Who leaked the MCPS attendance documents to the Washington Post?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wasn’t the 40% number the number that had over 10 absences? I don’t know if that was the whole year or per semester, but 10 days over the course of a year could easily be a vacation, a few mental health days, and not bothering to send in notes for a couple absences that should be excused. It’s not that hard to get up to 10-12. It’s hard to get to 47 without a major health/mental health/job issue I would think.

10 classes missed not 10 days missed. 1.5 school days.

I thought it was 10 of the same class. So if you miss a day it wouldn’t count as 7 classes but just 1 for each class. But it could be skipping a particular class 10 times.

[Anonymous]

I notice that MCPS counts missed classes as the total number of absences not days. When DD went to Outdoor Ed (an excused school event) she was marked absent 12 times (4 classes * 3 days). When she had the flu (also excused), she was marked absent 16x (4 classes * 4 days).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Start by demanding that family vacations are not excused regardless of the socioeconomic status of the family. Write letters to the BOE and Smith on this issue specifically. Ask why a week at Disney is an educational experience, but attending the funeral of a cousin is an excused absence.

Stop deflecting. Neither a funeral or a week at Disney would add up to 47 unexcused absences.

47 days is 9 weeks. 9 weeks. Who goes on vacation or goes to a funeral for 9 weeks?

Not straight, but I have a student who has tacked 2-3 days onto every 3 day weekend or holiday so far this year. She is sick, of course. The family goes somewhere sunny.

And who gives a crap? You are jealous. I'm a parent who doesn't pull my kids for vacations and I have volunteered a lot at the schools through the decades. I hear the most bitching about this type of stuff from the poorer teachers who can't afford the vacations. There is so much resentment of the families with money from these teachers. My kid got a $100 watch for Christmas one year and so many teachers commented on it that he stopped wearing it. One of the teachers made a "must be nice" comment in his iep meeting. Jealousy. Get over it.

You need help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am sure there is an issue but I also know that my kids often have unexcused absences that were entered wrong that no one bothers to correct. Sometimes we do not even know till we get the report card. Or we get an email and it is a field trip or sports.

47 times? The article isn't about mistakes in recording. It is about massive unexcused absences that show that students don't actually have to attend MCPS to graduate. The article devalues MCPS diplomas for all students.

It's a pretty fair system if kids who miss school are held accountable to prove themselves with their grades. It actually teaches responsibility and is better preparation for college than denying graduation due to absences. Good for MCPS.

[Anonymous]

47 times? The article isn't about mistakes in recording. It is about massive unexcused absences that show that students don't actually have to attend MCPS to graduate. The article devalues MCPS diplomas for all students.


It's a pretty fair system if kids who miss school are held accountable to prove themselves with their grades. It actually teaches responsibility and is better preparation for college than denying graduation due to absences. Good for MCPS.

Wow you are dumber than a rock. These kids are not earning the grades or proving themselves! Teachers are pushed to inflate grades ON TOP of MCPS policies that will give them 50% for just putting their name into something. In addition, teachers are told to strike out 0 grades for things where the kid couldn't even be bothered to try. The teacher is pushed to "reteach" and pass a kid who has barely been in class and is nowhere close to proficient or passing on their own.

This is solely about making MCPS better than it is by pumping up the graduation rate.

[Anonymous]

Let’s allow more course credit by exam and also shorter courses. My brother did 4 courses at a time back in 1970 something.

Allow co-op starting in 9th grade and permit non-SPED/ESOL students at attend classes through age 21. Students could attend classes 3 hours a day and still work.

Bring back HS Plus, an actual evening school running 7-11 pm at least 4 days a week), and real Saturday school (I love George B. Thomas, but the kids enrolled are not the ones with high absenteeism.)

I taught a number of pregnant and parenting students in HS Plus. All were eager to make up a semester lost to absences for pregnancy complications, childbirth, and/or infant care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

47 times? The article isn't about mistakes in recording. It is about massive unexcused absences that show that students don't actually have to attend MCPS to graduate. The article devalues MCPS diplomas for all students.


It's a pretty fair system if kids who miss school are held accountable to prove themselves with their grades. It actually teaches responsibility and is better preparation for college than denying graduation due to absences. Good for MCPS.

Wow you are dumber than a rock. These kids are not earning the grades or proving themselves! Teachers are pushed to inflate grades ON TOP of MCPS policies that will give them 50% for just putting their name into something. In addition, teachers are told to strike out 0 grades for things where the kid couldn't even be bothered to try. The teacher is pushed to "reteach" and pass a kid who has barely been in class and is nowhere close to proficient or passing on their own.

This is solely about making MCPS better than it is by pumping up the graduation rate.

No putting your name on a blank piece of paper does not get you 50%.

[Anonymous]

The Post article mentioned the MD Report Card site, but didn't include very much data, so I looked it up.
Here are each of the MCPS high schools' percentages of "Students not chronically absent" which is defined as "the percent of students not absent 10 percent or more school days during the year":

Paint Branch 84.8
Wootton 83.5
Churchill 81
Poolesville 80.6
Whitman 79.7
Walter Johnson 79.5
B-CC 79.4
Sherwood 78.3
Blair 76.9
Blake 76
Clarksburg 75.5
Rockville 75.2
Damascus 75
Springbrook 74
Wheaton 73.4
Northwest 72.7
Seneca Valley 71.4
Richard Montgomery 70.3
Einstein 66.5
Northwood 62.5
Gaithersburg 62.1
Quince Orchard 60.2
Kennedy 59
Watkins Mill 58
Magruder 57

[Anonymous]

Interesting to see Magruder at 57%. Any Magruder teachers or parents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to see Magruder at 57%. Any Magruder teachers or parents?

Maybe their administration should take a drive over to Paint Branch to learn something from them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to see Magruder at 57%. Any Magruder teachers or parents?

Maybe their administration should take a drive over to Paint Branch to learn something from them.

I’m not a PBHS parent or teacher, but I’ve had a child compete against them and when I taught HS, my students competed against them. That school intensely engages their black and brown students. They have a huge MSP! Maybe students feel heard and cared about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to see Magruder at 57%. Any Magruder teachers or parents?

Maybe their administration should take a drive over to Paint Branch to learn something from them.

Some of the problem with all of the schools is likely data entry and attendance code problems. We just figured out that the wrong code was being used for students in testing and it was counting against chronic absences. The whole system is double checking what schools are using for field trips, early release for athletics, etc. to make sure things that are still school supervised aren't counted as chronic absences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to see Magruder at 57%. Any Magruder teachers or parents?

Maybe their administration should take a drive over to Paint Branch to learn something from them.

I’m not a PBHS parent or teacher, but I’ve had a child compete against them and when I taught HS, my students competed against them. That school intensely engages their black and brown students. They have a huge MSP! Maybe students feel heard and cared about?

The principal is old school who protects her staff. I'm not saying everyone adores her, but she has a devoted crew. And when teachers feel respected, kids learn.

'Nuff said

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Interesting to see Magruder at 57%. Any Magruder teachers or parents?

Not sure what the definition of chronically absent is. But Magruder has a self contained ED program. Maybe absences from hospitalizations and school refusal play into the low numbers.

[Anonymous]

Einstein 66.5
Northwood 62.5
Gaithersburg 62.1
Quince Orchard 60.2
Kennedy 59
Watkins Mill 58
Magruder 57

For the lowest schools that score under 70% I say that principals are only paid the % of their salary that matches their attendance numbers.

What is also interesting is that the MD report card number doesn't seem to match the data that was leaked to WaPo. So either the problem is getting worse and the MD report is one year behind or there is a little cooking the books going on at a few of the schools mentioned in the article when they submit their numbers to the state.

Might be time for the state or even feds to do some investigating at a few of our local schools. I believe that some funding grants are tied to attendance numbers.