TPMS is killing the arts, the magnet program, and the autism program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the situation at eastern and kids still go to the magnet there. Until more recently they had zero electives in 6th grade and kids somehow survived and thrived.

Regarding foreign language, I think it is the norm to encourage kids to start in 6th, however at eastern the vast majority (I’d guess 95%+) didn’t start until 7th at the earliest. If the configuration changes I expect their guidance on when to start foreign language may change also.

At the end of the day the magnet is voluntary so there is no obligation to do it if it doesn’t meet your needs.

Yes, this. Eastern magnet students have always had only one elective option. Also, band isn't an elective, it's an after-school club and there is no orchestra. But I don't hear anyone whining about this. Magnets are a choice program; no is forcing that kid who supposedly rides a bus for 3 hours per day to attend TPMS.

The after school band at Eastern is a class not a club and my student gets graded. There is now also a jazz band club option one morning per week before school (SSIMS does this too). I like the option for the after school band and there are activity buses that provide transportation. Seems like a good solution for kids who want to be in band but don’t have room in their schedule.

I bet the teachers get paid extra too since it’s after school.

I run an after school activity. When I take the stipend and divide it by the number of hours, it comes out to about $7 an hour.

I pay more than twice that for my own kid’s childcare so I can stay after and work with others’ children.

So I actually pay to stay after and run a club.

This is the travesty and why schools are losing clubs. Parents pay $15+/hr each for private clubs, but we can’t muster a decent wage for teachers running clubs that are as big as classes. Rich parents, give big to teachers running clubs at your school, or donate to an under resources school club leader.

Club leaders, you are angels, and I hope your soul isn’t burned by the selfish greedy people around.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd like to try and summarize so I can keep this straight in my head.

TPMS currently has an 8 period schedule and teachers voted to move it to a 7 period schedule. This is inline with other MCPS MS but the vote did not engage the community (parents). Teachers also voted not to increase class size.

As an example: if a grade has 100 kids. There used to be 5 periods of English available so there would be 20 kids in a class. Now there are only 4 periods of English available so there would be 25 kids in a class. However, teachers also did not want class size to increase.

So budget will have to be allocated to increase teachers for core classes to keep the class size the same. The budget will come from a decrease in the art and music budget. As there will be less teachers for art and music, there will be less elective periods available and now students will be limited to one elective (language, art, or music)

Did I get all of that correct?

What parent wouldn’t prefer their kid be in a class of 20 rather than 25? Five extra kids vying for the teacher’s attention vs. private music or art lessons is an easy call.

It’s a matter of class size AND time. If the teachers have an extra class, they have less time to grade and prep lessons.

So the 25 in one class can get a better experience than the 20 in another, simply because the teacher had more time. Classes don’t create themselves; they are the product of many hours of preparation.

And frankly? I’ve taught classes of 36 and 38. 25 sounds like a dream.

Is anyone naive enough to think that with one less class and a few less kids in a class, any teacher will make any more effort to engage the kids? The excuse will always be the same no matter what you decrease it to. Teachers are a population of woe is me folks who do nothing but tantrum about how unfair everything is.

You spelled “parents” wrong.

I’m sure you were so pleased with yourself for being so cleaver with this one. Did you pat yourself on your back? Did your self claimed small victory carry you through the rest of your beige day and bring back all the feelings you had from when you peaked in high school? Well, good for you. I like that for you. You deserve to feel special too.

Can you two stop?

Look… nobody wins here. Teachers are overworked and burning out. Students can’t get what they deserve because their teachers aren’t magical; they can’t deliver what they don’t have time or resources to deliver. The parents are understandably disappointed.

Education is bad all around right now. Instead of picking little fights with each other, why don’t we all advocate for better working conditions for teachers? Then students get what they need and parents will be content.

Or we can keep bickering. Teachers will continue quitting and classes will be warehoused with poorly constructed lessons because we’ll have no teachers or subs.

Those really are the choices. One looks better to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nearing the conclusion of a “community engagement” over changing the bell schedule where the teachers voted for the outcome prior to any community engagement, the process completely lacked transparency, the community surveys were a joke where questions were overtly biased and obviously meant to support a particular outcome, the consequences of the change in bell schedule where only clearly stated to “shareholders” when the process was too far gone, the administration refused to share the data from the surveys, the administration refused to provide information regarding when the final outcome of the “community engagement” would be sent to central office for approval or who it will be sent to, afterthought meetings to special groups such as the magnet program, and absolutely zero meetings with other majorly affected groups such as the autism program and other programs for children requiring extra enrichment. Not to mention the 14 page Google doc the magnet parents wrote in questions to per administrations request was never responded to.
The bottom line, the arts and music programs at TPMS will be shells of their former selves with little to no magnet students, autism students, or students who need extra support being able to access these programs any longer.
Parents are threatening to pull their children and many feel like it’s been a huge bait and switch.
Any family who is considering this school for next year and wondering if a long commute would be worth your child’s time, should think long and hard.

Just file an MPR request for the survery results. They are public records.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Nearing the conclusion of a “community engagement” over changing the bell schedule where the teachers voted for the outcome prior to any community engagement, the process completely lacked transparency, the community surveys were a joke where questions were overtly biased and obviously meant to support a particular outcome, the consequences of the change in bell schedule where only clearly stated to “shareholders” when the process was too far gone, the administration refused to share the data from the surveys, the administration refused to provide information regarding when the final outcome of the “community engagement” would be sent to central office for approval or who it will be sent to, afterthought meetings to special groups such as the magnet program, and absolutely zero meetings with other majorly affected groups such as the autism program and other programs for children requiring extra enrichment. Not to mention the 14 page Google doc the magnet parents wrote in questions to per administrations request was never responded to.
The bottom line, the arts and music programs at TPMS will be shells of their former selves with little to no magnet students, autism students, or students who need extra support being able to access these programs any longer.
Parents are threatening to pull their children and many feel like it’s been a huge bait and switch.
Any family who is considering this school for next year and wondering if a long commute would be worth your child’s time, should think long and hard.

Just file an MPR request for the survery results. They are public records.

Different poster, the survey was so bad that I can’t imagine the results will tell us anything. The questions were biased and presented only undesirable options with no option to skip a question or say you disagree with the premise of the question. It was embarrassingly bad, which may be why they won’t share it because several parents have expertise in survey design.

[Anonymous]

County residents could choose to pay higher taxes to better fund MCPS so that additional teachers could be hired.

I remember the English dept had composition assistants when I taught HS. They helped students write papers and I think they also could grade. Ours was a media center aide half of the day so she was especially helpful to students doing research. When her CA position was cut, the English teachers had to do it all themselves. I’m not an English teacher so I’m not self-advocating here.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:County residents could choose to pay higher taxes to better fund MCPS so that additional teachers could be hired.

I remember the English dept had composition assistants when I taught HS. They helped students write papers and I think they also could grade. Ours was a media center aide half of the day so she was especially helpful to students doing research. When her CA position was cut, the English teachers had to do it all themselves. I’m not an English teacher so I’m not self-advocating here.

Or administrative / central office positions could be reduced, which would help pay for more teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:County residents could choose to pay higher taxes to better fund MCPS so that additional teachers could be hired.

I remember the English dept had composition assistants when I taught HS. They helped students write papers and I think they also could grade. Ours was a media center aide half of the day so she was especially helpful to students doing research. When her CA position was cut, the English teachers had to do it all themselves. I’m not an English teacher so I’m not self-advocating here.

Or administrative / central office positions could be reduced, which would help pay for more teachers.

There are two upcoming operating budget hearings, on January 16 and 27. Good chance to advocate for changes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:County residents could choose to pay higher taxes to better fund MCPS so that additional teachers could be hired.

I remember the English dept had composition assistants when I taught HS. They helped students write papers and I think they also could grade. Ours was a media center aide half of the day so she was especially helpful to students doing research. When her CA position was cut, the English teachers had to do it all themselves. I’m not an English teacher so I’m not self-advocating here.

Or administrative / central office positions could be reduced, which would help pay for more teachers.

There are two upcoming operating budget hearings, on January 16 and 27. Good chance to advocate for changes.

There are no teachers to hire. We still have vacancies. This argument is so tiring, people forget that money to hire teachers is based on student enrollment. Magnet schools don't deserve more teachers ratio-wise than other schools just because parents feel entitled to a special program.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:County residents could choose to pay higher taxes to better fund MCPS so that additional teachers could be hired.

I remember the English dept had composition assistants when I taught HS. They helped students write papers and I think they also could grade. Ours was a media center aide half of the day so she was especially helpful to students doing research. When her CA position was cut, the English teachers had to do it all themselves. I’m not an English teacher so I’m not self-advocating here.

Or administrative / central office positions could be reduced, which would help pay for more teachers.

There are two upcoming operating budget hearings, on January 16 and 27. Good chance to advocate for changes.

There are no teachers to hire. We still have vacancies. This argument is so tiring, people forget that money to hire teachers is based on student enrollment. Magnet schools don't deserve more teachers ratio-wise than other schools just because parents feel entitled to a special program.

They don’t need more teachers ratio wise than other schools to make this work. Other schools do it. There are at least 4 with eight periods and teachers teaching only 5 of them. They have average class sizes of around 26 students according to MCPS data.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:County residents could choose to pay higher taxes to better fund MCPS so that additional teachers could be hired.

I remember the English dept had composition assistants when I taught HS. They helped students write papers and I think they also could grade. Ours was a media center aide half of the day so she was especially helpful to students doing research. When her CA position was cut, the English teachers had to do it all themselves. I’m not an English teacher so I’m not self-advocating here.

Or administrative / central office positions could be reduced, which would help pay for more teachers.

There are two upcoming operating budget hearings, on January 16 and 27. Good chance to advocate for changes.

There are no teachers to hire. We still have vacancies. This argument is so tiring, people forget that money to hire teachers is based on student enrollment. Magnet schools don't deserve more teachers ratio-wise than other schools just because parents feel entitled to a special program.

There are plenty of certified teachers in central office who could be reassigned to classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:County residents could choose to pay higher taxes to better fund MCPS so that additional teachers could be hired.

I remember the English dept had composition assistants when I taught HS. They helped students write papers and I think they also could grade. Ours was a media center aide half of the day so she was especially helpful to students doing research. When her CA position was cut, the English teachers had to do it all themselves. I’m not an English teacher so I’m not self-advocating here.

Or administrative / central office positions could be reduced, which would help pay for more teachers.

There are two upcoming operating budget hearings, on January 16 and 27. Good chance to advocate for changes.

There are no teachers to hire. We still have vacancies. This argument is so tiring, people forget that money to hire teachers is based on student enrollment. Magnet schools don't deserve more teachers ratio-wise than other schools just because parents feel entitled to a special program.

They don’t need more teachers ratio wise than other schools to make this work. Other schools do it. There are at least 4 with eight periods and teachers teaching only 5 of them. They have average class sizes of around 26 students according to MCPS data.

No. I can only account for parkland, but classes are 30+

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:County residents could choose to pay higher taxes to better fund MCPS so that additional teachers could be hired.

I remember the English dept had composition assistants when I taught HS. They helped students write papers and I think they also could grade. Ours was a media center aide half of the day so she was especially helpful to students doing research. When her CA position was cut, the English teachers had to do it all themselves. I’m not an English teacher so I’m not self-advocating here.

Or administrative / central office positions could be reduced, which would help pay for more teachers.

There are two upcoming operating budget hearings, on January 16 and 27. Good chance to advocate for changes.

There are no teachers to hire. We still have vacancies. This argument is so tiring, people forget that money to hire teachers is based on student enrollment. Magnet schools don't deserve more teachers ratio-wise than other schools just because parents feel entitled to a special program.

They don’t need more teachers ratio wise than other schools to make this work. Other schools do it. There are at least 4 with eight periods and teachers teaching only 5 of them. They have average class sizes of around 26 students according to MCPS data.

If TPMS families want to stick with an 8-period day, this is what they shoudl push for. Teachers would still teach 5 periods. Class sizes will go up relative to now, but that's going to happen regardless becuase teachers are going from 6 periods to 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:County residents could choose to pay higher taxes to better fund MCPS so that additional teachers could be hired.

I remember the English dept had composition assistants when I taught HS. They helped students write papers and I think they also could grade. Ours was a media center aide half of the day so she was especially helpful to students doing research. When her CA position was cut, the English teachers had to do it all themselves. I’m not an English teacher so I’m not self-advocating here.

Or administrative / central office positions could be reduced, which would help pay for more teachers.

There are two upcoming operating budget hearings, on January 16 and 27. Good chance to advocate for changes.

There are no teachers to hire. We still have vacancies. This argument is so tiring, people forget that money to hire teachers is based on student enrollment. Magnet schools don't deserve more teachers ratio-wise than other schools just because parents feel entitled to a special program.

They don’t need more teachers ratio wise than other schools to make this work. Other schools do it. There are at least 4 with eight periods and teachers teaching only 5 of them. They have average class sizes of around 26 students according to MCPS data.

If TPMS families want to stick with an 8-period day, this is what they shoudl push for. Teachers would still teach 5 periods. Class sizes will go up relative to now, but that's going to happen regardless becuase teachers are going from 6 periods to 5.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:County residents could choose to pay higher taxes to better fund MCPS so that additional teachers could be hired.

I remember the English dept had composition assistants when I taught HS. They helped students write papers and I think they also could grade. Ours was a media center aide half of the day so she was especially helpful to students doing research. When her CA position was cut, the English teachers had to do it all themselves. I’m not an English teacher so I’m not self-advocating here.

MCPS is one of the best-funded school systems and our taxes are already sky-high. They need to manage their money better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ma’am this is a Wendy’s.

+1