MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Parents of middle and HS students - your kids are on their cell phones way more than you think during school despite what they tell you.
Please advocate for tougher cell phone rules in schools. Private schools are doing a much better job of enforcing cell phone rules and their kids are getting a better education because of it. Also, for high school, I don’t mind the early start but period 1 is a waste because kids are either half asleep or arrive late. If I was a high school parent I would advocate for a later high school start time. Many states have adapted to a later start time. I feel so bad for high school kids who look so tired in school but not much I can do about it.

THIS THIS THIS! I can't think of any two changes that would have a bigger impact on my students' success than this.

Honestly, the biggest advantage kids may be getting from a private school education is the ability of privates to restrict phones in the classroom.

-- public high school teacher whose child just graduated from a Catholic school.

If it were not phones it would be something else. Stop blaming phones and learn classroom management. When we grew up teachers were clear of expectations, no non sense and not trying to be our friends.

Tell me what you would like me to do. How should I enforce a no cell phone policy in the classroom? I am constantly telling kids to put away their phone but at my school we are not allowed to take the phone away or deduct any points. We cannot call security or send the kid to the office. We cannot do lunch detention. I don’t think parents want to face the reality of phones in schools. If you cannot control it at home, trust me it is not better at school. And I wish I could invite you to my classroom to see for yourself what first period in high school is like.

DP - does the principal prohibit you from taking away the phone, or is it central office? That policy needs to change. In my view, if a kid has it out and they're not allowed, that phone goes away and they can get it at the end of the day.

That’s a lovely fantasy “in your view.” Now do reality.

We’ll wait.

It doesn't have to be a fantasty - teachers could confiscate if there isn't a policy against it. And a PP said that security comes and does it at one MCPS HS if kid won't put phone away, so it definitely happens somewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ok, new topic!

I would tell them that complaints from parents go much further with admin than complaints from teachers. Be the squeaky wheel. We try to fix problems but often can’t without ruffling our boss’s feathers or risking our own jobs.

As a parent, this rings so true. You have to be a PITA to get anything in MCPS. And the vast majority of the time the problem is with the admin, not the teacher.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Don’t expect much. I literally only get 18 seconds per school day to think and plan for YOUR kid. 0.8 part time teacher = 36 minutes/day planning time with over 100 students

This would be my message, too. We are overwhelmed and we get very little time during the work day to actually get work done. I’m lucky if I get 30 minutes a day to respond to emails, look at data for all 140 students, plan lessons, grade papers, call parents, eat lunch, and go to the bathroom.

I’m not arguing but can you explain what happens to your time? You are supposed to get an hour planning/grading time per day plus a 45 minute lunch. And then some time after school. Are they making you cover other classes during your break? Or attend meetings? This seems like the kind of thing that could be grieved.

Lunch is taken to help kids, at least that is what happens at many high schools. The kids can come to our rooms at lunch for extra help, so lunch is not really lunch. That goes for both teachers and students. Can you imagine being a kid with 7 class and finally, you have lunch only to spend it with a teacher going over concepts that you don't understand? Everyone is tired.

High school teachers have two planning periods -- each 45 minutes long. But one can be taken by admin for meetings or other activities. Plus, the 45 minutes might be the only time to dash to the bathroom, so the 45 minute planning period can go by fast.

However, I think the big problem is that lunch is not just lunch. It is extra help / supervision of students / club mentoring / etc.

Thank you for asking.

I have this concern as well. So much seems to be crammed into the lunch period, which was not how things worked when I was an MCPS student in the 90s. It was much more typical to stay after school for that kind of support but that doesn't seem to be the norm at my kid's DCC high school.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Depends - if they have an iep? I’d tell them that most of the services are delivered by the general Ed teacher because inclusion spec Ed teachers are stretched too thin and we spend so much time on paperwork and not with kids. I’d also tell them no matter what they “advocate for” in the iep, it doesn’t actually happen during the school day due to limited resources and time so half the time we just agree to make you go away

We know. Thanks for being a failure in your life's work.

Likewise for being a failure at actual life. (Lack of empathy is the first sign of being a psychopath)

"I decided to use an anonymous forum to taunt distraught parents of special needs kids in a blasé manner about how we fail their children. But you're the psychopath! Poor me!"
PP

The thread is what we would tell parents if we could. I appreciated that teachers transparency and didn't read it as a taunt. You're clearly dissatisfied with your child's service, but you're lashing out to someone who is telling you there is literally nothing they can do to solve your problem.

I’m the one who posted about spec Ed. Not a taunt just the hard truth. And I’m not a failure at my job, I’m actually a really good spec Ed teacher and I advocate hard for the kids on my caseload. But these are the truths of the conditions in mcps and that’s what the thread asked about. Sometimes I wish parents knew so they didn’t believe the BS . That being said, parents should not be angry at the teachers - it’s the system and lack of appropriate resources

If you really wanted parents to know, why not tell them instead of lying to them to get them to “go away”? I don’t get it. That’s something that is absolutely in your power to do, and doesn’t even take a lot of effort.

You really “don’t get it?” Really? Are you simple, or merely being disingenuous?

No, I really don’t. I’ve absolutely had IEP teams refuse to provide services, and to put down their poor justification in wriring. And I’ve had members describe the process for requesting additional resources from central as a prerequisite for being able to provide one.

I really don’t get what the pp thinks she can’t say those things. She obviously can- she’s choosing not to out of a fear that it could complicate matters for herself.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Here is something I would tell parents of students with IEP's: If you think your child should have a different service placement (outside the HSM) you should hire an advocate/lawyer.

The gatekeeping involved with the central special ed department is off the charts at this point. They will do everything in their power to work to prevent a kid from being moved to a different program because of staff shortages in those programs. Local special ed teachers are POWERLESS (other than collecting data and working on the IEP) to make this happen. The special ed supervisors will stonewall and throw up obstacle after obstacle. Only when a parent is there being persistent and bringing representation do things really happen.

I hate to see this worded like this. You want grace for teachers who are over burden but don’t have grace for central special Ed supervisors who you admit are trying not to add more to already overburdened teachers in another program. And the Special ED assistant super as admitted publicly that their are kids who need and should be in private settings but can’t because there are not spaces available.

What I would like to see is continued advocacy for Spec-Ed teaching salary to be a completely different scale. I also like to see some case management admin support.

I would love to see SpEd on a different pay scale. But I fear two things: 1) MCEA would never let it happen, and 2) it would just exacerbate staffing problems, since already budget is the limiting factor for things like paras.

The problem is that there are shortages in other areas as well. There is a shortage of high school physics teachers. Should they get a raise as well so that MCPS can hire more of them? Some schools had a long term sub all year for physics because there are no teachers to be hired. Special Ed parents look at everything from a special education lens but there are many fires to be put out. School bus drivers need a raise as well as school psychologists as there are shortages in both of these areas

The level and persistence of shortages are not equal across the board. SpEd and STEM should both be on different pay scales. But any time that idea comes, elementary and social science teachers flip out.

I’m a general ed teacher with 140 students, over 30 of whom receive special education services through me within my classroom. Would I be on a different pay scale because I’m also honoring IEPs / 504s and attending many IEP meetings in addition to my general ed work?

I’m not being snarky. I’m just trying to point out how murky this water is.

It’s not murky at all. Your position is not as hard to fill as SPED positions.

Actually, my department hasn’t been fully staffed for 3 years because we can’t find candidates. We’ve been covering our vacancy within the department. It used to be that English, Social Studies, etc. positions were easy to fill. That’s no longer true, and most counties are facing shortages even in historically east-to-fill fields.

Both can be true. Your school may very well have a hard time filling social science positions, but overall SPED (and STEM) positions are even harder to fill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Depends - if they have an iep? I’d tell them that most of the services are delivered by the general Ed teacher because inclusion spec Ed teachers are stretched too thin and we spend so much time on paperwork and not with kids. I’d also tell them no matter what they “advocate for” in the iep, it doesn’t actually happen during the school day due to limited resources and time so half the time we just agree to make you go away

We know. Thanks for being a failure in your life's work.

Likewise for being a failure at actual life. (Lack of empathy is the first sign of being a psychopath)

"I decided to use an anonymous forum to taunt distraught parents of special needs kids in a blasé manner about how we fail their children. But you're the psychopath! Poor me!"
PP

The thread is what we would tell parents if we could. I appreciated that teachers transparency and didn't read it as a taunt. You're clearly dissatisfied with your child's service, but you're lashing out to someone who is telling you there is literally nothing they can do to solve your problem.

I’m the one who posted about spec Ed. Not a taunt just the hard truth. And I’m not a failure at my job, I’m actually a really good spec Ed teacher and I advocate hard for the kids on my caseload. But these are the truths of the conditions in mcps and that’s what the thread asked about. Sometimes I wish parents knew so they didn’t believe the BS . That being said, parents should not be angry at the teachers - it’s the system and lack of appropriate resources

If you really wanted parents to know, why not tell them instead of lying to them to get them to “go away”? I don’t get it. That’s something that is absolutely in your power to do, and doesn’t even take a lot of effort.

You really “don’t get it?” Really? Are you simple, or merely being disingenuous?

No, I really don’t. I’ve absolutely had IEP teams refuse to provide services, and to put down their poor justification in wriring. And I’ve had members describe the process for requesting additional resources from central as a prerequisite for being able to provide one.

I really don’t get what the pp thinks she can’t say those things. She obviously can- she’s choosing not to out of a fear that it could complicate matters for herself.

We have had the denial and refusal to even acknowledge the issue despite their expressed concerns and outside private evaluations carefully documenting everything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Don’t expect much. I literally only get 18 seconds per school day to think and plan for YOUR kid. 0.8 part time teacher = 36 minutes/day planning time with over 100 students

This would be my message, too. We are overwhelmed and we get very little time during the work day to actually get work done. I’m lucky if I get 30 minutes a day to respond to emails, look at data for all 140 students, plan lessons, grade papers, call parents, eat lunch, and go to the bathroom.

I’m not arguing but can you explain what happens to your time? You are supposed to get an hour planning/grading time per day plus a 45 minute lunch. And then some time after school. Are they making you cover other classes during your break? Or attend meetings? This seems like the kind of thing that could be grieved.

Lunch is taken to help kids, at least that is what happens at many high schools. The kids can come to our rooms at lunch for extra help, so lunch is not really lunch. That goes for both teachers and students. Can you imagine being a kid with 7 class and finally, you have lunch only to spend it with a teacher going over concepts that you don't understand? Everyone is tired.

High school teachers have two planning periods -- each 45 minutes long. But one can be taken by admin for meetings or other activities. Plus, the 45 minutes might be the only time to dash to the bathroom, so the 45 minute planning period can go by fast.

However, I think the big problem is that lunch is not just lunch. It is extra help / supervision of students / club mentoring / etc.

Thank you for asking.

I have this concern as well. So much seems to be crammed into the lunch period, which was not how things worked when I was an MCPS student in the 90s. It was much more typical to stay after school for that kind of support but that doesn't seem to be the norm at my kid's DCC high school.

It's hard for some kids to stay after school with the lack of transportation. I don't remember any teachers offering extra help when I went to MCPS. Your parents helped, you had a tutor or you struggled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with cell phones is that students use them to cheat. Kids are constantly texting each other answers to test questions and also try to google answers. Cheating has become an epidemic in MCPS high schools

Right because there was never cheating before phones. Just more creativity.

You are right. There was always cheating. This did not start with phones. However, since phones have become so common, it is much, much worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with cell phones is that students use them to cheat. Kids are constantly texting each other answers to test questions and also try to google answers. Cheating has become an epidemic in MCPS high schools

Right because there was never cheating before phones. Just more creativity.

You are right. There was always cheating. This did not start with phones. However, since phones have become so common, it is much, much worse.

Then, as a teacher take back your classroom and start by communicating with those parents interested.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with cell phones is that students use them to cheat. Kids are constantly texting each other answers to test questions and also try to google answers. Cheating has become an epidemic in MCPS high schools

Right because there was never cheating before phones. Just more creativity.

You are right. There was always cheating. This did not start with phones. However, since phones have become so common, it is much, much worse.

Then, as a teacher take back your classroom and start by communicating with those parents interested.

I suspect you’re the same parent who has been combative throughout this thread.

You clearly know how to do our job. I encourage you to join us in the classroom and show us how it’s done. Come “take back a classroom” and put the disruptive students and unsupportive admin in line.

(You won’t, of course. Deep down, you know it’s bad and you know teachers are overworked and abused. Your combativeness does serve a purpose, fortunately. You’re demonstrating one of a teacher’s many frustrations: parents who think this job is easy simply because they sat in a classroom themselves decades ago.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with cell phones is that students use them to cheat. Kids are constantly texting each other answers to test questions and also try to google answers. Cheating has become an epidemic in MCPS high schools

Right because there was never cheating before phones. Just more creativity.

You are right. There was always cheating. This did not start with phones. However, since phones have become so common, it is much, much worse.

Then, as a teacher take back your classroom and start by communicating with those parents interested.

I suspect you’re the same parent who has been combative throughout this thread.

You clearly know how to do our job. I encourage you to join us in the classroom and show us how it’s done. Come “take back a classroom” and put the disruptive students and unsupportive admin in line.

(You won’t, of course. Deep down, you know it’s bad and you know teachers are overworked and abused. Your combativeness does serve a purpose, fortunately. You’re demonstrating one of a teacher’s many frustrations: parents who think this job is easy simply because they sat in a classroom themselves decades ago.)

I’d be happy to volunteer in school but our school does not allow parent volunteers. However, even with all that, your job is to manage your classroom and complaining about things that will not change doesn’t help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with cell phones is that students use them to cheat. Kids are constantly texting each other answers to test questions and also try to google answers. Cheating has become an epidemic in MCPS high schools

Right because there was never cheating before phones. Just more creativity.

You are right. There was always cheating. This did not start with phones. However, since phones have become so common, it is much, much worse.

Then, as a teacher take back your classroom and start by communicating with those parents interested.

I suspect you’re the same parent who has been combative throughout this thread.

You clearly know how to do our job. I encourage you to join us in the classroom and show us how it’s done. Come “take back a classroom” and put the disruptive students and unsupportive admin in line.

(You won’t, of course. Deep down, you know it’s bad and you know teachers are overworked and abused. Your combativeness does serve a purpose, fortunately. You’re demonstrating one of a teacher’s many frustrations: parents who think this job is easy simply because they sat in a classroom themselves decades ago.)

I’d be happy to volunteer in school but our school does not allow parent volunteers. However, even with all that, your job is to manage your classroom and complaining about things that will not change doesn’t help.

Our job is so much more than managing a classroom. We’re content specialists, social workers, data analysts, behavior specialists, etc. We need to be organized and we need to have impeccable time management. We need to be engaging presenters who are able to communicate information clearly and effectively to (often) unwilling recipients, and we need to do it well. We need to do all of this in unsupportive environments with limited resources, including time.

And complaining? This thread specifically is about what teachers want parents to know. There has been a ton of raw honesty here. You can choose to ignore this thread if you aren’t interested. Don’t like it? Don’t read it. You have that choice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with cell phones is that students use them to cheat. Kids are constantly texting each other answers to test questions and also try to google answers. Cheating has become an epidemic in MCPS high schools

Right because there was never cheating before phones. Just more creativity.

It is way was easier now and more widespread. School is nothing like it used to be when parents were kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another issue with cell phones is that students use them to cheat. Kids are constantly texting each other answers to test questions and also try to google answers. Cheating has become an epidemic in MCPS high schools

Right because there was never cheating before phones. Just more creativity.

You are right. There was always cheating. This did not start with phones. However, since phones have become so common, it is much, much worse.

Then, as a teacher take back your classroom and start by communicating with those parents interested.

I guess if it is too hard to face reality you can keep blaming everything on teachers not doing their job. Several teachers have chimed in on here saying phones are impossible to manage and don’t belong in the classroom but feel free to keep sticking your head in the sand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents of middle and HS students - your kids are on their cell phones way more than you think during school despite what they tell you.
Please advocate for tougher cell phone rules in schools. Private schools are doing a much better job of enforcing cell phone rules and their kids are getting a better education because of it. Also, for high school, I don’t mind the early start but period 1 is a waste because kids are either half asleep or arrive late. If I was a high school parent I would advocate for a later high school start time. Many states have adapted to a later start time. I feel so bad for high school kids who look so tired in school but not much I can do about it.

THIS THIS THIS! I can't think of any two changes that would have a bigger impact on my students' success than this.

Honestly, the biggest advantage kids may be getting from a private school education is the ability of privates to restrict phones in the classroom.

-- public high school teacher whose child just graduated from a Catholic school.

If it were not phones it would be something else. Stop blaming phones and learn classroom management. When we grew up teachers were clear of expectations, no non sense and not trying to be our friends.

Tell me what you would like me to do. How should I enforce a no cell phone policy in the classroom? I am constantly telling kids to put away their phone but at my school we are not allowed to take the phone away or deduct any points. We cannot call security or send the kid to the office. We cannot do lunch detention. I don’t think parents want to face the reality of phones in schools. If you cannot control it at home, trust me it is not better at school. And I wish I could invite you to my classroom to see for yourself what first period in high school is like.

DP - does the principal prohibit you from taking away the phone, or is it central office? That policy needs to change. In my view, if a kid has it out and they're not allowed, that phone goes away and they can get it at the end of the day.

That’s a lovely fantasy “in your view.” Now do reality.

We’ll wait.

My child got his phone taken away in class and had to pick it up from that teacher’s class at the end of the day. That only happened once, and he was pretty good about keeping it off and in his pocket after that. My understanding is that usually the teachers just tell the kids to put their phones away if they see them out.

This is great. Which HS is this? At my HS, the principal is afraid of parents and we are not allowed to take kids phones away.