Incentives to Keep Teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Um, there is a huge shortage of new teachers. Education departments nationwide have low enrollment. And new teachers become unhappy teachers very quickly, so they don’t last long.

Yes, the grass is greener. Other professions offer more respect, a better work/life balance, and a less hectic work day.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Not harrassing and manipulating teachers is it's own incentive. In otherwords, we could do our jobs with autonomy and the system would be sued less and governed more fairly if admin positions simply did not exist.

😂🤣😂🤣. That would be a fun experiment to watch. They should actually simulate that out with teachers, parents and a facilitator across a couple weeks.

I’d like to see who would rise up to become the defacto admins, community chairs, and collaborators.

As long as the de facto admins remain teachers instead of stepping full-time into an office, the experiment would be a success.

It’s when people leave the classroom but continue to be “experts” that we fall into the mess we have now.

First you didn’t call for Admins to remain teachers you suggested getting rid of them all together.

Second was does remain teachers mean? One class, half a day, an AP class, what?

Third, what those defacto admin are going to find is that the pressures and expectations are different when you have to start making decisions that impact are whole lot of people. They are also going to find that there is a whole slew of things that need decisions, work, and reporting/compliance that teachers aren’t fully responsible for. And they are going to quickly find out that in a district the scale of MCPS, without some Admin who don’t have split focus, important things are going to be missed and lots of things are going to be done 200 different ways.

There’s a reason that when organization scale they start having management roles.

You are responding to two different posters. I called for making admin teach. Another poster called for removing admin all together.

Other countries make it work. Perhaps it’s time for us to consider smaller districts so the sheer size of MCPS isn’t an issue. I have a friend who is an “admin” overseas. She works with a group of teachers who run the school, but each person continues to teach a small set of classes. They not only make school-wide decisions, but they serve as models to younger teachers who are able to come observe their methods. Makes sense.

What we are doing right now isn’t working. I’ll be honest: I know my admin can’t do what I do every day. Some haven’t taught in 10-15 years, and a lot has changed since then. Teachers continue to gain experience and administrators don’t. It’s hard to look at them as leaders when they are adjacent to the classroom and not in it. They only superficially understand what current teachers are experiencing.

So what you want is Teacher-Powered charter schools. That already exist in the country.

People shouldn’t have to choose charters or private schools in order to have a well-run school.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:What should the BOE and County Council do to keep teachers?

I’d say:
No income tax for any teacher after x#of years
No property tax for teachers who choose to live in MC after 5 years within county and x#years of teaching

What else?

As a parent in MCPS with so many behavior issues ( incl but not limited to ADHD), a teacher needs a TA in class. This can be someone who may only have a HS diploma, but is there to deal with kids that are misbehaving, so the teacher can focus on teaching the rest of the class. So much time in my child’s middle school is spent on dealing with the same half dozen kids ( in an entire day, different classes ) that are not listening, being obnoxious or disrupting class for other reasons.

Private schools would not tolerate these behaviors- so why are public schools tolerating it? It is so disruptive for children who want to study and learn. It is not the teachers fault - their hands are tied by what the admin will or will not do.

We need TAs for the students who need help but we also need bouncers to get rid of the ones who don't want to learn. It's my dream to have a sweep of these students like in the movie Lean on Me. Get rid of them. Someone else (not the teachers) can offer alternatives for them but they need to be removed from the gen ed classroom.

Unfortunately, in public schools, you cannot get rid of students , per se. That is another big issue. I think having consequences where the child disrupting needs parents to pick them up- if it happens regularly, mandate psych eval and then go from there.

My DC 14 told me the other day that there are a couple of students that get detention / have to eat lunch with the VP every single day- doesn’t change a thing- behavior is still the same. So the consequences currently being implanted are not effective. The Board with parent input need to find more consistent and different consequences for disruptive behavior. Also, imo, it needs to be the same all across MCPS- no school and principal dependent.

But there are zero expectations of parents. There is no expectation that they answer the phone when admin calls them about their child’s behavior. If I had a time for every pissed off parents screaming, “He’s not my problem when he’s at school!” “Stop calling me!”

But it is the school's responsibility to provide services necessary to manage a student's disability. If a disruptive behavior is a manifestation of a disability, then the school needs to provide additional supportive services. They can't simply send the student home, although sometimes they try.

If parents won’t sign an IEP, there isn’t that much that can be done. We can’t even send our students to the mental health counselor without parent permission.

An IEP isn't necessary to provide many supports.

These kids desperately need mental health counseling. That won’t happen without parent approval.

Due to a MCPS partnership, numerous schools have on-site therapy services during the school day with outside organizations. They take most insurance. Yes, parental approval is needed. These services have greatly improved things at my school due go students getting the help they need. However, not all of the parents have agreed to it which is a shame.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What should the BOE and County Council do to keep teachers?

I’d say:
No income tax for any teacher after x#of years
No property tax for teachers who choose to live in MC after 5 years within county and x#years of teaching

What else?

As a parent in MCPS with so many behavior issues ( incl but not limited to ADHD), a teacher needs a TA in class. This can be someone who may only have a HS diploma, but is there to deal with kids that are misbehaving, so the teacher can focus on teaching the rest of the class. So much time in my child’s middle school is spent on dealing with the same half dozen kids ( in an entire day, different classes ) that are not listening, being obnoxious or disrupting class for other reasons.

Private schools would not tolerate these behaviors- so why are public schools tolerating it? It is so disruptive for children who want to study and learn. It is not the teachers fault - their hands are tied by what the admin will or will not do.

We need TAs for the students who need help but we also need bouncers to get rid of the ones who don't want to learn. It's my dream to have a sweep of these students like in the movie Lean on Me. Get rid of them. Someone else (not the teachers) can offer alternatives for them but they need to be removed from the gen ed classroom.

Unfortunately, in public schools, you cannot get rid of students , per se. That is another big issue. I think having consequences where the child disrupting needs parents to pick them up- if it happens regularly, mandate psych eval and then go from there.

My DC 14 told me the other day that there are a couple of students that get detention / have to eat lunch with the VP every single day- doesn’t change a thing- behavior is still the same. So the consequences currently being implanted are not effective. The Board with parent input need to find more consistent and different consequences for disruptive behavior. Also, imo, it needs to be the same all across MCPS- no school and principal dependent.

But there are zero expectations of parents. There is no expectation that they answer the phone when admin calls them about their child’s behavior. If I had a time for every pissed off parents screaming, “He’s not my problem when he’s at school!” “Stop calling me!”

But it is the school's responsibility to provide services necessary to manage a student's disability. If a disruptive behavior is a manifestation of a disability, then the school needs to provide additional supportive services. They can't simply send the student home, although sometimes they try.

If parents won’t sign an IEP, there isn’t that much that can be done. We can’t even send our students to the mental health counselor without parent permission.

An IEP isn't necessary to provide many supports.

These kids desperately need mental health counseling. That won’t happen without parent approval.

Due to a MCPS partnership, numerous schools have on-site therapy services during the school day with outside organizations. They take most insurance. Yes, parental approval is needed. These services have greatly improved things at my school due go students getting the help they need. However, not all of the parents have agreed to it which is a shame.

If parents don’t have insurance they still provide services. I would not consent to school based mental health. Usually only the worst providers work for those jobs and can do more harm than good.

[Anonymous]

There absolutely is a shortage of new teachers because we old teacher teach prospective teachers about the lack of support, system of blaming the lowest paid teachers, and making new teachers accept that they are the reason for abysmal learning progress. It's a revolving door that is so due to making teachers the scapegoats of corrupt top down power dynamics.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

And yet we can’t keep teachers in the classroom. Here we are commenting on a thread about how to incentivize people to stay in the profession.

TEACHERS know that the benefits aren’t worth the agony, but DCUM is here to tell teachers that their jobs are amazing. We’ll keep pretending that the teacher shortage isn’t a thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

And yet we can’t keep teachers in the classroom. Here we are commenting on a thread about how to incentivize people to stay in the profession.

TEACHERS know that the benefits aren’t worth the agony, but DCUM is here to tell teachers that their jobs are amazing. We’ll keep pretending that the teacher shortage isn’t a thing.

Exactly, so you need to fix the problems in the school and for new teachers, mentor them and provide them with the support they need.

[Anonymous]

What happens when the mentors team up with admin to say teachers suck when students in hs are coming only prepared with a 3rd grade reading level. Someone needs to be blamed and it can't be the people that fraudulently passed them on for a decade straight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

And yet we can’t keep teachers in the classroom. Here we are commenting on a thread about how to incentivize people to stay in the profession.

TEACHERS know that the benefits aren’t worth the agony, but DCUM is here to tell teachers that their jobs are amazing. We’ll keep pretending that the teacher shortage isn’t a thing.

Exactly, so you need to fix the problems in the school and for new teachers, mentor them and provide them with the support they need.

Thank you for this outstanding advice. I never thought about trying to fix all of our problems! I’ll get right on that. I’m already mentoring 3 teachers on top of my full teaching load. Should I ask to mentor more?

Would it be okay if I ask for more than 30 minutes of work time a day? That would go a long way toward my goal of fixing all of our problems. I may be able to use a bit of that time to check on my three mentees. Or maybe I could grade some papers, plan a lesson…

[Anonymous]

Mentors might help but when young people compare their teaching jobs to their peers’ jobs, it’s a hard sell. They make the least amount of money, they have the crappiest working conditions and they have no say over any part of their job.

My son went to college with a few friends who went through the teacher prep program. Only half of them actually finished it and those didn’t finish more than two years of teaching.

[Anonymous]

Why are admins and mentors so distrustful of people that devoted their life to volunteering tens of thousands of hours and getting themselves I to a lifetime of debt to do so. Then you graduate from the most expensive university system in the free world to be blamed as the problem of education. It's not worth it. Never was.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Um, there is a huge shortage of new teachers. Education departments nationwide have low enrollment. And new teachers become unhappy teachers very quickly, so they don’t last long.

Yes, the grass is greener. Other professions offer more respect, a better work/life balance, and a less hectic work day.

It would be hard to find a job that has comparable benefits and pay and only requires 180 days of work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Um, there is a huge shortage of new teachers. Education departments nationwide have low enrollment. And new teachers become unhappy teachers very quickly, so they don’t last long.

Yes, the grass is greener. Other professions offer more respect, a better work/life balance, and a less hectic work day.

It would be hard to find a job that has comparable benefits and pay and only requires 180 days of work.

Ah yes, the “teachers have it so good” line again! I’m guessing you don’t teach. If you actually knew what a school day is like, you wouldn’t post this drivel.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Um, there is a huge shortage of new teachers. Education departments nationwide have low enrollment. And new teachers become unhappy teachers very quickly, so they don’t last long.

Yes, the grass is greener. Other professions offer more respect, a better work/life balance, and a less hectic work day.

It would be hard to find a job that has comparable benefits and pay and only requires 180 days of work.

If it's that great a deal, why is there a shortage spread nationwide?