My kids did band and sports and various club pursuits and they always felt very supported by kids, teachers, and families. Their friends were all different races and creeds. They were in honors classes where this type of stuff seems to happen less because kids are generally more involved in their schoolwork. I've heard the gen ed classes are rougher because kids have more time on their hands to create drama. I hope they can get the ill behaved kids under control before next year.

Anonymous wrote:We live in this school district and I love it. Nicest families in the DC area by and large and so many things for parents and kids to get involved in. I dont doubt there are kids who do mean or stupid stuff, but this is everywhere. My kids are finishing up at Madison and we couldn't be happier with the community. Madison has exceeded our expectations. Middle school and elementary had some great years and some average years but the Vienna community always made the year worthwhile even if there were some bumps. We tried local privates during covid and while that was also a good experience, the difference from public wasn't substantial.

I didn't particularly enjoy living in Vienna. Super conformist, very sports-oriented, and lots of bullying of kids who don't fit the mold. It doesn't surprise me at all that Thoreau continues to have a serious problem with student behavior.

If you think people there are the nicest families in the DC area you need to get out more.

We live in this school district and I love it. Nicest families in the DC area by and large and so many things for parents and kids to get involved in. I dont doubt there are kids who do mean or stupid stuff, but this is everywhere. My kids are finishing up at Madison and we couldn't be happier with the community. Madison has exceeded our expectations. Middle school and elementary had some great years and some average years but the Vienna community always made the year worthwhile even if there were some bumps. We tried local privates during covid and while that was also a good experience, the difference from public wasn't substantial.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will only stop when we bring back consequences for bad behavior. Parents start disciplining your children and we should all push for the schools to reinstate more consequences at school, including after school detention and suspensions. Get rid of restorative justice, it doesn't work.

How do you know there were no consequences for these incidents? It seems like the school is restricted in terms of what it can say about student disciplinary matters.

I don't know about these specific incidents but I am aware of the lack of consequences for other severe incidents. Plus, do you think this mother would have gone to the press if the kids had been sufficiently punished?

So, it looks like the majority of us think we need to bring back consequences. In every FCPS elementary, middle, and high school, there are a small number of kids causing problems. These kids are from rich, middle-class, and poor backgrounds. Some were born here, some weren't. They are black, white, hispanic, asian and/or a mix. They are repeat offenders and seem to enjoy disrupting the class and causing chaos. There are no consequences for these kids. These kids do whatever they want. Hardly any learning occurs when these kids are in a class. The teacher can usually not get through a lesson when 1 student like this is in the class. We need to send these kids home, suspend them for bad behavior, and send them to an alternative school if they continue to disrupt after multiple warnings. Let's give them 10 warnings, or 20, or even 50 would be ok, that would be better than what is currently happening. Right now, kids are staying in the classroom until they graduate, learning very little, and doing their best to make sure no one else in their class does either and never facing a consequence.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is this the same school where a pedophile teacher and the pedophile principal were arrested for being pedo criminals just a few short years ago?? This about checks for fcps and this school.

Yep! Administration at the school is inept.

Except all of that happened under a different principal, who wasn't accused of being a "pedo" but rather of failing to report alleged misconduct by another staff member promptly.

Anonymous wrote:Is this the same school where a pedophile teacher and the pedophile principal were arrested for being pedo criminals just a few short years ago?? This about checks for fcps and this school.

Yep! Administration at the school is inept.

Is this the same school where a pedophile teacher and the pedophile principal were arrested for being pedo criminals just a few short years ago?? This about checks for fcps and this school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will only stop when we bring back consequences for bad behavior. Parents start disciplining your children and we should all push for the schools to reinstate more consequences at school, including after school detention and suspensions. Get rid of restorative justice, it doesn't work.

Democrats won’t allow schools to return to sane, fairly-applied, disciplinary policies.

This all stems from Obama’s 2014 “Dear Colleagues” policy, and the use of the disparate-impact standard to gut school discipline.

Look it up.

That is because they were not fairly applied. Same offense and one kid would get detention and the other kid got suspended, I am going to guess you can figure out who got what. IF the consequences were fairly applied AND all kids received the same consequences for their action THEN most people would be fine with returning to that. But when Black and Hispanic kids are far more likely to receive the written punishment then the White kid, those rules are going to go away.

The rules were not discriminatory but the way they were enforced were. Look it up.

No, YOU look it up. “Disparate impact” - as established by unqualified statistics - was the only justification for the wholesale scrapping of school discipline.

No one bothered to look into (or even ask the question):

- are the kids who are receiving school discipline actually culpable of the in-school behavior?

If the answer is “yes,” the appropriate discipline is the answer, regardless of race.

Reliance on mere disparate-impact stats is unfounded and intellectually lazy, but that is what followed Obama’s Dear Colleagues” letter. And school discipline nationwide has suffered as a result. Our children’s learning environment has suffered.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This will only stop when we bring back consequences for bad behavior. Parents start disciplining your children and we should all push for the schools to reinstate more consequences at school, including after school detention and suspensions. Get rid of restorative justice, it doesn't work.

Democrats won’t allow schools to return to sane, fairly-applied, disciplinary policies.

This all stems from Obama’s 2014 “Dear Colleagues” policy, and the use of the disparate-impact standard to gut school discipline.

Look it up.

That is because they were not fairly applied. Same offense and one kid would get detention and the other kid got suspended, I am going to guess you can figure out who got what. IF the consequences were fairly applied AND all kids received the same consequences for their action THEN most people would be fine with returning to that. But when Black and Hispanic kids are far more likely to receive the written punishment then the White kid, those rules are going to go away.

The rules were not discriminatory but the way they were enforced were. Look it up.

Anonymous wrote:This will only stop when we bring back consequences for bad behavior. Parents start disciplining your children and we should all push for the schools to reinstate more consequences at school, including after school detention and suspensions. Get rid of restorative justice, it doesn't work.

+1
Parents need to hold their kids accountable and need to discipline their kids. They also need to be more aware of what their kids are doing. Parents are far too hands-off/gentle in their approach, parenting passively rather than actively.

Anonymous wrote:This will only stop when we bring back consequences for bad behavior. Parents start disciplining your children and we should all push for the schools to reinstate more consequences at school, including after school detention and suspensions. Get rid of restorative justice, it doesn't work.

Democrats won’t allow schools to return to sane, fairly-applied, disciplinary policies.

This all stems from Obama’s 2014 “Dear Colleagues” policy, and the use of the disparate-impact standard to gut school discipline.

Look it up.

The entire school has been punished many times. Extra SEL lessons, silent lunch, loss of bathroom privileges. The problem is punishing everyone instead of the students who did it.

Anonymous wrote:This will only stop when we bring back consequences for bad behavior. Parents start disciplining your children and we should all push for the schools to reinstate more consequences at school, including after school detention and suspensions. Get rid of restorative justice, it doesn't work.

How do you know there were no consequences for these incidents? It seems like the school is restricted in terms of what it can say about student disciplinary matters.

This will only stop when we bring back consequences for bad behavior. Parents start disciplining your children and we should all push for the schools to reinstate more consequences at school, including after school detention and suspensions. Get rid of restorative justice, it doesn't work.