Reply to My 4th grader has no teacher.

Forum Index » Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS)

Reply to "My 4th grader has no teacher."

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It baffles me that people truly think this is OK. It’s ok to look at positives but it’s also ok to acknowledge this is Bs [/quote]

Of course it's not OK and it's absolutely BS. But complaining on DCUM and deluging the principal and superintendent with complaint emails and taking out your frustration with the situation on the remaining teachers like it's some kind of deliberate conspiracy to anger you and ruin your kid is part of the reason we're in this mess to begin with. Teachers got sick of it and voted with their feet. Major steps need to be taken to make teaching a desirable profession and attract more applicants. Salary is part of that but another part is the right to not have to be a doormat to every parent and admin and to be the authority in your classroom. I'm sure someone will come back with, "But teachers are all stupid and badly educated and don't deserve that respect or authority," but it's a chicken/egg situation and something has to give. [/quote]
Oh come on.  It's totally reasonable to ask the principal to come up with a more equitable plan.  No one is suggesting that teacher get raked over the coals or work beyond contract hours.  Departmentalizing language arts and math, for instance, would at least allow all 4th graders to have a teacher in a core subject.  And the incoming teacher, when they arrive, would have a lighter lift by mainly picking up science and social studies instead of all subjects.

The proposed solution may be tenable if the new teacher has already been hired and is starting in the next week or two.  Otherwise, the principal needs to come up with an actual plan where all students get meaningful instruction in the core subjects.[/quote]

See, but the assumption that they HAVEN'T considered all those options and had to reject them for one reason or another, is problematic. Why would you assume that they haven't thought it through, or that they didn't have valid reasons or an "actual plan?" Maybe departmentalizing things would make even more people unhappy or strain the remaining teachers even more. Our school once had to do something similar and decided to "spread the pain" like you suggest and instead of one class of angry parents they then had three. You don't have the data to make that analysis, nor should you because it's their job. Not agreeing with their judgment call when you have 10% of the information doesn't make you right and them wrong and clearly communicates the attitude that you think everyone involved is a moron who can't do their job and you as the parent know better. That basically encapsulates the larger issue right there. DCUM is really good at playing armchair expert and injecting a lot of toxicity, negativity, and assuming the worst of everyone into every interaction.

Yes, it sucks. Sometimes there are things that suck and all the available options are terrible and it's a matter of picking your poison. [/quote]
You think it's okay to have random floaters teach one class while the other two classes are kept per usual just because it might lead to fewer parent complaints? You think the administration is in the right to not educate 1/3 of the grade just to keep 2/3 of parents happy?  Seriously?  It's not the job of the administration to take the easiest out but to find the best solution for educating students with the available resources.  Resources should be spread equitably.  Your view is appalling and the kind of thing that leads to law suits.  [/quote]

I have no clue what solutions were proposed and rejected and for what reasons and neither do you. This might have been the best one, even though it's awful. Why would your assumption be that the administration doesn't want to find the best solution for educating students with the available resources and that this wasn't it given the factors involved that you almost certainly don't know about? Probably 90% of "Why don't they just XYZ?" questions ever asked fail to take into account 100 reasons why "just XYZ" is actually really difficult or impossible. Like "why don't they just break up the county into little pieces?" or "why don't they just make the whole plane out of the black box if it's indestructible?"[/quote]

I understand your point but I've worked in MCPS for 15 years in several schools and there are 5 better plans that I've seen enacted and 10 that I can envision that would serve kids better than the one they have planned for. [/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics