MCPS Special Education Vacancies

[Anonymous]

For the past two years, Special Education positions have remained vacant. This includes the top Associate Superintendent for Special Education position to para educators in classrooms.

Anyone know what is Dr. McKnight’s plan to attract and hire staff for vacant Special Education positions?

[Anonymous]

Special Ed Para here in a discrete classroom. The pay is awful though benefits are good. Then they put more and more children in the classroom, so it's all about keeping the kids safe rather than teaching. Something must be done, not sure if I will continue next year

[Anonymous]

Adding a Special Education Liaison will do nothing to make class sizes manageable. Dr. McKnight doesn’t have a clue about what needs to be done to improve Special Education Services.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Special Ed Para here in a discrete classroom. The pay is awful though benefits are good. Then they put more and more children in the classroom, so it's all about keeping the kids safe rather than teaching. Something must be done, not sure if I will continue next year

+1000

[Anonymous]

Special Ed jobs are similar to tech and medical positions. People with the training to be Special Ed coordinators and providers in schools can make a lot more money and have a better work enrichment in the private sector. Even private schools are losing special Ed staff to universities and private service providers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Special Ed jobs are similar to tech and medical positions. People with the training to be Special Ed coordinators and providers in schools can make a lot more money and have a better work enrichment in the private sector. Even private schools are losing special Ed staff to universities and private service providers.

The same is true for other positions related to Special Education such as school psychologists, licensed clinical social workers (PPWs), occupational therapists, and speech therapists. MCPS will not be able to fill the vacant positions until the below market pay and poor work conditions are addressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special Ed jobs are similar to tech and medical positions. People with the training to be Special Ed coordinators and providers in schools can make a lot more money and have a better work enrichment in the private sector. Even private schools are losing special Ed staff to universities and private service providers.

The same is true for other positions related to Special Education such as school psychologists, licensed clinical social workers (PPWs), occupational therapists, and speech therapists. MCPS will not be able to fill the vacant positions until the below market pay and poor work conditions are addressed.

As a social worker, there would be zero chance I'd work for the school system. Having one social worker per school would be an impossible job. And, the pay is low/don't need the full benefits so there is no advantage to the school system over other jobs. But, social work in generally is a pretty bad profession.

[Anonymous]

I was a special Ed para. Pay was the same as a para who pulled out gen Ed kids for help. My job was infinitely harder. The pay absolutely should be higher for special Ed paras.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a special Ed para. Pay was the same as a para who pulled out gen Ed kids for help. My job was infinitely harder. The pay absolutely should be higher for special Ed paras.

Does MCPS have General Education Paras? I thought they all are paid out of the Special Education budget.

Is MCPS using funds for special education services for general education students?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a special Ed para. Pay was the same as a para who pulled out gen Ed kids for help. My job was infinitely harder. The pay absolutely should be higher for special Ed paras.

Does MCPS have General Education Paras? I thought they all are paid out of the Special Education budget.

Is MCPS using funds for special education services for general education students?

Every school receives staffing allocations for paraeducators. These are separate from special education budget funded paras.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a special Ed para. Pay was the same as a para who pulled out gen Ed kids for help. My job was infinitely harder. The pay absolutely should be higher for special Ed paras.

Does MCPS have General Education Paras? I thought they all are paid out of the Special Education budget.

Is MCPS using funds for special education services for general education students?

Every school receives staffing allocations for paraeducators. These are separate from special education budget funded paras.

Why not hire more general education teachers? Sure they cost more than a para educator but they also have a college degree and training. A para educator is only required to have a high school diploma.

[Anonymous]

Nothing is going to improve with the special education teacher and para shortage until something is done about salaries. As someone earlier posted, compensation is a joke for paras. Even with the benefits, its not worth it for a lot of people. The work is hard and they are at the bottom of the totem pole in schools. Most likely you are going to get poorly educated people but occasionally you get lucky and get a college educated former SAHM or dad who isn't dependent on the pay and may just want benefits for a spouse who is self-employed.

As for special education teachers, it's absurd that they are not paid at a higher rate than general ed teachers. They have an especially hard job. No wonder so many leave after a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing is going to improve with the special education teacher and para shortage until something is done about salaries. As someone earlier posted, compensation is a joke for paras. Even with the benefits, its not worth it for a lot of people. The work is hard and they are at the bottom of the totem pole in schools. Most likely you are going to get poorly educated people but occasionally you get lucky and get a college educated former SAHM or dad who isn't dependent on the pay and may just want benefits for a spouse who is self-employed.

As for special education teachers, it's absurd that they are not paid at a higher rate than general ed teachers. They have an especially hard job. No wonder so many leave after a few years.

The job is hard because MCPS keeps increasing the class sizes each teacher is required to teach. There’s too many students on each teacher’s case load. The teachers are stretched thin and the individualized education that students with disabilities need can’t exist.

MCPS Central Office just promises extra resources that never are delivered. Students don’t achieve their goals and objectives but no one in school administration cares.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special Ed jobs are similar to tech and medical positions. People with the training to be Special Ed coordinators and providers in schools can make a lot more money and have a better work enrichment in the private sector. Even private schools are losing special Ed staff to universities and private service providers.

The same is true for other positions related to Special Education such as school psychologists, licensed clinical social workers (PPWs), occupational therapists, and speech therapists. MCPS will not be able to fill the vacant positions until the below market pay and poor work conditions are addressed.

As a social worker, there would be zero chance I'd work for the school system. Having one social worker per school would be an impossible job. And, the pay is low/don't need the full benefits so there is no advantage to the school system over other jobs. But, social work in generally is a pretty bad profession.

Yes, I agree with this. I'm a school counselor who also has a license to do private practice and I would never go back to MCPS. It's not just the money, it's the culture. I'd sooner do private school. I feel grateful to have gotten out!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Nothing is going to improve with the special education teacher and para shortage until something is done about salaries. As someone earlier posted, compensation is a joke for paras. Even with the benefits, its not worth it for a lot of people. The work is hard and they are at the bottom of the totem pole in schools. Most likely you are going to get poorly educated people but occasionally you get lucky and get a college educated former SAHM or dad who isn't dependent on the pay and may just want benefits for a spouse who is self-employed.

As for special education teachers, it's absurd that they are not paid at a higher rate than general ed teachers. They have an especially hard job. No wonder so many leave after a few years.

+1. At the very least, the larger districts should be partnering with local universities and providing BACB supervision hours to grad students who are working towards ABA certification. Most grad students work at private clinics as BTs or RBTs and make roughly what paras make but they get supervision hours covered. If the school districts would provide supervision hours and hire the grad students to fill para roles, they'd get many more qualified workers and it would take so much of the teachers' plates. The larger districts that offer a lot of SPED services absolutely could do this.