I don't have kids in MCPS so no direct skin in the game. But I did graduate from Churchill closer to its golden age (early 2000s) and went to a top 20 school.

What I noticed in college makes me question all the parents who think the end goal is to get their kids into the best college and how maybe public school is good enough or even better than privates to do that. My college classmates differed dramatically in their academic ability and readiness, even though we all made it to the same college. The kids from private school/boarding school were on another level. The kids who were affirmative action admits (either because of race or socioeconomic status) were clearly behind and more likely to struggle. As a graduate or Churchill, I would put myself maybe in the 70th percentile of readiness (though I was objectively prepared). The kids from the likes Georgetown prep were more prepared.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right there with you. Will be done in May. We moved here for the schools 10+ years ago, but now I tell my kids not to move back here if they have kids.

For those who think, nbd, it is a big deal. A large % of the student population are below level, yet, MCPS thinks taking away instruction days is a-ok. So much wasted money; focusing too much on DEI initiatives rather than academics (which is ironic given how not focusing more on academics mostly hurts URM kids).

So thankful to be done. 🙏

One fewer flyover family. The more of you who left, the better.

? We are originally from the west coast. People like you are killing MCPS. You are probably more proud of how woke MCPS is rather than be embarrassed at the low academic achievement of the student body, which is actually more hurtful for URM.

Grade inflation, 50% rule - why do you think MCPS finally got rid of these stupid rules? Moving violent students around... look at how many children have been shot, stabbed, raped over the past several years. Did you see the picture of the kids with their hands up in the classroom at Wootton as police charged in with their assault rifles drawn? How terrifying. Those kids were traumatized.

The all powerful teacher's union is also not helping the students. I used to respect all the teachers, even the not so great ones. I would tell my kids to always be respectful of their teachers. [b] But, lately, I've become disgusted with the teacher's union.

So, yea, glad to be out of MCPS.

Cool! No wonder students don't respect education or their teachers-they are learning it at home. So congratulations for being part of the problem!

You've got reading comprehension issues.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost done with MCPS as my youngest nears high school graduation. This school system has really slid a long, loooooong way down in the last 20 years. I went through MCPS myself, too. The elementary schools are still excellent but middle and high school is literal crap. Just a real POS school system now. I know people complain constantly about MCPS and I **almost** hate to chime in but I really am looking forward to saying goodbye and waving goodbye to this crap school system.

Oh is a Mad Mommy of MoCo Big Mad again?

See, this is part of the problem right here. Go ahead, mock parents who aren't happy. Just focus on the students who do well -- after all, they're the ones who are carrying MCPS. I've had some overachievers so I know what I'm talking about. From the $$$ private violin lessons that make the school performance amazing, for which the orchestra teacher takes a bow, to the classroom teachers who don't bother reaching the students who sit bored day after day after day. Such a lame attitude, PP. Glad to be almost done with the likes of you, too.

+1 Sure, there are some good teachers, but too many clocking it in teachers. Makes sense to dumb things down if you don't want to teach.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right there with you. Will be done in May. We moved here for the schools 10+ years ago, but now I tell my kids not to move back here if they have kids.

For those who think, nbd, it is a big deal. A large % of the student population are below level, yet, MCPS thinks taking away instruction days is a-ok. So much wasted money; focusing too much on DEI initiatives rather than academics (which is ironic given how not focusing more on academics mostly hurts URM kids).

So thankful to be done. 🙏

One fewer flyover family. The more of you who left, the better.

? We are originally from the west coast. People like you are killing MCPS. You are probably more proud of how woke MCPS is rather than be embarrassed at the low academic achievement of the student body, which is actually more hurtful for URM.

Grade inflation, 50% rule - why do you think MCPS finally got rid of these stupid rules? Moving violent students around... look at how many children have been shot, stabbed, raped over the past several years. Did you see the picture of the kids with their hands up in the classroom at Wootton as police charged in with their assault rifles drawn? How terrifying. Those kids were traumatized.

The all powerful teacher's union is also not helping the students. I used to respect all the teachers, even the not so great ones. I would tell my kids to always be respectful of their teachers. But, lately, I've become disgusted with the teacher's union.

So, yea, glad to be out of MCPS.

Cool! No wonder students don't respect education or their teachers-they are learning it at home. So congratulations for being part of the problem!

nah. I have always told my children to respect their teachers, even the not so good ones.

The problem is the woke contingent. You are the opposite side of the same coin as MAGA. You are both ruining education.

DP-no. You still sound like the problem. You ARE the problem. Feel sorry for your kids. They are probably the ones in class ruining it for the kids who DO respect teachers and want to actually learn.

Nope. I've told my kids to always respect the teacher, even if the teacher sucks. They are both high achieving, but some of the teachers don't actually teach. I read some of their essays and made them rewrite it AFTER they got it graded because the teacher didn't point out any issues -- which were many. They have both told me that they hated when I made them do it, but they have grudgingly stated that it had helped them be better writers. One graduated with a 4.0/4.92 and the other 3.75/4.5.

They are done with MCPS, and they are glad, as well. The only good thing about MCPS was the programming, and numerous AP classes, but MCPS is even killing the county magnet programs. IMO, that's a big mistake.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost done with MCPS as my youngest nears high school graduation. This school system has really slid a long, loooooong way down in the last 20 years. I went through MCPS myself, too. The elementary schools are still excellent but middle and high school is literal crap. Just a real POS school system now. I know people complain constantly about MCPS and I **almost** hate to chime in but I really am looking forward to saying goodbye and waving goodbye to this crap school system.

MCPS will be better without you.
Don't forget to take your DCUM friends with you.

LOL what are you even doing here?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right there with you. Will be done in May. We moved here for the schools 10+ years ago, but now I tell my kids not to move back here if they have kids.

For those who think, nbd, it is a big deal. A large % of the student population are below level, yet, MCPS thinks taking away instruction days is a-ok. So much wasted money; focusing too much on DEI initiatives rather than academics (which is ironic given how not focusing more on academics mostly hurts URM kids).

So thankful to be done. 🙏

Specifically how is being inclusive to everyone taking away from academics?

My kid once showed me a list of books they had to read from. They had to choose two. Every single one was about DEI. They looked boring AF. I wouldn't want to read it, either. They read Macbeth recently and loved that. My CS major DS even read Pride and Prejudice in their IB class, and they preferred books like that over DEI type books.

MCPS keeps moving more and more towards reading boring DEI type books. What a way to turn kids off from reading.

Most of them are about crisis and trauma -- alcoholic parents, abuse, rape. Then they wonder why they need suicide prevention lessons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost done with MCPS as my youngest nears high school graduation. This school system has really slid a long, loooooong way down in the last 20 years. I went through MCPS myself, too. The elementary schools are still excellent but middle and high school is literal crap. Just a real POS school system now. I know people complain constantly about MCPS and I **almost** hate to chime in but I really am looking forward to saying goodbye and waving goodbye to this crap school system.

Oh is a Mad Mommy of MoCo Big Mad again?

See, this is part of the problem right here. Go ahead, mock parents who aren't happy. Just focus on the students who do well -- after all, they're the ones who are carrying MCPS. I've had some overachievers so I know what I'm talking about. From the $$$ private violin lessons that make the school performance amazing, for which the orchestra teacher takes a bow, to the classroom teachers who don't bother reaching the students who sit bored day after day after day. Such a lame attitude, PP. Glad to be almost done with the likes of you, too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not a flex to leave after your done with educating your child. If it was so bad you would have left years ago… but it wasn’t bad do you stayed.

What option is there for OP?
-NP

Move
Private
Home school
Online

But it wasn’t bad it was great actually OP is just a psycho.

- It is not easy to move. People have jobs here. + it is expensive to move
- Private is worse than MCPS for rigor. + it is expensive
- Parent will have to stay home to homeschool. Most parents are struggling to make ends meet and need to work.
- Online? Where? Youtube? There is no guidance about how and what to study? How do you go about hiring teachers? What about the socialization?

Not sure why you are making excuses for the OP. It *is* ridiculous to wait until your kids have graduated and then make some obnoxious "good riddance!" statement. There are many private school options across the cost spectrum including parochial schools and you can apply for financial aid. No reason to stay in public school if you hate it so much. I also wonder if OP was active in their PTA/PSTAs; did they volunteer as a cluster rep; did they submit comments to the BOE or attend meetings? Or did they just sit on their MAGA butt complaining for 12+ years?

I’m so conflicted, after 15 years in McPS (3 more to go).

The demographics of the county has changed a ton over the last 20-30 years and I don’t think the school board really knows how to handle that. They seem to really want a one size fits all solution which is doomed to fail and not fit anyone correctly.

There’s a national teaching crisis (like the national law enforcement crisis) with not enough people going into the field. Boomers all retired during the pandemic and Gen X is checking out now.

Ai is having a massive impact that no one knows how to deal with. Not just the kids using it, but also the teachers. My kids say so many teachers are now using AI to grade. I feel bad they don’t have more grading time. I actually would support something like having the kids in HS humanities classes spend 1 or even 2 days a week watching stuff like Len burns documentaries to allow the teachers time to provide actual feedback on written work. Or maybe 1 day a week doing something like that and one day a week with dedicated in class writing time so that the teachers have a solid 90 minutes in addition to their planning period to grade papers in a way that actually helps kids learn to think critically and write.

Real solutions would require at least 50% more teachers plus double the security staff … I’m not sure anyone would want to pay for that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right there with you. Will be done in May. We moved here for the schools 10+ years ago, but now I tell my kids not to move back here if they have kids.

For those who think, nbd, it is a big deal. A large % of the student population are below level, yet, MCPS thinks taking away instruction days is a-ok. So much wasted money; focusing too much on DEI initiatives rather than academics (which is ironic given how not focusing more on academics mostly hurts URM kids).

So thankful to be done. 🙏

One fewer flyover family. The more of you who left, the better.

? We are originally from the west coast. People like you are killing MCPS. You are probably more proud of how woke MCPS is rather than be embarrassed at the low academic achievement of the student body, which is actually more hurtful for URM.

Grade inflation, 50% rule - why do you think MCPS finally got rid of these stupid rules? Moving violent students around... look at how many children have been shot, stabbed, raped over the past several years. Did you see the picture of the kids with their hands up in the classroom at Wootton as police charged in with their assault rifles drawn? How terrifying. Those kids were traumatized.

The all powerful teacher's union is also not helping the students. I used to respect all the teachers, even the not so great ones. I would tell my kids to always be respectful of their teachers. But, lately, I've become disgusted with the teacher's union.

So, yea, glad to be out of MCPS.

Cool! No wonder students don't respect education or their teachers-they are learning it at home. So congratulations for being part of the problem!

nah. I have always told my children to respect their teachers, even the not so good ones.

The problem is the woke contingent. You are the opposite side of the same coin as MAGA. You are both ruining education.

DP-no. You still sound like the problem. You ARE the problem. Feel sorry for your kids. They are probably the ones in class ruining it for the kids who DO respect teachers and want to actually learn.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am as left as they come but agree that MCPS is a shadow of its former self now. They are lurching from one thing to the next, having lost the focus on academics. They don’t really know how to pursue academic excellence with the new demographic/socioeconomic class of students. Also love the teachers- but as a school system, hoo boy, I agree with OP- happy to be almost done.

Please you have no clue how it was in the 80’s/90’s/2000’s if you think this is worse.

DP
8th grade math and reading scores are down since 2000
https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/profiles/stateprofile/overview/MD?sfj=NP&chort=2&sub=MAT&sj=MD&st=MN&year=2024R3&cti=PgTab_OT

1. MCPS is not the state of MD
2. Your link shows that test scores are higher in the 2000's than the 1990's.
DP

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s not a flex to leave after your done with educating your child. If it was so bad you would have left years ago… but it wasn’t bad do you stayed.

What option is there for OP?
-NP

Move
Private
Home school
Online

But it wasn’t bad it was great actually OP is just a psycho.

- It is not easy to move. People have jobs here. + it is expensive to move
- Private is worse than MCPS for rigor. + it is expensive
- Parent will have to stay home to homeschool. Most parents are struggling to make ends meet and need to work.
- Online? Where? Youtube? There is no guidance about how and what to study? How do you go about hiring teachers? What about the socialization?

You are delusional. In college, private school grads fare far better than public school kids. We’ve had kids in both, and private is far better and not always as expensive as people on here think. It can range from $15,000 to $60,000 in this area. People make choices. You can take fancy vacations, drive a high end car, have a movie theater in your McMansion and give your kid a mediocre MCPS education or you can use that money for private school tuition. Of all
the things I would never sacrifice for my kid, health and education would be the non-negotiable.

Whatever you need to tell yourself. I might say that too if I wasted six figures on private school education.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Almost done with MCPS as my youngest nears high school graduation. This school system has really slid a long, loooooong way down in the last 20 years. I went through MCPS myself, too. The elementary schools are still excellent but middle and high school is literal crap. Just a real POS school system now. I know people complain constantly about MCPS and I **almost** hate to chime in but I really am looking forward to saying goodbye and waving goodbye to this crap school system.

Oh is a Mad Mommy of MoCo Big Mad again?

Are you an McPS comms person? You seem to have the limited vocab of someone on Cram’s team…

Uh, no, short bus. There are no MCPS comms people here.

The immigrants we have today are coming in with lots of trauma. They are coming illiterate (the family and the child). They are coming in very poor with few resources. We have kids entering K still wearing diapers. We have kids coming in at K or older never having previous special Ed services and are severely autistic. This is not unique to MCPS. It is tanking scores across the nation. There is only so much MCPS can do to combat that. There are plenty of things MCPS does that I disagree with and haven't handled correctly but there are some things you can't blame them for. For what it's worth, I am an MCPS employee in special Ed and it's maddening what is happening with the funding, , the over crowding on some of our programs, staffing issues.
That being said, my kids are having a really good experience so far at the elementary level (title 1 school) though I definitely see things that could be changed. Taylor has gone and made major changes but it's not hitting what really needs to be done.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did your kid not get into UMD? I don’t think that is MCPS’ fault.

dp.. my kid got into UMDCP for CS a couple of years ago, and I still think MCPS is going down hill. Look at the achievement numbers for the past few years.

Achievement tests are biased against students of color and our multilingual learners which now comprise a large percentage of our students.

and there you are. Thanks for proving my point about how MCPS wokism is actually hurting students.

Also, we are immigrants, and my parents don't speak English. I know a thing or to about non English speakers and struggling in academics. Dumbing things down doesn't help such students. I fully support providing a lot of free academic support, even meals, free backpacks (which I have donated to in the past), but dumbing things down doesn't help them in the long run.

Also, why do you suppose a lot of top universities are going back to test required? Studies have shown that SATs are a better marker of how well a student does in college compared to grades. Did you know that in college most of your grade is based on test scores? So, tell me how grade inflation and not focusing on tests will help these students in college?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Right there with you. Will be done in May. We moved here for the schools 10+ years ago, but now I tell my kids not to move back here if they have kids.

For those who think, nbd, it is a big deal. A large % of the student population are below level, yet, MCPS thinks taking away instruction days is a-ok. So much wasted money; focusing too much on DEI initiatives rather than academics (which is ironic given how not focusing more on academics mostly hurts URM kids).

So thankful to be done. 🙏

Specifically how is being inclusive to everyone taking away from academics?

My kid once showed me a list of books they had to read from. They had to choose two. Every single one was about DEI. They looked boring AF. I wouldn't want to read it, either. They read Macbeth recently and loved that. My CS major DS even read Pride and Prejudice in their IB class, and they preferred books like that over DEI type books.

MCPS keeps moving more and more towards reading boring DEI type books. What a way to turn kids off from reading.