5th Grader Forgot Homework for First Time and Teacher Made Him Write a Note Home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IEP equals "special treatment"......

If by special you mean individual, which is what the "I" stands for in iep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I agree with you. Nothing wrong with a friendly reminder for a "first offense." MCPS school culture is unnecessarily punitive, authoritarian, and mistrusting of kids, IMHO. We moved here from a place that others here may call progressive but I just call normal, where student-teacher interactions are genuine and human, not filtered through an impersonal bureaucracy that expects that without fear of punishment kids won't do their best.

I agree with this. I guess it comes with a big bureaucracy. Overall I think MCPS does a good job, but this is an aspect I do hate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:this is one reason i appreciate being in a small private school....i have many doubts about it but i can see getting crazy about getting a note like that, but can also see how it's a policy that makes sense in a school system.

+1. Taking a step back, how did they handle this back in the day? I don't remember first offense being the kid writing the note and signing it etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:this is one reason i appreciate being in a small private school....i have many doubts about it but i can see getting crazy about getting a note like that, but can also see how it's a policy that makes sense in a school system.

+1. Taking a step back, how did they handle this back in the day? I don't remember first offense being the kid writing the note and signing it etc.

I also wanted to add, I remember notes being sent home = being in big trouble, being on the report card if not improved, and topic of an off cycle parent teacher conversation if it continued. I'm not sure if it is MCPS or the sign of the times but there are lots of parent signatures to keep informed of things that may or may not be a big issue, that the school may or may not expect you to follow up with a consequence at home, that may or may not be things you can improve with your child on your own .. but by golly you were informed. How do you know what really is a big deal? You are left trying to determine when you need to go into defcon 5 mode ( as a kid we NEVER wanted a note sent home) and when you can take the "I'm a parent and have to reinforce the company line even though I know in the bigger picture it isn't a pattern or a big deal but I don't want to undermine the teacher authority."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP I agree with you. Nothing wrong with a friendly reminder for a "first offense." MCPS school culture is unnecessarily punitive, authoritarian, and mistrusting of kids, IMHO. We moved here from a place that others here may call progressive but I just call normal, where student-teacher interactions are genuine and human, not filtered through an impersonal bureaucracy that expects that without fear of punishment kids won't do their best.

Please share the name of this place, as I'd like to do my own research. Really - I'd love to know. Furthermore, why would you leave?

Utopia?
population 300

[Anonymous]

This is the same school district that throws quarterly parties for kids that get A and B's on their report cards and the others essentially sit in detention with their dunce caps on while the others eat cake and ice cream......

[Anonymous]

My guess is an overwhelming majority of good schools in the US do not require a "think sheet" for a first time missing homework.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here again: I think next time I'm going to keep my thoughts to myself.... Just expressing an opinion. No need to get nasty. I think you all need to get laid. Now you can get nasty.....

I agree with you. Note home - fine. Memorandum of Understanding with muliple signature lines and acknowledgments - obnoxious and over-the-top. Common sense tells you a lighter approach would have been better with a high-strung kid. The big school systems don't care. They are all about the bureaucracy.

Of course many on DCUM will jump on you, because they are in low-level positions where the best part of their day is raking some subordinate over the coals for some minor transgression.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here again: I think next time I'm going to keep my thoughts to myself.... Just expressing an opinion. No need to get nasty. I think you all need to get laid. Now you can get nasty.....

I agree with you. Note home - fine. Memorandum of Understanding with muliple signature lines and acknowledgments - obnoxious and over-the-top. Common sense tells you a lighter approach would have been better with a high-strung kid. The big school systems don't care. They are all about the bureaucracy.

Of course many on DCUM will jump on you, because they are in low-level positions where the best part of their day is raking some subordinate over the coals for some minor transgression.

b/c you, of course, are in some top level position, making 6 figures in a "humanitarian" organization

LOL!

You're just another cog in the wheel.

[Anonymous]

It's just a note that he wrote sent home. What's the big deal? Honestly, I don't get it.