A New Beginning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM: MCPS should communicate
MCPS: Communicates at the beginning of the year.
DCUM: Why is MCPS wasting time communicating. Nothing is new.

Clearly DCUM folks forget that there are new kids and parents (say Pre-K, K, folks who just moved) who may actually benefit and want this communication.

This! Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

It doesn't really matter what they do. These same people will complain about everything.

[Anonymous]

I normal hate these emails from central office, but appreciated this one. I filled out the survey.

[Anonymous]

Spoiler Alert:
The new vision is more activism, less education.
Everything else is the same. No change to the grading policies that were implemented during virtual learning/Covid which means continued grade inflation and declining rigor.
Kids safety will continue to be at risk due to continued relaxed school safety policies since no one is willing to address the real issues.

If you still have kids in MCPS you should be RUNNING to find something new.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM: MCPS should communicate
MCPS: Communicates at the beginning of the year.
DCUM: Why is MCPS wasting time communicating. Nothing is new.

Clearly DCUM folks forget that there are new kids and parents (say Pre-K, K, folks who just moved) who may actually benefit and want this communication.

This! Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Well they don't and the children don't learn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler Alert:
The new vision is more activism, less education.
Everything else is the same. No change to the grading policies that were implemented during virtual learning/Covid which means continued grade inflation and declining rigor.
Kids safety will continue to be at risk due to continued relaxed school safety policies since no one is willing to address the real issues.

If you still have kids in MCPS you should be RUNNING to find something new.

I love these posts from this alternate reality they're really funny.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM: MCPS should communicate
MCPS: Communicates at the beginning of the year.
DCUM: Why is MCPS wasting time communicating. Nothing is new.

Clearly DCUM folks forget that there are new kids and parents (say Pre-K, K, folks who just moved) who may actually benefit and want this communication.

This! Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Well they don't and the children don't learn.

Mine are doing great. I think parents who spend all the time complaining on DCUM instead of parenting may have a different set of issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler Alert:
The new vision is more activism, less education.
Everything else is the same. No change to the grading policies that were implemented during virtual learning/Covid which means continued grade inflation and declining rigor.
Kids safety will continue to be at risk due to continued relaxed school safety policies since no one is willing to address the real issues.

If you still have kids in MCPS you should be RUNNING to find something new.

I love these posts from this alternate reality they're really funny.

I agree - this beating of the rigor drum mystifies me. When I hear it on this board it is rarely about content, but instead is about deadlines or taking away the ability for children learn from their mistakes via retake, rather than have them live in fear and terror of having a bad day. When the grades count, in HS, the level of difficulty in the material is there. I do not want my kids living in terror from unreasonable policies that cause problems for the kids that misplace their assignment, or have 5 tests on the same day. There is no reason to saddle this generation of kids with such dated inflexible approaches. The point is to learn - let them retake, let them find their assignment at home or in their binder. We really should rethink the elements of education that come from British Public Schools. We are a long way from there here in 2022

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I normal hate these emails from central office, but appreciated this one. I filled out the survey.

Except that no one looks at the survey. They do what they like to achieve their political goals

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go McKnight!!! I'm looking forward to a new beginning. Let's see what she can do. Do you NOT every year think of Fall as a new beginning? Who doesn't. Stop being such cranky fusspots. It's not healthy.

She had the same job last year. She received votes of no confidence from two employee unions. I think we have already seen the downward spiral she wants to send the school system. Everyone in Central Office spends so much time focusing on their next promotion that very little is being done to improve the education students are receiving.

100% agree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DCUM: MCPS should communicate
MCPS: Communicates at the beginning of the year.
DCUM: Why is MCPS wasting time communicating. Nothing is new.

Clearly DCUM folks forget that there are new kids and parents (say Pre-K, K, folks who just moved) who may actually benefit and want this communication.

Someone should teach them email etiquette. Effective communication 101 - know your audience. Do not blindly send spam emails if this was targeted at new parents. Why waste everyone's time sending spam?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
For years, and over the course of several Superintendent tenures, MCPS has made a point of spending a ton on messaging, and not on actual academic rigor. This is so they can continue to brand themselves as the best large public school system in the nation, while practices on the ground do not entirely reach their claims. Don't get me wrong. My kids are in MCPS for a reason. It's about as good as it gets in the USA if you want free education. But it could be so much better, yet they choose to spend their dollars on PR instead...

It's a group text. It's free.

Oh you naive one. You're probably the one who thinks what celebrities say and do are spur-of-the-moment things, and not heavily curated and planned by their well-paid PR team on retainer. Cute, PP, cute.

MCPS spends a FORTUNE on PR. MILLIONS. That little group of words you just received did not just pop into her head and make its way to a free messaging system.

Ha ha! Really, you're so refreshing.

Can't wait for the era of b/tchery to be over. Really can't. It's become such a bore.

So far McKnight's style seems genuine, and nothing like other "PR" coming out of MCPS the last few years. So either she brought on her own writer, or she has some writing ability. Either way, so far I like what she has to say and how she says it.

Are you her daughter or PR firm?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DCUM: MCPS should communicate
MCPS: Communicates at the beginning of the year.
DCUM: Why is MCPS wasting time communicating. Nothing is new.

Clearly DCUM folks forget that there are new kids and parents (say Pre-K, K, folks who just moved) who may actually benefit and want this communication.

This! Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

It doesn't really matter what they do. These same people will complain about everything.

+100 and it's gotten really old! Those people aren't just part of the problem they are the problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
For years, and over the course of several Superintendent tenures, MCPS has made a point of spending a ton on messaging, and not on actual academic rigor. This is so they can continue to brand themselves as the best large public school system in the nation, while practices on the ground do not entirely reach their claims. Don't get me wrong. My kids are in MCPS for a reason. It's about as good as it gets in the USA if you want free education. But it could be so much better, yet they choose to spend their dollars on PR instead...

It's a group text. It's free.

Oh you naive one. You're probably the one who thinks what celebrities say and do are spur-of-the-moment things, and not heavily curated and planned by their well-paid PR team on retainer. Cute, PP, cute.

MCPS spends a FORTUNE on PR. MILLIONS. That little group of words you just received did not just pop into her head and make its way to a free messaging system.

Ha ha! Really, you're so refreshing.

Can't wait for the era of b/tchery to be over. Really can't. It's become such a bore.

So far McKnight's style seems genuine, and nothing like other "PR" coming out of MCPS the last few years. So either she brought on her own writer, or she has some writing ability. Either way, so far I like what she has to say and how she says it.

Are you her daughter or PR firm?

I know because anyone who doesn't find fault with everything has to be a shill! I agree with the PPP the era of b/tchery is tiresome.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Spoiler Alert:
The new vision is more activism, less education.
Everything else is the same. No change to the grading policies that were implemented during virtual learning/Covid which means continued grade inflation and declining rigor.
Kids safety will continue to be at risk due to continued relaxed school safety policies since no one is willing to address the real issues.

If you still have kids in MCPS you should be RUNNING to find something new.

I love these posts from this alternate reality they're really funny.

I agree - this beating of the rigor drum mystifies me. When I hear it on this board it is rarely about content, but instead is about deadlines or taking away the ability for children learn from their mistakes via retake, rather than have them live in fear and terror of having a bad day. When the grades count, in HS, the level of difficulty in the material is there. I do not want my kids living in terror from unreasonable policies that cause problems for the kids that misplace their assignment, or have 5 tests on the same day. There is no reason to saddle this generation of kids with such dated inflexible approaches. The point is to learn - let them retake, let them find their assignment at home or in their binder. We really should rethink the elements of education that come from British Public Schools. We are a long way from there here in 2022

I agree wholeheartedly. I know it's not as hard as when I was in HS where less than 5% of the class even had an A average but the thing is my kids and their friends seem to be learning more! Overall they're better writers and more advanced in math than my generation and at the end that's what matters. I just don't see how turning this into some Hunger Games experiment will really help improve the quality of education. DC who in HS was just shy of perfect SATs on their first try and will enter college with over 30 credits. Yes, it's harder to rank kids based on grades but that was kind of always true. Even in my day half the kids above me in class rank never even took an AP or Honors class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Go McKnight!!! I'm looking forward to a new beginning. Let's see what she can do. Do you NOT every year think of Fall as a new beginning? Who doesn't. Stop being such cranky fusspots. It's not healthy.

She had the same job last year. She received votes of no confidence from two employee unions. I think we have already seen the downward spiral she wants to send the school system. Everyone in Central Office spends so much time focusing on their next promotion that very little is being done to improve the education students are receiving.

100% agree

I'm optimistic. She's just starting this job and I'm looking forward to all the great things she'll do to improve our schools.