Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The article says Clarksburg rates lowest among MCPS high schools among parents for safety. Why is that? My DD went to a downcounty consortium school that I felt wasn't particularly safe, but ranks better than this.

Higher expectation

Kid who brought a gun to school last year- it was in the news. By the way, in general, Clarksburg parents are very involved and have very high expectations for the school and their kids. I know this as I'm a parent in that cluster. So when stuff like this happens, many of the parents will be very vocal about it.

that is what i said, Clarksburg is rated lower because parents have a high expectation so parents rank safety as low.

If you just fled a country that is in the middle of a war are you really going to rank Blair as "unsafe"?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once upon a time about 15 years ago, we were looking into a plot of land in Clarksburg. Best decision my husband ever made when he said no way. Not only for traffic, but poor planning and cookie cutter houses on tiny lots. [b]We had no idea it was going to be white minority though. Looks like Montgomery Village up there. [/b]My friend sold her house in 5 years at a loss.

Yes, it probably is the best decision you ever made when you decided that Clarksburg would not be a good place for you.

Duh- I'm surprised you got to the point of even looking for land in Clarksburg. Mont County is very diverse. Those of us who live here (including white people like me who live in Clarksburg) like that though. By the way, you are completely incorrect in comparing it to Montgomery Village. THe demographics between these 2 areas are different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The article says Clarksburg rates lowest among MCPS high schools among parents for safety. Why is that? My DD went to a downcounty consortium school that I felt wasn't particularly safe, but ranks better than this.

Higher expectation

Kid who brought a gun to school last year- it was in the news. By the way, in general, Clarksburg parents are very involved and have very high expectations for the school and their kids. I know this as I'm a parent in that cluster. So when stuff like this happens, many of the parents will be very vocal about it.

Anonymous wrote:The article says Clarksburg rates lowest among MCPS high schools among parents for safety. Why is that? My DD went to a downcounty consortium school that I felt wasn't particularly safe, but ranks better than this.

Higher expectation

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is nothing new, there are fights in all the high school.

So not true.

We have had zero fights in our high school this year. Last year there was a total of one. And it was in the parking lot after school. No actual punches were thrown. No. There are certainly not fights in all high schools.

yes there are ... my H works in school security. They don't send emails for every fight and the W schools will always hide them from the police... other schools are faster to call police.

The article says Clarksburg rates lowest among MCPS high schools among parents for safety. Why is that? My DD went to a downcounty consortium school that I felt wasn't particularly safe, but ranks better than this.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is nothing new, there are fights in all the high school.

So not true.

Yes it is true. Even private school have a fight here and there, unless it is all girls.. those fight are all mental.

Anonymous wrote:Once upon a time about 15 years ago, we were looking into a plot of land in Clarksburg. Best decision my husband ever made when he said no way. Not only for traffic, but poor planning and cookie cutter houses on tiny lots. We had no idea it was going to be white minority though. Looks like Montgomery Village up there. My friend sold her house in 5 years at a loss.

Yes, it probably is the best decision you ever made when you decided that Clarksburg would not be a good place for you.

Anonymous wrote:Once upon a time about 15 years ago, we were looking into a plot of land in Clarksburg. Best decision my husband ever made when he said no way. Not only for traffic, but poor planning and cookie cutter houses on tiny lots. We had no idea it was going to be white minority though. Looks like Montgomery Village up there. My friend sold her house in 5 years at a loss.

+100. We dodged the MOCO bullet years ago, thankfully.

Once upon a time about 15 years ago, we were looking into a plot of land in Clarksburg. Best decision my husband ever made when he said no way. Not only for traffic, but poor planning and cookie cutter houses on tiny lots. We had no idea it was going to be white minority though. Looks like Montgomery Village up there. My friend sold her house in 5 years at a loss.

Anonymous wrote:My DD tells me fight are getting more and more common at Clarksburg. Apparently this fight got so bad, a security guard got deep cuts on his scalp.

Here's the ABC7 News story:

https://wjla.com/news/local/clarksburg-high-school-fight

Really? My daughter, who is a student at Clarksburg HS, says they're not. There, now we have two anecdotes.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xsXBcrIgqT8

https://www.mymcmedia.org/attorney-says-17-year-old-was-injured-in-assault-at-rockville-high-school-on-march-7th/

Fights inside school - kids just watch, video and laugh. Is this how we raise decent adults?


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yFt513vnAeI

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is nothing new, there are fights in all the high school.

So not true.

We have had zero fights in our high school this year. Last year there was a total of one. And it was in the parking lot after school. No actual punches were thrown. No. There are certainly not fights in all high schools.

I sort of agree with you, PP, but I do have a question. Are you a parent or a teacher? In many cases, incidents are hidden b/c of bad press, and certainly most principals try to avoid dealing with central office. So it's easier to handle incidents internally - and quietly.

We had a fight break out in the auditorium on the day we had a guest speaker. my student . . . I warned admin and counseling that she was heading down a troubled path, but no one listened.

The speaker was appalled, and he was no stranger to bad situations, having lived in an area where gangs ruled. What a great story for the press, right? didn't hit the news . . . Maybe the school got lucky? Or maybe they had a way to keep this under wraps.

So I know there are incidents that never surface publicly. Furthermore, you have teachers too numb to care. another day, another fight

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is nothing new, there are fights in all the high school.

Number of fights have increased.

I have been in education for over 25 years. not a "W" teacher by any stretch, having spent the bulk of my career in challenging schools

When the new Code of Conduct was introduced, more and more excuses were given for poor behavior, and kids knew they could get away with murder. When principals had autonomy and could make decisions based on the norms of the community, disciplinary measures were handled quickly, allowing teachers to focus on instruction.

I finally had to get out when I was forced to shut the door of my classroom each morning b/c there were daily turf fights in the hall.

Once autonomy died, so did discipline. We are too controlled by the powers that be who have never set foot in a classroom.

This will ONLY get worse.

This is pathetic.
Effectively it means that children aren’t receiving their free appropriate education due to being physically harmed or fear of being physically harmed at school.
Someone should do a class action lawsuit until it is fixed.

Would smaller schools help or is a decent behavior intervention plan and a lot more supervision sufficient?

MCPS gets more pathetic by the day.

my thoughts?

Smaller schools would work to some extent if autonomy is restored, which would ensure disciplinary actions were handled effectively. A decent intervention plan would include strong measures to prevent behaviors from escalating, and these steps would be handled by administrators, counselors and in many cases, mental health specialists. Too many serious students don't get what they need b/c of these distractions. And admin is too quick to blame the teachers!

Even with those measures, however, until we stop with this elitist vision of all kids attending college, we'll lose more and more. While we have "alternative" pathways, many are pure BS. Edison is wonderful, but the students are motivated and they have to keep their grades up in order to graduate with a certification in a trade. Many kids are hands on. Yes, they need the basics - a strong foundation. But let's make sure they know the basics before they graduate. A 12th grader reading at a 10th grade level should NOT graduate! But many do- and they do so reading way below grade level.

As mentioned above, we need more therapeutic measures in schools. So many parents neglect their children, who are left to "parent" themselves and younger siblings. Parents should be REQUIRED to attend classes! If you could spend the few minutes and another 9 months to make a baby, you can attend a class to learn basic parenting skills.

teen moms? That's another issue. We need daycares in schools for students and teachers. If a teacher can spend his/her day caring for someone else's child, surely the county can help with daycare. And many teens drop out b/c there's no one to watch the child. This isn't rocket science, folks.

But who am I? just another cog in the wheel

Why listen to teachers? Why listen to anyone in the trenches these days? There's always someone higher up who knows the answer, right?

sinking ship! I've been saying this for years now, but no one wants to hear it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is nothing new, there are fights in all the high school.

So not true.

We have had zero fights in our high school this year. Last year there was a total of one. And it was in the parking lot after school. No actual punches were thrown. No. There are certainly not fights in all high schools.