No confidence in MCPS?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is declining for your kids academically or otherwise?
Lots of posts also saying classes are hard or too accelerated and lots of pressure to do well academically. Courses seem rigorous for the most part.
If your kid goes, pays attention and puts in the work to learn, they will learn and succeed.

If kids don’t go, play on their screens instead of pay attention, don’t do the homework or study at home, then they may not succeed so much. All this stuff is the parents’ responsibility and to motivate their kids.

Yes MCPS can change many things but it’s still going to come down to what you and your kid put into to it.

My problem is my kid didn’t work very hard in MCPS and still got pretty good grades. 3.8/4.5. Never learned to study efficiently or any time management skills. The first year of college was brutal for her as she simply wasn’t prepared. And she took 10 AP classes, so it’s not like there wasn’t rigor.

If she took 10 AP classes with rigor and never learned any time management or study skills I’d question the rigor of those classes or if what you’re saying is true.

Well, it’s an anonymous message board, so anyone can post anything. It was partially during Covid, so it’s very possible the rigor wasn’t there. I was honestly shocked when she finished her first semester with a sub 3.0 GPA. I had so many people tell me that she would be very prepared for college compared to kids from other school systems and it just wasn’t the case for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is declining for your kids academically or otherwise?
Lots of posts also saying classes are hard or too accelerated and lots of pressure to do well academically. Courses seem rigorous for the most part.
If your kid goes, pays attention and puts in the work to learn, they will learn and succeed.

If kids don’t go, play on their screens instead of pay attention, don’t do the homework or study at home, then they may not succeed so much. All this stuff is the parents’ responsibility and to motivate their kids.

Yes MCPS can change many things but it’s still going to come down to what you and your kid put into to it.

My problem is my kid didn’t work very hard in MCPS and still got pretty good grades. 3.8/4.5. Never learned to study efficiently or any time management skills. The first year of college was brutal for her as she simply wasn’t prepared. And she took 10 AP classes, so it’s not like there wasn’t rigor.

If she took 10 AP classes with rigor and never learned any time management or study skills I’d question the rigor of those classes or if what you’re saying is true.

Well, it’s an anonymous message board, so anyone can post anything. It was partially during Covid, so it’s very possible the rigor wasn’t there. I was honestly shocked when she finished her first semester with a sub 3.0 GPA. I had so many people tell me that she would be very prepared for college compared to kids from other school systems and it just wasn’t the case for her.

Did you ask her what contributed to that GPA? Has she been able to reflect and determine how to be better for next semester?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is declining for your kids academically or otherwise?
Lots of posts also saying classes are hard or too accelerated and lots of pressure to do well academically. Courses seem rigorous for the most part.
If your kid goes, pays attention and puts in the work to learn, they will learn and succeed.

If kids don’t go, play on their screens instead of pay attention, don’t do the homework or study at home, then they may not succeed so much. All this stuff is the parents’ responsibility and to motivate their kids.

Yes MCPS can change many things but it’s still going to come down to what you and your kid put into to it.

My problem is my kid didn’t work very hard in MCPS and still got pretty good grades. 3.8/4.5. Never learned to study efficiently or any time management skills. The first year of college was brutal for her as she simply wasn’t prepared. And she took 10 AP classes, so it’s not like there wasn’t rigor.

If she took 10 AP classes with rigor and never learned any time management or study skills I’d question the rigor of those classes or if what you’re saying is true.

Well, it’s an anonymous message board, so anyone can post anything. It was partially during Covid, so it’s very possible the rigor wasn’t there. I was honestly shocked when she finished her first semester with a sub 3.0 GPA. I had so many people tell me that she would be very prepared for college compared to kids from other school systems and it just wasn’t the case for her.

Did you ask her what contributed to that GPA? Has she been able to reflect and determine how to be better for next semester?

Yeah, she was able to figure out what to do. She started taking notes, reorganizing them, massively increased time studying, made sure she learned things in footnotes, things the professor mentioned in class but didn’t go over in detail etc. This happened a few years ago. She’s a senior now and has a 3.6 cumulative, so she’s was able to turn it around. She’s very bright; I think she was able to get by before college on that. I would have liked things in HS to have forced her to learn these habits earlier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is declining for your kids academically or otherwise?
Lots of posts also saying classes are hard or too accelerated and lots of pressure to do well academically. Courses seem rigorous for the most part.
If your kid goes, pays attention and puts in the work to learn, they will learn and succeed.

If kids don’t go, play on their screens instead of pay attention, don’t do the homework or study at home, then they may not succeed so much. All this stuff is the parents’ responsibility and to motivate their kids.

Yes MCPS can change many things but it’s still going to come down to what you and your kid put into to it.

My problem is my kid didn’t work very hard in MCPS and still got pretty good grades. 3.8/4.5. Never learned to study efficiently or any time management skills. The first year of college was brutal for her as she simply wasn’t prepared. And she took 10 AP classes, so it’s not like there wasn’t rigor.

If she took 10 AP classes with rigor and never learned any time management or study skills I’d question the rigor of those classes or if what you’re saying is true.

I'll cosign for PP. One of my kids is a Jr taking 3 APs and is an A student but it sure doesn't seem like it based on his questions. I'm worried grade inflation is giving him a false sense of accomplishment.

Have you brought this up with your student, the teacher, the counselor, subject lead?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Low income kids suffered the most from virtual. Let's get that straight. Their families had reasons for keeping them home but it wasn't because virtual was working from an educational standpoint.

It is one thing to say that we had to do virtual to protect people's lives. That is reasonable even if some might also reasonably disagree.

It is another thing to say virtual was fine and any problems resulting from it were the parents' faults. That's preposterous and false. Virtual was horrible from an educational standpoint even if you can argue it was necessary. Another thing that is horrible is schools not disciplining kids, also schools not properly teaching reading, and also schools basically eliminating any real standards. And the use of screens as "educational" tools to enrich educational software providers. All of these things were choices MCPS and many other school systems made.

Parenting these days is different than it was in the past. Among my friends many of us have had our own parents tell us we spend a ton of time with our kids, much more than they did. Parenting is much more intensive than it used to be. It's entirely possible we are all doing it horribly wrong, but it's certainly not for a lack of trying to do it right. It's hard knowing that many of us try to do the right thing, limit screen time, establish and enforce rules, and then send them into an environment where screen time is not limited at all and rules are not enforced.

Folks aren’t saying virtual was fine. Everyone knows it had issues especially considering it had to be done without any prior notice or proper planning and setup of resources. Teachers and district are willing to help make up for that. Teachers are working harder than ever, districts have provided access to tutoring, and are reaching out. Is more needed still, Yes. Should they have better discipline, Yes.

All the above said, parenting is much different. From my perspective it’s more competitive for no gain and people are trying to parent by group decree. It’s like folks need assurance from a whole host of folks to make parenting decisions. That or they are pushing kids until they are anxious so they can brag about them to others. Gentle parenting has become basically never say No and mean it parenting. Not to mention they won’t let kids fail. All this is showing up in the classroom making teaching and recovery harder and harder. Folks want discipline in the moment at school, which I can agree with, but also some of the behaviors should not be occurring with such prevalence to begin with. Parents want school to enforce kids not using their phones, yet it’s obvious that parents aren’t monitoring screen time or putting limits so it’s not accessible during school hours. Plus ya’ll are the one giving kids phones in the first place. Control of that device and discipline around such starts with you.

There are absolutely people claiming virtual was fine, blaming parents any time people talk about the failures of virtual classes. Many more refuse to acknowledge the harm that extended school closures did, and certainly won't admit it was a mistake or apologize for their role in extending the closures well beyond they were necessary.

That's a big reason why people have lost trust and confidence in MCPS and MCEA.

MCEA is a union. Your obsession with then is bizzare. It caused you harm as you are not used to parenting and expect the school to be it all. My kids were in virtual for several years. It was the best education they got in Mcps.

See. This is exactly what I mean. Some people refuse to acknowledge the failures of virtual classes, even after the disastrous consequences we experienced.

It wasn't a failure for many kids and it has nothing to do with MCEA. MCPS dumbed down the curriculum and reduced class time because of whiny parents like you. Mine got a good education and we supplemented with the free tutoring. We made sure our kids got a good education. Why didn't you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Low income kids suffered the most from virtual. Let's get that straight. Their families had reasons for keeping them home but it wasn't because virtual was working from an educational standpoint.

It is one thing to say that we had to do virtual to protect people's lives. That is reasonable even if some might also reasonably disagree.

It is another thing to say virtual was fine and any problems resulting from it were the parents' faults. That's preposterous and false. Virtual was horrible from an educational standpoint even if you can argue it was necessary. Another thing that is horrible is schools not disciplining kids, also schools not properly teaching reading, and also schools basically eliminating any real standards. And the use of screens as "educational" tools to enrich educational software providers. All of these things were choices MCPS and many other school systems made.

Parenting these days is different than it was in the past. Among my friends many of us have had our own parents tell us we spend a ton of time with our kids, much more than they did. Parenting is much more intensive than it used to be. It's entirely possible we are all doing it horribly wrong, but it's certainly not for a lack of trying to do it right. It's hard knowing that many of us try to do the right thing, limit screen time, establish and enforce rules, and then send them into an environment where screen time is not limited at all and rules are not enforced.

Folks aren’t saying virtual was fine. Everyone knows it had issues especially considering it had to be done without any prior notice or proper planning and setup of resources. Teachers and district are willing to help make up for that. Teachers are working harder than ever, districts have provided access to tutoring, and are reaching out. Is more needed still, Yes. Should they have better discipline, Yes.

All the above said, parenting is much different. From my perspective it’s more competitive for no gain and people are trying to parent by group decree. It’s like folks need assurance from a whole host of folks to make parenting decisions. That or they are pushing kids until they are anxious so they can brag about them to others. Gentle parenting has become basically never say No and mean it parenting. Not to mention they won’t let kids fail. All this is showing up in the classroom making teaching and recovery harder and harder. Folks want discipline in the moment at school, which I can agree with, but also some of the behaviors should not be occurring with such prevalence to begin with. Parents want school to enforce kids not using their phones, yet it’s obvious that parents aren’t monitoring screen time or putting limits so it’s not accessible during school hours. Plus ya’ll are the one giving kids phones in the first place. Control of that device and discipline around such starts with you.

There are absolutely people claiming virtual was fine, blaming parents any time people talk about the failures of virtual classes. Many more refuse to acknowledge the harm that extended school closures did, and certainly won't admit it was a mistake or apologize for their role in extending the closures well beyond they were necessary.

That's a big reason why people have lost trust and confidence in MCPS and MCEA.

MCEA is a union. Your obsession with then is bizzare. It caused you harm as you are not used to parenting and expect the school to be it all. My kids were in virtual for several years. It was the best education they got in Mcps.

See. This is exactly what I mean. Some people refuse to acknowledge the failures of virtual classes, even after the disastrous consequences we experienced.

It wasn't a failure for many kids and it has nothing to do with MCEA. MCPS dumbed down the curriculum and reduced class time because of whiny parents like you. Mine got a good education and we supplemented with the free tutoring. We made sure our kids got a good education. Why didn't you?

You are fighting against an onslaught of data and research that shows that virtual learning was harmful and a failure for an overwhelming majority of students across the country, and even the world.

You are not persuading anyone otherwise with your little exceptionalism. Get over yourself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Low income kids suffered the most from virtual. Let's get that straight. Their families had reasons for keeping them home but it wasn't because virtual was working from an educational standpoint.

It is one thing to say that we had to do virtual to protect people's lives. That is reasonable even if some might also reasonably disagree.

It is another thing to say virtual was fine and any problems resulting from it were the parents' faults. That's preposterous and false. Virtual was horrible from an educational standpoint even if you can argue it was necessary. Another thing that is horrible is schools not disciplining kids, also schools not properly teaching reading, and also schools basically eliminating any real standards. And the use of screens as "educational" tools to enrich educational software providers. All of these things were choices MCPS and many other school systems made.

Parenting these days is different than it was in the past. Among my friends many of us have had our own parents tell us we spend a ton of time with our kids, much more than they did. Parenting is much more intensive than it used to be. It's entirely possible we are all doing it horribly wrong, but it's certainly not for a lack of trying to do it right. It's hard knowing that many of us try to do the right thing, limit screen time, establish and enforce rules, and then send them into an environment where screen time is not limited at all and rules are not enforced.

Folks aren’t saying virtual was fine. Everyone knows it had issues especially considering it had to be done without any prior notice or proper planning and setup of resources. Teachers and district are willing to help make up for that. Teachers are working harder than ever, districts have provided access to tutoring, and are reaching out. Is more needed still, Yes. Should they have better discipline, Yes.

All the above said, parenting is much different. From my perspective it’s more competitive for no gain and people are trying to parent by group decree. It’s like folks need assurance from a whole host of folks to make parenting decisions. That or they are pushing kids until they are anxious so they can brag about them to others. Gentle parenting has become basically never say No and mean it parenting. Not to mention they won’t let kids fail. All this is showing up in the classroom making teaching and recovery harder and harder. Folks want discipline in the moment at school, which I can agree with, but also some of the behaviors should not be occurring with such prevalence to begin with. Parents want school to enforce kids not using their phones, yet it’s obvious that parents aren’t monitoring screen time or putting limits so it’s not accessible during school hours. Plus ya’ll are the one giving kids phones in the first place. Control of that device and discipline around such starts with you.

There are absolutely people claiming virtual was fine, blaming parents any time people talk about the failures of virtual classes. Many more refuse to acknowledge the harm that extended school closures did, and certainly won't admit it was a mistake or apologize for their role in extending the closures well beyond they were necessary.

That's a big reason why people have lost trust and confidence in MCPS and MCEA.

MCEA is a union. Your obsession with then is bizzare. It caused you harm as you are not used to parenting and expect the school to be it all. My kids were in virtual for several years. It was the best education they got in Mcps.

See. This is exactly what I mean. Some people refuse to acknowledge the failures of virtual classes, even after the disastrous consequences we experienced.

It wasn't a failure for many kids and it has nothing to do with MCEA. MCPS dumbed down the curriculum and reduced class time because of whiny parents like you. Mine got a good education and we supplemented with the free tutoring. We made sure our kids got a good education. Why didn't you?

Of course MCEA was involved. The other unions agreed to return long before schools reopened, including the union representing school nurses. MCEA was the hold out, going so far as to threaten to illegally strike if the board chose to reopen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Low income kids suffered the most from virtual. Let's get that straight. Their families had reasons for keeping them home but it wasn't because virtual was working from an educational standpoint.

It is one thing to say that we had to do virtual to protect people's lives. That is reasonable even if some might also reasonably disagree.

It is another thing to say virtual was fine and any problems resulting from it were the parents' faults. That's preposterous and false. Virtual was horrible from an educational standpoint even if you can argue it was necessary. Another thing that is horrible is schools not disciplining kids, also schools not properly teaching reading, and also schools basically eliminating any real standards. And the use of screens as "educational" tools to enrich educational software providers. All of these things were choices MCPS and many other school systems made.

Parenting these days is different than it was in the past. Among my friends many of us have had our own parents tell us we spend a ton of time with our kids, much more than they did. Parenting is much more intensive than it used to be. It's entirely possible we are all doing it horribly wrong, but it's certainly not for a lack of trying to do it right. It's hard knowing that many of us try to do the right thing, limit screen time, establish and enforce rules, and then send them into an environment where screen time is not limited at all and rules are not enforced.

Folks aren’t saying virtual was fine. Everyone knows it had issues especially considering it had to be done without any prior notice or proper planning and setup of resources. Teachers and district are willing to help make up for that. Teachers are working harder than ever, districts have provided access to tutoring, and are reaching out. Is more needed still, Yes. Should they have better discipline, Yes.

All the above said, parenting is much different. From my perspective it’s more competitive for no gain and people are trying to parent by group decree. It’s like folks need assurance from a whole host of folks to make parenting decisions. That or they are pushing kids until they are anxious so they can brag about them to others. Gentle parenting has become basically never say No and mean it parenting. Not to mention they won’t let kids fail. All this is showing up in the classroom making teaching and recovery harder and harder. Folks want discipline in the moment at school, which I can agree with, but also some of the behaviors should not be occurring with such prevalence to begin with. Parents want school to enforce kids not using their phones, yet it’s obvious that parents aren’t monitoring screen time or putting limits so it’s not accessible during school hours. Plus ya’ll are the one giving kids phones in the first place. Control of that device and discipline around such starts with you.

There are absolutely people claiming virtual was fine, blaming parents any time people talk about the failures of virtual classes. Many more refuse to acknowledge the harm that extended school closures did, and certainly won't admit it was a mistake or apologize for their role in extending the closures well beyond they were necessary.

That's a big reason why people have lost trust and confidence in MCPS and MCEA.

MCEA is a union. Your obsession with then is bizzare. It caused you harm as you are not used to parenting and expect the school to be it all. My kids were in virtual for several years. It was the best education they got in Mcps.

See. This is exactly what I mean. Some people refuse to acknowledge the failures of virtual classes, even after the disastrous consequences we experienced.

It wasn't a failure for many kids and it has nothing to do with MCEA. MCPS dumbed down the curriculum and reduced class time because of whiny parents like you. Mine got a good education and we supplemented with the free tutoring. We made sure our kids got a good education. Why didn't you?

Of course MCEA was involved. The other unions agreed to return long before schools reopened, including the union representing school nurses. MCEA was the hold out, going so far as to threaten to illegally strike if the board chose to reopen.

The unions are there to represent their folks. It was a poor choice to reopen earlier as teachers died and why would you want your teacher dead? Oh wait, so you didn't have to care for your own kids. What do you do summers or now/holidays when you have to deal with the kids or does the nanny deal with them?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Low income kids suffered the most from virtual. Let's get that straight. Their families had reasons for keeping them home but it wasn't because virtual was working from an educational standpoint.

It is one thing to say that we had to do virtual to protect people's lives. That is reasonable even if some might also reasonably disagree.

It is another thing to say virtual was fine and any problems resulting from it were the parents' faults. That's preposterous and false. Virtual was horrible from an educational standpoint even if you can argue it was necessary. Another thing that is horrible is schools not disciplining kids, also schools not properly teaching reading, and also schools basically eliminating any real standards. And the use of screens as "educational" tools to enrich educational software providers. All of these things were choices MCPS and many other school systems made.

Parenting these days is different than it was in the past. Among my friends many of us have had our own parents tell us we spend a ton of time with our kids, much more than they did. Parenting is much more intensive than it used to be. It's entirely possible we are all doing it horribly wrong, but it's certainly not for a lack of trying to do it right. It's hard knowing that many of us try to do the right thing, limit screen time, establish and enforce rules, and then send them into an environment where screen time is not limited at all and rules are not enforced.

Folks aren’t saying virtual was fine. Everyone knows it had issues especially considering it had to be done without any prior notice or proper planning and setup of resources. Teachers and district are willing to help make up for that. Teachers are working harder than ever, districts have provided access to tutoring, and are reaching out. Is more needed still, Yes. Should they have better discipline, Yes.

All the above said, parenting is much different. From my perspective it’s more competitive for no gain and people are trying to parent by group decree. It’s like folks need assurance from a whole host of folks to make parenting decisions. That or they are pushing kids until they are anxious so they can brag about them to others. Gentle parenting has become basically never say No and mean it parenting. Not to mention they won’t let kids fail. All this is showing up in the classroom making teaching and recovery harder and harder. Folks want discipline in the moment at school, which I can agree with, but also some of the behaviors should not be occurring with such prevalence to begin with. Parents want school to enforce kids not using their phones, yet it’s obvious that parents aren’t monitoring screen time or putting limits so it’s not accessible during school hours. Plus ya’ll are the one giving kids phones in the first place. Control of that device and discipline around such starts with you.

There are absolutely people claiming virtual was fine, blaming parents any time people talk about the failures of virtual classes. Many more refuse to acknowledge the harm that extended school closures did, and certainly won't admit it was a mistake or apologize for their role in extending the closures well beyond they were necessary.

That's a big reason why people have lost trust and confidence in MCPS and MCEA.

MCEA is a union. Your obsession with then is bizzare. It caused you harm as you are not used to parenting and expect the school to be it all. My kids were in virtual for several years. It was the best education they got in Mcps.

See. This is exactly what I mean. Some people refuse to acknowledge the failures of virtual classes, even after the disastrous consequences we experienced.

It wasn't a failure for many kids and it has nothing to do with MCEA. MCPS dumbed down the curriculum and reduced class time because of whiny parents like you. Mine got a good education and we supplemented with the free tutoring. We made sure our kids got a good education. Why didn't you?

You are fighting against an onslaught of data and research that shows that virtual learning was harmful and a failure for an overwhelming majority of students across the country, and even the world.

You are not persuading anyone otherwise with your little exceptionalism. Get over yourself.

You get over yourself. Parents like you were harmful and still are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Low income kids suffered the most from virtual. Let's get that straight. Their families had reasons for keeping them home but it wasn't because virtual was working from an educational standpoint.

It is one thing to say that we had to do virtual to protect people's lives. That is reasonable even if some might also reasonably disagree.

It is another thing to say virtual was fine and any problems resulting from it were the parents' faults. That's preposterous and false. Virtual was horrible from an educational standpoint even if you can argue it was necessary. Another thing that is horrible is schools not disciplining kids, also schools not properly teaching reading, and also schools basically eliminating any real standards. And the use of screens as "educational" tools to enrich educational software providers. All of these things were choices MCPS and many other school systems made.

Parenting these days is different than it was in the past. Among my friends many of us have had our own parents tell us we spend a ton of time with our kids, much more than they did. Parenting is much more intensive than it used to be. It's entirely possible we are all doing it horribly wrong, but it's certainly not for a lack of trying to do it right. It's hard knowing that many of us try to do the right thing, limit screen time, establish and enforce rules, and then send them into an environment where screen time is not limited at all and rules are not enforced.

Folks aren’t saying virtual was fine. Everyone knows it had issues especially considering it had to be done without any prior notice or proper planning and setup of resources. Teachers and district are willing to help make up for that. Teachers are working harder than ever, districts have provided access to tutoring, and are reaching out. Is more needed still, Yes. Should they have better discipline, Yes.

All the above said, parenting is much different. From my perspective it’s more competitive for no gain and people are trying to parent by group decree. It’s like folks need assurance from a whole host of folks to make parenting decisions. That or they are pushing kids until they are anxious so they can brag about them to others. Gentle parenting has become basically never say No and mean it parenting. Not to mention they won’t let kids fail. All this is showing up in the classroom making teaching and recovery harder and harder. Folks want discipline in the moment at school, which I can agree with, but also some of the behaviors should not be occurring with such prevalence to begin with. Parents want school to enforce kids not using their phones, yet it’s obvious that parents aren’t monitoring screen time or putting limits so it’s not accessible during school hours. Plus ya’ll are the one giving kids phones in the first place. Control of that device and discipline around such starts with you.

There are absolutely people claiming virtual was fine, blaming parents any time people talk about the failures of virtual classes. Many more refuse to acknowledge the harm that extended school closures did, and certainly won't admit it was a mistake or apologize for their role in extending the closures well beyond they were necessary.

That's a big reason why people have lost trust and confidence in MCPS and MCEA.

MCEA is a union. Your obsession with then is bizzare. It caused you harm as you are not used to parenting and expect the school to be it all. My kids were in virtual for several years. It was the best education they got in Mcps.

See. This is exactly what I mean. Some people refuse to acknowledge the failures of virtual classes, even after the disastrous consequences we experienced.

It wasn't a failure for many kids and it has nothing to do with MCEA. MCPS dumbed down the curriculum and reduced class time because of whiny parents like you. Mine got a good education and we supplemented with the free tutoring. We made sure our kids got a good education. Why didn't you?

You are fighting against an onslaught of data and research that shows that virtual learning was harmful and a failure for an overwhelming majority of students across the country, and even the world.

You are not persuading anyone otherwise with your little exceptionalism. Get over yourself.

You get over yourself. Parents like you were harmful and still are.

Quit MCPS. You are a toxic educator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Low income kids suffered the most from virtual. Let's get that straight. Their families had reasons for keeping them home but it wasn't because virtual was working from an educational standpoint.

It is one thing to say that we had to do virtual to protect people's lives. That is reasonable even if some might also reasonably disagree.

It is another thing to say virtual was fine and any problems resulting from it were the parents' faults. That's preposterous and false. Virtual was horrible from an educational standpoint even if you can argue it was necessary. Another thing that is horrible is schools not disciplining kids, also schools not properly teaching reading, and also schools basically eliminating any real standards. And the use of screens as "educational" tools to enrich educational software providers. All of these things were choices MCPS and many other school systems made.

Parenting these days is different than it was in the past. Among my friends many of us have had our own parents tell us we spend a ton of time with our kids, much more than they did. Parenting is much more intensive than it used to be. It's entirely possible we are all doing it horribly wrong, but it's certainly not for a lack of trying to do it right. It's hard knowing that many of us try to do the right thing, limit screen time, establish and enforce rules, and then send them into an environment where screen time is not limited at all and rules are not enforced.

Folks aren’t saying virtual was fine. Everyone knows it had issues especially considering it had to be done without any prior notice or proper planning and setup of resources. Teachers and district are willing to help make up for that. Teachers are working harder than ever, districts have provided access to tutoring, and are reaching out. Is more needed still, Yes. Should they have better discipline, Yes.

All the above said, parenting is much different. From my perspective it’s more competitive for no gain and people are trying to parent by group decree. It’s like folks need assurance from a whole host of folks to make parenting decisions. That or they are pushing kids until they are anxious so they can brag about them to others. Gentle parenting has become basically never say No and mean it parenting. Not to mention they won’t let kids fail. All this is showing up in the classroom making teaching and recovery harder and harder. Folks want discipline in the moment at school, which I can agree with, but also some of the behaviors should not be occurring with such prevalence to begin with. Parents want school to enforce kids not using their phones, yet it’s obvious that parents aren’t monitoring screen time or putting limits so it’s not accessible during school hours. Plus ya’ll are the one giving kids phones in the first place. Control of that device and discipline around such starts with you.

There are absolutely people claiming virtual was fine, blaming parents any time people talk about the failures of virtual classes. Many more refuse to acknowledge the harm that extended school closures did, and certainly won't admit it was a mistake or apologize for their role in extending the closures well beyond they were necessary.

That's a big reason why people have lost trust and confidence in MCPS and MCEA.

MCEA is a union. Your obsession with then is bizzare. It caused you harm as you are not used to parenting and expect the school to be it all. My kids were in virtual for several years. It was the best education they got in Mcps.

See. This is exactly what I mean. Some people refuse to acknowledge the failures of virtual classes, even after the disastrous consequences we experienced.

It wasn't a failure for many kids and it has nothing to do with MCEA. MCPS dumbed down the curriculum and reduced class time because of whiny parents like you. Mine got a good education and we supplemented with the free tutoring. We made sure our kids got a good education. Why didn't you?

Of course MCEA was involved. The other unions agreed to return long before schools reopened, including the union representing school nurses. MCEA was the hold out, going so far as to threaten to illegally strike if the board chose to reopen.

The unions are there to represent their folks. It was a poor choice to reopen earlier as teachers died and why would you want your teacher dead? Oh wait, so you didn't have to care for your own kids. What do you do summers or now/holidays when you have to deal with the kids or does the nanny deal with them?

You're grossly overestimating the risk that could be attributed to schools. There are over 4 million K-12 teachers in the US. Based on their age/sex distribution, you'd expect about 4,000 deaths per year. Covid isn't the only mortality risk for teachers, and schools aren't the only places teachers can get sick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What exactly is declining for your kids academically or otherwise?
Lots of posts also saying classes are hard or too accelerated and lots of pressure to do well academically. Courses seem rigorous for the most part.
If your kid goes, pays attention and puts in the work to learn, they will learn and succeed.

If kids don’t go, play on their screens instead of pay attention, don’t do the homework or study at home, then they may not succeed so much. All this stuff is the parents’ responsibility and to motivate their kids.

Yes MCPS can change many things but it’s still going to come down to what you and your kid put into to it.

My problem is my kid didn’t work very hard in MCPS and still got pretty good grades. 3.8/4.5. Never learned to study efficiently or any time management skills. The first year of college was brutal for her as she simply wasn’t prepared. And she took 10 AP classes, so it’s not like there wasn’t rigor.

If she took 10 AP classes with rigor and never learned any time management or study skills I’d question the rigor of those classes or if what you’re saying is true.

Well, it’s an anonymous message board, so anyone can post anything. It was partially during Covid, so it’s very possible the rigor wasn’t there. I was honestly shocked when she finished her first semester with a sub 3.0 GPA. I had so many people tell me that she would be very prepared for college compared to kids from other school systems and it just wasn’t the case for her.

Did you ask her what contributed to that GPA? Has she been able to reflect and determine how to be better for next semester?

Yeah, she was able to figure out what to do. She started taking notes, reorganizing them, massively increased time studying, made sure she learned things in footnotes, things the professor mentioned in class but didn’t go over in detail etc. This happened a few years ago. She’s a senior now and has a 3.6 cumulative, so she’s was able to turn it around. She’s very bright; I think she was able to get by before college on that. I would have liked things in HS to have forced her to learn these habits earlier.

NP. This is why we have hired an executive function tutor for my kid, who would have no idea how to take notes, study, and organize himself without the tutor. MCPS really does kids a disservice by making it so easy to get by without these skills.

[Anonymous]

Instead making high standards and workloads for kids they make impossibly high standards and workloads for the teachers. The kids get babies and grade inflated as admin pressures teachers for falsely high data. The kids get lazier and more misbehaved as we trained them to. Meanwhile teachers are fired/ burned out/ quit because they refuse to fraud, be attacked, or put up with a job that has no support and uses teachers for the blame.