How big a deal are the recent teacher involuntary transfers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

Weird I thought Leader in me was so wonderful!

What do you think was wonderful about it? Can you explain how you feel that it was an effective program for our students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

Weird I thought Leader in me was so wonderful!

What do you think was wonderful about it? Can you explain how you feel that it was an effective program for our students?

Everything! It was so inspiring. I think the kids will really benefit, and although I think this is a fine program for what it is, I'd prefer schools not to focus on SEL but academics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

Weird I thought Leader in me was so wonderful!

What do you think was wonderful about it? Can you explain how you feel that it was an effective program for our students?

Everything! It was so inspiring. I think the kids will really benefit, and although I think this is a fine program for what it is, I'd prefer schools not to focus on SEL but academics.

Inspiring? It's like one long,drawn out, super cheesy TED talk run by a cult. Even the 8 year olds weren't buying into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

I'm a former MCPS admin who retired early last year because I couldn't take the BS any longer. PP has hit on so many key issues. First of all, the constant changes are just too much and not well thought out. It's almost as if central recognizes a problem and then just throws shit at the wall and hope that it sticks without any forward thinking of how it will play out. Barriers aren't anticipated and when they arise everyone just shrugs their shoulders and tells schools to make it work. I sat in a meeting last year where we as elementary admin were told to increase the amount of time we spend teaching SS and science. Of course, we would love to be able to do that. However, when we pulled up the scheduling document and added up the total minutes allocated for subject areas in a day we had to explain to central that our school day is too short in order to teach every content area for the prescribed amount of time. How does central office make a document dictating how long we should spend on math, reading, etc. without realizing that the total times is longer than our given school day? Then they get mad at us for not being receptive to the message. Ummm...WTF?

We have also spent years trying to do professional learning around equity without much support. When ou look at the student performance data and it hasn't moved the needle. We can't say that we're a school system dedicated to equity when schools are just left out on their own as islands without TRAINED equity professionals there to help design and lead the work. There are Learning and Achievement Specialists that can come out and support schools but what are their qualifications? How are they more qualified than school staff to design equity PD? Most I've met are either former classroom teachers or SDTs who wanted a yearlong position outside of admin. They don't have specific training that qualifies them to lead the work. A self-paced 20-minute module produced by someone in the equity office isn't going to cut it. Furthermore, who deems the staff in the equity office to be experts? What are their credentials in that area? The same could be said for the push to be a RJ district. Where's the training? My friends told me that RJ is a 10 or 20 min. self-paced module this summer for staff. How does this experience justify being able to call us a RJ district?
I believe all staff shows up each day to do right by kids. Sure, there are teachers with skill or will gaps but we can work on those if they're willing to meet us halfway. Most of the time, teachers will improve when provided with the appropriate supports. I have had to take one teacher through the complete PAR process where they ended up being fired. I don't feel bad about it because they weren't good for students.

In terms of teacher performance, I truly believe that most staff are well-intended and show up each day to do right by kids. Realistically, I had a few teachers each year that required additional support and coaching from our RS or SDT. Some years someone would end up on a growth plan, but most could turn it around. I did have one teacher I had to take through the entire process to get dismissed. They weren't good for students and should not have been in a classroom. They were a lemon that was involuntarily transferred to us, and it was mind-blowing to me that they had come this far without being put on PAR.

Student accountability is another area in which we started moving backwards. Nobody fails and very few are ever retained. Report card grades are meaningless at the elementary level due to standards-based grading. We tell teachers to give multiple attempts for students to show proficiency on a task. If a student doesn't complete an assignment, they can't be given a D. Teachers have to just leave the grade blank. Therefore, it's feasible for a student to get an A or a B in a subject while only doing half of the required assignments. How is that teaching students to take responsibility or pride in their own work?

Don't even get me started on student behavior and how little say admin has in issuing consequences to students. Teachers are dealing with insane behaviors in their classrooms, and we are rarely allowed to suspend a student. I don't necessarily think suspension is the go-to solution because I feel kids need to be in school. However, when a student is chronically disruptive or violent, we need to be able to suspend without begging our directors to give us permission. That's not to say we wouldn't be trying to work with the student and their family to determine the cause of the behavior and explore an FBA and BIP. Just writing this has me shaking my head...good luck to all MCPS staff this year. I'm hoping it's a smoother year than those of the past.

This Restorative Justice crap is what is pushing many teachers out of the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

This exactly. I am the poster you are responding to. I’ve been shocked how easy it is for students in MCPS to get a C or D or better while barely doing any work. MCPS creates disincentives for students to work hard. I teach at a low to middle income HS and it is not uncommon for students to get a C in, for example, Q3 and then skip class for the whole of Q4 and not turn in any work. When I chase them down, they say I know I can pass this semester with a D because I got a C in Q3. How is this good for anyone especially low income kids. Attendance means nothing. And then these kids get moved to the next level of math, etc., while lacking the knowledge of significant chunks of material. It is all so depressing. MCPS is not doing low income kids any favors. Teenagers are smart and know how to game the system.

As a high school teacher I have realized that I have to make the 1st quarter of a semester more challenging to avoid an easy A,B,C's or else students slack off completely. Next year I plan to be more ruthless.

This exactly. Live and learn I guess. The grading policy demotivates almost all kids. Being a teacher these days is depressing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

I'm a former MCPS admin who retired early last year because I couldn't take the BS any longer. PP has hit on so many key issues. First of all, the constant changes are just too much and not well thought out. It's almost as if central recognizes a problem and then just throws shit at the wall and hope that it sticks without any forward thinking of how it will play out. Barriers aren't anticipated and when they arise everyone just shrugs their shoulders and tells schools to make it work. I sat in a meeting last year where we as elementary admin were told to increase the amount of time we spend teaching SS and science. Of course, we would love to be able to do that. However, when we pulled up the scheduling document and added up the total minutes allocated for subject areas in a day we had to explain to central that our school day is too short in order to teach every content area for the prescribed amount of time. How does central office make a document dictating how long we should spend on math, reading, etc. without realizing that the total times is longer than our given school day? Then they get mad at us for not being receptive to the message. Ummm...WTF?

We have also spent years trying to do professional learning around equity without much support. When ou look at the student performance data and it hasn't moved the needle. We can't say that we're a school system dedicated to equity when schools are just left out on their own as islands without TRAINED equity professionals there to help design and lead the work. There are Learning and Achievement Specialists that can come out and support schools but what are their qualifications? How are they more qualified than school staff to design equity PD? Most I've met are either former classroom teachers or SDTs who wanted a yearlong position outside of admin. They don't have specific training that qualifies them to lead the work. A self-paced 20-minute module produced by someone in the equity office isn't going to cut it. Furthermore, who deems the staff in the equity office to be experts? What are their credentials in that area? The same could be said for the push to be a RJ district. Where's the training? My friends told me that RJ is a 10 or 20 min. self-paced module this summer for staff. How does this experience justify being able to call us a RJ district?
I believe all staff shows up each day to do right by kids. Sure, there are teachers with skill or will gaps but we can work on those if they're willing to meet us halfway. Most of the time, teachers will improve when provided with the appropriate supports. I have had to take one teacher through the complete PAR process where they ended up being fired. I don't feel bad about it because they weren't good for students.

In terms of teacher performance, I truly believe that most staff are well-intended and show up each day to do right by kids. Realistically, I had a few teachers each year that required additional support and coaching from our RS or SDT. Some years someone would end up on a growth plan, but most could turn it around. I did have one teacher I had to take through the entire process to get dismissed. They weren't good for students and should not have been in a classroom. They were a lemon that was involuntarily transferred to us, and it was mind-blowing to me that they had come this far without being put on PAR.

Student accountability is another area in which we started moving backwards. Nobody fails and very few are ever retained. Report card grades are meaningless at the elementary level due to standards-based grading. We tell teachers to give multiple attempts for students to show proficiency on a task. If a student doesn't complete an assignment, they can't be given a D. Teachers have to just leave the grade blank. Therefore, it's feasible for a student to get an A or a B in a subject while only doing half of the required assignments. How is that teaching students to take responsibility or pride in their own work?

Don't even get me started on student behavior and how little say admin has in issuing consequences to students. Teachers are dealing with insane behaviors in their classrooms, and we are rarely allowed to suspend a student. I don't necessarily think suspension is the go-to solution because I feel kids need to be in school. However, when a student is chronically disruptive or violent, we need to be able to suspend without begging our directors to give us permission. That's not to say we wouldn't be trying to work with the student and their family to determine the cause of the behavior and explore an FBA and BIP. Just writing this has me shaking my head...good luck to all MCPS staff this year. I'm hoping it's a smoother year than those of the past.

This Restorative Justice crap is what is pushing many teachers out of the classroom.

Nonsense, retorative justice works in most cases. It's morons who spout off about things they know nothing about that are driving off teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

Weird I thought Leader in me was so wonderful!

What do you think was wonderful about it? Can you explain how you feel that it was an effective program for our students?

Everything! It was so inspiring. I think the kids will really benefit, and although I think this is a fine program for what it is, I'd prefer schools not to focus on SEL but academics.

Inspiring? It's like one long,drawn out, super cheesy TED talk run by a cult. Even the 8 year olds weren't buying into it.

I'm sorry you feel that way but most people I know enjoyed it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

Weird I thought Leader in me was so wonderful!

What do you think was wonderful about it? Can you explain how you feel that it was an effective program for our students?

Everything! It was so inspiring. I think the kids will really benefit, and although I think this is a fine program for what it is, I'd prefer schools not to focus on SEL but academics.

What age group do you teach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

I'm a former MCPS admin who retired early last year because I couldn't take the BS any longer. PP has hit on so many key issues. First of all, the constant changes are just too much and not well thought out. It's almost as if central recognizes a problem and then just throws shit at the wall and hope that it sticks without any forward thinking of how it will play out. Barriers aren't anticipated and when they arise everyone just shrugs their shoulders and tells schools to make it work. I sat in a meeting last year where we as elementary admin were told to increase the amount of time we spend teaching SS and science. Of course, we would love to be able to do that. However, when we pulled up the scheduling document and added up the total minutes allocated for subject areas in a day we had to explain to central that our school day is too short in order to teach every content area for the prescribed amount of time. How does central office make a document dictating how long we should spend on math, reading, etc. without realizing that the total times is longer than our given school day? Then they get mad at us for not being receptive to the message. Ummm...WTF?

We have also spent years trying to do professional learning around equity without much support. When ou look at the student performance data and it hasn't moved the needle. We can't say that we're a school system dedicated to equity when schools are just left out on their own as islands without TRAINED equity professionals there to help design and lead the work. There are Learning and Achievement Specialists that can come out and support schools but what are their qualifications? How are they more qualified than school staff to design equity PD? Most I've met are either former classroom teachers or SDTs who wanted a yearlong position outside of admin. They don't have specific training that qualifies them to lead the work. A self-paced 20-minute module produced by someone in the equity office isn't going to cut it. Furthermore, who deems the staff in the equity office to be experts? What are their credentials in that area? The same could be said for the push to be a RJ district. Where's the training? My friends told me that RJ is a 10 or 20 min. self-paced module this summer for staff. How does this experience justify being able to call us a RJ district?
I believe all staff shows up each day to do right by kids. Sure, there are teachers with skill or will gaps but we can work on those if they're willing to meet us halfway. Most of the time, teachers will improve when provided with the appropriate supports. I have had to take one teacher through the complete PAR process where they ended up being fired. I don't feel bad about it because they weren't good for students.

In terms of teacher performance, I truly believe that most staff are well-intended and show up each day to do right by kids. Realistically, I had a few teachers each year that required additional support and coaching from our RS or SDT. Some years someone would end up on a growth plan, but most could turn it around. I did have one teacher I had to take through the entire process to get dismissed. They weren't good for students and should not have been in a classroom. They were a lemon that was involuntarily transferred to us, and it was mind-blowing to me that they had come this far without being put on PAR.

Student accountability is another area in which we started moving backwards. Nobody fails and very few are ever retained. Report card grades are meaningless at the elementary level due to standards-based grading. We tell teachers to give multiple attempts for students to show proficiency on a task. If a student doesn't complete an assignment, they can't be given a D. Teachers have to just leave the grade blank. Therefore, it's feasible for a student to get an A or a B in a subject while only doing half of the required assignments. How is that teaching students to take responsibility or pride in their own work?

Don't even get me started on student behavior and how little say admin has in issuing consequences to students. Teachers are dealing with insane behaviors in their classrooms, and we are rarely allowed to suspend a student. I don't necessarily think suspension is the go-to solution because I feel kids need to be in school. However, when a student is chronically disruptive or violent, we need to be able to suspend without begging our directors to give us permission. That's not to say we wouldn't be trying to work with the student and their family to determine the cause of the behavior and explore an FBA and BIP. Just writing this has me shaking my head...good luck to all MCPS staff this year. I'm hoping it's a smoother year than those of the past.

This Restorative Justice crap is what is pushing many teachers out of the classroom.

Nonsense, retorative justice works in most cases. It's morons who spout off about things they know nothing about that are driving off teachers.

No, RJ just punishes the victim and encourages further disruptive behavior because there are never any consequences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

Weird I thought Leader in me was so wonderful!

What do you think was wonderful about it? Can you explain how you feel that it was an effective program for our students?

Everything! It was so inspiring. I think the kids will really benefit, and although I think this is a fine program for what it is, I'd prefer schools not to focus on SEL but academics.

Inspiring? It's like one long,drawn out, super cheesy TED talk run by a cult. Even the 8 year olds weren't buying into it.

I'm sorry you feel that way but most people I know enjoyed it.

No the PP, but all the teachers I know across the district and grade levels absolutely hated it. This sentiment is also always shared in breakout rooms during trainings. You might be the only person I've ever read who supposedly likes it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

I'm a former MCPS admin who retired early last year because I couldn't take the BS any longer. PP has hit on so many key issues. First of all, the constant changes are just too much and not well thought out. It's almost as if central recognizes a problem and then just throws shit at the wall and hope that it sticks without any forward thinking of how it will play out. Barriers aren't anticipated and when they arise everyone just shrugs their shoulders and tells schools to make it work. I sat in a meeting last year where we as elementary admin were told to increase the amount of time we spend teaching SS and science. Of course, we would love to be able to do that. However, when we pulled up the scheduling document and added up the total minutes allocated for subject areas in a day we had to explain to central that our school day is too short in order to teach every content area for the prescribed amount of time. How does central office make a document dictating how long we should spend on math, reading, etc. without realizing that the total times is longer than our given school day? Then they get mad at us for not being receptive to the message. Ummm...WTF?

We have also spent years trying to do professional learning around equity without much support. When ou look at the student performance data and it hasn't moved the needle. We can't say that we're a school system dedicated to equity when schools are just left out on their own as islands without TRAINED equity professionals there to help design and lead the work. There are Learning and Achievement Specialists that can come out and support schools but what are their qualifications? How are they more qualified than school staff to design equity PD? Most I've met are either former classroom teachers or SDTs who wanted a yearlong position outside of admin. They don't have specific training that qualifies them to lead the work. A self-paced 20-minute module produced by someone in the equity office isn't going to cut it. Furthermore, who deems the staff in the equity office to be experts? What are their credentials in that area? The same could be said for the push to be a RJ district. Where's the training? My friends told me that RJ is a 10 or 20 min. self-paced module this summer for staff. How does this experience justify being able to call us a RJ district?
I believe all staff shows up each day to do right by kids. Sure, there are teachers with skill or will gaps but we can work on those if they're willing to meet us halfway. Most of the time, teachers will improve when provided with the appropriate supports. I have had to take one teacher through the complete PAR process where they ended up being fired. I don't feel bad about it because they weren't good for students.

In terms of teacher performance, I truly believe that most staff are well-intended and show up each day to do right by kids. Realistically, I had a few teachers each year that required additional support and coaching from our RS or SDT. Some years someone would end up on a growth plan, but most could turn it around. I did have one teacher I had to take through the entire process to get dismissed. They weren't good for students and should not have been in a classroom. They were a lemon that was involuntarily transferred to us, and it was mind-blowing to me that they had come this far without being put on PAR.

Student accountability is another area in which we started moving backwards. Nobody fails and very few are ever retained. Report card grades are meaningless at the elementary level due to standards-based grading. We tell teachers to give multiple attempts for students to show proficiency on a task. If a student doesn't complete an assignment, they can't be given a D. Teachers have to just leave the grade blank. Therefore, it's feasible for a student to get an A or a B in a subject while only doing half of the required assignments. How is that teaching students to take responsibility or pride in their own work?

Don't even get me started on student behavior and how little say admin has in issuing consequences to students. Teachers are dealing with insane behaviors in their classrooms, and we are rarely allowed to suspend a student. I don't necessarily think suspension is the go-to solution because I feel kids need to be in school. However, when a student is chronically disruptive or violent, we need to be able to suspend without begging our directors to give us permission. That's not to say we wouldn't be trying to work with the student and their family to determine the cause of the behavior and explore an FBA and BIP. Just writing this has me shaking my head...good luck to all MCPS staff this year. I'm hoping it's a smoother year than those of the past.

This Restorative Justice crap is what is pushing many teachers out of the classroom.

Nonsense, retorative justice works in most cases. It's morons who spout off about things they know nothing about that are driving off teachers.

No, RJ just punishes the victim and encourages further disruptive behavior because there are never any consequences.

Just chiming in here to say that I'm a teacher who is a big fan of RJ and found it to be very successful with my toughest students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

I'm a former MCPS admin who retired early last year because I couldn't take the BS any longer. PP has hit on so many key issues. First of all, the constant changes are just too much and not well thought out. It's almost as if central recognizes a problem and then just throws shit at the wall and hope that it sticks without any forward thinking of how it will play out. Barriers aren't anticipated and when they arise everyone just shrugs their shoulders and tells schools to make it work. I sat in a meeting last year where we as elementary admin were told to increase the amount of time we spend teaching SS and science. Of course, we would love to be able to do that. However, when we pulled up the scheduling document and added up the total minutes allocated for subject areas in a day we had to explain to central that our school day is too short in order to teach every content area for the prescribed amount of time. How does central office make a document dictating how long we should spend on math, reading, etc. without realizing that the total times is longer than our given school day? Then they get mad at us for not being receptive to the message. Ummm...WTF?

We have also spent years trying to do professional learning around equity without much support. When ou look at the student performance data and it hasn't moved the needle. We can't say that we're a school system dedicated to equity when schools are just left out on their own as islands without TRAINED equity professionals there to help design and lead the work. There are Learning and Achievement Specialists that can come out and support schools but what are their qualifications? How are they more qualified than school staff to design equity PD? Most I've met are either former classroom teachers or SDTs who wanted a yearlong position outside of admin. They don't have specific training that qualifies them to lead the work. A self-paced 20-minute module produced by someone in the equity office isn't going to cut it. Furthermore, who deems the staff in the equity office to be experts? What are their credentials in that area? The same could be said for the push to be a RJ district. Where's the training? My friends told me that RJ is a 10 or 20 min. self-paced module this summer for staff. How does this experience justify being able to call us a RJ district?
I believe all staff shows up each day to do right by kids. Sure, there are teachers with skill or will gaps but we can work on those if they're willing to meet us halfway. Most of the time, teachers will improve when provided with the appropriate supports. I have had to take one teacher through the complete PAR process where they ended up being fired. I don't feel bad about it because they weren't good for students.

In terms of teacher performance, I truly believe that most staff are well-intended and show up each day to do right by kids. Realistically, I had a few teachers each year that required additional support and coaching from our RS or SDT. Some years someone would end up on a growth plan, but most could turn it around. I did have one teacher I had to take through the entire process to get dismissed. They weren't good for students and should not have been in a classroom. They were a lemon that was involuntarily transferred to us, and it was mind-blowing to me that they had come this far without being put on PAR.

Student accountability is another area in which we started moving backwards. Nobody fails and very few are ever retained. Report card grades are meaningless at the elementary level due to standards-based grading. We tell teachers to give multiple attempts for students to show proficiency on a task. If a student doesn't complete an assignment, they can't be given a D. Teachers have to just leave the grade blank. Therefore, it's feasible for a student to get an A or a B in a subject while only doing half of the required assignments. How is that teaching students to take responsibility or pride in their own work?

Don't even get me started on student behavior and how little say admin has in issuing consequences to students. Teachers are dealing with insane behaviors in their classrooms, and we are rarely allowed to suspend a student. I don't necessarily think suspension is the go-to solution because I feel kids need to be in school. However, when a student is chronically disruptive or violent, we need to be able to suspend without begging our directors to give us permission. That's not to say we wouldn't be trying to work with the student and their family to determine the cause of the behavior and explore an FBA and BIP. Just writing this has me shaking my head...good luck to all MCPS staff this year. I'm hoping it's a smoother year than those of the past.

This Restorative Justice crap is what is pushing many teachers out of the classroom.

Nonsense, retorative justice works in most cases. It's morons who spout off about things they know nothing about that are driving off teachers.

No, RJ just punishes the victim and encourages further disruptive behavior because there are never any consequences.

Just chiming in here to say that I'm a teacher who is a big fan of RJ and found it to be very successful with my toughest students.

Are you in MCPS? If so, who is running the RJ and when is it being done? At my MCPS elementary school, it is not being done at all. There's no staff as we were understaffed all year (this year is looking to be worse) and there was no time for it. Therefore, RJ was never even used. Instead, the child who got in trouble was told to apologize and that was the end of it.

If RJ was implemented with fidelity it MIGHT work for SOME situations. However, I don't know any MCPS schools that have the staff, training, and time to make it work.

Where are you that it is done well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

I'm a former MCPS admin who retired early last year because I couldn't take the BS any longer. PP has hit on so many key issues. First of all, the constant changes are just too much and not well thought out. It's almost as if central recognizes a problem and then just throws shit at the wall and hope that it sticks without any forward thinking of how it will play out. Barriers aren't anticipated and when they arise everyone just shrugs their shoulders and tells schools to make it work. I sat in a meeting last year where we as elementary admin were told to increase the amount of time we spend teaching SS and science. Of course, we would love to be able to do that. However, when we pulled up the scheduling document and added up the total minutes allocated for subject areas in a day we had to explain to central that our school day is too short in order to teach every content area for the prescribed amount of time. How does central office make a document dictating how long we should spend on math, reading, etc. without realizing that the total times is longer than our given school day? Then they get mad at us for not being receptive to the message. Ummm...WTF?

We have also spent years trying to do professional learning around equity without much support. When ou look at the student performance data and it hasn't moved the needle. We can't say that we're a school system dedicated to equity when schools are just left out on their own as islands without TRAINED equity professionals there to help design and lead the work. There are Learning and Achievement Specialists that can come out and support schools but what are their qualifications? How are they more qualified than school staff to design equity PD? Most I've met are either former classroom teachers or SDTs who wanted a yearlong position outside of admin. They don't have specific training that qualifies them to lead the work. A self-paced 20-minute module produced by someone in the equity office isn't going to cut it. Furthermore, who deems the staff in the equity office to be experts? What are their credentials in that area? The same could be said for the push to be a RJ district. Where's the training? My friends told me that RJ is a 10 or 20 min. self-paced module this summer for staff. How does this experience justify being able to call us a RJ district?
I believe all staff shows up each day to do right by kids. Sure, there are teachers with skill or will gaps but we can work on those if they're willing to meet us halfway. Most of the time, teachers will improve when provided with the appropriate supports. I have had to take one teacher through the complete PAR process where they ended up being fired. I don't feel bad about it because they weren't good for students.

In terms of teacher performance, I truly believe that most staff are well-intended and show up each day to do right by kids. Realistically, I had a few teachers each year that required additional support and coaching from our RS or SDT. Some years someone would end up on a growth plan, but most could turn it around. I did have one teacher I had to take through the entire process to get dismissed. They weren't good for students and should not have been in a classroom. They were a lemon that was involuntarily transferred to us, and it was mind-blowing to me that they had come this far without being put on PAR.

Student accountability is another area in which we started moving backwards. Nobody fails and very few are ever retained. Report card grades are meaningless at the elementary level due to standards-based grading. We tell teachers to give multiple attempts for students to show proficiency on a task. If a student doesn't complete an assignment, they can't be given a D. Teachers have to just leave the grade blank. Therefore, it's feasible for a student to get an A or a B in a subject while only doing half of the required assignments. How is that teaching students to take responsibility or pride in their own work?

Don't even get me started on student behavior and how little say admin has in issuing consequences to students. Teachers are dealing with insane behaviors in their classrooms, and we are rarely allowed to suspend a student. I don't necessarily think suspension is the go-to solution because I feel kids need to be in school. However, when a student is chronically disruptive or violent, we need to be able to suspend without begging our directors to give us permission. That's not to say we wouldn't be trying to work with the student and their family to determine the cause of the behavior and explore an FBA and BIP. Just writing this has me shaking my head...good luck to all MCPS staff this year. I'm hoping it's a smoother year than those of the past.

This Restorative Justice crap is what is pushing many teachers out of the classroom.

Nonsense, retorative justice works in most cases. It's morons who spout off about things they know nothing about that are driving off teachers.

No, RJ just punishes the victim and encourages further disruptive behavior because there are never any consequences.

Just chiming in here to say that I'm a teacher who is a big fan of RJ and found it to be very successful with my toughest students.

Are you in MCPS? If so, who is running the RJ and when is it being done? At my MCPS elementary school, it is not being done at all. There's no staff as we were understaffed all year (this year is looking to be worse) and there was no time for it. Therefore, RJ was never even used. Instead, the child who got in trouble was told to apologize and that was the end of it.

If RJ was implemented with fidelity it MIGHT work for SOME situations. However, I don't know any MCPS schools that have the staff, training, and time to make it work.

Where are you that it is done well?

I'm in DCPS and I don't know if I can say it is done well system wide or even school wide but I know that my T1 classroom that was full of most of the "worst" kids last year was incredibly pleasant and functional the entire year because I use RJ practices

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m a teacher who moved to MCPS from a supposedly worse school district and I have not been impressed by MCPS at all.
Perhaps it used to be better?

MCPS has been struggling in them last ten to fifteen years as suburban poverty has increased. That combined with the NIMBY reactions you read here about redistributing having really tied the hands of MCPS.

We have gone through a lot of admin changes with a huge focus on equity, but to be honest no one can really prove it has made an impact on anything. At this point most staff just put up with the constantly shifting initiatives without caring about them. New verbiage is thrown at us every two years and then we move on without ever hearing about it again. (The new one is Leader in Me.)

I will say that I rarely run into bad teachers. Usually they are found in the electives. I can’t say I have liked all my admin. Most seem like they are just waiting for their next promotion, in the meantime their main goal is just keeping parents happy, not teachers.

What we have seen is a definite drop in academic standards (no finals, no attendance requirements, 50% rule and retakes abused), and student accountability. This is an attempt to keep graduation rates as high as possible, but it has demoralized the teaching force to know that what we teach doesn’t really matter since the students move ahead no matter what.

My prior school system (FCPS, MD) also has all these issues, so it is not just a MCPS thing. But teachers have realized that there isn’t really any respect in education anymore. It has gotten worse and worse since the 80’s. These factors are making college students move away from considering teaching. Also, the starting salaries are too low across the U.S. especially if someone has student loans. Even in well paying districts like MCPS it is not enough to make up for the high cost of living unless you can live with roommates/family for the first few years.

I'm a former MCPS admin who retired early last year because I couldn't take the BS any longer. PP has hit on so many key issues. First of all, the constant changes are just too much and not well thought out. It's almost as if central recognizes a problem and then just throws shit at the wall and hope that it sticks without any forward thinking of how it will play out. Barriers aren't anticipated and when they arise everyone just shrugs their shoulders and tells schools to make it work. I sat in a meeting last year where we as elementary admin were told to increase the amount of time we spend teaching SS and science. Of course, we would love to be able to do that. However, when we pulled up the scheduling document and added up the total minutes allocated for subject areas in a day we had to explain to central that our school day is too short in order to teach every content area for the prescribed amount of time. How does central office make a document dictating how long we should spend on math, reading, etc. without realizing that the total times is longer than our given school day? Then they get mad at us for not being receptive to the message. Ummm...WTF?

We have also spent years trying to do professional learning around equity without much support. When ou look at the student performance data and it hasn't moved the needle. We can't say that we're a school system dedicated to equity when schools are just left out on their own as islands without TRAINED equity professionals there to help design and lead the work. There are Learning and Achievement Specialists that can come out and support schools but what are their qualifications? How are they more qualified than school staff to design equity PD? Most I've met are either former classroom teachers or SDTs who wanted a yearlong position outside of admin. They don't have specific training that qualifies them to lead the work. A self-paced 20-minute module produced by someone in the equity office isn't going to cut it. Furthermore, who deems the staff in the equity office to be experts? What are their credentials in that area? The same could be said for the push to be a RJ district. Where's the training? My friends told me that RJ is a 10 or 20 min. self-paced module this summer for staff. How does this experience justify being able to call us a RJ district?
I believe all staff shows up each day to do right by kids. Sure, there are teachers with skill or will gaps but we can work on those if they're willing to meet us halfway. Most of the time, teachers will improve when provided with the appropriate supports. I have had to take one teacher through the complete PAR process where they ended up being fired. I don't feel bad about it because they weren't good for students.

In terms of teacher performance, I truly believe that most staff are well-intended and show up each day to do right by kids. Realistically, I had a few teachers each year that required additional support and coaching from our RS or SDT. Some years someone would end up on a growth plan, but most could turn it around. I did have one teacher I had to take through the entire process to get dismissed. They weren't good for students and should not have been in a classroom. They were a lemon that was involuntarily transferred to us, and it was mind-blowing to me that they had come this far without being put on PAR.

Student accountability is another area in which we started moving backwards. Nobody fails and very few are ever retained. Report card grades are meaningless at the elementary level due to standards-based grading. We tell teachers to give multiple attempts for students to show proficiency on a task. If a student doesn't complete an assignment, they can't be given a D. Teachers have to just leave the grade blank. Therefore, it's feasible for a student to get an A or a B in a subject while only doing half of the required assignments. How is that teaching students to take responsibility or pride in their own work?

Don't even get me started on student behavior and how little say admin has in issuing consequences to students. Teachers are dealing with insane behaviors in their classrooms, and we are rarely allowed to suspend a student. I don't necessarily think suspension is the go-to solution because I feel kids need to be in school. However, when a student is chronically disruptive or violent, we need to be able to suspend without begging our directors to give us permission. That's not to say we wouldn't be trying to work with the student and their family to determine the cause of the behavior and explore an FBA and BIP. Just writing this has me shaking my head...good luck to all MCPS staff this year. I'm hoping it's a smoother year than those of the past.

This Restorative Justice crap is what is pushing many teachers out of the classroom.

Nonsense, retorative justice works in most cases. It's morons who spout off about things they know nothing about that are driving off teachers.

No, RJ just punishes the victim and encourages further disruptive behavior because there are never any consequences.

Just chiming in here to say that I'm a teacher who is a big fan of RJ and found it to be very successful with my toughest students.

Are you in MCPS? If so, who is running the RJ and when is it being done? At my MCPS elementary school, it is not being done at all. There's no staff as we were understaffed all year (this year is looking to be worse) and there was no time for it. Therefore, RJ was never even used. Instead, the child who got in trouble was told to apologize and that was the end of it.

If RJ was implemented with fidelity it MIGHT work for SOME situations. However, I don't know any MCPS schools that have the staff, training, and time to make it work.

Where are you that it is done well?

I'm in DCPS and I don't know if I can say it is done well system wide or even school wide but I know that my T1 classroom that was full of most of the "worst" kids last year was incredibly pleasant and functional the entire year because I use RJ practices

DC Public Schools actually has a pretty good RJ program that I wish we had here in MCPS. I believe in the tenets of RJ but our staff in MCPS haven't been trained or staffed well enough to implement it with fidelity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3frw4jfhDP4

Board meeting from yesterday.
They start talking about the transfers at 1:01:00

She mentions the transfer process happening though July, but that ignores that teachers are required to be notified at the end of February.

She did. She stated around 1:06 that there are two seasons for transfers, one in March and July and we are still in the month of July.

DP
I’d like her to point out where that is in the contract. I’m not an MCEA teacher, but I’ve looked at the contract linked in this thread. It seems as though what she is saying perhaps falls more under voluntary transfers, or the placement of those who were involuntary transferred and should have been notified earlier (I read the third Friday of March).



Which part is the superintendent referencing? https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/departments/associationrelations/MCEA_Contract.pdf

I agree. I would like to see where this is in the contract. Historically, even before Covid, teachers were informed in March that they were to be involuntarily transferred. Anyone who did not get a job offer during the first round of transfers would be placed in a position. This was completed before the end of the school year. The next ¨round¨ of transfers were people voluntarily interviewing for different positions. The last week of July, that would stop as principals needed to make final plans for start of school.

I also want to know why such a big shift could not be anticipated. Are we moving to an ¨oh well, it is not ideal but it is the best we can do, shoulder shrug¨ culture? If we do not believe we can do better, then we will not try to do better. There are so many areas in which MCPS could do better for everyone. This is just one of those many situations.