Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are exactly two kids quoted in the article. I am not sure this is a widespread problem. My kid attends B-CC and has been late a couple of times after lunch. That is it and I have addressed this. I have received one absent phone call/email, which was in error, the whole year. Missing class is not acceptable, even if it is senior year. If my kid misses class, it is my fault, not the school's fault.

The absenteeism rates are in the article, so it is definitely widespread:

19.1% of B-CC students are “chronically absent.”

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent

It is very much widespread and it's clear in the article and the fact that MCPS is revising its absenteeism policy in response to the scope and scale of the issue that it is widespread.

OMG OMG the sky is falling (again). What shall we do?!?

Let's see, notify the parents. After 4 absences insist that the parents come to school and have a meeting prior to allowing them to return to school. After 12, you make the parents shadow the kids for a day, and if that doesn't work a week or permanently till their behavior improves.

You're more prescient than you know. I believe some version of what you outlined is what MCPS will unveil.

MCPS has cut parents out of education. It needs to be a partnership and much more communication. Teachers should send out weekly emails outlining what kids are learning and what assignments are due each week/when. We've had teachers do that in MS and it was fantastic. It doesn't have to be long or detailed but just we are working on these concepts or reading xxx, and these are the upcoming assignments and due dates.

Oh, PLEASE.

Anonymous wrote:I don’t mind a while. Their grades are pretty good and seven periods In a row is so intense with just a 45 minute break.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are exactly two kids quoted in the article. I am not sure this is a widespread problem. My kid attends B-CC and has been late a couple of times after lunch. That is it and I have addressed this. I have received one absent phone call/email, which was in error, the whole year. Missing class is not acceptable, even if it is senior year. If my kid misses class, it is my fault, not the school's fault.

The absenteeism rates are in the article, so it is definitely widespread:

19.1% of B-CC students are “chronically absent.”

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent

It is very much widespread and it's clear in the article and the fact that MCPS is revising its absenteeism policy in response to the scope and scale of the issue that it is widespread.

OMG OMG the sky is falling (again). What shall we do?!?

Let's see, notify the parents. After 4 absences insist that the parents come to school and have a meeting prior to allowing them to return to school. After 12, you make the parents shadow the kids for a day, and if that doesn't work a week or permanently till their behavior improves.

You're more prescient than you know. I believe some version of what you outlined is what MCPS will unveil.

MCPS has cut parents out of education. It needs to be a partnership and much more communication. Teachers should send out weekly emails outlining what kids are learning and what assignments are due each week/when. We've had teachers do that in MS and it was fantastic. It doesn't have to be long or detailed but just we are working on these concepts or reading xxx, and these are the upcoming assignments and due dates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m of a different view. By high school, it’s time to learn natural consequences. The kids who are driven & care about school will show up. The kids who are lazy & don’t care, won’t show up. No sweat of anyone’s back except the kids. In college nobody is going to monitor their attendance everyday.

That said, I am more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to absenteeism at Kennedy than I am at BCC because Kennedy kids are more likely to be facing issues such as unstable housing, lack of transportation, lack of having their own cars if they miss the bus, having to stay home to watch siblings, hunger etc.

But that's the point: MCPS has taken away natural consequences. They just turn a blind and endlessly extend deadlines and allow multiple retakes. So screwing around loses any natural consequences to it.

I think it's ok to do multiple retakes but my only issue is kids don't put in the effort the first time. Here's an idea. As a parent, you monitor things and have expectations. Everyone blames MCPS but where are the parents?

I do as a parent. But then my kid fights me for having expectations that they should take the test seriously the first time because the message they're getting from the school and the teachers is that it doesn't matter because they can turn in the assignments before the end of the marking period and come in during lunch or after school and retake the test as many times as they want.

A parent's standards can't compete with the messaging of the system.

Anonymous wrote:I’m of a different view. By high school, it’s time to learn natural consequences. The kids who are driven & care about school will show up. The kids who are lazy & don’t care, won’t show up. No sweat of anyone’s back except the kids. In college nobody is going to monitor their attendance everyday.

That said, I am more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to absenteeism at Kennedy than I am at BCC because Kennedy kids are more likely to be facing issues such as unstable housing, lack of transportation, lack of having their own cars if they miss the bus, having to stay home to watch siblings, hunger etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In light of an updated attendance policy that MCPS announced it would be releasing, B-CC's student newspaper did some reporting with students on why they are absent so often: https://bcctattler.org/2738/news/mcps-to-release-new-attendance-policy/

Unsurprisingly, the kids do it because educators and administrators enable it:

One B-CC junior who has had 189 unexcused absences so far this school year says, ”Honestly there are no real consequences, even if I was just skipping at Starbucks my teachers still let me make up the work and I get away unscathed.” Many B-CC students share similar feelings, “Skipping class has been normalized at this point and it goes pretty much unnoticed, even in the most extreme cases,” said an anonymous B-CC Junior with 271 unexcused absences.

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent. The MCPS Department of Education is dedicated to addressing this issue and hopes that this new plan will be successful in combating the issue of chronic absenteeism within our county.

So much of MCPS's current posture and stance is to avoid being punitive, eliminating consequences and turning a blind eye to bad behavior because discipline has become a dirty word. But anyone who knows teens and adolescents knows that they need those consequences and boundaries to push back against them as they're trying to figure out their place in the world. If you allow and any and everything to happen, well, the kids are gonna take advantage of it.

When will MCPS leadership wake up and stop coddling kids? They want structure, discipline and consequences. If you make something OPTIONAL, they won't do it!

Sounds like BCC is in free fall decline. That's really so sad since it once was a good school.

BCC is not "in free fall decline." It's a great school with a very enterprising student newspaper whose teen 'reporters' like to magnify anecdotes into blockbuster scandals. I don't disagree that MCPS should reimpose consequences for skipping, but the idea that students at one of the most high-achieving high schools in the county never go to class is pretty silly.

Stupid annoying kids who like to tell the truth about what's actually going on at school with the students and staff and not allow us to believe the non-information that MCPS puts out by sweeping things under the rug or denying what is in fact happening, am I right?

I'm the PP, and I'm a BCC parent. I don't speak for MCPS nor do I defend them most of the time. I've also worked as a journalist and I think the Tattler is awesome but like many HS newspapers it leans into drama. Most kids at BCC aren't skipping hundreds of classes.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In light of an updated attendance policy that MCPS announced it would be releasing, B-CC's student newspaper did some reporting with students on why they are absent so often: https://bcctattler.org/2738/news/mcps-to-release-new-attendance-policy/

Unsurprisingly, the kids do it because educators and administrators enable it:

One B-CC junior who has had 189 unexcused absences so far this school year says, ”Honestly there are no real consequences, even if I was just skipping at Starbucks my teachers still let me make up the work and I get away unscathed.” Many B-CC students share similar feelings, “Skipping class has been normalized at this point and it goes pretty much unnoticed, even in the most extreme cases,” said an anonymous B-CC Junior with 271 unexcused absences.

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent. The MCPS Department of Education is dedicated to addressing this issue and hopes that this new plan will be successful in combating the issue of chronic absenteeism within our county.

So much of MCPS's current posture and stance is to avoid being punitive, eliminating consequences and turning a blind eye to bad behavior because discipline has become a dirty word. But anyone who knows teens and adolescents knows that they need those consequences and boundaries to push back against them as they're trying to figure out their place in the world. If you allow and any and everything to happen, well, the kids are gonna take advantage of it.

When will MCPS leadership wake up and stop coddling kids? They want structure, discipline and consequences. If you make something OPTIONAL, they won't do it!

Sounds like BCC is in free fall decline. That's really so sad since it once was a good school.

BCC is not "in free fall decline." It's a great school with a very enterprising student newspaper whose teen 'reporters' like to magnify anecdotes into blockbuster scandals. I don't disagree that MCPS should reimpose consequences for skipping, but the idea that students at one of the most high-achieving high schools in the county never go to class is pretty silly.

Stupid annoying kids who like to tell the truth about what's actually going on at school with the students and staff and not allow us to believe the non-information that MCPS puts out by sweeping things under the rug or denying what is in fact happening, am I right?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In light of an updated attendance policy that MCPS announced it would be releasing, B-CC's student newspaper did some reporting with students on why they are absent so often: https://bcctattler.org/2738/news/mcps-to-release-new-attendance-policy/

Unsurprisingly, the kids do it because educators and administrators enable it:

One B-CC junior who has had 189 unexcused absences so far this school year says, ”Honestly there are no real consequences, even if I was just skipping at Starbucks my teachers still let me make up the work and I get away unscathed.” Many B-CC students share similar feelings, “Skipping class has been normalized at this point and it goes pretty much unnoticed, even in the most extreme cases,” said an anonymous B-CC Junior with 271 unexcused absences.

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent. The MCPS Department of Education is dedicated to addressing this issue and hopes that this new plan will be successful in combating the issue of chronic absenteeism within our county.

So much of MCPS's current posture and stance is to avoid being punitive, eliminating consequences and turning a blind eye to bad behavior because discipline has become a dirty word. But anyone who knows teens and adolescents knows that they need those consequences and boundaries to push back against them as they're trying to figure out their place in the world. If you allow and any and everything to happen, well, the kids are gonna take advantage of it.

When will MCPS leadership wake up and stop coddling kids? They want structure, discipline and consequences. If you make something OPTIONAL, they won't do it!

Sounds like BCC is in free fall decline. That's really so sad since it once was a good school.

BCC is not "in free fall decline." It's a great school with a very enterprising student newspaper whose teen 'reporters' like to magnify anecdotes into blockbuster scandals. I don't disagree that MCPS should reimpose consequences for skipping, but the idea that students at one of the most high-achieving high schools in the county never go to class is pretty silly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In light of an updated attendance policy that MCPS announced it would be releasing, B-CC's student newspaper did some reporting with students on why they are absent so often: https://bcctattler.org/2738/news/mcps-to-release-new-attendance-policy/

Unsurprisingly, the kids do it because educators and administrators enable it:

One B-CC junior who has had 189 unexcused absences so far this school year says, ”Honestly there are no real consequences, even if I was just skipping at Starbucks my teachers still let me make up the work and I get away unscathed.” Many B-CC students share similar feelings, “Skipping class has been normalized at this point and it goes pretty much unnoticed, even in the most extreme cases,” said an anonymous B-CC Junior with 271 unexcused absences.

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent. The MCPS Department of Education is dedicated to addressing this issue and hopes that this new plan will be successful in combating the issue of chronic absenteeism within our county.

So much of MCPS's current posture and stance is to avoid being punitive, eliminating consequences and turning a blind eye to bad behavior because discipline has become a dirty word. But anyone who knows teens and adolescents knows that they need those consequences and boundaries to push back against them as they're trying to figure out their place in the world. If you allow and any and everything to happen, well, the kids are gonna take advantage of it.

When will MCPS leadership wake up and stop coddling kids? They want structure, discipline and consequences. If you make something OPTIONAL, they won't do it!

Sounds like BCC is in free fall decline. That's really so sad since it once was a good school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In light of an updated attendance policy that MCPS announced it would be releasing, B-CC's student newspaper did some reporting with students on why they are absent so often: https://bcctattler.org/2738/news/mcps-to-release-new-attendance-policy/

Unsurprisingly, the kids do it because educators and administrators enable it:

One B-CC junior who has had 189 unexcused absences so far this school year says, ”Honestly there are no real consequences, even if I was just skipping at Starbucks my teachers still let me make up the work and I get away unscathed.” Many B-CC students share similar feelings, “Skipping class has been normalized at this point and it goes pretty much unnoticed, even in the most extreme cases,” said an anonymous B-CC Junior with 271 unexcused absences.

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent. The MCPS Department of Education is dedicated to addressing this issue and hopes that this new plan will be successful in combating the issue of chronic absenteeism within our county.

So much of MCPS's current posture and stance is to avoid being punitive, eliminating consequences and turning a blind eye to bad behavior because discipline has become a dirty word. But anyone who knows teens and adolescents knows that they need those consequences and boundaries to push back against them as they're trying to figure out their place in the world. If you allow and any and everything to happen, well, the kids are gonna take advantage of it.

When will MCPS leadership wake up and stop coddling kids? They want structure, discipline and consequences. If you make something OPTIONAL, they won't do it!

Sounds like BCC is in free fall decline. That's really so sad since it once was a good school.

BCC is not "in free fall decline." It's a great school with a very enterprising student newspaper whose teen 'reporters' like to magnify anecdotes into blockbuster scandals. I don't disagree that MCPS should reimpose consequences for skipping, but the idea that students at one of the most high-achieving high schools in the county never go to class is pretty silly.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In light of an updated attendance policy that MCPS announced it would be releasing, B-CC's student newspaper did some reporting with students on why they are absent so often: https://bcctattler.org/2738/news/mcps-to-release-new-attendance-policy/

Unsurprisingly, the kids do it because educators and administrators enable it:

One B-CC junior who has had 189 unexcused absences so far this school year says, ”Honestly there are no real consequences, even if I was just skipping at Starbucks my teachers still let me make up the work and I get away unscathed.” Many B-CC students share similar feelings, “Skipping class has been normalized at this point and it goes pretty much unnoticed, even in the most extreme cases,” said an anonymous B-CC Junior with 271 unexcused absences.

This issue is consistent across the county with some schools such as Kennedy High School having as high as 49.4% of students being chronically absent. The MCPS Department of Education is dedicated to addressing this issue and hopes that this new plan will be successful in combating the issue of chronic absenteeism within our county.

So much of MCPS's current posture and stance is to avoid being punitive, eliminating consequences and turning a blind eye to bad behavior because discipline has become a dirty word. But anyone who knows teens and adolescents knows that they need those consequences and boundaries to push back against them as they're trying to figure out their place in the world. If you allow and any and everything to happen, well, the kids are gonna take advantage of it.

When will MCPS leadership wake up and stop coddling kids? They want structure, discipline and consequences. If you make something OPTIONAL, they won't do it!

Sounds like BCC is in free fall decline. That's really so sad since it once was a good school.