B-CC Kids Confess They Skip Because There Are No Consequences

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents see report cards and as long as those are good, they don't care what their kids do. That's how it was when I was a kid.

eh. I care, but I can no longer really control my college bound senior. Straight As without trying too hard. Sometimes DC will skip class if they aren't learning anything new.

After AP/IB exams, they said they aren't going to class anymore. For the most part, those classes stop teaching new material after the May exams.

Prior to senior year, yes, I make my kids go.

My kid is at a private school. If he skips class, he gets detention. If he skips that, he won’t graduate with his class. Talk about motivating!

In college, you have to be self-motivated (nobody is taking attendance), not micromanaged like your child currently is.

Totally appropriate for college. DP

[Anonymous]

If it’s not your kid, isn’t this good? More attention from the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS Policy Re unexcused absences

If the student has five or more absences, and the school team
determines that the student has not shown improvement in
attendance in response to interventions set forth in the AIP, the
student will receive a failing grade in that course

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/elementary-schools/a-c/burtonsvillees/jeara.pdf

That was the rule pre-pandemic. MCPS has yet to reinstitute this policy post-pandemic.

That's still the rule. Can you show me when it was revoked? Kids that don't want to learn shouldn't be forced to stay in school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the parents in all this? Parents also need to discipline their kids. Way back when for BCC it was that McDonald's.

Parents don’t even know.

The school isn’t calling parents every time a kid skips.

This is a problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS Policy Re unexcused absences

If the student has five or more absences, and the school team
determines that the student has not shown improvement in
attendance in response to interventions set forth in the AIP, the
student will receive a failing grade in that course

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/elementary-schools/a-c/burtonsvillees/jeara.pdf

That was the rule pre-pandemic. MCPS has yet to reinstitute this policy post-pandemic.

That's still the rule. Can you show me when it was revoked? Kids that don't want to learn shouldn't be forced to stay in school.

Wouldn’t the schools miss out on funding if too many kids decided to drop out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS Policy Re unexcused absences

If the student has five or more absences, and the school team
determines that the student has not shown improvement in
attendance in response to interventions set forth in the AIP, the
student will receive a failing grade in that course

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/elementary-schools/a-c/burtonsvillees/jeara.pdf

That was the rule pre-pandemic. MCPS has yet to reinstitute this policy post-pandemic.

That's still the rule. Can you show me when it was revoked? Kids that don't want to learn shouldn't be forced to stay in school.

MCPS relaxed enforced post-pandemic in the name of being flexible for kids still getting used to life post-pandemic: https://thewarrioronline.com/2022/01/20/mcps-has-eased-attendance-policy-for-students/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS Policy Re unexcused absences

If the student has five or more absences, and the school team
determines that the student has not shown improvement in
attendance in response to interventions set forth in the AIP, the
student will receive a failing grade in that course

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/elementary-schools/a-c/burtonsvillees/jeara.pdf

That was the rule pre-pandemic. MCPS has yet to reinstitute this policy post-pandemic.

That's still the rule. Can you show me when it was revoked? Kids that don't want to learn shouldn't be forced to stay in school.

MCPS relaxed enforced post-pandemic in the name of being flexible for kids still getting used to life post-pandemic: https://thewarrioronline.com/2022/01/20/mcps-has-eased-attendance-policy-for-students/

Sorry, I assumed it was an MCPS wide thing, but as always seems to be the case, schools took different postures when it came to enforcing pre-pandemic E3 policies. The schools with higher black and brown student populations in MCPS, like Kennedy, have been slower to return to the E3 standard, while whiter schools like Whitman, are back to that standard this school year: https://www.thesentinel.com/communities/administrators-visit-math-classes-to-discuss-new-school-policies-expectations/article_d9edfc4c-306b-11ed-a8e4-cf786c66734d.html

School officials also announced that Whitman is also returning to pre-pandemic attendance standards that put students at risk of losing course credit after five unexcused absences, and equates three unexcused tardies with one unexcused absence. As part of these renewed enforcement efforts, Dodd and McAleese informed students that all entrances other than the school’s main office doors will close at 7:40 a.m. to ensure students arrive to class earlier and check in at the front office if they are late to school.

Why MCPS allows this kind of inconsistency, I do not know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS Policy Re unexcused absences

If the student has five or more absences, and the school team
determines that the student has not shown improvement in
attendance in response to interventions set forth in the AIP, the
student will receive a failing grade in that course

https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/elementary-schools/a-c/burtonsvillees/jeara.pdf

That was the rule pre-pandemic. MCPS has yet to reinstitute this policy post-pandemic.

That's still the rule. Can you show me when it was revoked? Kids that don't want to learn shouldn't be forced to stay in school.

MCPS relaxed enforced post-pandemic in the name of being flexible for kids still getting used to life post-pandemic: https://thewarrioronline.com/2022/01/20/mcps-has-eased-attendance-policy-for-students/

Sorry, I assumed it was an MCPS wide thing, but as always seems to be the case, schools took different postures when it came to enforcing pre-pandemic E3 policies. The schools with higher black and brown student populations in MCPS, like Kennedy, have been slower to return to the E3 standard, while whiter schools like Whitman, are back to that standard this school year: https://www.thesentinel.com/communities/administrators-visit-math-classes-to-discuss-new-school-policies-expectations/article_d9edfc4c-306b-11ed-a8e4-cf786c66734d.html

School officials also announced that Whitman is also returning to pre-pandemic attendance standards that put students at risk of losing course credit after five unexcused absences, and equates three unexcused tardies with one unexcused absence. As part of these renewed enforcement efforts, Dodd and McAleese informed students that all entrances other than the school’s main office doors will close at 7:40 a.m. to ensure students arrive to class earlier and check in at the front office if they are late to school.

Why MCPS allows this kind of inconsistency, I do not know.

I didn't realize that BCC had a higher black-brown population.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The parents see report cards and as long as those are good, they don't care what their kids do. That's how it was when I was a kid.

eh. I care, but I can no longer really control my college bound senior. Straight As without trying too hard. Sometimes DC will skip class if they aren't learning anything new.

After AP/IB exams, they said they aren't going to class anymore. For the most part, those classes stop teaching new material after the May exams.

Prior to senior year, yes, I make my kids go.

My kid is at a private school. If he skips class, he gets detention. If he skips that, he won’t graduate with his class. Talk about motivating!

In college, you have to be self-motivated (nobody is taking attendance), not micromanaged like your child currently is.

So it’s cool if your kid skips whenever they want and there are no consequences? I can’t wait to see the further decline of our country when kids learn there are no consequences for their actions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m of a different view. By high school, it’s time to learn natural consequences. The kids who are driven & care about school will show up. The kids who are lazy & don’t care, won’t show up. No sweat of anyone’s back except the kids. In college nobody is going to monitor their attendance everyday.

That said, I am more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to absenteeism at Kennedy than I am at BCC because Kennedy kids are more likely to be facing issues such as unstable housing, lack of transportation, lack of having their own cars if they miss the bus, having to stay home to watch siblings, hunger etc.

There are kids in the same situation at BCC. BCC’s demographics have changed over the past 5 years. But go on with your crazy stereotypes.

Link?

not pp, but this is public.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/regulatoryaccountability/glance/currentyear/schools/04406.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the parents in all this? Parents also need to discipline their kids. Way back when for BCC it was that McDonald's.

Parents don’t even know.

The school isn’t calling parents every time a kid skips.

Differs by school.

At WJ, my kid missed 1 resource class during the day because he was taking [approved] extended time on an exam. Teacher was supposed to alert resource teacher, but that did not happen.

That same day, I got a robo-call on my mobile, one at my office, and one at home to alert me that my student was absent from "1 or more" classes that day and to contact the attendance office about this matter at 301-xxx-xxxx.

I texted DS as soon as I had a chance. I called the office first thing in the morning the next day to clear up. If parents don't care, or follow-up, it does not matter how many robo calls they get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I went to a magnet HS in the 80s. We skipped class a lot . Sometimes I skipped to study for a test in another class. Sometimes I skipped to catch up on sleep because I had stayed up late to finish work or study. Sometimes I skipped to sit in on a class that I was self-studying for the AP. Sometimes I skipped to go to Pizza Hut.

You know when I didn't skip? When the class was covering material that I needed to learn. Most of the time I was skipping, it was the mandated stuff like Health class in which no substance was ever conveyed, or classes where the teacher was absent or had already announced we would be watching a movie or working on our papers or something.

My teen is pretty much the same. She is working pretty much round the clock on her activities and her classes. Does she skip class? Yes. Particularly when she knows the teacher is out, or when they have one of their catch-up days when no new material is covered. I'm not really losing any sleep over that. There are a lot of exams that can't be re-taken, and exams are worth 90% of the grade, plus there's the actual AP exam. So if she's skipping class when they cover material, she's going to struggle on those exams, and she knows it.

I do think part of the problem is that the poor teachers are so overworked, with so little planning/grading time, that they do have classes where the kids are working independently or in meaningless small groups to give the teachers a chance to catch up on grading. The kids know that this is a good time to skip. If MCPS gave the teachers more real grading periods, they could have substantive work/discussion in every class.

I also think MCPS makes it super easy for parents to track this. I get a call whenever she misses any class, plus parentvue shows you exactly which class they missed.

I do have criticisms of MCPS, but this is not really high on my list.

But they should start taking names of every kid they see vaping or doing drugs in the bathroom and send THOSE names home every single day.

I know you think this because you and your daughter did this successfully, but most teenagers lack the discernment to make the right judgement calls on when material in class is or isn't important. And I would not rely on the judgement of a teenager to guide that.

NONE of the teens in our circle skip for anything but entirely reasonable things, like PP outlined above (minus the Pizza Hut). You have to stop believing that most teens are routinely missing out on valuable instruction!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the parents in all this? Parents also need to discipline their kids. Way back when for BCC it was that McDonald's.

Parents don’t even know.

The school isn’t calling parents every time a kid skips.

Differs by school.

At WJ, my kid missed 1 resource class during the day because he was taking [approved] extended time on an exam. Teacher was supposed to alert resource teacher, but that did not happen.

That same day, I got a robo-call on my mobile, one at my office, and one at home to alert me that my student was absent from "1 or more" classes that day and to contact the attendance office about this matter at 301-xxx-xxxx.

I texted DS as soon as I had a chance. I called the office first thing in the morning the next day to clear up. If parents don't care, or follow-up, it does not matter how many robo calls they get.

I never return the attendance call now. My WJ teen is always in class, and is sometimes a couple of minutes late to the period immediately after lunch, when he uses his extended time to take a test during lunch, and an issue similar to your kid crops up. When I alert the school to any excused absence, for one of his numerous medical appointments, for instance, he's also marked absent!!!

It doesn't seem to matter to anyone, at all. No one cares. So I gave up trying to correct their stupidities. Attendance is not taken correctly in the first place, so I would take the official MCPS attendance records with a HUGE grain of salt.

[Anonymous]

At my school there are quite a few kids who only show up when the weather is nice. They skip class and wander the school. It has been better than last year though. I didn't want to sub, since kids would join random classes if there was a sub in there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Where are the parents in all this? Parents also need to discipline their kids. Way back when for BCC it was that McDonald's.

Parents don’t even know.

The school isn’t calling parents every time a kid skips.

Differs by school.

At WJ, my kid missed 1 resource class during the day because he was taking [approved] extended time on an exam. Teacher was supposed to alert resource teacher, but that did not happen.

That same day, I got a robo-call on my mobile, one at my office, and one at home to alert me that my student was absent from "1 or more" classes that day and to contact the attendance office about this matter at 301-xxx-xxxx.

I texted DS as soon as I had a chance. I called the office first thing in the morning the next day to clear up. If parents don't care, or follow-up, it does not matter how many robo calls they get.

I never return the attendance call now. My WJ teen is always in class, and is sometimes a couple of minutes late to the period immediately after lunch, when he uses his extended time to take a test during lunch, and an issue similar to your kid crops up. When I alert the school to any excused absence, for one of his numerous medical appointments, for instance, he's also marked absent!!!

It doesn't seem to matter to anyone, at all. No one cares. So I gave up trying to correct their stupidities. Attendance is not taken correctly in the first place, so I would take the official MCPS attendance records with a HUGE grain of salt.

That’s too bad. The RM attendance secretary is phenomenal. I emailed her and she responds right back that it is excused or she checks with admin if it’s something out of the ordinary that she doesn’t have authority to excuse. I appreciate her!
But I really can’t understand people whining about this. Check parentvue. If your kid is shown as absent, ask your kid. If the kid says they were in class, email the teacher. I found that in MS the records were often wrong because subs didn’t take attendance right or they missed a kid who was tardy. But in HS I haven’t had issues, it seems like the teachers are more careful. Athletes aren’t allowed to play with any unexcused absences so my kid is scrupulous about getting all the absences excused.