more on teacher shortages
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Anonymous
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I work in a program for gifted kids outside the public school system. We start our programs in a week. We are only about 80% staffed. Next week, our administrators will be calling parents who signed up for classes and paid big bucks that they can either choose a different class for their kids or get a credit for a future class. This is a program that, 5 years ago, was so, so, so hard to get hired to work in. You pretty much had to know someone. It pays really well, teachers have a ton of autonomy, the kids are generally great and it's a lot of fun to teach these classes. Now? They can't staff them all. I know every field is having issues, but this is pretty shocking to me. |
Anonymous
| Eh, the pandemic was really hard, and a LOT of people scapegoated teachers and otherwise demonstrated a huge amount of disdain for them. Add in the CRT crap that creates stress for teachers worried about getting in trouble, the fact that our collective response to school shootings is a big fat shrug (when it's not a suggestion that teachers should be armed) and the other garbage that we pile on teachers, and it's no surprise that many are retiring and other people are choosing not to go in to teaching. |
Anonymous
| I don't understand what this program is OP. Is it summer school? If you pay well I'm sure there are teachers interested in working over the summer.. I think your HR isn't used to reaching out maybe? |
Anonymous
| CTY? |
Anonymous
Uh, no. That’s not it. Fairfax County is paying ESY (summer school for special education) teachers $65/hour. They cannot fully staff it. There is a shortage of teachers because the pool has been shrinking for years AND they’re exhausted. |
Anonymous
My district bumped pay from $50 an hour to $75 an hour and still can't get enough takers. Sometimes even the money isn't enough. Teachers are completely drained and as this point, not even the money can help. Our district started giving teachers half-day wellness days in the second half of this school year. So on previously scheduled half-days, normally we would have meetings or PDs in the afternoons. They got rid of those and we basically get the afternoon off. No loss to the students and it doesn't cost the district anything. It was awesome. This year, I hope they schedule all of them in advance so I can make appointments for the doctor, etc. It also helps in that teachers don't need to take days off to go to the doctor, dentist. |
Anonymous
| Teacher here and you couldn’t pay me enough to teach this summer. Need rest very badly. I know that is not unique to teachers but the pressure to go, go, go this past year was greater than usual and most of us clawed our way to the finish line. |
Anonymous
| That’s sad to hear. There was never an email sent to their mailing list noting the shortage (that I saw). I am close to two locations and would likely have considered applying (especially if my qualified kids could have even offered a spot; we can’t afford the CTY tuition). Best wishes on the rest of the sessions. |
Anonymous
I can’t imagine cty struggling for staff…really? If so, that’s a wrap for teaching in this country |
Anonymous
DP. I get a lot of emails from them (and other similar programs for gifted) about applying. My demographic is the complete opposite, though, so I don't respond. I think that the shortage is affecting all makes and manner of schooling. |
Anonymous
See the email about cancelled CTY sessions in camp forum. |
Anonymous
Wow |
Anonymous
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I have a friend looking for a teaching job in MA and she’s disheartened by all the rejection emails. I was there a few years ago and ended up in VA. There still isn’t a dramatic shortage of applicants in the Boston area. There are more vacancies than usual but some people wait years to teach here and either sub, work as a para, or relocate until they get the chance. I feel like other states should take a look and model off how things work for teachers in MA. I hear the pension is bad but in most districts they get a lot of resources, tenure after third year, decent pay raises every year. I just don’t understand why the states that always have dramatic shortages don’t just model off the states where it can be competitive to land a teaching job like MA, NY, PA, NJ. You’ll hear them all complain about a shortage but usually it’s actually a sub and para shortage unless it’s a really rough and low paying district where people just go for experience.
Schools aren’t perfect here by any means. But the profession itself is more attractive here than most other states. Some teachers are making six figures by year 15 for 180 days of work. If you start at 22, 15 years to six figures isn’t that bad despite the high COL. |
Anonymous
| These benefits only work for people who last that long. They need to fix the work culture of teaching in order to keep teachers. The churn is real. Our school has already seen a decline in student teachers in the last six years. We have lost about 1/3 of student teachers and some who do graduate end up not going into teaching. |
Anonymous
Massachusetts model cannot be copied without Massachusetts demographics and ses level There are virtually no black people in mass And the poor whites, while drunk Tom Brady simps, aren’t nearly as dysfunctional as other states poor whites. And Massachusetts Hispanics aren’t as dysfunctional as Hispanics in other states. Aren’t there shortages in pa and ny? |