Teachers Resigning Like Crazy?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I've witnessed kids are behaving better this year than at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, when middle school students and 9th graders seemed particularly feral. It's just going to take some time given the disruption to learning and development. Parents can't expect teachers to be miracle workers nor can teachers expect parents to have fully compensated for the disruption forced upon them by the public schools. What the teachers can and should do is push back against the refusal of school administrators to discipline students or the imposition of oppressive training and ongoing reporting requirements that interferes with their ability to function effectively in a classroom.

The primary problems I see among the kids in my neighborhood and the ones on my children's sports teams are almost all related to poor parenting. These kids are held accountable for nothing, their parents jump in to rescue them from any adversity, and the kids are showered with things rather than given structure. Speaking to the parents at practice or in the neighborhood, I am disgusted to hear them blame others for everything their kids do. The kids aren't expected to take any responsibility for a single thing. The parents especially seem to vilify teachers and schools, which is wrong. Parents need to look in the mirror and directly at their children when evaluating whom is to blame for kids' bad behavior.

I watch my neighbor children intentionally litter their snack wrappers, and their parents excuse it, saying they didn't know to throw away their trash. If your 12-year-old doesn't know to throw away their trash, that's a reflection of your poor parenting.

The way my children's teammates speak to the coach and to their own parents is appalling. If your 10-year-old completely ignores adults speaking to them, that's a reflection of your poor parenting. If your 10-year-old can't even listen to the coach's directions for 3 minutes without rudely interrupting him or bouncing a ball against the wall while the coach is talking, that's a reflection on you as a parent (Before anyone jumps on me and says that some kids are not neutotypical, I am aware of that, but when 50% of the team acts this way, I'm sure it is not all because of neurodivergence.)

When my kids have invited their classmates to a birthday party, I have encountered kids (ages 8+) who have broken all the plastic forks before cake time, parents who have sent demanding lists of foods, music, and activities that their children like or do not like, kids who have thrown temper tantrums when I tell them they may not go through our personal items, and parents who just stand there watching their kids destroy other people's property.


If the above are the types of behaviors schools are encountering from both students and parents, no wonder the teachers are burning out! They must feel so discouraged and frustrated! I know I am, and I only have to deal with this nonsense a few hours per week!

Thank you for this. I am a teacher and 100 percent agree.

Maybe the public schools need to require parents go to "parenting school" for X hours before allowing their children to enter public school each year???? Has this always been a conflict b/t parents and teachers -- that kids are not sufficiently disciplined at home? I really don't know. I went to Catholic school for most of my K-12 schooling and we were taught manners like holding the door for others and standing up to say "good morning, Mrs.... " when someone walked into the room. In the rural states, the teachers are generally respected as part of the "more educated" people in the community. So, maybe there's less respect for school itself, and teachers in general, in an area where parents don't necessarily look up to or regard teachers as better than themselves.

Yes we have a lot of pretentious people here who feel they are better than teachers. It's funny as a teacher I give little regard to this behavior from parents. Talk down to me and you will given that right back. No one has time for it or the patience anymore. We can be equals and work together for your child or you can be condescending and we can go down that road. No one is firing me for standing up to pretentious parent behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things are great here in New Jersey, where the median teacher salary is above $90,000 (versus about $65,000 in Fairfax County). Of course, we pay 2x the property tax you do.

How many years of teaching with a Bachelor’s degree does it take to get up $90k? Just curious. I’m in year 11 in my district and I’m around $81k. I should get to $90k by year 20. That’s nothing to get excited about.

If salaries aren't frozen AGAIN...

I have a MA+30 and have been teaching over 20 years, but only 16 with FCPS. I barely make $90K. I've had an MA the entire time I've been teaching and added the +30 about 15 years ago, so it isn't as though those are new credentials. We've had salary and step freezes so often that I am not on the step I should be.

I've worked for 30 years professional work and make $100,000 and don't have summers off. Teaching might be harder, but there are real other jobs that make this same amount. I think the safety issues are ridiculous in the schools.

Right, but if people aren't willing to do the job, then you don't have people doing the job. That's the bottom line.

It's a necessary job, so you have to get it filled somehow. That means more salary or better benefits or something. The benefits and salary are not too much if you can't find people to do it. Obviously -- and I mean obviously -- if it was that great a trade-off, people would go into teaching from other jobs instead of just saying it's a better deal. If it were, they would do it, especially with requirements loosened.

Not really. That’s what they said about grocery store checkout employees. Should we pay checkout workers 6 figure salaries because they had to work duri by the pandemic and deal with the public and other undesirable traits of their jobs? Nope. Self checkout!

Trends are moving in different directions. Traditional styles of in person teaching are fading away. Time to rethink education.

Great sounds like you are good with having no teachers at school. Enjoy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a nationwide problem but if a school district with as much money as FCPS can't fix it, who can?

We need to pay teachers more and increase their benefits so it's more appealing to stay. We need to also honor their contract hours and ability to take the personal days they are owed.

This means we need to pay subs more.

And I think they need to take teachers out of the incessant meetings for IEPs and 504s. FCPS should create a department to handle these things and support both special ed teachers and the classroom teachers. It's unbelievable how many accommodations teachers have to make for so many different students.

And then they need to stop changing up the curriculum all the time to "create equity". My kid is in this E3 pilot math program and it's garbage. Stop taking up classroom time with social-emotional surveys and positivity projects.

Our ES is using ESSER funds to provide every grade level team a full day every month for team planning and putting monitors/subs in their classrooms that day. I think that's awesome.

I like that they are expanding the in person tutoring offered to help students catch up without teachers having to do it.

Schools are struggling to staff the self contained rooms they have no one is adding more.

The teachers know the students best. Why on Earth would you take them out of the IEP process??? They need help with the record keeping and legal paperwork and more SPED staff physically in the classroom to help implement the plans, but centralizing the process and removing the teacher is not the answer.

+1 the better solution is to boot certain time consuming IEP kids out of the regular classroom and take the burden off of mainstream teachers. Put the kids with so many issues back in smaller classrooms with an all day SPED teacher and aide like they used to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a nationwide problem but if a school district with as much money as FCPS can't fix it, who can?

We need to pay teachers more and increase their benefits so it's more appealing to stay. We need to also honor their contract hours and ability to take the personal days they are owed.

This means we need to pay subs more.

And I think they need to take teachers out of the incessant meetings for IEPs and 504s. FCPS should create a department to handle these things and support both special ed teachers and the classroom teachers. It's unbelievable how many accommodations teachers have to make for so many different students.

And then they need to stop changing up the curriculum all the time to "create equity". My kid is in this E3 pilot math program and it's garbage. Stop taking up classroom time with social-emotional surveys and positivity projects.

Our ES is using ESSER funds to provide every grade level team a full day every month for team planning and putting monitors/subs in their classrooms that day. I think that's awesome.

I like that they are expanding the in person tutoring offered to help students catch up without teachers having to do it.

The teachers know the students best. Why on Earth would you take them out of the IEP process??? They need help with the record keeping and legal paperwork and more SPED staff physically in the classroom to help implement the plans, but centralizing the process and removing the teacher is not the answer.

+1 the better solution is to boot certain time consuming IEP kids out of the regular classroom and take the burden off of mainstream teachers. Put the kids with so many issues back in smaller classrooms with an all day SPED teacher and aide like they used to.

Schools are struggling to staff self contained rooms now....no school is adding more I can tell you that. SPED shortage is real!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:None of my kids' teachers have left, there are no unfilled vacancies and some of the behavior issues that seemed a bit more of an issue in years prior (devious licks stuff) seem to have settled down (public secondary school in FCPS). I know there's a shortage, but it seems to be unevenly distributed even in FCPS.

A lot of times the vacancies are not even listed so you don’t even know when a teacher leaves.I am at a well regarded HS in FCPS and we have had several teachers leave midyear this year and last year. Most of them are younger and are getting out of teaching all together. Some are doing corporate training, a few are going to the govt. A couple have moved. their positions have been filled mostly by long term subs for the rest of this year. Not the best, but at least there are consistent people in the classroom.

Yes so true about FCPS not posting vacancies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I've witnessed kids are behaving better this year than at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, when middle school students and 9th graders seemed particularly feral. It's just going to take some time given the disruption to learning and development. Parents can't expect teachers to be miracle workers nor can teachers expect parents to have fully compensated for the disruption forced upon them by the public schools. What the teachers can and should do is push back against the refusal of school administrators to discipline students or the imposition of oppressive training and ongoing reporting requirements that interferes with their ability to function effectively in a classroom.

Parents are fed up with this too. I feel like no one is listening.

I think school administrators are hesitant to discipline because parents are quick to sue and usually win. Too bad teachers can't sue to make sure that their workplaces are safe.

+1
I have to deal with an extremely disruptive girl, every single day. When I finally broke down in tears, another teacher (thankfully) saw us in the hallway and hauled this kid to the office. I got myself together and followed, so I could explain what had been going on in my classroom. The principal and ass't. principal just stared at me. I asked if they were going to contact the girl's parents, remove her from the classroom, etc. What was their plan? They replied that they felt she was misunderstood and deserved a more "empathetic" teacher. Oh, and btw - both admin and the girl were black. I am white. I guess I'm the evil white teacher who needs to "check my privilege" and allow this girl to wreak havoc in my classroom.

I will be quitting by the end of the school year.

You should go ASAP....that toxic environment is not OK!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things are great here in New Jersey, where the median teacher salary is above $90,000 (versus about $65,000 in Fairfax County). Of course, we pay 2x the property tax you do.

How many years of teaching with a Bachelor’s degree does it take to get up $90k? Just curious. I’m in year 11 in my district and I’m around $81k. I should get to $90k by year 20. That’s nothing to get excited about.

If salaries aren't frozen AGAIN...

I have a MA+30 and have been teaching over 20 years, but only 16 with FCPS. I barely make $90K. I've had an MA the entire time I've been teaching and added the +30 about 15 years ago, so it isn't as though those are new credentials. We've had salary and step freezes so often that I am not on the step I should be.

I've worked for 30 years professional work and make $100,000 and don't have summers off. Teaching might be harder, but there are real other jobs that make this same amount. I think the safety issues are ridiculous in the schools.

Right, but if people aren't willing to do the job, then you don't have people doing the job. That's the bottom line.

It's a necessary job, so you have to get it filled somehow. That means more salary or better benefits or something. The benefits and salary are not too much if you can't find people to do it. Obviously -- and I mean obviously -- if it was that great a trade-off, people would go into teaching from other jobs instead of just saying it's a better deal. If it were, they would do it, especially with requirements loosened.

Not really. That’s what they said about grocery store checkout employees. Should we pay checkout workers 6 figure salaries because they had to work duri by the pandemic and deal with the public and other undesirable traits of their jobs? Nope. Self checkout!

Trends are moving in different directions. Traditional styles of in person teaching are fading away. Time to rethink education.

Great sounds like you are good with having no teachers at school. Enjoy

PP is nuts! Funny example too to talk about self-checkout--all analyses show it is costing stores more in increased tech costs, tech maintenance costs, surveillance costs, and theft costs. Want to imagine what it would be like to have teacher-less schools if we can't even get tech to pay for our groceries cheaper? Not to mention that human relationships are critical to children's development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I've witnessed kids are behaving better this year than at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, when middle school students and 9th graders seemed particularly feral. It's just going to take some time given the disruption to learning and development. Parents can't expect teachers to be miracle workers nor can teachers expect parents to have fully compensated for the disruption forced upon them by the public schools. What the teachers can and should do is push back against the refusal of school administrators to discipline students or the imposition of oppressive training and ongoing reporting requirements that interferes with their ability to function effectively in a classroom.

The primary problems I see among the kids in my neighborhood and the ones on my children's sports teams are almost all related to poor parenting. These kids are held accountable for nothing, their parents jump in to rescue them from any adversity, and the kids are showered with things rather than given structure. Speaking to the parents at practice or in the neighborhood, I am disgusted to hear them blame others for everything their kids do. The kids aren't expected to take any responsibility for a single thing. The parents especially seem to vilify teachers and schools, which is wrong. Parents need to look in the mirror and directly at their children when evaluating whom is to blame for kids' bad behavior.

I watch my neighbor children intentionally litter their snack wrappers, and their parents excuse it, saying they didn't know to throw away their trash. If your 12-year-old doesn't know to throw away their trash, that's a reflection of your poor parenting.

The way my children's teammates speak to the coach and to their own parents is appalling. If your 10-year-old completely ignores adults speaking to them, that's a reflection of your poor parenting. If your 10-year-old can't even listen to the coach's directions for 3 minutes without rudely interrupting him or bouncing a ball against the wall while the coach is talking, that's a reflection on you as a parent (Before anyone jumps on me and says that some kids are not neutotypical, I am aware of that, but when 50% of the team acts this way, I'm sure it is not all because of neurodivergence.)

When my kids have invited their classmates to a birthday party, I have encountered kids (ages 8+) who have broken all the plastic forks before cake time, parents who have sent demanding lists of foods, music, and activities that their children like or do not like, kids who have thrown temper tantrums when I tell them they may not go through our personal items, and parents who just stand there watching their kids destroy other people's property.


If the above are the types of behaviors schools are encountering from both students and parents, no wonder the teachers are burning out! They must feel so discouraged and frustrated! I know I am, and I only have to deal with this nonsense a few hours per week!

Thank you for this. I am a teacher and 100 percent agree.

Maybe the public schools need to require parents go to "parenting school" for X hours before allowing their children to enter public school each year???? Has this always been a conflict b/t parents and teachers -- that kids are not sufficiently disciplined at home? I really don't know. I went to Catholic school for most of my K-12 schooling and we were taught manners like holding the door for others and standing up to say "good morning, Mrs.... " when someone walked into the room. In the rural states, the teachers are generally respected as part of the "more educated" people in the community. So, maybe there's less respect for school itself, and teachers in general, in an area where parents don't necessarily look up to or regard teachers as better than themselves.

While helping recently with my son's sport team practice, I did a little keeping of statistics.

1. I said good morning to each of the 24 children separately, using their names as well. Of the 24 children, all fifth grade students, three children said good morning back. That is three out of 24! The rest just looked at me.

2. As I was handing out snacks, the same three children who said good morning all said "Thank you," plus one other child as well. Twenty of the 24 children just took the snack and said nothing to me.

3. When the families left, fewer than half of the parents said a word to the coach or me. The rest just collected their children and left.


It seems that reciprocating greetings is a common courtesy that is no longer being taught by parents. That is unfortunate.

It seems that using appropriate manners, such as thanking someone when they hand you a treat, is also no longer taught by parents.


As a parent myself, I am disgusted by the behavior of several of my children's peers. The lack of respect for others, complete disregard for common courtesy, and lack of empathy I see among other children is horrific. I hate that my children are surrounded by rudeness and disrespect, but I also resent that these children are being raised in homes in which this is the norm, so that means their parents also act that way.

Thank you for this post. A colleague and I were just talking about the complete disregard and disrespect from kids and we are elementary teachers. No good mornings, very few thank you's and if you tell them to walk or stop running in the halls they look at you like who are you. Manners just don't happen anymore it's very concerning. We need to care about each others. I will note there are still a few kids who are kind but they are the minority. sad times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are resigning because of MAGA crazies.

Book banning etc...

Sex manuals in kindergarten? I’m good with that.

Please shut it....no one his teaching that you troll.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:From what I've witnessed kids are behaving better this year than at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year, when middle school students and 9th graders seemed particularly feral. It's just going to take some time given the disruption to learning and development. Parents can't expect teachers to be miracle workers nor can teachers expect parents to have fully compensated for the disruption forced upon them by the public schools. What the teachers can and should do is push back against the refusal of school administrators to discipline students or the imposition of oppressive training and ongoing reporting requirements that interferes with their ability to function effectively in a classroom.

The primary problems I see among the kids in my neighborhood and the ones on my children's sports teams are almost all related to poor parenting. These kids are held accountable for nothing, their parents jump in to rescue them from any adversity, and the kids are showered with things rather than given structure. Speaking to the parents at practice or in the neighborhood, I am disgusted to hear them blame others for everything their kids do. The kids aren't expected to take any responsibility for a single thing. The parents especially seem to vilify teachers and schools, which is wrong. Parents need to look in the mirror and directly at their children when evaluating whom is to blame for kids' bad behavior.

I watch my neighbor children intentionally litter their snack wrappers, and their parents excuse it, saying they didn't know to throw away their trash. If your 12-year-old doesn't know to throw away their trash, that's a reflection of your poor parenting.

The way my children's teammates speak to the coach and to their own parents is appalling. If your 10-year-old completely ignores adults speaking to them, that's a reflection of your poor parenting. If your 10-year-old can't even listen to the coach's directions for 3 minutes without rudely interrupting him or bouncing a ball against the wall while the coach is talking, that's a reflection on you as a parent (Before anyone jumps on me and says that some kids are not neutotypical, I am aware of that, but when 50% of the team acts this way, I'm sure it is not all because of neurodivergence.)

When my kids have invited their classmates to a birthday party, I have encountered kids (ages 8+) who have broken all the plastic forks before cake time, parents who have sent demanding lists of foods, music, and activities that their children like or do not like, kids who have thrown temper tantrums when I tell them they may not go through our personal items, and parents who just stand there watching their kids destroy other people's property.


If the above are the types of behaviors schools are encountering from both students and parents, no wonder the teachers are burning out! They must feel so discouraged and frustrated! I know I am, and I only have to deal with this nonsense a few hours per week!

Thank you for this. I am a teacher and 100 percent agree.

Maybe the public schools need to require parents go to "parenting school" for X hours before allowing their children to enter public school each year???? Has this always been a conflict b/t parents and teachers -- that kids are not sufficiently disciplined at home? I really don't know. I went to Catholic school for most of my K-12 schooling and we were taught manners like holding the door for others and standing up to say "good morning, Mrs.... " when someone walked into the room. In the rural states, the teachers are generally respected as part of the "more educated" people in the community. So, maybe there's less respect for school itself, and teachers in general, in an area where parents don't necessarily look up to or regard teachers as better than themselves.

While helping recently with my son's sport team practice, I did a little keeping of statistics.

1. I said good morning to each of the 24 children separately, using their names as well. Of the 24 children, all fifth grade students, three children said good morning back. That is three out of 24! The rest just looked at me.

2. As I was handing out snacks, the same three children who said good morning all said "Thank you," plus one other child as well. Twenty of the 24 children just took the snack and said nothing to me.

3. When the families left, fewer than half of the parents said a word to the coach or me. The rest just collected their children and left.


It seems that reciprocating greetings is a common courtesy that is no longer being taught by parents. That is unfortunate.

It seems that using appropriate manners, such as thanking someone when they hand you a treat, is also no longer taught by parents.


As a parent myself, I am disgusted by the behavior of several of my children's peers. The lack of respect for others, complete disregard for common courtesy, and lack of empathy I see among other children is horrific. I hate that my children are surrounded by rudeness and disrespect, but I also resent that these children are being raised in homes in which this is the norm, so that means their parents also act that way.

Responsible parenting is a thing of the past in most families. Absentee parenting means kids are mostly raising themselves. Parents are too busy to bother.

As a Gen X kid, I just don't understand this. We were the ones who were latchkey kids and were allowed to do whatever we wanted, whenever we wanted and we turned out just fine. I think it's actually the opposite issue - it's parents coddling their children and making excuses for their constant bad behavior.

People complain about parenting in whatever direction fits their narrative at the moment and have for many generations now. Same as complaining about kids. It's always "things are so much worse now."

Sure Jan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are resigning because of MAGA crazies.

Book banning etc...

Liar. Democrats own the school board, hence the skyrocketing violence with no consequences and massive overcrowding.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We talked about this, IMO it shouldn’t be allowed, and they shouldn’t be doing it if they care about the kids. My DS bio teacher quit after winter break.

It's not the military, so they can leave if they want to. I agree that they should try to finish the year for the kids, but I can see why they might need to leave a toxic environment.

This thinking is exactly why teachers are leaving. They’ve long sacrificed for kids, but the reality at the end of the day is that it’s a job. Teachers have their own families they need to sacrifice for. If we want teachers to treat the profession with more we should provide them greater training starting at college and pay them accordingly.

We spend 3-5 year’s training doctors after medical school and then pay them 6 figures. At some point we are going to value the profession that makes all the others possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Things are great here in New Jersey, where the median teacher salary is above $90,000 (versus about $65,000 in Fairfax County). Of course, we pay 2x the property tax you do.

How many years of teaching with a Bachelor’s degree does it take to get up $90k? Just curious. I’m in year 11 in my district and I’m around $81k. I should get to $90k by year 20. That’s nothing to get excited about.

If salaries aren't frozen AGAIN...

I have a MA+30 and have been teaching over 20 years, but only 16 with FCPS. I barely make $90K. I've had an MA the entire time I've been teaching and added the +30 about 15 years ago, so it isn't as though those are new credentials. We've had salary and step freezes so often that I am not on the step I should be.

I've worked for 30 years professional work and make $100,000 and don't have summers off. Teaching might be harder, but there are real other jobs that make this same amount. I think the safety issues are ridiculous in the schools.

Right, but if people aren't willing to do the job, then you don't have people doing the job. That's the bottom line.

It's a necessary job, so you have to get it filled somehow. That means more salary or better benefits or something. The benefits and salary are not too much if you can't find people to do it. Obviously -- and I mean obviously -- if it was that great a trade-off, people would go into teaching from other jobs instead of just saying it's a better deal. If it were, they would do it, especially with requirements loosened.

Not really. That’s what they said about grocery store checkout employees. Should we pay checkout workers 6 figure salaries because they had to work duri by the pandemic and deal with the public and other undesirable traits of their jobs? Nope. Self checkout!

Trends are moving in different directions. Traditional styles of in person teaching are fading away. Time to rethink education.

Great sounds like you are good with having no teachers at school. Enjoy

Many schools already are moving towards flipped classrooms where 1 teacher can record the lesson for multiple classrooms. Kids watch the lesson and then complete the assignments. Many times the assignment is graded by the computer. The teacher can hold office hours for questions or respond via email. Stride K12, Connections Academy, and many others have software based learning augmented by a teacher. We won’t need as many teachers anyway. This is the future.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:FCPS NOW HIRING TUTORS! All subjects, all levels. P/t and w/o benefits.

$47 an hour.

Is this true? Do you have a link? If so, how sad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are resigning because of MAGA crazies.

Book banning etc...

No, they are resigning because of an administration that focuses solely on "equity" issues instead of academics or expected good behavior. They are resigning because they are overloaded with work and classrooms full of disruptive students who make it impossible to teach the kids who DO want to learn.

GTFO with your "MAGA" nonsense. You just sound idiotic.