Reply to Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS

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Reply to "Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There’s like 14 people who work in the SSL office. I think volunteering and service is important, but SSL hours misses the mark a lot of the time. Students earn 45 hours for just taking required classes. I’d be ok with eliminating the requirement and re-assigning the SSL office.[/quote]

Agreed. ELD (ESOL) students have historically had a difficult time with this requirement. Why make this a graduation requirement? Reassign SSL staff to teach.[/quote]

Do you have evidence to back that up, or are you making it up?

In my experience, teaching in a different district with a similar requirement, low income kids are comfortable with public transportation, and they are more likely to live in areas that aren't car dependent.  MCPS offers opportunities at school, and at organizations in all neighborhoods, like public elementary schools, libraries, community based organizations, churches that operate food pantries etc . . . If anything, they are more opportunities in lower income neighborhoods, because those neighborhoods are denser housing.

The argument that a kid can't do SSL hours without someone driving applies to affluent kids who are overscheduled and picky about what they do, and whose parents don't expect them to walk or take public transportation.  A kid who is willing to do a variety of work, and can get places by themself, can find opportunities.  [/quote]

My kids have been taking public buses since they were 11.  They are very skilled at the system.  There are very few opportunities that are accessible by public transportation, which kids can do without a parent accompanying them, and which give you more than an hour or two at a time.  For instance, my kid did one where she went to a community center in Gaithersburg to help the elderly with their phones….it was 90 minutes of service for which I had to drive her about 40 minutes each way.  There was no way to get there by bus in less than about 3 hours with multiple transfers.  I really do read these emails every week and there are very few options that don’t require a parent to attend, drive or shell out money (eg buy supplies for the kid to make something at home).   One year we went to the County MLK day of service and it was soooooo overcrowded — a lot of the events ran out of supplies before the kids even got a chance to do them.  Ans that required an adult (I brought 6 kids as a favor to other parents).  And even then was booked up very early so you had to sign up right away.

The idea that there are thousands and thousands of hours of meaningful service in the county that these kids can do on their own is just not realistic. I think.  In large party because no one really wants unsupervised kids — unless it is part of a scouting program or a camp where you have parental permissions, waivers and insurance.
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+1. This.  People keep posting on this thread about how easy it is to get hours and how parents didn’t need to get involved in driving them around at all, but few are posting any details about what these unicorn opportunities are. My takeaway from this thread is that you need to be a parent who paid $$$ for a camp for years that then contracts your kid as free labor and gives them SSl hours once they’re 13+.  That doesn’t seem particularly meaningful to me. [/quote]

Middle schools offer tons of SSL hours in school.  You don't need to do them outside MCPS.  Come HS there are fewer opportunities in school.[/quote]

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