To teachers and parents: Have the kids gotten better?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Things have gotten worse at my school. Kids have gotten comfortable and spring is here. That means, there has been an uptick in outrageous behaviors. Today, I had to half drag a kindergarten student upstairs to the office because he started hitting/hicking us. This afternoon, the entire downstairs at my school had to listen to screaming from a pre-k kid who has been running laps around the school for the last few weeks. I also have a student who eats everything and anything under the sun. Thankfully her classmates tell me when this happens so I can fish it out of her mouth (today it was a twist tie and a cap eraser). My student with the huge behavior issues was absent today so it was a pretty calm day.

I've heard awful stories from the middle school. The admin is always busy with them so they rarely have time to help us out. We are exhausted and we still have two weeks left before spring break. Teachers call in sick so much due to the stress and exhaustion and there are no subs (who can blame them with these behavior issues?) And our school isn't even that bad compared to others I've heard about.

Parents need to be called to pick up their kids or to sit with them in class if they cannot behave.

So they should just leave work every day to come to school? How realistic is that?

Perhaps that will motivate them to actually parent their out of control kids and/or get them psychiatrist help so that they won’t have to keep missing work. Shrug.

Wow you really hit the low end of DCUM. Shrug.

Gross.

Its gross to do nothing and just send your kids to school pretending its nothing. Some kids have real mental health issues and the schools should focus on helping them. Not the made up mental health issues that parents use to handle their kids poor behavior.

No. That is not a school's job. That is a parent's job. Do your job, parent. Get help for your kids. Schools should focus on teaching and learning. Parents are supposed to focus on everything else. Stop making schools responsible for doing something for your kid because of your inability to do your job as a parent.

I am a parent writing this.

There are huge barriers to accessing mental health services for kids right now. We tried for months to get a therapist for my child. Almost none were taking new patients or insurance. Each place we contacted referred us somewhere else and those places were booked too. The need is huge but availability is low. Hence why schools were supposed to get funding to hire more child psychologists and counselors because there is so much demand.

[Anonymous]

At our school or is true as some have said here that parents don’t enforce boundaries with their kids and /or are checked out. And the schools are being asked to do too much with these kids.

But also our Fairfax elementary has kids on computers a lot, and it is a real problem
For behavior too. The kids are on video games, YouTube, etc., not paying attention, distracting others. We need to track my sons history daily and check light speed weekly to be sure he’s only doing school work on his computer. And he feels like he’s the only kids not filling around all day. The computers need to be put away the majority of the day. It’s been a really negative harmful change for the schools.

The kids also eat TRASH. This is in parents but the school district too. The school food is absolute junk. My kids can’t believe the crap others eat at school. And it’s not like we’re eating avocado sushi and lentil soup. We just pack peanut butter or turkey and cheese sandwiches, fresh fruit, and yogurt or cheese. But it’s a stark contrast to nachos with fake cheese and chocolate milk.

The issues are deep and go all around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our school or is true as some have said here that parents don’t enforce boundaries with their kids and /or are checked out. And the schools are being asked to do too much with these kids.

But also our Fairfax elementary has kids on computers a lot, and it is a real problem
For behavior too. The kids are on video games, YouTube, etc., not paying attention, distracting others. We need to track my sons history daily and check light speed weekly to be sure he’s only doing school work on his computer. And he feels like he’s the only kids not filling around all day. The computers need to be put away the majority of the day. It’s been a really negative harmful change for the schools.

The kids also eat TRASH. This is in parents but the school district too. The school food is absolute junk. My kids can’t believe the crap others eat at school. And it’s not like we’re eating avocado sushi and lentil soup. We just pack peanut butter or turkey and cheese sandwiches, fresh fruit, and yogurt or cheese. But it’s a stark contrast to nachos with fake cheese and chocolate milk.

The issues are deep and go all around.

Tyson lobbying is a hot mess.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here.

Nothing has gotten better.

Kids are still well below grade level. Kids do not know how to socialize. Kids do not know how to behave. Kids just do not care. Honestly, the families do not seem to care either.

[Anonymous]

Why are educators shocked that there was real harm done when the schools went virtual for over a year? That parents still have a chip on their shoulders towards schools because they were closed far longer than any other workplace. They were told schools aren’t daycare so you and your family are on your own figuring out how to help your child learn anything?

Of course parents are throwing their hands up and saying that catching up their kids is the school’s problem. They wanted schools open when their kids were falling behind.

Kids realized that their education mattered pretty little to the adults in their lives. They had 18 months to skate by.

This is the fall out. It will eventually level off but it’s ridiculous to think it will within six months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are educators shocked that there was real harm done when the schools went virtual for over a year? That parents still have a chip on their shoulders towards schools because they were closed far longer than any other workplace. They were told schools aren’t daycare so you and your family are on your own figuring out how to help your child learn anything?

Of course parents are throwing their hands up and saying that catching up their kids is the school’s problem. They wanted schools open when their kids were falling behind.

Kids realized that their education mattered pretty little to the adults in their lives. They had 18 months to skate by.

This is the fall out. It will eventually level off but it’s ridiculous to think it will within six months.

They were allowed to skate by because their parents allowed it. My kid didn't skate by because I required him to take school online as seriously as in-person school. Many parents didn't so what do you expect?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes, I am wondering what has been going on. I’ve been getting a bunch of emails about Discipline Town Hall from my child’s school. Maybe the adults are over stressed and need to chill. Why aren’t schools using the Covid funds to hire more therapists and counselors? I’m really worried about the mental health fallout when the kids reach college and young adulthood. I mean we are already seeing it with all the suicides happening on campuses that no one is really talking about.

There are no Covid funds for extra staff, at least in DCPS. We were told to expect a contact tracer, a permanent sub. And extra mental health support. None have appeared. Instead we have “health techs” who check forms as students arrive and do testing once a week. But 90% of their day is spent looking at their phones.

At my school, students with BOTH a stable home life Nd a good teacher are back to normal. Those missing one or both are still struggling with behavior, attention, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just talking to a high school teacher today who told me this will be her last year teaching. She's a great teacher. From what she told me, her biggest challenge is engaging the students. She was saying that they just seem to have so little motivation to do anything. Every single teacher and administrator I've talked to in the last month has said it's been a very tough year.

For my own 5th grader, she is doing well, a little over her classmates, but much less anxiety. Now that she is getting special education services, she went from being the year at a low third grade reading level to being on a 5th grade level as of last week! Beginning of 5th grade in March, but I'll take it. She also learned to play guitar at school this year.

That's awesome, PP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things have gotten worse at my school. Kids have gotten comfortable and spring is here. That means, there has been an uptick in outrageous behaviors. Today, I had to half drag a kindergarten student upstairs to the office because he started hitting/hicking us. This afternoon, the entire downstairs at my school had to listen to screaming from a pre-k kid who has been running laps around the school for the last few weeks. I also have a student who eats everything and anything under the sun. Thankfully her classmates tell me when this happens so I can fish it out of her mouth (today it was a twist tie and a cap eraser). My student with the huge behavior issues was absent today so it was a pretty calm day.

I've heard awful stories from the middle school. The admin is always busy with them so they rarely have time to help us out. We are exhausted and we still have two weeks left before spring break. Teachers call in sick so much due to the stress and exhaustion and there are no subs (who can blame them with these behavior issues?) And our school isn't even that bad compared to others I've heard about.

Parents need to be called to pick up their kids or to sit with them in class if they cannot behave.

So they should just leave work every day to come to school? How realistic is that?

Perhaps that will motivate them to actually parent their out of control kids and/or get them psychiatrist help so that they won’t have to keep missing work. Shrug.

Wow you really hit the low end of DCUM. Shrug.

Gross.

Sadly, this is exactly what I saw when I lived in the DMV. Parents who didn't want to parent their own kids. That is the source of the problem.

There are also a lot of parents unable to parent their children.

For those who do t agree that parents are a HUGE part of the problem, why is there such a discrepancy in behavioral issues in high ses schools vs low ses schools?

I work in an out of school time program for low income high school program and we also run a summer program (basically summer school but a little more fun). The students we work with have had a lot of people in their lives die. A LOT. Some parents, more grandparents and other relatives. They were stuck in crowded homes for a year or so. A pandemic isn't as fun when you share a bedroom with 3 other people and share a bathroom with 8 other people. Just extreme financial distress. Many of our students became either primary wage earners in their families, so they would log into virtual school, turn their camera off and go work a shift at RiteAid. A few of them were working in nursing homes or hospitals and saw a lot of people die. Some basically took on full care for siblings and cousins if their parents were working.

We don't really see bad behavior because we keep caseloads low and there is always someone around to really check in if a student is struggling. So for us it isn't, "You have your phone out AGAIN so you get detention." It's "you seem really checked out and i'm not used to you acting this way, you want to talk about what's going on?" We do see students who can be less engaged, more anxious, depressed, struggling with completing tasks, although we also have a bunch who are really on it. I've seen this a lot in low-income schools that kids are just expected to bounce back and not show emotion. Oh, your uncle got shot Saturday. So sorry, take a seat and do your work. COVID is similar, a good percentage of kids have really been through it. You watch 50 people die in a nurshing home over the course of 6 months, or you are home alone with your younger siblings while all of the older generation is in the hospital with COVID-that is going to mess a kid up. It absolutely makes sense that they are acting out and it absolutely makes sense that educators who are burned out from their own stuff and not getting extra support and resources are struggling to deal with them.

I would like to highlight and underline this post for the "it's one banana" crowd.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things have gotten worse at my school. Kids have gotten comfortable and spring is here. That means, there has been an uptick in outrageous behaviors. Today, I had to half drag a kindergarten student upstairs to the office because he started hitting/hicking us. This afternoon, the entire downstairs at my school had to listen to screaming from a pre-k kid who has been running laps around the school for the last few weeks. I also have a student who eats everything and anything under the sun. Thankfully her classmates tell me when this happens so I can fish it out of her mouth (today it was a twist tie and a cap eraser). My student with the huge behavior issues was absent today so it was a pretty calm day.

I've heard awful stories from the middle school. The admin is always busy with them so they rarely have time to help us out. We are exhausted and we still have two weeks left before spring break. Teachers call in sick so much due to the stress and exhaustion and there are no subs (who can blame them with these behavior issues?) And our school isn't even that bad compared to others I've heard about.

Parents need to be called to pick up their kids or to sit with them in class if they cannot behave.

So they should just leave work every day to come to school? How realistic is that?

Perhaps that will motivate them to actually parent their out of control kids and/or get them psychiatrist help so that they won’t have to keep missing work. Shrug.

Wow you really hit the low end of DCUM. Shrug.

Gross.

Its gross to do nothing and just send your kids to school pretending its nothing. Some kids have real mental health issues and the schools should focus on helping them. Not the made up mental health issues that parents use to handle their kids poor behavior.

No. That is not a school's job. That is a parent's job. Do your job, parent. Get help for your kids. Schools should focus on teaching and learning. Parents are supposed to focus on everything else. Stop making schools responsible for doing something for your kid because of your inability to do your job as a parent.

I am a parent writing this.

Well current federal law disagrees with you, but I guess you could take it up with your senator and rep.

You write as if it were so easy for any parent to just pick up the phone and schedule free weekly sessions with a qualified therapist within walking distance. There are MAJOR barriers for many parents in this process. None the least of which is understanding mental health, the utility of therapy in it, and trust in a largely white pool of therapists. - a white teacher

[Anonymous]

Meant above post in response to PP saying parents should do their jobs and just get help for their kids so schools can just teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things have gotten worse at my school. Kids have gotten comfortable and spring is here. That means, there has been an uptick in outrageous behaviors. Today, I had to half drag a kindergarten student upstairs to the office because he started hitting/hicking us. This afternoon, the entire downstairs at my school had to listen to screaming from a pre-k kid who has been running laps around the school for the last few weeks. I also have a student who eats everything and anything under the sun. Thankfully her classmates tell me when this happens so I can fish it out of her mouth (today it was a twist tie and a cap eraser). My student with the huge behavior issues was absent today so it was a pretty calm day.

I've heard awful stories from the middle school. The admin is always busy with them so they rarely have time to help us out. We are exhausted and we still have two weeks left before spring break. Teachers call in sick so much due to the stress and exhaustion and there are no subs (who can blame them with these behavior issues?) And our school isn't even that bad compared to others I've heard about.

Parents need to be called to pick up their kids or to sit with them in class if they cannot behave.

So they should just leave work every day to come to school? How realistic is that?

Perhaps that will motivate them to actually parent their out of control kids and/or get them psychiatrist help so that they won’t have to keep missing work. Shrug.

Wow you really hit the low end of DCUM. Shrug.

Gross.

Truth hurts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why are educators shocked that there was real harm done when the schools went virtual for over a year? That parents still have a chip on their shoulders towards schools because they were closed far longer than any other workplace. They were told schools aren’t daycare so you and your family are on your own figuring out how to help your child learn anything?

Of course parents are throwing their hands up and saying that catching up their kids is the school’s problem. They wanted schools open when their kids were falling behind.

Kids realized that their education mattered pretty little to the adults in their lives. They had 18 months to skate by.

This is the fall out. It will eventually level off but it’s ridiculous to think it will within six months.

Too bad. Do your jobs, Mama Bears. Take full responsibility for YOUR kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things have gotten worse at my school. Kids have gotten comfortable and spring is here. That means, there has been an uptick in outrageous behaviors. Today, I had to half drag a kindergarten student upstairs to the office because he started hitting/hicking us. This afternoon, the entire downstairs at my school had to listen to screaming from a pre-k kid who has been running laps around the school for the last few weeks. I also have a student who eats everything and anything under the sun. Thankfully her classmates tell me when this happens so I can fish it out of her mouth (today it was a twist tie and a cap eraser). My student with the huge behavior issues was absent today so it was a pretty calm day.

I've heard awful stories from the middle school. The admin is always busy with them so they rarely have time to help us out. We are exhausted and we still have two weeks left before spring break. Teachers call in sick so much due to the stress and exhaustion and there are no subs (who can blame them with these behavior issues?) And our school isn't even that bad compared to others I've heard about.

Parents need to be called to pick up their kids or to sit with them in class if they cannot behave.

So they should just leave work every day to come to school? How realistic is that?

Perhaps that will motivate them to actually parent their out of control kids and/or get them psychiatrist help so that they won’t have to keep missing work. Shrug.

Wow you really hit the low end of DCUM. Shrug.

Gross.

Its gross to do nothing and just send your kids to school pretending its nothing. Some kids have real mental health issues and the schools should focus on helping them. Not the made up mental health issues that parents use to handle their kids poor behavior.

No. That is not a school's job. That is a parent's job. Do your job, parent. Get help for your kids. Schools should focus on teaching and learning. Parents are supposed to focus on everything else. Stop making schools responsible for doing something for your kid because of your inability to do your job as a parent.

I am a parent writing this.

Well current federal law disagrees with you, but I guess you could take it up with your senator and rep.

You write as if it were so easy for any parent to just pick up the phone and schedule free weekly sessions with a qualified therapist within walking distance. There are MAJOR barriers for many parents in this process. None the least of which is understanding mental health, the utility of therapy in it, and trust in a largely white pool of therapists. - a white teacher

I’m sorry to hear that. Your kids’ mental health is still *your* responsibility, not the school’s. Figure it out.

[Anonymous]

God, this one sanctimommy poster is so gross. Get a grip with your incessant need to judge.