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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Our principal is wonderful but he has a boss too and can't just cancel everything because we are stressed.  The hardest part right now is the student behavior.  My friends think I'm joking when I tell them what elementary kids are doing in classes with no repercussions. We have kids cussing out their teachers, running at full speed around the building, climbing on top of cabinets and just punching the crap out of each other for no reason. These aren't even students with services. These are kids who have experienced a tremendous amount of trauma during COVID and lack any self-regulation strategies. To my admin's credit, they do come when we call them but they can't really do anything. Nobody has been suspended this year because that's a big no-no in schools these days as we don't want to "perpetuate the school to prison pipeline". Parents are either unresponsive or at a loss too. Since I know DCUM is crawling with advocates, YES we are trying to collect data and do FBAs, etc. but this used to be one or two kids a year in the entire building. Not a few in each class across the building.  We aren't even fully staffed anymore due to resignations.  It would be great to wave a magic wand and have staff appear but no such luck. We've been approved for critical staffing to provide 1:1 support for one student but nobody is applying for the position.  So right now, all non-classroom staff can't do their jobs because they are either covering lunch/recess, subbing for classes (there aren't subs), helping deal with behavior issues, or serving as the 1:1
I'm so sick of it.  We can't get through lessons when a few kids in each class are just occupying 99% of our time and energy. I feel terrible for our kids who desperately want and need to learn. It doesn't help that we're trying to pretend that the pandemic didn't happen and we're still  trying to teach grade-level content to students who lost so much time. 
MCPS is losing a lot of staff.  Higher ups in central are catching on that the grass IS greener in other districts.  [/quote]

I am an elementary teacher and this is what I see, though without the admin support. When we call for help, even for extreme situations, we are reprimanded that we couldn’t handle things in the class. We can’t teach when kids are running around the class and pushing kids over. When there are kids fighting in the halls. We have already had to close bathrooms! And the curriculum is way too difficult for our students who are far below grade level.

This week I watched the Tuesday BOE work session. If you want your blood to boil, I suggest you watch it. Brenda Wolf wants all suspensions minimized and no disparity between races. She made clear that there may be no suspensions for disrespect. So the reason things are out of control is that principals have their hands tied. If there is an extreme behavior and the child is a minority (very likely in my school where we are 90% minority), they get in trouble. Interestingly, she mentioned that she was concerned with kids feeling safe after hate crimes, but dies not have any concerns with students feeling safe with extreme behaviors. And she definitely does not understand that teachers feeling safe is a key component to teacher retention.

All kids, regardless of race, deserve to have a safe learning environment. And all teachers, deserve to have a safe work environment. This seems like the topic the BOE should be discussing.[/quote]

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