MCPS faces Teacher shortage next year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS schools, including my DC's, seem to have too many teachers. It's sounding like the schools with the good principals don't have as many staffing issues?

Also, many former MCPS students have gone elsewhere due to the in-person school closures.

So would be curious which schools are the ones with all these unfilled positions.

Why does it seem that way to you?

Classrooms with only about 11 or so students

That seems really low, even for a Title 1 school

I'd be curious what grade- our Focus school was very imbalanced this year. Kindergarten classes all had 20+ students but some of the 1st-3nd grade classes were <15.

That's strange. Principals can move teachers within their school to a different grade level to prevent these imbalances. Unless a a high number of the 1st and 2nd graders withdrew after the school year began?

[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.

I would disagree.

There are retirees as boomers and others leave the workforce. There is pandemic burnout taking others out of teaching.

Interest in being a teacher is waning. We are not graduating from college and producing enough certified teachers. Exit > Entrants

+1 My daughter earned $100K her first year after earning a BS in Finance. She has a great job with benefits. The starting salary and long term potential for teachers is not as attractive as other career options. Then there’s the safety risks with fights and weapons on schools. Students weigh those pros and cons when choosing a college major.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS schools, including my DC's, seem to have too many teachers. It's sounding like the schools with the good principals don't have as many staffing issues?

Also, many former MCPS students have gone elsewhere due to the in-person school closures.

So would be curious which schools are the ones with all these unfilled positions.

Why does it seem that way to you?

Classrooms with only about 11 or so students

That seems really low, even for a Title 1 school

I'd be curious what grade- our Focus school was very imbalanced this year. Kindergarten classes all had 20+ students but some of the 1st-3nd grade classes were <15.

That's strange. Principals can move teachers within their school to a different grade level to prevent these imbalances. Unless a a high number of the 1st and 2nd graders withdrew after the school year began?

There's been a surplus at a lot of schools since enrollment went down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS schools, including my DC's, seem to have too many teachers. It's sounding like the schools with the good principals don't have as many staffing issues?

Also, many former MCPS students have gone elsewhere due to the in-person school closures.

So would be curious which schools are the ones with all these unfilled positions.

Why does it seem that way to you?

Classrooms with only about 11 or so students

That seems really low, even for a Title 1 school

I'd be curious what grade- our Focus school was very imbalanced this year. Kindergarten classes all had 20+ students but some of the 1st-3nd grade classes were <15.

That's strange. Principals can move teachers within their school to a different grade level to prevent these imbalances. Unless a a high number of the 1st and 2nd graders withdrew after the school year began?

There's been a surplus at a lot of schools since enrollment went down.

If you say so. Not my experience.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS schools, including my DC's, seem to have too many teachers. It's sounding like the schools with the good principals don't have as many staffing issues?

Also, many former MCPS students have gone elsewhere due to the in-person school closures.

So would be curious which schools are the ones with all these unfilled positions.

Why does it seem that way to you?

Classrooms with only about 11 or so students

That seems really low, even for a Title 1 school

I'd be curious what grade- our Focus school was very imbalanced this year. Kindergarten classes all had 20+ students but some of the 1st-3nd grade classes were <15.

That's strange. Principals can move teachers within their school to a different grade level to prevent these imbalances. Unless a a high number of the 1st and 2nd graders withdrew after the school year began?

There's been a surplus at a lot of schools since enrollment went down.

If you say so. Not my experience.

Anecdotally, this has only been true in wealthy single family neighborhoods where people are retiring in place and young families that do move in are having fewer children. The rest of the county has been growing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS schools, including my DC's, seem to have too many teachers. It's sounding like the schools with the good principals don't have as many staffing issues?

Also, many former MCPS students have gone elsewhere due to the in-person school closures.

So would be curious which schools are the ones with all these unfilled positions.

Why does it seem that way to you?

Classrooms with only about 11 or so students

That seems really low, even for a Title 1 school

I'd be curious what grade- our Focus school was very imbalanced this year. Kindergarten classes all had 20+ students but some of the 1st-3nd grade classes were <15.

That's strange. Principals can move teachers within their school to a different grade level to prevent these imbalances. Unless a a high number of the 1st and 2nd graders withdrew after the school year began?

There's been a surplus at a lot of schools since enrollment went down.

If you say so. Not my experience.

Anecdotally, this has only been true in wealthy single family neighborhoods where people are retiring in place and young families that do move in are having fewer children. The rest of the county has been growing.

Enrollment went down because more families are choosing private schools after 18 months of online learning. More families will leave next year because MCPS is still struggling with filling in gaps due to less curriculum and a lack of engagement with students during online learning. MCPS has squandered funds that was earmarked to help students recover from online learning.

However, public job announcements also show vacancies that went un-filled in “wealthy” school clusters. Special Education positions are a disproportionate number of jobs that are vacant. This has resulted in students not receiving the Special Education services they need. MCPS is prioritizing Title I schools and administrative positions but vacancies exist throughout the school system. Students with disabilities are the last priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS schools, including my DC's, seem to have too many teachers. It's sounding like the schools with the good principals don't have as many staffing issues?

Also, many former MCPS students have gone elsewhere due to the in-person school closures.

So would be curious which schools are the ones with all these unfilled positions.

Why does it seem that way to you?

Classrooms with only about 11 or so students

That seems really low, even for a Title 1 school

I'd be curious what grade- our Focus school was very imbalanced this year. Kindergarten classes all had 20+ students but some of the 1st-3nd grade classes were <15.

That's strange. Principals can move teachers within their school to a different grade level to prevent these imbalances. Unless a a high number of the 1st and 2nd graders withdrew after the school year began?

There's been a surplus at a lot of schools since enrollment went down.

If you say so. Not my experience.

Anecdotally, this has only been true in wealthy single family neighborhoods where people are retiring in place and young families that do move in are having fewer children. The rest of the county has been growing.

Strange, the thread here a week or so ago claimed enrollment was way DOWN and people were leaving droves for private. I don't so how both of these things can be true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS schools, including my DC's, seem to have too many teachers. It's sounding like the schools with the good principals don't have as many staffing issues?

Also, many former MCPS students have gone elsewhere due to the in-person school closures.

So would be curious which schools are the ones with all these unfilled positions.

Why does it seem that way to you?

Classrooms with only about 11 or so students

That seems really low, even for a Title 1 school

I'd be curious what grade- our Focus school was very imbalanced this year. Kindergarten classes all had 20+ students but some of the 1st-3nd grade classes were <15.

That's strange. Principals can move teachers within their school to a different grade level to prevent these imbalances. Unless a a high number of the 1st and 2nd graders withdrew after the school year began?

There's been a surplus at a lot of schools since enrollment went down.

If you say so. Not my experience.

Anecdotally, this has only been true in wealthy single family neighborhoods where people are retiring in place and young families that do move in are having fewer children. The rest of the county has been growing.

Enrollment went down because more families are choosing private schools after 18 months of online learning. More families will leave next year because MCPS is still struggling with filling in gaps due to less curriculum and a lack of engagement with students during online learning. MCPS has squandered funds that was earmarked to help students recover from online learning.

However, public job announcements also show vacancies that went un-filled in “wealthy” school clusters. Special Education positions are a disproportionate number of jobs that are vacant. This has resulted in students not receiving the Special Education services they need. MCPS is prioritizing Title I schools and administrative positions but vacancies exist throughout the school system. Students with disabilities are the last priority.

Oh yes, and that the number of students who require special education services is up about 300% in the last decade especially in wealthy areas that qualify from private diagnosis as was explained a recent NYT expose.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS doesn't actually want experienced, expensive teachers. It wants to hire cheap, impressionable young teachers.

Really? My friends daughter graduated Magna Cum Laude from college this spring with a degree in elementary education. Excellent reviews from her student teaching. A very smart, well spoken and engaging young lady. I could not believe how many jobs she was turned down for. I thought any elementary school in the county would grab her up quickly but instead she was turned down multiple times. I was shocked. All I could think was- "I guess MCPS doesn't want to hire smart, talented, highly motivated young teachers." Fortunately, she's now been offered a teaching position in the county, but she was just about to start looking at Howard and Fairfax. I was absolutely dumbfounded.

Sorry to hear about your friend's daughter but I think it just goes to show that there isn't really a shortage just another fictional point of grievance to complain about.

Yep, if they had real vacancies to fill, this wouldn't be true.

With the big decline in enrollment they were overstaffed so it kind of makes sense.

They wouldn't be turning away so many top-notch applicants if there were a real shortage. This is just more sky is falling hype.

Are they? We are talking about one third hand anecdote as proof of some greater trend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS doesn't actually want experienced, expensive teachers. It wants to hire cheap, impressionable young teachers.

Really? My friends daughter graduated Magna Cum Laude from college this spring with a degree in elementary education. Excellent reviews from her student teaching. A very smart, well spoken and engaging young lady. I could not believe how many jobs she was turned down for. I thought any elementary school in the county would grab her up quickly but instead she was turned down multiple times. I was shocked. All I could think was- "I guess MCPS doesn't want to hire smart, talented, highly motivated young teachers." Fortunately, she's now been offered a teaching position in the county, but she was just about to start looking at Howard and Fairfax. I was absolutely dumbfounded.

Sorry to hear about your friend's daughter but I think it just goes to show that there isn't really a shortage just another fictional point of grievance to complain about.

Yep, if they had real vacancies to fill, this wouldn't be true.

With the big decline in enrollment they were overstaffed so it kind of makes sense.

They wouldn't be turning away so many top-notch applicants if there were a real shortage. This is just more sky is falling hype.

Your post is total BS. MCPS is turning away top-notch applicants??? That’s why over 500 teacher positions were un-filled this school year???

They turned me away, in a sense. I was offered a position for far, far less than existing MCPS teachers with the same experience.

That is mcps policy and it's very shitty that they will not give a teacher transferring into the system their full years of experience. I got screwed by this as well when I transferred and lost thousands of dollars in salary

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS schools, including my DC's, seem to have too many teachers. It's sounding like the schools with the good principals don't have as many staffing issues?

Also, many former MCPS students have gone elsewhere due to the in-person school closures.

So would be curious which schools are the ones with all these unfilled positions.

Why does it seem that way to you?

Classrooms with only about 11 or so students

That seems really low, even for a Title 1 school

I'd be curious what grade- our Focus school was very imbalanced this year. Kindergarten classes all had 20+ students but some of the 1st-3nd grade classes were <15.

I've worked in a focus school a few years and seen it happen a few times. Usually the year started out balanced but a disproportionate number of kids left or transferred and then that teacher usually is the designated person to get new students transferring in. In another case there were kids with very high behavioral needs so it made sense to make that class smaller.

In my school we needed more kindergarten students but couldn't find a qualified kindergarten teacher. In some cases the applicants had multiple offers and chose schools closer to home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS schools, including my DC's, seem to have too many teachers. It's sounding like the schools with the good principals don't have as many staffing issues?

Also, many former MCPS students have gone elsewhere due to the in-person school closures.

So would be curious which schools are the ones with all these unfilled positions.

Why does it seem that way to you?

Classrooms with only about 11 or so students

That seems really low, even for a Title 1 school

I'd be curious what grade- our Focus school was very imbalanced this year. Kindergarten classes all had 20+ students but some of the 1st-3nd grade classes were <15.

That's strange. Principals can move teachers within their school to a different grade level to prevent these imbalances. Unless a a high number of the 1st and 2nd graders withdrew after the school year began?

There's been a surplus at a lot of schools since enrollment went down.

If you say so. Not my experience.

Anecdotally, this has only been true in wealthy single family neighborhoods where people are retiring in place and young families that do move in are having fewer children. The rest of the county has been growing.

Enrollment went down because more families are choosing private schools after 18 months of online learning. More families will leave next year because MCPS is still struggling with filling in gaps due to less curriculum and a lack of engagement with students during online learning. MCPS has squandered funds that was earmarked to help students recover from online learning.

However, public job announcements also show vacancies that went un-filled in “wealthy” school clusters. Special Education positions are a disproportionate number of jobs that are vacant. This has resulted in students not receiving the Special Education services they need. MCPS is prioritizing Title I schools and administrative positions but vacancies exist throughout the school system. Students with disabilities are the last priority.

Or just not enough teachers want to work in special education? It's harder and there's so much more paperwork and documentation

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS schools, including my DC's, seem to have too many teachers. It's sounding like the schools with the good principals don't have as many staffing issues?

Also, many former MCPS students have gone elsewhere due to the in-person school closures.

So would be curious which schools are the ones with all these unfilled positions.

Why does it seem that way to you?

Classrooms with only about 11 or so students

That seems really low, even for a Title 1 school

I'd be curious what grade- our Focus school was very imbalanced this year. Kindergarten classes all had 20+ students but some of the 1st-3nd grade classes were <15.

I've worked in a focus school a few years and seen it happen a few times. Usually the year started out balanced but a disproportionate number of kids left or transferred and then that teacher usually is the designated person to get new students transferring in. In another case there were kids with very high behavioral needs so it made sense to make that class smaller.

In my school we needed more kindergarten students but couldn't find a qualified kindergarten teacher. In some cases the applicants had multiple offers and chose schools closer to home

Teachers picking schools close to home is a big problem. There is a lack of affordable housing for moco workers including teachers. So if teachers can make the same salary in Germantown with a shorter commute, they will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS schools, including my DC's, seem to have too many teachers. It's sounding like the schools with the good principals don't have as many staffing issues?

Also, many former MCPS students have gone elsewhere due to the in-person school closures.

So would be curious which schools are the ones with all these unfilled positions.

Why does it seem that way to you?

Classrooms with only about 11 or so students

That seems really low, even for a Title 1 school

I'd be curious what grade- our Focus school was very imbalanced this year. Kindergarten classes all had 20+ students but some of the 1st-3nd grade classes were <15.

That's strange. Principals can move teachers within their school to a different grade level to prevent these imbalances. Unless a a high number of the 1st and 2nd graders withdrew after the school year began?

There's been a surplus at a lot of schools since enrollment went down.

If you say so. Not my experience.

Anecdotally, this has only been true in wealthy single family neighborhoods where people are retiring in place and young families that do move in are having fewer children. The rest of the county has been growing.

Enrollment went down because more families are choosing private schools after 18 months of online learning. More families will leave next year because MCPS is still struggling with filling in gaps due to less curriculum and a lack of engagement with students during online learning. MCPS has squandered funds that was earmarked to help students recover from online learning.

However, public job announcements also show vacancies that went un-filled in “wealthy” school clusters. Special Education positions are a disproportionate number of jobs that are vacant. This has resulted in students not receiving the Special Education services they need. MCPS is prioritizing Title I schools and administrative positions but vacancies exist throughout the school system. Students with disabilities are the last priority.

Huh. I missed six of those "18 months of online learning". Three months at the end of the 19-20 school year. Then six at the start of 20-21 followed by three months of every other week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some MCPS schools, including my DC's, seem to have too many teachers. It's sounding like the schools with the good principals don't have as many staffing issues?

Also, many former MCPS students have gone elsewhere due to the in-person school closures.

So would be curious which schools are the ones with all these unfilled positions.

Why does it seem that way to you?

Classrooms with only about 11 or so students

That seems really low, even for a Title 1 school

I'd be curious what grade- our Focus school was very imbalanced this year. Kindergarten classes all had 20+ students but some of the 1st-3nd grade classes were <15.

That's strange. Principals can move teachers within their school to a different grade level to prevent these imbalances. Unless a a high number of the 1st and 2nd graders withdrew after the school year began?

There's been a surplus at a lot of schools since enrollment went down.

If you say so. Not my experience.

Anecdotally, this has only been true in wealthy single family neighborhoods where people are retiring in place and young families that do move in are having fewer children. The rest of the county has been growing.

Enrollment went down because more families are choosing private schools after 18 months of online learning. More families will leave next year because MCPS is still struggling with filling in gaps due to less curriculum and a lack of engagement with students during online learning. MCPS has squandered funds that was earmarked to help students recover from online learning.

However, public job announcements also show vacancies that went un-filled in “wealthy” school clusters. Special Education positions are a disproportionate number of jobs that are vacant. This has resulted in students not receiving the Special Education services they need. MCPS is prioritizing Title I schools and administrative positions but vacancies exist throughout the school system. Students with disabilities are the last priority.

Or just not enough teachers want to work in special education? It's harder and there's so much more paperwork and documentation

SpEd teachers and paras should get a couple step bump.