GoGuardian: asking for parent support to advocate to the BOE

[Anonymous]

A huge thank you to OP and teachers who are on the ball with this topic. Both of my kids are in classrooms where GoGuardian is used and they think its helpful and that, yeah, online distractions are a real challenge for them and lots of other kids. Would it be better to roll back the overuse of digital learning at MCPS? Yes, definitely IMO. And is GoGuardian perfect in keeping kids on task? not always. But it's the tool that's currently available and does help. It makes no sense to take that option away from teachers right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for going to this effort on behalf of an important tool that is critical to student success.

I don't know that I believed the metrics provided by the school district saying teachers didn't use GoGuardian much. Admin lies to the BOE.

They do, and they've demonstrated that they're perfectly willing to lie to the BoE. But they don't want to get caught in a lie. Lying about usage figures is dangerous in that respect. There's a clear, quantitative answer, recorded in a third-party system. Sure, they can make up data when they present to the BoE, but they better hope that no one on the inside leaks the real figures.

This would be a strange thing to lie about.

CO is looking at everything at the school level to cut. I hope the board asks for third party evidence. Because otherwise, I would not assume CO is being honest with the numbers.

The place to start cutting is the CO.

YES!!

+1
So many admin dont want to be in schools and were looking to get promoted to Central office.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone heard back from anyone on the BOE on their position on this? I have never gotten a reply on any issue, including this one....

[Anonymous]

I’m a high school teacher who doesn’t use Go Guardian. I primarily do paper assignments.
We use chromebooks sometimes but have not felt the need for Go Guardian. I understand it is different for some other teachers though

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m a high school teacher who doesn’t use Go Guardian. I primarily do paper assignments.
We use chromebooks sometimes but have not felt the need for Go Guardian. I understand it is different for some other teachers though

Yes, it really is an either/or construct for low distraction classwork. You either use paper assignments (I do too), or you utilize GoGuardian to manage online distraction.

[Anonymous]

I think tech has been over-hyped in schools. Low tech environment and going back to basics might be best. Kids spend way too much time in front of screens

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think tech has been over-hyped in schools. Low tech environment and going back to basics might be best. Kids spend way too much time in front of screens

I would love that, but we are so far beyond that now. If they get rid of this software, it will not change things — kids will be using Chromebook’s throughout the day still; it will just be easier for students to play video games instead of doing work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think tech has been over-hyped in schools. Low tech environment and going back to basics might be best. Kids spend way too much time in front of screens

I would love that, but we are so far beyond that now. If they get rid of this software, it will not change things — kids will be using Chromebook’s throughout the day still; it will just be easier for students to play video games instead of doing work.

That's nonsense. Tech isn't the problem and is entirely appropriate for some things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A huge thank you to OP and teachers who are on the ball with this topic. Both of my kids are in classrooms where GoGuardian is used and they think its helpful and that, yeah, online distractions are a real challenge for them and lots of other kids. Would it be better to roll back the overuse of digital learning at MCPS? Yes, definitely IMO. And is GoGuardian perfect in keeping kids on task? not always. But it's the tool that's currently available and does help. It makes no sense to take that option away from teachers right now.

Agree!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thank you for going to this effort on behalf of an important tool that is critical to student success.

I don't know that I believed the metrics provided by the school district saying teachers didn't use GoGuardian much. Admin lies to the BOE.

They do, and they've demonstrated that they're perfectly willing to lie to the BoE. But they don't want to get caught in a lie. Lying about usage figures is dangerous in that respect. There's a clear, quantitative answer, recorded in a third-party system. Sure, they can make up data when they present to the BoE, but they better hope that no one on the inside leaks the real figures.

This would be a strange thing to lie about.

CO is looking at everything at the school level to cut. I hope the board asks for third party evidence. Because otherwise, I would not assume CO is being honest with the numbers.

The place to start cutting is the CO.

YES!!

+1
So many admin dont want to be in schools and were looking to get promoted to Central office.

CO is where educators go to die. Seriously, nobody there gets anything meaningful done. If anything they do more harm than good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A huge thank you to OP and teachers who are on the ball with this topic. Both of my kids are in classrooms where GoGuardian is used and they think it’s helpful and that, yeah, online distractions are a real challenge for them and lots of other kids. Would it be better to roll back the overuse of digital learning at MCPS? Yes, definitely IMO. And is GoGuardian perfect in keeping kids on task? not always. But it's the tool that's currently available and does help. It makes no sense to take that option away from teachers right now.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think tech has been over-hyped in schools. Low tech environment and going back to basics might be best. Kids spend way too much time in front of screens

Good thing my school is running out of paper and ink and us telling us to not make so many copies.

[Anonymous]

OP, is there any update on this?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, is there any update on this?

Contract is cancelled. It's gone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, is there any update on this?

Contract is cancelled. It's gone.

Ugh, I’m so sorry. Was there a BOE vote, or was it a central office decision only?