Teacher exposes the craptastic decline iof MCPS in Reddit rant

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a failure on both the extreme right and left. But in MoCo, clearly it is the left at fault. Covid shutdowns, a focus on equal outcomes at the expense of quality, and a failure to impose discipline.

It is a disaster.

Agree. Our politicians on both sides of the aisle have let us down here in the US.

But, locally, here in Montgomery County, it is clearly the left-wing crazies who are at fault. They have dragged down our school system with their push for ultra-progressive policies. We desperately need some balance.

There's honestly a lot of stuff going on here, and some blame to go around on all sides.

At the national level, the over-reliance on "metrics" that was pushed by both GOP and Democratic administrations has severely damaged teacher autonomy. It has also meant that state-level education administrators are in turn pushing the test regimes downward to individual districts, and then it flows down to the school level. So instructional weeks are lost to tests like the MCAP that take more than a year to be graded and have no educational value other than "ranking" schools and districts.

At the state level, governors have played favorites with funding, which means county-level districts struggle to predict how much they will have on hand for capital projects and other badly-needed changes.

At the Montgomery County Council level, you have a body that should have some oversight responsibility for schools but fails to do so. Only two council members even signed onto the letter asking for an independent investigation of a sex pest and serial harasser who had recently been promoted by the Central Office. That is the lowest possible bar, and most of the Council failed to clear it.

Then you have the school board, 100% asleep at the wheel, rubber stamping Central Office decisions with no questions and no oversight. They are supposed to play a "balance of powers" role, and are just catastrophically bad at it.

Finally, the Central Office. This is honestly where the worst decisions are originating. Chasing fad after fad, never pausing long enough to see whether something is working. Also, they've gone turbo mode on dismantling both special education programs like LAD (for kids with learning differences) and METS (for kids whose pre-MCPS educational experience was disrupted) and simultaneously getting rid of differentiated classrooms in middle and high schools (Honors for All).

Similarly, the issues with school discipline are primarily coming from Central Office, who are tying administrators' hands. They have not adequately trained or resourced teachers to use alternative discipline options, while essentially barring folks from using tools like detention or expulsion.

These are decisions being made by folks who are decades out of the classroom, and who didn't spend that much time as teachers to begin with. They are absolutely out of touch with the day-to-day experiences of our public schools, and making their choices with their eye on the "metrics" and looking to the next job.

Holy crap. This is the most on-point, nuanced, accurate assessment of the disaster that has led to the current state of MCPS. You need to submit something that traces these dysfunctions and their trickle-down effects in an op-ed for MoCo 360, Maryland Matters or the Washington Post. GREAT JOB!

Yes! We need some way to demand accountability.

We do! It's called voting.

Last election we had a retired teacher run—someone who had seen the problems from the inside and had really insight. Of course she didn’t win because people thought she’d be too teacher friendly. It’s ridiculous — a woman who worked for decades to educate our children and wanted to serve and voters preferred the no nothings currently in charge.

Who?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Left wing: give out phony diplomas

Right wing: expel and flunk.


Neither of these is a solution.

+1

We need middle ground. It’s what our children (and the teachers) deserve.

We need a return to liberalism. MCPS thrived when moderate Dems were in charge. Now we have woke lunatics who are more like religious fundamentalists ruining a once-amazing school system.

Maybe it's the far-right posters who are frothing at the mouth here. Like last week, some numbskull was going on about spending millions on metal detectors but failed to grasp the problem was with our gun laws or lack thereof.

What?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Left wing: give out phony diplomas

Right wing: expel and flunk.


Neither of these is a solution.

+1

We need middle ground. It’s what our children (and the teachers) deserve.

We need a return to liberalism. MCPS thrived when moderate Dems were in charge. Now we have woke lunatics who are more like religious fundamentalists ruining a once-amazing school system.

Maybe it's the far-right posters who are frothing at the mouth here. Like last week, some numbskull was going on about spending millions on metal detectors but failed to grasp the problem was with our gun laws or lack thereof.

MCPS cannot mandate gun laws. That is at the state and federal levels. Two separate issues. Funny how you are name calling when you cannot understand this. Metal detectors are better than what we have now which is nothing. You want to risk your kids lives, great, go for it but don't risk our kids lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Left wing: give out phony diplomas

Right wing: expel and flunk.


Neither of these is a solution.

+1

We need middle ground. It’s what our children (and the teachers) deserve.

We need a return to liberalism. MCPS thrived when moderate Dems were in charge. Now we have woke lunatics who are more like religious fundamentalists ruining a once-amazing school system.

Maybe it's the far-right posters who are frothing at the mouth here. Like last week, some numbskull was going on about spending millions on metal detectors but failed to grasp the problem was with our gun laws or lack thereof.

MCPS cannot mandate gun laws. That is at the state and federal levels. Two separate issues. Funny how you are name calling when you cannot understand this. Metal detectors are better than what we have now which is nothing. You want to risk your kids lives, great, go for it but don't risk our kids lives.

No they really aren't. In fact, places that spent millions on them like LA county found they weren't effective and created a bad school atmosphere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a failure on both the extreme right and left. But in MoCo, clearly it is the left at fault. Covid shutdowns, a focus on equal outcomes at the expense of quality, and a failure to impose discipline.

It is a disaster.

Agree. Our politicians on both sides of the aisle have let us down here in the US.

But, locally, here in Montgomery County, it is clearly the left-wing crazies who are at fault. They have dragged down our school system with their push for ultra-progressive policies. We desperately need some balance.

There's honestly a lot of stuff going on here, and some blame to go around on all sides.

At the national level, the over-reliance on "metrics" that was pushed by both GOP and Democratic administrations has severely damaged teacher autonomy. It has also meant that state-level education administrators are in turn pushing the test regimes downward to individual districts, and then it flows down to the school level. So instructional weeks are lost to tests like the MCAP that take more than a year to be graded and have no educational value other than "ranking" schools and districts.

At the state level, governors have played favorites with funding, which means county-level districts struggle to predict how much they will have on hand for capital projects and other badly-needed changes.

At the Montgomery County Council level, you have a body that should have some oversight responsibility for schools but fails to do so. Only two council members even signed onto the letter asking for an independent investigation of a sex pest and serial harasser who had recently been promoted by the Central Office. That is the lowest possible bar, and most of the Council failed to clear it.

Then you have the school board, 100% asleep at the wheel, rubber stamping Central Office decisions with no questions and no oversight. They are supposed to play a "balance of powers" role, and are just catastrophically bad at it.

Finally, the Central Office. This is honestly where the worst decisions are originating. Chasing fad after fad, never pausing long enough to see whether something is working. Also, they've gone turbo mode on dismantling both special education programs like LAD (for kids with learning differences) and METS (for kids whose pre-MCPS educational experience was disrupted) and simultaneously getting rid of differentiated classrooms in middle and high schools (Honors for All).

Similarly, the issues with school discipline are primarily coming from Central Office, who are tying administrators' hands. They have not adequately trained or resourced teachers to use alternative discipline options, while essentially barring folks from using tools like detention or expulsion.

These are decisions being made by folks who are decades out of the classroom, and who didn't spend that much time as teachers to begin with. They are absolutely out of touch with the day-to-day experiences of our public schools, and making their choices with their eye on the "metrics" and looking to the next job.

Holy crap. This is the most on-point, nuanced, accurate assessment of the disaster that has led to the current state of MCPS. You need to submit something that traces these dysfunctions and their trickle-down effects in an op-ed for MoCo 360, Maryland Matters or the Washington Post. GREAT JOB!

Yes! We need some way to demand accountability.

We do! It's called voting.

Last election we had a retired teacher run—someone who had seen the problems from the inside and had really insight. Of course she didn’t win because people thought she’d be too teacher friendly. It’s ridiculous — a woman who worked for decades to educate our children and wanted to serve and voters preferred the no nothings currently in charge.

Who?

https://moco360.media/2022/11/01/in-school-board-race-former-mcps-teacher-and-incumbent-face-off-for-district-5-seat/

I don’t know this woman at all and don’t really know if she would have been good but in general I think the Board and central office need to spend a lot more time listening to experienced teachers’ views on what works and what doesn’t. In my opinion, they are really the only ones who know what they are talking about and most of them really have the best of intentions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a failure on both the extreme right and left. But in MoCo, clearly it is the left at fault. Covid shutdowns, a focus on equal outcomes at the expense of quality, and a failure to impose discipline.

It is a disaster.

Agree. Our politicians on both sides of the aisle have let us down here in the US.

But, locally, here in Montgomery County, it is clearly the left-wing crazies who are at fault. They have dragged down our school system with their push for ultra-progressive policies. We desperately need some balance.

There's honestly a lot of stuff going on here, and some blame to go around on all sides.

At the national level, the over-reliance on "metrics" that was pushed by both GOP and Democratic administrations has severely damaged teacher autonomy. It has also meant that state-level education administrators are in turn pushing the test regimes downward to individual districts, and then it flows down to the school level. So instructional weeks are lost to tests like the MCAP that take more than a year to be graded and have no educational value other than "ranking" schools and districts.

At the state level, governors have played favorites with funding, which means county-level districts struggle to predict how much they will have on hand for capital projects and other badly-needed changes.

At the Montgomery County Council level, you have a body that should have some oversight responsibility for schools but fails to do so. Only two council members even signed onto the letter asking for an independent investigation of a sex pest and serial harasser who had recently been promoted by the Central Office. That is the lowest possible bar, and most of the Council failed to clear it.

Then you have the school board, 100% asleep at the wheel, rubber stamping Central Office decisions with no questions and no oversight. They are supposed to play a "balance of powers" role, and are just catastrophically bad at it.

Finally, the Central Office. This is honestly where the worst decisions are originating. Chasing fad after fad, never pausing long enough to see whether something is working. Also, they've gone turbo mode on dismantling both special education programs like LAD (for kids with learning differences) and METS (for kids whose pre-MCPS educational experience was disrupted) and simultaneously getting rid of differentiated classrooms in middle and high schools (Honors for All).

Similarly, the issues with school discipline are primarily coming from Central Office, who are tying administrators' hands. They have not adequately trained or resourced teachers to use alternative discipline options, while essentially barring folks from using tools like detention or expulsion.

These are decisions being made by folks who are decades out of the classroom, and who didn't spend that much time as teachers to begin with. They are absolutely out of touch with the day-to-day experiences of our public schools, and making their choices with their eye on the "metrics" and looking to the next job.

Holy crap. This is the most on-point, nuanced, accurate assessment of the disaster that has led to the current state of MCPS. You need to submit something that traces these dysfunctions and their trickle-down effects in an op-ed for MoCo 360, Maryland Matters or the Washington Post. GREAT JOB!

Yes! We need some way to demand accountability.

We do! It's called voting.

Last election we had a retired teacher run—someone who had seen the problems from the inside and had really insight. Of course she didn’t win because people thought she’d be too teacher friendly. It’s ridiculous — a woman who worked for decades to educate our children and wanted to serve and voters preferred the no nothings currently in charge.

Who?

https://moco360.media/2022/11/01/in-school-board-race-former-mcps-teacher-and-incumbent-face-off-for-district-5-seat/

I don’t know this woman at all and don’t really know if she would have been good but in general I think the Board and central office need to spend a lot more time listening to experienced teachers’ views on what works and what doesn’t. In my opinion, they are really the only ones who know what they are talking about and most of them really have the best of intentions.

I just read the article. She sounds exactly like the rat of the BOE talking about equity and changing boundaries. No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Just like all democratically controlled elections in this country, the people who ultimately get to decide are hand picked so the apple cart doesn’t get overturned, so don’t get your hopes up for any meaningful changes in the system, regardless of who you vote for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take a look at Baltimore city schools - that is where mcps is headed. Seems like a good time
to open a new private school in moco. So many disgruntled teachers to hire as well.

Catholics should ask the Archbishop of Maryland to open new schools. We also need charters if MCPS is unwilling to change things. I started noticing the decline in 2014.

There isn’t a demand for it in MoCo. Not from actual Catholics. Most are fine with MCPS and an hour of Religious Ed a week. There are many non-Catholics interested in more Catholic school seats because they view them as a cheap private experience. Parishes and the Archdiocese shouldn’t take on the expense of running more schools just to provide more seats for non-Catholics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a failure on both the extreme right and left. But in MoCo, clearly it is the left at fault. Covid shutdowns, a focus on equal outcomes at the expense of quality, and a failure to impose discipline.

It is a disaster.

Agree. Our politicians on both sides of the aisle have let us down here in the US.

But, locally, here in Montgomery County, it is clearly the left-wing crazies who are at fault. They have dragged down our school system with their push for ultra-progressive policies. We desperately need some balance.

There's honestly a lot of stuff going on here, and some blame to go around on all sides.

At the national level, the over-reliance on "metrics" that was pushed by both GOP and Democratic administrations has severely damaged teacher autonomy. It has also meant that state-level education administrators are in turn pushing the test regimes downward to individual districts, and then it flows down to the school level. So instructional weeks are lost to tests like the MCAP that take more than a year to be graded and have no educational value other than "ranking" schools and districts.

At the state level, governors have played favorites with funding, which means county-level districts struggle to predict how much they will have on hand for capital projects and other badly-needed changes.

At the Montgomery County Council level, you have a body that should have some oversight responsibility for schools but fails to do so. Only two council members even signed onto the letter asking for an independent investigation of a sex pest and serial harasser who had recently been promoted by the Central Office. That is the lowest possible bar, and most of the Council failed to clear it.

Then you have the school board, 100% asleep at the wheel, rubber stamping Central Office decisions with no questions and no oversight. They are supposed to play a "balance of powers" role, and are just catastrophically bad at it.

Finally, the Central Office. This is honestly where the worst decisions are originating. Chasing fad after fad, never pausing long enough to see whether something is working. Also, they've gone turbo mode on dismantling both special education programs like LAD (for kids with learning differences) and METS (for kids whose pre-MCPS educational experience was disrupted) and simultaneously getting rid of differentiated classrooms in middle and high schools (Honors for All).

Similarly, the issues with school discipline are primarily coming from Central Office, who are tying administrators' hands. They have not adequately trained or resourced teachers to use alternative discipline options, while essentially barring folks from using tools like detention or expulsion.

These are decisions being made by folks who are decades out of the classroom, and who didn't spend that much time as teachers to begin with. They are absolutely out of touch with the day-to-day experiences of our public schools, and making their choices with their eye on the "metrics" and looking to the next job.

Holy crap. This is the most on-point, nuanced, accurate assessment of the disaster that has led to the current state of MCPS. You need to submit something that traces these dysfunctions and their trickle-down effects in an op-ed for MoCo 360, Maryland Matters or the Washington Post. GREAT JOB!

Yes! We need some way to demand accountability.

We do! It's called voting.

Last election we had a retired teacher run—someone who had seen the problems from the inside and had really insight. Of course she didn’t win because people thought she’d be too teacher friendly. It’s ridiculous — a woman who worked for decades to educate our children and wanted to serve and voters preferred the no nothings currently in charge.

Who?

https://moco360.media/2022/11/01/in-school-board-race-former-mcps-teacher-and-incumbent-face-off-for-district-5-seat/

I don’t know this woman at all and don’t really know if she would have been good but in general I think the Board and central office need to spend a lot more time listening to experienced teachers’ views on what works and what doesn’t. In my opinion, they are really the only ones who know what they are talking about and most of them really have the best of intentions.

I just read the article. She sounds exactly like the rat of the BOE talking about equity and changing boundaries. No thanks.

I voted for her. She seemed great. Unfortunately, they're still focused on everything but education and little has changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take a look at Baltimore city schools - that is where mcps is headed. Seems like a good time
to open a new private school in moco. So many disgruntled teachers to hire as well.

Catholics should ask the Archbishop of Maryland to open new schools. We also need charters if MCPS is unwilling to change things. I started noticing the decline in 2014.

There isn’t a demand for it in MoCo. Not from actual Catholics. Most are fine with MCPS and an hour of Religious Ed a week. There are many non-Catholics interested in more Catholic school seats because they view them as a cheap private experience. Parishes and the Archdiocese shouldn’t take on the expense of running more schools just to provide more seats for non-Catholics.

Exactly. Hence the business proposition for new non catholic privates. There is a huge demand from non catholic families at all the local parish schools because they are fed up with the ideological formation being pushed in mcps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a failure on both the extreme right and left. But in MoCo, clearly it is the left at fault. Covid shutdowns, a focus on equal outcomes at the expense of quality, and a failure to impose discipline.

It is a disaster.

Agree. Our politicians on both sides of the aisle have let us down here in the US.

But, locally, here in Montgomery County, it is clearly the left-wing crazies who are at fault. They have dragged down our school system with their push for ultra-progressive policies. We desperately need some balance.

There's honestly a lot of stuff going on here, and some blame to go around on all sides.

At the national level, the over-reliance on "metrics" that was pushed by both GOP and Democratic administrations has severely damaged teacher autonomy. It has also meant that state-level education administrators are in turn pushing the test regimes downward to individual districts, and then it flows down to the school level. So instructional weeks are lost to tests like the MCAP that take more than a year to be graded and have no educational value other than "ranking" schools and districts.

At the state level, governors have played favorites with funding, which means county-level districts struggle to predict how much they will have on hand for capital projects and other badly-needed changes.

At the Montgomery County Council level, you have a body that should have some oversight responsibility for schools but fails to do so. Only two council members even signed onto the letter asking for an independent investigation of a sex pest and serial harasser who had recently been promoted by the Central Office. That is the lowest possible bar, and most of the Council failed to clear it.

Then you have the school board, 100% asleep at the wheel, rubber stamping Central Office decisions with no questions and no oversight. They are supposed to play a "balance of powers" role, and are just catastrophically bad at it.

Finally, the Central Office. This is honestly where the worst decisions are originating. Chasing fad after fad, never pausing long enough to see whether something is working. Also, they've gone turbo mode on dismantling both special education programs like LAD (for kids with learning differences) and METS (for kids whose pre-MCPS educational experience was disrupted) and simultaneously getting rid of differentiated classrooms in middle and high schools (Honors for All).

Similarly, the issues with school discipline are primarily coming from Central Office, who are tying administrators' hands. They have not adequately trained or resourced teachers to use alternative discipline options, while essentially barring folks from using tools like detention or expulsion.

These are decisions being made by folks who are decades out of the classroom, and who didn't spend that much time as teachers to begin with. They are absolutely out of touch with the day-to-day experiences of our public schools, and making their choices with their eye on the "metrics" and looking to the next job.

Holy crap. This is the most on-point, nuanced, accurate assessment of the disaster that has led to the current state of MCPS. You need to submit something that traces these dysfunctions and their trickle-down effects in an op-ed for MoCo 360, Maryland Matters or the Washington Post. GREAT JOB!

Yes! We need some way to demand accountability.

We do! It's called voting.

Last election we had a retired teacher run—someone who had seen the problems from the inside and had really insight. Of course she didn’t win because people thought she’d be too teacher friendly. It’s ridiculous — a woman who worked for decades to educate our children and wanted to serve and voters preferred the no nothings currently in charge.

Who?

https://moco360.media/2022/11/01/in-school-board-race-former-mcps-teacher-and-incumbent-face-off-for-district-5-seat/

I don’t know this woman at all and don’t really know if she would have been good but in general I think the Board and central office need to spend a lot more time listening to experienced teachers’ views on what works and what doesn’t. In my opinion, they are really the only ones who know what they are talking about and most of them really have the best of intentions.

In reading her answers to the questions posed by MoCo360, she very much seems like more of the same of what's the current BoE. No thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take a look at Baltimore city schools - that is where mcps is headed. Seems like a good time
to open a new private school in moco. So many disgruntled teachers to hire as well.

Catholics should ask the Archbishop of Maryland to open new schools. We also need charters if MCPS is unwilling to change things. I started noticing the decline in 2014.

There isn’t a demand for it in MoCo. Not from actual Catholics. Most are fine with MCPS and an hour of Religious Ed a week. There are many non-Catholics interested in more Catholic school seats because they view them as a cheap private experience. Parishes and the Archdiocese shouldn’t take on the expense of running more schools just to provide more seats for non-Catholics.

Exactly. Hence the business proposition for new non catholic privates. There is a huge demand from non catholic families at all the local parish schools because they are fed up with the ideological formation being pushed in mcps.

Even non-Catholic students are heavily subsidized. I don’t want my contributions to the Archdiocese funding white flight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a failure on both the extreme right and left. But in MoCo, clearly it is the left at fault. Covid shutdowns, a focus on equal outcomes at the expense of quality, and a failure to impose discipline.

It is a disaster.

Agree. Our politicians on both sides of the aisle have let us down here in the US.

But, locally, here in Montgomery County, it is clearly the left-wing crazies who are at fault. They have dragged down our school system with their push for ultra-progressive policies. We desperately need some balance.

There's honestly a lot of stuff going on here, and some blame to go around on all sides.

At the national level, the over-reliance on "metrics" that was pushed by both GOP and Democratic administrations has severely damaged teacher autonomy. It has also meant that state-level education administrators are in turn pushing the test regimes downward to individual districts, and then it flows down to the school level. So instructional weeks are lost to tests like the MCAP that take more than a year to be graded and have no educational value other than "ranking" schools and districts.

At the state level, governors have played favorites with funding, which means county-level districts struggle to predict how much they will have on hand for capital projects and other badly-needed changes.

At the Montgomery County Council level, you have a body that should have some oversight responsibility for schools but fails to do so. Only two council members even signed onto the letter asking for an independent investigation of a sex pest and serial harasser who had recently been promoted by the Central Office. That is the lowest possible bar, and most of the Council failed to clear it.

Then you have the school board, 100% asleep at the wheel, rubber stamping Central Office decisions with no questions and no oversight. They are supposed to play a "balance of powers" role, and are just catastrophically bad at it.

Finally, the Central Office. This is honestly where the worst decisions are originating. Chasing fad after fad, never pausing long enough to see whether something is working. Also, they've gone turbo mode on dismantling both special education programs like LAD (for kids with learning differences) and METS (for kids whose pre-MCPS educational experience was disrupted) and simultaneously getting rid of differentiated classrooms in middle and high schools (Honors for All).

Similarly, the issues with school discipline are primarily coming from Central Office, who are tying administrators' hands. They have not adequately trained or resourced teachers to use alternative discipline options, while essentially barring folks from using tools like detention or expulsion.

These are decisions being made by folks who are decades out of the classroom, and who didn't spend that much time as teachers to begin with. They are absolutely out of touch with the day-to-day experiences of our public schools, and making their choices with their eye on the "metrics" and looking to the next job.

This is so well said. Want to run for the BOE?

I do not, but I want someone like me to run. Someone who talks about a balance of powers, and oversight, and each part of the system playing a role in keeping the rest accountable. I'd like to see someone for whom this IS the end game, not a way to make a political step forward, or a way to make national news for pursuing some culture war nonsense.

I genuinely think MCPS can be diverse, culturally responsive, and academically excellent, but we our Central Office to stop chasing the next big fad and buckle down and deliver some academics. That does mean that some programs (like METS) won't look like the rest of the district, but that's okay. Meet those kids where they are, and give them the tools to be successful.

Do you have friends to talk to? Seriously, my understanding is the School Board is set up to be toothless. They have no professional staff and make $30k yearly for what should be more than full time jobs. I remember one member several years back complaining about how MCPS would not give her the data she requested.

Are there any school boards in Maryland that actually provide oversight, or are they set up by the state to be weak?

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We have a failure on both the extreme right and left. But in MoCo, clearly it is the left at fault. Covid shutdowns, a focus on equal outcomes at the expense of quality, and a failure to impose discipline.

It is a disaster.[/quote]

Agree. Our politicians on both sides of the aisle have let us down here in the US.

But, locally, here in Montgomery County, it is clearly the left-wing crazies who are at fault. They have dragged down our school system with their push for ultra-progressive policies. We desperately need some balance. [/quote]

There's honestly a lot of stuff going on here, and some blame to go around on all sides.

At the national level, the over-reliance on "metrics" that was pushed by both GOP and Democratic administrations has severely damaged teacher autonomy. It has also meant that state-level education administrators are in turn pushing the test regimes downward to individual districts, and then it flows down to the school level. So instructional weeks are lost to tests like the MCAP that take more than a year to be graded and have no educational value other than "ranking" schools and districts.

At the state level, governors have played favorites with funding, which means county-level districts struggle to predict how much they will have on hand for capital projects and other badly-needed changes.

At the Montgomery County Council level, you have a body that should have some oversight responsibility for schools but fails to do so. Only two council members even signed onto the letter asking for an independent investigation of a sex pest and serial harasser who had recently been promoted by the Central Office. That is the lowest possible bar, and most of the Council failed to clear it.

Then you have the school board, 100% asleep at the wheel, rubber stamping Central Office decisions with no questions and no oversight. They are supposed to play a "balance of powers" role, and are just catastrophically bad at it.

Finally, the Central Office. This is honestly where the worst decisions are originating. Chasing fad after fad, never pausing long enough to see whether something is working. Also, they've gone turbo mode on dismantling both special education programs like LAD (for kids with learning differences) and METS (for kids whose pre-MCPS educational experience was disrupted) and simultaneously getting rid of differentiated classrooms in middle and high schools (Honors for All).

Similarly, the issues with school discipline are primarily coming from Central Office, who are tying administrators' hands. They have not adequately trained or resourced teachers to use alternative discipline options, while essentially barring folks from using tools like detention or expulsion.

These are decisions being made by folks who are decades out of the classroom, and who didn't spend that much time as teachers to begin with. They are absolutely out of touch with the day-to-day experiences of our public schools, and making their choices with their eye on the "metrics" and looking to the next job.

[/quote]

Holy crap. This is the most on-point, nuanced, accurate assessment of the disaster that has led to the current state of MCPS. You need to submit something that traces these dysfunctions and their trickle-down effects in an op-ed for MoCo 360, Maryland Matters or the Washington Post. GREAT JOB![/quote]

Yes! We need some way to demand accountability. [/quote]

We do! It's called voting.[/quote]

Last election we had a retired teacher run—someone who had seen the problems from the inside and had really insight. Of course she didn’t win because people thought she’d be too teacher friendly. It’s ridiculous — a woman who worked for decades to educate our children and wanted to serve and voters preferred the no nothings currently in charge. [/quote]

I remember there was a slate of non Apple ballot disrupters who ran. Some had great ideas, at least one was a bit wacky imho but what really disgusted me was seeing former Board Members and prominent Democrats loudly denigrating the group on FaceBook and spreading rumors about them. The problem in MoCo is we are too close to DC, in that most people who run for office here seem to be prepping for national office, and competing to be more progressive than the Californians.

[Anonymous]

Great just what we need. More admin bloat at 250,000 a year. MCPS currently as more than 3 billion a year in funding. Almost 5 billion if you factor in operating budget. No more money for mediocrity.