I called the office to let security know that kids were smoking pot in the bathroom. They never got the message or came to check.

There is literally no attendance policy or consequence if a kid skips or walks out of class. The kids pass no matter what do to the stupid 50% rule and lack of attendance requirements.

My worry is that the teacher will get in trouble for trying to stop the student. We have not been told anything by any admin at Magruder. We have not had any “de-escalation training”. Admin talks about “desisting” students without any ideas or references. And blames staff when we have grade differences between race/ethnicities even though one of the main reasons is attendance.

-Magruder teacher

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At the MCPS HS where I work, we have groups of kids who routinely skip classes and walk around the hallways all day. Even security officers leave them alone because there is nothing they can do. Security officers have no power and the kids know it.
Hallways often smell of pot because kids are getting high in the bathrooms. MCPS has eliminated student accountability. The only thing I know that will get a kid detention at my school is if they are involved in a physical fight. Then the kid gets at home suspension for 3 days

Ridiculous.

Why does anyone pay taxes in MoCo to MCPS?

Because my kid is getting an education? Why should we stop funding public schools just because some kids don't want to take advantage? Those kids roaming the halls in HSs are affecting my kids who are actually in class trying to learn. If anything, I'm glad they aren't in the class with my kids trying to disrupt their education.

I would be curious what high schools these are or is it all of them?

Anonymous wrote:At the MCPS HS where I work, we have groups of kids who routinely skip classes and walk around the hallways all day. Even security officers leave them alone because there is nothing they can do. Security officers have no power and the kids know it.
Hallways often smell of pot because kids are getting high in the bathrooms. MCPS has eliminated student accountability. The only thing I know that will get a kid detention at my school is if they are involved in a physical fight. Then the kid gets at home suspension for 3 days

Ridiculous.

Why does anyone pay taxes in MoCo to MCPS?

Teachers should be allowed to defend themselves and be given immunity for when they need to smack down a student with fisticuffs.

Anonymous wrote:At the MCPS HS where I work, we have groups of kids who routinely skip classes and walk around the hallways all day. Even security officers leave them alone because there is nothing they can do. Security officers have no power and the kids know it.
Hallways often smell of pot because kids are getting high in the bathrooms. MCPS has eliminated student accountability. The only thing I know that will get a kid detention at my school is if they are involved in a physical fight. Then the kid gets at home suspension for 3 days

Same at our HS. Instead of doing something about the vaping/pot smoking at school, our HS simply closed off the bathrooms on the 3rd floor. So, nobody can use them.

It’s sh$tty on so many levels. Stinks for the kids who are actually there and want to learn, or at least want to earn a legitimate high school diploma. And honestly, it sucks for the kids who just roam the hallways. Clearly nobody cares about them and nobody cares what happens to them.

Anonymous wrote:I don't see anyone here defending the assaulters. But someone asked a valid question about which information they wanted to be communicated about an assault. In this case, if I were the teacher, I may or may not have wanted a community-wide message to be sent out. It is mainly a matter for the teacher, the student, the administration, and possibly the police.

Yep, this. I would not want everyone in my workplace gossiping about an assault on me, so I would want as little information shared as possible. If the school felt like they needed to discretely contact students who witnessed it to offer counseling, I could live with it. But the last thing I would want as a victim is to have the facts of the assault announced to the entire community. It’s not like it would make me any safer at work to have that information shared.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you need the school to tell you about this incident?

Because we had the first school shooting in county history.
Because there is a continued culture of violence at the school.
Because teachers deserve better than being physically assaulted at work.
Because the schools kicked the SROs out so that they could cover stuff up like this more easily.
Because they promised better communication and transparency after Dre got shot.

Go back and re-read the question.

Because students were witnesses and know about what happened.

Go back and re-read the question without assuming you know what it says.

At the MCPS HS where I work, we have groups of kids who routinely skip classes and walk around the hallways all day. Even security officers leave them alone because there is nothing they can do. Security officers have no power and the kids know it.
Hallways often smell of pot because kids are getting high in the bathrooms. MCPS has eliminated student accountability. The only thing I know that will get a kid detention at my school is if they are involved in a physical fight. Then the kid gets at home suspension for 3 days

Anonymous wrote:Or if you are assaulted in real life, do they ask you what you did to deescalate the situation? Nope. Teachers are assaulted and many admin grill them about what they did to try to talk the student down. The fact that teachers receive deescalation training tells you that the world is messed up. We aren’t cops. We aren’t social workers. We aren’t psychologists. We are here to teach content to students.

I agree completely - that is ridiculous. Sorry you have to deal with this nonsense.

Anonymous wrote:Or if you are assaulted in real life, do they ask you what you did to deescalate the situation? Nope. Teachers are assaulted and many admin grill them about what they did to try to talk the student down. The fact that teachers receive deescalation training tells you that the world is messed up. We aren’t cops. We aren’t social workers. We aren’t psychologists. We are here to teach content to students.

I feel for you teachers, but your job is different than most jobs in that most jobs don't deal with minors.

I get trained on things that you don't because you don't work in my field.

But I appreciate most of the teachers. Some are awful. Even so, I tell my kids to be respectful.

Or if you are assaulted in real life, do they ask you what you did to deescalate the situation? Nope. Teachers are assaulted and many admin grill them about what they did to try to talk the student down. The fact that teachers receive deescalation training tells you that the world is messed up. We aren’t cops. We aren’t social workers. We aren’t psychologists. We are here to teach content to students.

And there are still people who hate teachers, call them lazy and blame them for all the ills of society...

... then complain that their kid has to spend the year with substitutes or newly-hired clueless teachers.

Yeah. All the good ones leave because of their work environment. How would YOU like to be assaulted at work, then accused of being stupid and lazy?

Anonymous wrote:I hope the teacher presses charges.

This girl will be shuffled to either other classes or schools.

Actually, if a teacher gets a restraining order against a student, the shuffle the teacher to another school instead of the student. The teacher often cannot return to their original assignment.

A teacher shouldn't do anything physically to keep a kid in a classroom. They should call the office and report that the kid eloped.