MCPS Is Broken What Are Your Ideas to Fix It?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that's broken here is you. MCPS is doing great.

Curious if this poster still feels that way now that we’ve had an in-school shooting and students begging MCPS that they don’t feel safe.

This poster has their head in the sand. Ask any teacher and principal right now how MCPS is doing and I guarantee not a single one will say great.

I could ask the same of most teachers and principals in any district and get the same response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that's broken here is you. MCPS is doing great.

Curious if this poster still feels that way now that we’ve had an in-school shooting and students begging MCPS that they don’t feel safe.

Did you believe that school shootings couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t happen in MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that's broken here is you. MCPS is doing great.

Curious if this poster still feels that way now that we’ve had an in-school shooting and students begging MCPS that they don’t feel safe.

Did you believe that school shootings couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t happen in MCPS?

In fact yes. Yes I did. As all of us should believe that our school district in a well off suburban county should not have shootings inside the school. None have happened as far as I know in Howard county, Frederick county, PG county, Fairfax county, Arlington, Alexandria or even DC.

These are not wild or unrealistic expectations and your insinuation that they are is pretty terrible. If this is what we should expect from MCPS then no kid is safe there and we should be unenrolling our kids for any and all of the neighboring districts that have not had shootings inside schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that's broken here is you. MCPS is doing great.

Curious if this poster still feels that way now that we’ve had an in-school shooting and students begging MCPS that they don’t feel safe.

This poster has their head in the sand. Ask any teacher and principal right now how MCPS is doing and I guarantee not a single one will say great.

I could ask the same of most teachers and principals in any district and get the same response.

We are not talking about other districts. We are talking about MCPS.

I frequently see people refer to MCPS as a top district nationally. Why then compare it to the worst districts in the country? A top school district should have satisfied teachers and administrators that are confident in the direction and leadership of the district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The answer has been right in front of us all along:

Break up the county.
Too big to thrive.

There aren’t too many large school districts that are high-performing.

Most of the large urban public school districts aren’t all that great. And with the push to urbanize MoCo, it will just get worse.

This sounds bad but I actually agree with it. I have not looked too thoroughly but from what I can tell 60,000 students seems to be the limit for high performing school districts, which basically allows for breaking MCPS up into thirds: east, west and north. The benefit of this is that each of the new districts will be better placed to serve the needs of their districts.

Yes. And if we're being perfectly honest, there are cultural differences between TKPK and Poolesville/Damascus.

It would def be more expensive to break into 3 systems, but I do think that's the right decision.

Plus, one major bonus: snow decisions would be regional!

That’s exactly right. It would also allow each district to prioritize their resources as they see fit. The north of the county should be allowed to prioritize funding big time HS football, if that’s what they want. Let the west of the county do more tracking and then allow the east to focus on the achievement gap. It makes sense for everyone.

Sure. Northwest Branch to the 200/370 to Muddy Branch makes a natural cut. TKPK, SS, CC, Bethesda, Potomac, Rockville, Kensington, Aspen Hill, Wheaton together could all be one big HS choice consortium. Break the rest E-W at Rock Creek/dotted line north, with Olney, Ashton, Sandy Spring, Burtonsville Colesville, Fairland, White Oak and Hillandale together -- Layhill, Redland, Gaithersburg, Germantown, Montgomery Village, Clarksburg, Damascus, Poolesville and Urbana make up the rest.

Can't even get mcps parents to agree on a boundary study and somehow think you're going to be able to get mcps to break up into smaller districts without some gigantic legal fight?

Ya missed the wink reply. It was so easy to goad the original break-up-the-county poster into the wrong-side-of-the-tracks comment it was laughable. All it took was the thought of the inner suburbs being grouped together to bring out the "I don't want to be grouped with anything below UMC, and that should be good for everyone. And taxes should support schools, but not for other people's schools, just our own. And by our own, I mean just the UMC people who live near us. Really, how are we supposed to keep our kids ahead based on our wealth, otherwise? We're not quite rich enough to afford highest-end private schooling without some sacrifice. Anyway, we didn't become wealthy to support society, and anecdotes about individuals rising from lower classes to higher classes surely mean statistical certainty that we have a fair system. Isn't it wonderful to be near the Ag Reserve?"

As far as breaking up MCPS goes, MD school systems go by county, not town, excepting Baltimore city (which operates at essentially the same level as a county) so the break would have to be into different counties, not different school systems. Or there would have to be a legislative change at the state level.

According to you, which side of the tracks are the “wrong side”? I read the PPs comment and they never referred to a “right side” or “wrong side”. Seems that you are inferring that one side of the railroad tracks are the “wrong side” which says a lot more about you than anything else. As does the rest of your comment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My personal view is that they need to return to a focus on high standards and expectations for both staff and students. This can be accomplished through a number of different ways, but the details are probably not that important right now. What are your ideas?

-Bring back discipline. Restorative justice focuses too much on hugging it out but not enough consequences. I think you can make the 2 work together.
-Expect excellence and hard work. Bring back final exams and class rank.
-Provide free tutoring for all students and require it for those getting a D.
-Make signature programs easily accessible to all students by expanding them. For each signature program on down county, there should be another one in upcounty.
-Make it easy and efficient to go from in person and virtual class, and vice- versa.
-Bring back SROs AND add more mental health resources.
-Give school principals and administration more flexibility to make decisions for their own schools.
-Stop moving kids who do harm or commit crimes to another school. Make them go virtual instead.
-Students who disrespect teachers and staff should be disciplined- Detention during lunch time. Have a guidance counselor or mental health worker oversee detention.
-Use mobile technology to enhance safety and experience. For instance, have an app that enables students/staff to easily report a fight or potential harm. Also have a bus tracking app.
-Require financial literacy class immediately and require a career exploration class

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that's broken here is you. MCPS is doing great.

Curious if this poster still feels that way now that we’ve had an in-school shooting and students begging MCPS that they don’t feel safe.

Did you believe that school shootings couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t happen in MCPS?

Nothing short of actual gun control is going to fix that problem which is a national, not MCPS issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My personal view is that they need to return to a focus on high standards and expectations for both staff and students. This can be accomplished through a number of different ways, but the details are probably not that important right now. What are your ideas?

-Bring back discipline. Restorative justice focuses too much on hugging it out but not enough consequences. I think you can make the 2 work together.
-Expect excellence and hard work. Bring back final exams and class rank.
-Provide free tutoring for all students and require it for those getting a D.
-Make signature programs easily accessible to all students by expanding them. For each signature program on down county, there should be another one in upcounty.
-Make it easy and efficient to go from in person and virtual class, and vice- versa.
-Bring back SROs AND add more mental health resources.
-Give school principals and administration more flexibility to make decisions for their own schools.
-Stop moving kids who do harm or commit crimes to another school. Make them go virtual instead.
-Students who disrespect teachers and staff should be disciplined- Detention during lunch time. Have a guidance counselor or mental health worker oversee detention.
-Use mobile technology to enhance safety and experience. For instance, have an app that enables students/staff to easily report a fight or potential harm. Also have a bus tracking app.
-Require financial literacy class immediately and require a career exploration class

wow you are really horribly misinformed and please stop pushing the useless SRO nonsensse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My personal view is that they need to return to a focus on high standards and expectations for both staff and students. This can be accomplished through a number of different ways, but the details are probably not that important right now. What are your ideas?

-Bring back discipline. Restorative justice focuses too much on hugging it out but not enough consequences. I think you can make the 2 work together.
-Expect excellence and hard work. Bring back final exams and class rank.
-Provide free tutoring for all students and require it for those getting a D.
-Make signature programs easily accessible to all students by expanding them. For each signature program on down county, there should be another one in upcounty.
-Make it easy and efficient to go from in person and virtual class, and vice- versa.
-Bring back SROs AND add more mental health resources.
-Give school principals and administration more flexibility to make decisions for their own schools.
-Stop moving kids who do harm or commit crimes to another school. Make them go virtual instead.
-Students who disrespect teachers and staff should be disciplined- Detention during lunch time. Have a guidance counselor or mental health worker oversee detention.
-Use mobile technology to enhance safety and experience. For instance, have an app that enables students/staff to easily report a fight or potential harm. Also have a bus tracking app.
-Require financial literacy class immediately and require a career exploration class

wow you are really horribly misinformed and please stop pushing the useless SRO nonsensse

If you're going to call someone misinformed, then explain why. Otherwise, you just look dumb.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that's broken here is you. MCPS is doing great.

Curious if this poster still feels that way now that we’ve had an in-school shooting and students begging MCPS that they don’t feel safe.

Did you believe that school shootings couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t happen in MCPS?

Nothing short of actual gun control is going to fix that problem which is a national, not MCPS issue.

Really. Nothing can be done? Metal detectors would not immediately “fix the problem” of kids getting shot inside school?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that's broken here is you. MCPS is doing great.

Curious if this poster still feels that way now that we’ve had an in-school shooting and students begging MCPS that they don’t feel safe.

Did you believe that school shootings couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t happen in MCPS?

In fact yes. Yes I did. As all of us should believe that our school district in a well off suburban county should not have shootings inside the school. None have happened as far as I know in Howard county, Frederick county, PG county, Fairfax county, Arlington, Alexandria or even DC.

These are not wild or unrealistic expectations and your insinuation that they are is pretty terrible. If this is what we should expect from MCPS then no kid is safe there and we should be unenrolling our kids for any and all of the neighboring districts that have not had shootings inside schools.

Have you been concerned that your kids are doing regular lock-down drills? And that MCPS teaches about lock-down drills with options? And do you know what "options" are?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that's broken here is you. MCPS is doing great.

Curious if this poster still feels that way now that we’ve had an in-school shooting and students begging MCPS that they don’t feel safe.

Did you believe that school shootings couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t happen in MCPS?

Nothing short of actual gun control is going to fix that problem which is a national, not MCPS issue.

Really. Nothing can be done? Metal detectors would not immediately “fix the problem” of kids getting shot inside school?

2000+ kids going in and out through a couple doors with metal detectors? Metal detectors that'll ping every single student for chromebooks, ring binders, phones, etc, so they all have to be hand searched anyway? We'll have to get the kids up an hour earlier, and no more open lunches where they're currently allowed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that's broken here is you. MCPS is doing great.

Curious if this poster still feels that way now that we’ve had an in-school shooting and students begging MCPS that they don’t feel safe.

Did you believe that school shootings couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t happen in MCPS?

Nothing short of actual gun control is going to fix that problem which is a national, not MCPS issue.

Really. Nothing can be done? Metal detectors would not immediately “fix the problem” of kids getting shot inside school?

2000+ kids going in and out through a couple doors with metal detectors? Metal detectors that'll ping every single student for chromebooks, ring binders, phones, etc, so they all have to be hand searched anyway? We'll have to get the kids up an hour earlier, and no more open lunches where they're currently allowed.

Fascinating that DC seems capable of figuring this out but MCPS cannot. Just totally helpless and at the mercy of 16 year old idiots with guns?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The only thing that's broken here is you. MCPS is doing great.

Curious if this poster still feels that way now that we’ve had an in-school shooting and students begging MCPS that they don’t feel safe.

Did you believe that school shootings couldn’t/wouldn’t/didn’t happen in MCPS?

In fact yes. Yes I did. As all of us should believe that our school district in a well off suburban county should not have shootings inside the school. None have happened as far as I know in Howard county, Frederick county, PG county, Fairfax county, Arlington, Alexandria or even DC.

These are not wild or unrealistic expectations and your insinuation that they are is pretty terrible. If this is what we should expect from MCPS then no kid is safe there and we should be unenrolling our kids for any and all of the neighboring districts that have not had shootings inside schools.

Have you been concerned that your kids are doing regular lock-down drills? And that MCPS teaches about lock-down drills with options? And do you know what "options" are?

I’m sure that you work for BOE or MCPS and find your attitude extremely disturbing and morally bankrupt.

[Anonymous]

MCPS deeds to focus more time effort and resources on equity.