Anonymous
11/25/2025 18:19
Subject: Google Docs… please read
Anonymous wrote:I really think some parent are going to have to realize that with technology comes problems and some just aren't worth coming up with a bunch of interventions.
Kids used to pass paper notes in class. Or whisper in each others ear. Every generation comes up with a way to communicate during class when they are not supposed to be.
OP your kid is now a 4th grader. I'm sure this came as a surprise to you but welcome to parenting someone who is no longer a small child and growing up. Take a deep breath, because the ride gets more bumpy from here.
Math and literacy rates have been dropping every year since the introduction of smartphones and edtech so yes, parents are coming for your screens.
Anonymous
11/25/2025 17:43
Subject: Google Docs… please read
I really think some parent are going to have to realize that with technology comes problems and some just aren't worth coming up with a bunch of interventions.
Kids used to pass paper notes in class. Or whisper in each others ear. Every generation comes up with a way to communicate during class when they are not supposed to be.
OP your kid is now a 4th grader. I'm sure this came as a surprise to you but welcome to parenting someone who is no longer a small child and growing up. Take a deep breath, because the ride gets more bumpy from here.
Kids used to pass paper notes in class. Or whisper in each others ear. Every generation comes up with a way to communicate during class when they are not supposed to be.
OP your kid is now a 4th grader. I'm sure this came as a surprise to you but welcome to parenting someone who is no longer a small child and growing up. Take a deep breath, because the ride gets more bumpy from here.
Anonymous
11/25/2025 06:36
Subject: Google Docs… please read
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I am previous poster and also wanted to mention that MCPS used to pay for a program that allowed teacher to view any of their students’ screens to help keep kids on task & make sure they were working on intended assignment.
MCPS no longer has access to this program. I believe it was cut from budget
I don’t have a problem with a program like that being cut from the budget. In elementary school, the solution is minimal use of the Chromebook period.
We lost GoGuardian, which was superior. They replaced it with Lightspeed, which doesn’t work nearly as well.
The budget situation is really bad. My school lacks working copiers and printers. I and several other teachers have laptops with serious functional issues. Aside from the issues directly impacting instruction, staff health insurance options changed and now many of us with chronic illnesses and disabilities are going to pay a fortune to avoid care management. For me, the gold standard treatment for one of my conditions makes the difference between a half a day in an infusion chair and days in the hospital. Adding a nurse middleman who has never met me or my doctor at best delays my infusion unnecessarily and at worse, costs the insurer more when I am admitted to the hospital for more treatment. Kaiser doesn’t even treat one of my conditions in network locally. They have to refer you out.
Anonymous
11/24/2025 17:32
Subject: Google Docs… please read
Anonymous wrote:I am previous poster and also wanted to mention that MCPS used to pay for a program that allowed teacher to view any of their students’ screens to help keep kids on task & make sure they were working on intended assignment.
MCPS no longer has access to this program. I believe it was cut from budget
I don’t have a problem with a program like that being cut from the budget. In elementary school, the solution is minimal use of the Chromebook period.
Anonymous
11/24/2025 16:21
Subject: Google Docs… please read
I am previous poster and also wanted to mention that MCPS used to pay for a program that allowed teacher to view any of their students’ screens to help keep kids on task & make sure they were working on intended assignment.
MCPS no longer has access to this program. I believe it was cut from budget
MCPS no longer has access to this program. I believe it was cut from budget
Anonymous
11/24/2025 16:17
Subject: Google Docs… please read
MCPS elementary teacher & parent here:
Problem w these shared docs is that the chit chat that happens in these ES google docs usually turns mean spirited w sharing of gossip, roasts, rumors, etc.
While at home, kids can access the google doc & embed YouTube videos that they are able to access from home. That document can then be opened at school & embedded inappropriate YouTube video can then be viewed.
My own elementary aged son & daughter do have school-issued chromevooks, but we have them hidden in house & kids can only use them if we are available to oversee use.
Last year my daughter was in some sort of google doc group of 7 third graders. In the history of the document, I could see that some kids were adding to document at 1am!! It was lots of gossip & roasting of classmates….not nice. I let the classroom teacher know & we had a long talk w my daughter about expectations and responsibility surrounding computer use and the harms of cyber bullying.
Problem w these shared docs is that the chit chat that happens in these ES google docs usually turns mean spirited w sharing of gossip, roasts, rumors, etc.
While at home, kids can access the google doc & embed YouTube videos that they are able to access from home. That document can then be opened at school & embedded inappropriate YouTube video can then be viewed.
My own elementary aged son & daughter do have school-issued chromevooks, but we have them hidden in house & kids can only use them if we are available to oversee use.
Last year my daughter was in some sort of google doc group of 7 third graders. In the history of the document, I could see that some kids were adding to document at 1am!! It was lots of gossip & roasting of classmates….not nice. I let the classroom teacher know & we had a long talk w my daughter about expectations and responsibility surrounding computer use and the harms of cyber bullying.
Anonymous
11/23/2025 23:01
Subject: Google Docs… please read
It's easy for the kids - they make a shared Google doc and then can both (or all ) see and type. ES kids have been doing this ever since they got Chromebooks. It's usually pretty innocent and they are mostly just saying Hi.
It's kinda like how we used to pass notes when we were in ES.
Kids will always be one step ahead of any controls MCPS creates.
It's kinda like how we used to pass notes when we were in ES.
Kids will always be one step ahead of any controls MCPS creates.
Anonymous
11/23/2025 14:49
Subject: Google Docs… please read
I suspect that the relative high prices for paper make it super expensive to provide textbooks for MCPS students. (Never mind the lack of storage. Some schools have taken all the space already.) That's just a non-starter all around, I think, and ignores the reality on the ground. (Having said that the growing prices for ram, hard drives, and gpus, may make it untenable for MCPS to continue investing in chromebooks. (Unless the AI bubble pops and prices crater )
Anonymous
11/23/2025 14:48
Subject: Google Docs… please read
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Ha! This is such old news. My high school junior did this in 3rd grade.. When I realized how much of his day was wasted goofing around on a Chromebook, I enrolled him in private school that used textbooks and workbooks. They actually went through each textbook and workbook cover to cover sequentially so it was so easy to know what your child was studying and what they were going to study next. It was a religious school but it was the cheapest private school we could find near us and we aren’t even religious.
Best thing ever for him to spend 4th-8th grade at a school with very little technology and where phones were banned except from when the final bell rang to 10 minutes after pickup so students could connect with parents picking up or letting parents know if they were staying for aftercare. Any other time any adult saw a phone it was immediately confiscated.
They really need to bring back textbooks and workbooks! It is so much easier to track assignments and tell how much work your child is doing in class.
Textbooks and workbooks are great for the average student, but don’t work for most MCPS classrooms where differentiation is required. It negatively impacts the advanced learners as much as the student who is struggling. Purely from the standpoint of a teacher whose rosters are 25% twice exceptional learners, textbooks and workbooks would not serve a quarter of my students. Those students would be visually singled out with photocopied classwork while everyone else worked in a bound copy.
Whatever MCPS is doing is not working. 60% of kids graduate not proficient in math and 40% graduate not proficient in ELA. A new approach is needed. How much does MCPS spend on edtech?
Anonymous
11/23/2025 14:31
Subject: Google Docs… please read
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It came to my attention that young ES kids are using Google Drive to “text” each other during the school day (via a shared Google doc), make screencast recordings, recordings of themselves, etc. My DC is in lower elementary school. I was really shocked to find this on their Drive. DC is otherwise a good student. Parents, I recommend you taking a peek there to see what may be happening during the school day. Don’t think the teacher has any control or oversight over this and it’s a big blind spot.
As a teacher, I’ve warned parents about this ever since 2016.
I had absolutely no idea about this until my MS student got in trouble along with several of his friends in one of his classes for gaming. I wrote the guidance counselor who said it was a big challenge and also wrote the school IT person who she suggested I reach out to, to suggest that he block additional gaming sites I found in the Google doc and never got a response.
Anonymous
11/23/2025 09:59
Subject: Google Docs… please read
Anonymous wrote:Ha! This is such old news. My high school junior did this in 3rd grade.. When I realized how much of his day was wasted goofing around on a Chromebook, I enrolled him in private school that used textbooks and workbooks. They actually went through each textbook and workbook cover to cover sequentially so it was so easy to know what your child was studying and what they were going to study next. It was a religious school but it was the cheapest private school we could find near us and we aren’t even religious.
Best thing ever for him to spend 4th-8th grade at a school with very little technology and where phones were banned except from when the final bell rang to 10 minutes after pickup so students could connect with parents picking up or letting parents know if they were staying for aftercare. Any other time any adult saw a phone it was immediately confiscated.
They really need to bring back textbooks and workbooks! It is so much easier to track assignments and tell how much work your child is doing in class.
Textbooks and workbooks are great for the average student, but don’t work for most MCPS classrooms where differentiation is required. It negatively impacts the advanced learners as much as the student who is struggling. Purely from the standpoint of a teacher whose rosters are 25% twice exceptional learners, textbooks and workbooks would not serve a quarter of my students. Those students would be visually singled out with photocopied classwork while everyone else worked in a bound copy.
Anonymous
11/22/2025 11:58
Subject: Google Docs… please read
Ha! This is such old news. My high school junior did this in 3rd grade.. When I realized how much of his day was wasted goofing around on a Chromebook, I enrolled him in private school that used textbooks and workbooks. They actually went through each textbook and workbook cover to cover sequentially so it was so easy to know what your child was studying and what they were going to study next. It was a religious school but it was the cheapest private school we could find near us and we aren’t even religious.
Best thing ever for him to spend 4th-8th grade at a school with very little technology and where phones were banned except from when the final bell rang to 10 minutes after pickup so students could connect with parents picking up or letting parents know if they were staying for aftercare. Any other time any adult saw a phone it was immediately confiscated.
They really need to bring back textbooks and workbooks! It is so much easier to track assignments and tell how much work your child is doing in class.
Best thing ever for him to spend 4th-8th grade at a school with very little technology and where phones were banned except from when the final bell rang to 10 minutes after pickup so students could connect with parents picking up or letting parents know if they were staying for aftercare. Any other time any adult saw a phone it was immediately confiscated.
They really need to bring back textbooks and workbooks! It is so much easier to track assignments and tell how much work your child is doing in class.
Anonymous
11/22/2025 06:17
Subject: Google Docs… please read
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It came to my attention that young ES kids are using Google Drive to “text” each other during the school day (via a shared Google doc), make screencast recordings, recordings of themselves, etc. My DC is in lower elementary school. I was really shocked to find this on their Drive. DC is otherwise a good student. Parents, I recommend you taking a peek there to see what may be happening during the school day. Don’t think the teacher has any control or oversight over this and it’s a big blind spot.
What do you expect anyone to do about it? Take away their phones, laptops, Ipad, and other toys? Scandelous!
No, idiot. It’s simple. Take away the ability to share documents with fellow students. I also think it’s bizarre that students and staff can access anyone on the large mcps system outside of their own school through Google. And yes, this happens.
You are in waaaay over your head boomer.
What an interesting and ironic take on my comment.
I don’t think that all mcps high school students should have access to my elementary school children.
Anonymous
11/22/2025 06:01
Subject: Google Docs… please read
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:It came to my attention that young ES kids are using Google Drive to “text” each other during the school day (via a shared Google doc), make screencast recordings, recordings of themselves, etc. My DC is in lower elementary school. I was really shocked to find this on their Drive. DC is otherwise a good student. Parents, I recommend you taking a peek there to see what may be happening during the school day. Don’t think the teacher has any control or oversight over this and it’s a big blind spot.
Welcome to 2020 OP. This is an old old tale. They make a copy of the document that they should be working on and then use comments to chat back and forth. When the teacher looks at their screens, it appears that they are doing their work.
They also type messages in white font that is only visible when you select it. They don’t even have to minimize a window if they detect you coming. They just deselect.
Anonymous
11/22/2025 05:57
Subject: Google Docs… please read
Anonymous wrote:It came to my attention that young ES kids are using Google Drive to “text” each other during the school day (via a shared Google doc), make screencast recordings, recordings of themselves, etc. My DC is in lower elementary school. I was really shocked to find this on their Drive. DC is otherwise a good student. Parents, I recommend you taking a peek there to see what may be happening during the school day. Don’t think the teacher has any control or oversight over this and it’s a big blind spot.
As a teacher, I’ve warned parents about this ever since 2016.