Reply to BOE/MCPS is a mess

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Leadership, principals, and central office are never held accountable. Their job is supper teachers and students especially with the fact that there are NO subs. Instead those in leadership just tell everyone below address all these issues without actually helping the teachers do this. Blame gets put on teachers but the leadership of a school and especially central office is what needs to be accountable and changed. Teachers have to do what admin and central tell us. Many things that parents have the right to be upset about (“dumbing down” lessons for example) is because we are told that the most important thing it to pass the students. Admin and central claim they care about rigor but then we get yelled at about the kids who are failing. Just keep in mind that many of the things that you see a teacher doing has to do with the admin at that school and orders from central. We don’t agree with it either. [/quote]

Then get your union on the side of parents.  Your union stood by and allowed Curriculum 2.0 debacle FOR A DECADE.  Your union doesn’t fight for kids on IEPs - actual dyslexia training for you.  Your union allows lead in the water in schools - mold to continue. Your union protects sexual predators and principals who protect them and get sweet gigs in Central Office. Stop being victims and get on the side of justice and your quality of life will improve.  Your union only cares about small unethical ball. (Paying bus drivers who don’t drive in a pandemic and then leave when pandemic is over)[/quote]

THe union doesn't exist to make curriculum decisions. That would be the BoE. The union exists to support teachers and ensure things like reasonable and safe working conditions.[/quote]

Correct. Everyone needs to stop pretending MCEA is interested in the equities of students. It's not- it exists to lobby for policies that benefit teachers, regardless of the impact those policies have on students. It boggles my mind that parents would vote for the Apple Ballot given that means they're putting the interests of teachers above the interests of students.[/quote]

Let’s be real, as a union MCEA is pretty weak. That said, unions represent the employees. They have no bearing on curriculum decisions but they are representing teachers who do care about the curriculum and want their students to be successful with whatever means possible. The problem is when administration becomes inflexible and expects curriculum packages to be followed with fidelity. With any curriculum, half of the students will make steady progress regardless of the program. A quarter will make progress with scaffolds and enrichment that is (sometimes) included in the program. The other 25% need something more. It’s a matter of providing schools with additional staffing and intervention/enrichment supports to help those students be successful. That support means additional money they don’t budget for properly. Rather than spending money on before and after school cares tutoring, spend that money hiring additional intervention, ESOL, and focus teachers.

The reality is that we need to stop thinking a specific curriculum is the magic cure. Spending millions of dollars every few years to analyze data, purchase a new curriculum and train teachers is wasteful. Better to find more effective assessment tools to determine specific areas of trouble for each individual student and use the programs we already have to tailor instruction for individual students. However, if we did that we would need to throw out the concept of the traditional grade cards. Transition to standards based reports/checklists based on the skills they are working on.

This would be for grades k-3, my area of expertise. [/quote]

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