Increase Absenteeism in Midle/Upper SES students not due to illness?

[Anonymous]

Yes, it's a huge problem, and growing. Mostly school avoidance and mental health issues. No one is sure exactly what the cause is. I think the rolling gradebook and the required 7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter might have something to do with it - work just piles up and up and quickly becomes overwhelming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's a huge problem, and growing. Mostly school avoidance and mental health issues. No one is sure exactly what the cause is. I think the rolling gradebook and the required 7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter might have something to do with it - work just piles up and up and quickly becomes overwhelming.

7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter is not a lot of work. It's very little work.

The attendance is bad because of the crappy schedule and residual effects of how FCPS implemented covid computer learning and post covid computer learning and grading scales.

Ask any parent of teens

Fcps made consistent in person school and deadlines irrelevant for the current crop of kids. It will be like this for a few more years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's a huge problem, and growing. Mostly school avoidance and mental health issues. No one is sure exactly what the cause is. I think the rolling gradebook and the required 7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter might have something to do with it - work just piles up and up and quickly becomes overwhelming.

7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter is not a lot of work. It's very little work.

The attendance is bad because of the crappy schedule and residual effects of how FCPS implemented covid computer learning and post covid computer learning and grading scales.

Ask any parent of teens

Fcps made consistent in person school and deadlines irrelevant for the current crop of kids. It will be like this for a few more years.

I’m a parent of two teens. You don’t speak for me. My children attend school consistently and they take their work seriously.

The home sets the tone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I, as an alum, will happily tell you why we are more absentee.

It’s because we are stressed, overworked, not given open study periods to do work or take time for ourselves, and are put in buildings with derelict conditions (I can speak for students who are from a building that has either not been renovated since construction or in years since it last was renovated as I went to two secondary schools that are in this criteria).

The overwhelming amount of stuff we had to do is enough to make a grown adult crack and fold, and because we are seeking relief from the perpetual and pervasive stress and boredom, we don’t come to the place that causes us such detriment to our mental health.

Seniors show a bereftness in motivation as they get ready to move to their next chapter (college, workforce, military, etc…), but from the lack of mental health resources, secondary students feel such noxious anxiety or depression from repeating the same cycle they’ve been in since they were 5, but has altered ever so slightly since they were 11/12 to 18.

If we’re leaving, that’s a symptom of a broken system!

The title of the thread says "not due to illness" but the pervasive stress and boredom that come with being chronically under-challenged, bored, and caged causes mental illness. Really, when you include that, there aren't that many absences "not due to illness."

"Really?"

I read the title and interpreted it as physical illness like the Flu for example.

You took what I wrote and broadened the interpretation of the sub-forum title and made it seem like mental illness is illness, and you are looking for other reasons like "kids doing drugs, having sex, daydrinking, or facing injury" as reasons to skip without being "ill."

What is your problem?

Please tell someone who has lost a kid to suicide that mental illness is just "faking it so they can stay home and have sex and do drugs."

Who is having sex at home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am appalled as a parent that some of you believe your child will learn better at home than school. Can they find the answers and write reports with AI easily and more quickly? Absolutely. Will they learn anything and be able to remember it? 99.9% of students will not. Unless your kid is absolutely brilliant, which means they can take some advance classes in a subject of their choose online. Many parents believe there kid is so smart, but the inflated grades tell parents they are smarter than they are. My guess is these are the same kids that cheat their way through test and do retakes and turn stuff in late and then say they are too smart for school.

Missing school will catch up to them as will cheating on assignments. I would love to see how these “too smart for school” kids are doing in their college. None of the current parents on here seem to know and I bet it’s because they are struggling because they never developed the building blocks needs to answer thoughtful questions.

Furthermore schools is suppose to be fun, if you finish early be social. Kids that miss school are 25X more likely to be depressed.

I'm a parent that would love if teachers taught during class. My child is not too smart for school but she does need teachers who know their subject and are willing to teach and it is exhausting knowing she has three teachers that don't teach and there is no accountability on teachers when students are struggling due to a lack of instruction. I wish school was "fun" all the kids I talk to hate school because it is not fun-it's overly formal and prison like.

What school is this? TBH there is probably 10% of the profession that is pretty poor just like any other job. If they truly are not teaching and it’s not just your kid telling you stories than report it to admin. Only way to get rid of a teacher even if it takes a few years

It's not a school issue it's an FCPS issue. Teachers are bogged down with oversized classes, stressed by not enough planning and they are pissed off and quietly quitting. Admin is not firing anyone!! I feel bad for the teachers who feel this way and I feel bad for the students this broken system is failing. I'm not spending the few years my daughter has in high school trying to "get rid of a teacher" FCPS is failing and it's not just at the high school level.

Yes too many illegals in fcps bogging down the system

[Anonymous]

Most of the problems have been created by the county. They created mandatory SEL lessons which are completely overdone and so boring all the kids skip, time could be used to get kids extra help. They give the kids infinite options on assignments and due dates so the kids never learn any discipline. Teachers are basically forced to pass students that have no knowledge of the subject. Teachers spend all of their time helping the bottom 10% (because that is all admin cares about). The bottom 10% miss school and do not have the fundamentals for the class so that they ignore the other 90%. Now the other 90% have noticed this and figure out they don’t even need to go to school to stay ahead of their peers.

Until the county raises expectations and is willing to get tough on kids and parents that are behind nothing is going to change. If a child is behind in elementary school that is fine, get them extra help when you still can. Whether that is required summer school or extra help during recess. Tell the parents they will not go onto the next grade if they do not attend. However, what is happening is the snowball effect and these kids are so far behind once they get high school there is not much any teacher or student can do in the current system to catch them up. However the teachers are trying their best but sacrificing the rest of the class.

Expectations were dropped by Covid and we have not raised them back up since.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most of the problems have been created by the county. They created mandatory SEL lessons which are completely overdone and so boring all the kids skip, time could be used to get kids extra help. They give the kids infinite options on assignments and due dates so the kids never learn any discipline. Teachers are basically forced to pass students that have no knowledge of the subject. Teachers spend all of their time helping the bottom 10% (because that is all admin cares about). The bottom 10% miss school and do not have the fundamentals for the class so that they ignore the other 90%. Now the other 90% have noticed this and figure out they don’t even need to go to school to stay ahead of their peers.

Until the county raises expectations and is willing to get tough on kids and parents that are behind nothing is going to change. If a child is behind in elementary school that is fine, get them extra help when you still can. Whether that is required summer school or extra help during recess. Tell the parents they will not go onto the next grade if they do not attend. However, what is happening is the snowball effect and these kids are so far behind once they get high school there is not much any teacher or student can do in the current system to catch them up. However the teachers are trying their best but sacrificing the rest of the class.

Expectations were dropped by Covid and we have not raised them back up since.

Yep, all FCPS cares about their graduation rates which is completely in their control, no matter if they educate or not. “You get a diploma, your get a diploma, every gets a diploma regardless of effort or attendance or if they can read and do math at 5th grade level”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's a huge problem, and growing. Mostly school avoidance and mental health issues. No one is sure exactly what the cause is. I think the rolling gradebook and the required 7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter might have something to do with it - work just piles up and up and quickly becomes overwhelming.

What? That is not a lot of work.

Work piles up and bcomes overwhelming because kids don't do their work when it's due, and FCPS requires teachers to allow late submissions, so work piles up. Then all the retakes, and studying for endless retakes, adds to kids' feelings of bungalow overwhelmed.

The policies FCPS has put into place are making everything worse for both kids and adults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's a huge problem, and growing. Mostly school avoidance and mental health issues. No one is sure exactly what the cause is. I think the rolling gradebook and the required 7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter might have something to do with it - work just piles up and up and quickly becomes overwhelming.

7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter is not a lot of work. It's very little work.

The attendance is bad because of the crappy schedule and residual effects of how FCPS implemented covid computer learning and post covid computer learning and grading scales.

Ask any parent of teens

Fcps made consistent in person school and deadlines irrelevant for the current crop of kids. It will be like this for a few more years.

I am a parent of a teen. I am also a teacher. 7 assignments is much more graded work than we ever had when I was in school. We usually had one or two tests per quarter, and max one other thing to hand in. Maybe some small homework assignments that were stuck together into one grade. 7 graded assignments is actually a lot. As teachers, we sometimes have trouble getting them all in. When a student misses some school, they are almost certainly going to get far behind in assignments, and just getting them caught up becomes a major thing. There is no way a kid who missed a week or two of school can easily catch up in all their classes. So they start avoiding work and avoiding school, and the problem spirals. We watch it happen over and over.

We don't even want to give that many separate assignments.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's a huge problem, and growing. Mostly school avoidance and mental health issues. No one is sure exactly what the cause is. I think the rolling gradebook and the required 7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter might have something to do with it - work just piles up and up and quickly becomes overwhelming.

7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter is not a lot of work. It's very little work.

The attendance is bad because of the crappy schedule and residual effects of how FCPS implemented covid computer learning and post covid computer learning and grading scales.

Ask any parent of teens

Fcps made consistent in person school and deadlines irrelevant for the current crop of kids. It will be like this for a few more years.

I am a parent of a teen. I am also a teacher. 7 assignments is much more graded work than we ever had when I was in school. We usually had one or two tests per quarter, and max one other thing to hand in. Maybe some small homework assignments that were stuck together into one grade. 7 graded assignments is actually a lot. As teachers, we sometimes have trouble getting them all in. When a student misses some school, they are almost certainly going to get far behind in assignments, and just getting them caught up becomes a major thing. There is no way a kid who missed a week or two of school can easily catch up in all their classes. So they start avoiding work and avoiding school, and the problem spirals. We watch it happen over and over.

We don't even want to give that many separate assignments.

7 assignments? My kids have anywhere from 20-30 graded assignments in private MS & HS per quarter, and usually a whole lot of quizzes and a few tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's a huge problem, and growing. Mostly school avoidance and mental health issues. No one is sure exactly what the cause is. I think the rolling gradebook and the required 7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter might have something to do with it - work just piles up and up and quickly becomes overwhelming.

What? That is not a lot of work.

Work piles up and bcomes overwhelming because kids don't do their work when it's due, and FCPS requires teachers to allow late submissions, so work piles up. Then all the retakes, and studying for endless retakes, adds to kids' feelings of bungalow overwhelmed.

The policies FCPS has put into place are making everything worse for both kids and adults.

That's exactly what I said. It's the two things combined that makes the work pile up. Seven graded assignments really is a lot. It's not a lot of work, but when each one is graded individually it suddenly is a lot. So if we didn't allow makeups, then we'd have everyone failing pretty quickly, unless they had perfect attendance. We should be able to control how many assignments we think are appropriate for our classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's a huge problem, and growing. Mostly school avoidance and mental health issues. No one is sure exactly what the cause is. I think the rolling gradebook and the required 7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter might have something to do with it - work just piles up and up and quickly becomes overwhelming.

7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter is not a lot of work. It's very little work.

The attendance is bad because of the crappy schedule and residual effects of how FCPS implemented covid computer learning and post covid computer learning and grading scales.

Ask any parent of teens

Fcps made consistent in person school and deadlines irrelevant for the current crop of kids. It will be like this for a few more years.

I am a parent of a teen. I am also a teacher. 7 assignments is much more graded work than we ever had when I was in school. We usually had one or two tests per quarter, and max one other thing to hand in. Maybe some small homework assignments that were stuck together into one grade. 7 graded assignments is actually a lot. As teachers, we sometimes have trouble getting them all in. When a student misses some school, they are almost certainly going to get far behind in assignments, and just getting them caught up becomes a major thing. There is no way a kid who missed a week or two of school can easily catch up in all their classes. So they start avoiding work and avoiding school, and the problem spirals. We watch it happen over and over.

We don't even want to give that many separate assignments.

7 assignments? My kids have anywhere from 20-30 graded assignments in private MS & HS per quarter, and usually a whole lot of quizzes and a few tests.

*20-40.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's a huge problem, and growing. Mostly school avoidance and mental health issues. No one is sure exactly what the cause is. I think the rolling gradebook and the required 7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter might have something to do with it - work just piles up and up and quickly becomes overwhelming.

7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter is not a lot of work. It's very little work.

The attendance is bad because of the crappy schedule and residual effects of how FCPS implemented covid computer learning and post covid computer learning and grading scales.

Ask any parent of teens

Fcps made consistent in person school and deadlines irrelevant for the current crop of kids. It will be like this for a few more years.

I am a parent of a teen. I am also a teacher. 7 assignments is much more graded work than we ever had when I was in school. We usually had one or two tests per quarter, and max one other thing to hand in. Maybe some small homework assignments that were stuck together into one grade. 7 graded assignments is actually a lot. As teachers, we sometimes have trouble getting them all in. When a student misses some school, they are almost certainly going to get far behind in assignments, and just getting them caught up becomes a major thing. There is no way a kid who missed a week or two of school can easily catch up in all their classes. So they start avoiding work and avoiding school, and the problem spirals. We watch it happen over and over.

We don't even want to give that many separate assignments.

7 assignments? My kids have anywhere from 20-30 graded assignments in private MS & HS per quarter, and usually a whole lot of quizzes and a few tests.

*20-40.

Per class or all?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's a huge problem, and growing. Mostly school avoidance and mental health issues. No one is sure exactly what the cause is. I think the rolling gradebook and the required 7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter might have something to do with it - work just piles up and up and quickly becomes overwhelming.

7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter is not a lot of work. It's very little work.

The attendance is bad because of the crappy schedule and residual effects of how FCPS implemented covid computer learning and post covid computer learning and grading scales.

Ask any parent of teens

Fcps made consistent in person school and deadlines irrelevant for the current crop of kids. It will be like this for a few more years.

I am a parent of a teen. I am also a teacher. 7 assignments is much more graded work than we ever had when I was in school. We usually had one or two tests per quarter, and max one other thing to hand in. Maybe some small homework assignments that were stuck together into one grade. 7 graded assignments is actually a lot. As teachers, we sometimes have trouble getting them all in. When a student misses some school, they are almost certainly going to get far behind in assignments, and just getting them caught up becomes a major thing. There is no way a kid who missed a week or two of school can easily catch up in all their classes. So they start avoiding work and avoiding school, and the problem spirals. We watch it happen over and over.

We don't even want to give that many separate assignments.

7 assignments? My kids have anywhere from 20-30 graded assignments in private MS & HS per quarter, and usually a whole lot of quizzes and a few tests.

That seems unlikely. 30 grade assignments per class per quarter would mean a graded assignment almost every day, or at the very least every other day. For the teacher, that would mean grading nonstop, and even in private school there aren't enough hours in the day to grade that much work and also plan lessons and teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, it's a huge problem, and growing. Mostly school avoidance and mental health issues. No one is sure exactly what the cause is. I think the rolling gradebook and the required 7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter might have something to do with it - work just piles up and up and quickly becomes overwhelming.

7 assignments and 2 tests per quarter is not a lot of work. It's very little work.

The attendance is bad because of the crappy schedule and residual effects of how FCPS implemented covid computer learning and post covid computer learning and grading scales.

Ask any parent of teens

Fcps made consistent in person school and deadlines irrelevant for the current crop of kids. It will be like this for a few more years.

I am a parent of a teen. I am also a teacher. 7 assignments is much more graded work than we ever had when I was in school. We usually had one or two tests per quarter, and max one other thing to hand in. Maybe some small homework assignments that were stuck together into one grade. 7 graded assignments is actually a lot. As teachers, we sometimes have trouble getting them all in. When a student misses some school, they are almost certainly going to get far behind in assignments, and just getting them caught up becomes a major thing. There is no way a kid who missed a week or two of school can easily catch up in all their classes. So they start avoiding work and avoiding school, and the problem spirals. We watch it happen over and over.

We don't even want to give that many separate assignments.

7 assignments? My kids have anywhere from 20-30 graded assignments in private MS & HS per quarter, and usually a whole lot of quizzes and a few tests.

*20-40.

Per class or all?

Per class, in core classes.