New High School Teacher Contract Times

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Good. Too many teachers were waltzing out the door as soon as the kids left. There was no chance for a kid to even go get help or ask a question unless it was scheduled in advance. Now teachers have to stay after until 3:30 and I think that is ultimately better for the kids.

Every Middle and High School has a built in "remediation" time. It's usually called [mascot] time. That is a built in time for students to get extra help. So after school isn't the only option

Yep. Even with the time after now, kids should be setting up time. Teachers will be pulled into meetings etc and aren't likely to be sitting there waiting for someone to need help.

That’s a fair point. But at least the teachers will be there everyday after school so that provides more days the student can come.

Wrong. Meetings are scheduled after school. There won’t be additional time to meet with kids

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that if this responsibility is added, then FCPS needs to find a way for planning. Just know elementary teachers have had no planning for years and years with their duties. But monitoring students is necessary for safety and needs to happen. Students are afraid to use the restroom, and they avoid restrooms at school. Students are being assaulted, vaping, and more- and FCPS has swept it under the rug. Students need to be safe and secure at school, and they have not been.

Elementary school got their planning this year in the collective bargaining agreement. No one disagrees that it has been needed for years. But the solution isn't just to shift the workload to secondary teachers.

Yes, and also:
Please don’t make this an elementary vs. high school debate. The high school teachers have an absurd amount of work, too… and very little time to do it. That’s not exclusively an elementary problem.

💯

I teach eighth grade English. This year, I have 147 students in English, as well as 20 in my Mascot Time section.

I expect that our eighth grade students will write no fewer than 6 full-length essays, complete 2 performance-based projects, and take all assessments in short-answer format. If I spend 10-15 minutes grading each essay, thats between 1470 and 2205 minutes (or between 24.5 and 36.75 hours) of grading per essay. For the essays alone, not including PBAs and assessments, I'm looking at 8820 to 13230 minutes (147 to 220.5 hours) of grading essays throughout the year.

When you add in planning, updating Schoology, making copies, answering emails, meeting with students for remediation, writing and grading retakes, documenting IEP data, attending meetings, writing teacher narratives, writing teacher recommendations, and completing all the other tasks we must do, it's an absurd amount of work.

It is definitely not an issue exclusive to elementary school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that if this responsibility is added, then FCPS needs to find a way for planning. Just know elementary teachers have had no planning for years and years with their duties. But monitoring students is necessary for safety and needs to happen. Students are afraid to use the restroom, and they avoid restrooms at school. Students are being assaulted, vaping, and more- and FCPS has swept it under the rug. Students need to be safe and secure at school, and they have not been.

Elementary school got their planning this year in the collective bargaining agreement. No one disagrees that it has been needed for years. But the solution isn't just to shift the workload to secondary teachers.

Yes, and also:
Please don’t make this an elementary vs. high school debate. The high school teachers have an absurd amount of work, too… and very little time to do it. That’s not exclusively an elementary problem.

💯

I teach eighth grade English. This year, I have 147 students in English, as well as 20 in my Mascot Time section.

I expect that our eighth grade students will write no fewer than 6 full-length essays, complete 2 performance-based projects, and take all assessments in short-answer format. If I spend 10-15 minutes grading each essay, thats between 1470 and 2205 minutes (or between 24.5 and 36.75 hours) of grading per essay. For the essays alone, not including PBAs and assessments, I'm looking at 8820 to 13230 minutes (147 to 220.5 hours) of grading essays throughout the year.

When you add in planning, updating Schoology, making copies, answering emails, meeting with students for remediation, writing and grading retakes, documenting IEP data, attending meetings, writing teacher narratives, writing teacher recommendations, and completing all the other tasks we must do, it's an absurd amount of work.

It is definitely not an issue exclusive to elementary school.

Years ago, I worked in a state that passed a law that a secondary English teacher could have no more than 100 students because of the time spent on grading writing. Makes sense to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that if this responsibility is added, then FCPS needs to find a way for planning. Just know elementary teachers have had no planning for years and years with their duties. But monitoring students is necessary for safety and needs to happen. Students are afraid to use the restroom, and they avoid restrooms at school. Students are being assaulted, vaping, and more- and FCPS has swept it under the rug. Students need to be safe and secure at school, and they have not been.

Elementary school got their planning this year in the collective bargaining agreement. No one disagrees that it has been needed for years. But the solution isn't just to shift the workload to secondary teachers.

Yes, and also:
Please don’t make this an elementary vs. high school debate. The high school teachers have an absurd amount of work, too… and very little time to do it. That’s not exclusively an elementary problem.

💯

I teach eighth grade English. This year, I have 147 students in English, as well as 20 in my Mascot Time section.

I expect that our eighth grade students will write no fewer than 6 full-length essays, complete 2 performance-based projects, and take all assessments in short-answer format. If I spend 10-15 minutes grading each essay, thats between 1470 and 2205 minutes (or between 24.5 and 36.75 hours) of grading per essay. For the essays alone, not including PBAs and assessments, I'm looking at 8820 to 13230 minutes (147 to 220.5 hours) of grading essays throughout the year.

When you add in planning, updating Schoology, making copies, answering emails, meeting with students for remediation, writing and grading retakes, documenting IEP data, attending meetings, writing teacher narratives, writing teacher recommendations, and completing all the other tasks we must do, it's an absurd amount of work.

It is definitely not an issue exclusive to elementary school.

Years ago, I worked in a state that passed a law that a secondary English teacher could have no more than 100 students because of the time spent on grading writing. Makes sense to me.

Virginia says we should have no more than 120-125. I don't know any English teachers who have classes that small.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that if this responsibility is added, then FCPS needs to find a way for planning. Just know elementary teachers have had no planning for years and years with their duties. But monitoring students is necessary for safety and needs to happen. Students are afraid to use the restroom, and they avoid restrooms at school. Students are being assaulted, vaping, and more- and FCPS has swept it under the rug. Students need to be safe and secure at school, and they have not been.

Elementary school got their planning this year in the collective bargaining agreement. No one disagrees that it has been needed for years. But the solution isn't just to shift the workload to secondary teachers.

Yes, and also:
Please don’t make this an elementary vs. high school debate. The high school teachers have an absurd amount of work, too… and very little time to do it. That’s not exclusively an elementary problem.

Agreed-FCPS is exhausting at every level for staff and students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that if this responsibility is added, then FCPS needs to find a way for planning. Just know elementary teachers have had no planning for years and years with their duties. But monitoring students is necessary for safety and needs to happen. Students are afraid to use the restroom, and they avoid restrooms at school. Students are being assaulted, vaping, and more- and FCPS has swept it under the rug. Students need to be safe and secure at school, and they have not been.

Elementary school got their planning this year in the collective bargaining agreement. No one disagrees that it has been needed for years. But the solution isn't just to shift the workload to secondary teachers.

Yes, and also:
Please don’t make this an elementary vs. high school debate. The high school teachers have an absurd amount of work, too… and very little time to do it. That’s not exclusively an elementary problem.

💯

I teach eighth grade English. This year, I have 147 students in English, as well as 20 in my Mascot Time section.

I expect that our eighth grade students will write no fewer than 6 full-length essays, complete 2 performance-based projects, and take all assessments in short-answer format. If I spend 10-15 minutes grading each essay, thats between 1470 and 2205 minutes (or between 24.5 and 36.75 hours) of grading per essay. For the essays alone, not including PBAs and assessments, I'm looking at 8820 to 13230 minutes (147 to 220.5 hours) of grading essays throughout the year.

When you add in planning, updating Schoology, making copies, answering emails, meeting with students for remediation, writing and grading retakes, documenting IEP data, attending meetings, writing teacher narratives, writing teacher recommendations, and completing all the other tasks we must do, it's an absurd amount of work.

It is definitely not an issue exclusive to elementary school.

Years ago, I worked in a state that passed a law that a secondary English teacher could have no more than 100 students because of the time spent on grading writing. Makes sense to me.

The National Council of Teachers for English (NCTE) recommends no more than 100 students.

I had 170 one year. I usually hover around 150.

One stack of essays can easily take 30 uninterrupted hours to grade. It all happens at home since there’s no time at work.

A stack of papers lives on my lap from September to June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree that if this responsibility is added, then FCPS needs to find a way for planning. Just know elementary teachers have had no planning for years and years with their duties. But monitoring students is necessary for safety and needs to happen. Students are afraid to use the restroom, and they avoid restrooms at school. Students are being assaulted, vaping, and more- and FCPS has swept it under the rug. Students need to be safe and secure at school, and they have not been.

Elementary school got their planning this year in the collective bargaining agreement. No one disagrees that it has been needed for years. But the solution isn't just to shift the workload to secondary teachers.

Yes, and also:
Please don’t make this an elementary vs. high school debate. The high school teachers have an absurd amount of work, too… and very little time to do it. That’s not exclusively an elementary problem.

💯

I teach eighth grade English. This year, I have 147 students in English, as well as 20 in my Mascot Time section.

I expect that our eighth grade students will write no fewer than 6 full-length essays, complete 2 performance-based projects, and take all assessments in short-answer format. If I spend 10-15 minutes grading each essay, thats between 1470 and 2205 minutes (or between 24.5 and 36.75 hours) of grading per essay. For the essays alone, not including PBAs and assessments, I'm looking at 8820 to 13230 minutes (147 to 220.5 hours) of grading essays throughout the year.

When you add in planning, updating Schoology, making copies, answering emails, meeting with students for remediation, writing and grading retakes, documenting IEP data, attending meetings, writing teacher narratives, writing teacher recommendations, and completing all the other tasks we must do, it's an absurd amount of work.

It is definitely not an issue exclusive to elementary school.

Years ago, I worked in a state that passed a law that a secondary English teacher could have no more than 100 students because of the time spent on grading writing. Makes sense to me.

The National Council of Teachers for English (NCTE) recommends no more than 100 students.

I had 170 one year. I usually hover around 150.

One stack of essays can easily take 30 uninterrupted hours to grade. It all happens at home since there’s no time at work.

A stack of papers lives on my lap from September to June.

Don't forget you have to get an additional teaching contact if you have over 150 students.

[Anonymous]

No additional contract. For over 150 you get a stipend. Think one thousand each semester. They count at end of each semester. After taxes comes out to about $650.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree that if this responsibility is added, then FCPS needs to find a way for planning. Just know elementary teachers have had no planning for years and years with their duties. But monitoring students is necessary for safety and needs to happen. Students are afraid to use the restroom, and they avoid restrooms at school. Students are being assaulted, vaping, and more- and FCPS has swept it under the rug. Students need to be safe and secure at school, and they have not been.

Elementary teachers have had NO planning. That’s not correct. I’ve been an elementary teacher at 2 different schools. We’ve always had planning time. It’s never enough, of course. But elementary teachers have had planning time (when students go to specials).

[Anonymous]

Not when they take them up with meetings- team meetings, IEP/504, etc.

[Anonymous]

The biggest issue I have with the strict contract hours is that they informed the staff less than 1 week before they reported to work. Anyone with childcare or after school pickup responsibilities had zero time to figure it out and many were left with no options. Nothing kills morale faster than to punish the entire group for the actions of a select few. Over the years there were probably teachers who weren’t doing their job well in the classroom who also abused the contract hour regulation. In order to get them in line, FCPS has enforced a hardline policy on all of their school staff. If I would imagine all teachers that go above and beyond and were negatively affected by this decision are furious and will either leave or become unmotivated. Both of those actions will make FCPS worse in the long run.

[Anonymous]

The key for success in teaching is flexibility.

As educators we are trained to approach instruction in such a way that all students can be reached no matter what their learning style.

Some have flexible seating. Many are willing to change due dates as they work on projects and nite that students need more time. Others realize that a student performs much better on assessments if questions are read to them.

This overly strict adherence to set contract times is an antithesis to flexibility. It makes teachers become mindless robots.

FCPS administration had better take a hard look at what they have wrought.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do teachers in HS ever stay after school for study sessions and such or is that only in MS? Is that just done on teacher’s own time and not required if they do?

High school is supposed to stay after 1 day per week like middle school. It was always considered to fall under “other duties as assigned” in our contract. Unpaid, but “for the kids”.

With all the BS hall monitoring duty and forced contract hour stuff though, most of us have cut our after school time from 60/90 minutes to the 30 minutes after dismissal we are required to be there.

Middle School teachers are no longer required to stay past contract hours (nor any teacher). "Other duties as assigned" is supposed to be only for emergency situations or Back to School Night, not a regular duty.

None of our middle school teachers are staying this year once a week. I don't think the parents know yet (but admin does). It's going to be a rude awakening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do teachers in HS ever stay after school for study sessions and such or is that only in MS? Is that just done on teacher’s own time and not required if they do?

High school is supposed to stay after 1 day per week like middle school. It was always considered to fall under “other duties as assigned” in our contract. Unpaid, but “for the kids”.

With all the BS hall monitoring duty and forced contract hour stuff though, most of us have cut our after school time from 60/90 minutes to the 30 minutes after dismissal we are required to be there.

Middle School teachers are no longer required to stay past contract hours (nor any teacher). "Other duties as assigned" is supposed to be only for emergency situations or Back to School Night, not a regular duty.

Can you cite the policy that states this?

Admin can hold staff for meetings twice a month for up to an hour each time.

None of our middle school teachers are staying this year once a week. I don't think the parents know yet (but admin does). It's going to be a rude awakening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do teachers in HS ever stay after school for study sessions and such or is that only in MS? Is that just done on teacher’s own time and not required if they do?

High school is supposed to stay after 1 day per week like middle school. It was always considered to fall under “other duties as assigned” in our contract. Unpaid, but “for the kids”.

With all the BS hall monitoring duty and forced contract hour stuff though, most of us have cut our after school time from 60/90 minutes to the 30 minutes after dismissal we are required to be there.

Middle School teachers are no longer required to stay past contract hours (nor any teacher). "Other duties as assigned" is supposed to be only for emergency situations or Back to School Night, not a regular duty.

None of our middle school teachers are staying this year once a week. I don't think the parents know yet (but admin does). It's going to be a rude awakening.

Can you cite the policy that states this?

Admin can hold staff for meetings twice a month for up to an hour each time.