Serious Answers Only—How to Fix MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make the BoE a full time position w/ salaries staff. MCPS is too big to have part-time accountability.

Add co-teachers or paras to all K-2 classes, and classes over 24 students in ES/MS. Make ES school teachers rotate around the grades in K-2 or 3-5. Have students stay with the same teacher for K and 1 to build continuity and support.

More counselors, particularly at the HS level, so actual academic advising and followup can occur.

Add administrative/case Mgmt support for SpecEd. Clearly state what SpecEd services are available and at what amount of time (regardless of FAPE, the number of people available is real and can only do so much).

Standardize some process and tools. I’m all for meeting people where they are but there is a little bit too much catering to everyone’s whims going on.

Plan for implementation of new programs/curriculum. This includes getting all the supplies early enough for review, training, and teacher planning. If you are implementing something Fall 2024, things should start arriving late winter2023/early spring 2024.

They can't state what Sped resources are available, because that would violate FAPE, until FAPE is better defined, which is basically impossible because of the Sp in SpEd.


Standardize which processes and tools?

The new curriculums don't need more planning, they need to stop happening.

Any curriculum that can't be modified in place with modular replacements and mixins for enrichment and remedial support, is worthless

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of Central Office and start over. Make it a priority that people rotate from teaching to Central Office and back (they are so disconnected from the reality of the classroom right now). More teachers, less Central Office Staff. More Spec Ed teachers. More discipline with actual consequences no matter what coor your skin (so drug dealers in the Ws as well as gun carriers in ALL schools). Bring back SROs. Bring back midterms and final exams. No more 50% for no work. Tutors for those who need it - for free. The goal is graduating with competencies, not graduating because we passed you along.

The above would a good start

Great point about central office! I’ve often thought the school system is NOT underfunded. The problem is that so much money is funneled to central office positions that actually hinder instruction instead of help it. Reduce the size of central office and rotate people BACK into the classroom so they keep a foot in reality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Add SROs back to schools, and re-open the special school (Twain in Rockville) for students with behavioral problems, instead of just transferring them to the next school for them to make more problems.

This. So much class time is squandered by disruptive students with behavioral problems. They need to be moved to a separate environment that can better deal with their needs. Then teachers can actually teach and students can actually learn. Disruptive students are such a stressful time suck for everyone. Move them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

Get off of DCUM. This website greatly exaggerates problems and there are a few folks with axes to grind. The vast majority of families of the 160,000+ students are more than satisfied with the education of their children. MCPS is a large organization with the typical problems of a large organization. Is there room for improvement? Yes. Is it in "decline"? No more than most school systems at this moment in our society who are struggling with problems beyond to direct control of school systems.

Disagree. Sure, people love school when their child is in the primary grades of ES. As they get older, the cracks in the system start to show. I have no axe to grind, but there are serious problems in MCPS, formerly one of the best school systems in the country. There has been massive decline in the past 10- 15 years

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of Central Office and start over. Make it a priority that people rotate from teaching to Central Office and back (they are so disconnected from the reality of the classroom right now). More teachers, less Central Office Staff. More Spec Ed teachers. More discipline with actual consequences no matter what coor your skin (so drug dealers in the Ws as well as gun carriers in ALL schools). Bring back SROs. Bring back midterms and final exams. No more 50% for no work. Tutors for those who need it - for free. The goal is graduating with competencies, not graduating because we passed you along.

The above would a good start

Great point about central office! I’ve often thought the school system is NOT underfunded. The problem is that so much money is funneled to central office positions that actually hinder instruction instead of help it. Reduce the size of central office and rotate people BACK into the classroom so they keep a foot in reality.

ALL THIS. We need a small unaffiliated group to come in and identify the efficiencies/inefficiencies and what departments are required and not required. Get rid of all the non-essential, ridiculous groups. Give them a month to do this study and then implement the needed changes stat. Shoot, Elon Musk sat in a room for 48 hours and did this with Twitter. We need to do the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make the BOE a full-time position with more power and oversight focus instead of rubber stamping the superintendent's way and will

Bring back accountability and discipline to schools. Kids need it. It doesn't matter if it hurts their feelings. And don't alway listen to the noisiest, loudest complaining parent in the room. The silent majority want order and structure in schools and expect admins and teachers to bring it.

Focus on equal opportunities and not equal outcomes. Giving everyone the opportunity to do good is the moral and right thing to do. Giving everyone the same or similar outcomes, regardless of effort, ambition or initiative is not good. It creates entitled, lazy people who become piss-poor citizens and employees.

Bring back regular classes. This is tied to previous comment about equal opportunities, not outcomes, but kids who don't care about school should not be allowed to distract and corrupt kids who are interested and motivated to learn. Honors classes should be a safe haven for focused students. Everyone should have the opportunity to sign up for an honors class, but there should criteria those students are expected to meet and if they don't over time rise to meet them, be put back into the regular classes.

Either take PE seriously or remove it altogether. This idea that kids shouldn't change for PE or be forced to do physical activity is nuts. Childhood obesity is an epidemic and the gutting of any kind of mandate or requirement with regard to physical activity is a major contributor to this. Kids, especially those who've been babysat by screens, will be lazy, unmotivated and whine. Push them anyways. Either that, or just drop PE as a requirement altogether and stop wasting everyone's time.

Fix the cafeteria food. School lunches have never been gourmet, but the amount of kids who reject the food the school serves is alarming. That's a lot of money going down the drain. If MCPS is not capable of making food the students will eat, then we should stop having MCPS make lunch and just invite outside entities to serve lunch instead. But the waste that goes on right now is unsustainable.

This is mostly numbers stickers, not practical suggestions.

DP. Hardly. Maybe the last two, but there are practical means of

-- enabling proper oversight/responsiveness to the populace via full-time-professional-level pay (with a dedicated staff outside of MCPS, like many other oversight bodies) [looking at you, County Council; while you're at it, get rid of staggered elections, whole-of-county voting for district representation and at-large seats, which all over-represent majority views],

-- nurturing teachers' ability to manage their classes (while still holding them to teaching standards/rules of behavior, themselves) [looking at you, state Delegates & Senators, for the legislation that would limit the litigation that has school systems keeping their heads down on this issue],

-- adopting a proper system focus (supporting potential that aims for no demographic-based determinism, but recognizing not all individuals -- or even groups, though this hopefully would not be the case over time -- will achieve at the same level) [looking at you, BOE], and

-- allowing differentiation best to meet kids where they are [looking at you, Dr. McKnight & Co.].

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids have been in MCPS for 15 years and I’m just disgusted by the decline. Wondering if anyone has ideas to fix the many problems in MCPS?

Get off of DCUM. This website greatly exaggerates problems and there are a few folks with axes to grind. The vast majority of families of the 160,000+ students are more than satisfied with the education of their children. MCPS is a large organization with the typical problems of a large organization. Is there room for improvement? Yes. Is it in "decline"? No more than most school systems at this moment in our society who are struggling with problems beyond to direct control of school systems.

Disagree. Sure, people love school when their child is in the primary grades of ES. As they get older, the cracks in the system start to show. I have no axe to grind, but there are serious problems in MCPS, formerly one of the best school systems in the country. There has been massive decline in the past 10- 15 years

We saw far bigger cracks in ES and had a horrible principal who set a really bad tone. MS was sadly far better. Its never been that great, having gone through MCPS myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Make the BOE a full-time position with more power and oversight focus instead of rubber stamping the superintendent's way and will

Bring back accountability and discipline to schools. Kids need it. It doesn't matter if it hurts their feelings. And don't alway listen to the noisiest, loudest complaining parent in the room. The silent majority want order and structure in schools and expect admins and teachers to bring it.

Focus on equal opportunities and not equal outcomes. Giving everyone the opportunity to do good is the moral and right thing to do. Giving everyone the same or similar outcomes, regardless of effort, ambition or initiative is not good. It creates entitled, lazy people who become piss-poor citizens and employees.

Bring back regular classes. This is tied to previous comment about equal opportunities, not outcomes, but kids who don't care about school should not be allowed to distract and corrupt kids who are interested and motivated to learn. Honors classes should be a safe haven for focused students. Everyone should have the opportunity to sign up for an honors class, but there should criteria those students are expected to meet and if they don't over time rise to meet them, be put back into the regular classes.

Either take PE seriously or remove it altogether. This idea that kids shouldn't change for PE or be forced to do physical activity is nuts. Childhood obesity is an epidemic and the gutting of any kind of mandate or requirement with regard to physical activity is a major contributor to this. Kids, especially those who've been babysat by screens, will be lazy, unmotivated and whine. Push them anyways. Either that, or just drop PE as a requirement altogether and stop wasting everyone's time.

Fix the cafeteria food. School lunches have never been gourmet, but the amount of kids who reject the food the school serves is alarming. That's a lot of money going down the drain. If MCPS is not capable of making food the students will eat, then we should stop having MCPS make lunch and just invite outside entities to serve lunch instead. But the waste that goes on right now is unsustainable.

I like this list. Makes a lot of sense

[Anonymous]

I’ll be a devil’s advocate here. My kids have been in the system for 13 years, not in the rich side of the county. Some magnet, some not. I don’t see this decline. I’ve watched kids become great adults and head off to really good colleges.

I do see a very distinct turn toward equity and social justice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Add SROs back to schools, and re-open the special school (Twain in Rockville) for students with behavioral problems, instead of just transferring them to the next school for them to make more problems.

This. So much class time is squandered by disruptive students with behavioral problems. They need to be moved to a separate environment that can better deal with their needs. Then teachers can actually teach and students can actually learn. Disruptive students are such a stressful time suck for everyone. Move them.

My kid is at RICA. The availability of support staff to handle a student who is having a hard time is amazing. The teacher gets to TEACH and not deal with classroom management. I do recognize the irony that the school for kids with behavior issues has classrooms with the least amount of disruptive classroom behaviors.

[Anonymous]

Central office staff are a drain of resources. 85% of them serve zero purpose and do not support staff or kids.

[Anonymous]

Limit class size to 20. For all grades. But youd need a lot more teachers and buildings.
Eliminate central office building space. Save one or two big conference rooms for big meetings. Move all that staff around all the schools. Every central office staff has to sub a class or two when teachers are on pto and sick leave.
Bring back regular classes/ tracking. Come up with ways to make it more equitable than in the past.

[Anonymous]

What if, when the new high school is opened, it is a "limited cell phone school" meaning that students / parents may elect to go to the school if they agree to a cell phone policy that allows phones in the building but not out in class? There would be a set of consequences that would be consistently followed. MCPS would not need to redistrict because they would probably have enough parents electing to send their students to the school, so many that they may need a lottery to decide who can go.

After a a couple of years, data could be collected to see if putting phones away has an impact on student achievement, behavior, and mental health.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have school board members make a real salary and have independent staff. Nothing will change until the BoE actually fulfills it’s oversight duty.

I agree with this one. This is where it starts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get rid of Central Office and start over. Make it a priority that people rotate from teaching to Central Office and back (they are so disconnected from the reality of the classroom right now). More teachers, less Central Office Staff. More Spec Ed teachers. More discipline with actual consequences no matter what coor your skin (so drug dealers in the Ws as well as gun carriers in ALL schools). Bring back SROs. Bring back midterms and final exams. No more 50% for no work. Tutors for those who need it - for free. The goal is graduating with competencies, not graduating because we passed you along.

The above would a good start

Great point about central office! I’ve often thought the school system is NOT underfunded. The problem is that so much money is funneled to central office positions that actually hinder instruction instead of help it. Reduce the size of central office and rotate people BACK into the classroom so they keep a foot in reality.

ALL THIS. We need a small unaffiliated group to come in and identify the efficiencies/inefficiencies and what departments are required and not required. Get rid of all the non-essential, ridiculous groups. Give them a month to do this study and then implement the needed changes stat. Shoot, Elon Musk sat in a room for 48 hours and did this with Twitter. We need to do the same.