Teacher: "I believe that a budget savings of 0.007% should not outweigh the voices of thousands of MCPS educators who rely on GoGuardian"

I am a middle school math teacher with 28 years of teaching experience in MCPS, and also the parent of an MCPS student. In recent weeks, my fellow MCEA representatives at Takoma Park Middle School and I have had many conversations with teachers in our building who are frustrated and concerned about the decision to cancel GoGuardian for the 2024-25 school year. 

In case you are not familiar with GoGuardian, it is a tool that thousands of MCPS teachers use regularly to monitor students while they complete learning tasks and take assessments on Chromebooks. GoGuardian helps students stay on-task and avoid the temptations of gaming and other online distractions. It promotes academic integrity during assessments. Many teachers also use GoGuardian as a communication tool, to ask and answer questions during learning tasks on Chromebooks, and also to check in with students about their emotional well-being. So far, the only rationale presented for eliminating GoGuardian is to save $233,925, which represents 0.007% of the proposed MCPS operating budget of 3.164 billion dollars. 

Concerned that teachers’ voices had not been considered in the decision to eliminate GoGuardian, I first created a survey to capture staff opinions at Takoma Park Middle School. The results of that survey were so compelling, I decided to take the survey county-wide. Data is still coming in, but I wanted to share some preliminary results, based on over 700 responses (and counting) from MCPS educators. 

83% of teachers who responded to the survey use GoGuardian all or most of the time that students are on Chromebooks. 
88% strongly agreed (and another 9% agreed) with the statement “If my students use Chromebooks without GoGuardian, they are more likely to spend instructional time playing video games and accessing other non-school related websites.” 
88% strongly agreed (and another 9% agreed) with the statement “If my students use Chromebooks without GoGuardian, I will have to spend more time monitoring Chromebook usage to keep them on-task, and will be less able to help with learning tasks and provide feedback on their work.” 

Even more compelling than the numbers are the hundreds of comments from educators who are extremely concerned about the negative impacts of eliminating GoGuardian on student learning and student well-being. 

This Wednesday night, the survey will close and I will be sharing the full data with the Board of Education and Stephanie Sheron, Chief of MCPS’s Office of Strategic Initiatives, who announced the decision to cancel GoGuardian. However, with the Board scheduled to meet this Thursday (February 22) to vote on a tentative budget, it seemed important to get the word out to parents as quickly as possible. 

I believe that a budget savings of 0.007% should not outweigh the voices of thousands of MCPS educators who rely on GoGuardian to encourage the responsible use of technology, help students focus on learning, and safeguard the emotional well-being of their students. If you believe that MCPS should listen to these voices, please contact the decision makers and urge that full funding for GoGuardian be restored in the 2024-25 MCPS budget. Email addresses for Ms. Sheron and the board members are available at the MCPS website. Thank you for your time and support of our MCPS students and teachers. 

Sincerely, 
Sarah Manchester 
Math Teacher, MCEA Representative, and MCPS Parent 
Takoma Park Middle School