Parents Coalition...Still Nuts!
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Anonymous
| She's poisonous. It's unfortunate, really, because I bet she could actually get some things done if she didn't slam every single thing about MCPS. |
Anonymous
| I'm more concerned that a concept to be fair was even needed in the first place. If a teacher doesn't understand the importance of engaging all students, then the teacher shouldn't have been hired in the first place. And if mcps funds were spent on developing such a simple concept, then that is sad. Wow, I was worried about mcps before, but now I'm just depressed. |
Anonymous
I haven't had one teacher who didn't show favoritism calling on certain students and not others. I see the same thing in DDs class. This is extremely common even outside of school during conversations. |
Anonymous
| That's a big problem. |
Anonymous
So . . . you're one of those who happens to live in your child's classroom? Good Lord! |
Anonymous
I imagine that most teachers realize the importance of calling on all students, and I'm sure you understand how hard it would be with a class of 25-30 to make sure that you called evenly upon all students w/o some mechanism to help. |
Anonymous
|
OP and others think PC is 'batshit crazy' for criticizing Josh Star for using popsicle sticks as an equity strategy. The reason is not stated, but I think it is because equity sticks are a useful classroom technique.
Several posters have responded by saying that the issue is not the use of popsicle sticks in the classroom, but that the the equity stick practice is not even a strategy. A strategy is a plan of action or master plan to achieve a major or overall gain. We think that Starr used twitter and some education jargon to pronounce the success of a grand strategy, but really only confused many of us. Is this really his plan for equity? Is that it? What is equity anyway? I will add an argument about Starr's use of twitter to communicate. Twitter obviously is very limiting. It allows you to say something pithy without getting into messy details and contradictions. Equity is a great concept in 140 words, but has real implications when you get to detail. Equity of what? Opportunity, budget, academic outcome? what does it mean? Twitter allows you to skip all that mess because 'equity' is fair and good almost by definition. This is how Starr communicates with parents and I am not impressed. So now what is your response to these arguments I list above. "Batshit crazy" is not really an argument. The fact that equity sticks is a useful tool for teachers is noted, but misses the bigger picture arguments mentioned above. Rather than calling out names, just pick a topic on PC and lets debate. When you do this, we can all learn from it. If you just want to stay in your anti-PC tribe, then this will just be the usual name calling thread. Posting a link and then just calling someone "Batshit crazy" is very juvenile, IMHO. |
Anonymous
OK, how about this one? This one was truly memorable. http://parentscoalitionmc.blogspot.com/2012/08/guest-post-mcps-supports-french-olympic.html |
Anonymous
So it sounds like you are conceding on the issues I raised about equity sticks, right? I can't tell. Also, I still wish you would make an argument when you post a link. On the link you present, I see an ongoing issue that PC has been raising about no-bid contracts. With respect to turf fields, they also have raised health issues. I don't know the health issues real well, but I agree with them that 500K to 1M per artificial turf field contracts should not be no-bid contracts. This is particularly true given that PC exposed former MCPS Superintendent Weast as going on Pearson, Inc junkets overseas at the same time as they were contracting with Pearson on the 2.0 curriculum. Other news outlets picked up this Pearson practice in other parts of the country as well (as I recall). As for the link above, I see it was posted by "Guest", not Janet Sartucci. She usually is good at identifying herself. As I said, I think this is just a sarcastic way of pointing out a no-bid contract issue. I do agree it is not a great way to make the point in question. i don't think it is very clever and kind of confuses a valid issue. I am not in the PC. I am just a parent. I won't defend everything they do and chase down all your links, but they are not 'bat shit crazy'. I have often seen the Washington Post pick up their stories and I daresay PC covers MCPS better than the Post, but that is just an opinion. I don't blindly follow PC, but I do consider the factual documented information they present. They are vital to keeping MCPS in check, IMHO. MCPS you will recall has a still active principal that locks kids in closets and caused a large MCPS payout to settle a case against former abused teachers. This principal is still around last I heard at the beginning of this school year. MCPS also stole money from special needs kids who earned this money in a work-study program. MCPS has a large admin staff that goes on lots of conferences, while the PTA at our school has to raise money for teacher supplies. These are all valid issues in my book. In the end, I am more skeptical of MCPS central office than PC. I do like many aspects of MCPS and generally like my kid's teachers. I think the problem is more at the top, then in the ranks. That is why we need PC. |
Anonymous
I posted the link. I am a new poster. I am not conceding any issue about equity sticks. And my argument, to the extent it's even necessary to make one, is that any person or group of people who put up a post that says "By buying its turf at full price through a noncompetitive process, the MCPS [Montgomery County Public School] is supporting the French Olympic team as it competes against our American athletes." is a person or group of people who, if they do make a valid point, are making by accident. |
Anonymous
PP here, haven't been once. |
Anonymous
As I said, I do agree that the French Olympic Team post is not a strong post. Likewise, the Josh Starr twitter post is not strong. I would not base my opinion of either Josh Starr or PC based on one post, though. We need to dive deeper into issues and pay attention to details. PC adds value and is about the only major watchdog I know over MCPS. They have exposed a lot of concerns that I raised in my post above. Who cares about the French Olympic team if they also raise concerns about MCPS stealing money from special needs kids? Does every organization have to be perfect for you? Is there another watchdog group keeping tabs on MCPS? |
Anonymous
| The coalition is just a single person, no? |
Anonymous
| PC would have far more credibility, to me, if Janis et al refrained from personal attacks and petty nitpicking. For example, they raised a valid concern about the age gap in SB 460; however, the personal attacks on Raskin were really uncalled for. |
Anonymous
What personal attacks? Was it worse than "Batshit crazy"? Where there any factual errors? I think these criticisms miss the forrest for the trees. The fact is that the problems with that bill were first picked up by PC, then I started seeing other news outlets pick up on it. Are you really going to worry about hurt feelings? |