Reply to Changes in MCPS in the last 15 years

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Will try to be brief, but ever since Weast left and Zuckerman seems to have staying powers it has been a disaster and going down hill fast.

- curriculum 2.0 
- no discipline or consequences
- no autonomy for teachers, who have to teach to the tests and stay on schedule 
- less professional development and planning time for teachers, who are already having to teach, parent, be a social worker and more, so that even the good ones are overwhelmed and burning out
- no resources for ED and not enough for other SN issues (the home school model does not serve all well)
- by making Advanced programming available to all, you're actually making it available to none. Having everyone in 8th grade take algebra, is a lofty goal, but somewhat will not be ready. Other Advanced programming has become watered down to the point of ridiculousness
- severe overcrowding because MCPS cannot seem to get the forecasts/projections right 
- overcrowding means everything from not enough classroom space to not enough counselors to instruments being taught in closet space to a copy machine that is always broken because ESs only get one (doesn't matter if there are 350 or 1,000 students, ESs get one copy machine - just an example of a policy that is past its prime)
-facilities that are a disaster (no sprinklers, not ADA compliant, mold because of leaks that arent repaired properly or at all, portables that should have been put out of commission a long time ago and are held together with duct tape, roof tiles flying off buildings, plumbing that overflows and clogs on a regular basis, bathroom stalls without doors and on and on and on)
- MCPS seems to have mastered pitting schools and school clusters against each other over fewer and fewer resources
- MCCPTA in the past few years has made the above worse, by pitting wealthy schools and lower socio-economic area schools against each other.  They also have ignored their own bylaws, and have abdicated power in the past few years.

I could go on and on, but that's enough for one night.[/quote]

Here are some other issues (I'm in mcps too and agree with this pp):
Principals almost never lose their jobs even when they're in WAY over their head and losing their sh*t with kids publicly, or having affairs with teachers/subordinates, or mismanaging funds horribly--but they also don't get much coaching beyond their first and second years. 
Policies that keep staff on the move instead of feeling rooted in a community, ie the constant threat to some of involuntary transfers
Also no effort to retain good faculty who start to look around. Exit interviews should be done with everyone. There should be transparency about numbers of staff leaving schools. We're also losing admin to other school districts. Who is collecting data on this?
Paranoia in central office that things will happen that make THEM look bad, which leads them to micromanage those below them (which then trickles down to lower level central admin, principals etc.)
Lax policies around things that impact how everyone feels about working for the county--ie people not getting fired for posting hate material online, or driving drunk, or punching their partner, or bullying others--just as long as students aren't impacted.
Little transparency about how staff can get help if they're bullied by a supervisor/colleague.

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