Serious Answers Only—How to Fix MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

It's only broken in the imagination of especially high-maintenance privileged parents who are the real problem.

+1000 Many of these posters would be unhappy in paradise.

They hate it when anyone who has a different experience speaks up—for example, our family values education. We parent and have high expectations of our children. Our kids are flourishing in MCPS.

In which HS pyramid? The experience may be different for a similar family in a different part of the county, and that is among the problems that should be addressed.

MD operates schools on a county basis, not a town basis, as with some other states. The experience/opportunities throughout the county, while not exactly the same, should be reasonably similar.

One child is at Blair SMCS program the other is at Wheaton Engineering.

Good that there was an acceptance and a match. Dedicated/enriched programs that support your children's interests can offer a different experience. Was that the case in ES (HGC/CES) and/or MS (magnets)? There aren't really enough seats in these at any level to address needs/capabilities.

I presume you are inbounds DCC, then, for the Wheaton match, unless there was a COSA or unless I've got the wrong idea and it's available beyond the consortium in the same way as SMCS. (Please correct me, there, if so.) That's got a very large number of feeder ES's, and I wouldn't want to pin you to one (which is why I asked for the HS pyramid instead of the ES), but, aside from any magnet experience, did you find the school(s) provided challenging instruction, or was it mostly things done outside of school that provided enrichment?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

It's only broken in the imagination of especially high-maintenance privileged parents who are the real problem.

+1000 Many of these posters would be unhappy in paradise.

They hate it when anyone who has a different experience speaks up—for example, our family values education. We parent and have high expectations of our children. Our kids are flourishing in MCPS.

In which HS pyramid? The experience may be different for a similar family in a different part of the county, and that is among the problems that should be addressed.

MD operates schools on a county basis, not a town basis, as with some other states. The experience/opportunities throughout the county, while not exactly the same, should be reasonably similar.

One child is at Blair SMCS program the other is at Wheaton Engineering.

Good that there was an acceptance and a match. Dedicated/enriched programs that support your children's interests can offer a different experience. Was that the case in ES (HGC/CES) and/or MS (magnets)? There aren't really enough seats in these at any level to address needs/capabilities.

I presume you are inbounds DCC, then, for the Wheaton match, unless there was a COSA or unless I've got the wrong idea and it's available beyond the consortium in the same way as SMCS. (Please correct me, there, if so.) That's got a very large number of feeder ES's, and I wouldn't want to pin you to one (which is why I asked for the HS pyramid instead of the ES), but, aside from any magnet experience, did you find the school(s) provided challenging instruction, or was it mostly things done outside of school that provided enrichment?

In early ES, I had to shoulder more of the burden, but that was fine. We were at a Title 1 school, so classes were small. Later, kids went through programs like CES or the TPMS magnet. They found opportunities that provided a fine experience. This seems available to anyone with motivation and interest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It needs to be broken up. The needs of poor immigrant students who don't speak English are vastly different than the needs of students in Potomac.
Nothing meaningful will happen until that is done

I know! Put all the poors in their own school system and segregate them from the haves!

Well they're with the haves now and yet they have not. But keep doing the wrong thing and helping no one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It needs to be broken up. The needs of poor immigrant students who don't speak English are vastly different than the needs of students in Potomac.
Nothing meaningful will happen until that is done

I know! Put all the poors in their own school system and segregate them from the haves!

Well they're with the haves now and yet they have not. But keep doing the wrong thing and helping no one.

It isn't what we have now. We just have segregated schools where everyone shares the burden. What they're proposing is to partition the county such that the less affluent areas would have even fewer resources, which are kind of awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of Central Office and start over. Make it a priority that people rotate from teaching to Central Office and back (they are so disconnected from the reality of the classroom right now). More teachers, less Central Office Staff. More Spec Ed teachers. More discipline with actual consequences no matter what coor your skin (so drug dealers in the Ws as well as gun carriers in ALL schools). Bring back SROs. Bring back midterms and final exams. No more 50% for no work. Tutors for those who need it - for free. The goal is graduating with competencies, not graduating because we passed you along.

The above would a good start

Resurrecting this ⬆️

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

It's only broken in the imagination of especially high-maintenance privileged parents who are the real problem.

+1000 Many of these posters would be unhappy in paradise.

They hate it when anyone who has a different experience speaks up—for example, our family values education. We parent and have high expectations of our children. Our kids are flourishing in MCPS.

In which HS pyramid? The experience may be different for a similar family in a different part of the county, and that is among the problems that should be addressed.

MD operates schools on a county basis, not a town basis, as with some other states. The experience/opportunities throughout the county, while not exactly the same, should be reasonably similar.

One child is at Blair SMCS program the other is at Wheaton Engineering.

Good that there was an acceptance and a match. Dedicated/enriched programs that support your children's interests can offer a different experience. Was that the case in ES (HGC/CES) and/or MS (magnets)? There aren't really enough seats in these at any level to address needs/capabilities.

I presume you are inbounds DCC, then, for the Wheaton match, unless there was a COSA or unless I've got the wrong idea and it's available beyond the consortium in the same way as SMCS. (Please correct me, there, if so.) That's got a very large number of feeder ES's, and I wouldn't want to pin you to one (which is why I asked for the HS pyramid instead of the ES), but, aside from any magnet experience, did you find the school(s) provided challenging instruction, or was it mostly things done outside of school that provided enrichment?

In early ES, I had to shoulder more of the burden, but that was fine. We were at a Title 1 school, so classes were small. Later, kids went through programs like CES or the TPMS magnet. They found opportunities that provided a fine experience. This seems available to anyone with motivation and interest.

There have been fewer spots in those magnets than the need for a long time, and, with the lottery approach, having the motivation is a crapshoot. That approach essentially sees MCPS admitting to the relative paucity of seats -- anyone in the pool qualifies, but there are only spots for a fraction.

Possibly that was instituted after your children went through? Perhaps they got a lucky bounce, or were in-catchment for TPMS/PBES, which gave them a much better chance of getting a magnet slot than elsewhere in the county?

In any case, the need you cited about pre-magnet home burden might be more typical of the experience of folks not fortunate enough to have the magnet ball bounce their way or be in schools that have not experienced decline. I'm not saying that MCPS is terrible, as the OP suggests, but I think it's irresponsible to insinuate that any concern comes from privilege rather than the possibility of truly negative experience, or that that negative experience must be an aberration.

[Anonymous]

Can't fix somehting that isn't broken.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

It's only broken in the imagination of especially high-maintenance privileged parents who are the real problem.

+1000 Many of these posters would be unhappy in paradise.

They hate it when anyone who has a different experience speaks up—for example, our family values education. We parent and have high expectations of our children. Our kids are flourishing in MCPS.

In which HS pyramid? The experience may be different for a similar family in a different part of the county, and that is among the problems that should be addressed.

MD operates schools on a county basis, not a town basis, as with some other states. The experience/opportunities throughout the county, while not exactly the same, should be reasonably similar.

One child is at Blair SMCS program the other is at Wheaton Engineering.

Good that there was an acceptance and a match. Dedicated/enriched programs that support your children's interests can offer a different experience. Was that the case in ES (HGC/CES) and/or MS (magnets)? There aren't really enough seats in these at any level to address needs/capabilities.

I presume you are inbounds DCC, then, for the Wheaton match, unless there was a COSA or unless I've got the wrong idea and it's available beyond the consortium in the same way as SMCS. (Please correct me, there, if so.) That's got a very large number of feeder ES's, and I wouldn't want to pin you to one (which is why I asked for the HS pyramid instead of the ES), but, aside from any magnet experience, did you find the school(s) provided challenging instruction, or was it mostly things done outside of school that provided enrichment?

In early ES, I had to shoulder more of the burden, but that was fine. We were at a Title 1 school, so classes were small. Later, kids went through programs like CES or the TPMS magnet. They found opportunities that provided a fine experience. This seems available to anyone with motivation and interest.

There have been fewer spots in those magnets than the need for a long time, and, with the lottery approach, having the motivation is a crapshoot. That approach essentially sees MCPS admitting to the relative paucity of seats -- anyone in the pool qualifies, but there are only spots for a fraction.

Possibly that was instituted after your children went through? Perhaps they got a lucky bounce, or were in-catchment for TPMS/PBES, which gave them a much better chance of getting a magnet slot than elsewhere in the county?

In any case, the need you cited about pre-magnet home burden might be more typical of the experience of folks not fortunate enough to have the magnet ball bounce their way or be in schools that have not experienced decline. I'm not saying that MCPS is terrible, as the OP suggests, but I think it's irresponsible to insinuate that any concern comes from privilege rather than the possibility of truly negative experience, or that that negative experience must be an aberration.

There is no real decline. That only exists in your imagination. Scores for SES bands have remained constant or improved over recent years.

[Anonymous]

^ Well, unless you factor MCAP but everyone knows that's not a reliable measure of anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

It's only broken in the imagination of especially high-maintenance privileged parents who are the real problem.

+1000 Many of these posters would be unhappy in paradise.

They hate it when anyone who has a different experience speaks up—for example, our family values education. We parent and have high expectations of our children. Our kids are flourishing in MCPS.

In which HS pyramid? The experience may be different for a similar family in a different part of the county, and that is among the problems that should be addressed.

MD operates schools on a county basis, not a town basis, as with some other states. The experience/opportunities throughout the county, while not exactly the same, should be reasonably similar.

One child is at Blair SMCS program the other is at Wheaton Engineering.

Good that there was an acceptance and a match. Dedicated/enriched programs that support your children's interests can offer a different experience. Was that the case in ES (HGC/CES) and/or MS (magnets)? There aren't really enough seats in these at any level to address needs/capabilities.

I presume you are inbounds DCC, then, for the Wheaton match, unless there was a COSA or unless I've got the wrong idea and it's available beyond the consortium in the same way as SMCS. (Please correct me, there, if so.) That's got a very large number of feeder ES's, and I wouldn't want to pin you to one (which is why I asked for the HS pyramid instead of the ES), but, aside from any magnet experience, did you find the school(s) provided challenging instruction, or was it mostly things done outside of school that provided enrichment?

In early ES, I had to shoulder more of the burden, but that was fine. We were at a Title 1 school, so classes were small. Later, kids went through programs like CES or the TPMS magnet. They found opportunities that provided a fine experience. This seems available to anyone with motivation and interest.

There have been fewer spots in those magnets than the need for a long time, and, with the lottery approach, having the motivation is a crapshoot. That approach essentially sees MCPS admitting to the relative paucity of seats -- anyone in the pool qualifies, but there are only spots for a fraction.

Possibly that was instituted after your children went through? Perhaps they got a lucky bounce, or were in-catchment for TPMS/PBES, which gave them a much better chance of getting a magnet slot than elsewhere in the county?

In any case, the need you cited about pre-magnet home burden might be more typical of the experience of folks not fortunate enough to have the magnet ball bounce their way or be in schools that have not experienced decline. I'm not saying that MCPS is terrible, as the OP suggests, but I think it's irresponsible to insinuate that any concern comes from privilege rather than the possibility of truly negative experience, or that that negative experience must be an aberration.

But the MCPS is terrible or in decline message is what you hear most. The complaints are what is heard most and loudest. The people giving MCPS and teachers kudos for any work or progress are themselves.

Scarcity of seats in magnet programs is an issue given the number of students now present in the county. So is/was bias in admittance. The county sought to resolve this by creating the pool/lottery system and rolling out ELC to all elementary schools. Did they get applause for that? No, it was complaints that ELC wasn’t the same as CES program, the teaching isn’t the same caliber, etc., etc.

I mean, damn they are trying. The can’t solve all the school system’s or society’s problem in one sweep. Teachers, Admin, Staff are burning out in part because nothing ever seems to be enough. Just look at this forum. The amount of complaint and vitriol on the MCPS form far outpaces that of any of school system mentioned. The only one that comes close in Fairfax county and even that seems less than McPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

It's only broken in the imagination of especially high-maintenance privileged parents who are the real problem.

+1000 Many of these posters would be unhappy in paradise.

They hate it when anyone who has a different experience speaks up—for example, our family values education. We parent and have high expectations of our children. Our kids are flourishing in MCPS.

In which HS pyramid? The experience may be different for a similar family in a different part of the county, and that is among the problems that should be addressed.

MD operates schools on a county basis, not a town basis, as with some other states. The experience/opportunities throughout the county, while not exactly the same, should be reasonably similar.

One child is at Blair SMCS program the other is at Wheaton Engineering.

Good that there was an acceptance and a match. Dedicated/enriched programs that support your children's interests can offer a different experience. Was that the case in ES (HGC/CES) and/or MS (magnets)? There aren't really enough seats in these at any level to address needs/capabilities.

I presume you are inbounds DCC, then, for the Wheaton match, unless there was a COSA or unless I've got the wrong idea and it's available beyond the consortium in the same way as SMCS. (Please correct me, there, if so.) That's got a very large number of feeder ES's, and I wouldn't want to pin you to one (which is why I asked for the HS pyramid instead of the ES), but, aside from any magnet experience, did you find the school(s) provided challenging instruction, or was it mostly things done outside of school that provided enrichment?

In early ES, I had to shoulder more of the burden, but that was fine. We were at a Title 1 school, so classes were small. Later, kids went through programs like CES or the TPMS magnet. They found opportunities that provided a fine experience. This seems available to anyone with motivation and interest.

There have been fewer spots in those magnets than the need for a long time, and, with the lottery approach, having the motivation is a crapshoot. That approach essentially sees MCPS admitting to the relative paucity of seats -- anyone in the pool qualifies, but there are only spots for a fraction.

Possibly that was instituted after your children went through? Perhaps they got a lucky bounce, or were in-catchment for TPMS/PBES, which gave them a much better chance of getting a magnet slot than elsewhere in the county?

In any case, the need you cited about pre-magnet home burden might be more typical of the experience of folks not fortunate enough to have the magnet ball bounce their way or be in schools that have not experienced decline. I'm not saying that MCPS is terrible, as the OP suggests, but I think it's irresponsible to insinuate that any concern comes from privilege rather than the possibility of truly negative experience, or that that negative experience must be an aberration.

But the MCPS is terrible or in decline message is what you hear most. The complaints are what is heard most and loudest. The people giving MCPS and teachers kudos for any work or progress are themselves.

Scarcity of seats in magnet programs is an issue given the number of students now present in the county. So is/was bias in admittance. The county sought to resolve this by creating the pool/lottery system and rolling out ELC to all elementary schools. Did they get applause for that? No, it was complaints that ELC wasn’t the same as CES program, the teaching isn’t the same caliber, etc., etc.

I mean, damn they are trying. The can’t solve all the school system’s or society’s problem in one sweep. Teachers, Admin, Staff are burning out in part because nothing ever seems to be enough. Just look at this forum. The amount of complaint and vitriol on the MCPS form far outpaces that of any of school system mentioned. The only one that comes close in Fairfax county and even that seems less than McPS.

You have a serious victim complex on behalf of MCPS and it's unhealthy. Seek treatment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

It's only broken in the imagination of especially high-maintenance privileged parents who are the real problem.

+1000 Many of these posters would be unhappy in paradise.

They hate it when anyone who has a different experience speaks up—for example, our family values education. We parent and have high expectations of our children. Our kids are flourishing in MCPS.

In which HS pyramid? The experience may be different for a similar family in a different part of the county, and that is among the problems that should be addressed.

MD operates schools on a county basis, not a town basis, as with some other states. The experience/opportunities throughout the county, while not exactly the same, should be reasonably similar.

One child is at Blair SMCS program the other is at Wheaton Engineering.

Good that there was an acceptance and a match. Dedicated/enriched programs that support your children's interests can offer a different experience. Was that the case in ES (HGC/CES) and/or MS (magnets)? There aren't really enough seats in these at any level to address needs/capabilities.

I presume you are inbounds DCC, then, for the Wheaton match, unless there was a COSA or unless I've got the wrong idea and it's available beyond the consortium in the same way as SMCS. (Please correct me, there, if so.) That's got a very large number of feeder ES's, and I wouldn't want to pin you to one (which is why I asked for the HS pyramid instead of the ES), but, aside from any magnet experience, did you find the school(s) provided challenging instruction, or was it mostly things done outside of school that provided enrichment?

In early ES, I had to shoulder more of the burden, but that was fine. We were at a Title 1 school, so classes were small. Later, kids went through programs like CES or the TPMS magnet. They found opportunities that provided a fine experience. This seems available to anyone with motivation and interest.

There have been fewer spots in those magnets than the need for a long time, and, with the lottery approach, having the motivation is a crapshoot. That approach essentially sees MCPS admitting to the relative paucity of seats -- anyone in the pool qualifies, but there are only spots for a fraction.

Possibly that was instituted after your children went through? Perhaps they got a lucky bounce, or were in-catchment for TPMS/PBES, which gave them a much better chance of getting a magnet slot than elsewhere in the county?

In any case, the need you cited about pre-magnet home burden might be more typical of the experience of folks not fortunate enough to have the magnet ball bounce their way or be in schools that have not experienced decline. I'm not saying that MCPS is terrible, as the OP suggests, but I think it's irresponsible to insinuate that any concern comes from privilege rather than the possibility of truly negative experience, or that that negative experience must be an aberration.

But the MCPS is terrible or in decline message is what you hear most. The complaints are what is heard most and loudest. The people giving MCPS and teachers kudos for any work or progress are themselves.

Scarcity of seats in magnet programs is an issue given the number of students now present in the county. So is/was bias in admittance. The county sought to resolve this by creating the pool/lottery system and rolling out ELC to all elementary schools. Did they get applause for that? No, it was complaints that ELC wasn’t the same as CES program, the teaching isn’t the same caliber, etc., etc.

I mean, damn they are trying. The can’t solve all the school system’s or society’s problem in one sweep. Teachers, Admin, Staff are burning out in part because nothing ever seems to be enough. Just look at this forum. The amount of complaint and vitriol on the MCPS form far outpaces that of any of school system mentioned. The only one that comes close in Fairfax county and even that seems less than McPS.

You have a serious victim complex on behalf of MCPS and it's unhealthy. Seek treatment.

Exactly these people complaining about decline are the problem. If they spent 10% the effort they make complaining, parenting their children this wouldn't be a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

It's only broken in the imagination of especially high-maintenance privileged parents who are the real problem.

+1000 Many of these posters would be unhappy in paradise.

They hate it when anyone who has a different experience speaks up—for example, our family values education. We parent and have high expectations of our children. Our kids are flourishing in MCPS.

In which HS pyramid? The experience may be different for a similar family in a different part of the county, and that is among the problems that should be addressed.

MD operates schools on a county basis, not a town basis, as with some other states. The experience/opportunities throughout the county, while not exactly the same, should be reasonably similar.

One child is at Blair SMCS program the other is at Wheaton Engineering.

Good that there was an acceptance and a match. Dedicated/enriched programs that support your children's interests can offer a different experience. Was that the case in ES (HGC/CES) and/or MS (magnets)? There aren't really enough seats in these at any level to address needs/capabilities.

I presume you are inbounds DCC, then, for the Wheaton match, unless there was a COSA or unless I've got the wrong idea and it's available beyond the consortium in the same way as SMCS. (Please correct me, there, if so.) That's got a very large number of feeder ES's, and I wouldn't want to pin you to one (which is why I asked for the HS pyramid instead of the ES), but, aside from any magnet experience, did you find the school(s) provided challenging instruction, or was it mostly things done outside of school that provided enrichment?

In early ES, I had to shoulder more of the burden, but that was fine. We were at a Title 1 school, so classes were small. Later, kids went through programs like CES or the TPMS magnet. They found opportunities that provided a fine experience. This seems available to anyone with motivation and interest.

There have been fewer spots in those magnets than the need for a long time, and, with the lottery approach, having the motivation is a crapshoot. That approach essentially sees MCPS admitting to the relative paucity of seats -- anyone in the pool qualifies, but there are only spots for a fraction.

Possibly that was instituted after your children went through? Perhaps they got a lucky bounce, or were in-catchment for TPMS/PBES, which gave them a much better chance of getting a magnet slot than elsewhere in the county?

In any case, the need you cited about pre-magnet home burden might be more typical of the experience of folks not fortunate enough to have the magnet ball bounce their way or be in schools that have not experienced decline. I'm not saying that MCPS is terrible, as the OP suggests, but I think it's irresponsible to insinuate that any concern comes from privilege rather than the possibility of truly negative experience, or that that negative experience must be an aberration.

But the MCPS is terrible or in decline message is what you hear most. The complaints are what is heard most and loudest. The people giving MCPS and teachers kudos for any work or progress are themselves.

Scarcity of seats in magnet programs is an issue given the number of students now present in the county. So is/was bias in admittance. The county sought to resolve this by creating the pool/lottery system and rolling out ELC to all elementary schools. Did they get applause for that? No, it was complaints that ELC wasn’t the same as CES program, the teaching isn’t the same caliber, etc., etc.

I mean, damn they are trying. The can’t solve all the school system’s or society’s problem in one sweep. Teachers, Admin, Staff are burning out in part because nothing ever seems to be enough. Just look at this forum. The amount of complaint and vitriol on the MCPS form far outpaces that of any of school system mentioned. The only one that comes close in Fairfax county and even that seems less than McPS.

You have a serious victim complex on behalf of MCPS and it's unhealthy. Seek treatment.

Exactly these people complaining about decline are the problem. If they spent 10% the effort they make complaining, parenting their children this wouldn't be a problem.

That there are parents who are failing to uphold their responsibilities does not absolve MCPS of its own systemic failings and shortcomings. Your inability to recognize that two simultaneous truths might be valid is limiting your ability to effectively engage in this discourse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

It's only broken in the imagination of especially high-maintenance privileged parents who are the real problem.

+1000 Many of these posters would be unhappy in paradise.

They hate it when anyone who has a different experience speaks up—for example, our family values education. We parent and have high expectations of our children. Our kids are flourishing in MCPS.

In which HS pyramid? The experience may be different for a similar family in a different part of the county, and that is among the problems that should be addressed.

MD operates schools on a county basis, not a town basis, as with some other states. The experience/opportunities throughout the county, while not exactly the same, should be reasonably similar.

One child is at Blair SMCS program the other is at Wheaton Engineering.

Good that there was an acceptance and a match. Dedicated/enriched programs that support your children's interests can offer a different experience. Was that the case in ES (HGC/CES) and/or MS (magnets)? There aren't really enough seats in these at any level to address needs/capabilities.

I presume you are inbounds DCC, then, for the Wheaton match, unless there was a COSA or unless I've got the wrong idea and it's available beyond the consortium in the same way as SMCS. (Please correct me, there, if so.) That's got a very large number of feeder ES's, and I wouldn't want to pin you to one (which is why I asked for the HS pyramid instead of the ES), but, aside from any magnet experience, did you find the school(s) provided challenging instruction, or was it mostly things done outside of school that provided enrichment?

In early ES, I had to shoulder more of the burden, but that was fine. We were at a Title 1 school, so classes were small. Later, kids went through programs like CES or the TPMS magnet. They found opportunities that provided a fine experience. This seems available to anyone with motivation and interest.

There have been fewer spots in those magnets than the need for a long time, and, with the lottery approach, having the motivation is a crapshoot. That approach essentially sees MCPS admitting to the relative paucity of seats -- anyone in the pool qualifies, but there are only spots for a fraction.

Possibly that was instituted after your children went through? Perhaps they got a lucky bounce, or were in-catchment for TPMS/PBES, which gave them a much better chance of getting a magnet slot than elsewhere in the county?

In any case, the need you cited about pre-magnet home burden might be more typical of the experience of folks not fortunate enough to have the magnet ball bounce their way or be in schools that have not experienced decline. I'm not saying that MCPS is terrible, as the OP suggests, but I think it's irresponsible to insinuate that any concern comes from privilege rather than the possibility of truly negative experience, or that that negative experience must be an aberration.

But the MCPS is terrible or in decline message is what you hear most. The complaints are what is heard most and loudest. The people giving MCPS and teachers kudos for any work or progress are themselves.

Scarcity of seats in magnet programs is an issue given the number of students now present in the county. So is/was bias in admittance. The county sought to resolve this by creating the pool/lottery system and rolling out ELC to all elementary schools. Did they get applause for that? No, it was complaints that ELC wasn’t the same as CES program, the teaching isn’t the same caliber, etc., etc.

I mean, damn they are trying. The can’t solve all the school system’s or society’s problem in one sweep. Teachers, Admin, Staff are burning out in part because nothing ever seems to be enough. Just look at this forum. The amount of complaint and vitriol on the MCPS form far outpaces that of any of school system mentioned. The only one that comes close in Fairfax county and even that seems less than McPS.

You have a serious victim complex on behalf of MCPS and it's unhealthy. Seek treatment.

Exactly these people complaining about decline are the problem. If they spent 10% the effort they make complaining, parenting their children this wouldn't be a problem.

Wrong.

First of all, education is not parenting. Parenting is making sure the kids are ready to learn when they go to school, but it is the school’s job to educate them. That’s the whole point of public education. It’s not a holding cell to park kids until their parents get off work and homeschool them in the evening. It is in society’s best interest that we make sure all kids our well-educated regardless of the degree of patent involvement.

Depending on how well we prepare kids for the future, they can become assets to society or liabilities. They can be our inventors, scientists, doctors, first responders, diplomats, poets, etc., or they can become indigent or even criminal. If we do not invest in them now, we shall assuredly pay more later.

We also need to prepare them as citizens so that they can assume civic responsibilities as their generation comes of age and older generations start to fade.

Secondly, I suspect most of the people complaining, like myself, have been at least as involved in educating their kids as you have. My kids also went to the Blair magnet. They had some fabulous opportunities through MCPS, which I greatly appreciate, but if I had not been making up for the MCPS curriculum deficits, I don’t know if they would have been ready to take advantage of those opportunities. (I’m not talking about prepping, I’m talking about things like using phonics to sound out words, how to hold a pencil, how to do math without a calculator, etc.). It’s BECAUSE we made sure that our kids were educated that we recognize the problems in MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can't fix somehting that isn't broken.

+100