Caitlynn Peetz on teacher

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Covid closures are over, we have lost hundreds of thousands of teachers across the nation (from burnout, from covid and I'm sure from other things) can we move along please? Education is in crisis mode, with not enough teachers to teach our children, especially in special ed.

So instead of whining about school closures in the past, can we please move forward and figure out how to solve this problem?

They’re linked, though. The reality is that any plausible solution includes a need for more funding. The public is not going to agree to more funding for teachers until and unless they change their behavior. That goes beyond simply agreeing that is essential to keep schools open. It also includes things like pay reform, such as performance-based pay and different pay scales for particularly hard-to-fill positions (e.g., special education and STEM), both of which the unions have fought against.

Bad news you don’t get to make those decisions. Teachers are leaving bc of people like you, so maybe it’s someone else’s behavior that needs changing?

lol no teachers are not leaving because of people posting on DCUM or other social media. I work in a profession that people bash constantly. Sometimes, I have to deal with unpleasant people during the course of my work (I'm not talking about while I'm scrolling the internet). I DGAF. My overall working conditions, compensation and boss are all great.

Right, and those things are not all great for teachers. Which is why we are saying we need better. When people like you tell us we don't deserve better, that is an issue.

Kids do deserve better. But I guess we’re getting what we’re willing to pay for.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Caitlynn is now at Education Week rather than Bethesda Beat, alas. She wrote a nice piece on how 'the status of the teaching profession is at its lowest in five decades, new research suggests, which its authors say is “cause for national concern.”'

How could anyone have predicted that 2 years of telling parents that school wasn’t essential and that anyone should be capable of teaching their kids in a couple hours before bed each day would have an impact on the prestige of the teaching profession? I’m shocked.

Obviously, that was always ridiculous, but now we’re left picking up the pieces. We need to attract new teachers, which means increasing *starting* pay. We also need teaching positons to have a better work-life balance by building in more prep time during the school day.

That’s not what happened at all but always amusing to see this. Your revisionist history along with the rest of the angry (and usually overly defensive parents) is just sad. The majority pity people like you. I’m sure this version makes you feel better though, so we can play along.

Eh I remember seeing some pretty petty posts on the MCEA Twitter feed (which have since been scrubbed). Then there was this sort of rhetoric from Randi Weingarten.

The whole "school is not child care" line was a big F U to parents whose livelihoods and careers were at risk. It's also a pretty offensive (and I'd argue racist line, since you know they are contrasting themselves with child care teachers who are largely women of color while the teaching profession has been persistently White after teachers of color were shut out of public school teaching jobs after Brown v Board of Education), as well as untrue (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/13/opinion/coronavirus-schools-child-care-centers.html ). To suggest that teachers' unions didn't contribute at all to the low public perception of their profession is just ridiculous.

I say this as someone who put my grudge to the side and voted for every single Apple Ballot candidate for school board (not because they were on the Apple Ballot but because they were the most qualified candidates).

I see nothing wrong with Randi Weingarten's rhetoric there. Your comments seem like a non sequitur.

The biggest issue is the term "babysitters". The implication which is abundantly clear (and even more clear in the "SCHOOL IS NOT CHILD CARE" shrieking early in the pandemic) is that Weingarten wants to make crystal clear that teachers for school-age children are a higher life form than child care teachers that provide care for young children, and for older children during the summer and after school. A babysitter is a person who watches one or two children for a couple of hours during date night. To equate child care teachers with "babysitters" is so unbelievably offensive and I can't believe it was so widely accepted

But the other issue is just the complete denial that virtual school was a massive burden for parents. Was it the right thing to do, especially at first? Yes. But it was really hard for a lot of parents and Weingarten acts like this is some sort of "gotcha". It is not a respectful way to advocate for the teaching profession.

Having kids is a huge burden but you choose to have them. Most of the parents complaining are richer parents who could afford child care but prefered to spend their money on other things. Babysitters spend all day with kids.... summers, before school aged, after school....

Those are called nannies. Ad public school is not "free", everyone pays for it.

No, they are called either one. And, you need a back up plan.

You can screech "Back up plan!" all you want, that does not change a single thing except remind everyone how incredibly ridiculous your ilk are.

Nope. Your “ilk” are the ones who are ridiculous. You need a backup plan.

P.S. This can happen again. Yes, it can and yes, it will (whether it happens while we all still have young children is a coin flip). Plan accordingly.

Careful what you wish for. How much support do you think would remain for public schools if everyone agreed with you that it is unreasonable to expect schools to stay open?

+1 these people can't get it through their thick skulls that public school is not free, people pay for it and they will use the democratic process to pay less of they aren't getting the same benefit

Lol-man, you people are truly moronic. The only people that will suffer if public schools shut down are kids. You act like teachers are relying on this profession. Nah, most are leaving willingly. It will only continue (due in part to people like you)

Right. Poorer, darker-skinned kids in particular, since the others will be in private schools.

So to review y'all are rooting for schools to shut down again so BIPOC kids can get harmed even more? I thought virtual was fine, if it wasn't it was the parents' fault and BIPOC kids benefited the most from it, according to you.

The school closure crowd— including the teachers' unions— never cared about anyone or anything beyond their own anxiety.

Better than the Open Er Up At All Costs crowd, who tried desperately use poor and/or POC kids (who they never cared about then, before or since) as wedges to jam their own privileged kids back into school buildings, while the low SES families were in reality overwhelmingly pro-virtual, since they were seeing the sickness and death from which the rich WFH families were insulated (and yes, the rich people all claimed to be “on the front lines” in person, but they’re liars).

Please. Those who wanted indefinite school closure hid behind low SES kids just as much, if not more. They were not "overwhelmingly" pro-virtual; that's in your head.

Also: guess who suffered the most from prolonged school closures? Poor kids. Who doesn't have the resources to help catch up? Poor kids. You can bleat all you want that it's "just" learning loss and doesn't matter, try telling that to a kid who may never learn to read well because they missed critical early years. Or a kid who now may not go to college because they had to stay home. This stuff matters for the rest of these kids' lives.

[Anonymous]

Everyone wants schools to be staffed and teachers to be treated well. The problem is that teacher's unions have to be part of the solution, and for a long time but especially during the pandemic, they have been part of the problem. You don't engender a lot of sympathy by using your Twitter account make snarky comments about parents, and acting like only people who sign up for the military worked in person during the pandemic. The unions were disrespectful to so many people, not just parents but also childcare workers, healthcare workers, heck, grocery store workers, who all had to work in-person despite not "signing up" for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Everyone wants schools to be staffed and teachers to be treated well. The problem is that teacher's unions have to be part of the solution, and for a long time but especially during the pandemic, they have been part of the problem. You don't engender a lot of sympathy by using your Twitter account make snarky comments about parents, and acting like only people who sign up for the military worked in person during the pandemic. The unions were disrespectful to so many people, not just parents but also childcare workers, healthcare workers, heck, grocery store workers, who all had to work in-person despite not "signing up" for it.

The unions will never be part of the solution, except for leading to their demise. They will continue to be obstructionist until schools are forced to outsource teachers to third-party contractors. It will start with special education and ESL, moving outward until they’re all contractors.

[Anonymous]

Unions can be blamed for a number of things but I work in a state with no unions and we have many of the same problems. They gave us higher pay for special ed and it's a joke- I got maybe $50 extra/month? Insulting. Obviously made no difference in the number of people looking at these positions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Unions can be blamed for a number of things but I work in a state with no unions and we have many of the same problems. They gave us higher pay for special ed and it's a joke- I got maybe $50 extra/month? Insulting. Obviously made no difference in the number of people looking at these positions.

Your state does have unions, they just don't have collective bargaining power.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Amazing how the article says the problems for teachers started more than 10 years ago but everyone here just wants to talk covid. DCUM gonna DCUM.

From the paper:
“Americans’ ever-changing views about teachers were most recently laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic. Faced with the challenge of homeschooling their children, the initial weeks of the pandemic saw an outpouring of appreciation from parents about the difficult work teachers do. This newfound respect quickly waned as teachers were cast as the culprits of prolonged school closures. ”

I saw that swing take place and noticed it in real time. It went from an appreciation of the teachers and lots of love for them to a palpable distain.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Amazing how the article says the problems for teachers started more than 10 years ago but everyone here just wants to talk covid. DCUM gonna DCUM.

From the paper:
“Americans’ ever-changing views about teachers were most recently laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic. Faced with the challenge of homeschooling their children, the initial weeks of the pandemic saw an outpouring of appreciation from parents about the difficult work teachers do. This newfound respect quickly waned as teachers were cast as the culprits of prolonged school closures. ”

I saw that swing take place and noticed it in real time. It went from an appreciation of the teachers and lots of love for them to a palpable distain.

I saw some pretty strong disdain for parents from teachers on my facebook feed (real teachers I know) from the beginning of the pandemic, complaining parents cared too much about child care (because child care is essential to their livelihoods, but apparently only teachers are allowed to care about money). The messaging was clearly coming from the union.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amazing how the article says the problems for teachers started more than 10 years ago but everyone here just wants to talk covid. DCUM gonna DCUM.

From the paper:
“Americans’ ever-changing views about teachers were most recently laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic. Faced with the challenge of homeschooling their children, the initial weeks of the pandemic saw an outpouring of appreciation from parents about the difficult work teachers do. This newfound respect quickly waned as teachers were cast as the culprits of prolonged school closures. ”

I saw that swing take place and noticed it in real time. It went from an appreciation of the teachers and lots of love for them to a palpable distain.

I saw some pretty strong disdain for parents from teachers on my facebook feed (real teachers I know) from the beginning of the pandemic, complaining parents cared too much about child care (because child care is essential to their livelihoods, but apparently only teachers are allowed to care about money). The messaging was clearly coming from the union.

I saw that too and I saw it in some teacher Facebook groups. Screenshots were shared from angry parents and vice versa angry teachers to parent groups. It was a whole mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unions can be blamed for a number of things but I work in a state with no unions and we have many of the same problems. They gave us higher pay for special ed and it's a joke- I got maybe $50 extra/month? Insulting. Obviously made no difference in the number of people looking at these positions.

Your state does have unions, they just don't have collective bargaining power.

Yes, I should have said no unions with influence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Unions can be blamed for a number of things but I work in a state with no unions and we have many of the same problems. They gave us higher pay for special ed and it's a joke- I got maybe $50 extra/month? Insulting. Obviously made no difference in the number of people looking at these positions.

Your state does have unions, they just don't have collective bargaining power.

Yes, I should have said no unions with influence.

Of course they have influence, just not as much as you would like. You don't need to have collective bargaining rights to bash parents.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Covid closures are over, we have lost hundreds of thousands of teachers across the nation (from burnout, from covid and I'm sure from other things) can we move along please? Education is in crisis mode, with not enough teachers to teach our children, especially in special ed.

So instead of whining about school closures in the past, can we please move forward and figure out how to solve this problem?

They’re linked, though. The reality is that any plausible solution includes a need for more funding. The public is not going to agree to more funding for teachers until and unless they change their behavior. That goes beyond simply agreeing that is essential to keep schools open. It also includes things like pay reform, such as performance-based pay and different pay scales for particularly hard-to-fill positions (e.g., special education and STEM), both of which the unions have fought against.

Bad news you don’t get to make those decisions. Teachers are leaving bc of people like you, so maybe it’s someone else’s behavior that needs changing?

lol no teachers are not leaving because of people posting on DCUM or other social media. I work in a profession that people bash constantly. Sometimes, I have to deal with unpleasant people during the course of my work (I'm not talking about while I'm scrolling the internet). I DGAF. My overall working conditions, compensation and boss are all great.

Right, and those things are not all great for teachers. Which is why we are saying we need better. When people like you tell us we don't deserve better, that is an issue.

Kids do deserve better. But I guess we’re getting what we’re willing to pay for.

Since you can do a better job either become a teacher or homeschool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Covid closures are over, we have lost hundreds of thousands of teachers across the nation (from burnout, from covid and I'm sure from other things) can we move along please? Education is in crisis mode, with not enough teachers to teach our children, especially in special ed.

So instead of whining about school closures in the past, can we please move forward and figure out how to solve this problem?

They’re linked, though. The reality is that any plausible solution includes a need for more funding. The public is not going to agree to more funding for teachers until and unless they change their behavior. That goes beyond simply agreeing that is essential to keep schools open. It also includes things like pay reform, such as performance-based pay and different pay scales for particularly hard-to-fill positions (e.g., special education and STEM), both of which the unions have fought against.

Schools have been open for two years. Move. On. Focus on the problems now. “Unless they change their behavior…” *massive eye roll* Maybe parents should start to realize they have to actually raise their own children and do their part. You won’t be able to blame the pandemic and school closures forever (but we can see you’re hellbent on clinging to it rather than looking in the mirror)

The demeanor and level of rationality that you'd expect from a VA mom. Your level of disdain for kids and their parents is clear.

Here's the thing, though: those parents are taxpayers and voters. You're not going to get more money for teachers without them. To do that, you're going to need to show value. Telling them that schools and teachers aren't responsible for anything isn't going to help you with that.

Maybe you don't care about failing schools because your kids don't go to school. But you should. VA will be one of the first things they cut when the COVID recovery funds run out.

VA kids do go to school and our kids are learning. We aren’t the one complaining and you are. Maybe VA is doing a better job than in person if there are so many issues in person. One big difference could be involved parents. You should try it. Any parent complaining should go volunteer at ther school once a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Amazing how the article says the problems for teachers started more than 10 years ago but everyone here just wants to talk covid. DCUM gonna DCUM.

As a parent, I only felt like teachers and parents were on opposite sides during covid.

That’s because you had to put in more effort. I was impressed at how quickly our teachers adapted and made it work. But my kids logged in, participated and did the work. We filled in the gaps just like we always did.

[Anonymous]

Schools have been open for two years. This needs to end now. Teachers should focus on learning loss and parents should focus on raising their kids. I've been a parent volunteer in classrooms and I can tell you- the majority of you have not been doing your job in raising your children. Instead, you just choose to blame teachers and closed schools. Nope-again, school has been open for two years. I've watched teachers doing their part working on learning loss. Step it up, MoCo parents. I hate being looped in with the rest of you. You just refuse to take any responsibility for your own children and that is just really sad.