Mcps has a dropout problem

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well over half are either in ESOL or are Hispanic https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-have-a-dropout-problem-heres-why/

Well I guest the response to this topic says it: who cares?

I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe that if these students and/or their families do not care, others should not (yes, SHOULD not - or at least PUBLIC RESOURCES should not be used to deal with this).

They care, but often they are facing very immediate economic needs that can’t wait two to three years to address. A third income earner can make the difference between rent or eviction, vegetables and fruit or malnutrition. This was not an unusual pattern in white immigrant families two generations ago. My XH’s grandmother left school at 15 to work FT in a store. Her sacrifice made it possible for the family to survive and her younger siblings to graduate HS. T

Many schools provide three meals to kids on FARMs.

There is no such thing as a school provided dinner for FARMS students. I work in a high FARMS elementary school. Many kids on FARMS don't even eat the free breakfast. They don't get to school early enough to have it. You can imagine how that goes when some students have lunch at 1pm. Totally unavailable to learn. But we can't force parents to get their kids to school early enough to eat breakfast. We try, and even go as far as providing alarm clocks to families who are chronically late, but we don't live in their houses with them and can't physically get them there. Sometimes I will send kids up to the nurse when I know they haven't had breakfast and lunchtime is far away. I write a code word on the note and the nurse knows that means to provide some pretzels she keeps in the health room for students with low blood sugar. But they miss instructional time and then you have to be careful about it becoming an expectation and habit. My principal doesn't allow snack time in classrooms due to inequity (some kids would bring snack but the ones who need it most won't), and also due to insect/rodent issues. But kids need food so I have come up with this plan. Some other teachers in my building keep a secret stash of snacks in their rooms and find a way to sneak it to kids.

FWIW the students I see this the most with are not necessarily the immigrant families. Many are AA kids living in a single parent household.

Yes some MCPS schools provide dinner. Blair is one of them. I do not know how many others but assume they are not the only one.

Thank you! I was at an NEC high school that served "dinner" at 3 pm.

Kids would often show up to first period with their breakfast trays (filled with crap, I'll add).

sad, I'll say - as the food in general is terrible for these kids - But they do indeed get three meals, however you wish to define "meal."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well over half are either in ESOL or are Hispanic https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-have-a-dropout-problem-heres-why/

Well I guest the response to this topic says it: who cares?

I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe that if these students and/or their families do not care, others should not (yes, SHOULD not - or at least PUBLIC RESOURCES should not be used to deal with this).

The economy cares. We have a public education system for economic reasons. It's better for the economy to have an educated workforce.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well over half are either in ESOL or are Hispanic https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-have-a-dropout-problem-heres-why/

Well I guest the response to this topic says it: who cares?

I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe that if these students and/or their families do not care, others should not (yes, SHOULD not - or at least PUBLIC RESOURCES should not be used to deal with this).

They care, but often they are facing very immediate economic needs that can’t wait two to three years to address. A third income earner can make the difference between rent or eviction, vegetables and fruit or malnutrition. This was not an unusual pattern in white immigrant families two generations ago. My XH’s grandmother left school at 15 to work FT in a store. Her sacrifice made it possible for the family to survive and her younger siblings to graduate HS. T

when I was in mcps I went to school with very poor immigrants from South Asia . They managed to not only bot drop out they also got into Ivy League colleges

Good for them! But what does that have to do with other people with different experiences?

My grandfather had to drop out of high school to go to work, too. That would have been 1917 or 1918. He got his GED later, through night school.

there were far fewer social services then than now . I’m high school I had all sorts of extracurricular activities and worked 15 hours a week. My father grew up dirt poor in Roxbury . Zero social welfare benefits and he worked nearly fulll time in high school and got a full ride scholarship to northeastern . It can be done if people don’t excuse failure

Social services aren’t always available to these students, especially those who are undocumented.

And why the F should we be offering social services to illegal aliens.

Because they are children and human beings who shouldn’t be hungry, cold, or sick.

For me, it comes from my Catholic faith, my own childhood in poverty, and my duty/privilege as a teacher to care for these kids. I can not think of a single circumstance in which it is moral defensible to deny any person basic human needs like food, shelter, clothing, and medical care.

DP

I’m glad your Catholic faith makes you feel that way. You are more than welcome to sponsor children and offer fantastic programs through your church.

I’m certainly not Catholic. And I would prefer that we spend money on people who are here legally, regardless of race/religion/country of origin. I would prefer that we curb illegal immigration.

There are millions of kids all over the world who need clothing and food. Montgomery county cannot save them all. And taxpayers should not be required to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well over half are either in ESOL or are Hispanic https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-have-a-dropout-problem-heres-why/

Well I guest the response to this topic says it: who cares?

I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe that if these students and/or their families do not care, others should not (yes, SHOULD not - or at least PUBLIC RESOURCES should not be used to deal with this).

The economy cares. We have a public education system for economic reasons. It's better for the economy to have an educated workforce.

Well, it appears that the education system isn’t working very well. If the dropout rate is increasing and the percentage of students who are ‘proficient’ is decreasing.

So, focus on educating the kids. Leave the social services to private organizations, like non-profits and churches.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well over half are either in ESOL or are Hispanic https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-have-a-dropout-problem-heres-why/

Well I guest the response to this topic says it: who cares?

I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe that if these students and/or their families do not care, others should not (yes, SHOULD not - or at least PUBLIC RESOURCES should not be used to deal with this).

The economy cares. We have a public education system for economic reasons. It's better for the economy to have an educated workforce.

Well, it appears that the education system isn’t working very well. If the dropout rate is increasing and the percentage of students who are ‘proficient’ is decreasing.

So, focus on educating the kids. Leave the social services to private organizations, like non-profits and churches.

If you want to argue that it's not appropriate for the government to provide for the general welfare, please take it to the politics forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well over half are either in ESOL or are Hispanic https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-have-a-dropout-problem-heres-why/

Well I guest the response to this topic says it: who cares?

I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe that if these students and/or their families do not care, others should not (yes, SHOULD not - or at least PUBLIC RESOURCES should not be used to deal with this).

The economy cares. We have a public education system for economic reasons. It's better for the economy to have an educated workforce.

Well, it appears that the education system isn’t working very well. If the dropout rate is increasing and the percentage of students who are ‘proficient’ is decreasing.

So, focus on educating the kids. Leave the social services to private organizations, like non-profits and churches.

If you want to argue that it's not appropriate for the government to provide for the general welfare, please take it to the politics forum.

Why? Because you disagree with me?

If you want to argue that MCPS needs to provide free food, free tutoring, free backpacks and other free social services for illegal immigrants because they are likely to drop out otherwise, then it is an appropriate discussion for the MCPS forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

And, really, the question needs to be - why are we encouraging people in this situation to come to Montgomery County?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Why? Because you disagree with me?

If you want to argue that MCPS needs to provide free food, free tutoring, free backpacks and other free social services for illegal immigrants because they are likely to drop out otherwise, then it is an appropriate discussion for the MCPS forum.

Because it's politics.

Also take discussions of immigration policy to the politics forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well over half are either in ESOL or are Hispanic https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-have-a-dropout-problem-heres-why/

Well I guest the response to this topic says it: who cares?

I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe that if these students and/or their families do not care, others should not (yes, SHOULD not - or at least PUBLIC RESOURCES should not be used to deal with this).

The economy cares. We have a public education system for economic reasons. It's better for the economy to have an educated workforce.

No one disputes that. The question is, what entity should be responsible for alleviating economic conditions not conducive to education?

I don't think that's the schools.

[Anonymous]

How are thy getting educated skipping school or dropping out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well over half are either in ESOL or are Hispanic https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-have-a-dropout-problem-heres-why/

Well I guest the response to this topic says it: who cares?

I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe that if these students and/or their families do not care, others should not (yes, SHOULD not - or at least PUBLIC RESOURCES should not be used to deal with this).

They care, but often they are facing very immediate economic needs that can’t wait two to three years to address. A third income earner can make the difference between rent or eviction, vegetables and fruit or malnutrition. This was not an unusual pattern in white immigrant families two generations ago. My XH’s grandmother left school at 15 to work FT in a store. Her sacrifice made it possible for the family to survive and her younger siblings to graduate HS. T

Many schools provide three meals to kids on FARMs.

There is no such thing as a school provided dinner for FARMS students. I work in a high FARMS elementary school. Many kids on FARMS don't even eat the free breakfast. They don't get to school early enough to have it. You can imagine how that goes when some students have lunch at 1pm. Totally unavailable to learn. But we can't force parents to get their kids to school early enough to eat breakfast. We try, and even go as far as providing alarm clocks to families who are chronically late, but we don't live in their houses with them and can't physically get them there. Sometimes I will send kids up to the nurse when I know they haven't had breakfast and lunchtime is far away. I write a code word on the note and the nurse knows that means to provide some pretzels she keeps in the health room for students with low blood sugar. But they miss instructional time and then you have to be careful about it becoming an expectation and habit. My principal doesn't allow snack time in classrooms due to inequity (some kids would bring snack but the ones who need it most won't), and also due to insect/rodent issues. But kids need food so I have come up with this plan. Some other teachers in my building keep a secret stash of snacks in their rooms and find a way to sneak it to kids.

FWIW the students I see this the most with are not necessarily the immigrant families. Many are AA kids living in a single parent household.

Yes some MCPS schools provide dinner. Blair is one of them. I do not know how many others but assume they are not the only one.

Say what? Which Blair?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well over half are either in ESOL or are Hispanic https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-have-a-dropout-problem-heres-why/

Well I guest the response to this topic says it: who cares?

I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe that if these students and/or their families do not care, others should not (yes, SHOULD not - or at least PUBLIC RESOURCES should not be used to deal with this).

They care, but often they are facing very immediate economic needs that can’t wait two to three years to address. A third income earner can make the difference between rent or eviction, vegetables and fruit or malnutrition. This was not an unusual pattern in white immigrant families two generations ago. My XH’s grandmother left school at 15 to work FT in a store. Her sacrifice made it possible for the family to survive and her younger siblings to graduate HS. T

when I was in mcps I went to school with very poor immigrants from South Asia . They managed to not only bot drop out they also got into Ivy League colleges

Good for them! But what does that have to do with other people with different experiences?

My grandfather had to drop out of high school to go to work, too. That would have been 1917 or 1918. He got his GED later, through night school.

there were far fewer social services then than now . I’m high school I had all sorts of extracurricular activities and worked 15 hours a week. My father grew up dirt poor in Roxbury . Zero social welfare benefits and he worked nearly fulll time in high school and got a full ride scholarship to northeastern . It can be done if people don’t excuse failure

Social services aren’t always available to these students, especially those who are undocumented.

And why the F should we be offering social services to illegal aliens.

Because they are children and human beings who shouldn’t be hungry, cold, or sick.

For me, it comes from my Catholic faith, my own childhood in poverty, and my duty/privilege as a teacher to care for these kids. I can not think of a single circumstance in which it is moral defensible to deny any person basic human needs like food, shelter, clothing, and medical care.

DP

I’m glad your Catholic faith makes you feel that way. You are more than welcome to sponsor children and offer fantastic programs through your church.

I’m certainly not Catholic. And I would prefer that we spend money on people who are here legally, regardless of race/religion/country of origin. I would prefer that we curb illegal immigration.

There are millions of kids all over the world who need clothing and food. Montgomery county cannot save them all. And taxpayers should not be required to.

If you are such a stickler for legality over justice, how do you feel about the Civil Rights Era sit ins to end segregation?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well over half are either in ESOL or are Hispanic https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-have-a-dropout-problem-heres-why/

Well I guest the response to this topic says it: who cares?

I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe that if these students and/or their families do not care, others should not (yes, SHOULD not - or at least PUBLIC RESOURCES should not be used to deal with this).

The economy cares. We have a public education system for economic reasons. It's better for the economy to have an educated workforce.

Well, it appears that the education system isn’t working very well. If the dropout rate is increasing and the percentage of students who are ‘proficient’ is decreasing.

So, focus on educating the kids. Leave the social services to private organizations, like non-profits and churches.

No. Our job is to educate the society. We did it during the depression and we did it during WW2, when women had to work and dads were gone. There have always been social issue that schools had to deal with.

We need better job training and stop with pushing the idea everybody is going to college. Who cares if a kid goes to college if he doesn't want to... make sure he knows how to do his/her finances and provide job training.

HS does not need to be 4 years... get 2 year under the belt with the requirement to get trained and then off to work.. apprenticeships, farming, job training etc.

FFS nobody really cares about Dante's Inferno, we need to stop pretending that is "required" for an education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well over half are either in ESOL or are Hispanic https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-have-a-dropout-problem-heres-why/

Well I guest the response to this topic says it: who cares?

I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe that if these students and/or their families do not care, others should not (yes, SHOULD not - or at least PUBLIC RESOURCES should not be used to deal with this).

The economy cares. We have a public education system for economic reasons. It's better for the economy to have an educated workforce.

No one disputes that. The question is, what entity should be responsible for alleviating economic conditions not conducive to education?

I don't think that's the schools.

If you mean feeding kids, yea the school should feed kids. The education system has dealt with social and economic conditions through the depression and all the fun wars we have had.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well over half are either in ESOL or are Hispanic https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2019/07/montgomery-co-public-schools-have-a-dropout-problem-heres-why/

Well I guest the response to this topic says it: who cares?

I am not being sarcastic. I truly believe that if these students and/or their families do not care, others should not (yes, SHOULD not - or at least PUBLIC RESOURCES should not be used to deal with this).

The economy cares. We have a public education system for economic reasons. It's better for the economy to have an educated workforce.

No one disputes that. The question is, what entity should be responsible for alleviating economic conditions not conducive to education?

I don't think that's the schools.

If you mean feeding kids, yea the school should feed kids. The education system has dealt with social and economic conditions through the depression and all the fun wars we have had.

When my mother was in school in Europe, right after World War II, sometimes the only food she got all day was at school. She's happy that the people running the schools didn't believe that hungry kids weren't a school issue,