Teachers does your admin lack an understanding of...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The hardest part is that some of the admins barely had any classroom experience and were hired as administrators when they were still in their 20s. They are trying to put into practice theory from graduate classes. New perspective is always good but they do not value those of us that have been in classrooms for 20+ years. We are told we don’t like change. We are willing to change but they are not willing to listen to our experiences. We have seen the pendulum swing so many times.

And the graduate classes are taught by people who haven't taught in K-12 classrooms in years, using texts written by authors who have never taught K-12 and have no practical experience. I am sure they all mean well but there is little relationship between their theory and the practical experience of the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Former LCPS teacher here who left public to teach at a private because of the Admins and those in power who were so out of touch.

I did 5 years at FCPS, 8 at LCPS, and have now been at a private for 4 and couldn’t be happier. The parents are no more demanding than public parents but the Admin is far, far better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Former LCPS teacher here who left public to teach at a private because of the Admins and those in power who were so out of touch.

I did 5 years at FCPS, 8 at LCPS, and have now been at a private for 4 and couldn’t be happier. The parents are no more demanding than public parents but the Admin is far, far better.

This is my experience too, though I left MCPS for private.

[Anonymous]

My principal admonished me for not asking for help with a complicated project while simultaneously admitting when people ask her for help she's too busy to offer help. Hello rock meets hard place

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In short, Responsive Classroom (RC) is an approach to the social curriculum that teaches kids to be independent and caring members of a learning community through structures such as morning meeting. When kids misbehave, there are logical consequences. Teachers use language that promote kids taking responsibility. Teachers spend a lot of time getting to know their kids and their developmental needs. There are no “prize boxes” or sticker charts or “red-yellow-green card charts” or similar extrinsic reward systems.

PBIS stands for Positive Behavior Intervention System. A school sets up a way for staff to recognize positive behavior. The goal is to recognize 4 positive behaviors for every 1 negative behavior. The recognition might be a ticket or “school bucks.” It’s an extrinsic reward system. And there’s a system for recording misbehavior so that staff can look at the data frequently to make adjustments for the problem areas.

At my Title 1 school, we are fully implementing RC. AND we have a system for documenting “big deal” misbehavior. Kids are not sent to the office (unless it was something huge like a fight, which has not happened to my knowledge), but instead our admin works closely with teachers to come up with appropriate consequences. It works pretty well and i feel very supported by my admin when there are behavior issues.

I’ve been in a school that does PBIS with all the tickets and will never go back. Kids turn into “barking seals.” They do something positive for someone and then expect a reward ticket. With RC, we teach kids that we do positive things because we’re part of a community.

Exactly. I’ve seen kids spill something on the floor on purpose when they think no one is looking and then want a ticket for cleaning it up. I wish our school would move away from PBIS. It doesn’t truly change behavior and the perception from most kids is that the ones who usually aren’t making good choices get rewarded more often than the ones who regularly make good choices.

I seriously love RC. My current school is obis and I get so tired of handing out fake money or points. It's dumb and been my students figure out that it's dumb.

[Anonymous]

OP here. It is getting worse and worse. Admin sounds increasingly unhinged. They have their own version of events and we are blamed for things we didn’t do.

LCPS knows and has known for years that there is a serious issue at this elementary school. It’s obvious from the staff survey we have to fill out each year, viewable by the public. Do we have to risk our jobs and write a public formal complaint letter? I don’t know how LCPS continues to turn a blind eye to this.

[Anonymous]

As a current teacher at Deal Middle School, I was around before Ms. Neal. when there were three student abuses covered up by the then-principal. He was eventually relieved of his post.

Many administrative personnel are only there to serve themselves. Then, when they get caught, the city doesn’t want the bad press, so they install a new regime and give the old principal, “early retirement”. Hence, why Ms. Neal is there now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To the principal PP: why do you think there is a drastic uptick in mental health needs? Is it changes in the student demographic or a change happening to the usual cohort? Thanks

In my experience as a teacher, a lot of the anxiety and pressure that these kids are dealing with that leads to these mental health issues is because of the parents. It is really not hard to see when you read the school boards here. Parents are intense, never satisfied, always pushing. They don't value letting their kids try and fail so they can learn that not being perfect is okay. They storm in and want to control everything so the kids don't have resilience. They act like Radford is worse than a death sentence so the kids kill themselves to go somewhere better because god forbid they just settle for JMU and have a fun college experience. If a teacher has fun with kids and tries to build rapport to at least give them one safe, low pressure environment, the parents freak out about the teacher being "inappropriate" or "not a master teacher."

We are a two-teacher HH beginning life in a less intense area. People from our former 'hood notice the change. The kids are more relaxed, and they can come and go as they please. They walk to school and can easily join clubs and other activities w/o having to worry about transportation. Kids here are able to enjoy just being kids.

I'm just happy to start a new life elsewhere, as the DC-metro area is dysfunctional to the core. Rigor is dead. Onus is on the teacher only. Social promotion is rampant. And instead of relying on teachers for the answers, systems seek out outside "experts" who have little to no classroom experience.

[Anonymous]

Just curious. How are kids able to transport themselves in this more rural area?

[Anonymous]

Np here. I'm also a part of a two teacher family. We are in a suburb and our kids can walk to their middle and high school. Things are pretty relaxed and none of their schools have been pressure cookers. Our older child works, participates in clubs and sports and she walks or rides her bike everywhere. There are parents who can't allow their snowflakes to walk a mile or two or ride their bikes a few miles, but we aren't one of those families.

We both feel our admins lack an understanding of pretty much everything. We just nod our heads, do what we have to do, lie low and close our doors. it is amazing how much BS we can avoid with that tactic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a current teacher at Deal Middle School, I was around before Ms. Neal. when there were three student abuses covered up by the then-principal. He was eventually relieved of his post.

Many administrative personnel are only there to serve themselves. Then, when they get caught, the city doesn’t want the bad press, so they install a new regime and give the old principal, “early retirement”. Hence, why Ms. Neal is there now.

Yup. I remember this. I no longer work at Deal and have since retired. His name is James Albright. Ms. Neal sat on the committee to get this swept under the rug. She’s just as corrupt as he is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a current teacher at Deal Middle School, I was around before Ms. Neal. when there were three student abuses covered up by the then-principal. He was eventually relieved of his post.

Many administrative personnel are only there to serve themselves. Then, when they get caught, the city doesn’t want the bad press, so they install a new regime and give the old principal, “early retirement”. Hence, why Ms. Neal is there now.

Yup. I remember this. I no longer work at Deal and have since retired. His name is James Albright. Ms. Neal sat on the committee to get this swept under the rug. She’s just as corrupt as he is.

Were these teacher abuses towards students? There are 2 sides to every story....just saying