Changes in MCPS in the last 15 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I feel sorry for those kids with their lack of parenting and adulting from their caretakers. It’s a real shame kids keep showing up en masse at MCPS having never been to a doctor, dentist, or school ever before in any country. What more can we do for theses poor desperate people?

They don't, actually.

But if you're concerned about kids who don't have services at home, then you should support services at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
One change that parents may or may not be noticing is how MCPS is having so much difficulty retaining and recruiting good teachers. The culture from the central office is very anti-teacher. Principals and AP are chosen based on their willingness to support the central office not the students or teachers within the school. The amount of time that MCPS requires from teachers for data collection and other new ideas has grown substantially. Every new brainstorm idea coming out of the idiots in the central office is never funded and teachers are expected to make the magic happen. Teacher safety is a huge concern in many schools. Restorative justice is being implemented in ways that simply leave disruptive and often dangerous kids in the classroom. Kids who might have behaved if there were consequences are now becoming more and more disruptive. Since the principals and APs are so close to the central office, lost of toxic games of favoritism get played out within schools. Good teachers can be transferred or tormented.

As prices and traffic have grown over the past 15 years, many teachers live up in Frederick/Howard with terrible commutes. A bad working environment combined with an awful commute is making more and more teachers either leave the profession or get a job in Frederick or Howard.

there is a teacher shortage across the country. This is not unique to MCPS.

Sigh - MCPS is being ht doubly harder because of all the above factors. The overall shortage has been giving teachers who already live in Frederick and Howard more options so more are moving from MCPS. The ones that leave the profession all together are doing so because of the bad conditions. No one gets into teaching thinking it will be a money maker. It isn't the salary or the benefits. Its the environment.

Your post is EXACTLY what is wrong with MCPS. MCPS will look at their teacher shortage and say oh well there is some shortage across the country so not our fault! Yeah! We are not to blame and don't have to do anything about it!

Most of the teachers in Howard County don't live there either. Many live in Frederick or Carroll.

I'm in Howard, but I think that one of the biggest changes in education that I have seen is how many teachers are absolutely miserable and how frequently teachers are absent from school. It never ends. This is not to blame teachers, because stress and poor administration might be making them sick. I don't know why, but my kids have substitute teachers regularly . . . almost constantly. Teachers are off the days before vacations or days after, and the subs do nothing . . . and many more days too. This is detrimental to students.

I agree with the PP that empowering teachers and trusting them to do their jobs would be a step in the right direction. I don't see the all the administrative money as being well spent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t sound like the GT population is a priority any longer for MCPS. And that’s okay. Sounds pretty selfish to demand GT education when plenty of kids don’t have enough to eat or a place to sleep.

Said no non-socialist country ever.

Let’s import some more unskilled poors from other countries and play that one out PP.

Well, it’s true. It seems very selfish to even ask for anything special for your own kid when so many are struggling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:<sigh>

Things don’t look great for folks looking for old school MCPS - the world class education etc. My older kids had that and it’s served them well. But I have a younger child too, who has to contend with all the changes, divisiveness over boundary studies, and overcrowding ... and hopefully no permanent damage from Curriculum 2.0.

Old-school MCPS had overcrowding. Just ask the people who were in school in Montgomery County in the 1960s and early 1970s. It had changes, too. And I bet that if there had been DCUM in those days, there would have been plenty of people lamenting the passing of the good old days (including de jure segregation).

I’ll take overcrowding with literate, hardworking students with 2 involved parents, autonomously teachers, and differentiated classes any day over today’s joke of a mess.

Wow--so children of single parents aren't literate or hardworking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe the charters in DC now educate almost half the students. And they’ve seen improvements in test scores in traditional public and the charters. Huge success, I would say.

MoCo is changing and maybe what always worked historically doesn’t work today.

Philly has also seen benefits from charter schools.

Charters or not, MCPS needs to undergo some major changes.

That’s why the only thing educating poor students well in this county is parochial schools- uniforms, high expectations, discipline, sports, community, parental involvement all required.

This is true. Kudos to the Catholic Church on that. MoCo does have outstanding Catholic Schools.

[Anonymous]

Parochial and seton schools in Los Angeles have dramatically succeeded as well with educating poor URM families well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:<sigh>

Things don’t look great for folks looking for old school MCPS - the world class education etc. My older kids had that and it’s served them well. But I have a younger child too, who has to contend with all the changes, divisiveness over boundary studies, and overcrowding ... and hopefully no permanent damage from Curriculum 2.0.

Old-school MCPS had overcrowding. Just ask the people who were in school in Montgomery County in the 1960s and early 1970s. It had changes, too. And I bet that if there had been DCUM in those days, there would have been plenty of people lamenting the passing of the good old days (including de jure segregation).

I’ll take overcrowding with literate, hardworking students with 2 involved parents, autonomously teachers, and differentiated classes any day over today’s joke of a mess.

Wow--so children of single parents aren't literate or hardworking?

The power of commas in reading comp.

[Anonymous]

40% of them are indeed illiterate in MCPS year end standardized tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:<sigh>

Things don’t look great for folks looking for old school MCPS - the world class education etc. My older kids had that and it’s served them well. But I have a younger child too, who has to contend with all the changes, divisiveness over boundary studies, and overcrowding ... and hopefully no permanent damage from Curriculum 2.0.

Old-school MCPS had overcrowding. Just ask the people who were in school in Montgomery County in the 1960s and early 1970s. It had changes, too. And I bet that if there had been DCUM in those days, there would have been plenty of people lamenting the passing of the good old days (including de jure segregation).

I’ll take overcrowding with literate, hardworking students with 2 involved parents, autonomously teachers, and differentiated classes any day over today’s joke of a mess.

Wow--so children of single parents aren't literate or hardworking?

The power of commas in reading comp.

Right. PP is saying that overcrowding with literate, hardworking students with 1 involved parent or 3 involved parents is unacceptable. The other children in PP's children's overcrowded schools must be

1. literate
2. hardworking
3. in families with exactly 2 involved parents

Otherwise PP won't take it.

[Anonymous]

Wow, that’s some real poor attempt at deflecting from the point and issue at hand PP. do you talk in circles like that with everyone in your life or just your constant DCUM nonsense posts? Hope you don’t drive your spouse nuts!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One change that parents may or may not be noticing is how MCPS is having so much difficulty retaining and recruiting good teachers. The culture from the central office is very anti-teacher. Principals and AP are chosen based on their willingness to support the central office not the students or teachers within the school. The amount of time that MCPS requires from teachers for data collection and other new ideas has grown substantially. Every new brainstorm idea coming out of the idiots in the central office is never funded and teachers are expected to make the magic happen. Teacher safety is a huge concern in many schools. Restorative justice is being implemented in ways that simply leave disruptive and often dangerous kids in the classroom. Kids who might have behaved if there were consequences are now becoming more and more disruptive. Since the principals and APs are so close to the central office, lost of toxic games of favoritism get played out within schools. Good teachers can be transferred or tormented.

As prices and traffic have grown over the past 15 years, many teachers live up in Frederick/Howard with terrible commutes. A bad working environment combined with an awful commute is making more and more teachers either leave the profession or get a job in Frederick or Howard.

Where do you get this information? It's not unreasonable but I'd like citations.

Do a general search on teachers shortages 2019. You'll see plenty of articles addressing the issue.

There have been plenty of articles addressing cost of living in MCPS - and how it determines where teachers live.

We moved to Frederick over a year ago - not b/c of COLA but b/c of academics. We didn't want our kids to be part of some other MCPS experiment. So while the commute is hell (both MCPS employees), it's worth it. My spouse is in it for the long haul, as he's not in a classroom position. I am examining my options b/c I can't tolerate the dysfunction for much longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parochial and seton schools in Los Angeles have dramatically succeeded as well with educating poor URM families well.

Private schools can kick out kids who misbehave.

a plus for the other 30 kids in a class . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
One change that parents may or may not be noticing is how MCPS is having so much difficulty retaining and recruiting good teachers. The culture from the central office is very anti-teacher. Principals and AP are chosen based on their willingness to support the central office not the students or teachers within the school. The amount of time that MCPS requires from teachers for data collection and other new ideas has grown substantially. Every new brainstorm idea coming out of the idiots in the central office is never funded and teachers are expected to make the magic happen. Teacher safety is a huge concern in many schools. Restorative justice is being implemented in ways that simply leave disruptive and often dangerous kids in the classroom. Kids who might have behaved if there were consequences are now becoming more and more disruptive. Since the principals and APs are so close to the central office, lost of toxic games of favoritism get played out within schools. Good teachers can be transferred or tormented.

As prices and traffic have grown over the past 15 years, many teachers live up in Frederick/Howard with terrible commutes. A bad working environment combined with an awful commute is making more and more teachers either leave the profession or get a job in Frederick or Howard.

there is a teacher shortage across the country. This is not unique to MCPS.

Sigh - MCPS is being ht doubly harder because of all the above factors. The overall shortage has been giving teachers who already live in Frederick and Howard more options so more are moving from MCPS. The ones that leave the profession all together are doing so because of the bad conditions. No one gets into teaching thinking it will be a money maker. It isn't the salary or the benefits. Its the environment.

Your post is EXACTLY what is wrong with MCPS. MCPS will look at their teacher shortage and say oh well there is some shortage across the country so not our fault! Yeah! We are not to blame and don't have to do anything about it!

I have a document that shows teacher transfer rates in MCPS. It also includes number of new teachers hired. But I can't find one that shows overall attrition. I'd love to see stats on mid-career (15 year) teachers who quit. I know one right now who's taking long-term mental health leave. doubt she'll return

One of my pals - 15 years in - quit in Feb.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/boe/meetings/memorandum/181107%201st%20Yr%20Tchr%20Data%20Tchr%20Turnover%20Data%20BD.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
One change that parents may or may not be noticing is how MCPS is having so much difficulty retaining and recruiting good teachers. The culture from the central office is very anti-teacher. Principals and AP are chosen based on their willingness to support the central office not the students or teachers within the school. The amount of time that MCPS requires from teachers for data collection and other new ideas has grown substantially. Every new brainstorm idea coming out of the idiots in the central office is never funded and teachers are expected to make the magic happen. Teacher safety is a huge concern in many schools. Restorative justice is being implemented in ways that simply leave disruptive and often dangerous kids in the classroom. Kids who might have behaved if there were consequences are now becoming more and more disruptive. Since the principals and APs are so close to the central office, lost of toxic games of favoritism get played out within schools. Good teachers can be transferred or tormented.

As prices and traffic have grown over the past 15 years, many teachers live up in Frederick/Howard with terrible commutes. A bad working environment combined with an awful commute is making more and more teachers either leave the profession or get a job in Frederick or Howard.

there is a teacher shortage across the country. This is not unique to MCPS.

Sigh - MCPS is being ht doubly harder because of all the above factors. The overall shortage has been giving teachers who already live in Frederick and Howard more options so more are moving from MCPS. The ones that leave the profession all together are doing so because of the bad conditions. No one gets into teaching thinking it will be a money maker. It isn't the salary or the benefits. Its the environment.

Your post is EXACTLY what is wrong with MCPS. MCPS will look at their teacher shortage and say oh well there is some shortage across the country so not our fault! Yeah! We are not to blame and don't have to do anything about it!

I have a document that shows teacher transfer rates in MCPS. It also includes number of new teachers hired. But I can't find one that shows overall attrition. I'd love to see stats on mid-career (15 year) teachers who quit. I know one right now who's taking long-term mental health leave. doubt she'll return

One of my pals - 15 years in - quit in Feb.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/boe/meetings/memorandum/181107%201st%20Yr%20Tchr%20Data%20Tchr%20Turnover%20Data%20BD.pdf

If your job is causing you to need long-term mental health leave, wouldn’t it be a good idea to not return? No job should endanger your health and the ability to enjoy the rest of life. Your pal who quit made the right decision. Maybe she can convince many others who need to go to also do the right thing for everyone involved: themselves, their families, and the students. There’s no need or benefit in someone who is psychologically overwhelmed dragging themselves into a classroom everyday. Such teachers ceased being effective long before they realized they needed to stop or they were removed. There are many careers with related skills once they get better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn’t sound like the GT population is a priority any longer for MCPS. And that’s okay. Sounds pretty selfish to demand GT education when plenty of kids don’t have enough to eat or a place to sleep.

Said no non-socialist country ever.

Let’s import some more unskilled poors from other countries and play that one out PP.

Well, it’s true. It seems very selfish to even ask for anything special for your own kid when so many are struggling.

Give, give, give PP. please give away all your things and money to all the billions of poor people and their babies. They are struggling, move them to MoCo where you can force everyone to pay for their sorry lives.