Am I expecting too much from MCPS middle school?
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Anonymous
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My son is a 7th grader at a well-regarded MCPS middle school in Bethesda. This is his first year at the school and the transition to such a huge (1500 kids) environment, with very little contact with anyone he knew previously, has been rough. He is bright but not academically motivated, and has had some academic struggles in the past. We monitor incredibly closely and began some interventions (moved a class, found a great tutor) - but his second quarter grades were still really bad.
Presumably in response, the school invited him to join a study skills class once a week at lunch, which is great. But I emailed his counselor to ask for a meeting to discuss his situation, get input into how we should proceed and what else we can or should be doing to address his issues. I got a proforma response after a week with a list of free tutoring programs. I'm disappointed with this; I know it's a huge environment but I'd heard from friends and colleagues that the school was very responsive to issues that arose for their kids in the past. Is there any point in pushing back and asking for a meeting and/or some kind of specific discussion around my kid and why he is doing so badly? Or do I simply need to presume that the counseling function is totally useless, and go down the road of private testing etc? Thanks for your advice! |
Anonymous
| That seems odd. I'd try again, state that you must not have made yourself clear because his/her response didn't answer your question, and cc the principal. That will get you an answer. |
Anonymous
| Ask again to meet with his counselor and, if you want you can meet with his entire team of teachers. I would also regularly email his teachers and ask how he is doing in their class. |
Anonymous
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That's not right. You should push for a face to face meeting, preferably not just with the counselor but also with the teachers of the classes he is struggling in, and talk.
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Anonymous
Is this the norm? (OP here.) I don't know how much to insert myself; I've been trying to encourage him to advocate for himself. He found the whole process of requesting retakes very intimidating, and in general tries to avoid attention from anyone (he's a big awkward kid.) I wasn't sure if I was being a PITA helicopter mom to start emailing teachers directly at the middle school level. I will push for a meeting with the counselor in any case. |
Anonymous
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No. My child also goes to a large MS (~1400 students). It is not a W school. Email teachers separately, request 1-on-1 meetings with them. Tell them the issues with your son - overwhelmed with school, will not request a retake etc - and you will be surprised how happy teachers are to work with you to have a plan for your son.
If you need to be helicopter till your kid learns to fly solo - do it. Being called a helicopter is a small price to pay for him to learn from his mistakes in middle school. Otherwise he will not learn anything by the time he gets to high school. |
Anonymous
...adding - talking to counselors will not get you the results that you need. They have standard tools in their bag of tricks. You need to approach the teachers and work out individual plans with them. They want your kid to succeed. |
Anonymous
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My kids go to one of the lesser regarded middle schools and here is my experience. If your kid's grade drops below a C, the teacher will actively pursue your child for retakes and will remind them of homework. If your kid never drops below a C, you have to be proactive. Find out each teachers retake policies and their practices for handing out study guides. Monitor Edline so you can remind your son to go in for retakes. If need be, email the teacher about specific grades and assignments. Broker the time that a retake will be given. And, most important if your child is in seventh grade, work with your son on using Edline and developing better student skills. HS is much harder to navigate and unless your son takes resource or has a case manager, it's practically impossible to get information.
One last suggestion. All schools offer cotaught classes for gen ed classes. The classes are smaller and are inclusion classes so it is a mix of kids with IEPs and non-special needs kids. If your kid is falling through the cracks and not doing as well as he could be, you might want to consider this. I made the request for both of my kids and they perform at a much higher level than when in a regular classroom. |
Anonymous
| This is ot right, try again and then I would go above his head. Size of the school doesn't matter. My daughter goes to a 1500+ Bethesda middle school and I have requested and met with her counselor a couple of times. |
Anonymous
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Meet with and/or email the individual teachers as to what can be done to improve his performances in THOSE CLASSES.
The counselor cannot do that. Meet with the counselor for guidance on helping him navigate the social environment, tips on self advocacy, etc. |
Anonymous
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I think the counselor was very rude to send you a standard reply without elaboration.
I agree with those who suggest you see the teachers if you can. And ignore the critics. My mom still helicopters me and I'm 48. |
Anonymous
| MCPS is a public school system. Schools don't have resources to provide individualized attention to every student. It's a meat grinder. |
Anonymous
100% incorrect. You clearly have zero experience in MCPS. Crawl back under your rock. |
Anonymous
Lol... yeah only 3 kids, pre k to 12... |
Anonymous
| Is this Pyle? Call the grade level administrator or principal and complain, I had the same problem and was told that the parents need to let admin know, apparently that's been a particular issue this year. |