B-CC Kids Confess They Skip Because There Are No Consequences

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are exactly two kids quoted in the article. I am not sure this is a widespread problem. My kid attends B-CC and has been late a couple of times after lunch. That is it and I have addressed this. I have received one absent phone call/email, which was in error, the whole year. Missing class is not acceptable, even if it is senior year. If my kid misses class, it is my fault, not the school's fault.

The absenteeism rates are in the article, so it is definitely widespread:

19.1% of B-CC students are “chronically absent.”

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent

It is very much widespread and it's clear in the article and the fact that MCPS is revising its absenteeism policy in response to the scope and scale of the issue that it is widespread.

OMG OMG the sky is falling (again). What shall we do?!?

Let's see, notify the parents. After 4 absences insist that the parents come to school and have a meeting prior to allowing them to return to school. After 12, you make the parents shadow the kids for a day, and if that doesn't work a week or permanently till their behavior improves.

You're more prescient than you know. I believe some version of what you outlined is what MCPS will unveil.

MCPS has cut parents out of education. It needs to be a partnership and much more communication. Teachers should send out weekly emails outlining what kids are learning and what assignments are due each week/when. We've had teachers do that in MS and it was fantastic. It doesn't have to be long or detailed but just we are working on these concepts or reading xxx, and these are the upcoming assignments and due dates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are exactly two kids quoted in the article. I am not sure this is a widespread problem. My kid attends B-CC and has been late a couple of times after lunch. That is it and I have addressed this. I have received one absent phone call/email, which was in error, the whole year. Missing class is not acceptable, even if it is senior year. If my kid misses class, it is my fault, not the school's fault.

The absenteeism rates are in the article, so it is definitely widespread:

19.1% of B-CC students are “chronically absent.”

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent

It is very much widespread and it's clear in the article and the fact that MCPS is revising its absenteeism policy in response to the scope and scale of the issue that it is widespread.

OMG OMG the sky is falling (again). What shall we do?!?

Let's see, notify the parents. After 4 absences insist that the parents come to school and have a meeting prior to allowing them to return to school. After 12, you make the parents shadow the kids for a day, and if that doesn't work a week or permanently till their behavior improves.

You're more prescient than you know. I believe some version of what you outlined is what MCPS will unveil.

MCPS has cut parents out of education. It needs to be a partnership and much more communication. Teachers should send out weekly emails outlining what kids are learning and what assignments are due each week/when. We've had teachers do that in MS and it was fantastic. It doesn't have to be long or detailed but just we are working on these concepts or reading xxx, and these are the upcoming assignments and due dates.

I can kind of see that for freshmen, since they're still transitioning and acclimating to HS, but that level of hand holding is not good for 10th, 11th and 12th graders who really need to be taking responsibility for their school work and time management.

If parents do that all throughout high school for their kids, they will be helpless when they get to college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are exactly two kids quoted in the article. I am not sure this is a widespread problem. My kid attends B-CC and has been late a couple of times after lunch. That is it and I have addressed this. I have received one absent phone call/email, which was in error, the whole year. Missing class is not acceptable, even if it is senior year. If my kid misses class, it is my fault, not the school's fault.

The absenteeism rates are in the article, so it is definitely widespread:

19.1% of B-CC students are “chronically absent.”

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent

It is very much widespread and it's clear in the article and the fact that MCPS is revising its absenteeism policy in response to the scope and scale of the issue that it is widespread.

OMG OMG the sky is falling (again). What shall we do?!?

Let's see, notify the parents. After 4 absences insist that the parents come to school and have a meeting prior to allowing them to return to school. After 12, you make the parents shadow the kids for a day, and if that doesn't work a week or permanently till their behavior improves.

You're more prescient than you know. I believe some version of what you outlined is what MCPS will unveil.

MCPS has cut parents out of education. It needs to be a partnership and much more communication. Teachers should send out weekly emails outlining what kids are learning and what assignments are due each week/when. We've had teachers do that in MS and it was fantastic. It doesn't have to be long or detailed but just we are working on these concepts or reading xxx, and these are the upcoming assignments and due dates.

A lot of teachers already include all of that information in Canvas. If you look in each class under Assignments or Modules, you can usually find out what they've been learning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are exactly two kids quoted in the article. I am not sure this is a widespread problem. My kid attends B-CC and has been late a couple of times after lunch. That is it and I have addressed this. I have received one absent phone call/email, which was in error, the whole year. Missing class is not acceptable, even if it is senior year. If my kid misses class, it is my fault, not the school's fault.

The absenteeism rates are in the article, so it is definitely widespread:

19.1% of B-CC students are “chronically absent.”

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent

It is very much widespread and it's clear in the article and the fact that MCPS is revising its absenteeism policy in response to the scope and scale of the issue that it is widespread.

OMG OMG the sky is falling (again). What shall we do?!?

Let's see, notify the parents. After 4 absences insist that the parents come to school and have a meeting prior to allowing them to return to school. After 12, you make the parents shadow the kids for a day, and if that doesn't work a week or permanently till their behavior improves.

You're more prescient than you know. I believe some version of what you outlined is what MCPS will unveil.

MCPS has cut parents out of education. It needs to be a partnership and much more communication. Teachers should send out weekly emails outlining what kids are learning and what assignments are due each week/when. We've had teachers do that in MS and it was fantastic. It doesn't have to be long or detailed but just we are working on these concepts or reading xxx, and these are the upcoming assignments and due dates.

I can kind of see that for freshmen, since they're still transitioning and acclimating to HS, but that level of hand holding is not good for 10th, 11th and 12th graders who really need to be taking responsibility for their school work and time management.

If parents do that all throughout high school for their kids, they will be helpless when they get to college.

+1

If 17-18 year olds won’t go to school at their own volition…what do they think is going to happen in a year when they get to a university with 30,000 students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the parents in all this? Parents also need to discipline their kids. Way back when for BCC it was that McDonald's.

Parents don’t even know.

The school isn’t calling parents every time a kid skips.

Not entirely true. The school sends automated robocalls and alerts when kids are marked absent, but there are SO many errors with attendance taking (subs who don't know what they're doing, teachers marking tardies as absences) etc. that it's impossible to know when those alerts are accurate or not. MCPS attendance protocols and systems are a mess.

I get robocalls and emails when my BCC student is absent from class. It also shows up on parentvue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the parents in all this? Parents also need to discipline their kids. Way back when for BCC it was that McDonald's.

Parents don’t even know.

The school isn’t calling parents every time a kid skips.

Not entirely true. The school sends automated robocalls and alerts when kids are marked absent, but there are SO many errors with attendance taking (subs who don't know what they're doing, teachers marking tardies as absences) etc. that it's impossible to know when those alerts are accurate or not. MCPS attendance protocols and systems are a mess.

I get robocalls and emails when my BCC student is absent from class. It also shows up on parentvue.

Also, yes, I agree that there are errors in attendance but not so many that you would automatically disregard a message.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are exactly two kids quoted in the article. I am not sure this is a widespread problem. My kid attends B-CC and has been late a couple of times after lunch. That is it and I have addressed this. I have received one absent phone call/email, which was in error, the whole year. Missing class is not acceptable, even if it is senior year. If my kid misses class, it is my fault, not the school's fault.

The absenteeism rates are in the article, so it is definitely widespread:

19.1% of B-CC students are “chronically absent.”

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent

It is very much widespread and it's clear in the article and the fact that MCPS is revising its absenteeism policy in response to the scope and scale of the issue that it is widespread.

OMG OMG the sky is falling (again). What shall we do?!?

Let's see, notify the parents. After 4 absences insist that the parents come to school and have a meeting prior to allowing them to return to school. After 12, you make the parents shadow the kids for a day, and if that doesn't work a week or permanently till their behavior improves.

You're more prescient than you know. I believe some version of what you outlined is what MCPS will unveil.

MCPS has cut parents out of education. It needs to be a partnership and much more communication. Teachers should send out weekly emails outlining what kids are learning and what assignments are due each week/when. We've had teachers do that in MS and it was fantastic. It doesn't have to be long or detailed but just we are working on these concepts or reading xxx, and these are the upcoming assignments and due dates.

A lot of teachers already include all of that information in Canvas. If you look in each class under Assignments or Modules, you can usually find out what they've been learning.

Actually, a lot of teachers DON'T include that information on Canvas. It trickles out day by day, which makes it difficult to plan ahead and manage time.

[Anonymous]

This thread is crazy after reading the private school threads where public school and private school parents fight over which is better. No more need to argue if you can get all As at public without even showing up. My goodness! No wonder our country is in such a sad state. Doing the bare minimum since you can get away with it and parents being cool with that? What happened to integrity and actual love of learning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where are the parents in all this? Parents also need to discipline their kids. Way back when for BCC it was that McDonald's.

Judging by my East Bethesda Facebook group, it’s never their kids.
It’s those other kids.

Rinse, wash, and repeat for everything. Skipping. Pot smoking in the park. Trashing the park. Failure to adhere to stop signs. Never their kids. Oh, no.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS Discipline motto: "Everything is optional! Passing guaranteed!"

If high school students want to skip school there isn't much the school can do. If they give detention, why, those kids will just skip it. Same with suspension. They just need to fail those kids. This is a parenting issue.

Most of the problems in education these days boil down to absent or disinterested parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents see report cards and as long as those are good, they don't care what their kids do. That's how it was when I was a kid.

eh. I care, but I can no longer really control my college bound senior. Straight As without trying too hard. Sometimes DC will skip class if they aren't learning anything new.

After AP/IB exams, they said they aren't going to class anymore. For the most part, those classes stop teaching new material after the May exams.

Prior to senior year, yes, I make my kids go.

My kid is at a private school. If he skips class, he gets detention. If he skips that, he won’t graduate with his class. Talk about motivating!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents see report cards and as long as those are good, they don't care what their kids do. That's how it was when I was a kid.

eh. I care, but I can no longer really control my college bound senior. Straight As without trying too hard. Sometimes DC will skip class if they aren't learning anything new.

After AP/IB exams, they said they aren't going to class anymore. For the most part, those classes stop teaching new material after the May exams.

Prior to senior year, yes, I make my kids go.

My kid is at a private school. If he skips class, he gets detention. If he skips that, he won’t graduate with his class. Talk about motivating!

In college, you have to be self-motivated (nobody is taking attendance), not micromanaged like your child currently is.

[Anonymous]

Like some PPs, BCC contacts me that day with email/phone call if my student is absent. In fact, our kid had Covid at the start of the school year & then another illness (non Covid) pretty much back to back & the school sent me a sternly worded letter basically saying that excess absences would be considered truancy.

We have a relatively new attendance officer this year & he is great btw (very responsive when I send in notes).

Attendance is critical for learning content so it's an important lever for MCPS particularly if they are concerned about equity of outcomes. I support any initiative to add urgency to attendance just as I would support any initiative to reverse the grade inflation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are exactly two kids quoted in the article. I am not sure this is a widespread problem. My kid attends B-CC and has been late a couple of times after lunch. That is it and I have addressed this. I have received one absent phone call/email, which was in error, the whole year. Missing class is not acceptable, even if it is senior year. If my kid misses class, it is my fault, not the school's fault.

The absenteeism rates are in the article, so it is definitely widespread:

19.1% of B-CC students are “chronically absent.”

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent

It is very much widespread and it's clear in the article and the fact that MCPS is revising its absenteeism policy in response to the scope and scale of the issue that it is widespread.

OMG OMG the sky is falling (again). What shall we do?!?

Let's see, notify the parents. After 4 absences insist that the parents come to school and have a meeting prior to allowing them to return to school. After 12, you make the parents shadow the kids for a day, and if that doesn't work a week or permanently till their behavior improves.

You're more prescient than you know. I believe some version of what you outlined is what MCPS will unveil.

MCPS has cut parents out of education. It needs to be a partnership and much more communication. Teachers should send out weekly emails outlining what kids are learning and what assignments are due each week/when. We've had teachers do that in MS and it was fantastic. It doesn't have to be long or detailed but just we are working on these concepts or reading xxx, and these are the upcoming assignments and due dates.

A lot of teachers already include all of that information in Canvas. If you look in each class under Assignments or Modules, you can usually find out what they've been learning.

That requires way too much effort. Teachers should be raising my kids and making my life easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS Discipline motto: "Everything is optional! Passing guaranteed!"

If high school students want to skip school there isn't much the school can do. If they give detention, why, those kids will just skip it. Same with suspension. They just need to fail those kids. This is a parenting issue.

Most of the problems in education these days boil down to absent or disinterested parents.

Yes, and there you have it. No amount of money that MCPS spends will fix this. They need to accept this and try to meet kids where they are.