Anonymous wrote:There was a concerted effort to get more clubs into place a few years back, but that sort of ended with COVID. In addition to Tilden drama, Best Buddies and National Junior Honor Society are really nice groups at Tilden plus Day of Caring. Chorus, band and orchestra are also nice.

What the schools don’t seem to get is that the more positive things are going on at a school, the less negative behavior you have. When you end the clubs etc, behavior spirals downward. Then it’s a loop — teachers don’t want to sponsor the clubs because of bad behavior, behavior gets worse because of the lack of positive engagement.

I can point to one specific issue at Tilden - a huge reduction in the number of kids in band/orchestra. The school recently eliminated a music teacher position, leaving only one teacher for chorus and all else. The band and orchestra are still there and lovely, but used to be huge, wonderful, inclusive groups for kids to feel they are a part of something positive. I’ll never understand why they eliminated that position. Why eliminate these roles that create positive engagement? MCPS often misses the bigger picture.

+1

Great point raised here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 8th grade girls at Tilden are as just as mean and backstabbing as Regina George in Mean Girls. They are so toxic and nothing ever happens to them

As a former 8th girl and current mother of an 8th grade girl, this is not unique to Tilden. Same
can be said for small populations of girls at any middle school in the country.

Everyone knows that middle school is a weaker link in all cluster, but all problems at Tilden can't be attributed to this. Other middle schools also have some problems which comes due to age of kids, but Tilden has bigger problems.

Also, kids are 7-8 hours in school and less time with their parents if we exclude sleeping hours. Given everything , we can't simply say that it's just the age. Sure, age is factor everywhere, but Tilden is surely doing something to make it even worse. It takes a community to raise kids. Schools are big part of that community.

Some families can correct their kids and some can't. That will happen everywhere. But if inside school, which is majority of hours for kids, kids are never corrected then schools are doing a very poor job and part of the problem. That's what some many posters are pointing out.

There was a concerted effort to get more clubs into place a few years back, but that sort of ended with COVID. In addition to Tilden drama, Best Buddies and National Junior Honor Society are really nice groups at Tilden plus Day of Caring. Chorus, band and orchestra are also nice.

What the schools don’t seem to get is that the more positive things are going on at a school, the less negative behavior you have. When you end the clubs etc, behavior spirals downward. Then it’s a loop — teachers don’t want to sponsor the clubs because of bad behavior, behavior gets worse because of the lack of positive engagement.

I can point to one specific issue at Tilden - a huge reduction in the number of kids in band/orchestra. The school recently eliminated a music teacher position, leaving only one teacher for chorus and all else. The band and orchestra are still there and lovely, but used to be huge, wonderful, inclusive groups for kids to feel they are a part of something positive. I’ll never understand why they eliminated that position. Why eliminate these roles that create positive engagement? MCPS often misses the bigger picture.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How is Tilden MS lately ? How is the new principal Ms Sapna Hopkins? Is it a good school ?

It offers the same educational opportunities that are present at all MCPS MS.

In theory that is true. But it seems grossly inferior to other mcps middle schools.

Which will be a better MS in MCPS?

Anonymous wrote:If NB and Tilden are so bad, how can WJ be so great?

Leadership? Staff burnout?

Is NB bad? It might be better than Tilden. No first hand experience with NB but people there seem
more satisfied.

Some of it is kids mature by high school but there is something uniquely bad at Tilden.

Plus WJ has so much that Tilden lacks: more challenging academics, huge range of electives, huge range of activities, affinity groups, sports, music, newspaper, arts, stem, pretty much a club for every interest and ability to form one that isn’t already there, hour long lunch with time to go outside and meet friends from all classes plus attend clubs or get help from a teacher and more. Sure there are problems like at every high school but it is very different than Tilden

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another current Tilden parent and agree with 19:21.
We’ve been in the community since kindergarten and have watched many of our fellow parents take a major step back in parenting their young teens over the last few years.
Middle schoolers are always going to be a difficult group (in general), parents no longer parenting is only going to make that worse. And that is not on the school to fix, even though it falls on them.

Problem is pretty much that. But I am not sure why Tilden deteriorated more than others. Distribution curve of parents should look similar everywhere. That's why I am not convinced that school is not playing a part here.

Good point. Especially since the elementary feeders and WJ are generally excellent. Same parents there. It isn’t just “middle school is awful” or “parent failures”. The school and its culture are a contributing factor.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The 8th grade girls at Tilden are as just as mean and backstabbing as Regina George in Mean Girls. They are so toxic and nothing ever happens to them

As a former 8th girl and current mother of an 8th grade girl, this is not unique to Tilden. Same
can be said for small populations of girls at any middle school in the country.

No one is disputing that middle school in general is a difficult time for a lot of people.

However, there was something specifically broken at Tilden the last few years that should not be dismissed and that hopefully will be improved.

Anonymous wrote:I have an 8th grader at Tilden. They have good friends and have adjusted to being back to regular school. That said, they are also the type to keep their head down and avoid drama. They don’t have tiktok and are therefore don’t know about every fight, viral video, etc. until later than most.
We have found teachers to be helpful and caring. Can’t say enough good things about Tilden Drama.
My only concern is how much they will be prepared for WJ. They have pulled solid grades for 3 years with minimal effort. I know mcps scaled back during covid/covid recovery but I am a bit worried about the adjustment to HS. This is probably normal though.

I think most of the above posts are the vocal minority.

Mine didn’t have social media either. You don’t need it to see what is all around you at Tilden- toxic awful behavior.

Anonymous wrote:The 8th grade girls at Tilden are as just as mean and backstabbing as Regina George in Mean Girls. They are so toxic and nothing ever happens to them

As a former 8th girl and current mother of an 8th grade girl, this is not unique to Tilden. Same
can be said for small populations of girls at any middle school in the country.

The 8th grade girls at Tilden are as just as mean and backstabbing as Regina George in Mean Girls. They are so toxic and nothing ever happens to them

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another current Tilden parent and agree with 19:21.
We’ve been in the community since kindergarten and have watched many of our fellow parents take a major step back in parenting their young teens over the last few years.
Middle schoolers are always going to be a difficult group (in general), parents no longer parenting is only going to make that worse. And that is not on the school to fix, even though it falls on them.

Problem is pretty much that. But I am not sure why Tilden deteriorated more than others. Distribution curve of parents should look similar everywhere. That's why I am not convinced that school is not playing a part here.

For many years, there was a principal who indulged parents whose children were engaging in horrible behavior including racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim rhetoric allegedly “just for the LOLZ.” A slap on the wrist then is why the community is where it is now.

Sad to hear this. We are not in Tilden.

How long ago principal was changed? Admin generally sets the tone.

This is the first year with new principal.

Hopefully, in few years situation should get better. As far as I know, Tilden is home of a large number of Indians, Arabs and Jewish immigrants. I am surprised to hear such problems there.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another current Tilden parent and agree with 19:21.
We’ve been in the community since kindergarten and have watched many of our fellow parents take a major step back in parenting their young teens over the last few years.
Middle schoolers are always going to be a difficult group (in general), parents no longer parenting is only going to make that worse. And that is not on the school to fix, even though it falls on them.

Problem is pretty much that. But I am not sure why Tilden deteriorated more than others. Distribution curve of parents should look similar everywhere. That's why I am not convinced that school is not playing a part here.

For many years, there was a principal who indulged parents whose children were engaging in horrible behavior including racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim rhetoric allegedly “just for the LOLZ.” A slap on the wrist then is why the community is where it is now.

Sad to hear this. We are not in Tilden.

How long ago principal was changed? Admin generally sets the tone.

This is the first year with new principal.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another current Tilden parent and agree with 19:21.
We’ve been in the community since kindergarten and have watched many of our fellow parents take a major step back in parenting their young teens over the last few years.
Middle schoolers are always going to be a difficult group (in general), parents no longer parenting is only going to make that worse. And that is not on the school to fix, even though it falls on them.

Problem is pretty much that. But I am not sure why Tilden deteriorated more than others. Distribution curve of parents should look similar everywhere. That's why I am not convinced that school is not playing a part here.

For many years, there was a principal who indulged parents whose children were engaging in horrible behavior including racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim rhetoric allegedly “just for the LOLZ.” A slap on the wrist then is why the community is where it is now.

Sad to hear this. We are not in Tilden.

How long ago principal was changed? Admin generally sets the tone.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another current Tilden parent and agree with 19:21.
We’ve been in the community since kindergarten and have watched many of our fellow parents take a major step back in parenting their young teens over the last few years.
Middle schoolers are always going to be a difficult group (in general), parents no longer parenting is only going to make that worse. And that is not on the school to fix, even though it falls on them.

Problem is pretty much that. But I am not sure why Tilden deteriorated more than others. Distribution curve of parents should look similar everywhere. That's why I am not convinced that school is not playing a part here.

For many years, there was a principal who indulged parents whose children were engaging in horrible behavior including racist, sexist, ableist, homophobic, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim rhetoric allegedly “just for the LOLZ.” A slap on the wrist then is why the community is where it is now.

Anonymous wrote:Another current Tilden parent and agree with 19:21.
We’ve been in the community since kindergarten and have watched many of our fellow parents take a major step back in parenting their young teens over the last few years.
Middle schoolers are always going to be a difficult group (in general), parents no longer parenting is only going to make that worse. And that is not on the school to fix, even though it falls on them.

Problem is pretty much that. But I am not sure why Tilden deteriorated more than others. Distribution curve of parents should look similar everywhere. That's why I am not convinced that school is not playing a part here.