No Hall Sweeps?

[Anonymous]

As a teacher, I would want to know what will happen when those kids don't show up for detention. They didn't mention that. This is the biggest difference I've seen with public school and private school. In private school, there is a very clear flowchart of consequences for everything. If a kid does x, y will happen. If the kids keeps doing x, y and z will happen. Etc. In public school, they can say that a kid gets lunch detention but what happens when they don't go. Kids need very clear limits and very clear consequences so they aren't always trying to figure out where the line is and what happens when they cross it. That is part of education too but public school sucks at it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I would want to know what will happen when those kids don't show up for detention. They didn't mention that. This is the biggest difference I've seen with public school and private school. In private school, there is a very clear flowchart of consequences for everything. If a kid does x, y will happen. If the kids keeps doing x, y and z will happen. Etc. In public school, they can say that a kid gets lunch detention but what happens when they don't go. Kids need very clear limits and very clear consequences so they aren't always trying to figure out where the line is and what happens when they cross it. That is part of education too but public school sucks at it.

Really? The biggest difference I've seen with public school and private school is that private schools can pick their students, whereas public schools must take everyone. In private school, if a kid keeps misbehaving, the private school will expel the kid (sorry, "counsel out" the kid). There is no "counseling out" in public school - nor should there be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I would want to know what will happen when those kids don't show up for detention. They didn't mention that. This is the biggest difference I've seen with public school and private school. In private school, there is a very clear flowchart of consequences for everything. If a kid does x, y will happen. If the kids keeps doing x, y and z will happen. Etc. In public school, they can say that a kid gets lunch detention but what happens when they don't go. Kids need very clear limits and very clear consequences so they aren't always trying to figure out where the line is and what happens when they cross it. That is part of education too but public school sucks at it.

Nailed it! And public schools didn't always suck at it. Or at least, MCPS didn't always suck at it. But there's a devastating rot that has settled into the school system that I simply do not recognize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I would want to know what will happen when those kids don't show up for detention. They didn't mention that. This is the biggest difference I've seen with public school and private school. In private school, there is a very clear flowchart of consequences for everything. If a kid does x, y will happen. If the kids keeps doing x, y and z will happen. Etc. In public school, they can say that a kid gets lunch detention but what happens when they don't go. Kids need very clear limits and very clear consequences so they aren't always trying to figure out where the line is and what happens when they cross it. That is part of education too but public school sucks at it.

Really? The biggest difference I've seen with public school and private school is that private schools can pick their students, whereas public schools must take everyone. In private school, if a kid keeps misbehaving, the private school will expel the kid (sorry, "counsel out" the kid). There is no "counseling out" in public school - nor should there be.

The topic is hall sweeps so yes, when discussing student behavior, it is the biggest difference. The topic is not academics. Kids in public schools now can do whatever they want and except for a few behaviors, it's always a mystery to everyone (student, teacher, parent) what their consequence is. When I send a student to the office for punching another student, who knows what will happen? Sometimes they come back with candy and sometimes they come back to get their stuff because they are going home and sometimes they come back because no administrator deals with them. You just never know. This is a big problem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I would want to know what will happen when those kids don't show up for detention. They didn't mention that. This is the biggest difference I've seen with public school and private school. In private school, there is a very clear flowchart of consequences for everything. If a kid does x, y will happen. If the kids keeps doing x, y and z will happen. Etc. In public school, they can say that a kid gets lunch detention but what happens when they don't go. Kids need very clear limits and very clear consequences so they aren't always trying to figure out where the line is and what happens when they cross it. That is part of education too but public school sucks at it.

Exactly! Someone in charge needs to fix this and fix it fast.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happens with tardies or absences? Is there a school consequence? And, are parents/guardians called?

If I got a call that one of my kids
was not in class, they’d be in trouble - lose the phone, etc.

Don’t update their contact info.
Don’t answer the phone.
Don’t listen to voicemails.

Or don’t care. I’ve had parents tell me their kids are the school’s problem during school hours and to stop calling them.

That’s a ridiculously pathetic parental response.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What happens with tardies or absences? Is there a school consequence? And, are parents/guardians called?

If I got a call that one of my kids
was not in class, they’d be in trouble - lose the phone, etc.

Don’t update their contact info.
Don’t answer the phone.
Don’t listen to voicemails.

Or don’t care. I’ve had parents tell me their kids are the school’s problem during school hours and to stop calling them.

That’s a ridiculously pathetic parental response.

It’s not uncommon. Some parents see school as babysitting and they don’t want to be disturbed during school time. They also don’t want to do anything other than picking up/dropping off their kids. They don’t sign and return anything including report cards. Their kids miss field trips because their parents won’t sign permission slips. It’s sad.

[Anonymous]

I am a hs teacher in a big school. Admins don't want to punish students for loitering and it usually falls to the teacher. Most students that are in the hallways are minorities, so it can be equity issue. Many teachers do not often go to their post for hallway duties (sometimes they are overwhelmed, sometimes not). It becomes a norm.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a hs teacher in a big school. Admins don't want to punish students for loitering and it usually falls to the teacher. Most students that are in the hallways are minorities, so it can be equity issue. Many teachers do not often go to their post for hallway duties (sometimes they are overwhelmed, sometimes not). It becomes a norm.

Not surprising, given that in all of the high schools except Whitman, most students are members of minorities.

[Anonymous]

My weekly email from a W school stated that hall sweeps will begin this week. The student will receive lunch detention and the parent will be notified.

If the kid doesn't show up for detention or the parent doesn't answer the phone, I'm not sure what else the school can do. I'm really not sure what being a minority has to do with hanging out in the hallways. I realize that MCPS views it as an equity issue but it's the same rule for all students.

[Anonymous]

I’m a parent at Wheaton and my student told me there was a hall sweep today, so apparently someone is listening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a hs teacher in a big school. Admins don't want to punish students for loitering and it usually falls to the teacher. Most students that are in the hallways are minorities, so it can be equity issue. Many teachers do not often go to their post for hallway duties (sometimes they are overwhelmed, sometimes not). It becomes a norm.

This. I literally had a security guard tell me today that he can’t make the kids go to class. He was sitting on the bench in the hallway on his phone. I wanted to say “that is literally your job!” I don’t understand why security doesn’t get “observed” like us teachers and evaluated on a Standards based rubric.

But I don’t agree how kids being a minority has any impact on this issue. No kid—no matter their ethnicity—should be permitted to just roam around the school and attend class when they feel like it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a hs teacher in a big school. Admins don't want to punish students for loitering and it usually falls to the teacher. Most students that are in the hallways are minorities, so it can be equity issue. Many teachers do not often go to their post for hallway duties (sometimes they are overwhelmed, sometimes not). It becomes a norm.

This. I literally had a security guard tell me today that he can’t make the kids go to class. He was sitting on the bench in the hallway on his phone. I wanted to say “that is literally your job!” I don’t understand why security doesn’t get “observed” like us teachers and evaluated on a Standards based rubric.

But I don’t agree how kids being a minority has any impact on this issue. No kid—no matter their ethnicity—should be permitted to just roam around the school and attend class when they feel like it.

That's so weird at our MCPS school kids get detention for being late to class and it works.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a hs teacher in a big school. Admins don't want to punish students for loitering and it usually falls to the teacher. Most students that are in the hallways are minorities, so it can be equity issue. Many teachers do not often go to their post for hallway duties (sometimes they are overwhelmed, sometimes not). It becomes a norm.

This. I literally had a security guard tell me today that he can’t make the kids go to class. He was sitting on the bench in the hallway on his phone. I wanted to say “that is literally your job!” I don’t understand why security doesn’t get “observed” like us teachers and evaluated on a Standards based rubric.

But I don’t agree how kids being a minority has any impact on this issue. No kid—no matter their ethnicity—should be permitted to just roam around the school and attend class when they feel like it.

That's not very anti-racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a hs teacher in a big school. Admins don't want to punish students for loitering and it usually falls to the teacher. Most students that are in the hallways are minorities, so it can be equity issue. Many teachers do not often go to their post for hallway duties (sometimes they are overwhelmed, sometimes not). It becomes a norm.

This. I literally had a security guard tell me today that he can’t make the kids go to class. He was sitting on the bench in the hallway on his phone. I wanted to say “that is literally your job!” I don’t understand why security doesn’t get “observed” like us teachers and evaluated on a Standards based rubric.

But I don’t agree how kids being a minority has any impact on this issue. No kid—no matter their ethnicity—should be permitted to just roam around the school and attend class when they feel like it.

That's so weird at our MCPS school kids get detention for being late to class and it works.

Is your school predominantly white and Asian?