The state of MCPS is atrocious

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally get why MCPS doesn’t want to give up on students. But there are a real subset of kids who are violent and disruptive, and they get shuffled from school to school rather than truly addressing the underlying issues. I don’t think many here are aware of some of the deeply disturbed family lives some of these kids are coming from. Social media is THE LAST CONCERN in these situations. But these kids are creating outsized problems.

MCPS thinks it can soften expectations to give kids multiple chances as they attempt to support mental health and teach social skills that aren’t being supported or taught at home.

It doesn’t work, and it degrades the educational experience of everyone else.

MCPS needs to go back to setting clear behavioral and academic expectations and then enforce them. One, this actually helps a lot of kids who struggle in terms of behavior. Two, there are kids who could behave just fine, but who take advantage of the fact there are few rules and no consequences. Three, it makes the environment healthier for everyone.

And four, for those kids with significant behavioral issues, use a collaborative case management approach to address all aspects of the child’s life. If this includes transferring the student to a special school for kids with acute behavioral issues, do it. But have a clear plan in place for reintegrating that child when they meet behavioral expectations.

They are doing far more harm than good with their fake mental health and social support. There is no real mental health or social support, just class discussions with teachers or SSL hour lectures/activities to "discuss it." Kids with true mental health and other issues need real help outside MCPS, as MCPS is to educate, not parent or handle mental health crises, and should only get involved to help parents get their kids to the right support. Many of these kids need therapists, psychologists/psychiatrists and really good evaluations and that's not happening in MCPS. It also needs to start catching learning disabilities earlier and getting those kids help if kids cannot perform in school they get discouraged and give up or act out. MCPS and/or the county should establish a few mental health clinics outside the schools where families can go for crisis mental health (the crisis center is more set up for adults than kids) and the county needs to offer more mental health services (they do have some but not accessible to all) for kids (although I suspect one issue is they cannot hire enough social workers/therapists as no one wants to work for the county anymore as it isn't a good job as it once was).

YES! You nailed it. MCPS is NOT equipped nor should it be the lead on TREATING AND SUPPORTING kids with mental health needs or issues. It can, though, be on the front lines of diagnosing or spotting those needs, much like they are with vision and hearing.

Prince George's County is leading the way here: https://wjla.com/news/health/walk-in-services-comprehensive-mental-health-care-available-prince-georges-county-lanham-maryland-hospital-behavioral-pavilion-treatment-community-clinic-outpatient-program-dmv-make-appointment-angela-alsobrooks

Prince William County, Va: https://wjla.com/news/local/prince-william-county-holds-ribbon-cutting-for-new-mental-health-crisis-receiving-center-glenn-youngkin-substance-abuse-elizabeth-guzman-woodbridge

MoCo needs to follow suit.

Their vision and hearing screenings are a joke, just are the ones in the ped's clinics. They were completely incorrect for my kids and they have no business doing medical care for kids. If they want to provide medical care, set up clinics in some of the local schools with parent consent so kids can get regular care and physicals at a free or low cost. It's all for the show.

They need to focus on education. If some of these kids were getting a better education and their needs met (especially via early intervention in K-5), many of them would be doing far better later on. When they ignore basic learning disabilities and only provide minimal support for other disabilities and delays they are failing our kids. When they ignore smart and gifted kids and lump them all together, they are failing our kids. When they ignore the average kids who may be struggling but too quiet or because they are passing, they are also failing those kids.

I don't know what to tell you. I personally benefited from the vision screenings in MCPS as a kid in the 90s, so I disagree that it doesn't work. My teachers noticed the issue, I had the vision screening and then I got a referral to an optometrist and I got glasses, which I desperately needed.

I agree with the other points, but it's not unreasonable to expect that the entity that has oversight of our kids for 6 hours a day every day can play a role in screening for physical and mental health anomalies.

With my third son who never complained about vision and pediatrician does not check eyes till like 8 so the school screening him in kindergarten showed me that my kid's reading issues were his eyes not trying. It is a wonderful thing our schools do for the kids.

Kids wouldn't know their vision is changing or bad. As a parent, you clearly neglected your kids if you didn't take them for regular eye exams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally get why MCPS doesn’t want to give up on students. But there are a real subset of kids who are violent and disruptive, and they get shuffled from school to school rather than truly addressing the underlying issues. I don’t think many here are aware of some of the deeply disturbed family lives some of these kids are coming from. Social media is THE LAST CONCERN in these situations. But these kids are creating outsized problems.

MCPS thinks it can soften expectations to give kids multiple chances as they attempt to support mental health and teach social skills that aren’t being supported or taught at home.

It doesn’t work, and it degrades the educational experience of everyone else.

MCPS needs to go back to setting clear behavioral and academic expectations and then enforce them. One, this actually helps a lot of kids who struggle in terms of behavior. Two, there are kids who could behave just fine, but who take advantage of the fact there are few rules and no consequences. Three, it makes the environment healthier for everyone.

And four, for those kids with significant behavioral issues, use a collaborative case management approach to address all aspects of the child’s life. If this includes transferring the student to a special school for kids with acute behavioral issues, do it. But have a clear plan in place for reintegrating that child when they meet behavioral expectations.

They are doing far more harm than good with their fake mental health and social support. There is no real mental health or social support, just class discussions with teachers or SSL hour lectures/activities to "discuss it." Kids with true mental health and other issues need real help outside MCPS, as MCPS is to educate, not parent or handle mental health crises, and should only get involved to help parents get their kids to the right support. Many of these kids need therapists, psychologists/psychiatrists and really good evaluations and that's not happening in MCPS. It also needs to start catching learning disabilities earlier and getting those kids help if kids cannot perform in school they get discouraged and give up or act out. MCPS and/or the county should establish a few mental health clinics outside the schools where families can go for crisis mental health (the crisis center is more set up for adults than kids) and the county needs to offer more mental health services (they do have some but not accessible to all) for kids (although I suspect one issue is they cannot hire enough social workers/therapists as no one wants to work for the county anymore as it isn't a good job as it once was).

YES! You nailed it. MCPS is NOT equipped nor should it be the lead on TREATING AND SUPPORTING kids with mental health needs or issues. It can, though, be on the front lines of diagnosing or spotting those needs, much like they are with vision and hearing.

Prince George's County is leading the way here: https://wjla.com/news/health/walk-in-services-comprehensive-mental-health-care-available-prince-georges-county-lanham-maryland-hospital-behavioral-pavilion-treatment-community-clinic-outpatient-program-dmv-make-appointment-angela-alsobrooks

Prince William County, Va: https://wjla.com/news/local/prince-william-county-holds-ribbon-cutting-for-new-mental-health-crisis-receiving-center-glenn-youngkin-substance-abuse-elizabeth-guzman-woodbridge

MoCo needs to follow suit.

Their vision and hearing screenings are a joke, just are the ones in the ped's clinics. They were completely incorrect for my kids and they have no business doing medical care for kids. If they want to provide medical care, set up clinics in some of the local schools with parent consent so kids can get regular care and physicals at a free or low cost. It's all for the show.

They need to focus on education. If some of these kids were getting a better education and their needs met (especially via early intervention in K-5), many of them would be doing far better later on. When they ignore basic learning disabilities and only provide minimal support for other disabilities and delays they are failing our kids. When they ignore smart and gifted kids and lump them all together, they are failing our kids. When they ignore the average kids who may be struggling but too quiet or because they are passing, they are also failing those kids.

I don't know what to tell you. I personally benefited from the vision screenings in MCPS as a kid in the 90s, so I disagree that it doesn't work. My teachers noticed the issue, I had the vision screening and then I got a referral to an optometrist and I got glasses, which I desperately needed.

I agree with the other points, but it's not unreasonable to expect that the entity that has oversight of our kids for 6 hours a day every day can play a role in screening for physical and mental health anomalies.

Then, you had checked out parents. We always took ours for vision exams when we did our own. I don't need MCPS to do medical care. They did a huge drama for us demanding that we do a vision test for our child and it was bizarre as the child came in the week prior wearing brand new glasses and was wearing them daily. For months they demanded a copy of the doctor's exam and prescription/receipt of the classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally get why MCPS doesn’t want to give up on students. But there are a real subset of kids who are violent and disruptive, and they get shuffled from school to school rather than truly addressing the underlying issues. I don’t think many here are aware of some of the deeply disturbed family lives some of these kids are coming from. Social media is THE LAST CONCERN in these situations. But these kids are creating outsized problems.

MCPS thinks it can soften expectations to give kids multiple chances as they attempt to support mental health and teach social skills that aren’t being supported or taught at home.

It doesn’t work, and it degrades the educational experience of everyone else.

MCPS needs to go back to setting clear behavioral and academic expectations and then enforce them. One, this actually helps a lot of kids who struggle in terms of behavior. Two, there are kids who could behave just fine, but who take advantage of the fact there are few rules and no consequences. Three, it makes the environment healthier for everyone.

And four, for those kids with significant behavioral issues, use a collaborative case management approach to address all aspects of the child’s life. If this includes transferring the student to a special school for kids with acute behavioral issues, do it. But have a clear plan in place for reintegrating that child when they meet behavioral expectations.

They are doing far more harm than good with their fake mental health and social support. There is no real mental health or social support, just class discussions with teachers or SSL hour lectures/activities to "discuss it." Kids with true mental health and other issues need real help outside MCPS, as MCPS is to educate, not parent or handle mental health crises, and should only get involved to help parents get their kids to the right support. Many of these kids need therapists, psychologists/psychiatrists and really good evaluations and that's not happening in MCPS. It also needs to start catching learning disabilities earlier and getting those kids help if kids cannot perform in school they get discouraged and give up or act out. MCPS and/or the county should establish a few mental health clinics outside the schools where families can go for crisis mental health (the crisis center is more set up for adults than kids) and the county needs to offer more mental health services (they do have some but not accessible to all) for kids (although I suspect one issue is they cannot hire enough social workers/therapists as no one wants to work for the county anymore as it isn't a good job as it once was).

YES! You nailed it. MCPS is NOT equipped nor should it be the lead on TREATING AND SUPPORTING kids with mental health needs or issues. It can, though, be on the front lines of diagnosing or spotting those needs, much like they are with vision and hearing.

Prince George's County is leading the way here: https://wjla.com/news/health/walk-in-services-comprehensive-mental-health-care-available-prince-georges-county-lanham-maryland-hospital-behavioral-pavilion-treatment-community-clinic-outpatient-program-dmv-make-appointment-angela-alsobrooks

Prince William County, Va: https://wjla.com/news/local/prince-william-county-holds-ribbon-cutting-for-new-mental-health-crisis-receiving-center-glenn-youngkin-substance-abuse-elizabeth-guzman-woodbridge

MoCo needs to follow suit.

Their vision and hearing screenings are a joke, just are the ones in the ped's clinics. They were completely incorrect for my kids and they have no business doing medical care for kids. If they want to provide medical care, set up clinics in some of the local schools with parent consent so kids can get regular care and physicals at a free or low cost. It's all for the show.

They need to focus on education. If some of these kids were getting a better education and their needs met (especially via early intervention in K-5), many of them would be doing far better later on. When they ignore basic learning disabilities and only provide minimal support for other disabilities and delays they are failing our kids. When they ignore smart and gifted kids and lump them all together, they are failing our kids. When they ignore the average kids who may be struggling but too quiet or because they are passing, they are also failing those kids.

Agree 100% sadly many expect the county to raise their kids and that's the real problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS obsession with testing and hitting benchmarks is leading to anxiety and behavioral issues in children.

Sorry, skyrocketing school violence is a result zero effective consequences, not school tests.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally get why MCPS doesn’t want to give up on students. But there are a real subset of kids who are violent and disruptive, and they get shuffled from school to school rather than truly addressing the underlying issues. I don’t think many here are aware of some of the deeply disturbed family lives some of these kids are coming from. Social media is THE LAST CONCERN in these situations. But these kids are creating outsized problems.

MCPS thinks it can soften expectations to give kids multiple chances as they attempt to support mental health and teach social skills that aren’t being supported or taught at home.

It doesn’t work, and it degrades the educational experience of everyone else.

MCPS needs to go back to setting clear behavioral and academic expectations and then enforce them. One, this actually helps a lot of kids who struggle in terms of behavior. Two, there are kids who could behave just fine, but who take advantage of the fact there are few rules and no consequences. Three, it makes the environment healthier for everyone.

And four, for those kids with significant behavioral issues, use a collaborative case management approach to address all aspects of the child’s life. If this includes transferring the student to a special school for kids with acute behavioral issues, do it. But have a clear plan in place for reintegrating that child when they meet behavioral expectations.

They are doing far more harm than good with their fake mental health and social support. There is no real mental health or social support, just class discussions with teachers or SSL hour lectures/activities to "discuss it." Kids with true mental health and other issues need real help outside MCPS, as MCPS is to educate, not parent or handle mental health crises, and should only get involved to help parents get their kids to the right support. Many of these kids need therapists, psychologists/psychiatrists and really good evaluations and that's not happening in MCPS. It also needs to start catching learning disabilities earlier and getting those kids help if kids cannot perform in school they get discouraged and give up or act out. MCPS and/or the county should establish a few mental health clinics outside the schools where families can go for crisis mental health (the crisis center is more set up for adults than kids) and the county needs to offer more mental health services (they do have some but not accessible to all) for kids (although I suspect one issue is they cannot hire enough social workers/therapists as no one wants to work for the county anymore as it isn't a good job as it once was).

YES! You nailed it. MCPS is NOT equipped nor should it be the lead on TREATING AND SUPPORTING kids with mental health needs or issues. It can, though, be on the front lines of diagnosing or spotting those needs, much like they are with vision and hearing.

Prince George's County is leading the way here: https://wjla.com/news/health/walk-in-services-comprehensive-mental-health-care-available-prince-georges-county-lanham-maryland-hospital-behavioral-pavilion-treatment-community-clinic-outpatient-program-dmv-make-appointment-angela-alsobrooks

Prince William County, Va: https://wjla.com/news/local/prince-william-county-holds-ribbon-cutting-for-new-mental-health-crisis-receiving-center-glenn-youngkin-substance-abuse-elizabeth-guzman-woodbridge

MoCo needs to follow suit.

Their vision and hearing screenings are a joke, just are the ones in the ped's clinics. They were completely incorrect for my kids and they have no business doing medical care for kids. If they want to provide medical care, set up clinics in some of the local schools with parent consent so kids can get regular care and physicals at a free or low cost. It's all for the show.

They need to focus on education. If some of these kids were getting a better education and their needs met (especially via early intervention in K-5), many of them would be doing far better later on. When they ignore basic learning disabilities and only provide minimal support for other disabilities and delays they are failing our kids. When they ignore smart and gifted kids and lump them all together, they are failing our kids. When they ignore the average kids who may be struggling but too quiet or because they are passing, they are also failing those kids.

I don't know what to tell you. I personally benefited from the vision screenings in MCPS as a kid in the 90s, so I disagree that it doesn't work. My teachers noticed the issue, I had the vision screening and then I got a referral to an optometrist and I got glasses, which I desperately needed.

I agree with the other points, but it's not unreasonable to expect that the entity that has oversight of our kids for 6 hours a day every day can play a role in screening for physical and mental health anomalies.

Then, you had checked out parents. We always took ours for vision exams when we did our own. I don't need MCPS to do medical care. They did a huge drama for us demanding that we do a vision test for our child and it was bizarre as the child came in the week prior wearing brand new glasses and was wearing them daily. For months they demanded a copy of the doctor's exam and prescription/receipt of the classes.

Why would you be so mean here? The PP said the screening helped her and you bash her parents. Personally. God! This thread is awful. There are a LOT of reasons public school behavior is lacking. It’s not just- other parents aren’t as awesome as me with my cell phone policy and regular vision checks. The world is big. There are lots of kinds of parents. It’s public school! You live near it? You go there! I don’t know why a subset of people just wants to criticize other parents )or teachers or unions). It’s so incredibly complex and life is hard for some families and most of them are trying their hardest. And most teachers are too! And honestly kids are doing the best they can. It’s ain’t perfect, but consider the alternative! No thanks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 50% grade thing for doing nothing was done in the name of equity. They foujnd that too many kids of certain groups were not doing any work. By giving 50% for doing nothing, then if they at least did one or two assignments, it would be enough for a D and they'd pass.

Otherwise, MCPS would fail its equity goals because certain groups would have too high of a failure rate.

As a POC, it's a sick, twisted fix and I don't agree with it in the name of equity.

I do understand mathematically that too many zeros can make it mathematically impossible for a kid to recover from mistakes, but that's why I think due dates and deadlines are already a good grace that allows for revision and correction. Also, I think a policy that drops the three lowest grades, which used to be in effect when I was in MCPS in the '90s for some classes, also works too.

But the 50% automatic rule lowers the bar too much.

+1000 agree. When I went to HS eons ago in a rough area with not a lot of high achievers, high FARMS rate, they also let us drop the few lowest test scores. That is a much better way to deal with recovery because it still encourages them to try.

This 50% rule BS is not doing those kids any favors.

To be Devil’s advocate on just this one point, what is so wrong with a kid coasting through and barely passing with straight D’s? The alternative is not that they will somehow get their sh*t together and become model students. The alternative is that dropout rates will go through the roof. These kids aren’t going to college. Straight D’s aren’t much of a prize. They just mean maybe you can qualify for a menial job.

Frankly, a D should not be "passing" for a high school diploma, IMO. The long-term consequence in letting D being the standard for graduation, means that the high school diploma is worth less, which forces employers to rely on a bachelor's degree instead, just to get someone who can speak, write and read at a professional level, which then pushes more kids to college when they might just want to work.

So lowering the bar has all kinds of downstream effects that we pay for as a society. One of the reasons why previous generations could build wealth and own homes is that they actually could get a decent paying job with just a high school diploma. You could argue that society becoming more complex has also necessitated the push toward bachelor's degree as being the new standard, and that's part of it, but I also think lowering the standards for a high school diploma contributes to the problem too.

Isn’t a D passing for the entire state? I don’t know of any public HS that requires more than a D to earn credit for a HS course. Earn the right credits and you graduate.

If you dislike it, you should advocate at the state level. The state is why students must take math all 4 years of HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS obsession with testing and hitting benchmarks is leading to anxiety and behavioral issues in children.

Sorry, skyrocketing school violence is a result zero effective consequences, not school tests.

In MCPS there are lots of consequences. THere are pages and page about all the suspensions and detentions these day just a week ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 50% grade thing for doing nothing was done in the name of equity. They foujnd that too many kids of certain groups were not doing any work. By giving 50% for doing nothing, then if they at least did one or two assignments, it would be enough for a D and they'd pass.

Otherwise, MCPS would fail its equity goals because certain groups would have too high of a failure rate.

As a POC, it's a sick, twisted fix and I don't agree with it in the name of equity.

I do understand mathematically that too many zeros can make it mathematically impossible for a kid to recover from mistakes, but that's why I think due dates and deadlines are already a good grace that allows for revision and correction. Also, I think a policy that drops the three lowest grades, which used to be in effect when I was in MCPS in the '90s for some classes, also works too.

But the 50% automatic rule lowers the bar too much.

+1000 agree. When I went to HS eons ago in a rough area with not a lot of high achievers, high FARMS rate, they also let us drop the few lowest test scores. That is a much better way to deal with recovery because it still encourages them to try.

This 50% rule BS is not doing those kids any favors.

To be Devil’s advocate on just this one point, what is so wrong with a kid coasting through and barely passing with straight D’s? The alternative is not that they will somehow get their sh*t together and become model students. The alternative is that dropout rates will go through the roof. These kids aren’t going to college. Straight D’s aren’t much of a prize. They just mean maybe you can qualify for a menial job.

Frankly, a D should not be "passing" for a high school diploma, IMO. The long-term consequence in letting D being the standard for graduation, means that the high school diploma is worth less, which forces employers to rely on a bachelor's degree instead, just to get someone who can speak, write and read at a professional level, which then pushes more kids to college when they might just want to work.

So lowering the bar has all kinds of downstream effects that we pay for as a society. One of the reasons why previous generations could build wealth and own homes is that they actually could get a decent paying job with just a high school diploma. You could argue that society becoming more complex has also necessitated the push toward bachelor's degree as being the new standard, and that's part of it, but I also think lowering the standards for a high school diploma contributes to the problem too.

Isn’t a D passing for the entire state? I don’t know of any public HS that requires more than a D to earn credit for a HS course. Earn the right credits and you graduate.

If you dislike it, you should advocate at the state level. The state is why students must take math all 4 years of HS.

True but I just like to complain and long for a past that never was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh really. Are teachers rude. Well how would you feel if you were assaulted and harrased by students and admin everyday and when you tried to speak up about it you were silenced at work and made to make the paperwork rosy.

You should report incidents of assault to MCPD. It's a felony.

It doesn't matter. Everyone says they refuse to enforce laws at schools and leave our children at risk.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS obsession with testing and hitting benchmarks is leading to anxiety and behavioral issues in children.

Sorry, skyrocketing school violence is a result zero effective consequences, not school tests.

In MCPS there are lots of consequences. THere are pages and page about all the suspensions and detentions these day just a week ago.

Too little. Too late. This needs to happen from the first week of school. They let things get out of hand and it’s too late to start disciplining students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS obsession with testing and hitting benchmarks is leading to anxiety and behavioral issues in children.

Sorry, skyrocketing school violence is a result zero effective consequences, not school tests.

In MCPS there are lots of consequences. THere are pages and page about all the suspensions and detentions these day just a week ago.

Please show me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I totally get why MCPS doesn’t want to give up on students. But there are a real subset of kids who are violent and disruptive, and they get shuffled from school to school rather than truly addressing the underlying issues. I don’t think many here are aware of some of the deeply disturbed family lives some of these kids are coming from. Social media is THE LAST CONCERN in these situations. But these kids are creating outsized problems.

MCPS thinks it can soften expectations to give kids multiple chances as they attempt to support mental health and teach social skills that aren’t being supported or taught at home.

It doesn’t work, and it degrades the educational experience of everyone else.

MCPS needs to go back to setting clear behavioral and academic expectations and then enforce them. One, this actually helps a lot of kids who struggle in terms of behavior. Two, there are kids who could behave just fine, but who take advantage of the fact there are few rules and no consequences. Three, it makes the environment healthier for everyone.

And four, for those kids with significant behavioral issues, use a collaborative case management approach to address all aspects of the child’s life. If this includes transferring the student to a special school for kids with acute behavioral issues, do it. But have a clear plan in place for reintegrating that child when they meet behavioral expectations.

Agree with ALL of this. Honestly, I think most parents and teachers would agree with you. But there is a loud and vocal groups of politicians and voters in Montgomery County who disagree and they are mostly in control at the moment.

There isn’t a loud and vocal group who disagree with this. There is a loud and vocal group who understand that this doesn’t work as simply as you’ve laid it out due to things like state/federal regulations, lack of available private placements, needing to raise pay for psychologists and social workers in the public sphere, teacher and tutors necessary to catch kids up once their behavior improves, etc. etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think Covid is responsible for some of the most recent particularly egregious behavior problems. Kids sat at home on screens for a long time and got (even more) addicted to technology and didn’t have the consistency of school/rules/expectations.

I don’t want to turn this into a union or parent or teacher bashing thread, I just wanted to point out that I believe recent horribleness can be tied to the large scale interruption of learning for public school kids.

At the high school level, I think the legalization of weed (and the narrative of adults saying they use weed to help with their own adhd, and the general normalizing of weed use across the board) is driving the growth in the number of students who come to school high every day, or get high in the bathrooms in the day.

Covid + weed legalization + screen addiction = the present sorry state of many MCPS high school students

(Still think MCPS is doing generally ok, still send my kids there, and still think a churchhill-like attitude is right… it’s better than the alternative!)

I think parents like you find all kinds of ways to rationalize this when it's a combination of the parents and kids. Weed is legal in the state but not the federal level and you need a prescription for it. Parents like you re 100% the problem.

So you DO want to make this into parent bashing. Got it. I don’t. Again, I think it’s a lot of things- an unholy mix of Covid + screen addiction + legalization of weed. At least one teacher above agreed with me…

Another Mcps educator who completely agrees

Again, parents and teachers are allowing this behavior. It’s not screen addiction. Kids are bored, so they turn to screens. Older teens don’t drive and it’s easier to chat online than meet up. Parents aren’t monitoring and supporting their kids and don’t give consequences for bad behavior. Parents allow weed in their homes. Weed had always been here. It’s not nothing new. None of this is.

The kids are absolutely addicted. They are no more bored than they ever were. It’s hard to compete with The Internet/Social Media when it’s at their fingertips and their brains have been wired up (since Covid) to need that dopamine hit more and more. Lots of kids smoke weed out/with friends/in school bathrooms whose parents wouldn’t let them smoke at home. There is indeed a different landscape around weed in the last few years. Parents and teachers are just as good (and sometimes bad) as they ever were. Bashing them is so unproductive. I would argue that our schools need to have stiffer rules around the phones, but with all the school shootings (again, another larger cultural factor at play) parents and teens justifiably would say they need them to be safe. So, I’ll add gun violence to my unholy equation here-

Covid + screen addiction + weed legalization + gun violence = public school mess.

And still.

I’d choose it over the alternative.

So, then limit your child's social media and here's an idea, set a good example and get off social media. It's funny that you are complaining online about social media. Think about it.

We need security, metal and other detectors, and consequences at school and home for bad behavior.

My kids don't have much time for social media or drugs as we have them in lots of activities and spend time as a family and they are teens. Why aren't you doing the same?

These are among the dumbest ideas I've seen. Metal detectors won't solve anything and the problem isn't social media. You people need to look in the mirror sometime.

What do you propose? What everyone is doing now is not working.

dp... phone pouches for a start. They are being implemented all over the country.

And I don't have a phone addiction, neither does DH. We rarely look at our phones. DH doesn't even have a social media account. I only have FB because the activities my kids are involved in communicate via FB, which I hate.

We never allow phones at the dinner table. Still, my kids are addicted to their phones. They walk around everywhere with the phone in their hands.. bathroom, doing chores, ... They text us when they need pickup, but we've told them that unlike them, we don't have the phones glued to our hands, so if they need a pickup, they need to call. We can hear the phone ringing but not the text notification.

You do realize phone pouches are a thing in MCPS right? My kids MS had them.

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Anonymous wrote:I think Covid is responsible for some of the most recent particularly egregious behavior problems. Kids sat at home on screens for a long time and got (even more) addicted to technology and didn’t have the consistency of school/rules/expectations.

I don’t want to turn this into a union or parent or teacher bashing thread, I just wanted to point out that I believe recent horribleness can be tied to the large scale interruption of learning for public school kids.

At the high school level, I think the legalization of weed (and the narrative of adults saying they use weed to help with their own adhd, and the general normalizing of weed use across the board) is driving the growth in the number of students who come to school high every day, or get high in the bathrooms in the day.

Covid + weed legalization + screen addiction = the present sorry state of many MCPS high school students

(Still think MCPS is doing generally ok, still send my kids there, and still think a churchhill-like attitude is right… it’s better than the alternative!)

I think parents like you find all kinds of ways to rationalize this when it's a combination of the parents and kids. Weed is legal in the state but not the federal level and you need a prescription for it. Parents like you re 100% the problem.

So you DO want to make this into parent bashing. Got it. I don’t. Again, I think it’s a lot of things- an unholy mix of Covid + screen addiction + legalization of weed. At least one teacher above agreed with me…

Another Mcps educator who completely agrees

Again, parents and teachers are allowing this behavior. It’s not screen addiction. Kids are bored, so they turn to screens. Older teens don’t drive and it’s easier to chat online than meet up. Parents aren’t monitoring and supporting their kids and don’t give consequences for bad behavior. Parents allow weed in their homes. Weed had always been here. It’s not nothing new. None of this is.

The kids are absolutely addicted. They are no more bored than they ever were. It’s hard to compete with The Internet/Social Media when it’s at their fingertips and their brains have been wired up (since Covid) to need that dopamine hit more and more. Lots of kids smoke weed out/with friends/in school bathrooms whose parents wouldn’t let them smoke at home. There is indeed a different landscape around weed in the last few years. Parents and teachers are just as good (and sometimes bad) as they ever were. Bashing them is so unproductive. I would argue that our schools need to have stiffer rules around the phones, but with all the school shootings (again, another larger cultural factor at play) parents and teens justifiably would say they need them to be safe. So, I’ll add gun violence to my unholy equation here-

Covid + screen addiction + weed legalization + gun violence = public school mess.

And still.

I’d choose it over the alternative.

So, then limit your child's social media and here's an idea, set a good example and get off social media. It's funny that you are complaining online about social media. Think about it.

We need security, metal and other detectors, and consequences at school and home for bad behavior.

My kids don't have much time for social media or drugs as we have them in lots of activities and spend time as a family and they are teens. Why aren't you doing the same?

These are among the dumbest ideas I've seen. Metal detectors won't solve anything and the problem isn't social media. You people need to look in the mirror sometime.

What do you propose? What everyone is doing now is not working.

dp... phone pouches for a start. They are being implemented all over the country.

And I don't have a phone addiction, neither does DH. We rarely look at our phones. DH doesn't even have a social media account. I only have FB because the activities my kids are involved in communicate via FB, which I hate.

We never allow phones at the dinner table. Still, my kids are addicted to their phones. They walk around everywhere with the phone in their hands.. bathroom, doing chores, ... They text us when they need pickup, but we've told them that unlike them, we don't have the phones glued to our hands, so if they need a pickup, they need to call. We can hear the phone ringing but not the text notification.

You do realize phone pouches are a thing in MCPS right? My kids MS had them.

I've never heard of them in any of my kids' MCPS schools. You kids's MS must be an outlier. Or maybe has an active PTSA that funded them? Or they're a pilot school for MCPS as it maybe plans on rolling out later?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS obsession with testing and hitting benchmarks is leading to anxiety and behavioral issues in children.

+1. My kid passed all those. Yet she doesn’t get math adequately. Never did. Lousy system. Lousy teachers. Also I’m science. Lousy lousy. Had to hire tutors to help