MCPS teachers--what kind of abuse from students goes on in your building?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Administrator here who has gone to bat for my staff more than once with my director. It’s very difficult to get a student suspended. Even more so if the student is not white. Teachers are absolutely correct in saying that hands are tied. I’ll bring parents in to meet with them regarding their children’s behavior and most of them see the same struggles at home but lack the skill set to actually parent their children and hold them accountable. Our society is a mess.

As a parent of a child who has faced significant harm from this-both physical and mental-it really is not that hard to suspend someone. Having a principal or other administrator not due the right thing is child abuse. You have an obligation to protect students from this period. The harm that you are doing, from a parent that has gone through this is life changing for the children that are hurt. Please do the right thing. Thank you for going to bat for your students but really please stop letting innocent kids like mine get hurt. Unacceptable plain and simple.

If only it were that simple. My SIL is an elementary principal in the county and she's been in very heated arguments with her director about needing to get certain kids suspended and it's been denied time after time. When these requests are denied, she will have the student stay in the front office the next day doing school work to try and maintain some normalcy for the teacher and students. However, it becomes next to impossible to handle all of her other obligations like visiting classrooms to ensure quality instruction is happening. Teachers think principals are the enemy, principals think directors are the enemy. Stuff rolls down hill. Whoever is sitting at the top needs to spend a week in an elementary school and see that the code of conduct is a joke and restorative justice doesn't mean anything to a 8 year old suffering from trauma.

My administration had the grand idea to have teachers and staff members volunteer to sign up for time slots to sit with kids who are serving in school suspension (which is not a documented suspension). Then the administrators are free to attend their offsite meetings with fresh coffee, muffins and bagels, then go out to lunch on the break and straight home from there. Or if they're in the building they're in their office with the door closed and the walkie talkie off so they aren't pulled into other fires around the building and staff gets no admin support. It's really lovely the way that administrators can delegate their responsibilities onto the staff members who already have overflowing plates.

The worst thing is that the martyrs and brown nosers actually do sign up, so now it's an established practice because they've gotten enough people to do it. There's no way I'm giving up my lunch or my one planning time per week where I don't have meetings to sit in a room alone with a kid who is known to lie. I don't understand how my colleagues willingly put themselves in that situation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a teacher problem. You have to make the students respect you. You are not their friend. You are their teacher. Say this on the first day and repeat every day. Students do what you allow them to do. When a child gets crazy with me or gets an attitude with me, I get crazier right back at them. They know I do not play. The “troubled” kids get sent to my class. They don’t mess up with me because I set the tone and the environment in which they are in. I hold them accountable. When my door closes, it is me against the children. Forget rules and regulations, I do what is in the best interest of the children. You play around in my class when you are supposed to be working, then you owe me recess considering you already had your time to free play in my class.

OK, show off

I've been in the system for over 25 years - all in the DCC/NEC. So I'm not some wallflower. But stop blaming others. Just bc you eat nails for breakfast doesn't mean you have to blame others who may have a different approach.

Your post is offensive for many reasons. but #1? Teachers shouldn't HAVE to eat nails for breakfast just to teach. This is a societal problem that isn't solved by bashing colleagues. And just b/c your classroom is under control doesn't mean other teachers - who are equally as talented and organized - have your personality.

Are you channeling Madeline Hunter?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Administrator here who has gone to bat for my staff more than once with my director. It’s very difficult to get a student suspended. Even more so if the student is not white. Teachers are absolutely correct in saying that hands are tied. I’ll bring parents in to meet with them regarding their children’s behavior and most of them see the same struggles at home but lack the skill set to actually parent their children and hold them accountable. Our society is a mess.

As a parent of a child who has faced significant harm from this-both physical and mental-it really is not that hard to suspend someone. Having a principal or other administrator not due the right thing is child abuse. You have an obligation to protect students from this period. The harm that you are doing, from a parent that has gone through this is life changing for the children that are hurt. Please do the right thing. Thank you for going to bat for your students but really please stop letting innocent kids like mine get hurt. Unacceptable plain and simple.

If only it were that simple. My SIL is an elementary principal in the county and she's been in very heated arguments with her director about needing to get certain kids suspended and it's been denied time after time. When these requests are denied, she will have the student stay in the front office the next day doing school work to try and maintain some normalcy for the teacher and students. However, it becomes next to impossible to handle all of her other obligations like visiting classrooms to ensure quality instruction is happening. Teachers think principals are the enemy, principals think directors are the enemy. Stuff rolls down hill. Whoever is sitting at the top needs to spend a week in an elementary school and see that the code of conduct is a joke and restorative justice doesn't mean anything to a 8 year old suffering from trauma.

My administration had the grand idea to have teachers and staff members volunteer to sign up for time slots to sit with kids who are serving in school suspension (which is not a documented suspension). Then the administrators are free to attend their offsite meetings with fresh coffee, muffins and bagels, then go out to lunch on the break and straight home from there. Or if they're in the building they're in their office with the door closed and the walkie talkie off so they aren't pulled into other fires around the building and staff gets no admin support. It's really lovely the way that administrators can delegate their responsibilities onto the staff members who already have overflowing plates.

The worst thing is that the martyrs and brown nosers actually do sign up, so now it's an established practice because they've gotten enough people to do it. There's no way I'm giving up my lunch or my one planning time per week where I don't have meetings to sit in a room alone with a kid who is known to lie. I don't understand how my colleagues willingly put themselves in that situation.

That's abuse! And it is a grievance MCEA will take seriously. They don't do much, but that's one thing they'll do . . .

ridiculous

[Anonymous]

This is not a problem limited to title I and Focus schools. In W schools, the parents are worried about what goes on their kids’ records. Every behavior problem is attributed to a special need, and the teacher gets blamed for not accommodating it. Out of school suspension is changed to in school suspension. Even when the kids need an alternative placement, the parents fight it. Everyone gets tied up in meeting after meeting, appeals, all while the kid continues to disrespect and disrupt the classroom.

[Anonymous]

All of this makes Sunday night worse. Most of my kids are great but hoping Billy refrains from throwing chairs around the room like last Monday morning. Ugh...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is not a problem limited to title I and Focus schools. In W schools, the parents are worried about what goes on their kids’ records. Every behavior problem is attributed to a special need, and the teacher gets blamed for not accommodating it. Out of school suspension is changed to in school suspension. Even when the kids need an alternative placement, the parents fight it. Everyone gets tied up in meeting after meeting, appeals, all while the kid continues to disrespect and disrupt the classroom.

Totally this. Have a friend at a W cluster and it's clear her 10 yr old has an attention problem in addition to a tendency to be disruptive and semi violent in class. She refuses to acknowledge that her child needs to either go on meds or attend a special school and instead attributes it to the child being uber smart but bored. There is not one week that goes by where she doesn't get a call from the school.

[Anonymous]

If you haven’t yet, invest an hour and watch (free) the documentary “The kids we Lose” about the school to prison pipeline. Here’s a short description: DescriptionFilmmaker Lisa Quijano Wolfinger highlights the research that has accumulated on behaviorally challenging children and the often counterproductive ways our educational system deals with them.
I am not a teacher, but it seems like we need more social skills training, more groups run by guidance counsellors on managing emotions starting early. In elementary. Yeah I know there’s no money but maybe if the schools would stop spending money on every brand new tech thing (Remember Palm Pilots? They were going to be the Key to closing the gap. Then it was. Promethean Boards, now chrome books etc). Let’s invest in trained staff who can teach kids appropriate ways to manage frustration.

[Anonymous]

The behaviorally challenged kids are ruining it for most everyone else. Why should it be ok for some little punk azz ruin it for my kid and the other kids? Kick him out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The behaviorally challenged kids are ruining it for most everyone else. Why should it be ok for some little punk azz ruin it for my kid and the other kids? Kick him out.

And, is it ok we kick your punk out too? Someone may feel that way about your kid.

[Anonymous]

My kid does not bother other kids or the teacher. Your kid brings down the school along with him.

[Anonymous]

This is not just one county. It is everywhere, with some schools much worse than others due to transience, low resources in areas, low family education. Teaching is very, very hard work. Schools cannot act on every discipline case as everything is data mined. Issues such as special ed or race complicate things.Administrators are very pressured.

[Anonymous]

I'm only ten years in to the profession. I am no-nonsense like other posters but when the student knows he/she won't get in trouble at home or school then it just becomes an uphill battle. It's not fair to me or the other kids. I work in a school with an ED program and ironically, it's our general education students who are the most challenging.

[Anonymous]

Thank you for all you do. We need good teachers like you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Administrator here who has gone to bat for my staff more than once with my director. It’s very difficult to get a student suspended. Even more so if the student is not white. Teachers are absolutely correct in saying that hands are tied. I’ll bring parents in to meet with them regarding their children’s behavior and most of them see the same struggles at home but lack the skill set to actually parent their children and hold them accountable. Our society is a mess.

As a parent of a child who has faced significant harm from this-both physical and mental-it really is not that hard to suspend someone. Having a principal or other administrator not due the right thing is child abuse. You have an obligation to protect students from this period. The harm that you are doing, from a parent that has gone through this is life changing for the children that are hurt. Please do the right thing. Thank you for going to bat for your students but really please stop letting innocent kids like mine get hurt. Unacceptable plain and simple.

If only it were that simple. My SIL is an elementary principal in the county and she's been in very heated arguments with her director about needing to get certain kids suspended and it's been denied time after time. When these requests are denied, she will have the student stay in the front office the next day doing school work to try and maintain some normalcy for the teacher and students. However, it becomes next to impossible to handle all of her other obligations like visiting classrooms to ensure quality instruction is happening. Teachers think principals are the enemy, principals think directors are the enemy. Stuff rolls down hill. Whoever is sitting at the top needs to spend a week in an elementary school and see that the code of conduct is a joke and restorative justice doesn't mean anything to a 8 year old suffering from trauma.

My administration had the grand idea to have teachers and staff members volunteer to sign up for time slots to sit with kids who are serving in school suspension (which is not a documented suspension). Then the administrators are free to attend their offsite meetings with fresh coffee, muffins and bagels, then go out to lunch on the break and straight home from there. Or if they're in the building they're in their office with the door closed and the walkie talkie off so they aren't pulled into other fires around the building and staff gets no admin support. It's really lovely the way that administrators can delegate their responsibilities onto the staff members who already have overflowing plates.

The worst thing is that the martyrs and brown nosers actually do sign up, so now it's an established practice because they've gotten enough people to do it. There's no way I'm giving up my lunch or my one planning time per week where I don't have meetings to sit in a room alone with a kid who is known to lie. I don't understand how my colleagues willingly put themselves in that situation.

That’s terrible!

At our ES, the kids just get sent to the office. So basically, they visit the Counselor and then sit in the Front office to do some work. Sometimes it is several kids at a time.

So our two front office workers are left to deal with these kids. What a joke.

There can’t be detention (kids need to get on the bus) and I agree that by 5th grade the kids don’t care about losing recess.

Agree with the PP who said it’s incredibly difficult to suspend a kid.

PBIS and Restorative Justice are the buzz words and have proven to be useless.

[Anonymous]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.visaliatimesdelta.com/amp/3098350002

This was posted on here before and it’s from CA but it is similar to what goes on in MCPS.