Teacher apparently assaulted at Magruder

[Anonymous]

Actually the goal is to just increase graduation rates. That is all that counts at the admin, state and federal level. The quality of the education itself doesn’t matter.

All school systems across the nation have been forced to backslide to increase graduation rates especially for any historically underachieving subgroups

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually the goal is to just increase graduation rates. That is all that counts at the admin, state and federal level. The quality of the education itself doesn’t matter.

All school systems across the nation have been forced to backslide to increase graduation rates especially for any historically underachieving subgroups

Sure, believe that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This happens to teachers do frequently that I’m surprised you think it warrants communication.

If true that’s very troubling on many levels.

I had a student who hit, kicked, punched, bit me a few times per week last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The equity initiatives are backfiring. The standards and expectations are so low that they damage the ability make sure kids actually get an education.

+1 million

If anything, the Equity initiatives have made things equally bad for all students, of all races.

Sadly, I have to agree. Equity far too often seems to mean lower the standards for everyone. This is warped and twisted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Actually the goal is to just increase graduation rates. That is all that counts at the admin, state and federal level. The quality of the education itself doesn’t matter.

All school systems across the nation have been forced to backslide to increase graduation rates especially for any historically underachieving subgroups

Yup. Graduate them and get them out "on time" is the name of the game.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually the goal is to just increase graduation rates. That is all that counts at the admin, state and federal level. The quality of the education itself doesn’t matter.

All school systems across the nation have been forced to backslide to increase graduation rates especially for any historically underachieving subgroups

Yup. Graduate them and get them out "on time" is the name of the game.

and then they become a burden on society.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually the goal is to just increase graduation rates. That is all that counts at the admin, state and federal level. The quality of the education itself doesn’t matter.

All school systems across the nation have been forced to backslide to increase graduation rates especially for any historically underachieving subgroups

Yup. Graduate them and get them out "on time" is the name of the game.

This is exactly what it feels like at the high school where I work.
Relentless pressure on teachers to make sure every student passes. Doesn’t matter if the student never attends class and has not learned anything this year.
I want to look elsewhere for next year but I’m worried all of MCPS is now like this.
I have plenty of strong students but the bottom quarter are taking up all of my energy and time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
The posters shrugging their shoulders and ignoring the problem would be screaming blue murder if they were the ones assaulted at their workplace, or if their kids were the ones assaulted at their school.

This is completely unacceptable.

I agree with this. It's one thing when a small child acts out. Quite another when it is a high school student. It's actual assault, and the teacher could press charges.

Small children have seriously injured teachers before. With their bare hands no less. I’ve taught multiple students who in K or 1st caused serious head injuries to MCPS teachers. Two were boys, but the others were girls. None were big for their age. All were White and in self-contained or inclusion special education classes at the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Actually the goal is to just increase graduation rates. That is all that counts at the admin, state and federal level. The quality of the education itself doesn’t matter.

All school systems across the nation have been forced to backslide to increase graduation rates especially for any historically underachieving subgroups

Yup. Graduate them and get them out "on time" is the name of the game.

This is exactly what it feels like at the high school where I work.
Relentless pressure on teachers to make sure every student passes. Doesn’t matter if the student never attends class and has not learned anything this year.
I want to look elsewhere for next year but I’m worried all of MCPS is now like this.
I have plenty of strong students but the bottom quarter are taking up all of my energy and time

This is the case in almost every school. And the ‘bottom quarter’ is getting larger, almost the ‘bottom half’ at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A teacher shouldn't do anything physically to keep a kid in a classroom. They should call the office and report that the kid eloped.

This.

There are staff in each school specially trained to deal with elopement and sometimes they get hurt nonetheless. I let my certification for holds elapse when we got a 6’1” 200 lb seventh grade girl on the spectrum with face blindness. She turned out to be a lamb, but we had been warned that she had a history of lashing out of you approached her and she didn’t know who you were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you need the school to tell you about this incident?

Because we had the first school shooting in county history.
Because there is a continued culture of violence at the school.
Because teachers deserve better than being physically assaulted at work.
Because the schools kicked the SROs out so that they could cover stuff up like this more easily.
Because they promised better communication and transparency after Dre got shot.

Correction: The County Council kicked out the SROs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At the MCPS HS where I work, we have groups of kids who routinely skip classes and walk around the hallways all day. Even security officers leave them alone because there is nothing they can do. Security officers have no power and the kids know it.
Hallways often smell of pot because kids are getting high in the bathrooms. MCPS has eliminated student accountability. The only thing I know that will get a kid detention at my school is if they are involved in a physical fight. Then the kid gets at home suspension for 3 days

Why are we allowing this nonsense?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the MCPS HS where I work, we have groups of kids who routinely skip classes and walk around the hallways all day. Even security officers leave them alone because there is nothing they can do. Security officers have no power and the kids know it.
Hallways often smell of pot because kids are getting high in the bathrooms. MCPS has eliminated student accountability. The only thing I know that will get a kid detention at my school is if they are involved in a physical fight. Then the kid gets at home suspension for 3 days

Same at our HS. Instead of doing something about the vaping/pot smoking at school, our HS simply closed off the bathrooms on the 3rd floor. So, nobody can use them.

It’s sh$tty on so many levels. Stinks for the kids who are actually there and want to learn, or at least want to earn a legitimate high school diploma. And honestly, it sucks for the kids who just roam the hallways. Clearly nobody cares about them and nobody cares what happens to them.

Why don’t the parents read the riot act to the School Board and Superintendent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is literally no attendance policy or consequence if a kid skips or walks out of class. The kids pass no matter what do to the stupid 50% rule and lack of attendance requirements.

My worry is that the teacher will get in trouble for trying to stop the student. We have not been told anything by any admin at Magruder. We have not had any “de-escalation training”. Admin talks about “desisting” students without any ideas or references. And blames staff when we have grade differences between race/ethnicities even though one of the main reasons is attendance.

-Magruder teacher

Magruder Mom here. Thank you. And even though it may not help, i will bring it up at the next PTSA meeting.

Thank you, Magruder Mom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the MCPS HS where I work, we have groups of kids who routinely skip classes and walk around the hallways all day. Even security officers leave them alone because there is nothing they can do. Security officers have no power and the kids know it.
Hallways often smell of pot because kids are getting high in the bathrooms. MCPS has eliminated student accountability. The only thing I know that will get a kid detention at my school is if they are involved in a physical fight. Then the kid gets at home suspension for 3 days

Same at our HS. Instead of doing something about the vaping/pot smoking at school, our HS simply closed off the bathrooms on the 3rd floor. So, nobody can use them.

It’s sh$tty on so many levels. Stinks for the kids who are actually there and want to learn, or at least want to earn a legitimate high school diploma. And honestly, it sucks for the kids who just roam the hallways. Clearly nobody cares about them and nobody cares what happens to them.

This exactly. The situation sucks all around.
The truant kids need to be in a different place. Regular HS is not working for them. They are unable to sit in a regular classroom for various reasons.
High performing kids are negatively affected. And teachers are miserable as well. The system is completely broken. The wheels have come off the bus.
At my school, administrators harangue the teachers constantly saying that we do a bad job building relationships with students and that is why these kids are roaming the halls.

We have some bathrooms in my HS that have been permanently locked for over 5 years do to being notorious vaping/mj hangouts.

The bathrooms in all high schools are a serious problem. The only thing my kids' MCPS high school does is take the doors off the bathroom, which doesn't prevent the druggies from vaping or smoking percocets in the bathroom. And admin just shrugs their shoulders when we ask for meaningful solutions to the problem.

Start writing letters and naming names. This is the future of our community!