Extended calendar next school year at two schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll believe this when I see it. Don't they need a waiver to go past June 15? I bet Hogan won't let them, because he has a stick up his ass about MCPS and MCEA in particular. He'll make some grandstanding pronouncement about how horrible it is to deny kids summer vacation and that MCPS should try helping kids by having less crappy teachers because the union makes it hard to get rid of them, and this is just another attempt by MCPS to erode his executive order, blah blah blah. Just wait.

No. They can and will get a waiver for ‘innovative’ programs to address academic achievement.

Good. This is how the education system should work. Pilot innovations and see what gets results.

Ha! You must be an administrator. Or you work for MCPS.

Education needs small class sizes, caring, well-educated teachers and parents who respect the value of education.

The rest is BS. We don’t need all the BS initiatives that MCPS continuously rolls out. Kindergarten Head Start? Waste of time and money. Chromebooks in every K class? Also a waste of time and money. Any teacher can tell you how much time and money is wasted on stupid initiatives that get rolled out by admin. With little to no positive results.

Wrong. I'm a parent at a high income elementary school in MCPS. No connection to the education field, but I believe in evidence based decision making. I agree with you that small class sizes and well educated professionals are important. Evidence suggests a longer school year can prevent the 'summer slide,' particularly in low income students and I'm glad MCPS is testing this in a systematic way.

Please don't pull answers from the air, PP. There was nothing systematic in the way this mandate was handled.

again - People living in bubbles shouldn't comment on situations that are unfamiliar to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

That right there is your advantage.

So many of the kids at these schools DO NOT have a supportive adult at home. It makes a huge difference.

What do you think the government should do to increase the proportion of kids who have a supportive adult at home?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'll believe this when I see it. Don't they need a waiver to go past June 15? I bet Hogan won't let them, because he has a stick up his ass about MCPS and MCEA in particular. He'll make some grandstanding pronouncement about how horrible it is to deny kids summer vacation and that MCPS should try helping kids by having less crappy teachers because the union makes it hard to get rid of them, and this is just another attempt by MCPS to erode his executive order, blah blah blah. Just wait.

No. They can and will get a waiver for ‘innovative’ programs to address academic achievement.

Good. This is how the education system should work. Pilot innovations and see what gets results.

Ha! You must be an administrator. Or you work for MCPS.

Education needs small class sizes, caring, well-educated teachers and parents who respect the value of education.

The rest is BS. We don’t need all the BS initiatives that MCPS continuously rolls out. Kindergarten Head Start? Waste of time and money. Chromebooks in every K class? Also a waste of time and money. Any teacher can tell you how much time and money is wasted on stupid initiatives that get rolled out by admin. With little to no positive results.

Wrong. I'm a parent at a high income elementary school in MCPS. No connection to the education field, but I believe in evidence based decision making. I agree with you that small class sizes and well educated professionals are important. Evidence suggests a longer school year can prevent the 'summer slide,' particularly in low income students and I'm glad MCPS is testing this in a systematic way.

Please don't pull answers from the air, PP. There was nothing systematic in the way this mandate was handled.

again - People living in bubbles shouldn't comment on situations that are unfamiliar to them.

I'm very familiar with randomized controlled trials and other merchanisms to test innovations. MCPS isn't perfect, but their proposal to test a hypothesis in two schools and scale up if successful IS systematic.

[Anonymous]

Arcola was one of the schools I was eyeing for our move back next year. I will have one in K, one in first, and one in third. This is a bummer for me. I don't want 5 more weeks on the year, and it would mean all three kids wouldn't be on the same schedule.

Back to looking for a school with small class sizes in a neighborhood I'd like to live in!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Arcola was one of the schools I was eyeing for our move back next year. I will have one in K, one in first, and one in third. This is a bummer for me. I don't want 5 more weeks on the year, and it would mean all three kids wouldn't be on the same schedule.

Back to looking for a school with small class sizes in a neighborhood I'd like to live in!

That’s too bad! Ugh. This is what starts to happen, and leads to even more division in the school system. Middle class parents may not like this and start avoiding these schools even more than they already do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm very familiar with randomized controlled trials and other merchanisms to test innovations. MCPS isn't perfect, but their proposal to test a hypothesis in two schools and scale up if successful IS systematic.

Yup. All you posters saying that it's all hopeless and it won't work -- you can rest easy. MCPS will try a pilot, it won't show any positive results, and then MCPS will stop doing it. Problem solved.

On the other hand, maybe it will show some positive results.

Either way, the only way to find out is to try it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arcola was one of the schools I was eyeing for our move back next year. I will have one in K, one in first, and one in third. This is a bummer for me. I don't want 5 more weeks on the year, and it would mean all three kids wouldn't be on the same schedule.

Back to looking for a school with small class sizes in a neighborhood I'd like to live in!

That’s too bad! Ugh. This is what starts to happen, and leads to even more division in the school system. Middle class parents may not like this and start avoiding these schools even more than they already do.

I'm sure that you're not suggesting that MCPS shouldn't try something, in two schools, that might help disadvantaged kids, because middle-class and affluent parents won't like it?

MCPS has 133 elementary schools, including 25 Title 1 elementary schools. They are currently proposing a pilot in 2 Title 1 elementary schools. The top PP still has plenty of schools to choose from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arcola was one of the schools I was eyeing for our move back next year. I will have one in K, one in first, and one in third. This is a bummer for me. I don't want 5 more weeks on the year, and it would mean all three kids wouldn't be on the same schedule.

Back to looking for a school with small class sizes in a neighborhood I'd like to live in!

That’s too bad! Ugh. This is what starts to happen, and leads to even more division in the school system. Middle class parents may not like this and start avoiding these schools even more than they already do.

I'm sure that you're not suggesting that MCPS shouldn't try something, in two schools, that might help disadvantaged kids, because middle-class and affluent parents won't like it?

MCPS has 133 elementary schools, including 25 Title 1 elementary schools. They are currently proposing a pilot in 2 Title 1 elementary schools. The top PP still has plenty of schools to choose from.

I am absolutely saying that.

Like it or not, Middle Class families are important to having a strong public education system. We are at a FOCUS school and if the Middle Class families leave, the school will definitely perform more poorly and teachers will absolutely lack the support that is currently offered through the PTA and other direct support.

Currently, MCPS has spent a lot of time and money focusing on lower income students and families, often at the expense of Middle class students. That is not going to work out well for anyone.

You definitely need to co sided what works best for ALL students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arcola was one of the schools I was eyeing for our move back next year. I will have one in K, one in first, and one in third. This is a bummer for me. I don't want 5 more weeks on the year, and it would mean all three kids wouldn't be on the same schedule.

Back to looking for a school with small class sizes in a neighborhood I'd like to live in!

That’s too bad! Ugh. This is what starts to happen, and leads to even more division in the school system. Middle class parents may not like this and start avoiding these schools even more than they already do.

I'm sure that you're not suggesting that MCPS shouldn't try something, in two schools, that might help disadvantaged kids, because middle-class and affluent parents won't like it?

MCPS has 133 elementary schools, including 25 Title 1 elementary schools. They are currently proposing a pilot in 2 Title 1 elementary schools. The top PP still has plenty of schools to choose from.

I am absolutely saying that.

Like it or not, Middle Class families are important to having a strong public education system. We are at a FOCUS school and if the Middle Class families leave, the school will definitely perform more poorly and teachers will absolutely lack the support that is currently offered through the PTA and other direct support.

Currently, MCPS has spent a lot of time and money focusing on lower income students and families, often at the expense of Middle class students. That is not going to work out well for anyone.

You definitely need to co sided what works best for ALL students.

To repeat: you are saying that MCPS should not do something that will help disadvantaged students, at schools where disadvantaged students are in the vast majority, because the few middle-class parents at those schools want their kids to spend their summers at swim club and camp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arcola was one of the schools I was eyeing for our move back next year. I will have one in K, one in first, and one in third. This is a bummer for me. I don't want 5 more weeks on the year, and it would mean all three kids wouldn't be on the same schedule.

Back to looking for a school with small class sizes in a neighborhood I'd like to live in!

That’s too bad! Ugh. This is what starts to happen, and leads to even more division in the school system. Middle class parents may not like this and start avoiding these schools even more than they already do.

I'm sure that you're not suggesting that MCPS shouldn't try something, in two schools, that might help disadvantaged kids, because middle-class and affluent parents won't like it?

MCPS has 133 elementary schools, including 25 Title 1 elementary schools. They are currently proposing a pilot in 2 Title 1 elementary schools. The top PP still has plenty of schools to choose from.

I am absolutely saying that.

Like it or not, Middle Class families are important to having a strong public education system. We are at a FOCUS school and if the Middle Class families leave, the school will definitely perform more poorly and teachers will absolutely lack the support that is currently offered through the PTA and other direct support.

Currently, MCPS has spent a lot of time and money focusing on lower income students and families, often at the expense of Middle class students. That is not going to work out well for anyone.

You definitely need to co sided what works best for ALL students.

I'm a 'middle class' MCPS parent and I would be thrilled at having a longer school year if the pilot shows strong results. 8 weeks of summer is long enough for my kid to have fun, and most developed countries have more instructional time than we do in the US.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arcola was one of the schools I was eyeing for our move back next year. I will have one in K, one in first, and one in third. This is a bummer for me. I don't want 5 more weeks on the year, and it would mean all three kids wouldn't be on the same schedule.

Back to looking for a school with small class sizes in a neighborhood I'd like to live in!

That’s too bad! Ugh. This is what starts to happen, and leads to even more division in the school system. Middle class parents may not like this and start avoiding these schools even more than they already do.

I'm sure that you're not suggesting that MCPS shouldn't try something, in two schools, that might help disadvantaged kids, because middle-class and affluent parents won't like it?

MCPS has 133 elementary schools, including 25 Title 1 elementary schools. They are currently proposing a pilot in 2 Title 1 elementary schools. The top PP still has plenty of schools to choose from.

I am absolutely saying that.

Like it or not, Middle Class families are important to having a strong public education system. We are at a FOCUS school and if the Middle Class families leave, the school will definitely perform more poorly and teachers will absolutely lack the support that is currently offered through the PTA and other direct support.

Currently, MCPS has spent a lot of time and money focusing on lower income students and families, often at the expense of Middle class students. That is not going to work out well for anyone.

You definitely need to co sided what works best for ALL students.

To repeat: you are saying that MCPS should not do something that will help disadvantaged students, at schools where disadvantaged students are in the vast majority, because the few middle-class parents at those schools want their kids to spend their summers at swim club and camp.

I'm not the PP, but what I want is for the schools, across the board, to have smaller class sizes in the "good" schools, and a standardized set of offerings, so that no school is "better" than any other, no one needs to be bussed anywhere, and students who need extra help or support can get it without the entire school system being designed for them.

Our schools suck up so much of our tax money that they are asked to do things they wouldn't necessarily have to do if we had more social services and social supports. But that does mean that they are working in crisis mode 100% of the time, trying to perform adequately for the least prepared students.

[Anonymous]

Asking because I don't know: What kind of extra help is offered to these families now? I thought there was already free summer school and meals?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Asking because I don't know: What kind of extra help is offered to these families now? I thought there was already free summer school and meals?

Yes, but this would be for every student, not just those flagged as remedial. It would also be easier for families, as nothing would change -- same school, same hours, same teachers, etc.. It's more likely more students would benefit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

That right there is your advantage.

So many of the kids at these schools DO NOT have a supportive adult at home. It makes a huge difference.

What do you think the government should do to increase the proportion of kids who have a supportive adult at home?

There are things the government cannot control - like how much support the adults at home give children.

There are things the government can control - like how long the school year runs and making changes to optimize learning (and support) for the kids in certain areas.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arcola was one of the schools I was eyeing for our move back next year. I will have one in K, one in first, and one in third. This is a bummer for me. I don't want 5 more weeks on the year, and it would mean all three kids wouldn't be on the same schedule.

Back to looking for a school with small class sizes in a neighborhood I'd like to live in!

That’s too bad! Ugh. This is what starts to happen, and leads to even more division in the school system. Middle class parents may not like this and start avoiding these schools even more than they already do.

I'm sure that you're not suggesting that MCPS shouldn't try something, in two schools, that might help disadvantaged kids, because middle-class and affluent parents won't like it?

MCPS has 133 elementary schools, including 25 Title 1 elementary schools. They are currently proposing a pilot in 2 Title 1 elementary schools. The top PP still has plenty of schools to choose from.

I am absolutely saying that.

Like it or not, Middle Class families are important to having a strong public education system. We are at a FOCUS school and if the Middle Class families leave, the school will definitely perform more poorly and teachers will absolutely lack the support that is currently offered through the PTA and other direct support.

If no one was bussed anywhwere...lots of kids would be left without support. The one autistic kid at a small ES. Rather than be in a program specific to his needs, his class includes a dyslexic child, 2 deaf children and a child suffering from a mental illness. The math whiz is in an accelerated class but it is the top 25 from his school so it is not that accelerated. No immersion because it could not be offered at every school. on and on.
Currently, MCPS has spent a lot of time and money focusing on lower income students and families, often at the expense of Middle class students. That is not going to work out well for anyone.

You definitely need to co sided what works best for ALL students.

To repeat: you are saying that MCPS should not do something that will help disadvantaged students, at schools where disadvantaged students are in the vast majority, because the few middle-class parents at those schools want their kids to spend their summers at swim club and camp.

I'm not the PP, but what I want is for the schools, across the board, to have smaller class sizes in the "good" schools, and a standardized set of offerings, so that no school is "better" than any other, no one needs to be bussed anywhere, and students who need extra help or support can get it without the entire school system being designed for them.

Our schools suck up so much of our tax money that they are asked to do things they wouldn't necessarily have to do if we had more social services and social supports. But that does mean that they are working in crisis mode 100% of the time, trying to perform adequately for the least prepared students.