Is it wrong to poach teachers?

[Anonymous]

Apparently there’s a lot of drama happening in our old preschool.

Three families who the parents or close friends started at the same time in August. They just left and took 4 teachers with them when the school is already short staffed. They offered a few teachers a nanny and job that would pay more than the school is willing to pay. They needed a nanny soon so the teachers who accepted quit immediately or with a one week notice.

They took the assistant and lead teacher out of one of the classes so now there’s no teacher for that class. Two other teachers accepted the job and quit.

Since they are close, did this all at the same time and only started in August many people believe this is the entire reason they enrolled in the school.

Is it wrong to poach teachers from your school? Or would it be wrong to deny the teachers an opportunity for a higher paying job just to benefit the school as a whole?

[Anonymous]

Wow. That's pretty shocking. And low. By all of them.

[Anonymous]

Most people want a bigger pay check.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most people want a bigger pay check.

Thank you, Ayn Rand, for your perspective.

[Anonymous]

How awful that someone would want to get paid more money, and even worse that a fellow member of the nobility would offer that money to my serfs. Shame on them!

[Anonymous]

If the school wanted to keep them they needed to make it a job worth keeping. Would you rather take care of 12 kids for 18 an hour or 2 kids for 25 an hour?

[Anonymous]

Preschool pay is very very low, despite costs for parents being so high. When I taught preschool I may have left for higher pay too, but especially if they were unhappy with the director. Maybe something else was going on that you didn't know about.

[Anonymous]

That's a super jerk move.

[Anonymous]

I don't know how much preschool teachers get paid, but I pay about $2.2k for a 4 year old (24 kids with 2 staffs). I assume they get paid at least $50k for the lead teacher, do I guess it righht?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how much preschool teachers get paid, but I pay about $2.2k for a 4 year old (24 kids with 2 staffs). I assume they get paid at least $50k for the lead teacher, do I guess it righht?

Maybe, that’s on the high end. The other two people in the class (there is usually about the equivalent of a third person between extended hours, floating to cover breaks etc . . . Likely make minimum.

In your field would $50K for a job that requires someone to have multiple years of experience, and supervise multiple people, be competitive?

[Anonymous]

I think this created a tough situation for other people. But I think families have a right to do what’s best for their family so long as it’s not illegal and they do t need to think of the community at large. And I think people have a right to take whatever job opportunities come their way without thinking about the community at large or the employer.

If this had been a great job with a future, they would not have left. Maybe you should be considering the employment conditions at your daycare as the problem not the parents or staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how much preschool teachers get paid, but I pay about $2.2k for a 4 year old (24 kids with 2 staffs). I assume they get paid at least $50k for the lead teacher, do I guess it righht?

The median salary is closer to 40k in DC. Like PP said, the assistants are making closer to minimum wage. At that salary, I'd expect employees to jump for better salary or conditions without much notice. If you want adequate notice, then you need to treat them like professionals which means a much higher salary.

https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/washington-dc-preschool-teacher-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_IM911_KO14,31.htm

https://www.salary.com/research/salary/alternate/preschool-teacher-salary/washington-dc

[Anonymous]

You can’t blame somebody for taking a higher paid job. I feel bad for the rest of the people at the school, and the school at some point, but I think people have to look out for their own best interests. At the same time poaching really seems unethical. These teachers now nannies should probably watch out for these employers down the line, because if they are unethical in one way, they might turn out to be unethical in other ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can’t blame somebody for taking a higher paid job. I feel bad for the rest of the people at the school, and the school at some point, but I think people have to look out for their own best interests. At the same time poaching really seems unethical. These teachers now nannies should probably watch out for these employers down the line, because if they are unethical in one way, they might turn out to be unethical in other ways.

Conspiring to keep women in poverty is not ethical behavior. Offering someone a job is not unethical.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't know how much preschool teachers get paid, but I pay about $2.2k for a 4 year old (24 kids with 2 staffs). I assume they get paid at least $50k for the lead teacher, do I guess it righht?

24 to 2 is a horrible ratio. So you have people who are not just making terrible pay they have terrible working conditions. Imagine if there was a norm for workload in your field and you were asked to do 20-40% over it.