How is FCPS teacher/staff shortage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's really bad across the board.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage/

They need to increase teacher pay drastically. Like at least +$20k a year across the board on all pay scales.

Nonsense. Pay should increase substantially for the positions where it is hard to find qualified instructors (self-contained special ed, math, science, etc.). Pay should go up until qualified professionals are willing to take the jobs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's really bad across the board.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage/

They need to increase teacher pay drastically. Like at least +$20k a year across the board on all pay scales.

Nonsense. Pay should increase substantially for the positions where it is hard to find qualified instructors (self-contained special ed, math, science, etc.). Pay should go up until qualified professionals are willing to take the jobs.

All positions are hard to fill and to retain people in them. Keep up with the tone in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's really bad across the board.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage/

They need to increase teacher pay drastically. Like at least +$20k a year across the board on all pay scales.

Nonsense. Pay should increase substantially for the positions where it is hard to find qualified instructors (self-contained special ed, math, science, etc.). Pay should go up until qualified professionals are willing to take the jobs.

All positions are hard to fill and to retain people in them. Keep up with the tone in the country.

Incorrect. If this was true, fcps wouldn't be almost full staffed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's really bad across the board.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage/

They need to increase teacher pay drastically. Like at least +$20k a year across the board on all pay scales.

Nonsense. Pay should increase substantially for the positions where it is hard to find qualified instructors (self-contained special ed, math, science, etc.). Pay should go up until qualified professionals are willing to take the jobs.

Remember the meal tax getting voted down? There is no money for large pay increases.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's really bad across the board.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage/

They need to increase teacher pay drastically. Like at least +$20k a year across the board on all pay scales.

Nonsense. Pay should increase substantially for the positions where it is hard to find qualified instructors (self-contained special ed, math, science, etc.). Pay should go up until qualified professionals are willing to take the jobs.

I agree. I do think classroom teachers and SPED should get paid more than elective teachers. There should be three teacher scales.

Teacher 1(PE, Music, Art, Librarian, Resource Teachers, Elective)

Teacher 2(Classroom Teachers in ES and High School)

Teacher 3 (SPED and ESOL)

If this is not an option teachers should get paid more by having larger classes. The base salary is for 24 kids. Any additional child should warrant more money. It isn’t fair that some teachers have 18 kids and others have 30 and get paid the same.

They could also do bonuses for every 5 year of service.

Schools need to start thinking outside the box to RETAIN the teachers they have and the community needs to also help by paying more in taxes or implementing a meals tax to help offset the cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need some drastic moves recruit and retain high quality teachers. One bold move would be to go to a 4-day school week for kids. Increase T-F by 30 minutes. Kids do async work on Monday’s. Teachers plan, have pd on Monday’s. That means less time away from kids T-F. There are other models to accomplish this.

Parents will have to decide whether they want 5 days of school with a crappy, unqualified teacher in a large class or figure out childcare one day a week and get a high quality teacher in a decent sized class.

https://www.edsurge.com/amp/news/2022-06-22-can-four-day-school-weeks-keep-teachers-from-leaving

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/19/texas-schools-four-day-weeks/amp/

I’m in full support of a 4-day in-person week with Monday planning time for teachers while students use digital tools. I know for a fact this would be a huge boost for retention and the well-being of our staff

OMG. I hope this is a joke. I"m here for the kids, not the teachers.

"Digital tools" are garbage. Virtual school was a no-learning disaster and you want to cut out 20% of the school year?

Actually, it would be easy to extend the instructional time over 4 days and allow a day of planning for teachers and an additional day of rest/recreation for students. I would imagine that the mental and physical health benefits would be worth it. The way school is currently operating is not working for many people.

You think you’re “sticking it to” middle and upper middle class suburban moms with cushy full time telecommute government jobs or stay at home parents with this 4 day school week stuff. In reality, those families will make adjustments and have a lot of resentment toward teachers as a result, while kids on the margins of society won’t do their “asynchronous work” at all and will just continue to fall behind.

Let me explain the reality: We’re in a crisis right now and need to figure out how to attract teachers to work here and to retain those that are already here. A 4-day week with students could make a real difference. You’re worried about what could happen to those students on the “margins of society.” Those would be kids who typically go to Title 1 schools. Right NOW, these are the schools that literally have classrooms without teachers. This week, there are 14 schools with 6-10 teacher vacancies at elementary schools. TEN of those 14 are Title 1 schools. (Yes, there’s a list.)

So if I have the choice between 4-days of instruction for every kid with a qualified teacher that was excited to work/stay in FCPS because of the 4-day teaching schedule vs 5 days with a class staffed with a teacher whose best qualifications are that they are breathing and haven’t hurt a child, I’ll take the former. That will be better for those kids on the “margins of society” that I serve.

-Administrator in a Title 1 ES

Two teachers here, both ES. Why would we be excited about 4 days of instruction vs 5? Please explain the benefit. I’m reminded of early release Mondays. They were often filled up with meetings. The same will happen with full day on Monday and anything I might get done that day will probably have to be tweaked by mid-week.

I currently get 300 minutes a week for planning (an hour each day). 120 of those are spent in not-so-worthwhile CT meetings, after which I find I still have to plan and gather materials. Give me those 300 minutes, or at minimum 240, unencumbered so during the school day I can get done some of what I need to get done.

I’ll be curious to know how much time we will be given before the students return. Out of 6 contract days it looks like 2 are listed as TW days, one of which can be used to complete MyPDE trainings and the other is scheduled for Open House. Add in all the BOY tasks and conferences with families prior to Open House prior to BTSN and we’re already behind by the second week of September.

Conferences with families before BTSN? What school is this? THAT is not anything I’ve ever heard of, and I’ve been teaching ES for a long time in the county.

I'd like someone, particularly a principal, to actually pinpoint on a calendar times they expect those to be done. I'd be like, "Show me where I can fit them in".

Agree! Not only does it take time to do the actual conference, but there’s also the time it takes to schedule them. That would be a nightmare. We do a Welcome Walk at our school before school starts. It’s a tradition that I love. Our principal buys us dinner and adjusts the time we have to be at school that day and on Friday. If we’re done setting up after the open house on Friday morning, we can leave. There’s no way I could have time to set up and get conferences done.

We have been told that we will be able to access our classrooms as early the start of next week to start preparing for the school year. They seem to think they are doing us a favor by allowing us access in order to donate our time for free. No, thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's really bad across the board.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage/

They need to increase teacher pay drastically. Like at least +$20k a year across the board on all pay scales.

Nonsense. Pay should increase substantially for the positions where it is hard to find qualified instructors (self-contained special ed, math, science, etc.). Pay should go up until qualified professionals are willing to take the jobs.

I agree. I do think classroom teachers and SPED should get paid more than elective teachers. There should be three teacher scales.

Teacher 1(PE, Music, Art, Librarian, Resource Teachers, Elective)

Teacher 2(Classroom Teachers in ES and High School)

Teacher 3 (SPED and ESOL)

If this is not an option teachers should get paid more by having larger classes. The base salary is for 24 kids. Any additional child should warrant more money. It isn’t fair that some teachers have 18 kids and others have 30 and get paid the same.

They could also do bonuses for every 5 year of service.

Schools need to start thinking outside the box to RETAIN the teachers they have and the community needs to also help by paying more in taxes or implementing a meals tax to help offset the cost.

Yup. My friend had 15 kids in her class last year and I had 30. Completely unfair to be getting the same salary with double the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's really bad across the board.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage/

They need to increase teacher pay drastically. Like at least +$20k a year across the board on all pay scales.

But it's not just about pay. They also need to add more support staff--I would've killed for a secretary. Someone who could schedule phone meetings with parents, grade simple papers, put grades into gradebook, and make copies. That way I could focus on the important stuff of being a professional teacher--planning lessons that meet the needs of all my students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's really bad across the board.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage/

They need to increase teacher pay drastically. Like at least +$20k a year across the board on all pay scales.

But it's not just about pay. They also need to add more support staff--I would've killed for a secretary. Someone who could schedule phone meetings with parents, grade simple papers, put grades into gradebook, and make copies. That way I could focus on the important stuff of being a professional teacher--planning lessons that meet the needs of all my students.

DP
I’d love to have someone else in the room to help monitor the class while I’m working with small groups. Between math, reading and an intervention block we had 80 minutes a day last year that was scheduled for meeting with groups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's really bad across the board.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage/

They need to increase teacher pay drastically. Like at least +$20k a year across the board on all pay scales.

Nonsense. Pay should increase substantially for the positions where it is hard to find qualified instructors (self-contained special ed, math, science, etc.). Pay should go up until qualified professionals are willing to take the jobs.

All positions are hard to fill and to retain people in them. Keep up with the tone in the country.

Incorrect. If this was true, fcps wouldn't be almost full staffed.

There are over 400 teacher/IA postions open. They're not almost fully staffed.

[Anonymous]

The “97% staffed” that they crow about includes long term subs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's really bad across the board.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2022/08/03/school-teacher-shortage/

They need to increase teacher pay drastically. Like at least +$20k a year across the board on all pay scales.

But it's not just about pay. They also need to add more support staff--I would've killed for a secretary. Someone who could schedule phone meetings with parents, grade simple papers, put grades into gradebook, and make copies. That way I could focus on the important stuff of being a professional teacher--planning lessons that meet the needs of all my students.

DP
I’d love to have someone else in the room to help monitor the class while I’m working with small groups. Between math, reading and an intervention block we had 80 minutes a day last year that was scheduled for meeting with groups.

They are reducing small group time and making it almost all whole group in many districts. This is part of the science of reading programs many places are buying. Still, we need another person.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need some drastic moves recruit and retain high quality teachers. One bold move would be to go to a 4-day school week for kids. Increase T-F by 30 minutes. Kids do async work on Monday’s. Teachers plan, have pd on Monday’s. That means less time away from kids T-F. There are other models to accomplish this.

Parents will have to decide whether they want 5 days of school with a crappy, unqualified teacher in a large class or figure out childcare one day a week and get a high quality teacher in a decent sized class.

https://www.edsurge.com/amp/news/2022-06-22-can-four-day-school-weeks-keep-teachers-from-leaving

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/19/texas-schools-four-day-weeks/amp/

I’m in full support of a 4-day in-person week with Monday planning time for teachers while students use digital tools. I know for a fact this would be a huge boost for retention and the well-being of our staff

OMG. I hope this is a joke. I"m here for the kids, not the teachers.

"Digital tools" are garbage. Virtual school was a no-learning disaster and you want to cut out 20% of the school year?

Actually, it would be easy to extend the instructional time over 4 days and allow a day of planning for teachers and an additional day of rest/recreation for students. I would imagine that the mental and physical health benefits would be worth it. The way school is currently operating is not working for many people.

You think you’re “sticking it to” middle and upper middle class suburban moms with cushy full time telecommute government jobs or stay at home parents with this 4 day school week stuff. In reality, those families will make adjustments and have a lot of resentment toward teachers as a result, while kids on the margins of society won’t do their “asynchronous work” at all and will just continue to fall behind.

Let me explain the reality: We’re in a crisis right now and need to figure out how to attract teachers to work here and to retain those that are already here. A 4-day week with students could make a real difference. You’re worried about what could happen to those students on the “margins of society.” Those would be kids who typically go to Title 1 schools. Right NOW, these are the schools that literally have classrooms without teachers. This week, there are 14 schools with 6-10 teacher vacancies at elementary schools. TEN of those 14 are Title 1 schools. (Yes, there’s a list.)

So if I have the choice between 4-days of instruction for every kid with a qualified teacher that was excited to work/stay in FCPS because of the 4-day teaching schedule vs 5 days with a class staffed with a teacher whose best qualifications are that they are breathing and haven’t hurt a child, I’ll take the former. That will be better for those kids on the “margins of society” that I serve.

-Administrator in a Title 1 ES

Two teachers here, both ES. Why would we be excited about 4 days of instruction vs 5? Please explain the benefit. I’m reminded of early release Mondays. They were often filled up with meetings. The same will happen with full day on Monday and anything I might get done that day will probably have to be tweaked by mid-week.

I currently get 300 minutes a week for planning (an hour each day). 120 of those are spent in not-so-worthwhile CT meetings, after which I find I still have to plan and gather materials. Give me those 300 minutes, or at minimum 240, unencumbered so during the school day I can get done some of what I need to get done.

I’ll be curious to know how much time we will be given before the students return. Out of 6 contract days it looks like 2 are listed as TW days, one of which can be used to complete MyPDE trainings and the other is scheduled for Open House. Add in all the BOY tasks and conferences with families prior to Open House prior to BTSN and we’re already behind by the second week of September.

Conferences with families before BTSN? What school is this? THAT is not anything I’ve ever heard of, and I’ve been teaching ES for a long time in the county.

I'd like someone, particularly a principal, to actually pinpoint on a calendar times they expect those to be done. I'd be like, "Show me where I can fit them in".

Agree! Not only does it take time to do the actual conference, but there’s also the time it takes to schedule them. That would be a nightmare. We do a Welcome Walk at our school before school starts. It’s a tradition that I love. Our principal buys us dinner and adjusts the time we have to be at school that day and on Friday. If we’re done setting up after the open house on Friday morning, we can leave. There’s no way I could have time to set up and get conferences done.

We have been told that we will be able to access our classrooms as early the start of next week to start preparing for the school year. They seem to think they are doing us a favor by allowing us access in order to donate our time for free. No, thank you.

In a lot of the working world, you get paid a salary to do your job. If that job takes more than the traditional 35 or 40 hours a week, then you work that additional time. And I know a lot of teachers with this attitude too, but then people like this come on here and are like "I refuse to work anything outside of my exact contracted hours and days" and make everyone else look bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The “97% staffed” that they crow about includes long term subs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need some drastic moves recruit and retain high quality teachers. One bold move would be to go to a 4-day school week for kids. Increase T-F by 30 minutes. Kids do async work on Monday’s. Teachers plan, have pd on Monday’s. That means less time away from kids T-F. There are other models to accomplish this.

Parents will have to decide whether they want 5 days of school with a crappy, unqualified teacher in a large class or figure out childcare one day a week and get a high quality teacher in a decent sized class.

https://www.edsurge.com/amp/news/2022-06-22-can-four-day-school-weeks-keep-teachers-from-leaving

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/07/19/texas-schools-four-day-weeks/amp/

I’m in full support of a 4-day in-person week with Monday planning time for teachers while students use digital tools. I know for a fact this would be a huge boost for retention and the well-being of our staff

OMG. I hope this is a joke. I"m here for the kids, not the teachers.

"Digital tools" are garbage. Virtual school was a no-learning disaster and you want to cut out 20% of the school year?

Actually, it would be easy to extend the instructional time over 4 days and allow a day of planning for teachers and an additional day of rest/recreation for students. I would imagine that the mental and physical health benefits would be worth it. The way school is currently operating is not working for many people.

You think you’re “sticking it to” middle and upper middle class suburban moms with cushy full time telecommute government jobs or stay at home parents with this 4 day school week stuff. In reality, those families will make adjustments and have a lot of resentment toward teachers as a result, while kids on the margins of society won’t do their “asynchronous work” at all and will just continue to fall behind.

Let me explain the reality: We’re in a crisis right now and need to figure out how to attract teachers to work here and to retain those that are already here. A 4-day week with students could make a real difference. You’re worried about what could happen to those students on the “margins of society.” Those would be kids who typically go to Title 1 schools. Right NOW, these are the schools that literally have classrooms without teachers. This week, there are 14 schools with 6-10 teacher vacancies at elementary schools. TEN of those 14 are Title 1 schools. (Yes, there’s a list.)

So if I have the choice between 4-days of instruction for every kid with a qualified teacher that was excited to work/stay in FCPS because of the 4-day teaching schedule vs 5 days with a class staffed with a teacher whose best qualifications are that they are breathing and haven’t hurt a child, I’ll take the former. That will be better for those kids on the “margins of society” that I serve.

-Administrator in a Title 1 ES

Two teachers here, both ES. Why would we be excited about 4 days of instruction vs 5? Please explain the benefit. I’m reminded of early release Mondays. They were often filled up with meetings. The same will happen with full day on Monday and anything I might get done that day will probably have to be tweaked by mid-week.

I currently get 300 minutes a week for planning (an hour each day). 120 of those are spent in not-so-worthwhile CT meetings, after which I find I still have to plan and gather materials. Give me those 300 minutes, or at minimum 240, unencumbered so during the school day I can get done some of what I need to get done.

I’ll be curious to know how much time we will be given before the students return. Out of 6 contract days it looks like 2 are listed as TW days, one of which can be used to complete MyPDE trainings and the other is scheduled for Open House. Add in all the BOY tasks and conferences with families prior to Open House prior to BTSN and we’re already behind by the second week of September.

Conferences with families before BTSN? What school is this? THAT is not anything I’ve ever heard of, and I’ve been teaching ES for a long time in the county.

I'd like someone, particularly a principal, to actually pinpoint on a calendar times they expect those to be done. I'd be like, "Show me where I can fit them in".

Agree! Not only does it take time to do the actual conference, but there’s also the time it takes to schedule them. That would be a nightmare. We do a Welcome Walk at our school before school starts. It’s a tradition that I love. Our principal buys us dinner and adjusts the time we have to be at school that day and on Friday. If we’re done setting up after the open house on Friday morning, we can leave. There’s no way I could have time to set up and get conferences done.

We have been told that we will be able to access our classrooms as early the start of next week to start preparing for the school year. They seem to think they are doing us a favor by allowing us access in order to donate our time for free. No, thank you.

In a lot of the working world, you get paid a salary to do your job. If that job takes more than the traditional 35 or 40 hours a week, then you work that additional time. And I know a lot of teachers with this attitude too, but then people like this come on here and are like "I refuse to work anything outside of my exact contracted hours and days" and make everyone else look bad.

No one in ANY industry should continually work 50-60 hours a week. That is free labor. Everyone should be approaching their organizations if they are unhappy with the hours/pay instead of normalizing it.