Anonymous
01/04/2025 09:12
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How do you know how many notices were sent out? My DS is a senior and I haven’t heard a word. Most kids that I know of are way over the required 75.
OP here. My son had a breakdown of the students that as of now won't graduate. It showed how many had less than 20, 20-30, etc.
That makes no since as they get like 30-40 hours between middle school and high school classes.
Not everyone attends McPS for middle school. Families do move around. As one of those who wasn’t in MCPS middle school, I find the list pretty painful to accumulate that many hours particularly if your high schooler has actual commitments /a part-time job to, you know actually make money.
It’s 75 hours before graduation. It’s ridiculously easy to accumulate hours if you just apply yourself. Montgomery County has a whole site of volunteer opportunities all year round including virtual things and ones that provide opportunities for leadership growth and learning about civics.
Anonymous
01/04/2025 08:52
Subject: Re:Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
Anonymous wrote:Schools will work with kids to make sure they get the SSL hours. I have yet to hear of the kid held back due to note completing enough.
This time of year, you see a lot of things like ADs recruiting those who need hours to do concessions at sporting events and that sort of thing. They make it work.
And yes, many of us ensure our kids have the hours even before end end of MS (my two kids with SN had 260 each by that point), not all kids have parents who are effective or competent to make that happen. Some don’t speak English and can’t figure out to make opportunities for their kids. Some need their kids for childcare or extra household income. Some are uninvolved. We can’t judge other families by our abilities. And the schools recognize this and step in to help.
Yes I agree. I am the pp that suggested the in school service activities. During Covid my family delivered food from food pantries to apartments that feed into our cluster. We were helping my kid’s peers get food they truly needed, why should we expect those families to be able to cart their kids around to do service activities outside of school. So many limitations for those families.
Anonymous
01/04/2025 08:47
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:There’s like 14 people who work in the SSL office. I think volunteering and service is important, but SSL hours misses the mark a lot of the time. Students earn 45 hours for just taking required classes. I’d be ok with eliminating the requirement and re-assigning the SSL office.
Take it up with the state. This is not just a MCPS requirement.
My kid graduated from a private school in MD and he didn’t have this requirement. Maybe it was waived due to Covid?
Private Maryland high school students do not have the same requirements for graduation. In this case, they are not required to complete SSL hours.
https://marylandpublicschools.org/programs/Pages/Service-Learning/Graduation-Requirement.aspx#:~:text=Students%20enrolled%20in%20private%20schools,the%20service%2Dlearning%20graduation%20requirement.
Anonymous
01/04/2025 08:40
Subject: Re:Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
Schools will work with kids to make sure they get the SSL hours. I have yet to hear of the kid held back due to note completing enough.
This time of year, you see a lot of things like ADs recruiting those who need hours to do concessions at sporting events and that sort of thing. They make it work.
And yes, many of us ensure our kids have the hours even before end end of MS (my two kids with SN had 260 each by that point), not all kids have parents who are effective or competent to make that happen. Some don’t speak English and can’t figure out to make opportunities for their kids. Some need their kids for childcare or extra household income. Some are uninvolved. We can’t judge other families by our abilities. And the schools recognize this and step in to help.
This time of year, you see a lot of things like ADs recruiting those who need hours to do concessions at sporting events and that sort of thing. They make it work.
And yes, many of us ensure our kids have the hours even before end end of MS (my two kids with SN had 260 each by that point), not all kids have parents who are effective or competent to make that happen. Some don’t speak English and can’t figure out to make opportunities for their kids. Some need their kids for childcare or extra household income. Some are uninvolved. We can’t judge other families by our abilities. And the schools recognize this and step in to help.
Anonymous
01/04/2025 08:33
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
That's interesting. My kid talks about how many hours are just given for classes. He got to 240 during his Sophomore year for the special cert, and it seems to us like that's pretty common.
Anonymous
01/04/2025 08:32
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
Anonymous wrote:Parents at your school think that they're special. Just do the hours and stop whining.
- Parent of special needs kid who finished their's by the end of middle school.
+1000
Anonymous
01/04/2025 08:31
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
Anonymous wrote:SSL is ridiculous. It’s virtue signaling. Kids should get paid for working.
They are paid with a diploma. Are you okay?
Anonymous
01/04/2025 08:31
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:There’s like 14 people who work in the SSL office. I think volunteering and service is important, but SSL hours misses the mark a lot of the time. Students earn 45 hours for just taking required classes. I’d be ok with eliminating the requirement and re-assigning the SSL office.
I'd be more inclined to keep the requirement if service was actually community service. Instead, though, students can get hours automatically in class or (looking at a recent email) attending a zoom where they "have the opportunity to engage in a youth town hall with Montgomery County councilmembers".
I agree. I think it’s good to introduce teens to the concept of community service, but the way the students get hours for things like this or outdoor Ed really detracts from the purpose. My kids got hours for participating in a fun extracurricular activity and I didn’t understand how they were serving any community besides their peers, and barely even that.
I think it would be better if each MCPS HS came up with actual service projects the students do for half a day in the fall and half in the spring. They could sign up to make and bag sandwiches for a food pantry, sort bags of canned goods donations, walk to a nearby elementary school to read to the Kindergarteners, make cards for nursing homes, that sort of thing.
That would be good. Some of the things that pass for service hours, like helping teachers organize closets and staffing school events at elementary schools aren’t meaningful service opportunities-they’re just unpaid labor for stuff MCPS should be paying for.
Anonymous
01/04/2025 08:28
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:How do you know how many notices were sent out? My DS is a senior and I haven’t heard a word. Most kids that I know of are way over the required 75.
OP here. My son had a breakdown of the students that as of now won't graduate. It showed how many had less than 20, 20-30, etc.
That makes no since as they get like 30-40 hours between middle school and high school classes.
Not everyone attends McPS for middle school. Families do move around. As one of those who wasn’t in MCPS middle school, I find the list pretty painful to accumulate that many hours particularly if your high schooler has actual commitments /a part-time job to, you know actually make money.
Anonymous
01/04/2025 07:40
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:There’s like 14 people who work in the SSL office. I think volunteering and service is important, but SSL hours misses the mark a lot of the time. Students earn 45 hours for just taking required classes. I’d be ok with eliminating the requirement and re-assigning the SSL office.
Take it up with the state. This is not just a MCPS requirement.
My kid graduated from a private school in MD and he didn’t have this requirement. Maybe it was waived due to Covid?
Anonymous
01/04/2025 07:27
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:There’s like 14 people who work in the SSL office. I think volunteering and service is important, but SSL hours misses the mark a lot of the time. Students earn 45 hours for just taking required classes. I’d be ok with eliminating the requirement and re-assigning the SSL office.
I'd be more inclined to keep the requirement if service was actually community service. Instead, though, students can get hours automatically in class or (looking at a recent email) attending a zoom where they "have the opportunity to engage in a youth town hall with Montgomery County councilmembers".
I agree. I think it’s good to introduce teens to the concept of community service, but the way the students get hours for things like this or outdoor Ed really detracts from the purpose. My kids got hours for participating in a fun extracurricular activity and I didn’t understand how they were serving any community besides their peers, and barely even that.
I think it would be better if each MCPS HS came up with actual service projects the students do for half a day in the fall and half in the spring. They could sign up to make and bag sandwiches for a food pantry, sort bags of canned goods donations, walk to a nearby elementary school to read to the Kindergarteners, make cards for nursing homes, that sort of thing.
Agree that MCPS organized group service projects would be a much more meaningful and productive way to implement SSL. But that would require people at MCPS to organize and implement something vs pushing the SSL mentorship to outside groups.
Anonymous
01/04/2025 07:25
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
Or kids sign up to do something simply because they need to fulfill SSL hours and then those of us in the community have to put up with “helpers” who actually make our lives more difficult. Some kids are amazing and get it right out of the gate but most are epically unhelpful and could not care less about whether or not they are helpful as long as you sign their form. It’s so bad that my organization no longer offers SSL hours unless the kid has been vetted by a trusted member.
I think the idea of teaching kids about service is a valuable goal, but MCPS’s implementation is a total fail.
I think the idea of teaching kids about service is a valuable goal, but MCPS’s implementation is a total fail.
Anonymous
01/04/2025 06:38
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:There’s like 14 people who work in the SSL office. I think volunteering and service is important, but SSL hours misses the mark a lot of the time. Students earn 45 hours for just taking required classes. I’d be ok with eliminating the requirement and re-assigning the SSL office.
I'd be more inclined to keep the requirement if service was actually community service. Instead, though, students can get hours automatically in class or (looking at a recent email) attending a zoom where they "have the opportunity to engage in a youth town hall with Montgomery County councilmembers".
I agree. I think it’s good to introduce teens to the concept of community service, but the way the students get hours for things like this or outdoor Ed really detracts from the purpose. My kids got hours for participating in a fun extracurricular activity and I didn’t understand how they were serving any community besides their peers, and barely even that.
I think it would be better if each MCPS HS came up with actual service projects the students do for half a day in the fall and half in the spring. They could sign up to make and bag sandwiches for a food pantry, sort bags of canned goods donations, walk to a nearby elementary school to read to the Kindergarteners, make cards for nursing homes, that sort of thing.
Anonymous
01/04/2025 06:29
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
I bet they will find a way for them to graduate anyways. No one is repeating a year of school for SSL.
Anonymous
01/04/2025 01:17
Subject: Almost a quarter of seniors don't have enough SSL to graduate at our HS
SSL is ridiculous. It’s virtue signaling. Kids should get paid for working.