Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The survey was pointless. Looking at several hundred responses, it doesn’t tell anything that was not already detailed in other surveys over the last 2 years. Further it’s being given during the summer so it’s not going to get near the number of replies that a normal school year survey gets and those already have low participation. I’m glad this is making some of y’all feel good. But for me it’s a waste of stakeholder time and some people’s time in CO who are undoubtedly going to have to review, summarize, present and discuss the results.

As a teacher, I don't recall a time a superintendent asked me to write my thoughts and opinions. Even at training with members of Central Office, we are often told to put concerns or questions "in a bin" and they will be answered when they can. I appreciated the opportunity and the fact that what teachers wrote was published for all to see. We often feel like we can't say what we are thinking, because we are putting on a show for our supervisors and the community. Teachers actually will have more time to fill out the survey over the summer, and we are sharing it on our social media groups and encouraging everyone to fill it out. I was able to, as a special education teacher, type out what I wanted to say out loud at IEP meetings, where I feel mostly feel silenced and have to be very careful about the way I state things.

+1
Any survey like this is going to get responses all over the map from the community. But there are a lot of very concrete, specific, constructive suggestions in there. It will be interesting to see if they discuss any of this at the BOE meetings in July and August and how they set their schedule for the year.

I’m glad you feel the ability to engage. Truly. However, the actual content of the responses is not new information. I read through the first 400 responses word for word and came up with maybe three new things that haven’t read before in survey results/study reports or heard in some type of forum. I then skipped down a bunch and reviewed another say 400 responses the same way and it was merely repeating what was written before. Maybe different wording, but the issue or topics would be categorized the same. The point being that anyone could have read several other reports/surveys and listened to the presentations to the BOE and gotten the same info (CAIR report, Anti-racist audit, Teacher/Parent/Student climate survey, New Superintendent report, MD Special Education Report, Board Testimony, etc. etc.). Many of these things have specific examples and quoted feedback. So again, not really new topics or priorities. And since this survey wasn’t targeted on a specific priority it doesn’t dig for any great depth or nuance.

I’m glad some feel engaged. Fill out the survey to your hearts content. But if I was a CO evaluator I’d be annoyed at having to review and summarize information that we already had and could easily direct the new Super towards.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The survey was pointless. Looking at several hundred responses, it doesn’t tell anything that was not already detailed in other surveys over the last 2 years. Further it’s being given during the summer so it’s not going to get near the number of replies that a normal school year survey gets and those already have low participation. I’m glad this is making some of y’all feel good. But for me it’s a waste of stakeholder time and some people’s time in CO who are undoubtedly going to have to review, summarize, present and discuss the results.

As a teacher, I don't recall a time a superintendent asked me to write my thoughts and opinions. Even at training with members of Central Office, we are often told to put concerns or questions "in a bin" and they will be answered when they can. I appreciated the opportunity and the fact that what teachers wrote was published for all to see. We often feel like we can't say what we are thinking, because we are putting on a show for our supervisors and the community. Teachers actually will have more time to fill out the survey over the summer, and we are sharing it on our social media groups and encouraging everyone to fill it out. I was able to, as a special education teacher, type out what I wanted to say out loud at IEP meetings, where I feel mostly feel silenced and have to be very careful about the way I state things.

+1
Any survey like this is going to get responses all over the map from the community. But there are a lot of very concrete, specific, constructive suggestions in there. It will be interesting to see if they discuss any of this at the BOE meetings in July and August and how they set their schedule for the year.

Anonymous wrote:The survey was pointless. Looking at several hundred responses, it doesn’t tell anything that was not already detailed in other surveys over the last 2 years. Further it’s being given during the summer so it’s not going to get near the number of replies that a normal school year survey gets and those already have low participation. I’m glad this is making some of y’all feel good. But for me it’s a waste of stakeholder time and some people’s time in CO who are undoubtedly going to have to review, summarize, present and discuss the results.

As a teacher, I don't recall a time a superintendent asked me to write my thoughts and opinions. Even at training with members of Central Office, we are often told to put concerns or questions "in a bin" and they will be answered when they can. I appreciated the opportunity and the fact that what teachers wrote was published for all to see. We often feel like we can't say what we are thinking, because we are putting on a show for our supervisors and the community. Teachers actually will have more time to fill out the survey over the summer, and we are sharing it on our social media groups and encouraging everyone to fill it out. I was able to, as a special education teacher, type out what I wanted to say out loud at IEP meetings, where I feel mostly feel silenced and have to be very careful about the way I state things.

The survey was pointless. Looking at several hundred responses, it doesn’t tell anything that was not already detailed in other surveys over the last 2 years. Further it’s being given during the summer so it’s not going to get near the number of replies that a normal school year survey gets and those already have low participation. I’m glad this is making some of y’all feel good. But for me it’s a waste of stakeholder time and some people’s time in CO who are undoubtedly going to have to review, summarize, present and discuss the results.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, y'all have already found out what to call him out on? Inability to micromanage the person in charge of spreadsheets in an office that still has paper time sheets in the 21st century? Third day in this job, 6+yrs as a Supe. Must be nice not to have to commute far from childhood home for a dream job while raising five kids at home.

No, we expect him to have a process in place for collecting and disseminating information. With 6 years of experience, such a rookie mistake on day 1 shouldn't have been made.

The survey was sent out a while ago, before he was even super.

No, it wasn't. This survey was sent out after the press conference presenting him as the candidate for the position: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2023-2024/BOE-Update-20240618.html

Yes, which was a couple weeks before he became super.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, y'all have already found out what to call him out on? Inability to micromanage the person in charge of spreadsheets in an office that still has paper time sheets in the 21st century? Third day in this job, 6+yrs as a Supe. Must be nice not to have to commute far from childhood home for a dream job while raising five kids at home.

No, we expect him to have a process in place for collecting and disseminating information. With 6 years of experience, such a rookie mistake on day 1 shouldn't have been made.

I think he probably just trusted that the people who were helping him with the survey knew what they were doing. But I guess he learned quickly that they do not. He’s got a lot of work to do to clean up the mess that MCPS has become.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, y'all have already found out what to call him out on? Inability to micromanage the person in charge of spreadsheets in an office that still has paper time sheets in the 21st century? Third day in this job, 6+yrs as a Supe. Must be nice not to have to commute far from childhood home for a dream job while raising five kids at home.

No, we expect him to have a process in place for collecting and disseminating information. With 6 years of experience, such a rookie mistake on day 1 shouldn't have been made.

The survey was sent out a while ago, before he was even super.

No, it wasn't. This survey was sent out after the press conference presenting him as the candidate for the position: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/publicinfo/community/school-year-2023-2024/BOE-Update-20240618.html

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, y'all have already found out what to call him out on? Inability to micromanage the person in charge of spreadsheets in an office that still has paper time sheets in the 21st century? Third day in this job, 6+yrs as a Supe. Must be nice not to have to commute far from childhood home for a dream job while raising five kids at home.

No, we expect him to have a process in place for collecting and disseminating information. With 6 years of experience, such a rookie mistake on day 1 shouldn't have been made.

The survey was sent out a while ago, before he was even super.

The survey was sent out after he was announced as Super, specifically as an ask from him. And the results were displayed during his first week.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So, y'all have already found out what to call him out on? Inability to micromanage the person in charge of spreadsheets in an office that still has paper time sheets in the 21st century? Third day in this job, 6+yrs as a Supe. Must be nice not to have to commute far from childhood home for a dream job while raising five kids at home.

No, we expect him to have a process in place for collecting and disseminating information. With 6 years of experience, such a rookie mistake on day 1 shouldn't have been made.

The survey was sent out a while ago, before he was even super.

Anonymous wrote:So, y'all have already found out what to call him out on? Inability to micromanage the person in charge of spreadsheets in an office that still has paper time sheets in the 21st century? Third day in this job, 6+yrs as a Supe. Must be nice not to have to commute far from childhood home for a dream job while raising five kids at home.

No, we expect him to have a process in place for collecting and disseminating information. With 6 years of experience, such a rookie mistake on day 1 shouldn't have been made.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Longtime MCPS teacher here who has worked under multiple superintendents. I will say, you have to give the new guy credit for trying to be transparent with the responses. So many were not flattering. I appreciated that vulnerability.

However, I agree that someone should have been looking for identifying information before making it live.

+1 I think it is a good idea and a good way for him to gauge what the concerns are. And making the comments available for all to see is the opposite of what has been happening over the last few years. As a teacher, I felt like I could actually write some things that I have wanted to say for a long time!

If its available for all to see why does one need a Google Account and why would you need to request access?

I think it's open to MCPS employees but not the broader community.

He just sent an email to the community with the link to the live survey feedback

Yup. That one works.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Longtime MCPS teacher here who has worked under multiple superintendents. I will say, you have to give the new guy credit for trying to be transparent with the responses. So many were not flattering. I appreciated that vulnerability.

However, I agree that someone should have been looking for identifying information before making it live.

+1 I think it is a good idea and a good way for him to gauge what the concerns are. And making the comments available for all to see is the opposite of what has been happening over the last few years. As a teacher, I felt like I could actually write some things that I have wanted to say for a long time!

If its available for all to see why does one need a Google Account and why would you need to request access?

I think it's open to MCPS employees but not the broader community.

He just sent an email to the community with the link to the live survey feedback

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Longtime MCPS teacher here who has worked under multiple superintendents. I will say, you have to give the new guy credit for trying to be transparent with the responses. So many were not flattering. I appreciated that vulnerability.

However, I agree that someone should have been looking for identifying information before making it live.

+1 I think it is a good idea and a good way for him to gauge what the concerns are. And making the comments available for all to see is the opposite of what has been happening over the last few years. As a teacher, I felt like I could actually write some things that I have wanted to say for a long time!

If its available for all to see why does one need a Google Account and why would you need to request access?

I think it's open to MCPS employees but not the broader community.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Longtime MCPS teacher here who has worked under multiple superintendents. I will say, you have to give the new guy credit for trying to be transparent with the responses. So many were not flattering. I appreciated that vulnerability.

However, I agree that someone should have been looking for identifying information before making it live.

+1 I think it is a good idea and a good way for him to gauge what the concerns are. And making the comments available for all to see is the opposite of what has been happening over the last few years. As a teacher, I felt like I could actually write some things that I have wanted to say for a long time!

If its available for all to see why does one need a Google Account and why would you need to request access?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Longtime MCPS teacher here who has worked under multiple superintendents. I will say, you have to give the new guy credit for trying to be transparent with the responses. So many were not flattering. I appreciated that vulnerability.

However, I agree that someone should have been looking for identifying information before making it live.

+1 I think it is a good idea and a good way for him to gauge what the concerns are. And making the comments available for all to see is the opposite of what has been happening over the last few years. As a teacher, I felt like I could actually write some things that I have wanted to say for a long time!

+2 I agree and feel like sharing the comments with the community actually means we can see that they are taken seriously and something might come of it! Since this is the first time MCPS has tried to do this-- I'll give them a break on that. I appreciated the vulnerability and trying to do something different.

Also, in the email it Super does say "I will also share what you write with the broader community as well." If they added their phone number or name to comments they knew it would be shared...you can see the comments in real time.