Reply to Richard Montgomery High School teacher complains about chronic absenteeism

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]This is what you get when you have unmotivated students from poor families. You think this is happening at Whitman or Churchill?[/quote]

Sooooo my kid goes to Churchill and it's true that kids are pretty on the ball and the classroom culture is pretty conducive to learning. Part of that is that the principal and most teachers actually enforce things like the cell phone policy and wearing lanyards.

But on the rare occasion that I am dropping my kid off at 7:44 or 7:45, there are still a lot of kids in the drop off line. I think 1st period it's pretty typical to have kids roll in 5-10 minutes late. Not good. But it happens.

[b]Part of it is that Churchill has kids with means, for the most part, so they have their own cars or friends with cars or parents who have the time and/or flexibility to get them to school on time. They don't (generally) have to care for siblings or work PT jobs that make them exhausted in the way that physical labor does. So yeah. It's definitely an equity issue.[/b] [/quote]

Was just coming to post this. Having parents with the flexibility to drop off kids and/or means (we've had to Uber our kid a few times) is definitely a piece of this. [/quote]

Yes but although MCPS frequently implies low income h.s. students are working multiple jobs and taking care of siblings, as a teacher working in a Title I elementary school (and with friends teaching across low income middle and high schools), that is not the experience for the MAJORITY of low income students. Many teachers are more than willing to accommodate situations where the student income is needed to pay rent, buy food, etc. There are also many free resources for child care for students in poverty.

At risk of appearing judgmental, many of the low income families at my school have 4, 5, 6 kids. It’s not uncommon for my students to have siblings in their teens and 20’s. The more kids you have, the less resources available for the family. We can’t keep sacrificing the entire educational system to try and meet the needs of a few — instead, we should concentrate on developing robust tutoring programs, increasing counselors, PPW’s, community liaisons, etc. for the students who are falling behind because they are watching siblings or working to help support the family.

I agree high schools start too early, but my kids, and the majority of their friends, all had part time jobs and heavily participated in sports while attending high school. We need to do a better job of teaching and empowering kids how to ask for help, which is a life skill. [/quote]

Mine will not ask teachers and staff for help.  There are rare teachers willing but most if the time they get blown off.  [/quote]

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