I am a miserable teacher

[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:

I work in the summer and the weeks I’m not working, I don’t get paid. It’s like everyone else’s annual leave but other jobs get paid year round.

No, it's not like "everyone else's annual leave." I don't get 8 - 10 weeks of annual leave and I certainly couldn't take it all in one stretch and I couldn't get a second job to pay me while I did.

If you want to quit, quit. Or make a plan to quit at the end of the school year and start working toward that. Stop whining. Take ownership of your decisions.

+1

Also, MCP teachers have the option to spread out their paychecks over the course of the full year.

Not yet. That option has never available to MCPS teachers. We're being told it's coming and will be effective July 2025 for those who opt in. The previous option was a limited "summer pay" through a Mo Co Credit Union.

What was wrong with the existing program?

https://prod.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/ersc/employees/pay/summer-pay/

You have to sign up with a credit union. MCPS does not do this. No one does this.

If no one uses the existing program, why do you think anyone will use the new program?

Because it will be through the MCPS payroll system and we don’t have to send our money anywhere else. Why would we do that? Most just save money for the summer through our own personal bank.

In that case, I'm still confused why you think you need one through the MCPS payroll system instead of just saving in your own bank account.

Oh my goodness. Do you even work for MCPS? Some people maybe aren’t as disciplined. Maybe it’s easier for them who cares? It’ll be nice to finally have the option To do this via our employer instead of some random third-party they picked to withhold summer pay.

We start planning for our summer finances at the beginning of each school and it is still tough come October, when we finally get consistent pay every two weeks. The years prior to the one week of "accelerated" pay nearly broke us every year (two MCPS teachers) because life happens. The MCPS pay schedule for teachers has always been hard at the start of the school year, especially when we have to wait three weeks between the first full check and the second full check. There's no reason not to have a year long pay option through our employer. Unless, of course, the money for teachers just sits in an interest earning account until October when pay for teachers actually resumes every two weeks...but MCPS wouldn't do that, would they?

And these are the people teaching are kids...

If your pay were spread out over 12 months, then a portion of your pay would be delayed during the school year until the summer. You could put some aside in an interest-bearing account, but perhaps that's too complicated for you. Are you an English teacher? Elementary?

Right?

"Some people aren't as disciplined."

Crazy.

Once again,
I don’t tolerate nonsense. I will call it out in my classroom and on this thread.

You clearly do not understand the challenges teachers face, and it’s usually best not to arrogantly comment from a place of ignorance.

I do understand the PP’s point about discipline. We have many teachers who live paycheck to paycheck because they are single earners living in an expensive area. When that’s your lifestyle, it’s hard to hold back pay for summers. I understand this challenge, and seeing that I’m not rude, I’m not going to mock or demean people in this situation.

Perhaps you should follow my lead.

You can do yourself exactly what MCPS would do: automatically transfer a portion of your pay into a separate account until summer comes along.

Seriously, this isn't hard.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in the summer and the weeks I’m not working, I don’t get paid. It’s like everyone else’s annual leave but other jobs get paid year round.

No, it's not like "everyone else's annual leave." I don't get 8 - 10 weeks of annual leave and I certainly couldn't take it all in one stretch and I couldn't get a second job to pay me while I did.

If you want to quit, quit. Or make a plan to quit at the end of the school year and start working toward that. Stop whining. Take ownership of your decisions.

+1

Also, MCP teachers have the option to spread out their paychecks over the course of the full year.

Not yet. That option has never available to MCPS teachers. We're being told it's coming and will be effective July 2025 for those who opt in. The previous option was a limited "summer pay" through a Mo Co Credit Union.

What was wrong with the existing program?

https://prod.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/ersc/employees/pay/summer-pay/

You have to sign up with a credit union. MCPS does not do this. No one does this.

If no one uses the existing program, why do you think anyone will use the new program?

Because it will be through the MCPS payroll system and we don’t have to send our money anywhere else. Why would we do that? Most just save money for the summer through our own personal bank.

In that case, I'm still confused why you think you need one through the MCPS payroll system instead of just saving in your own bank account.

Oh my goodness. Do you even work for MCPS? Some people maybe aren’t as disciplined. Maybe it’s easier for them who cares? It’ll be nice to finally have the option To do this via our employer instead of some random third-party they picked to withhold summer pay.

We start planning for our summer finances at the beginning of each school and it is still tough come October, when we finally get consistent pay every two weeks. The years prior to the one week of "accelerated" pay nearly broke us every year (two MCPS teachers) because life happens. The MCPS pay schedule for teachers has always been hard at the start of the school year, especially when we have to wait three weeks between the first full check and the second full check. There's no reason not to have a year long pay option through our employer. Unless, of course, the money for teachers just sits in an interest earning account until October when pay for teachers actually resumes every two weeks...but MCPS wouldn't do that, would they?

And these are the people teaching are kids...

If your pay were spread out over 12 months, then a portion of your pay would be delayed during the school year until the summer. You could put some aside in an interest-bearing account, but perhaps that's too complicated for you. Are you an English teacher? Elementary?

Right?

"Some people aren't as disciplined."

Crazy.

Once again,
I don’t tolerate nonsense. I will call it out in my classroom and on this thread.

You clearly do not understand the challenges teachers face, and it’s usually best not to arrogantly comment from a place of ignorance.

I do understand the PP’s point about discipline. We have many teachers who live paycheck to paycheck because they are single earners living in an expensive area. When that’s your lifestyle, it’s hard to hold back pay for summers. I understand this challenge, and seeing that I’m not rude, I’m not going to mock or demean people in this situation.

Perhaps you should follow my lead.

You can do yourself exactly what MCPS would do: automatically transfer a portion of your pay into a separate account until summer comes along.

Seriously, this isn't hard.

Still don’t get it. That’s ok. I’m sorry OP. Lots of us do understand and hope MCPS will finally speed things up and update their payroll to get off paper first and then allow us to accurately plan and budget better by giving us a normalized paycheck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in the summer and the weeks I’m not working, I don’t get paid. It’s like everyone else’s annual leave but other jobs get paid year round.

No, it's not like "everyone else's annual leave." I don't get 8 - 10 weeks of annual leave and I certainly couldn't take it all in one stretch and I couldn't get a second job to pay me while I did.

If you want to quit, quit. Or make a plan to quit at the end of the school year and start working toward that. Stop whining. Take ownership of your decisions.

+1

Also, MCP teachers have the option to spread out their paychecks over the course of the full year.

Not yet. That option has never available to MCPS teachers. We're being told it's coming and will be effective July 2025 for those who opt in. The previous option was a limited "summer pay" through a Mo Co Credit Union.

What was wrong with the existing program?

https://prod.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/ersc/employees/pay/summer-pay/

You have to sign up with a credit union. MCPS does not do this. No one does this.

If no one uses the existing program, why do you think anyone will use the new program?

Because it will be through the MCPS payroll system and we don’t have to send our money anywhere else. Why would we do that? Most just save money for the summer through our own personal bank.

In that case, I'm still confused why you think you need one through the MCPS payroll system instead of just saving in your own bank account.

Oh my goodness. Do you even work for MCPS? Some people maybe aren’t as disciplined. Maybe it’s easier for them who cares? It’ll be nice to finally have the option To do this via our employer instead of some random third-party they picked to withhold summer pay.

We start planning for our summer finances at the beginning of each school and it is still tough come October, when we finally get consistent pay every two weeks. The years prior to the one week of "accelerated" pay nearly broke us every year (two MCPS teachers) because life happens. The MCPS pay schedule for teachers has always been hard at the start of the school year, especially when we have to wait three weeks between the first full check and the second full check. There's no reason not to have a year long pay option through our employer. Unless, of course, the money for teachers just sits in an interest earning account until October when pay for teachers actually resumes every two weeks...but MCPS wouldn't do that, would they?

And these are the people teaching are kids...

If your pay were spread out over 12 months, then a portion of your pay would be delayed during the school year until the summer. You could put some aside in an interest-bearing account, but perhaps that's too complicated for you. Are you an English teacher? Elementary?

Right. A portion would be delayed for steady, consistent paychecks. We can see how popular (or not) the new system will be, but based on the number of teachers who currently struggle in August every year, no matter how disciplined, I think a lot will go for the year long option.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in the summer and the weeks I’m not working, I don’t get paid. It’s like everyone else’s annual leave but other jobs get paid year round.

No, it's not like "everyone else's annual leave." I don't get 8 - 10 weeks of annual leave and I certainly couldn't take it all in one stretch and I couldn't get a second job to pay me while I did.

If you want to quit, quit. Or make a plan to quit at the end of the school year and start working toward that. Stop whining. Take ownership of your decisions.

+1

Also, MCP teachers have the option to spread out their paychecks over the course of the full year.

Not yet. That option has never available to MCPS teachers. We're being told it's coming and will be effective July 2025 for those who opt in. The previous option was a limited "summer pay" through a Mo Co Credit Union.

What was wrong with the existing program?

https://prod.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/ersc/employees/pay/summer-pay/

You have to sign up with a credit union. MCPS does not do this. No one does this.

If no one uses the existing program, why do you think anyone will use the new program?

Because it will be through the MCPS payroll system and we don’t have to send our money anywhere else. Why would we do that? Most just save money for the summer through our own personal bank.

In that case, I'm still confused why you think you need one through the MCPS payroll system instead of just saving in your own bank account.

Oh my goodness. Do you even work for MCPS? Some people maybe aren’t as disciplined. Maybe it’s easier for them who cares? It’ll be nice to finally have the option To do this via our employer instead of some random third-party they picked to withhold summer pay.

We start planning for our summer finances at the beginning of each school and it is still tough come October, when we finally get consistent pay every two weeks. The years prior to the one week of "accelerated" pay nearly broke us every year (two MCPS teachers) because life happens. The MCPS pay schedule for teachers has always been hard at the start of the school year, especially when we have to wait three weeks between the first full check and the second full check. There's no reason not to have a year long pay option through our employer. Unless, of course, the money for teachers just sits in an interest earning account until October when pay for teachers actually resumes every two weeks...but MCPS wouldn't do that, would they?

And these are the people teaching are kids...

If your pay were spread out over 12 months, then a portion of your pay would be delayed during the school year until the summer. You could put some aside in an interest-bearing account, but perhaps that's too complicated for you. Are you an English teacher? Elementary?

Right?

"Some people aren't as disciplined."

Crazy.

Once again,
I don’t tolerate nonsense. I will call it out in my classroom and on this thread.

You clearly do not understand the challenges teachers face, and it’s usually best not to arrogantly comment from a place of ignorance.

I do understand the PP’s point about discipline. We have many teachers who live paycheck to paycheck because they are single earners living in an expensive area. When that’s your lifestyle, it’s hard to hold back pay for summers. I understand this challenge, and seeing that I’m not rude, I’m not going to mock or demean people in this situation.

Perhaps you should follow my lead.

You can do yourself exactly what MCPS would do: automatically transfer a portion of your pay into a separate account until summer comes along.

Seriously, this isn't hard.

Sigh. Spoken like a person who has never been young, working 60 to 70 hours a week, and making a teacher’s salary in an expensive county.

Sure, you can do that. It isn’t that hard to set up, of course. But then you can also choose to redirect the money when times get tough, which they will, and that means you aren’t saving like you need to.

I get it because I’ve worked with many who have dealt with this. Perhaps you have not, so this is such a simple solution to you.

[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:

I work in the summer and the weeks I’m not working, I don’t get paid. It’s like everyone else’s annual leave but other jobs get paid year round.

No, it's not like "everyone else's annual leave." I don't get 8 - 10 weeks of annual leave and I certainly couldn't take it all in one stretch and I couldn't get a second job to pay me while I did.

If you want to quit, quit. Or make a plan to quit at the end of the school year and start working toward that. Stop whining. Take ownership of your decisions.

+1

Also, MCP teachers have the option to spread out their paychecks over the course of the full year.

Not yet. That option has never available to MCPS teachers. We're being told it's coming and will be effective July 2025 for those who opt in. The previous option was a limited "summer pay" through a Mo Co Credit Union.

What was wrong with the existing program?

https://prod.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/ersc/employees/pay/summer-pay/

You have to sign up with a credit union. MCPS does not do this. No one does this.

If no one uses the existing program, why do you think anyone will use the new program?

Because it will be through the MCPS payroll system and we don’t have to send our money anywhere else. Why would we do that? Most just save money for the summer through our own personal bank.

In that case, I'm still confused why you think you need one through the MCPS payroll system instead of just saving in your own bank account.

Oh my goodness. Do you even work for MCPS? Some people maybe aren’t as disciplined. Maybe it’s easier for them who cares? It’ll be nice to finally have the option To do this via our employer instead of some random third-party they picked to withhold summer pay.

We start planning for our summer finances at the beginning of each school and it is still tough come October, when we finally get consistent pay every two weeks. The years prior to the one week of "accelerated" pay nearly broke us every year (two MCPS teachers) because life happens. The MCPS pay schedule for teachers has always been hard at the start of the school year, especially when we have to wait three weeks between the first full check and the second full check. There's no reason not to have a year long pay option through our employer. Unless, of course, the money for teachers just sits in an interest earning account until October when pay for teachers actually resumes every two weeks...but MCPS wouldn't do that, would they?

And these are the people teaching are kids...

If your pay were spread out over 12 months, then a portion of your pay would be delayed during the school year until the summer. You could put some aside in an interest-bearing account, but perhaps that's too complicated for you. Are you an English teacher? Elementary?

Right?

"Some people aren't as disciplined."

Crazy.

Once again,
I don’t tolerate nonsense. I will call it out in my classroom and on this thread.

You clearly do not understand the challenges teachers face, and it’s usually best not to arrogantly comment from a place of ignorance.

I do understand the PP’s point about discipline. We have many teachers who live paycheck to paycheck because they are single earners living in an expensive area. When that’s your lifestyle, it’s hard to hold back pay for summers. I understand this challenge, and seeing that I’m not rude, I’m not going to mock or demean people in this situation.

Perhaps you should follow my lead.

I am a teacher and certainly understand the challenges.

If you can't do the math to hold back pay for summers (and if the pay is insufficient, then work a summer job of some kind; I dog sit for Rover), you have no business teaching.

[Anonymous]

My district has pay all year and it took many years before I made enough to have the appr. 18% they hold back from my school year paychecks to be able to make ends meet. So much of those paychecks went to repaying student loans that I couldn’t live on 18% less of very little.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in the summer and the weeks I’m not working, I don’t get paid. It’s like everyone else’s annual leave but other jobs get paid year round.

No, it's not like "everyone else's annual leave." I don't get 8 - 10 weeks of annual leave and I certainly couldn't take it all in one stretch and I couldn't get a second job to pay me while I did.

If you want to quit, quit. Or make a plan to quit at the end of the school year and start working toward that. Stop whining. Take ownership of your decisions.

+1

Also, MCP teachers have the option to spread out their paychecks over the course of the full year.

Not yet. That option has never available to MCPS teachers. We're being told it's coming and will be effective July 2025 for those who opt in. The previous option was a limited "summer pay" through a Mo Co Credit Union.

What was wrong with the existing program?

https://prod.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/ersc/employees/pay/summer-pay/

You have to sign up with a credit union. MCPS does not do this. No one does this.

If no one uses the existing program, why do you think anyone will use the new program?

Because it will be through the MCPS payroll system and we don’t have to send our money anywhere else. Why would we do that? Most just save money for the summer through our own personal bank.

In that case, I'm still confused why you think you need one through the MCPS payroll system instead of just saving in your own bank account.

Oh my goodness. Do you even work for MCPS? Some people maybe aren’t as disciplined. Maybe it’s easier for them who cares? It’ll be nice to finally have the option To do this via our employer instead of some random third-party they picked to withhold summer pay.

We start planning for our summer finances at the beginning of each school and it is still tough come October, when we finally get consistent pay every two weeks. The years prior to the one week of "accelerated" pay nearly broke us every year (two MCPS teachers) because life happens. The MCPS pay schedule for teachers has always been hard at the start of the school year, especially when we have to wait three weeks between the first full check and the second full check. There's no reason not to have a year long pay option through our employer. Unless, of course, the money for teachers just sits in an interest earning account until October when pay for teachers actually resumes every two weeks...but MCPS wouldn't do that, would they?

And these are the people teaching are kids...

If your pay were spread out over 12 months, then a portion of your pay would be delayed during the school year until the summer. You could put some aside in an interest-bearing account, but perhaps that's too complicated for you. Are you an English teacher? Elementary?

Right?

"Some people aren't as disciplined."

Crazy.

Once again,
I don’t tolerate nonsense. I will call it out in my classroom and on this thread.

You clearly do not understand the challenges teachers face, and it’s usually best not to arrogantly comment from a place of ignorance.

I do understand the PP’s point about discipline. We have many teachers who live paycheck to paycheck because they are single earners living in an expensive area. When that’s your lifestyle, it’s hard to hold back pay for summers. I understand this challenge, and seeing that I’m not rude, I’m not going to mock or demean people in this situation.

Perhaps you should follow my lead.

You can do yourself exactly what MCPS would do: automatically transfer a portion of your pay into a separate account until summer comes along.

Seriously, this isn't hard.

Sigh. Spoken like a person who has never been young, working 60 to 70 hours a week, and making a teacher’s salary in an expensive county.

Sure, you can do that. It isn’t that hard to set up, of course. But then you can also choose to redirect the money when times get tough, which they will, and that means you aren’t saving like you need to.

I get it because I’ve worked with many who have dealt with this. Perhaps you have not, so this is such a simple solution to you.

You are clueless. Teachers just starting out make good money, certainly comparable to other professionals right out of school.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/ersc/employees/pay/schedules/fy25_mcea_10-month_salary_schedules_eff_7.1.24.pdf

[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:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in the summer and the weeks I’m not working, I don’t get paid. It’s like everyone else’s annual leave but other jobs get paid year round.

No, it's not like "everyone else's annual leave." I don't get 8 - 10 weeks of annual leave and I certainly couldn't take it all in one stretch and I couldn't get a second job to pay me while I did.

If you want to quit, quit. Or make a plan to quit at the end of the school year and start working toward that. Stop whining. Take ownership of your decisions.

+1

Also, MCP teachers have the option to spread out their paychecks over the course of the full year.

Not yet. That option has never available to MCPS teachers. We're being told it's coming and will be effective July 2025 for those who opt in. The previous option was a limited "summer pay" through a Mo Co Credit Union.

What was wrong with the existing program?

https://prod.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/ersc/employees/pay/summer-pay/

You have to sign up with a credit union. MCPS does not do this. No one does this.

If no one uses the existing program, why do you think anyone will use the new program?

Because it will be through the MCPS payroll system and we don’t have to send our money anywhere else. Why would we do that? Most just save money for the summer through our own personal bank.

In that case, I'm still confused why you think you need one through the MCPS payroll system instead of just saving in your own bank account.

Oh my goodness. Do you even work for MCPS? Some people maybe aren’t as disciplined. Maybe it’s easier for them who cares? It’ll be nice to finally have the option To do this via our employer instead of some random third-party they picked to withhold summer pay.

We start planning for our summer finances at the beginning of each school and it is still tough come October, when we finally get consistent pay every two weeks. The years prior to the one week of "accelerated" pay nearly broke us every year (two MCPS teachers) because life happens. The MCPS pay schedule for teachers has always been hard at the start of the school year, especially when we have to wait three weeks between the first full check and the second full check. There's no reason not to have a year long pay option through our employer. Unless, of course, the money for teachers just sits in an interest earning account until October when pay for teachers actually resumes every two weeks...but MCPS wouldn't do that, would they?

And these are the people teaching are kids...

If your pay were spread out over 12 months, then a portion of your pay would be delayed during the school year until the summer. You could put some aside in an interest-bearing account, but perhaps that's too complicated for you. Are you an English teacher? Elementary?

Right?

"Some people aren't as disciplined."

Crazy.

Once again,
I don’t tolerate nonsense. I will call it out in my classroom and on this thread.

You clearly do not understand the challenges teachers face, and it’s usually best not to arrogantly comment from a place of ignorance.

I do understand the PP’s point about discipline. We have many teachers who live paycheck to paycheck because they are single earners living in an expensive area. When that’s your lifestyle, it’s hard to hold back pay for summers. I understand this challenge, and seeing that I’m not rude, I’m not going to mock or demean people in this situation.

Perhaps you should follow my lead.

I am a teacher and certainly understand the challenges.

If you can't do the math to hold back pay for summers (and if the pay is insufficient, then work a summer job of some kind; I dog sit for Rover), you have no business teaching.

🙄 the whole point Karen is that we SHOULD not have to work two jobs. Because DCUM already thinks we make enough and aren’t financially disciplined.

Why are you teaching? You sound horrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My district has pay all year and it took many years before I made enough to have the appr. 18% they hold back from my school year paychecks to be able to make ends meet. So much of those paychecks went to repaying student loans that I couldn’t live on 18% less of very little.

As a non teacher this drives me nuts. I don’t know why we don’t have loan forgiveness for all teachers and police officers.

[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:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I work in the summer and the weeks I’m not working, I don’t get paid. It’s like everyone else’s annual leave but other jobs get paid year round.

No, it's not like "everyone else's annual leave." I don't get 8 - 10 weeks of annual leave and I certainly couldn't take it all in one stretch and I couldn't get a second job to pay me while I did.

If you want to quit, quit. Or make a plan to quit at the end of the school year and start working toward that. Stop whining. Take ownership of your decisions.

+1

Also, MCP teachers have the option to spread out their paychecks over the course of the full year.

Not yet. That option has never available to MCPS teachers. We're being told it's coming and will be effective July 2025 for those who opt in. The previous option was a limited "summer pay" through a Mo Co Credit Union.

What was wrong with the existing program?

https://prod.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/ersc/employees/pay/summer-pay/

You have to sign up with a credit union. MCPS does not do this. No one does this.

If no one uses the existing program, why do you think anyone will use the new program?

Because it will be through the MCPS payroll system and we don’t have to send our money anywhere else. Why would we do that? Most just save money for the summer through our own personal bank.

In that case, I'm still confused why you think you need one through the MCPS payroll system instead of just saving in your own bank account.

Oh my goodness. Do you even work for MCPS? Some people maybe aren’t as disciplined. Maybe it’s easier for them who cares? It’ll be nice to finally have the option To do this via our employer instead of some random third-party they picked to withhold summer pay.

We start planning for our summer finances at the beginning of each school and it is still tough come October, when we finally get consistent pay every two weeks. The years prior to the one week of "accelerated" pay nearly broke us every year (two MCPS teachers) because life happens. The MCPS pay schedule for teachers has always been hard at the start of the school year, especially when we have to wait three weeks between the first full check and the second full check. There's no reason not to have a year long pay option through our employer. Unless, of course, the money for teachers just sits in an interest earning account until October when pay for teachers actually resumes every two weeks...but MCPS wouldn't do that, would they?

And these are the people teaching are kids...

If your pay were spread out over 12 months, then a portion of your pay would be delayed during the school year until the summer. You could put some aside in an interest-bearing account, but perhaps that's too complicated for you. Are you an English teacher? Elementary?

Right?

"Some people aren't as disciplined."

Crazy.

Once again,
I don’t tolerate nonsense. I will call it out in my classroom and on this thread.

You clearly do not understand the challenges teachers face, and it’s usually best not to arrogantly comment from a place of ignorance.

I do understand the PP’s point about discipline. We have many teachers who live paycheck to paycheck because they are single earners living in an expensive area. When that’s your lifestyle, it’s hard to hold back pay for summers. I understand this challenge, and seeing that I’m not rude, I’m not going to mock or demean people in this situation.

Perhaps you should follow my lead.

I am a teacher and certainly understand the challenges.

If you can't do the math to hold back pay for summers (and if the pay is insufficient, then work a summer job of some kind; I dog sit for Rover), you have no business teaching.

🙄 the whole point Karen is that we SHOULD not have to work two jobs. Because DCUM already thinks we make enough and aren’t financially disciplined.

Why are you teaching? You sound horrible.

I’m in agreement. To the rude PP, if you lack empathy and you are this judgmental, I suspect it is YOU who should not be teaching.

And, since clearly you need to revisit the lesson, it isn’t about the math. We aren’t saying teachers are incapable of doing the math. We ARE saying that teachers are struggling to make ends meet, so the missing paychecks create unnecessary stress for already stressed people.

[Anonymous]

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I work in the summer and the weeks I’m not working, I don’t get paid. It’s like everyone else’s annual leave but other jobs get paid year round.

No, it's not like "everyone else's annual leave." I don't get 8 - 10 weeks of annual leave and I certainly couldn't take it all in one stretch and I couldn't get a second job to pay me while I did.

If you want to quit, quit. Or make a plan to quit at the end of the school year and start working toward that. Stop whining. Take ownership of your decisions.

+1

Also, MCP teachers have the option to spread out their paychecks over the course of the full year.

Not yet. That option has never available to MCPS teachers. We're being told it's coming and will be effective July 2025 for those who opt in. The previous option was a limited "summer pay" through a Mo Co Credit Union.

What was wrong with the existing program?

https://prod.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/departments/ersc/employees/pay/summer-pay/

You have to sign up with a credit union. MCPS does not do this. No one does this.

If no one uses the existing program, why do you think anyone will use the new program?

Because it will be through the MCPS payroll system and we don’t have to send our money anywhere else. Why would we do that? Most just save money for the summer through our own personal bank.

In that case, I'm still confused why you think you need one through the MCPS payroll system instead of just saving in your own bank account.

Oh my goodness. Do you even work for MCPS? Some people maybe aren’t as disciplined. Maybe it’s easier for them who cares? It’ll be nice to finally have the option To do this via our employer instead of some random third-party they picked to withhold summer pay.

We start planning for our summer finances at the beginning of each school and it is still tough come October, when we finally get consistent pay every two weeks. The years prior to the one week of "accelerated" pay nearly broke us every year (two MCPS teachers) because life happens. The MCPS pay schedule for teachers has always been hard at the start of the school year, especially when we have to wait three weeks between the first full check and the second full check. There's no reason not to have a year long pay option through our employer. Unless, of course, the money for teachers just sits in an interest earning account until October when pay for teachers actually resumes every two weeks...but MCPS wouldn't do that, would they?

And these are the people teaching are kids...

If your pay were spread out over 12 months, then a portion of your pay would be delayed during the school year until the summer. You could put some aside in an interest-bearing account, but perhaps that's too complicated for you. Are you an English teacher? Elementary?

Right?

"Some people aren't as disciplined."

Crazy.

Once again,
I don’t tolerate nonsense. I will call it out in my classroom and on this thread.

You clearly do not understand the challenges teachers face, and it’s usually best not to arrogantly comment from a place of ignorance.

I do understand the PP’s point about discipline. We have many teachers who live paycheck to paycheck because they are single earners living in an expensive area. When that’s your lifestyle, it’s hard to hold back pay for summers. I understand this challenge, and seeing that I’m not rude, I’m not going to mock or demean people in this situation.

Perhaps you should follow my lead.

You can do yourself exactly what MCPS would do: automatically transfer a portion of your pay into a separate account until summer comes along.

Seriously, this isn't hard.

Sigh. Spoken like a person who has never been young, working 60 to 70 hours a week, and making a teacher’s salary in an expensive county.

Sure, you can do that. It isn’t that hard to set up, of course. But then you can also choose to redirect the money when times get tough, which they will, and that means you aren’t saving like you need to.

I get it because I’ve worked with many who have dealt with this. Perhaps you have not, so this is such a simple solution to you.

You are clueless. Teachers just starting out make good money, certainly comparable to other professionals right out of school.

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/ersc/employees/pay/schedules/fy25_mcea_10-month_salary_schedules_eff_7.1.24.pdf

Please recall the many threads all over DCUM with titles like “I make 250K and am so poor” and “you can’t make it in this region on less than 300K”. I find it interesting how DCUM can collectively hold that belief and then tell new teachers their salaries are so great.

[Anonymous]

OP, you say you are a single parent, which actually opens up a path you might not have considered: international teaching. There are American and IB international schools all over the world, and most will pay for your flights and housing. I've lived and taught in 7 countries, including my current East Asian country, and the conditions are so much better than in the US. Asian parents respect teachers, and the Western kids we have are the children of successful professionals and diplomats working here, so their parents are also very invested in their education. Plus, I make more money here than I would in the US, and have great opportunities to travel and see the world. I am never returning to the US to teach, but I love teaching overseas.

There's a recruiting group called Search Associates that is the oldest and most trustworthy avenues to securing an international job as a teacher. If you go to their website, you can contact them to talk about it to see if you want to join.

[Anonymous]

I think you need to be grateful for what you have and appreciate it. Even software engineers have problems. Ruminating on why you went into teaching doesn’t help much. It’s not like you are switching careers anyway.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think you need to be grateful for what you have and appreciate it. Even software engineers have problems. Ruminating on why you went into teaching doesn’t help much. It’s not like you are switching careers anyway.

On the contrary, many teachers are leaving. My school lost 20% of its staff last year. Nobody was switching to another school; every single one transitioned to another field. Some cite the pay as the reason they leave. Others cite the long hours, the verbal and even physical abuse, the fact teachers are penalized for things out of their control, etc. Perhaps software engineers are leaving at a similar rate because their jobs are tough. If so, let’s start a thread about that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, you say you are a single parent, which actually opens up a path you might not have considered: international teaching. There are American and IB international schools all over the world, and most will pay for your flights and housing. I've lived and taught in 7 countries, including my current East Asian country, and the conditions are so much better than in the US. Asian parents respect teachers, and the Western kids we have are the children of successful professionals and diplomats working here, so their parents are also very invested in their education. Plus, I make more money here than I would in the US, and have great opportunities to travel and see the world. I am never returning to the US to teach, but I love teaching overseas.

There's a recruiting group called Search Associates that is the oldest and most trustworthy avenues to securing an international job as a teacher. If you go to their website, you can contact them to talk about it to see if you want to join.

Unless they are a single parent by choice, taking a child away from their other parent to live overseas isn’t a possibility.