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

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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!!!

I think you have to stop believing that your experience is universal. I know many teens who skip THINKING nothing important will happen only to be burned later after the fact. Stop assuming your experience is everyone's. Many teens get it wrong and that's why it's not advised for them to pick and choose when to go to school and why the state mandates attendance.

[Anonymous]

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.

I think it does impact other people. Teachers must be available to teach and / or reteach what the students did not learn. Students who regularly attend cannot get the same level of extra help during class because the teachers are working with students who are in class for the first time after several days. Students might not get tests / quizzes / assignments passed back as soon as possible because the teachers are waiting for the absent kids to finish the work. Teachers might not have time to make as many reassessments because they are busy answering emails / phone calls from parents who are asking why their student is failing after many absences. The list goes on and on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

It was always great when there was a sub. You could show up and claim to be one of the kids who skipped and do the most outlandish things and they'd get blamed. It was such a riot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:One B-CC junior who has had 189 unexcused absences so far this school year

That's amazing since there are only 160 school days in the year, and we just started Q4! But if they've managed to manipulate space-time like that, I guess they don't need to be in school!

Or maybe we shouldn't give this article much credibility...

I think they are counting the number of individual class absences -- 7 classes a day could be 7 absences. More than likely this student has a lot of missed classes in a specific class period, but it could be that the student missed about 25 full days of school.

[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.

I'm baffled by this. Yes, if you are absent for a doctor's appointment you get marked absent but it's excused. You can see the difference in parentvue. I'm honestly shocked that you don't call the attendance officer for mistakes; that's when it's most important - your kid is in class but marked out? (And I call only for errors).

[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.

Don't say attendance was not "taken correctly" if your kid shows up late after lunch. Teachers take attendance in the beginning of class and then move on with their block. They are busy teaching instead of having to make attendance correction errors for tardy students. If your kid can't manage to get to class on time, that is on them. The excused medical appointments were you say you've alerted the school beforehand, is on the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Well, there is a difference between a tardy and an absence, and the attendance record should accurately reflect what it is. I believe the rule is if the student is more than 15 minutes late, then it can be counted as an absence. But before that, it should be a tardy. If you want kids to respect the rules, the teachers need to abide by them as well.

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.

Don't say attendance was not "taken correctly" if your kid shows up late after lunch. Teachers take attendance in the beginning of class and then move on with their block. They are busy teaching instead of having to make attendance correction errors for tardy students. If your kid can't manage to get to class on time, that is on them. The excused medical appointments were you say you've alerted the school beforehand, is on the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don't say attendance was not "taken correctly" if your kid shows up late after lunch. Teachers take attendance in the beginning of class and then move on with their block. They are busy teaching instead of having to make attendance correction errors for tardy students. If your kid can't manage to get to class on time, that is on them. The excused medical appointments were you say you've alerted the school beforehand, is on the school.

Well a tardy is a tardy. It's not the same as an absence. I believe the official rule is up til 20 minutes, it is considered an unexcused tardy and THEN after that, the teacher can mark it as an absence: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/woottonhs/uploadedfiles/school_info/attendance-rules-in-full.pdf


If you want the kids to respect and follow the rules, the teachers need to as well. They don't get to have one set rules on the books and do whatever they feel like just because.

[Anonymous]

I don’t mind a while. Their grades are pretty good and seven periods In a row is so intense with just a 45 minute break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don't say attendance was not "taken correctly" if your kid shows up late after lunch. Teachers take attendance in the beginning of class and then move on with their block. They are busy teaching instead of having to make attendance correction errors for tardy students. If your kid can't manage to get to class on time, that is on them. The excused medical appointments were you say you've alerted the school beforehand, is on the school.

Well a tardy is a tardy. It's not the same as an absence. I believe the official rule is up til 20 minutes, it is considered an unexcused tardy and THEN after that, the teacher can mark it as an absence: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/woottonhs/uploadedfiles/school_info/attendance-rules-in-full.pdf


If you want the kids to respect and follow the rules, the teachers need to as well. They don't get to have one set rules on the books and do whatever they feel like just because.

Love how you cherry picked that. Notice how it also says students are expected to be in class at ALL times. Not late due to lunch. Teach your kid some responsibility.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Don't say attendance was not "taken correctly" if your kid shows up late after lunch. Teachers take attendance in the beginning of class and then move on with their block. They are busy teaching instead of having to make attendance correction errors for tardy students. If your kid can't manage to get to class on time, that is on them. The excused medical appointments were you say you've alerted the school beforehand, is on the school.

Well a tardy is a tardy. It's not the same as an absence. I believe the official rule is up til 20 minutes, it is considered an unexcused tardy and THEN after that, the teacher can mark it as an absence: https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/schools/high-schools/r-w/woottonhs/uploadedfiles/school_info/attendance-rules-in-full.pdf


If you want the kids to respect and follow the rules, the teachers need to as well. They don't get to have one set rules on the books and do whatever they feel like just because.

No. You aren't even reading that correctly. "After twenty (20) minutes, unexcused tardiness is to be treated as an unexcused
absence." This means even if they show up after 20 minutes, it is STILL an unexcused absence. It does NOT even remotely mean kids have a 20 minute time slot to show up 20 minutes late every day. Imagine that chaos. Bottom line, your kid needs to be there when the bell rings. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are exactly two kids quoted in the article. I am not sure this is a widespread problem. My kid attends B-CC and has been late a couple of times after lunch. That is it and I have addressed this. I have received one absent phone call/email, which was in error, the whole year. Missing class is not acceptable, even if it is senior year. If my kid misses class, it is my fault, not the school's fault.

The absenteeism rates are in the article, so it is definitely widespread:

19.1% of B-CC students are “chronically absent.”

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent

It is very much widespread and it's clear in the article and the fact that MCPS is revising its absenteeism policy in response to the scope and scale of the issue that it is widespread.

OMG OMG the sky is falling (again). What shall we do?!?

Let's see, notify the parents. After 4 absences insist that the parents come to school and have a meeting prior to allowing them to return to school. After 12, you make the parents shadow the kids for a day, and if that doesn't work a week or permanently till their behavior improves.

You're more prescient than you know. I believe some version of what you outlined is what MCPS will unveil.

MCPS has cut parents out of education. It needs to be a partnership and much more communication. Teachers should send out weekly emails outlining what kids are learning and what assignments are due each week/when. We've had teachers do that in MS and it was fantastic. It doesn't have to be long or detailed but just we are working on these concepts or reading xxx, and these are the upcoming assignments and due dates.

A lot of teachers already include all of that information in Canvas. If you look in each class under Assignments or Modules, you can usually find out what they've been learning.

That requires way too much effort. Teachers should be raising my kids and making my life easier.

LOL As a teacher this made me totally LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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!!!

I think you have to stop believing that your experience is universal. I know many teens who skip THINKING nothing important will happen only to be burned later after the fact. Stop assuming your experience is everyone's. Many teens get it wrong and that's why it's not advised for them to pick and choose when to go to school and why the state mandates attendance.

I think you have to stop trying to spread hysteria with these wacky false narratives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are exactly two kids quoted in the article. I am not sure this is a widespread problem. My kid attends B-CC and has been late a couple of times after lunch. That is it and I have addressed this. I have received one absent phone call/email, which was in error, the whole year. Missing class is not acceptable, even if it is senior year. If my kid misses class, it is my fault, not the school's fault.

The absenteeism rates are in the article, so it is definitely widespread:

19.1% of B-CC students are “chronically absent.”

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent

It is very much widespread and it's clear in the article and the fact that MCPS is revising its absenteeism policy in response to the scope and scale of the issue that it is widespread.

OMG OMG the sky is falling (again). What shall we do?!?

Let's see, notify the parents. After 4 absences insist that the parents come to school and have a meeting prior to allowing them to return to school. After 12, you make the parents shadow the kids for a day, and if that doesn't work a week or permanently till their behavior improves.

You're more prescient than you know. I believe some version of what you outlined is what MCPS will unveil.

MCPS has cut parents out of education. It needs to be a partnership and much more communication. Teachers should send out weekly emails outlining what kids are learning and what assignments are due each week/when. We've had teachers do that in MS and it was fantastic. It doesn't have to be long or detailed but just we are working on these concepts or reading xxx, and these are the upcoming assignments and due dates.

A lot of teachers already include all of that information in Canvas. If you look in each class under Assignments or Modules, you can usually find out what they've been learning.

That requires way too much effort. Teachers should be raising my kids and making my life easier.

LOL As a teacher this made me totally LOL

I should probably check my sarcasm, but people have ridiculous expectations and no matter what you do will complain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are exactly two kids quoted in the article. I am not sure this is a widespread problem. My kid attends B-CC and has been late a couple of times after lunch. That is it and I have addressed this. I have received one absent phone call/email, which was in error, the whole year. Missing class is not acceptable, even if it is senior year. If my kid misses class, it is my fault, not the school's fault.

The absenteeism rates are in the article, so it is definitely widespread:

19.1% of B-CC students are “chronically absent.”

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent

It is very much widespread and it's clear in the article and the fact that MCPS is revising its absenteeism policy in response to the scope and scale of the issue that it is widespread.

OMG OMG the sky is falling (again). What shall we do?!?

Let's see, notify the parents. After 4 absences insist that the parents come to school and have a meeting prior to allowing them to return to school. After 12, you make the parents shadow the kids for a day, and if that doesn't work a week or permanently till their behavior improves.

You're more prescient than you know. I believe some version of what you outlined is what MCPS will unveil.

MCPS has cut parents out of education. It needs to be a partnership and much more communication. Teachers should send out weekly emails outlining what kids are learning and what assignments are due each week/when. We've had teachers do that in MS and it was fantastic. It doesn't have to be long or detailed but just we are working on these concepts or reading xxx, and these are the upcoming assignments and due dates.

A lot of teachers already include all of that information in Canvas. If you look in each class under Assignments or Modules, you can usually find out what they've been learning.

That requires way too much effort. Teachers should be raising my kids and making my life easier.

LOL As a teacher this made me totally LOL

I should probably check my sarcasm, but people have ridiculous expectations and no matter what you do will complain.

The assignments are not always in canvas and tea spheres use multiple platforms and ways to submit work that it’s very had to track.