Elementary schools falling apart?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A couple of thoughts:

-how lucky to have smaller class sizes (my kids kinder through 2nd were 26+ talk about overwhelming when 2-3 are emotionally disregulated

-this is not about too much processed foods, it is about kids with ED or other special needs who are either not yet diagnosed, or, frequently, the parents are just in denial. How many times have I been told, "don't use the word autism with xx family, they've been told by a doctor their child does not have autism," or from parents, "they aren't Iike this at home, you just need to be nicer to them."

-the pendulum has swung from bad (lock special ed kids in the basement/closet and ignore them) to worse (mainstream everyone), and it isn't working. There isn't money, or teachers, to handle all the need.

-parents of these young children are exhausted. Many have had a parent desert the family home because it's just too hard. They do not have an ounce of energy left to use their voices with the Board, the Coucil, or anyone else. The ones with resources (family and dollars) and acknowledge their child's disability, realize the disaster and put their children in private special ed programs and supplement with other therapies

This is so spot on. You must work in education, right?

[Anonymous]

The problem is that to do what is right for kids and families takes a lot of political will and financing. It would be mean changing school calendars, retooling teacher training programs, adjusting salaries, standing strong on national standards, funding IDEA properly, funding the school lunch program, and lots of things that are generally considered public good. However, propose any one of them and be prepared to watch the battle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A couple of thoughts:

-how lucky to have smaller class sizes (my kids kinder through 2nd were 26+ talk about overwhelming when 2-3 are emotionally disregulated

-this is not about too much processed foods, it is about kids with ED or other special needs who are either not yet diagnosed, or, frequently, the parents are just in denial. How many times have I been told, "don't use the word autism with xx family, they've been told by a doctor their child does not have autism," or from parents, "they aren't Iike this at home, you just need to be nicer to them."

-the pendulum has swung from bad (lock special ed kids in the basement/closet and ignore them) to worse (mainstream everyone), and it isn't working. There isn't money, or teachers, to handle all the need.

-parents of these young children are exhausted. Many have had a parent desert the family home because it's just too hard. They do not have an ounce of energy left to use their voices with the Board, the Coucil, or anyone else. The ones with resources (family and dollars) and acknowledge their child's disability, realize the disaster and put their children in private special ed programs and supplement with other therapies

DP. There has been research showing a link between certain chemicals in food and hyperactive behavior. The EU banned certain ones as a result.

ADHD diagnoses are up in a large way and there are probably more undiagnosed kids. This isn’t a result of poor parenting alone, there are almost certainly environmental factors at play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In regards to the poster who said that kindergarten sets kids up to fail....YES. I teach kindergarten. While my past district finally added in time to play, if it had been up to me, I would have added in even more. Our kids typically had 30 minutes of play in the morning and 30 minutes at lunch. There was a lot of talk about "play to learn" on top of this. Most teachers interpreted this to mean using active-ish centers as learning. While I agree that doing active and fun things to learn is a good idea, that is still not play. Imo, a typical day in K should look like this:

8:00 soft open with multiple choices for kids while attendance, lunch count and other administrative things happen
8:20 Reading/phonics/language arts/writing (not all sit and listen...movement included, centers, small groups included)
9:00 Indoor play/snack
9:45 Math (again, lots of movement, centers, etc)
10:30 Outdoor play
11:00 lunch
11:30 Science/Soc St./project based learning
12:00 Specials (music, gym, art, etc)
1:00 Play (indoors or out)
1:45 Reading and or math
2:15 read aloud and get ready to go home
2:30 Go home

Gonna have to shift start times to get that K schedule in MCPS!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:It's almost like a hugely disruptive global pandemic is continuing to have disruptive effects...

It’s almost as though my kid didn’t have those issues at her private school this past year.

But sure. Continue to pretend it’s like that everywhere.

It's almost like schools that can choose whom to admit and whom to kick out have fewer disruptive students than public schools that are required to accept everyone.

When I was a kid, they disciplined disruptive kids and separated out kids who are unable to sit quietly to learn. Consequently I actually learned something from real hard copy textbooks and teachers actually taught grammar and we read high quality works.

I feel sorry for sped students who are unable to sit quietly to learn and end up wandering around the classroom, and then often meltdown by the end of the day. How is this good for the sped student? The class atmosphere is inappropriate for them and it is difficult for neurotypical students to learn in this environment.

Suspensions were a serious matter and too many could lead to being expelled. Consequently, the well behaved students were rewarded for their good behavior and the disruptive students faced consequences.

Exactly. Public schools can do quite a bit, up to and including expulsions. They just choose not to.

Public schools cannot expel elementary schoolers, or at least not without a massive struggle. Nor do we want them to be able to expel elementary schoolers because that's terrible for society.

And meanwhile, those 1 or 2 difficult children ruin the educational and social experiences of 24 other kids. And are causing teachers to quit en masse because they can't do anything about it.

Trying to normalize SPED kids into regular classrooms has been a terrible mistake.They need to be separated and put into environments that can handle their needs. Allowing teachers to teach classes full of reasonably well-behaved children should not be some kind of issue. If a child is ruining everything for everyone else, they need to be removed. This should not be an issue.

Fully agree!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not about a sped kid acting out.

It's about the teacher not maintaining control of the class.

And not to say it's teacher's fault. Large classes, lack of parent support, who knows.

The problem is least inclusive environment. Some SPED students truly belong in resource rooms in order to get the dedicated focus they need.

[Anonymous]

The county ended the Learning and Academic programs which had kids in a separate classroom during more academic portions and then included them in for specials/lunch. Full mainstreaming is good for the right kids and in small numbers with the right amount of support. Lately it's been a dumping ground. BUT, I think part of the problem is identifying kids with needs. We have great early intervention resources in MCPS - Infants and Toddlers, PEP, Child Find. But not everyone realizes their child has needs and not every doctor pushes families to use these resources. So, if you get 1 or 2 disrupters in a classroom, it can take a greater part of the year to actually get them identified and start getting them the resources they need. By that point, a classroom can be ruined.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's not about a sped kid acting out.

It's about the teacher not maintaining control of the class.

And not to say it's teacher's fault. Large classes, lack of parent support, who knows.

The problem is least inclusive environment. Some SPED students truly belong in resource rooms in order to get the dedicated focus they need.