First days of school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My middle schooler came back pretty depressed. Huge classes, teachers who didn’t seem interesting. I hope this was just a first day thing and he finds some educators who make this year a good one.

It is just ridiculous. 35+??!

My kid doesn't have a single MS class under 34 kids. He says there's barely room to walk in any class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

But what about kid #16 who really needs to go … like now.

Like they told us in the military PPPPPP

Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

In this case fairly literally.

Ms and hs are huge and there is little time between classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

Building on this since I can't edit the original post, it was also great because as a highly data driven teacher, it calculates how long each student is out of the classroom so I can collect that data and use it when communicating with parents to justify a student's performance. "Yes Mrs. Jones I understand you are upset with your child having a D in my class but the data indicates they have spent the equivalent of 3 whole class periods in the hallway and bathroom this marking period."

Why can't that same data be captured on a sign in sign out sheet/clipboard in the classroom?

And who would analyze that handwritten data, enter it into a system and keep it updated daily? Are you volunteering?

There could be many volunteers if it means students don't have to plan their pee and poop breaks

Well, start a PTA committee of volunteers and sign yourself up at your school. Report back on how that goes!

I would laugh so hard if a PTA sent out that volunteer op. Join the modern age and do it digitally. And get a job if the best thing you can do all day is to do data entry of kids' bathroom breaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

But what about kid #16 who really needs to go … like now.

They’re SOL. These policies are absurd. You can’t go during the first 10 minutes or last 10 minutes of any class; you can’t go if too many other people already have passes; you can’t go in a bathroom if there’s already a certain number of people in it (even in between classes, so that’s not necessarily an option); the electronic pass is only good for 10 minutes, even if you’re coming from a portable, so even if you’re carrying a traditional pass, if the electronic one expires before you get back to class, you’re in trouble; you can’t go to the bathroom during classroom instruction more than 4 times per quarter (or was it semester?). I was in the health room at the beginning of lunch and there was a steady stream of kids asking the nurse if they could use the health room’s bathroom. They’re allowed to, but even during lunch, they had to sign in in multiple places and only one person can use it at a time.

On top of all this, at one of my kids’ schools, if you’re late to class, you can’t enter the classroom until 20 minutes into class. Kids who are still out in the halls when a period starts will all be shepherded into a waiting area (I can’t remember if it was the cafeteria or gym or auditorium), where they will have to wait until they all can enter their classrooms en masse 20 minutes late. The purpose is to minimize disruptions, but it also maximizes missed instructional time. My dc has to go back and forth between the third floor of the main building and the portables multiple times per day.

Hopefully the enforcement of these policies will become lax very quickly.

This is the end result of a system that doesn't think critically about root-cause analyses and just throws rules and policies at situations that get layered on top of previous rules and policies that then make the system worse or untenable. MCPS is idiotic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

But what about kid #16 who really needs to go … like now.

They’re SOL. These policies are absurd. You can’t go during the first 10 minutes or last 10 minutes of any class; you can’t go if too many other people already have passes; you can’t go in a bathroom if there’s already a certain number of people in it (even in between classes, so that’s not necessarily an option); the electronic pass is only good for 10 minutes, even if you’re coming from a portable, so even if you’re carrying a traditional pass, if the electronic one expires before you get back to class, you’re in trouble; you can’t go to the bathroom during classroom instruction more than 4 times per quarter (or was it semester?). I was in the health room at the beginning of lunch and there was a steady stream of kids asking the nurse if they could use the health room’s bathroom. They’re allowed to, but even during lunch, they had to sign in in multiple places and only one person can use it at a time.

On top of all this, at one of my kids’ schools, if you’re late to class, you can’t enter the classroom until 20 minutes into class. Kids who are still out in the halls when a period starts will all be shepherded into a waiting area (I can’t remember if it was the cafeteria or gym or auditorium), where they will have to wait until they all can enter their classrooms en masse 20 minutes late. The purpose is to minimize disruptions, but it also maximizes missed instructional time. My dc has to go back and forth between the third floor of the main building and the portables multiple times per day.

Hopefully the enforcement of these policies will become lax very quickly.

Journalists time to do another story
Parents it's past time to sue
Report to MSDE
Report issue to Dept of Ed

Yup!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My middle schooler came back pretty depressed. Huge classes, teachers who didn’t seem interesting. I hope this was just a first day thing and he finds some educators who make this year a good one.

It is just ridiculous. 35+??!

My kid doesn't have a single MS class under 34 kids. He says there's barely room to walk in any class.

Yikes, fire code?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

Building on this since I can't edit the original post, it was also great because as a highly data driven teacher, it calculates how long each student is out of the classroom so I can collect that data and use it when communicating with parents to justify a student's performance. "Yes Mrs. Jones I understand you are upset with your child having a D in my class but the data indicates they have spent the equivalent of 3 whole class periods in the hallway and bathroom this marking period."

Why can't that same data be captured on a sign in sign out sheet/clipboard in the classroom?

And who would analyze that handwritten data, enter it into a system and keep it updated daily? Are you volunteering?

There could be many volunteers if it means students don't have to plan their pee and poop breaks

Well, start a PTA committee of volunteers and sign yourself up at your school. Report back on how that goes!

I would laugh so hard if a PTA sent out that volunteer op. Join the modern age and do it digitally. And get a job if the best thing you can do all day is to do data entry of kids' bathroom breaks.

Several people (who work or don't is irrelevant) sign up to help teachers tally up results that are collected from classroom clipboard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

But what about kid #16 who really needs to go … like now.

Like they told us in the military PPPPPP

Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance

In this case fairly literally.

That’s such BS! I have a condition where I can’t always predict when I will need a bathroom even with plenty of prior planning. What about kids with IBD or IBS? Or a kid who just ate something that didn’t agree with them or suddenly becomes nauseated. My son with GI issues has graduated MCPS but I was assured that a student would not be denied access to a bathroom.

I would assume that kids with medical conditions like this can request and receive exemptions to these policies.

And they don't need to switch to a paper system to address most of these problems-- they just need to change some of the policies to be more lenient.

[Anonymous]

Do you need to request a 504 to get the medical exemption?

[Anonymous]

It’s truly impressive the amount of time that people on this board spend obsessively discussing bathroom passes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s truly impressive the amount of time that people on this board spend obsessively discussing bathroom passes.

Most of us aren’t discussing the passes. Just about everyone here is fine with schools requiring bathroom passes. We’re discussing the many new draconian restrictions on bathroom access and their implications.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s truly impressive the amount of time that people on this board spend obsessively discussing bathroom passes.

Most of us aren’t discussing the passes. Just about everyone here is fine with schools requiring bathroom passes. We’re discussing the many new draconian restrictions on bathroom access and their implications.

Kids have health issues, sometimes you cannot plan when you go, time between class is short and near impossible as it is to get to class, girls with periods, etc. If it becomes an issue, during period time I'll let them stay home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

But what about kid #16 who really needs to go … like now.

They’re SOL. These policies are absurd. You can’t go during the first 10 minutes or last 10 minutes of any class; you can’t go if too many other people already have passes; you can’t go in a bathroom if there’s already a certain number of people in it (even in between classes, so that’s not necessarily an option); the electronic pass is only good for 10 minutes, even if you’re coming from a portable, so even if you’re carrying a traditional pass, if the electronic one expires before you get back to class, you’re in trouble; you can’t go to the bathroom during classroom instruction more than 4 times per quarter (or was it semester?). I was in the health room at the beginning of lunch and there was a steady stream of kids asking the nurse if they could use the health room’s bathroom. They’re allowed to, but even during lunch, they had to sign in in multiple places and only one person can use it at a time.

On top of all this, at one of my kids’ schools, if you’re late to class, you can’t enter the classroom until 20 minutes into class. Kids who are still out in the halls when a period starts will all be shepherded into a waiting area (I can’t remember if it was the cafeteria or gym or auditorium), where they will have to wait until they all can enter their classrooms en masse 20 minutes late. The purpose is to minimize disruptions, but it also maximizes missed instructional time. My dc has to go back and forth between the third floor of the main building and the portables multiple times per day.

Hopefully the enforcement of these policies will become lax very quickly.

Journalists time to do another story
Parents it's past time to sue
Report to MSDE
Report issue to Dept of Ed

Some of ya'll need to home school. JFC a news story. That's part of the problem as it is that ya'll are constantly trying to get a new story written about the district. If your MS/HS kid can't manage their bladder, 98% of the time that's a them or you issue, not a medical one. Go before school, at lunch, after school, or plan to wait 10 min into class. Your snowflake kid is not the only person in the building. These policies didn't come about because everything was going swimmingly. There are 2000+ kids in these buildings. If you can do better, go up to the school and let them know you'd like an opportunity to take a crack at falling on your face.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:E hall pass is amazing from a school perspective as we can now limit how many students are in the hallway building wide. Set the cap at 15 and it locks anyone else from submitting a pass when that number is reached. I used it in a different school system and it was very successful.

The only downside from a teacher's perspective is that you will have to temporarily stop instruction to approve the pass but that's no different than having to stop to write a hand written pass.

In my school it’s limited per bathroom location. Kids don’t share a stall their business.

You understand that Larlx's bladder doesn't simply lock just because 15 other students have a pass. This is the F ing answer by the school district? Pediatricians be prepared for another shitty year.

[Anonymous]

Has your child never had to wait like 10 minutes for a bathroom? When you’re on a road trip or something? Assuming no special needs they can wait a few minutes.