Cuts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most teachers I know actually live in Frederick and some as far as Baltimore, Pennsylvania, or even West Virginia. They were effectively priced out and unless your partner is high middle income then it is incredibly difficult to live here. (I was only about to afford this house when the market collapsed, oh, eleven years ago.)

I guess that makes sense if it is really that important to you to avoid living next to black or hispanic people.

[Anonymous]

Am interesting and unnecessary handwave to make this racial. It has nothing to do with demographics, much more to do with the financials. A house here that costs four hundred thousand can be gotten for far less outside the county, in some places. A yard, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I very much doubt that pay raises translated to cuts. Some many other variables played a bigger role. "The operational needs of MCPS have become “very expensive” due to the loss of federal COVID-19 relief funds, implementing the state-mandated Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform bill and the “rising inflationary costs” of materials and services."

Some of this should have been forecasted and planned-for, while others, like inflationary costs (along with market conditions) may have been completely out of their hands. No one can control the insane costs for groceries for example.

MCPS needs to stop throwing money at new untested programs. Why do they constantly keep reinventing the wheel. Math instruction worked pretty well 30 years ago. They completely changed how math is taught and frankly the average kid is worse at math now than 30 years ago. Also, the push towards online everything has been a bad idea. Many kids are constantly on their phones or screens when they are out of school. School should be a break from tech as much as possible. Finally special ed and ESOL are a huge drain on the MCPS budget and becoming more expensive every year. Legal bills have also skyrocketed in the last few years. In my opinion, teacher salaries and class sizes should be the last thing cut as they directly impact students. If we want to attract good teachers we need to pay high salaries as there is a lot of competition in our region for good teachers. DCPS already pays at least 10k more per each step to their teachers. Teachers can easily move to teach in DC or VA or top private schools or they might leave the profession altogether

Math curriculum was terrible 30 years ago, unless you just base it on the ability of the students to do things that they will ultimately just do on a calculator.

Maybe you should switch to DC or VA.

30 years ago they had textbooks, homework, teachers reviewed homework and actually taught. Test scores were higher. The new way does not work.

Most kids are not understanding math these days. They are learning it superficially with no depth of understanding. I teach chemistry and many 10th graders are completely dependent on their calculators even for simple math like 4x12. They never memorised multiplication tables and now are handicapped by not understanding even the most fundamental building blocks of math.
Some kids do great but more than half the class has no idea how to manipulate simple equations even though they have passed algebra 1 already. They can do basic plug and chug questions but they are stumped if you ask them to think about mathematical relationships. MCPS is doing a terrible job with math these days (except for kids who are naturally good at math and pick it up easily)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"Legal bills" are largely covered by insurance. They aren't going to move the needle at all. Just the cost of doing business, unfortunately, and not that much of a financial hit.

"Special ed and ESOL are a huge drain" These services are both mandated by the state. So this simply is a nonstarter and I would argue that neglecting our students that fall under the umbrella is not really the message you want to send.

Beyond that railing against how math is currently taught seems . . . odd? It won't change anything, in terms of the budget, so I don't know why you would being it up here.

Special Ed is taking up more and more $. Same with ESOl support due to the rising numbers of immigrant students. ESOL kids are also increasingly thrown into Mainstream classes which is draining on teachers. You can argue that this is all necessary but it is a significant drag on the budget. Teaching is harder now due to the push to fully mainstream special Ed and ESOL kids. And there is now no discipline in school. Absences and tardiness mean nothing. Kids are routinely coming to class high because of easy access to marijuana and no consequences. This has an impact on teachers. They burn out much faster. The job is much harder than it used to be. Teacher pay is low for what they have to deal with

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

In every job, there is a starting point in terms of salary and movement upward due to time served (or bonus in some industried) so education is no different. The difference in education is that the pay difference is published (pay scale).

Not quite. Promotions may have years of experience as a prerequisite, but in a professional job, that promotion is going to come with more responsibilities or challenges. With teaching, you're doing the same job as your peers.

Nah, pretty much the same. Corporate jobs= annual raise for the same position, unless you really screwed up. (Source: HR in a Forbes 500)

My spouse has never gotten a raise. Only way to get more money is new job in a new company.

Sounds like his company sucks. I get an annual raise akin to COLA. As a fed I got automatic grade and then step increases as well.

Yea you. That’s not normal in private industry.

DP- it’s completely normal in the private sector. It’s abnormal that you don’t. Might wanna log off DCUM and find a better job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Legal bills" are largely covered by insurance. They aren't going to move the needle at all. Just the cost of doing business, unfortunately, and not that much of a financial hit.

"Special ed and ESOL are a huge drain" These services are both mandated by the state. So this simply is a nonstarter and I would argue that neglecting our students that fall under the umbrella is not really the message you want to send.

Beyond that railing against how math is currently taught seems . . . odd? It won't change anything, in terms of the budget, so I don't know why you would being it up here.

Special Ed is taking up more and more $. Same with ESOl support due to the rising numbers of immigrant students. ESOL kids are also increasingly thrown into Mainstream classes which is draining on teachers. You can argue that this is all necessary but it is a significant drag on the budget. Teaching is harder now due to the push to fully mainstream special Ed and ESOL kids. And there is now no discipline in school. Absences and tardiness mean nothing. Kids are routinely coming to class high because of easy access to marijuana and no consequences. This has an impact on teachers. They burn out much faster. The job is much harder than it used to be. Teacher pay is low for what they have to deal with

Time to retire, boomer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Am interesting and unnecessary handwave to make this racial. It has nothing to do with demographics, much more to do with the financials. A house here that costs four hundred thousand can be gotten for far less outside the county, in some places. A yard, for example.

But notice they're going in the direction of white people, not black and brown people. Even at the same price point, they're choosing color over proximity.

[Anonymous]

"In 2022, Frederick County was more diverse than it was in 2010. In 2022, the white (non-Hispanic) group made up 67.6% of the population compared with 77.9% in 2010.

Between 2010 and 2022, the share of the population that is Hispanic/Latino grew the most, increasing 4.5 percentage points to 11.9%. The white (non-Hispanic) population had the largest decrease dropping 10.3 percentage points to 67.6%."

[Anonymous]

As a follow-up to the quoted demographic statement it's rather odd that you would assume that teachers are all white. You might want to double-check your assumptions at the door.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I very much doubt that pay raises translated to cuts. Some many other variables played a bigger role. "The operational needs of MCPS have become “very expensive” due to the loss of federal COVID-19 relief funds, implementing the state-mandated Blueprint for Maryland’s Future education reform bill and the “rising inflationary costs” of materials and services."

Some of this should have been forecasted and planned-for, while others, like inflationary costs (along with market conditions) may have been completely out of their hands. No one can control the insane costs for groceries for example.

MCPS needs to stop throwing money at new untested programs. Why do they constantly keep reinventing the wheel. Math instruction worked pretty well 30 years ago. They completely changed how math is taught and frankly the average kid is worse at math now than 30 years ago. Also, the push towards online everything has been a bad idea. Many kids are constantly on their phones or screens when they are out of school. School should be a break from tech as much as possible. Finally special ed and ESOL are a huge drain on the MCPS budget and becoming more expensive every year. Legal bills have also skyrocketed in the last few years. In my opinion, teacher salaries and class sizes should be the last thing cut as they directly impact students. If we want to attract good teachers we need to pay high salaries as there is a lot of competition in our region for good teachers. DCPS already pays at least 10k more per each step to their teachers. Teachers can easily move to teach in DC or VA or top private schools or they might leave the profession altogether

Math curriculum was terrible 30 years ago, unless you just base it on the ability of the students to do things that they will ultimately just do on a calculator.

Maybe you should switch to DC or VA.

30 years ago they had textbooks, homework, teachers reviewed homework and actually taught. Test scores were higher. The new way does not work.

Most kids are not understanding math these days. They are learning it superficially with no depth of understanding. I teach chemistry and many 10th graders are completely dependent on their calculators even for simple math like 4x12. They never memorised multiplication tables and now are handicapped by not understanding even the most fundamental building blocks of math.
Some kids do great but more than half the class has no idea how to manipulate simple equations even though they have passed algebra 1 already. They can do basic plug and chug questions but they are stumped if you ask them to think about mathematical relationships. MCPS is doing a terrible job with math these days (except for kids who are naturally good at math and pick it up easily)

Teachers allow the caculators. They need to stop. And more practice and textbooks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:"Legal bills" are largely covered by insurance. They aren't going to move the needle at all. Just the cost of doing business, unfortunately, and not that much of a financial hit.

"Special ed and ESOL are a huge drain" These services are both mandated by the state. So this simply is a nonstarter and I would argue that neglecting our students that fall under the umbrella is not really the message you want to send.

Beyond that railing against how math is currently taught seems . . . odd? It won't change anything, in terms of the budget, so I don't know why you would being it up here.

Special Ed is taking up more and more $. Same with ESOl support due to the rising numbers of immigrant students. ESOL kids are also increasingly thrown into Mainstream classes which is draining on teachers. You can argue that this is all necessary but it is a significant drag on the budget. Teaching is harder now due to the push to fully mainstream special Ed and ESOL kids. And there is now no discipline in school. Absences and tardiness mean nothing. Kids are routinely coming to class high because of easy access to marijuana and no consequences. This has an impact on teachers. They burn out much faster. The job is much harder than it used to be. Teacher pay is low for what they have to deal with

Actually there is not enough spending in either of those areas. MCPS wants so much money on non-student needs. Teacher pay is reasonable and more than an equal job in the county when you consider its 10 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most teachers I know actually live in Frederick and some as far as Baltimore, Pennsylvania, or even West Virginia. They were effectively priced out and unless your partner is high middle income then it is incredibly difficult to live here. (I was only about to afford this house when the market collapsed, oh, eleven years ago.)

I guess that makes sense if it is really that important to you to avoid living next to black or hispanic people.

That is a bad assumption. They want an affordable nice area with good schools and safety, just like most would want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:"In 2022, Frederick County was more diverse than it was in 2010. In 2022, the white (non-Hispanic) group made up 67.6% of the population compared with 77.9% in 2010.

Between 2010 and 2022, the share of the population that is Hispanic/Latino grew the most, increasing 4.5 percentage points to 11.9%. The white (non-Hispanic) population had the largest decrease dropping 10.3 percentage points to 67.6%."

Yes, Frederick County is far whiter than Montgomery County (76% compared to 43%).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most teachers I know actually live in Frederick and some as far as Baltimore, Pennsylvania, or even West Virginia. They were effectively priced out and unless your partner is high middle income then it is incredibly difficult to live here. (I was only about to afford this house when the market collapsed, oh, eleven years ago.)

I guess that makes sense if it is really that important to you to avoid living next to black or hispanic people.

That is a bad assumption. They want an affordable nice area with good schools and safety, just like most would want.

Yes, usually the typical notion of good schools- the ones with the most white students.

I'm sure you love in Urbana, where your idea of "diversity" is Asian students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a follow-up to the quoted demographic statement it's rather odd that you would assume that teachers are all white. You might want to double-check your assumptions at the door.

And haven't you noticed the white teachers complain about pay and cost-of-living much more than the teachers of color?