MCPS in National News

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
because it's about a child's health, mental as well as physical.

A child can seek pregnancy care without the parent, but that's not the same as MCPS purposefully withholding information about a child from their parents.

One is a child withholding the information; the other is the school district doing so.

On the one hand, teachers and schools expect the parents to take care of their children, make sure they are ready for school, blah blah blah.

OTH, MCPS thinks it's a good idea for the schools to withhold certain information from the parents.

It's like they want parents to parent blindfolded, and then blame the parents when the child has issues.

If you don't want to "parent blindfolded", here's an idea: talk to your child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
because it's about a child's health, mental as well as physical.

A child can seek pregnancy care without the parent, but that's not the same as MCPS purposefully withholding information about a child from their parents.

One is a child withholding the information; the other is the school district doing so.

On the one hand, teachers and schools expect the parents to take care of their children, make sure they are ready for school, blah blah blah.

OTH, MCPS thinks it's a good idea for the schools to withhold certain information from the parents.

It's like they want parents to parent blindfolded, and then blame the parents when the child has issues.

If you don't want to "parent blindfolded", here's an idea: talk to your child.

Done.
Now what? How does that impact teachers keeping secrets from parents?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
because it's about a child's health, mental as well as physical.

A child can seek pregnancy care without the parent, but that's not the same as MCPS purposefully withholding information about a child from their parents.

One is a child withholding the information; the other is the school district doing so.

On the one hand, teachers and schools expect the parents to take care of their children, make sure they are ready for school, blah blah blah.

OTH, MCPS thinks it's a good idea for the schools to withhold certain information from the parents.

It's like they want parents to parent blindfolded, and then blame the parents when the child has issues.

If you don't want to "parent blindfolded", here's an idea: talk to your child.

Done.
Now what? How does that impact teachers keeping secrets from parents?

Good for you. Now you don't have to worry about teachers keeping secrets from you anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I am not clicking on Fox News links for a "voice of reason" but nice try

LOL ! I agree with psychologist in this case. For a transition such as this, parents should be involved- the youth need support. To assume the parents will be bigoted and not supportive is ...wild.

If FOX news is for that it has to be pure evil.

The students ask us not to tell. I figure they hear their parents and dare not share that part of themselves.

And we’re talking about part-time social transitioning. No teacher is giving hormone injections or performing top surgery during their planning periods. Not to be little the positive effects of social transition on trans youth’s mental health, but teachers have called students by a preferred name rather than a legal name for decades, if not centuries. Even when the student changes the nickname two or three times in the school year (start the year as Beth and end as Liz, for example). We are used to it. We’re also accustomed to not batting an eye over the outfits they change into at school. Only pronouns are new and most of us don’t care what pronoun your kid uses. There’s no study showing it harms academic performance or mental health to use a preferred pronoun.

Yes, but in my 20 years of teaching I was never penalized for accidentally calling Bobby “Bob” when communicating with parents. Vice versa, parents have always been understanding when I’ve taught “Bobby” for 3 years before he decides to be called “Bob”. Trans families and students can be a lot more aggressive when teachers make mistakes. We have a lot of things to think about all at once and using the wrong pronoun or name is not a personal assault against your kid.

Who gets more upset - parents who support social transition and get mad when you make a mistake, or parents who don’t support social transition and get mad when you do use the child’s preferred name? (Sounds like a no-win situation, especially with the number of HS students each teacher has!)

I’ve never had a parent who doesn’t support social transition get upset when I use the child’s preferred name. I have had parents that are open about not understanding why their child assigned female at birth now wants to use they pronouns but they support a different name at school as long as official documents still show the birth name. The moms that have expressed concern that their daughter doesn’t want to be a woman because they identify with all the traits that made their mom successful in male dominated professions. Many moms consider themselves very progressive and feminist and feel like the world is taking a big step back when their child says “I can’t be like you because that’s not how the world sees girls so I must be non-binary or a boy”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
because it's about a child's health, mental as well as physical.

A child can seek pregnancy care without the parent, but that's not the same as MCPS purposefully withholding information about a child from their parents.

One is a child withholding the information; the other is the school district doing so.

On the one hand, teachers and schools expect the parents to take care of their children, make sure they are ready for school, blah blah blah.

OTH, MCPS thinks it's a good idea for the schools to withhold certain information from the parents.

It's like they want parents to parent blindfolded, and then blame the parents when the child has issues.

If you don't want to "parent blindfolded", here's an idea: talk to your child.

Done.
Now what? How does that impact teachers keeping secrets from parents?

Good for you. Now you don't have to worry about teachers keeping secrets from you anymore.

DP.. then MCPS doesn't need that policy, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
because it's about a child's health, mental as well as physical.

A child can seek pregnancy care without the parent, but that's not the same as MCPS purposefully withholding information about a child from their parents.

One is a child withholding the information; the other is the school district doing so.

On the one hand, teachers and schools expect the parents to take care of their children, make sure they are ready for school, blah blah blah.

OTH, MCPS thinks it's a good idea for the schools to withhold certain information from the parents.

It's like they want parents to parent blindfolded, and then blame the parents when the child has issues.

If you don't want to "parent blindfolded", here's an idea: talk to your child.

already do, so then why does MCPS feel the need to have this policy?

If MCPS wants the parents to parent and be engaged, then don't keep things from the parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
because it's about a child's health, mental as well as physical.

A child can seek pregnancy care without the parent, but that's not the same as MCPS purposefully withholding information about a child from their parents.

One is a child withholding the information; the other is the school district doing so.

On the one hand, teachers and schools expect the parents to take care of their children, make sure they are ready for school, blah blah blah.

OTH, MCPS thinks it's a good idea for the schools to withhold certain information from the parents.

It's like they want parents to parent blindfolded, and then blame the parents when the child has issues.

If you don't want to "parent blindfolded", here's an idea: talk to your child.

Done.
Now what? How does that impact teachers keeping secrets from parents?

Good for you. Now you don't have to worry about teachers keeping secrets from you anymore.

DP.. then MCPS doesn't need that policy, right?

Eh? No, the MCPS policy is fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
because it's about a child's health, mental as well as physical.

A child can seek pregnancy care without the parent, but that's not the same as MCPS purposefully withholding information about a child from their parents.

One is a child withholding the information; the other is the school district doing so.

On the one hand, teachers and schools expect the parents to take care of their children, make sure they are ready for school, blah blah blah.

OTH, MCPS thinks it's a good idea for the schools to withhold certain information from the parents.

It's like they want parents to parent blindfolded, and then blame the parents when the child has issues.

If you don't want to "parent blindfolded", here's an idea: talk to your child.

Done.
Now what? How does that impact teachers keeping secrets from parents?

Good for you. Now you don't have to worry about teachers keeping secrets from you anymore.

Is there anything other information about kids at least equal to identity that MCPS feels they can also keep from parents? I would be very much interested in know what the line is and who gets to determine it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah I am not clicking on Fox News links for a "voice of reason" but nice try

So true

[Anonymous]

The posts here are so weird. People are acting like a part time social transition at school is like catching the plague. If they're keeping it secret from you, they're obviously scared to tell you for a reason. The replies read like "I'm okay with the gays as long as my kid isn't one of them".

I hate that so many cisgender people try to act like they're experts on transgender people despite not knowing any or perhaps knowing a trans person in passing.

- Transgender person with kids in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
because it's about a child's health, mental as well as physical.

A child can seek pregnancy care without the parent, but that's not the same as MCPS purposefully withholding information about a child from their parents.

One is a child withholding the information; the other is the school district doing so.

On the one hand, teachers and schools expect the parents to take care of their children, make sure they are ready for school, blah blah blah.

OTH, MCPS thinks it's a good idea for the schools to withhold certain information from the parents.

It's like they want parents to parent blindfolded, and then blame the parents when the child has issues.

If you don't want to "parent blindfolded", here's an idea: talk to your child.

Done.
Now what? How does that impact teachers keeping secrets from parents?

Good for you. Now you don't have to worry about teachers keeping secrets from you anymore.

Is there anything other information about kids at least equal to identity that MCPS feels they can also keep from parents? I would be very much interested in know what the line is and who gets to determine it.

Do you expect MCPS to tell you everything about your child? If so, you'll be disappointed. They don't, can't, and shouldn't. Parents who want full-time surveillance of their children will have to step up and DIY.

[Anonymous]

All I know is If Tucker is incensed over MCPS, we must have one of the best school systems. Republicans hate education. It spells the demise of their party. If they're complaining about MCPS it must be because they're doing a great job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The posts here are so weird. People are acting like a part time social transition at school is like catching the plague. If they're keeping it secret from you, they're obviously scared to tell you for a reason. The replies read like "I'm okay with the gays as long as my kid isn't one of them".

I hate that so many cisgender people try to act like they're experts on transgender people despite not knowing any or perhaps knowing a trans person in passing.

- Transgender person with kids in MCPS

100 percent agreed. Nothing happening in MCPS is anything but a social transition. They aren't giving out T in the health room. This is literally as simple as a nickname and a pronoun. It's so so so mundane, and getting dragged into culture wars over it is a terrible use of everyone's precious life on this earth.

- Cis person with a trans kid in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The posts here are so weird. People are acting like a part time social transition at school is like catching the plague. If they're keeping it secret from you, they're obviously scared to tell you for a reason. The replies read like "I'm okay with the gays as long as my kid isn't one of them".

I hate that so many cisgender people try to act like they're experts on transgender people despite not knowing any or perhaps knowing a trans person in passing.

- Transgender person with kids in MCPS

100 percent agreed. Nothing happening in MCPS is anything but a social transition. They aren't giving out T in the health room. This is literally as simple as a nickname and a pronoun. It's so so so mundane, and getting dragged into culture wars over it is a terrible use of everyone's precious life on this earth.

- Cis person with a trans kid in MCPS

Exactly!

I think what’s happening is that people now know a little more about trans people than the did before (which was nothing at all before). They’re acting like pronouns a gateway drug to medical transition. Pronouns changes and a gender affirming name aren’t some slippery slope to being trans. They act like it’s some emergency and every kid out there is swapping genders. My own kids aren’t trans and they’re genetically related to and live with me. A trans person.

I’ve been this way my entire life. Just because I didn’t have a social transition in HS in the 90’s doesn’t mean I wasn’t closeted. I think parents are going to be in for a shock when their kids are “cured” of being trans until they get out of the house and suddenly become transgender again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All I know is If Tucker is incensed over MCPS, we must have one of the best school systems. Republicans hate education. It spells the demise of their party. If they're complaining about MCPS it must be because they're doing a great job.

*this*