Changes since Taylor came onboard

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He has also banned cell phones in HS and I have heard behavior issues are lessened (no hard data on this, just word on the street from middle and high school teachers I know)

Cell phones have not been banned. There are a handful of middle and high schools engaged in an “Away All Day” pilot, but any parent, teacher or student can tell you that that the pilots are a joke. The enforcement of the pilots are inconsistent and subjective and there aren’t mechanisms for tracking the efficacy of these pilots either.

I thought those pilots are just at middle schools. Are high schools doing it too?

And it’s not a joke at our middle school. After some kids had phones confiscated at the start of the year and had to have their parents pick it up, compliance has been much better.

Like I said, the policy enforcement is inconsistent across the system. It might be good at your middle school, but I know others where it's not.

MCPS relies on principals and admin teams to do it all, and they can't, either due to limitations of their capabilities or capacities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He has also banned cell phones in HS and I have heard behavior issues are lessened (no hard data on this, just word on the street from middle and high school teachers I know)

Cell phones have not been banned. There are a handful of middle and high schools engaged in an “Away All Day” pilot, but any parent, teacher or student can tell you that that the pilots are a joke. The enforcement of the pilots are inconsistent and subjective and there aren’t mechanisms for tracking the efficacy of these pilots either.

I thought those pilots are just at middle schools. Are high schools doing it too?

And it’s not a joke at our middle school. After some kids had phones confiscated at the start of the year and had to have their parents pick it up, compliance has been much better.

Any MS or HS could participate in the pilot or you know just enforce appropriate rules that already have a policy. It’s requires Leadership and enforcement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He has also banned cell phones in HS and I have heard behavior issues are lessened (no hard data on this, just word on the street from middle and high school teachers I know)

Cell phones have not been banned. There are a handful of middle and high schools engaged in an “Away All Day” pilot, but any parent, teacher or student can tell you that that the pilots are a joke. The enforcement of the pilots are inconsistent and subjective and there aren’t mechanisms for tracking the efficacy of these pilots either.

I thought those pilots are just at middle schools. Are high schools doing it too?

And it’s not a joke at our middle school. After some kids had phones confiscated at the start of the year and had to have their parents pick it up, compliance has been much better.

Like I said, the policy enforcement is inconsistent across the system. It might be good at your middle school, but I know others where it's not.

MCPS relies on principals and admin teams to do it all, and they can't, either due to limitations of their capabilities or capacities.

Direct quote from your post: “ any parent, teacher or student can tell you that that the pilots are a joke.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He has also banned cell phones in HS and I have heard behavior issues are lessened (no hard data on this, just word on the street from middle and high school teachers I know)

Cell phones have not been banned. There are a handful of middle and high schools engaged in an “Away All Day” pilot, but any parent, teacher or student can tell you that that the pilots are a joke. The enforcement of the pilots are inconsistent and subjective and there aren’t mechanisms for tracking the efficacy of these pilots either.

I thought those pilots are just at middle schools. Are high schools doing it too?

And it’s not a joke at our middle school. After some kids had phones confiscated at the start of the year and had to have their parents pick it up, compliance has been much better.

Any MS or HS could participate in the pilot or you know just enforce appropriate rules that already have a policy. It’s requires Leadership and enforcement.

Did any high schools join the pilot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He has also banned cell phones in HS and I have heard behavior issues are lessened (no hard data on this, just word on the street from middle and high school teachers I know)

Cell phones have not been banned. There are a handful of middle and high schools engaged in an “Away All Day” pilot, but any parent, teacher or student can tell you that that the pilots are a joke. The enforcement of the pilots are inconsistent and subjective and there aren’t mechanisms for tracking the efficacy of these pilots either.

I thought those pilots are just at middle schools. Are high schools doing it too?

And it’s not a joke at our middle school. After some kids had phones confiscated at the start of the year and had to have their parents pick it up, compliance has been much better.

Like I said, the policy enforcement is inconsistent across the system. It might be good at your middle school, but I know others where it's not.

MCPS relies on principals and admin teams to do it all, and they can't, either due to limitations of their capabilities or capacities.

Direct quote from your post: “ any parent, teacher or student can tell you that that the pilots are a joke.”

Ok, change it from "any parent, teacher or student" to "MANY parents, teachers or students."

Does that change the overarching point that I raised that there is no consistency, seriousness or rigor to the pilots from a system perspective?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He’s having Magruder HS renamed. Wonder when he’ll have Richard Montgomery renamed.

He didn’t initiate that - the community did. Same opportunity exists for the RM community if they want.

True. Class sizes were increased. Amazing that mcps has $650k to spend to rename a school in a school system with such a budget deficit.

It’s not $650K was the total expenditure including amounts the BOE had already allocated previously for renaming.

It's actually $1 million, because $350K was already earmarked. I think that was his point to the board, putting it under discretionary spending: if you decide to change the name, be aware that it has a hefty price tag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Honestly I think you all are expecting too much from any superintendant. MCPS is just too large to change quickly or in any significant way. If I could do it all over again, I would not have moved to an area where decisions about my kids' education have to factor in such a huge population and geography. It's just not possible to be thoughtful or nimble in a system that has to meet the needs of 160k students. Inevitably you end up with the lowest common denominator.

This doesn’t haven to be true. People have to understand the Education requires investment just like many other things and that comes with dollars, people, and time.

And frankly society as a whole needs a wake up call. Just because people are elected into office doesn’t mean people can stop paying attention. Voting is only one part of being civically responsible.

[Anonymous]

I appreciate that he has shown a willingness to do things differently than in the past. Sometimes these changes will make things better and sometimes they will make things worse. But I feel like another more-of-the-same superintendent would just be continuing a problematic status quo, so I am much happier seeing someone who is willing to shake things up and suggest new things, even if inevitably some of those new things are mistakes.

[Anonymous]

Unfortunately I don’t really see things changing. The system is too big.

[Anonymous]

A big re org is coming...staff are getting notifications.

[Anonymous]

Big re org in special education, cuts are happening and changes being made. I do appreciate him trying to make changes but I really wish someone would ask the staff for input and be more transparent. Things are happening fast with little information.
- special Ed MCPS staff member

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Big re org in special education, cuts are happening and changes being made. I do appreciate him trying to make changes but I really wish someone would ask the staff for input and be more transparent. Things are happening fast with little information.
- special Ed MCPS staff member

Diana Wyles is out?

[Anonymous]

Incredibly sad. There have been no policies or procedures followed with the cuts.

[Anonymous]

Not sure. I guess we will find out when the dust settles.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Big re org in special education, cuts are happening and changes being made. I do appreciate him trying to make changes but I really wish someone would ask the staff for input and be more transparent. Things are happening fast with little information.
- special Ed MCPS staff member

Diana Wyles is out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Big re org in special education, cuts are happening and changes being made. I do appreciate him trying to make changes but I really wish someone would ask the staff for input and be more transparent. Things are happening fast with little information.
- special Ed MCPS staff member

The explanatory meeting this afternoon was about as clear as mud and was so poorly organized and handled. What problem this re-organization is solving, or anything about what it will look like, was left unaddressed and it's just panicking and angering staff. It was also clear that some of the higher-ups are not on the same page as each other about what is happening. I'm starting to feel like the mess last week with calling a 2-hour delay too far in advance and then reversing it could be an early symptom of a tendency to act quickly for the sake of acting, without thinking things all the way through, that runs deeper.