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Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)
Why are kids with problematic behavior left in mainstream classes
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Anonymous
There are a lot more. Besides the other self-contained special programs run by MCPS, there are private programs. The pp referenced a private program in Massachusetts. |
Anonymous
+1. My kid is at RICA and I cannot sing its praises enough. It’s not perfect it for us it has been amazing. RICA is unique in that there are therapists and psychiatrists in the building. There are quarterly meetings with parents, case managers, and the medical team. It means that everyone that is interacting with my child on a regular basis gets to share their perspective —what’s going well and what is not. For my kid, he wasn’t going to be able to learn to control his emotions until his medication was stable. Since mental health meds take time to work, this is a long process. By having everyone share their thoughts on a regular basis, adjustments can be made. If there’s a meltdown/explosion/dysregulation, the sped teacher first tries to handle it. If they need more help they can call for support staff. Once support staff takes over the teacher resumes teaching. The classroom is not cleared. Then the child’s therapist is called and will help the child process what happened. Now you have notes from a teacher, support, and therapist documenting what triggered the incident which means a stronger FBA. If there’s a need for a med change, the psych might spend 2 weeks observing at different times of the day. The therapists also work closely with the specials teachers. Art class has an element of supporting the student to express their feelings through art. Same for music. Pet therapy is a very popular event. By not separating the education from the therapy, you create wrap around support that is able to address issues more completely and quicker. When all the adults involved can see first hand what is going on, it makes everything much easier. |
Anonymous
Just because there is a broad spectrum of needs list in 504s and IEPs doesn’t mean that teachers or schools can support easily support. For example if you have four kids that require extra time on exam, that extra time needs to come from somewhere. Usually a teacher lunch or planning time or they take the exam with a resource teacher. An ADHD kid might need more explicit support with time management and study skills, so that means a support class or a teacher/counselor to work with them and followup. Not necessarily difficult but again requires time and resources. MCPS HS have 2000-3000 kids and many are overcrowded. You think they can afford to create self contained classes with 10 kids and schools with 30-50 kids? |
Anonymous
| The fundamental concern for public schools is that critical resources are being taken away from 95% of kids to meet the extremely high needs of some children, resulting in poor outcomes for everyone. |
Anonymous
+1. If you are violent or disruptive to other students, you should be put into online self-study away from the other students. Online learning can be very effective. |
Anonymous
We also need to do a better job differentiating between students with true mental health needs vs. kids who simply choose to be rowdy and disengaged. |
Anonymous
The assumption with online learning is that the student needs to learn English or math or another academic subject. What behavioral students need to learn is the life skill of emotional regulation. They need to learn this skill before they can move to academic learning. Emotional regulation cannot be taught online. It needs to be practiced over and over again. It needs someone to identify when an incident is about to start and coach the child through the coping skills they are learning. By putting them in an online environment, you are taking away the organic events of daily life that they need to learn to handle. |
Anonymous
Kids have lives outside school. If you think teachers have time to coach individual kids through emotional regulation incidents, they obviously do not. |
Anonymous
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It cannot be said enough. What you are seeing is the result of funding for counselors, psychologists, and special Ed staffing not keeping pace with increases in enrollment. Partially due to vacancies, but there are not enough providers to meet the needs of these students and not enough programs and places to adequately serve them. So they are kept in mainstream environments that do not meet their needs and services by staff who do not have sufficient support to intervene, keep all students safe, and continue instruction all at the same time. MCPS has some very effective programs, but there is not enough space, and there is not enough service at the home school level to help students before they get there.
Kids are not more poorly behaved today, it's not a restorative justice issues, and it's not because parents aren't involved. It is the fallout from services being spread far too thin. |
Anonymous
But neither should my child be a crash test dummy for violent and disruptive kids so they can work on their people skills. My child also has a right to learn in a safe and productive environment. As always there needs to be a balance. |
Anonymous
Agree. All children should have the opportunity to learn in a safe environment. So put the behavioral kids in their own classroom to learn the skills they need. Similar to what MCPS does with the LFI classes. But all this costs money. As a county are we prepared to raise our property taxes to increase funding for our schools? All children are losing out as a result of the current model. Are the adults prepared to put their money where there mouth is? |
Anonymous
| There are no consequences for kids today. When I was a kid, disruptive kids were sent to principals office and then sent home where they were spanked or even worse. Grounding, no devices, etc.. Now they get sent to the principals office and then straight back to class with no discipline. We dont want to hurt anyones feelings today and treat kids like adults even when they are 5 yrs and this is the long term outcome. |
Anonymous
Ask any teacher. Kids ARE in fact more poorly behaved than 5-10 years ago. A big part of it is restorative justice and the inability of administrators to discipline students. Before kids who attacked teachers, swore at teachers in class, attacked other students would be suspended. You didn’t have kids roaming the school doing whatever they want. |
Anonymous
Obviously not. The gen-ed environment is entirely appropriate for students that have basic needs, like additional time on exams. I get it is easier to not have to deal with that, but teachers have needed to do that for a long time, and for a variety of reasons beyond special needs. |
Anonymous
That's where special education supports and services come in. No, you generally shouldn't expect the classroom teacher to do that. |