Montgomery County’s Longest Running School Newspaper
Volume 91 Issue 8
The Tattler May 2018
Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School 4301 East-West Highway, Bethesda, MD 20814
Climate Change Something has happened to the cultural climate of B-CC, and teachers are not happy about it By Matt Cohen and Conor Kelley “I was surprised by the low rank of Bethesda-Chevy Chase, which seems to me well run,” wrote Jay Mathews of The Washington Post in a November 2017 column. B-CC ranked 22nd out of the 25 high schools in Montgomery County in percentage of staffers agreeing with the following statement: “Staff morale in this school is positive.” Only 23.9% of B-CC staffers agreed. Mathews claimed in that column that low morale often correlates with the difficulties of teaching disadvantaged children. B-CC, however, has just 11% low-income students according to Mathews’ story. By comparison, Whitman, Walter Johnson, Wootton and Poolesville, schools with percentages of low income students in the single digits, all wound up in the top 10 in terms of highest morale. B-CC and Churchill are the only two schools with low-income student percentages of less than 15% that did not make the top 10. Topping the list overall is Paint Branch, with 77.9% of staffers agreeing that staff morale is high, and 34% low-income students. Based on Mathews’ claim regarding the correlation between income and staff morale, it makes sense that Mathews was surprised. Though for those who experience the work climate of B-CC on a day-to-day basis, this ranking isn’t taking anyone aback. An anonymous commenter on the Mathews column wrote the following: “As a teacher at B-CC, I am not surprised by our rating. Administration continues to scold staff and tell us we are just being negative. Interesting to see us compared to the rest of the county!” The Tattler spoke with numerous faculty members at B-CC, and all gave variations on the same message: work climate has taken a turn for the worst since the change of administration for the 2015-16 school year. One staff member claimed that in the first year of the new administration at B-CC, teachers gave the administrators the benefit of the doubt, as everyone tried to settle in. Though nearly three years into the administration’s tenure, that pass has disappeared. Montgomery County Public Schools posted the staff climate survey data from the 2016-17 school year, data which Mathews used in his story. The Tattler requested, but was unable to obtain the monthly survey data for the 2017-18 school year, but were told that this year’s data largely resembles that of last year’s. In addition to the staff morale statement Mathews used in his story, teachers were asked if they agreed or disagreed with 17
statements in the 2016-17 survey, including “The school leadership involves me in decisions affecting my work” and “My school recognizes staff for their quality work and accomplishments.” For the former, 55.6% of those surveyed either disagreed or strongly disagreed. For the latter, 44.3% either disagreed or strongly disagreed (22.7% neither agreed nor disagreed). The most recent survey data MCPS has released before 2016-17 was from the 2011-12 school year, when Ms. Lockard was the principal. For the statement, “Staff morale is positive in this school”, 74.8% of staffers either strongly agreed or agreed. Following the publishing of Mathews’ article, one teacher noted that Dr. Jones was shocked by the statistics reported by B-CC’s staff, which many considered to be a prime opportunity to address the problem and take strides in working with the staff to solve it. Instead, the same teacher reported, the staff were essentially told that they were “making the choice to be unhappy.” When asked to comment on her reaction to the staff climate data, Dr. Jones said that her immediate thought was wanting to know more. Jones said that she wanted to know more of the narrative and examples behind the numbers. Continued on page 13
Inside this Edition
“Toxic Masculinity”, Page 9
Construction Site Tour, Page 10-11
Gun Activism Photo Spread, Page 19