Another apology. At least they didn’t blame the vendor. Maybe they’re reading DCUM .
Dear Colleagues,

We are writing to apologize again for the issues many people encountered yesterday when attempting to log in to PDO. Last night, when PDO registration opened, as expected thousands of people logged on to register. Unfortunately, the system was not set to have the capacity to handle the volume of 6,000 staff. While the system did not shut down, it was only allowing 1,500 users at all times. As soon as we realized the problem, we increased the capacity. As staff members completed registration, the system allowed new users to register. The system was operating much like systems used to purchase tickets for concerts or other events. When a pathway opened, another user was able log on. When we realized there were people who were unable to log on, staff researched the issue and corrected it. We apologize for the confusion, anxiety, and frustration this caused.

We also understand there were some courses on certain dates that filled quickly. We recognize the need for adding additional sections based on requirements for certain roles. This afternoon additional seats were released to help create more spaces. As in past summers, it may not be possible for every person to receive their first choice for a training date and time. Staff will continue to monitor course enrollment, and where possible, create additional sections.

As of 7:00 a.m. this morning, overall there were 40,988 seats available in summer professional learning sessions, and 5,943 seats were filled. It is our goal to have as many staff members as possible be able to enroll in a course that supports their role and our students.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg i literally just got this from MCPS:
As you may be aware, the Tier 1 and Salary Day registration opened this afternoon in PDO. Due to the high demand for registering for courses, the platform is experiencing some performance related issues. We are working closely with the vendor to get this problem solved. We apologize for the disruption this may have caused, and we will email you once the problem has been resolved.

Funny only not funny.
-Another teacher-

Notice the pattern here? It’s always a vendor issue.

Internet stopped working for an hour last month...we’re contacting the vendor.

Outlook has been absolute HELL to use ALL YEAR...we’re working with the vendor.

How about FIRIBG THE HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY ALREADY?!

-Exasperated Teacher who’s sick and tired of MCPS technology not working properly.

Don't forget: New, horrible IEP and 504 computer programs don't work... vendor issue. "Webinar" scheduled to "train" case managers to use these systems don't work... vendor issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg i literally just got this from MCPS:
As you may be aware, the Tier 1 and Salary Day registration opened this afternoon in PDO. Due to the high demand for registering for courses, the platform is experiencing some performance related issues. We are working closely with the vendor to get this problem solved. We apologize for the disruption this may have caused, and we will email you once the problem has been resolved.

Funny only not funny.
-Another teacher-

Notice the pattern here? It’s always a vendor issue.

Internet stopped working for an hour last month...we’re contacting the vendor.

Outlook has been absolute HELL to use ALL YEAR...we’re working with the vendor.

How about FIRIBG THE HEAD OF TECHNOLOGY ALREADY?!

-Exasperated Teacher who’s sick and tired of MCPS technology not working properly.

How is it equitable that MCPS central office staff gets to blame the vendors for all of these failures under the assumption that some things are out of their control, but teachers are held fully accountable for students not meeting proficiency on standardized tests even though a lot of what goes on in students' lives is out of the teachers' control? Plus the teachers have to deal with the fallout of the central office staff's ineptitude which only makes it harder to do their job. Central office staff faces no consequences for doing their job poorly. Ridiculous.

What a waste of time for the teachers. Two hours? I would find that infuriating.

I work in a profession that requires continuing education for licensure. That kind of ineptitude would never fly. Wasting the time of professionals? Hell would be raised.

In a county as wealthy and educated as MCPS, it sucks that you teachers have to put up with that.

Took me two straight hours to get logged in. The class I wanted had 30 spots. Why would they limit the space to 30 when there are thousands of teachers who are required to go. There weren’t enough spaces for the amount of people that need to sign up. I want that two hours it took me to register to be given back to me.

Anonymous wrote:Performance Issues on PDO – UPDATE


Thu 4/12/2018 10:00pm
The purpose of this message is to provide an update on the PDO platform. As you may be aware, the Tier 1 and Salary Day registration opened this afternoon in PDO. Due to the high demand, the platform experienced an unprecedented volume of concurrent users. We have worked with the vendor to increase capacity to minimize future disruption. However, should you experience slowness or difficulty in accessing PDO again, please try back at a later time to register for courses. If you do experience a delay, the system is in fact working; it is simply at user capacity.

Peter Cevenini
Chief Technology Officer

So I tried to sign up for a "salary day" (stupid label) on a topic that at least grabbed my interest, but I couldn't find it in PDO. Yet my pal was able to access the course and nail a late July training date. In the past, full courses didn't disappear - if that's the case. But apparently, this one did. I had to search the team "salary day" just to see a list of offered courses b/c the search feature (advanced) wasn't working at 10 pm last night.

Who has the time or energy for this nonsense?

Well, that's helpful. Why didn't they "increase capacity to minimize future disruption" BEFORE 4:30 today? Anybody with an ounce of common sense predicted that everyone was going to try to log onto PDO at once to grab course slots before they were all taken up. How did they not account for this ahead of time?

It was like being in a Ticketmaster virtual waiting room for concert tickets, only in that case you are waiting for something you actually want.

Performance Issues on PDO – UPDATE


Thu 4/12/2018 10:00pm
The purpose of this message is to provide an update on the PDO platform. As you may be aware, the Tier 1 and Salary Day registration opened this afternoon in PDO. Due to the high demand, the platform experienced an unprecedented volume of concurrent users. We have worked with the vendor to increase capacity to minimize future disruption. However, should you experience slowness or difficulty in accessing PDO again, please try back at a later time to register for courses. If you do experience a delay, the system is in fact working; it is simply at user capacity.

Peter Cevenini
Chief Technology Officer

Binders were much better. Seriously

Anonymous wrote:Well, I finally got in but not for my preferred date. I plan to show up for the date I wanted anyway. This is ridiculous!

I do this literally every year. Haven’t been turned away yet!

Anonymous wrote:Is this how they’re going to train you on the new curriculum?!

No.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Parent here-MCPS technology aspects are terrible. So much $ spent on such useless nonfunctional content.

+100 Another parent here.

So sorry to all you teachers who have to deal with the MCPS BS on a regular basis. Hats off to you - I have no idea how you do it!

Thank you. We do our best. We try to drown out the noise and focus on the kids.

We tried out the Kindergarten JumpStart program they rolled out last summer and it was pretty frustrating and poorly done. I can't imagine having to deal with this on a daily basis with MCPS.

Maybe they should hold back on some of the less necessary tech initiatives until they have a stronger IT department! Instead of wasting everyone's time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this how they’re going to train you on the new curriculum?!

Probably. And the technology won't work or the network will be down when we attend the required training. They'll send us the PowerPoint and we'll have to train ourselves. That's how these trainings usually go.

Parents, you have NO IDEA how bad it is. My staff development specialist has not done a thing, even when I’ve requested materials. This is true for my colleagues too. Maybe there are good ones at other schools. Our “rolling staff meetings” are a joke and everything taught online is so, so bad. And so last minute. And so prone to technological failure.

NP here...do you mean staff development teacher or specialist? I'm a staff development teacher and it is complete chaos in terms of getting a clear, straighforward answer from central office regarding anything this past year. Back when we actually had a staff dvelopment unit we had a director who was amazing at getting out information to us in a timely, sussinct manner. This year things are flying at us at the very last minute and full of errors. The hours spent this past week just trying to clear up confusion around summer trainings from central is a joke.

Thanks for this. That helps me understand. Gosh it really is bad up and down. Anyone on here a principal? Is it as wacky for you guys too? Is this a superintendent problem? What needs to be fixed first?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this how they’re going to train you on the new curriculum?!

Probably. And the technology won't work or the network will be down when we attend the required training. They'll send us the PowerPoint and we'll have to train ourselves. That's how these trainings usually go.

Parents, you have NO IDEA how bad it is. My staff development specialist has not done a thing, even when I’ve requested materials. This is true for my colleagues too. Maybe there are good ones at other schools. Our “rolling staff meetings” are a joke and everything taught online is so, so bad. And so last minute. And so prone to technological failure.

Our SDT is good, but she is really used more for admin purposes than anything else. But if you ask her about something she'll find out the answer for you. I wish we had rolling staff meetings. We have them just to have them, and it seems like they just find stuff to fill the time just because they're mandatory. They will never let us go a minute early, either. They drag it out just to make sure we're there until 5:10 and we have them on Monday afternoons which is the worst time. We have meetings every Monday afternoon (CPS, committees, ILT & staff meetings) and by the time they're done everyone is trying to get ready for the next day as quickly as they can. We got in trouble for bringing laminating to cut during the meetings, so we can't even do anything useful while we get ready to do yet another jigsaw or gallery walk.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this how they’re going to train you on the new curriculum?!

Probably. And the technology won't work or the network will be down when we attend the required training. They'll send us the PowerPoint and we'll have to train ourselves. That's how these trainings usually go.

Parents, you have NO IDEA how bad it is. My staff development specialist has not done a thing, even when I’ve requested materials. This is true for my colleagues too. Maybe there are good ones at other schools. Our “rolling staff meetings” are a joke and everything taught online is so, so bad. And so last minute. And so prone to technological failure.

NP here...do you mean staff development teacher or specialist? I'm a staff development teacher and it is complete chaos in terms of getting a clear, straighforward answer from central office regarding anything this past year. Back when we actually had a staff dvelopment unit we had a director who was amazing at getting out information to us in a timely, sussinct manner. This year things are flying at us at the very last minute and full of errors. The hours spent this past week just trying to clear up confusion around summer trainings from central is a joke.