Teacher turnover

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it any different than prior years? And is it purely about teachers being disgruntled? It sounds like some teachers moved because they....uh....wanted their kids to go to school in person and they are just staying someplace else?

I’m leaving my NW ES purely bc the families showed themselves to be really rude and entitled during the reopening period. I’m very excited to get out of the toxic W3 school culture.

So are you going to a different DCPS? Or what?

Yep different DCPS EOTP don’t want to get too detailed on here but it wasn’t too hard to find a school happy to take on a teacher with 5 straight years of highly effective scores. Looking forward to getting back to working with kids instead of placating overbearing parents

translation: you don’t want to be held accountable by parents so you’re moving to a school where you hope that less affluent parents will be less uppity.

It’s not your job though. It’s the job of your child’s teachers, principal and district leadership. I think the issue is exacerbated in many upper NW schools bc parents think that they’re entitled to private school type accommodations from their teachers and forget that public schools only can do so much.


DP. It’s not being held accountable. It’s parents being overbearing and “bulldozer” parents.

Overbearing "bulldozer" parents are why those schools opened. And hence why PP is moving to a school where parents demand less accountability. She doesn't like it.

Yes you opened the schools. Great. But when you continue to act like that pre and post pandemic. It’s runs people out. I have one parent who emails me at least 4 times A DAY. And complains about every single thing you can think of. Everything. Attempts to debate every single assignment grade, every assessment, etc. This parent is an extreme example and their kid is literally the hot potato of the grade. But if you have 10-15 kids like this with the parents acting even 25% this crazy...it runs teachers out. People can only deal with things like this so long.

Fellow teacher here who appreciates the term “hot potato”. It is so true that obnoxious parents earn a reputation among teachers at a school and NOBODY wants their kid in their class. Parents should know that the lack of respect you might choose to show teachers ends up impacting your child negatively. As much as we all try to put blinders on to spare the child any negative feelings we might have toward their parent, we’re only human. And we DEFINITELY don’t want to have to deal with YOU on a daily basis. So even if your child is wonderful we still hope they’ll end up in someone else’s class.

nice threat there. and you wonder why more vulnerable/less savvy parents EOTR keep their mouths shut? Due to explicit or implicit threats like this. I have no choice but to advocate for my kid. It’s my job. And if parents had stayed silent this year our school would still be closed, and DL would have been even more if a sh*tshow that it was.

I don’t read that as a threat. It’s just a natural consequence. The same as people blaming teachers. Natural consequence

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it any different than prior years? And is it purely about teachers being disgruntled? It sounds like some teachers moved because they....uh....wanted their kids to go to school in person and they are just staying someplace else?

I’m leaving my NW ES purely bc the families showed themselves to be really rude and entitled during the reopening period. I’m very excited to get out of the toxic W3 school culture.

Fellow teacher. Me too. Except in Ward 6.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I dont blame after the pandemic and craziness. Teachers can make so much more money in the private sector doing corporate training. After reading a ton of posts here, parents in DC suck too.

Yep. I left at the end of SY 19-20 and got a $20k raise to do corporate training.

My SO is thinking about it. He’s been a teacher for almost 20 years and it’s the only thing he ever wanted to do. The students are great. But the parents are ridiculous. Teaching isn’t customer service. I have a portfolio of clients and they treat me better and with more respect for my competency and time than these parents treat my SO.

Are you honest with your clients? It is clear that the teachers at my children's school are not honest with me. They say one thing to me when we are 1 on 1 - another thing when their supervisor is in the room - a 3rd when under oath.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So far the principal has announced only three leaving at Janney.

My child’s 4th grade teacher at Lafayette just announced she is leaving. She is experienced and quite excellent.

[Anonymous]

I don't care if teachers leave. Everyone is replaceable. I just want my kids back in class, in front of ANY teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't care if teachers leave. Everyone is replaceable. I just want my kids back in class, in front of ANY teacher.

You can say that, but i work in admin at a WOTP school in DCPS and we can’t fill all of our vacancies because the pool is so shallow. You will most likely see those positions filled by first year teachers or TFA type who are only around for two years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't care if teachers leave. Everyone is replaceable. I just want my kids back in class, in front of ANY teacher.

You can say that, but i work in admin at a WOTP school in DCPS and we can’t fill all of our vacancies because the pool is so shallow. You will most likely see those positions filled by first year teachers or TFA type who are only around for two years.

Judging by most teachers' comments on DCUM, it seems that most teachers hate their jobs. Maybe it's a good thing if they quit. We can replace them with people who actually want to educate children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it any different than prior years? And is it purely about teachers being disgruntled? It sounds like some teachers moved because they....uh....wanted their kids to go to school in person and they are just staying someplace else?

I’m leaving my NW ES purely bc the families showed themselves to be really rude and entitled during the reopening period. I’m very excited to get out of the toxic W3 school culture.

Fellow teacher. Me too. Except in Ward 6.

We are leaving our NW ES in Ward 3 because the principal had no backbone and our teacher still isn’t back. One class back in PK-1st is a joke. If you can’t follow basic science you have no business teaching. We think these teachers took advantage. We are not alone. Our friends with kids in the upper grades were much happier. Clear split at our school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it any different than prior years? And is it purely about teachers being disgruntled? It sounds like some teachers moved because they....uh....wanted their kids to go to school in person and they are just staying someplace else?

I’m leaving my NW ES purely bc the families showed themselves to be really rude and entitled during the reopening period. I’m very excited to get out of the toxic W3 school culture.

So are you going to a different DCPS? Or what?

Yep different DCPS EOTP don’t want to get too detailed on here but it wasn’t too hard to find a school happy to take on a teacher with 5 straight years of highly effective scores. Looking forward to getting back to working with kids instead of placating overbearing parents

translation: you don’t want to be held accountable by parents so you’re moving to a school where you hope that less affluent parents will be less uppity.

DP. It’s not being held accountable. It’s parents being overbearing and “bulldozer” parents.

Overbearing "bulldozer" parents are why those schools opened. And hence why PP is moving to a school where parents demand less accountability. She doesn't like it.

Yes you opened the schools. Great. But when you continue to act like that pre and post pandemic. It’s runs people out. I have one parent who emails me at least 4 times A DAY. And complains about every single thing you can think of. Everything. Attempts to debate every single assignment grade, every assessment, etc. This parent is an extreme example and their kid is literally the hot potato of the grade. But if you have 10-15 kids like this with the parents acting even 25% this crazy...it runs teachers out. People can only deal with things like this so long.

Yes, that sounds exhausting and annoying. But my kid's teachers (despite having had the whole extra-long summer to prepare) were totally and inexcusable unorganized at the start of the year. Parents had to get togehter en masse to get them to even post a schedule on Canvas with links, instead of expecting the kids to know to look in 8 million different places. A little bit of executive function and planning would have prevented that.

We had 5 days to learn how to set up canvas. Not an entire summer.[/quote

Yep, 5 days. Do you have ANY idea how little time we had to prep? DCPS didn’t roll out any training until 5 days before we went live. Imagine being thrown in the cockpit of a jumbo jet with little training and being told to fly on schedule, safely with everyone watching. You’d have to focus on the few basic new skills you’d learned and hope you didn’t crash. We felt like ducks out of water. We were not only having to figure out Canvas right along with you, but having to help train the kids. It was very stressful. Not anyone’s finest hour.

[Anonymous]

This whole thread sounds like DCPS is a terrible employer. This isn't surprising, given this year.

Also, frankly, when I've had to work with people who don't directly have power over me but who are annoying, I've had managers who have help smooth out the negotiations. It sounds like some principals are doing a sh*tty job intervening where overbearing parents are concerned. At any rate, I don't blame teachers for leaving for schools that fit them better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't care if teachers leave. Everyone is replaceable. I just want my kids back in class, in front of ANY teacher.

You can say that, but i work in admin at a WOTP school in DCPS and we can’t fill all of our vacancies because the pool is so shallow. You will most likely see those positions filled by first year teachers or TFA type who are only around for two years.

Judging by most teachers' comments on DCUM, it seems that most teachers hate their jobs. Maybe it's a good thing if they quit. We can replace them with people who actually want to educate children.

But you may not find one. No one wants to be a teacher in DCPS despite it being a 'cushy' job. Also it's June and there are 76 sped vacancies but yep it's all good!

Also you must realize there are a lot of people who choose DCPS for money but then they realize to get to 100k you have to go through observations using a poor tool or wait 21 years....and then they decide 'nope' and leave lol. Turnover rate here is 4 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's probably going to be a lot of turnover in a lot of professions. The pandemic has a lot of people rethinking their career choices.

Teachers in DC seem like they have a pretty cushy gig. They are extremely well paid and their union runs the schools. If they move somewhere else, they're likely going to take a pay cut and other school systems are not going to be so deferential to all their demands.

Good lord stop the teacher bashing. The only thing I’ve demanded of our union this year was to stop throwing up roadblocks to reopening schools. It is unhelpful to throw around cheap shots like that. And if you think $75K/year is extremely well-paid for a highly-effective teacher with 8 years of experience, living in DC, I’m not sure what you would consider a reasonable salary. I consider it adequate, but would be making twice as much if I’d remained in my previous field. MANY of us felt poorly represented by the WTU this year.

DP here, but why did you leave your previous field then?

Also keep in mind that teacher salaries are for 10 months of the year, so your $75K would be $90K if full-time. That's actually a very good salary for someone with only 8 years experience. You could earn more money over the summer if you choose to work full-time instead of the just the 10 month teacher contract with summers off.

I left my previous field....because I wanted to teach. I’m not complaining about the salary. As I said I consider it adequate, just not “extremely wet-paid.” I do t work summers so I can be with my own children and because you really need to recharge in order not to burn out and stay effective. Or at least I do.

[Anonymous]

Parents please know that the teachers at my school love what they do and love your children. It was a frustrating and divisive year for everyone. I think we just need to regroup this summer and start fresh in the fall. Let’s just all show each other a bit of grace and be a good example to the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Parents please know that the teachers at my school love what they do and love your children. It was a frustrating and divisive year for everyone. I think we just need to regroup this summer and start fresh in the fall. Let’s just all show each other a bit of grace and be a good example to the kids.

Yes but it’s hard to do that when teachers are just leaving, which is what this thread is about. Feels like everyone’s just jumping ship and those left have nowhere else to go and are battle scarred (parent included).

Seeing the same at our HRCS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't care if teachers leave. Everyone is replaceable. I just want my kids back in class, in front of ANY teacher.

You can say that, but i work in admin at a WOTP school in DCPS and we can’t fill all of our vacancies because the pool is so shallow. You will most likely see those positions filled by first year teachers or TFA type who are only around for two years.

Judging by most teachers' comments on DCUM, it seems that most teachers hate their jobs. Maybe it's a good thing if they quit. We can replace them with people who actually want to educate children.

Who in their right mind would look at the last year and think that they’d want to become a teacher? I hate losing good teachers, but good on them for quitting if the conditions are lousy. And the lousy conditions are created by adults 100% of the time.