Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 11:54     Subject: MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
The special ed shortage is real and I’m not sure those who don’t work in a school understand it. If 25 kids in second grade all have IEPs and there is one special ed teacher for the entire grade, there aren’t enough hours in the day for that teacher to meet everyone’s needs. Classroom teachers and support staff fill the gaps as best as they can, but no, a special educator isn’t providing all of your child’s services.

Having an advocate is wonderful but can’t make staff the school doesn’t have appear. I am no apologist for MCPS after years of fighting with them for my own kid but they do have to work with the staff they attract.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 11:46     Subject: MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
Anonymous wrote:I’m not a special education teacher but a general education teacher. From what I have seen, no one is trying to lie and hide things on purpose. The special education team at my school genuinely cares about kids and advocates for them. It just becomes impossible sometimes to provide all the supports that some students need. The staff is overwhelmed. Some iep meetings take several hours and that is just for one student. Some parents can also be unreasonable and unrealistic. Lawsuits happen frequently and cause additional stress along with an extra deluge of paperwork.


Our best teacher which was only one year tried hard to advocate for our child and was denied at every point. She was fantastic and the only one who took the time to get our kid. The special education teacher did not get the issues at all. What may seem unreasonable to you may not be and just unrealistic for you do you call it unreasonable. Kids can be complex but it’s the kids who are quiet and not demanding who are often the ones who need the most help who get ignored.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 11:43     Subject: MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
Anonymous wrote:I’m not a special education teacher but a general education teacher. From what I have seen, no one is trying to lie and hide things on purpose. The special education team at my school genuinely cares about kids and advocates for them. It just becomes impossible sometimes to provide all the supports that some students need. The staff is overwhelmed. Some iep meetings take several hours and that is just for one student. Some parents can also be unreasonable and unrealistic. Lawsuits happen frequently and cause additional stress along with an extra deluge of paperwork.


I cannot imagine most take hours. Ours was recycled from another child, including with their name in a few spots and several things made no sense. We were not allowed any input and were told to sign or we’d lose services. Given what was offered given that current staffing nothing sadly was better. I wish I got an advocate early on but it seemed to make more sense to use that money on services privately which we could get immediately without a fight vs advocate or attorney fees. We couldn’t afford both.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 11:40     Subject: Re:MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would tell parents of students with disabilities to listen to their teacher and special Ed teacher carefully during meetings when we invite central office staff. It is so hard to get them to even show up at the meeting that if they are there, we are trying to communicate about a need we cannot meet within our school resources. We are often advocating highly for your child internally but being silenced by central.

I am always on your child’s side, I know their needs, and I care about their progress. I am also understaffed and overwhelmed. Last year I taught an intervention before school started, worked with a student that was struggling during my lunch, and spent countless hours modifying materials for students before and after school. I was still blamed by two parent when their students didn’t make much progress. I was told I was unethical, heartless, and was breaking the law. I finally got central to show up to one of those student’s fifth meeting of the year to attempt to get more resources. Central and the parent blamed me and nothing changed. This year, I will be taking my planning time and my lunch because no matter what I do, there are parents that will demand more and there is no way for me to actually succeed in this job, at least not in 2023.

Please understand that I am telling you what you need to hear. Stop the whole, “ the law says my kid is the most important”. Of course your child is important to you but all 20 kids (including yours) on my caseload are important to me and their parents. I have taught special Ed for 25 years. I’m good at my job, my kids make progress. There was a time I loved my job. That said, I will quit before a child with small accommodation needs get more hours of my time than the child with significant needs simply because the parent is not advocating. In my building, everyone gets equitable treatment. Unfortunately, that is not how district works and I WILL fail again this year no matter how hard I try. I have submitted paperwork for early retirement and my biggest hope is that we can fill the open positions quickly enough so that I can try to train someone new before leaving.


Our kids with small accommodations may need it just as much or more. It’s sad how Mcps fails these kids.


X Minds is an organization of hundreds of local parents of Neurodivergent kidd. I recommend everyone with an ND kid join and become active within the organization. I realize this doesn't cover every SN but it's a start.
The problem with SN is there are very few organized advocacy groups. Parents are also hesitant to be vocal for fear of "outing" their child.
Most of us know what's going on in the classroom and the office. The lies and the gaslighting. We just don't know what to do about it.

Get involved.


You basically have one option. Seek outside therapies and resources. The tutor me was wonderful to fill in the gaps but of course mcps screams poverty for that.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 11:30     Subject: MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
I’m not a special education teacher but a general education teacher. From what I have seen, no one is trying to lie and hide things on purpose. The special education team at my school genuinely cares about kids and advocates for them. It just becomes impossible sometimes to provide all the supports that some students need. The staff is overwhelmed. Some iep meetings take several hours and that is just for one student. Some parents can also be unreasonable and unrealistic. Lawsuits happen frequently and cause additional stress along with an extra deluge of paperwork.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 11:29     Subject: MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
Anonymous wrote:

“WAH! Why don’t you say this so I can sue the school?”

You’re absurd.


Honestly? I have kids of my own and a mortgage. Just like everyone else, I am going to protect myself first. Sorry, I am human and my ability to live the rest of my life is simply more important than other people’s kids.


I’m a teacher who posted above. This is why I quit working at one school. I was threatened with legal action even though I calmly and repeatedly explained I can’t perform a task the family required. They may as well have asked me to move a mountain or drain an ocean; I didn’t have the time, ability, or access to resources to do what they wanted.

I quit to protect myself. I knew the demands were going to escalate and no reason or logic on my part was going to make a difference. I loved that school and would have preferred staying, but my health and family have to come first.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 10:38     Subject: Re:MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I would tell parents of students with disabilities to listen to their teacher and special Ed teacher carefully during meetings when we invite central office staff. It is so hard to get them to even show up at the meeting that if they are there, we are trying to communicate about a need we cannot meet within our school resources. We are often advocating highly for your child internally but being silenced by central.

I am always on your child’s side, I know their needs, and I care about their progress. I am also understaffed and overwhelmed. Last year I taught an intervention before school started, worked with a student that was struggling during my lunch, and spent countless hours modifying materials for students before and after school. I was still blamed by two parent when their students didn’t make much progress. I was told I was unethical, heartless, and was breaking the law. I finally got central to show up to one of those student’s fifth meeting of the year to attempt to get more resources. Central and the parent blamed me and nothing changed. This year, I will be taking my planning time and my lunch because no matter what I do, there are parents that will demand more and there is no way for me to actually succeed in this job, at least not in 2023.

Please understand that I am telling you what you need to hear. Stop the whole, “ the law says my kid is the most important”. Of course your child is important to you but all 20 kids (including yours) on my caseload are important to me and their parents. I have taught special Ed for 25 years. I’m good at my job, my kids make progress. There was a time I loved my job. That said, I will quit before a child with small accommodation needs get more hours of my time than the child with significant needs simply because the parent is not advocating. In my building, everyone gets equitable treatment. Unfortunately, that is not how district works and I WILL fail again this year no matter how hard I try. I have submitted paperwork for early retirement and my biggest hope is that we can fill the open positions quickly enough so that I can try to train someone new before leaving.


Our kids with small accommodations may need it just as much or more. It’s sad how Mcps fails these kids.


X Minds is an organization of hundreds of local parents of Neurodivergent kidd. I recommend everyone with an ND kid join and become active within the organization. I realize this doesn't cover every SN but it's a start.
The problem with SN is there are very few organized advocacy groups. Parents are also hesitant to be vocal for fear of "outing" their child.
Most of us know what's going on in the classroom and the office. The lies and the gaslighting. We just don't know what to do about it.

Get involved.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 10:22     Subject: MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Depends - if they have an iep? I’d tell them that most of the services are delivered by the general Ed teacher because inclusion spec Ed teachers are stretched too thin and we spend so much time on paperwork and not with kids. I’d also tell them no matter what they “advocate for” in the iep, it doesn’t actually happen during the school day due to limited resources and time so half the time we just agree to make you go away


We know. Thanks for being a failure in your life's work.


Likewise for being a failure at actual life. (Lack of empathy is the first sign of being a psychopath)



"I decided to use an anonymous forum to taunt distraught parents of special needs kids in a blasé manner about how we fail their children. But you're the psychopath! Poor me!"
PP




The thread is what we would tell parents if we could. I appreciated that teachers transparency and didn't read it as a taunt. You're clearly dissatisfied with your child's service, but you're lashing out to someone who is telling you there is literally nothing they can do to solve your problem.


I’m the one who posted about spec Ed. Not a taunt just the hard truth. And I’m not a failure at my job, I’m actually a really good spec Ed teacher and I advocate hard for the kids on my caseload. But these are the truths of the conditions in mcps and that’s what the thread asked about. Sometimes I wish parents knew so they didn’t believe the BS . That being said, parents should not be angry at the teachers - it’s the system and lack of appropriate resources


If you really wanted parents to know, why not tell them instead of lying to them to get them to “go away”? I don’t get it. That’s something that is absolutely in your power to do, and doesn’t even take a lot of effort.


You really “don’t get it?” Really? Are you simple, or merely being disingenuous?


No, I really don’t. I’ve absolutely had IEP teams refuse to provide services, and to put down their poor justification in wriring. And I’ve had members describe the process for requesting additional resources from central as a prerequisite for being able to provide one.

I really don’t get what the pp thinks she can’t say those things. She obviously can- she’s choosing not to out of a fear that it could complicate matters for herself.


“WAH! Why don’t you say this so I can sue the school?”

You’re absurd.


For those of you unfamiliar with special education, this teacher is acknowledging that MCPS is violating state and federal law. But, in order to prevent parents from taking legal action, she lies by saying she'll provide supports she knows she won't. And since parents generally aren't allowed in class, they would have no way of knowing those supports aren't being provided.


It’s so disturbing that parents aren’t allowed in class. That would never happen at my daughter’s school.


Very disturbing. It was the principal not teachers. We could only go for open house and two parties a year in es.

Same. When I wanted to volunteer in the classroom, the teacher looked at me like I had 3 heads.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 10:12     Subject: Re:MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
Anonymous wrote:I would tell parents of students with disabilities to listen to their teacher and special Ed teacher carefully during meetings when we invite central office staff. It is so hard to get them to even show up at the meeting that if they are there, we are trying to communicate about a need we cannot meet within our school resources. We are often advocating highly for your child internally but being silenced by central.

I am always on your child’s side, I know their needs, and I care about their progress. I am also understaffed and overwhelmed. Last year I taught an intervention before school started, worked with a student that was struggling during my lunch, and spent countless hours modifying materials for students before and after school. I was still blamed by two parent when their students didn’t make much progress. I was told I was unethical, heartless, and was breaking the law. I finally got central to show up to one of those student’s fifth meeting of the year to attempt to get more resources. Central and the parent blamed me and nothing changed. This year, I will be taking my planning time and my lunch because no matter what I do, there are parents that will demand more and there is no way for me to actually succeed in this job, at least not in 2023.

Please understand that I am telling you what you need to hear. Stop the whole, “ the law says my kid is the most important”. Of course your child is important to you but all 20 kids (including yours) on my caseload are important to me and their parents. I have taught special Ed for 25 years. I’m good at my job, my kids make progress. There was a time I loved my job. That said, I will quit before a child with small accommodation needs get more hours of my time than the child with significant needs simply because the parent is not advocating. In my building, everyone gets equitable treatment. Unfortunately, that is not how district works and I WILL fail again this year no matter how hard I try. I have submitted paperwork for early retirement and my biggest hope is that we can fill the open positions quickly enough so that I can try to train someone new before leaving.


Our kids with small accommodations may need it just as much or more. It’s sad how Mcps fails these kids.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 10:08     Subject: MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Depends - if they have an iep? I’d tell them that most of the services are delivered by the general Ed teacher because inclusion spec Ed teachers are stretched too thin and we spend so much time on paperwork and not with kids. I’d also tell them no matter what they “advocate for” in the iep, it doesn’t actually happen during the school day due to limited resources and time so half the time we just agree to make you go away


We know. Thanks for being a failure in your life's work.


Likewise for being a failure at actual life. (Lack of empathy is the first sign of being a psychopath)



"I decided to use an anonymous forum to taunt distraught parents of special needs kids in a blasé manner about how we fail their children. But you're the psychopath! Poor me!"
PP




The thread is what we would tell parents if we could. I appreciated that teachers transparency and didn't read it as a taunt. You're clearly dissatisfied with your child's service, but you're lashing out to someone who is telling you there is literally nothing they can do to solve your problem.


I’m the one who posted about spec Ed. Not a taunt just the hard truth. And I’m not a failure at my job, I’m actually a really good spec Ed teacher and I advocate hard for the kids on my caseload. But these are the truths of the conditions in mcps and that’s what the thread asked about. Sometimes I wish parents knew so they didn’t believe the BS . That being said, parents should not be angry at the teachers - it’s the system and lack of appropriate resources


If you really wanted parents to know, why not tell them instead of lying to them to get them to “go away”? I don’t get it. That’s something that is absolutely in your power to do, and doesn’t even take a lot of effort.


You really “don’t get it?” Really? Are you simple, or merely being disingenuous?


No, I really don’t. I’ve absolutely had IEP teams refuse to provide services, and to put down their poor justification in wriring. And I’ve had members describe the process for requesting additional resources from central as a prerequisite for being able to provide one.

I really don’t get what the pp thinks she can’t say those things. She obviously can- she’s choosing not to out of a fear that it could complicate matters for herself.


“WAH! Why don’t you say this so I can sue the school?”

You’re absurd.


For those of you unfamiliar with special education, this teacher is acknowledging that MCPS is violating state and federal law. But, in order to prevent parents from taking legal action, she lies by saying she'll provide supports she knows she won't. And since parents generally aren't allowed in class, they would have no way of knowing those supports aren't being provided.


It’s so disturbing that parents aren’t allowed in class. That would never happen at my daughter’s school.


Very disturbing. It was the principal not teachers. We could only go for open house and two parties a year in es.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 09:56     Subject: MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
Anonymous wrote:

“WAH! Why don’t you say this so I can sue the school?”

You’re absurd.


Honestly? I have kids of my own and a mortgage. Just like everyone else, I am going to protect myself first. Sorry, I am human and my ability to live the rest of my life is simply more important than other people’s kids.


Ok, although if you’re the same poster as the beginning of this thread, I don’t know how you could possibly believe you hold the moral high ground.

But, what doesn’t make any sense to me is that plenty of IEP teams do simply refuse to put things in IEPs. What’s going on in your case that you’re being told you can’t do that, apparently while threatening to retaliate against you if you do?

And if it's really that bad, I don't know why you wouldn't whistleblow, after which it would become very hard for MCPS to take any adverse job actions on you without risking a lawsuit.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 09:46     Subject: MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?


“WAH! Why don’t you say this so I can sue the school?”

You’re absurd.


Honestly? I have kids of my own and a mortgage. Just like everyone else, I am going to protect myself first. Sorry, I am human and my ability to live the rest of my life is simply more important than other people’s kids.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 09:46     Subject: Re:MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
Anonymous wrote:I would tell parents of students with disabilities to listen to their teacher and special Ed teacher carefully during meetings when we invite central office staff. It is so hard to get them to even show up at the meeting that if they are there, we are trying to communicate about a need we cannot meet within our school resources. We are often advocating highly for your child internally but being silenced by central.

I am always on your child’s side, I know their needs, and I care about their progress. I am also understaffed and overwhelmed. Last year I taught an intervention before school started, worked with a student that was struggling during my lunch, and spent countless hours modifying materials for students before and after school. I was still blamed by two parent when their students didn’t make much progress. I was told I was unethical, heartless, and was breaking the law. I finally got central to show up to one of those student’s fifth meeting of the year to attempt to get more resources. Central and the parent blamed me and nothing changed. This year, I will be taking my planning time and my lunch because no matter what I do, there are parents that will demand more and there is no way for me to actually succeed in this job, at least not in 2023.

Please understand that I am telling you what you need to hear. Stop the whole, “ the law says my kid is the most important”. Of course your child is important to you but all 20 kids (including yours) on my caseload are important to me and their parents. I have taught special Ed for 25 years. I’m good at my job, my kids make progress. There was a time I loved my job. That said, I will quit before a child with small accommodation needs get more hours of my time than the child with significant needs simply because the parent is not advocating. In my building, everyone gets equitable treatment. Unfortunately, that is not how district works and I WILL fail again this year no matter how hard I try. I have submitted paperwork for early retirement and my biggest hope is that we can fill the open positions quickly enough so that I can try to train someone new before leaving.


As a parent, it took me a while to figure out this out on my own. Once I did, and I started making explicit references to the processes for requesting resources from central, our school IEP team became much more open about it.

But I don't understand why they couldn't/wouldn't be more open about it from the start. Best case, the parents may be able to help put pressure on central. Worst case, some of their ire may be redirected towards central.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 09:38     Subject: MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Depends - if they have an iep? I’d tell them that most of the services are delivered by the general Ed teacher because inclusion spec Ed teachers are stretched too thin and we spend so much time on paperwork and not with kids. I’d also tell them no matter what they “advocate for” in the iep, it doesn’t actually happen during the school day due to limited resources and time so half the time we just agree to make you go away


We know. Thanks for being a failure in your life's work.


Likewise for being a failure at actual life. (Lack of empathy is the first sign of being a psychopath)



"I decided to use an anonymous forum to taunt distraught parents of special needs kids in a blasé manner about how we fail their children. But you're the psychopath! Poor me!"
PP




The thread is what we would tell parents if we could. I appreciated that teachers transparency and didn't read it as a taunt. You're clearly dissatisfied with your child's service, but you're lashing out to someone who is telling you there is literally nothing they can do to solve your problem.


I’m the one who posted about spec Ed. Not a taunt just the hard truth. And I’m not a failure at my job, I’m actually a really good spec Ed teacher and I advocate hard for the kids on my caseload. But these are the truths of the conditions in mcps and that’s what the thread asked about. Sometimes I wish parents knew so they didn’t believe the BS . That being said, parents should not be angry at the teachers - it’s the system and lack of appropriate resources


If you really wanted parents to know, why not tell them instead of lying to them to get them to “go away”? I don’t get it. That’s something that is absolutely in your power to do, and doesn’t even take a lot of effort.


You really “don’t get it?” Really? Are you simple, or merely being disingenuous?


No, I really don’t. I’ve absolutely had IEP teams refuse to provide services, and to put down their poor justification in wriring. And I’ve had members describe the process for requesting additional resources from central as a prerequisite for being able to provide one.

I really don’t get what the pp thinks she can’t say those things. She obviously can- she’s choosing not to out of a fear that it could complicate matters for herself.


“WAH! Why don’t you say this so I can sue the school?”

You’re absurd.


For those of you unfamiliar with special education, this teacher is acknowledging that MCPS is violating state and federal law. But, in order to prevent parents from taking legal action, she lies by saying she'll provide supports she knows she won't. And since parents generally aren't allowed in class, they would have no way of knowing those supports aren't being provided.


It’s so disturbing that parents aren’t allowed in class. That would never happen at my daughter’s school.
Anonymous
Post 08/19/2023 09:33     Subject: MCPS teachers - what would you tell parents in your class(es) if you could?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Depends - if they have an iep? I’d tell them that most of the services are delivered by the general Ed teacher because inclusion spec Ed teachers are stretched too thin and we spend so much time on paperwork and not with kids. I’d also tell them no matter what they “advocate for” in the iep, it doesn’t actually happen during the school day due to limited resources and time so half the time we just agree to make you go away


We know. Thanks for being a failure in your life's work.


Likewise for being a failure at actual life. (Lack of empathy is the first sign of being a psychopath)



"I decided to use an anonymous forum to taunt distraught parents of special needs kids in a blasé manner about how we fail their children. But you're the psychopath! Poor me!"
PP




The thread is what we would tell parents if we could. I appreciated that teachers transparency and didn't read it as a taunt. You're clearly dissatisfied with your child's service, but you're lashing out to someone who is telling you there is literally nothing they can do to solve your problem.


I’m the one who posted about spec Ed. Not a taunt just the hard truth. And I’m not a failure at my job, I’m actually a really good spec Ed teacher and I advocate hard for the kids on my caseload. But these are the truths of the conditions in mcps and that’s what the thread asked about. Sometimes I wish parents knew so they didn’t believe the BS . That being said, parents should not be angry at the teachers - it’s the system and lack of appropriate resources


If you really wanted parents to know, why not tell them instead of lying to them to get them to “go away”? I don’t get it. That’s something that is absolutely in your power to do, and doesn’t even take a lot of effort.


You really “don’t get it?” Really? Are you simple, or merely being disingenuous?


No, I really don’t. I’ve absolutely had IEP teams refuse to provide services, and to put down their poor justification in wriring. And I’ve had members describe the process for requesting additional resources from central as a prerequisite for being able to provide one.

I really don’t get what the pp thinks she can’t say those things. She obviously can- she’s choosing not to out of a fear that it could complicate matters for herself.


“WAH! Why don’t you say this so I can sue the school?”

You’re absurd.


For those of you unfamiliar with special education, this teacher is acknowledging that MCPS is violating state and federal law. But, in order to prevent parents from taking legal action, she lies by saying she'll provide supports she knows she won't. And since parents generally aren't allowed in class, they would have no way of knowing those supports aren't being provided.