What’s going on at Travilah ES?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lost hope of the principal. The principal has no plan to improve test scores and continues to make excuses for teachers leaving. It's worth mentioning that the transfer rate for teachers in MCPS is less than 1%, so very few teachers are leaving for another school in the district. The rate of teacher departures at our school is definitely abnormal.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I lost hope of the principal. The principal has no plan to improve test scores and continues to make excuses for teachers leaving. It's worth mentioning that the transfer rate for teachers in MCPS is less than 1%, so very few teachers are leaving for another school in the district. The rate of teacher departures at our school is definitely abnormal.

It is not. At my pool I’ve spoke to at least 5 teachers (none from Travillah) that transferred from their old schools to somewhere new. So YES it is common, especially since the pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL, these are the people who bought at Toll Brothers Mt. Prospect, control freaks

I will never understand spending millions on a house and then sending your kids to public school. If you have that level of financial health, that easily pays
for 12 years of private school education for at least two kids. They wouldn’t be here complaining if they had their priorities straight.

We aren't inbounds for Travilah, but we did not consider private. We are public school people to the core.

I’m talking about people who actually have a choice.

Which we do. We could afford private, but we go public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL, these are the people who bought at Toll Brothers Mt. Prospect, control freaks

I will never understand spending millions on a house and then sending your kids to public school. If you have that level of financial health, that easily pays
for 12 years of private school education for at least two kids. They wouldn’t be here complaining if they had their priorities straight.

We aren't inbounds for Travilah, but we did not consider private. We are public school people to the core.

I’m talking about people who actually have a choice.

Which we do. We could afford private, but we go public.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I lost hope of the principal. The principal has no plan to improve test scores and continues to make excuses for teachers leaving. It's worth mentioning that the transfer rate for teachers in MCPS is less than 1%, so very few teachers are leaving for another school in the district. The rate of teacher departures at our school is definitely abnormal.

It is not. At my pool I’ve spoke to at least 5 teachers (none from Travillah) that transferred from their old schools to somewhere new. So YES it is common, especially since the pandemic.

While it's common for teachers to transfer schools, the transfer rate for MCPS has been less than 1% over the past four years. Is it still normal that 16 out of 17 teachers have left our school during the same period?!

[Anonymous]

Parents, we need to face the issues at hand. This is not about picking on someone; it's about addressing serious concerns. The test scores have significantly declined, and many excellent teachers have left. These are facts. COVID and MCPS are not valid excuses. Other schools’ test score in our cluster struggled during COVID but have since recovered. Our school has continued to decline. Our teacher turnover rate is significantly higher than the average for MCPS/cluster schools. There is no plan from the principal to resolve these issues, and we are being labeled as "crazy parents" here? This is ridiculous! In any other job in the world, performing this poorly like this you won’t even pass probation.

[Anonymous]

Best Elementary school of Maryland by school digger.com based on test scores:
2016-2017 #7
2017-2018 #8
2018-2019 #6
2019-2020 no data
2020-2021 #4
2021-2022 #33
2022-2023 #41

Does anyone know what happened after 2020 school year? This is not cluster schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents, we need to face the issues at hand. This is not about picking on someone; it's about addressing serious concerns. The test scores have significantly declined, and many excellent teachers have left. These are facts. COVID and MCPS are not valid excuses. Other schools’ test score in our cluster struggled during COVID but have since recovered. Our school has continued to decline. Our teacher turnover rate is significantly higher than the average for MCPS/cluster schools. There is no plan from the principal to resolve these issues, and we are being labeled as "crazy parents" here? This is ridiculous! In any other job in the world, performing this poorly like this you won’t even pass probation.

100%

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents, we need to face the issues at hand. This is not about picking on someone; it's about addressing serious concerns. The test scores have significantly declined, and many excellent teachers have left. These are facts. COVID and MCPS are not valid excuses. Other schools’ test score in our cluster struggled during COVID but have since recovered. Our school has continued to decline. Our teacher turnover rate is significantly higher than the average for MCPS/cluster schools. There is no plan from the principal to resolve these issues, and we are being labeled as "crazy parents" here? This is ridiculous! In any other job in the world, performing this poorly like this you won’t even pass probation.

100%

But the principal is not performing poorly. Your children are. This is as much about home life as it is about school. You can’t have parents of mediocre intelligence or who don’t speak English properly or who couldn’t help their children during the pandemic but now expect their kids to score in the 99%. Just not gonna happen. If YOU spend most of your time scrolling your phone then don’t have higher expectations of your children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents, we need to face the issues at hand. This is not about picking on someone; it's about addressing serious concerns. The test scores have significantly declined, and many excellent teachers have left. These are facts. COVID and MCPS are not valid excuses. Other schools’ test score in our cluster struggled during COVID but have since recovered. Our school has continued to decline. Our teacher turnover rate is significantly higher than the average for MCPS/cluster schools. There is no plan from the principal to resolve these issues, and we are being labeled as "crazy parents" here? This is ridiculous! In any other job in the world, performing this poorly like this you won’t even pass probation.

100%

But the principal is not performing poorly. Your children are. This is as much about home life as it is about school. You can’t have parents of mediocre intelligence or who don’t speak English properly or who couldn’t help their children during the pandemic but now expect their kids to score in the 99%. Just not gonna happen. If YOU spend most of your time scrolling your phone then don’t have higher expectations of your children.

I agree that parental involvement is important, but education is a partnership between home and school. Our children spend 8 hours a day at school, which is a significant part of their educational journey. If they are not performing well and there is no communication from the principal, how can parents know how to help their kids? For instance, some children received a score of 2 out of 5 on their math and reading assessments last winter, but parents were not informed until this summer, six months later. How can parents help in such a situation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parents, we need to face the issues at hand. This is not about picking on someone; it's about addressing serious concerns. The test scores have significantly declined, and many excellent teachers have left. These are facts. COVID and MCPS are not valid excuses. Other schools’ test score in our cluster struggled during COVID but have since recovered. Our school has continued to decline. Our teacher turnover rate is significantly higher than the average for MCPS/cluster schools. There is no plan from the principal to resolve these issues, and we are being labeled as "crazy parents" here? This is ridiculous! In any other job in the world, performing this poorly like this you won’t even pass probation.

100%

But the principal is not performing poorly. Your children are. This is as much about home life as it is about school. You can’t have parents of mediocre intelligence or who don’t speak English properly or who couldn’t help their children during the pandemic but now expect their kids to score in the 99%. Just not gonna happen. If YOU spend most of your time scrolling your phone then don’t have higher expectations of your children.

Parents are willing to do whatever it takes to help their children succeed, but we need direction from the school’s leadership. Just like a company without strong leadership, where everyone does their own thing, they will struggle to perform well without clear guidance and coordination.

[Anonymous]

Right. So you need help parenting your kids. Got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right. So you need help parenting your kids. Got it.

I think you are confused. This isn't about needing help with parenting; it's about ensuring effective communication and leadership from the school. Just as parents have an important role at home, school leaders and teachers play a significant role during the school day.

Our children spend a large portion of their day at school, and for them to succeed, we need a collaborative effort between parents and school staff. Effective leadership and clear communication from the school are important so parents can support their children appropriately.

[Anonymous]

This is gross and ugly deflection. I dont like the tone, the subtext, none of it. What is happening at travilah is not the responsibility of the parents, the value of their homes, their expectations that their school perform as good or better than area privates, or their socioeconomic status. The truth isn’t wouldn’t trade potomac and Travilah for Chevy Chase for anything; I love our lives, the space, the community, and I DONT want to leave MCPS in a place where only those who can’t leave end up staying. We can easily leave although you disdain us for it, and our kids performed amazingly at school and at home; we aren’t blaming the school for parenting concerns and your nasty tone deflecting our concerns about the school is immature and petty.
We see through you. If you aren’t a travilah parent or MCPS stakeholder and are just here to hate and troll, don’t you have better things to do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone had rave reviews about their ‘W’ elementary schools until the pandemic and then some went private and realized that their “great” little school was far from that in comparison. Having only been at Travillah, you have no point of comparison. So, your opinion has no value in this discussion. To say your elementary was as good as a private school is really silly and shows how uninformed you are. ‘W’ public schools are absolutely nothing like private schools. But I am sure the Outer Banks or whatever little pedestrian vacations you yap on about at the Westleigh pool makes you feel fancy. And, oh, ‘Europe’ is a pretty big place and most people have already been to the places you are just now visiting - it’s cute that you feel the need to mention it as though we should be impressed. You would think you lived in Chevy Chase or something. 🙄

This elitist, privileged response is shameful. No one is trying to impress you. People are trying to help their school. Westleigh is a popular pool in this area with a great community and wonderful swim team. Outer Banks seems really nice though I’ve never been. Why so much disgust and hate? Do you hate our school because it was so good for so long? I wish every MCPS school family had had our experience. We are trying to raise standards for all children not lower them down.
And raise discourse. Yours is an embarrassment.