Deal teachers taking leave
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Anonymous
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My Deal eighth-grader now has three teachers out on leave, and another who talks incessantly to her students about how she's about to get fired (the principal apparently spends a lot of time observing her in the classroom, according to my kid). And often, they can't find substitutes so either they basically do nothing under the watch of an aide or a teacher from another team who is drafted into duty. My kid has never finished the year with the same science teacher in their three years at Deal: sixth grade, the teacher quit about two days before school began; seventh grade, the teacher quit right after school began; eighth grade, the teacher basically stopped grading all assignments -- resulting in all of her students getting horrid report-card grades until the prinicpal had to intervene -- and now is on leave.
I realize that teachers will need leave for dire circumstances, but it just seems like there's no coordination or planning for it. |
Anonymous
I’m not at Deal, but to me this sounds like teacher burnout more than uncoordinated leave. Teaching isn’t what it used to be, and people aren’t putting up with the poor working conditions anymore. |
Anonymous
| Isn’t one of the teachers on jury duty? That’s not by choice… |
Anonymous
| This is confusing because I am a DCUM reader and from DCUM I have learned that only charter schools have high teacher turnover. So confusing... |
Anonymous
Yes, one drew a lengthy grand-jury assignment, and I'm not saying that teacher is wrong to take leave. But I'm going to guess (hope?) that the teacher informed the school that they would need to go on extended leave well ahead of time, and that plans would be made to cover for that teacher. That doesn't seem to have happened. |
Anonymous
There are no subs. Demand better pay for them and that will help. |
Anonymous
| Or the fact that there’s no discipline there |
Anonymous
This x1000. Whenever teachers "complain" online, there's always someone who says "then quit." Well, that's what they're doing. I taught for almost ten years until it became unbearable. Parents, kids, bureaucrats. I couldn't take it anymore. I went back to corporate life, and even when I have to work 60-70 hour weeks with stakeholders from hell, it's still more pleasant than what I experienced as a teacher. I don't blame anyone for taking advantage of any relief available to them until they can find something else. Getting out of teaching is extremely difficult, especially for those who went into it straight out of college. |
Anonymous
With jury duty, they don't get much notice. They may have health, family issues, etc. They are human. Get tutors. |
Anonymous
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“Plan for it?” You’re joking, right? Do you think there is some stable of highly qualified teachers out there waiting to step in when someone gets sick, has jury duty, turns out to be incompetent…?
Welcome to the teaching shortage crisis. |
Anonymous
| This says to me that the student population at this school is problematic. And perhaps the administration. |
Anonymous
| This was a constant frustration throughout the DCPS years. Teachers maxed out their benefits and planned to take leave during the school year. I understand that its a hard job, but when you have the summer off and your wife gives birth in July, I find it pretty frustrating that you plan to take paternity leave February-May during the school year . its very disruptive to the class and shows a clear lack of empathy for their students. This is what makes parents want to cut benefits of teachers and hate the union. |
Anonymous
Wow. I don’t know where to begin with your post. If teachers are so integral to the students’ experience, you’d think we’d respect them more. You have NO IDEA what that family was enduring, and you also have absolutely no right to this information. Teachers are allowed to take care of their own needs and to put their families first… you know, kind of like you get to. And I am so sick of hearing “summers off.” They are UNPAID summers and many of us have to scramble for extra work. Many of us also attend training (on our own dime) and prep for the next school year (unpaid). And if it’s such a good deal, why aren’t you teaching? For all the DCUM posters who go on and on and on about how great of a benefit it is, I can’t figure out why we have a teacher shortage. Why aren’t you joining us? Perhaps you don’t want to be treated with the same disrespect you dish out. |
Anonymous
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Do you realize his expensive infant care is. Now you are begrudging paternity leave? It logically makes sense the mother has a child in July and is out until Jan. Then the father takes four months from Feb-May.
The working conditions for teachers is awful in the majority of places. So many teachers are being assaulted, threatened, and harassed. 5-10% of students are really ruining the climate in classrooms and there are no consequences so they continue to disrupt the classroom to such an extent it makes it an awful learning environment. And a small but vocal minority of parents add to the stress by the barrage of accusatory emails. Then add endless meetings and paperwork. Who isn’t going to jump at the chance to take leave? |
Anonymous
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If school adults were required to put their own cell phones into those Yondr pouches, a few weeks with a sub would be a great opportunity for students and subs.
Instead it's deplorable modeling of self-indulgent negligent sloth. |