Declining education quality: too many admin staff and asst. principals

[Anonymous]

The numbers on the chart look weird
-np

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is an eye-opener !

I had some idea our local FCPS Administration was way over-staffed and has become a dumping ground for failed principals. But I had little idea how massive the the wasted $$ problem really is:

Hey OP, I hear you. As a teacher, I agree. It sucks because it’s all about meeting scores so the money pours in. Kinda like cops, they have quotas to meet so tickets galore.

But guess what, despite being a top teacher recognized by admin and district, I’m also going to grab the next admin vacancy because I want that admin salary. Sorry not sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The numbers on the chart look weird
-np

They are percentages.

If you have a very tiny number and increase it, the percentage will look huge.

Schools need an extra vice principal just to attend all of the IEP meetings. And more admin staff to handle all of the data reporting back to the state and federal gov't.

Fake news from the billionaire trying to distract stupid Americans from his own shenanigans.

[Anonymous]

I would say they need MORE admin people - just not the type they are using right now.

They need people to make copies for teachers, people to do research on worksheet options for teachers, maybe even people to do easy grading of student things excluding bigger projects and essays. People to do the data crunching for teachers. People to man the metal detectros. Basically people to be admin assistants to teachers so teachers can focus on the high-skilled, professional parts of their job instead of the myriad of other tasks that get dumped on them.

Unfortunately that's not what that category means right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would say they need MORE admin people - just not the type they are using right now.

They need people to make copies for teachers, people to do research on worksheet options for teachers, maybe even people to do easy grading of student things excluding bigger projects and essays. People to do the data crunching for teachers. People to man the metal detectros. Basically people to be admin assistants to teachers so teachers can focus on the high-skilled, professional parts of their job instead of the myriad of other tasks that get dumped on them.

Unfortunately that's not what that category means right now.

You mean an in classroom aide? I'm at a title 1 school and we have aides up to 3rd grade in each classroom. It helps a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes because maga is the pinnacle if intellectual thought

I don’t disagree, but not the way to look at the problem. Hanushek at Hoover concludes the Covid learning losses will result in an 8 percent loss to future income. I know a colleague at Stanford who disagrees with Hanushek’s politics, but the issue here is what will be the result of the learning losses?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is an eye-opener !

I had some idea our local FCPS Administration was way over-staffed and has become a dumping ground for failed principals. But I had little idea how massive the the wasted $$ problem really is:

Hey OP, I hear you. As a teacher, I agree. It sucks because it’s all about meeting scores so the money pours in. Kinda like cops, they have quotas to meet so tickets galore.

But guess what, despite being a top teacher recognized by admin and district, I’m also going to grab the next admin vacancy because I want that admin salary. Sorry not sorry.

Same here. I’ll automatically jump $35K in salary and I’ll I need to do is check boxes and sort out drama between staff members and then execute social justice among teenagers. Never been easier. Nobody gets expelled. Just pass the problem to someone else. Collect check. Rinse and repeat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes because maga is the pinnacle if intellectual thought

I don’t disagree, but not the way to look at the problem. Hanushek at Hoover concludes the Covid learning losses will result in an 8 percent loss to future income. I know a colleague at Stanford who disagrees with Hanushek’s politics, but the issue here is what will be the result of the learning losses?

Only 8%? What's the future income loss after spending years in the same classrooms with sped and crazies?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is absolutely true.

I'm a high school teacher and have taught in multiple schools. There is an inverse relationship between the quality of education/time+resources teachers are given to plan/teach and the proportion of admin to teaching staff.

At my current school, there are too many admin, and each of them is scurrying to show that their post is relevant. In my school, high school teachers share a common calendar and work together to ensure that students don't have major assessments on the same day or near the same day when possible. None of the members of our bloated admin staff have the same consideration for teachers as they all rush to create new "initiatives" and processes and meetings.

In the past week I had: one meeting early in the morning before school on Monday, one meeting after school on Tuesday, one Wednesday morning meeting before school and then an after school meeting also on Wednesday. The Monday meeting, held EVERY Monday morning, is led by an admin who is focusing on "team building" among teaching teams, and is largely pointless, with snacks and stupid party games ("ice breakers" for teachers who already know each other and work together). Meanwhile, I have hours of grading to do, and it would happen a lot faster, with more thorough feedback, if I could just be allowed to use my non-contact time to work.

There are multiple online training courses our school randomly signed up all high school teachers to complete over the course of the last semester, with no consultation with us about when the best time to do this would be. The courses are not subject specific, but involve things related to DEI, etc. They are fluffy and very time-consuming, and we are expected to complete them outside of school. One, which I am only now finishing, involved a great deal of reading and many written responses and tasks. I have a Masters degree, and I maintain this course required the same amount of reading and writing as a college course. I did NOT have time to adequately provide feedback on my students' writing AND do this course, so the grading suffered. Admin is fine with this: they don't care about grading/feedback because they are completely out of touch with what it is like to be in the classroom, or the implications of taking away high school teachers' time to plan and grade. These stupid courses are the brain child of one admin, who is making this part of his job.

You might be thinking, what about this woman's planning time during the day? Don't high school teachers get planning periods? The truth is that I don't really get planning periods in the day anymore because my school has apparently decided that this year they are no going to make much effort to procure subs for coverage. Instead, they like to pop by my room in the morning to "ask" me to cover for a colleague during my planning that day because "You have period 4 free." ("Free?" FREE? That is my PLANNING TIME).

I am stressed and unhappy

Fellow stressed and unhappy teacher in chaotic district. I see you and feel you. More and more demands put on teachers plates but nothing taken away. The focus should be students but it isn't and no one cares. Students and teachers are unhappy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d like a further breakdown. Are “admin” the ones working on IEPs and specialists? Or are those considered teachers?

My kids’ classrooms are both evacuated weekly and counselors and some sort admin get called in. Violence in school is way way up and that means a lot more school admin.

AP in LCPS here.

My job is basically to put out fires between staff member and deal with discipline stuff with students which now in this era of “social restorative practices” means a timeout in my office and back to class like nothing ever happened.

We hound the teachers if they don’t do their job or scores are threatening our reputation / funding and voilá, all my checkboxes are marked, I get a good rating by the principal, and I get to fund my single detached home in LoCo building generational wealth. Also, sprinkle in some university courses as a professor (online of course) and now I’m basically at $200K/year if not more.