MCPS faces Teacher shortage next year

[Anonymous]

“As of June 13, there were 581 unfilled positions. Meanwhile, 973 teachers have indicated they will be resigning or retiring.“


https://www.mymcmedia.org/mcps-faces-teacher-shortage-for-next-school-year/


No mention of staffing for student support or bus driver positions.

[Anonymous]

I expect some more leave MCPS due to normal reasons. Family moving, health, etc.

At the start of every year there are usually around 250 open. Could be double this upcoming school year. Typically a lot of SPEd and math positions or Part time ESOL positions. I expect more of the same this year.

[Anonymous]

In a normal year, I know 2 or 3 people who retire or take family leave. This year I know 2 retiring and 6 who are leaving teaching. The last 2 years of stress and vitriol have been the breaking point for a lot of teachers.

[Anonymous]

They're doing nothing to retain teachers. When a good teacher with leadership potential gets turned down for a promotion, someone from HR should meet with them about how they can help them reach their goals. When a strong principal says they're looking to leave, central should tell them they're valued and ask what they need in order to consider staying. They should be giving retention bonuses but they're not, and they're also not even matching outsiders' "steps," so they're also unable to attract teachers moving to the area. Instead, these teacher candidates will go to neighboring counties where their pay will be commensurate with their experience. MCPS no longer does satisfaction surveys either, so they're not even pretending to care what teachers want. The people leaving central are going to keep plucking good people. I think it's going to be way way worse than people expect.

[Anonymous]

There is a labor shortage. This is not unique to mcps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're doing nothing to retain teachers. When a good teacher with leadership potential gets turned down for a promotion, someone from HR should meet with them about how they can help them reach their goals. When a strong principal says they're looking to leave, central should tell them they're valued and ask what they need in order to consider staying. They should be giving retention bonuses but they're not, and they're also not even matching outsiders' "steps," so they're also unable to attract teachers moving to the area. Instead, these teacher candidates will go to neighboring counties where their pay will be commensurate with their experience. MCPS no longer does satisfaction surveys either, so they're not even pretending to care what teachers want. The people leaving central are going to keep plucking good people. I think it's going to be way way worse than people expect.

+1
I was offered a position with MCPS but went with a neighboring county that would put me on the correct salary step for my experience. I was disappointed, too. I liked that MCPS school a lot.

I kept getting calls from other MCPS schools long after I told them I accepted a position elsewhere. It was very clear to me how desperate they were for teachers, but I had to pick what worked best for my family.

[Anonymous]

In other news, water is wet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a labor shortage. This is not unique to mcps.

There isn't a shortage of qualified teachers. There is a shortage of qualified teachers willing to do the job. There's a difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They're doing nothing to retain teachers. When a good teacher with leadership potential gets turned down for a promotion, someone from HR should meet with them about how they can help them reach their goals. When a strong principal says they're looking to leave, central should tell them they're valued and ask what they need in order to consider staying. They should be giving retention bonuses but they're not, and they're also not even matching outsiders' "steps," so they're also unable to attract teachers moving to the area. Instead, these teacher candidates will go to neighboring counties where their pay will be commensurate with their experience. MCPS no longer does satisfaction surveys either, so they're not even pretending to care what teachers want. The people leaving central are going to keep plucking good people. I think it's going to be way way worse than people expect.

Not exactly true. Fairfax, Howard and PG counties cap entry step of “external candidates”. They are a couple of years higher than MCPS but since their pay scale isn’t as high to begin with it’s not a big difference. Not sure about DCPS. I’m speaking from experience as I have 20 years experience and MCPS just hired me at step 8 because I have a Master’s. I even tried negotiating the entry step and asking if it would expire if I stayed in the system so many years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They're doing nothing to retain teachers. When a good teacher with leadership potential gets turned down for a promotion, someone from HR should meet with them about how they can help them reach their goals. When a strong principal says they're looking to leave, central should tell them they're valued and ask what they need in order to consider staying. They should be giving retention bonuses but they're not, and they're also not even matching outsiders' "steps," so they're also unable to attract teachers moving to the area. Instead, these teacher candidates will go to neighboring counties where their pay will be commensurate with their experience. MCPS no longer does satisfaction surveys either, so they're not even pretending to care what teachers want. The people leaving central are going to keep plucking good people. I think it's going to be way way worse than people expect.

+1
I was offered a position with MCPS but went with a neighboring county that would put me on the correct salary step for my experience. I was disappointed, too. I liked that MCPS school a lot.

I kept getting calls from other MCPS schools long after I told them I accepted a position elsewhere. It was very clear to me how desperate they were for teachers, but I had to pick what worked best for my family.

Which county? I’ve looked at all neighboring counties and still wouldn’t get to enter at step 20 with a Master’s and 20 years experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a labor shortage. This is not unique to mcps.

There isn't a shortage of qualified teachers. There is a shortage of qualified teachers willing to do the job. There's a difference.

There is not a shortage of people quialified to work at Target. There is a shortage of people willing to work at Target.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a labor shortage. This is not unique to mcps.

There isn't a shortage of qualified teachers. There is a shortage of qualified teachers willing to do the job. There's a difference.

There is not a shortage of people quialified to work at Target. There is a shortage of people willing to work at Target.

One of those roles is integral to your child’s education. One helps you find aviators for a beach trip

[Anonymous]

Signing bonuses, competitive pay, and generous benefits is how employers fill positions. Do more than your competitors, then you will get the better candidates.

Particularly for hard to fill positions including Special Education jobs, MCPS advertise low wages and no benefit or signing bonuses. This results in positions going unfilled while candidates choose other school districts or private employment opportunities.

[Anonymous]

My friend left our district and went to another district. She hasn't even started there yet (she will start in August) but she got a signing bonus. Our district didn't give us any bonuses and she gets a bonus before she even works there. That tells you something. All districts should be required to do exit interviews AND publish that data.

[Anonymous]

Which county offer signing bonuses?