kid #16 who really needs to go … like now.

Like they told us in the military PPPPPP

Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

In this case fairly literally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The middle school bus that picks up in front of my house was at least 30 minutes late. (I don't have a middle schooler this year. Last year it picked up at 7:35. Today it came at 8:11)

But did you like the superintendent's rap?

DP. He should not plan to switch careers to the music world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My high schooler hated it because, as mentioned in another thread, the entire day was spent lecturing and threatening the students about the cell phone policy. My kid is very academic and didn’t think almost the entirety of every AP class needed to be spent this way. Loved their teachers from get go last year and this year started on a very antagonistic vibe. And this is a kid who voluntarily puts their phone away at home to focus on school work.

Plus the new electronic bathroom pass. You can’t use your cell so you have to open and log into your Chromebook to do the electronic pass. Another year of dehydration ahead.

SMH. Oh why oh why, mcps?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

But what about kid #16 who really needs to go … like now.

They’re SOL. These policies are absurd. You can’t go during the first 10 minutes or last 10 minutes of any class; you can’t go if too many other people already have passes; you can’t go in a bathroom if there’s already a certain number of people in it (even in between classes, so that’s not necessarily an option); the electronic pass is only good for 10 minutes, even if you’re coming from a portable, so even if you’re carrying a traditional pass, if the electronic one expires before you get back to class, you’re in trouble; you can’t go to the bathroom during classroom instruction more than 4 times per quarter (or was it semester?). I was in the health room at the beginning of lunch and there was a steady stream of kids asking the nurse if they could use the health room’s bathroom. They’re allowed to, but even during lunch, they had to sign in in multiple places and only one person can use it at a time.

On top of all this, at one of my kids’ schools, if you’re late to class, you can’t enter the classroom until 20 minutes into class. Kids who are still out in the halls when a period starts will all be shepherded into a waiting area (I can’t remember if it was the cafeteria or gym or auditorium), where they will have to wait until they all can enter their classrooms en masse 20 minutes late. The purpose is to minimize disruptions, but it also maximizes missed instructional time. My dc has to go back and forth between the third floor of the main building and the portables multiple times per day.

Hopefully the enforcement of these policies will become lax very quickly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

You understand that Larlx's bladder doesn't simply lock just because 15 other students have a pass. This is the F ing answer by the school district? Pediatricians be prepared for another shitty year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

Building on this since I can't edit the original post, it was also great because as a highly data driven teacher, it calculates how long each student is out of the classroom so I can collect that data and use it when communicating with parents to justify a student's performance. "Yes Mrs. Jones I understand you are upset with your child having a D in my class but the data indicates they have spent the equivalent of 3 whole class periods in the hallway and bathroom this marking period."

Why can't that same data be captured on a sign in sign out sheet/clipboard in the classroom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My middle schooler came back pretty depressed. Huge classes, teachers who didn’t seem interesting. I hope this was just a first day thing and he finds some educators who make this year a good one.

My 6th grader came back from school completely drained and barely able to talk or move. He likes school but it was a long day. Such a big shift to go from ES to MS.

That's why some school districts or schools across the country have 6th housed in ES.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

But what about kid #16 who really needs to go … like now.

They’re SOL. These policies are absurd. You can’t go during the first 10 minutes or last 10 minutes of any class; you can’t go if too many other people already have passes; you can’t go in a bathroom if there’s already a certain number of people in it (even in between classes, so that’s not necessarily an option); the electronic pass is only good for 10 minutes, even if you’re coming from a portable, so even if you’re carrying a traditional pass, if the electronic one expires before you get back to class, you’re in trouble; you can’t go to the bathroom during classroom instruction more than 4 times per quarter (or was it semester?). I was in the health room at the beginning of lunch and there was a steady stream of kids asking the nurse if they could use the health room’s bathroom. They’re allowed to, but even during lunch, they had to sign in in multiple places and only one person can use it at a time.

On top of all this, at one of my kids’ schools, if you’re late to class, you can’t enter the classroom until 20 minutes into class. Kids who are still out in the halls when a period starts will all be shepherded into a waiting area (I can’t remember if it was the cafeteria or gym or auditorium), where they will have to wait until they all can enter their classrooms en masse 20 minutes late. The purpose is to minimize disruptions, but it also maximizes missed instructional time. My dc has to go back and forth between the third floor of the main building and the portables multiple times per day.

Hopefully the enforcement of these policies will become lax very quickly.

Journalists time to do another story
Parents it's past time to sue
Report to MSDE
Report issue to Dept of Ed