Thoughts on the new Churchill principal?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When children are being targeted based on their gender, the indifference to stop gender discrimination is a blatant violation of Title IX.

Agreed, and the indifference is what allows it to continue. It doesn't help the child much. By the time a case is heard through appeals, the season will be over. It could take so long that the child might even have graduated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Says the principal who turned off the stadium lights on children and ordered them to go home.

Powder puff Mom is back.

Yes, as someone who sees plenty of real problems with MCPS, can you please stop piling onto Brandice Heckert. She’s so small potatoes and you’re distracting from much bigger issues and weakening those cases by seeming petty and whiny. She’s not going to be the one to solve most of your issues, principals are more or less neutered in MCPS. You’re wasting your time worrying about unreturned emails and powder puff football. Plus it’s getting old. We get it. You don’t like the new traffic pattern. You want her to pay closer attention to you and your emails, and you’re ticked off about how she disciplines.. I think you’re a different person than the one or ones posting about abusive coaches. Even those people recognize that Heckert isn’t going to take care of business. Half of that is because central ties her hands. Also principals don’t like to make too many waves until they have the lay of the land. Those decisions will have to be directed from higher up. I’m not criticizing you for disliking her and I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying you’re misdirecting your attention. While you’re on here, she’s on twitter celebrating those same coaches and buddying up to central people. If you really want to engage the MCPS people, you have to go to twitter. That’s where they all are, chitchatting with each other and signing off eith #raise and all that stuff.

The big question is why is Mrs. Heckert focusing on powder puff football when there are real problems at the school? Shouldn't she have spent her time focusing on coach abuse and hazing, and drug use? Maybe by focusing on powder puff football she can district parents so they don't hold her accountable for the real problems at Churchill.

Again with the powder puff football game?? Mrs. Heckert is not focusing on powderpuff football— you are! She enforced an existing school rule, period. If you want to blame someone for your daughter’s disappointment, blame the seniors who broke the rules!

Honestly, I am so tired of the schools NOT strongly enforcing the rules. I try to teach my kids there are consequences for their misbehaviour, but they are constantly giving me examples of where the school didn’t enforce the rules.

I'm not interested in powderpuff football or even regular football, but now I'm curious. What rules are there about powderpuff football that Mrs. Heckert was enforcing?

From the rest of the string it sounded like parents were upset because Mrs. Heckert punished the entire school, including kids who hadn't done anything wrong, because a few seniors skipped school. It also sounded like she created an unsafe situation by turning off the lights in the stadium while children were in there.

If the powderpuff players were violating a safety rule or engaging in unsportsmanlike behavior, that would give a different spin to the story.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New to this thread but I almost can't believe that some comments are about the same school that my kids go to.

1. How can anyone say that the traffic pattern is worse this year? In the mornings we now have three ways for cars to enter the school to dropoff kids (1) Gainsborough entrance (2) right turn from Victory Land and (3) Left turn from Victory Lane. Last year we only had the right turn from Victory lane. I know that traffic is still slow (unavoidable) but can you imagine what it would be like if the only entrance were the right turn from Victory Lane again? There also seem to be more people directing traffic this year.

2. My daughter is looking forward to another year of Winter amd Spring track. She had great fun last year and we haven't heard any complaints. (Well, I do wish they were more communicative about the coach suspended for a couple of months last year)

Parents should ask their children the following questions while letting them know you will love them no matter what they tell you:

Has a coach ever offered to drive her/him alone in his car? (I would highly recommend you do not give coaches written permission to drive your child under any circumstances)

Has a coach ever commented on her/his appearance or if he liked what she/he wearing to practice?

Has a coach ever used vulgar language (ex. calling girls on the team b*tches or degrade children by cursing at them)?

Do any of the coaches give hugs or touch them in any way?

Do any of the coaches make her/him feel uncomfortable? If so, why?

Does your child have a safe adult at school that she could ask questions to or go to if something happens at a practice or a meet?

Do any of the coaches privately text or email your child? (If yes, you may want to check the text and/or email messages and ask for the coach to cc you in the future.)

Has a coach given your child a gift that none of the other athletes received?

Was your child ever pulled out of class last year for a meeting with Dr. Benz and other staff? What happened during that meeting?

Does your child know more than what the school has explained publicly?

Let's not limit this to coaches. This can occur in any area where the teachers develop a personal relationship that continues from year to year so they can build trust. This can happen where a school has only one teacher who teaches a particular subject so a child who is interested in the subject has a class with the teacher for several years in a row. The child might be interested in the area and want to please the teacher. The teacher may respond out of a desire to teach an interested student, but other times there is something scarier at play. There have been reports of grooming and abuse by music and technology teachers at other schools. Some of it has gone on for years. Even when the principal wants to do something, unless there are criminal charges, it is hard to fire a teacher.

WRONG - The Board of Education wrote a MCPS Employee Code of Conduct for a reason. It lists behaviors, many listed above, that are known grooming traits of a child predator.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/staff/staff-home-page/2018-2019_EmployeeCodeofConduct.pdf

If a staff member violates standards of conduct listed in the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct, that employee can be disciplined including termination. The failure of MCPS is that they are not enforcing the code of conduct. For coaches, MCPS's actions are even more ridiculous because coaching contracts are non-tenure positions. They are issued on a season by season basis. MCPS doesn't need a reason to fire a coach. They also don't need a reason to not rehire a coach, especially if the coach is not a certified teacher and a qualified certified teacher is willing to step in as coach. Teachers actually have hiring preference under Maryland law for public school coaching positions.

Protecting your child from abuse begins with knowing the signs of a predator, reading the employee Code of Conduct, and talking with your child to make sure your child knows the standards of conduct for adults and to report to you if any actions of an adult from school depart from the norm. If your discover a violation, email the employee and cc the Principal asking for the behavior to stop.

ALL STAFF - teachers, administrators, coaches, counselors, janitorial staff, etc. - were retrained last year and retained this year on the Employee Code of Conduct. Violations are serious and MCPS should know it has a real problem if employees were told not to do these things but still are. That is how school system weeds out child predators. They will continue to violate the rules no matter how many times they are told what the rules are.

A child is extra vulnerable with a coach because there are cameras in the school building and more staff and students around in the day than in after school hours. The ability to peel a child away from the group for an opportunity to be alone with a child is endless. The opportunity is all a child predator needs to hurt your child.

There are policies, but the union contract makes it hard to fire anyone. If you have any doubts, take a look at the 165-page union contract for MCPS teachers. If that isn't enough, there are state law and regulations, which also give teachers due process rights. This article is about PG County Public Schools, but you get the idea.


https://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2018/11/prince-georges-co-schools-says-it-cant-fire-employee-in-racial-slur-video/

Coaches are part-time, contract, non-union positions. They are hired on a season by season basis. If a coach violates the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct, MCPS has grounds to immediate terminate the employment. A principal or an athletic director can decide for any reason to not rehire a coach simply by not renewing the contract.

As far as getting rid of predatory teachers - yes, real difficult because of the union. However, MCPS could transfer the teacher to another assignment away from children while the Due Process procedures are carried out.

That's only a short-term solution if a teacher is a predator. At a different school, there was a teacher accused of molesting a child. The teacher had a long reputation for inappropriate behavior but no criminal charges were filed. He was suspended for several months while he went through due diligence. Eventually he "expressed remorse" and was put back in the classroom. The child moved to another school. Strong union for teachers. No union for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Says the principal who turned off the stadium lights on children and ordered them to go home.

Powder puff Mom is back.

Yes, as someone who sees plenty of real problems with MCPS, can you please stop piling onto Brandice Heckert. She’s so small potatoes and you’re distracting from much bigger issues and weakening those cases by seeming petty and whiny. She’s not going to be the one to solve most of your issues, principals are more or less neutered in MCPS. You’re wasting your time worrying about unreturned emails and powder puff football. Plus it’s getting old. We get it. You don’t like the new traffic pattern. You want her to pay closer attention to you and your emails, and you’re ticked off about how she disciplines.. I think you’re a different person than the one or ones posting about abusive coaches. Even those people recognize that Heckert isn’t going to take care of business. Half of that is because central ties her hands. Also principals don’t like to make too many waves until they have the lay of the land. Those decisions will have to be directed from higher up. I’m not criticizing you for disliking her and I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying you’re misdirecting your attention. While you’re on here, she’s on twitter celebrating those same coaches and buddying up to central people. If you really want to engage the MCPS people, you have to go to twitter. That’s where they all are, chitchatting with each other and signing off eith #raise and all that stuff.

The big question is why is Mrs. Heckert focusing on powder puff football when there are real problems at the school? Shouldn't she have spent her time focusing on coach abuse and hazing, and drug use? Maybe by focusing on powder puff football she can district parents so they don't hold her accountable for the real problems at Churchill.

Again with the powder puff football game?? Mrs. Heckert is not focusing on powderpuff football— you are! She enforced an existing school rule, period. If you want to blame someone for your daughter’s disappointment, blame the seniors who broke the rules!

Honestly, I am so tired of the schools NOT strongly enforcing the rules. I try to teach my kids there are consequences for their misbehaviour, but they are constantly giving me examples of where the school didn’t enforce the rules.

I'm not interested in powderpuff football or even regular football, but now I'm curious. What rules are there about powderpuff football that Mrs. Heckert was enforcing?

From the rest of the string it sounded like parents were upset because Mrs. Heckert punished the entire school, including kids who hadn't done anything wrong, because a few seniors skipped school. It also sounded like she created an unsafe situation by turning off the lights in the stadium while children were in there.

If the powderpuff players were violating a safety rule or engaging in unsportsmanlike behavior, that would give a different spin to the story.

My understanding is that the girls who were set to play skipped school that day, and thus were ineligible to participate in an after school activity that day. So many of the players skipped that there were not enough to field a team so essentially the seniors had to forfeit. I don’t know about the lights but my sense is that the school didn’t know about the problem until they were on the field and she canceled it after they were on the field (or maybe even a few mins into the game?)

I never heard about kids having to vacate the stadium in the dark.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New to this thread but I almost can't believe that some comments are about the same school that my kids go to.

1. How can anyone say that the traffic pattern is worse this year? In the mornings we now have three ways for cars to enter the school to dropoff kids (1) Gainsborough entrance (2) right turn from Victory Land and (3) Left turn from Victory Lane. Last year we only had the right turn from Victory lane. I know that traffic is still slow (unavoidable) but can you imagine what it would be like if the only entrance were the right turn from Victory Lane again? There also seem to be more people directing traffic this year.

2. My daughter is looking forward to another year of Winter amd Spring track. She had great fun last year and we haven't heard any complaints. (Well, I do wish they were more communicative about the coach suspended for a couple of months last year)

Parents should ask their children the following questions while letting them know you will love them no matter what they tell you:

Has a coach ever offered to drive her/him alone in his car? (I would highly recommend you do not give coaches written permission to drive your child under any circumstances)

Has a coach ever commented on her/his appearance or if he liked what she/he wearing to practice?

Has a coach ever used vulgar language (ex. calling girls on the team b*tches or degrade children by cursing at them)?

Do any of the coaches give hugs or touch them in any way?

Do any of the coaches make her/him feel uncomfortable? If so, why?

Does your child have a safe adult at school that she could ask questions to or go to if something happens at a practice or a meet?

Do any of the coaches privately text or email your child? (If yes, you may want to check the text and/or email messages and ask for the coach to cc you in the future.)

Has a coach given your child a gift that none of the other athletes received?

Was your child ever pulled out of class last year for a meeting with Dr. Benz and other staff? What happened during that meeting?

Does your child know more than what the school has explained publicly?

Let's not limit this to coaches. This can occur in any area where the teachers develop a personal relationship that continues from year to year so they can build trust. This can happen where a school has only one teacher who teaches a particular subject so a child who is interested in the subject has a class with the teacher for several years in a row. The child might be interested in the area and want to please the teacher. The teacher may respond out of a desire to teach an interested student, but other times there is something scarier at play. There have been reports of grooming and abuse by music and technology teachers at other schools. Some of it has gone on for years. Even when the principal wants to do something, unless there are criminal charges, it is hard to fire a teacher.

WRONG - The Board of Education wrote a MCPS Employee Code of Conduct for a reason. It lists behaviors, many listed above, that are known grooming traits of a child predator.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/staff/staff-home-page/2018-2019_EmployeeCodeofConduct.pdf

If a staff member violates standards of conduct listed in the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct, that employee can be disciplined including termination. The failure of MCPS is that they are not enforcing the code of conduct. For coaches, MCPS's actions are even more ridiculous because coaching contracts are non-tenure positions. They are issued on a season by season basis. MCPS doesn't need a reason to fire a coach. They also don't need a reason to not rehire a coach, especially if the coach is not a certified teacher and a qualified certified teacher is willing to step in as coach. Teachers actually have hiring preference under Maryland law for public school coaching positions.

Protecting your child from abuse begins with knowing the signs of a predator, reading the employee Code of Conduct, and talking with your child to make sure your child knows the standards of conduct for adults and to report to you if any actions of an adult from school depart from the norm. If your discover a violation, email the employee and cc the Principal asking for the behavior to stop.

ALL STAFF - teachers, administrators, coaches, counselors, janitorial staff, etc. - were retrained last year and retained this year on the Employee Code of Conduct. Violations are serious and MCPS should know it has a real problem if employees were told not to do these things but still are. That is how school system weeds out child predators. They will continue to violate the rules no matter how many times they are told what the rules are.

A child is extra vulnerable with a coach because there are cameras in the school building and more staff and students around in the day than in after school hours. The ability to peel a child away from the group for an opportunity to be alone with a child is endless. The opportunity is all a child predator needs to hurt your child.

There are policies, but the union contract makes it hard to fire anyone. If you have any doubts, take a look at the 165-page union contract for MCPS teachers. If that isn't enough, there are state law and regulations, which also give teachers due process rights. This article is about PG County Public Schools, but you get the idea.


https://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2018/11/prince-georges-co-schools-says-it-cant-fire-employee-in-racial-slur-video/

Coaches are part-time, contract, non-union positions. They are hired on a season by season basis. If a coach violates the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct, MCPS has grounds to immediate terminate the employment. A principal or an athletic director can decide for any reason to not rehire a coach simply by not renewing the contract.

As far as getting rid of predatory teachers - yes, real difficult because of the union. However, MCPS could transfer the teacher to another assignment away from children while the Due Process procedures are carried out.

That's only a short-term solution if a teacher is a predator. At a different school, there was a teacher accused of molesting a child. The teacher had a long reputation for inappropriate behavior but no criminal charges were filed. He was suspended for several months while he went through due diligence. Eventually he "expressed remorse" and was put back in the classroom. The child moved to another school. Strong union for teachers. No union for kids.

At some point does MCPS ever wonder about what it does to a victim to put the child back in the classroom or athletic field with the man who is the abuser? How can a child have equal access to educational opportunities when the child is scared and traumatized? What liability is the school risking when future victims discover their abuse could have been prevented if only MCPS had acted when the first victim came forward?

[Anonymous]

Please fill out the survey that was sent in the email with the subject line "Thankful" and include all of your concerns listed in the thread. People may not realize there was an important survey link included in the email since the subject line and the beginning of the email did not mention it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or work with the PTA. Didn't your PTA president get the award for most engage PTA in the county? Why not go through that route?

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or work with the PTA. Didn't your PTA president get the award for most engage PTA in the county? Why not go through that route?

+1

When you have a membership meeting of 20 people for a membership of 1000 people, of which 1/4 is the PTA executive board, it shows you how engaged our PTA is at this time. When 2 out of 4 months at the beginning of the school year doesn't have a membership meeting, there is a lack of connection with the school at large.

You can try the local PTA route, but if it is not a personal agenda item for the members of the executive board, you may get sympathy but you won't get action. Many of the PTA executive board members are afraid of ruffling feathers or losing favor with the new principal. It's a game that was played out over and over again with Dr. Benz so that is how the PTA is used to operating at Churchill.

The MCCPTA level is more responsive because they can connect problems that are also in schools county wide. You would hope the PTA executive board is working with both Mrs. Heckert and the MCCPTA to get issues addressed, but as a parent you can always reach out to the MCCPTA directly to make sure they are aware of your concern.

Churchill is not alone with many of the problems in this thread. Many of these problems are institutional which means Mrs. Heckert get the heat but her hands are tied on how to fix them. The MCCPTA can take an issue to the decision makers at central office when policy and procedural changes are needed to fix problems in schools. The committee chairs and the president is responsive and put a lot of volunteer hours to help improve education for all students in Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or work with the PTA. Didn't your PTA president get the award for most engage PTA in the county? Why not go through that route?

+1

When you have a membership meeting of 20 people for a membership of 1000 people, of which 1/4 is the PTA executive board, it shows you how engaged our PTA is at this time. When 2 out of 4 months at the beginning of the school year doesn't have a membership meeting, there is a lack of connection with the school at large.

You can try the local PTA route, but if it is not a personal agenda item for the members of the executive board, you may get sympathy but you won't get action. Many of the PTA executive board members are afraid of ruffling feathers or losing favor with the new principal. It's a game that was played out over and over again with Dr. Benz so that is how the PTA is used to operating at Churchill.

The MCCPTA level is more responsive because they can connect problems that are also in schools county wide. You would hope the PTA executive board is working with both Mrs. Heckert and the MCCPTA to get issues addressed, but as a parent you can always reach out to the MCCPTA directly to make sure they are aware of your concern.

Churchill is not alone with many of the problems in this thread. Many of these problems are institutional which means Mrs. Heckert get the heat but her hands are tied on how to fix them. The MCCPTA can take an issue to the decision makers at central office when policy and procedural changes are needed to fix problems in schools. The committee chairs and the president is responsive and put a lot of volunteer hours to help improve education for all students in Montgomery County.

As someone working at another school, I agree with this. Hopefully Mrs. Heckert has good mentors helping her. At some other schools, the principals do nothing and no longer have any real oversight. They're keeping the wheels turning and the books balanced and so much goes under the radar. Teachers who text with students, coaches who harass kids, staff who bully other people on staff. It's dog eat dog. I know at least a few principals who are kind of like, screw it, hate this job anyway. It's like that syndrome where the hostage adopts the kidnappers' mentality. They just don't make waves at all and try to get their max years in so they get the best payout in retirement. It's sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or work with the PTA. Didn't your PTA president get the award for most engage PTA in the county? Why not go through that route?

+1

When you have a membership meeting of 20 people for a membership of 1000 people, of which 1/4 is the PTA executive board, it shows you how engaged our PTA is at this time. When 2 out of 4 months at the beginning of the school year doesn't have a membership meeting, there is a lack of connection with the school at large.

You can try the local PTA route, but if it is not a personal agenda item for the members of the executive board, you may get sympathy but you won't get action. Many of the PTA executive board members are afraid of ruffling feathers or losing favor with the new principal. It's a game that was played out over and over again with Dr. Benz so that is how the PTA is used to operating at Churchill.

The MCCPTA level is more responsive because they can connect problems that are also in schools county wide. You would hope the PTA executive board is working with both Mrs. Heckert and the MCCPTA to get issues addressed, but as a parent you can always reach out to the MCCPTA directly to make sure they are aware of your concern.

Churchill is not alone with many of the problems in this thread. Many of these problems are institutional which means Mrs. Heckert get the heat but her hands are tied on how to fix them. The MCCPTA can take an issue to the decision makers at central office when policy and procedural changes are needed to fix problems in schools. The committee chairs and the president is responsive and put a lot of volunteer hours to help improve education for all students in Montgomery County.

As someone working at another school, I agree with this. Hopefully Mrs. Heckert has good mentors helping her. At some other schools, the principals do nothing and no longer have any real oversight. They're keeping the wheels turning and the books balanced and so much goes under the radar. Teachers who text with students, coaches who harass kids, staff who bully other people on staff. It's dog eat dog. I know at least a few principals who are kind of like, screw it, hate this job anyway. It's like that syndrome where the hostage adopts the kidnappers' mentality. They just don't make waves at all and try to get their max years in so they get the best payout in retirement. It's sad.

One problem I see is that we have a new director who was just promoted to the job. He is still learning and his background was elementary school, not high school. There was so much reshuffling at central office this past summer that it's like the superintendent cleaned house but left no one with real experience to guide the new people who was promoted. The blind are leading the blind. Mrs. Heckert and Dr. Moran fell into a crap heap that they didn't create but they are clueless on how to fix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Says the principal who turned off the stadium lights on children and ordered them to go home.

Powder puff Mom is back.

Yes, as someone who sees plenty of real problems with MCPS, can you please stop piling onto Brandice Heckert. She’s so small potatoes and you’re distracting from much bigger issues and weakening those cases by seeming petty and whiny. She’s not going to be the one to solve most of your issues, principals are more or less neutered in MCPS. You’re wasting your time worrying about unreturned emails and powder puff football. Plus it’s getting old. We get it. You don’t like the new traffic pattern. You want her to pay closer attention to you and your emails, and you’re ticked off about how she disciplines.. I think you’re a different person than the one or ones posting about abusive coaches. Even those people recognize that Heckert isn’t going to take care of business. Half of that is because central ties her hands. Also principals don’t like to make too many waves until they have the lay of the land. Those decisions will have to be directed from higher up. I’m not criticizing you for disliking her and I’m not saying you’re wrong, I’m just saying you’re misdirecting your attention. While you’re on here, she’s on twitter celebrating those same coaches and buddying up to central people. If you really want to engage the MCPS people, you have to go to twitter. That’s where they all are, chitchatting with each other and signing off eith #raise and all that stuff.

The big question is why is Mrs. Heckert focusing on powder puff football when there are real problems at the school? Shouldn't she have spent her time focusing on coach abuse and hazing, and drug use? Maybe by focusing on powder puff football she can district parents so they don't hold her accountable for the real problems at Churchill.

Again with the powder puff football game?? Mrs. Heckert is not focusing on powderpuff football— you are! She enforced an existing school rule, period. If you want to blame someone for your daughter’s disappointment, blame the seniors who broke the rules!

Honestly, I am so tired of the schools NOT strongly enforcing the rules. I try to teach my kids there are consequences for their misbehaviour, but they are constantly giving me examples of where the school didn’t enforce the rules.

I'm not interested in powderpuff football or even regular football, but now I'm curious. What rules are there about powderpuff football that Mrs. Heckert was enforcing?

From the rest of the string it sounded like parents were upset because Mrs. Heckert punished the entire school, including kids who hadn't done anything wrong, because a few seniors skipped school. It also sounded like she created an unsafe situation by turning off the lights in the stadium while children were in there.

If the powderpuff players were violating a safety rule or engaging in unsportsmanlike behavior, that would give a different spin to the story.

My understanding is that the girls who were set to play skipped school that day, and thus were ineligible to participate in an after school activity that day. So many of the players skipped that there were not enough to field a team so essentially the seniors had to forfeit. I don’t know about the lights but my sense is that the school didn’t know about the problem until they were on the field and she canceled it after they were on the field (or maybe even a few mins into the game?)

I never heard about kids having to vacate the stadium in the dark.

Yeah. It gets dark early. She shut off the lights to stop the game but didn't think about how that affected student safety.

I don't know which kids were or weren't at school or which ones were or weren't scheduled to play.

I do know that there were kids there who had zero connection to the skipping who were forced to leave. That's violation of MCPS student rights. Students can only be punished for things they do -- no collective punishment allowed. It's pretty ironic that in making a big splash about enforcing rules, the principal breaks a rule herself.

Are there really rules about how many plays are needed to field a team in powderpuff football? That sounds made up to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Or work with the PTA. Didn't your PTA president get the award for most engage PTA in the county? Why not go through that route?

+1

When you have a membership meeting of 20 people for a membership of 1000 people, of which 1/4 is the PTA executive board, it shows you how engaged our PTA is at this time. When 2 out of 4 months at the beginning of the school year doesn't have a membership meeting, there is a lack of connection with the school at large.

You can try the local PTA route, but if it is not a personal agenda item for the members of the executive board, you may get sympathy but you won't get action. Many of the PTA executive board members are afraid of ruffling feathers or losing favor with the new principal. It's a game that was played out over and over again with Dr. Benz so that is how the PTA is used to operating at Churchill.

The MCCPTA level is more responsive because they can connect problems that are also in schools county wide. You would hope the PTA executive board is working with both Mrs. Heckert and the MCCPTA to get issues addressed, but as a parent you can always reach out to the MCCPTA directly to make sure they are aware of your concern.

Churchill is not alone with many of the problems in this thread. Many of these problems are institutional which means Mrs. Heckert get the heat but her hands are tied on how to fix them. The MCCPTA can take an issue to the decision makers at central office when policy and procedural changes are needed to fix problems in schools. The committee chairs and the president is responsive and put a lot of volunteer hours to help improve education for all students in Montgomery County.

As someone working at another school, I agree with this. Hopefully Mrs. Heckert has good mentors helping her. At some other schools, the principals do nothing and no longer have any real oversight. They're keeping the wheels turning and the books balanced and so much goes under the radar. Teachers who text with students, coaches who harass kids, staff who bully other people on staff. It's dog eat dog. I know at least a few principals who are kind of like, screw it, hate this job anyway. It's like that syndrome where the hostage adopts the kidnappers' mentality. They just don't make waves at all and try to get their max years in so they get the best payout in retirement. It's sad.

Definitely sad. So you're saying she focuses on senior skip day and powderpuff football because she's afraid to confront bullying, harassment, drug use, and juuling? It still doesn't inspire confidence and it's not good leadership, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New to this thread but I almost can't believe that some comments are about the same school that my kids go to.

1. How can anyone say that the traffic pattern is worse this year? In the mornings we now have three ways for cars to enter the school to dropoff kids (1) Gainsborough entrance (2) right turn from Victory Land and (3) Left turn from Victory Lane. Last year we only had the right turn from Victory lane. I know that traffic is still slow (unavoidable) but can you imagine what it would be like if the only entrance were the right turn from Victory Lane again? There also seem to be more people directing traffic this year.

2. My daughter is looking forward to another year of Winter amd Spring track. She had great fun last year and we haven't heard any complaints. (Well, I do wish they were more communicative about the coach suspended for a couple of months last year)

Parents should ask their children the following questions while letting them know you will love them no matter what they tell you:

Has a coach ever offered to drive her/him alone in his car? (I would highly recommend you do not give coaches written permission to drive your child under any circumstances)

Has a coach ever commented on her/his appearance or if he liked what she/he wearing to practice?

Has a coach ever used vulgar language (ex. calling girls on the team b*tches or degrade children by cursing at them)?

Do any of the coaches give hugs or touch them in any way?

Do any of the coaches make her/him feel uncomfortable? If so, why?

Does your child have a safe adult at school that she could ask questions to or go to if something happens at a practice or a meet?

Do any of the coaches privately text or email your child? (If yes, you may want to check the text and/or email messages and ask for the coach to cc you in the future.)

Has a coach given your child a gift that none of the other athletes received?

Was your child ever pulled out of class last year for a meeting with Dr. Benz and other staff? What happened during that meeting?

Does your child know more than what the school has explained publicly?

Let's not limit this to coaches. This can occur in any area where the teachers develop a personal relationship that continues from year to year so they can build trust. This can happen where a school has only one teacher who teaches a particular subject so a child who is interested in the subject has a class with the teacher for several years in a row. The child might be interested in the area and want to please the teacher. The teacher may respond out of a desire to teach an interested student, but other times there is something scarier at play. There have been reports of grooming and abuse by music and technology teachers at other schools. Some of it has gone on for years. Even when the principal wants to do something, unless there are criminal charges, it is hard to fire a teacher.

WRONG - The Board of Education wrote a MCPS Employee Code of Conduct for a reason. It lists behaviors, many listed above, that are known grooming traits of a child predator.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/staff/staff-home-page/2018-2019_EmployeeCodeofConduct.pdf

If a staff member violates standards of conduct listed in the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct, that employee can be disciplined including termination. The failure of MCPS is that they are not enforcing the code of conduct. For coaches, MCPS's actions are even more ridiculous because coaching contracts are non-tenure positions. They are issued on a season by season basis. MCPS doesn't need a reason to fire a coach. They also don't need a reason to not rehire a coach, especially if the coach is not a certified teacher and a qualified certified teacher is willing to step in as coach. Teachers actually have hiring preference under Maryland law for public school coaching positions.

Protecting your child from abuse begins with knowing the signs of a predator, reading the employee Code of Conduct, and talking with your child to make sure your child knows the standards of conduct for adults and to report to you if any actions of an adult from school depart from the norm. If your discover a violation, email the employee and cc the Principal asking for the behavior to stop.

ALL STAFF - teachers, administrators, coaches, counselors, janitorial staff, etc. - were retrained last year and retained this year on the Employee Code of Conduct. Violations are serious and MCPS should know it has a real problem if employees were told not to do these things but still are. That is how school system weeds out child predators. They will continue to violate the rules no matter how many times they are told what the rules are.

A child is extra vulnerable with a coach because there are cameras in the school building and more staff and students around in the day than in after school hours. The ability to peel a child away from the group for an opportunity to be alone with a child is endless. The opportunity is all a child predator needs to hurt your child.

There aren't cameras in locker rooms (for good reason). Things happen during the school day too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:New to this thread but I almost can't believe that some comments are about the same school that my kids go to.

1. How can anyone say that the traffic pattern is worse this year? In the mornings we now have three ways for cars to enter the school to dropoff kids (1) Gainsborough entrance (2) right turn from Victory Land and (3) Left turn from Victory Lane. Last year we only had the right turn from Victory lane. I know that traffic is still slow (unavoidable) but can you imagine what it would be like if the only entrance were the right turn from Victory Lane again? There also seem to be more people directing traffic this year.

2. My daughter is looking forward to another year of Winter amd Spring track. She had great fun last year and we haven't heard any complaints. (Well, I do wish they were more communicative about the coach suspended for a couple of months last year)

Parents should ask their children the following questions while letting them know you will love them no matter what they tell you:

Has a coach ever offered to drive her/him alone in his car? (I would highly recommend you do not give coaches written permission to drive your child under any circumstances)

Has a coach ever commented on her/his appearance or if he liked what she/he wearing to practice?

Has a coach ever used vulgar language (ex. calling girls on the team b*tches or degrade children by cursing at them)?

Do any of the coaches give hugs or touch them in any way?

Do any of the coaches make her/him feel uncomfortable? If so, why?

Does your child have a safe adult at school that she could ask questions to or go to if something happens at a practice or a meet?

Do any of the coaches privately text or email your child? (If yes, you may want to check the text and/or email messages and ask for the coach to cc you in the future.)

Has a coach given your child a gift that none of the other athletes received?

Was your child ever pulled out of class last year for a meeting with Dr. Benz and other staff? What happened during that meeting?

Does your child know more than what the school has explained publicly?

Let's not limit this to coaches. This can occur in any area where the teachers develop a personal relationship that continues from year to year so they can build trust. This can happen where a school has only one teacher who teaches a particular subject so a child who is interested in the subject has a class with the teacher for several years in a row. The child might be interested in the area and want to please the teacher. The teacher may respond out of a desire to teach an interested student, but other times there is something scarier at play. There have been reports of grooming and abuse by music and technology teachers at other schools. Some of it has gone on for years. Even when the principal wants to do something, unless there are criminal charges, it is hard to fire a teacher.

WRONG - The Board of Education wrote a MCPS Employee Code of Conduct for a reason. It lists behaviors, many listed above, that are known grooming traits of a child predator.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/uploadedFiles/staff/staff-home-page/2018-2019_EmployeeCodeofConduct.pdf

If a staff member violates standards of conduct listed in the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct, that employee can be disciplined including termination. The failure of MCPS is that they are not enforcing the code of conduct. For coaches, MCPS's actions are even more ridiculous because coaching contracts are non-tenure positions. They are issued on a season by season basis. MCPS doesn't need a reason to fire a coach. They also don't need a reason to not rehire a coach, especially if the coach is not a certified teacher and a qualified certified teacher is willing to step in as coach. Teachers actually have hiring preference under Maryland law for public school coaching positions.

Protecting your child from abuse begins with knowing the signs of a predator, reading the employee Code of Conduct, and talking with your child to make sure your child knows the standards of conduct for adults and to report to you if any actions of an adult from school depart from the norm. If your discover a violation, email the employee and cc the Principal asking for the behavior to stop.

ALL STAFF - teachers, administrators, coaches, counselors, janitorial staff, etc. - were retrained last year and retained this year on the Employee Code of Conduct. Violations are serious and MCPS should know it has a real problem if employees were told not to do these things but still are. That is how school system weeds out child predators. They will continue to violate the rules no matter how many times they are told what the rules are.

A child is extra vulnerable with a coach because there are cameras in the school building and more staff and students around in the day than in after school hours. The ability to peel a child away from the group for an opportunity to be alone with a child is endless. The opportunity is all a child predator needs to hurt your child.

There are policies, but the union contract makes it hard to fire anyone. If you have any doubts, take a look at the 165-page union contract for MCPS teachers. If that isn't enough, there are state law and regulations, which also give teachers due process rights. This article is about PG County Public Schools, but you get the idea.


https://wtop.com/prince-georges-county/2018/11/prince-georges-co-schools-says-it-cant-fire-employee-in-racial-slur-video/

Coaches are part-time, contract, non-union positions. They are hired on a season by season basis. If a coach violates the MCPS Employee Code of Conduct, MCPS has grounds to immediate terminate the employment. A principal or an athletic director can decide for any reason to not rehire a coach simply by not renewing the contract.

As far as getting rid of predatory teachers - yes, real difficult because of the union. However, MCPS could transfer the teacher to another assignment away from children while the Due Process procedures are carried out.

That's only a short-term solution if a teacher is a predator. At a different school, there was a teacher accused of molesting a child. The teacher had a long reputation for inappropriate behavior but no criminal charges were filed. He was suspended for several months while he went through due diligence. Eventually he "expressed remorse" and was put back in the classroom. The child moved to another school. Strong union for teachers. No union for kids.

At some point does MCPS ever wonder about what it does to a victim to put the child back in the classroom or athletic field with the man who is the abuser? How can a child have equal access to educational opportunities when the child is scared and traumatized? What liability is the school risking when future victims discover their abuse could have been prevented if only MCPS had acted when the first victim came forward?

The school's liability is OUR liability. The taxpayers pay for any lawsuits. Until there are consequences for the decision-makers and the union's iron fist on MCPS is loosened, this will continue to happen. The children get moved away from their abusers -- not the other way around. #metoo

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or she will use the MCPS verbiage:

1) Terrific response rate (for a response rate of less than 25%)

2) People like the traffic pattern changes (even though the majority of parents have seen dangers increase and students can't get out of the Senior Lot till the buses move)

3) Thank you for the positive feedback (Principal lingo for giving parents the middle finger)

The only principal I have ever met that called things as she saw it and stepped in to fix problems when she saw them was Mrs. Benson at Hoover. I was really disappointed when MCPS wouldn't consider transferring her from Rockville HS to Churchill HS. Mrs. Benson never lied to me as a parent. She always returned an email or a phone call. Mrs. Benson was a rare gym to the community. Parents liked her, students liked her, and staff liked her.

It's sad how Dr. Benz held on for so long that Mrs. Benson took the Rockville HS promotion. It's disappointing how little MCPS listened to what the problems were at Churchill and gave us a newbie principal that is having difficulty just handling the basics. I personally think Mrs. Heckert got the job because she had connections to Mrs. Webster (the previous school Director). They both were at Damascus HS together. Combine a newbie principal and a newbie school director who are clueless where to start, that equals a craptastic plan to fix problems at Churchill.

The survey was a joke. The email sending it had the subject Thankful -- like we could figure out that was a survey! She doesn't want parents to respond.