Cuts

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Did they formally announce any cuts? Or are you talking about transfers?

Apparently someone just made up a post to get some people riled up. There is no record of this anywhere credible.

It’s not made up. But it’s not cuts. They just haven’t finalized school allocations yet so teachers have not yet been notified of what they are teaching. We were told sometime in June we will have an idea of what next year will look like at our school.

so basically it's made up to mislead people

Maybe initially it was a rumor or misconstrued, but now MCPS is proposing cuts to reduce their budget to the County's Council threshold. They need to cut about 6 million. One proposal is to increase class size by one student, and the other proposal is to cut all staff development teachers from full-time to part-time. This was discussed in the May 1st county council work session.

Are teachers incensed by the proposal to cut SDTs to half-time? In our high school, teachers think the SDT is pretty worthless so it seems like a good idea.

[Anonymous]

Another elementary school teacher and our school fall apart without the SDT. They wear every hat and are the voice of reason with admin. It’s a hard job and some of the work happens behind the scenes, so it makes sense why they would want to cut the position (even though it’s a terrible idea).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Did they formally announce any cuts? Or are you talking about transfers?

Apparently someone just made up a post to get some people riled up. There is no record of this anywhere credible.

It’s not made up. But it’s not cuts. They just haven’t finalized school allocations yet so teachers have not yet been notified of what they are teaching. We were told sometime in June we will have an idea of what next year will look like at our school.

so basically it's made up to mislead people

Maybe initially it was a rumor or misconstrued, but now MCPS is proposing cuts to reduce their budget to the County's Council threshold. They need to cut about 6 million. One proposal is to increase class size by one student, and the other proposal is to cut all staff development teachers from full-time to part-time. This was discussed in the May 1st county council work session.

Are teachers incensed by the proposal to cut SDTs to half-time? In our high school, teachers think the SDT is pretty worthless so it seems like a good idea.

I’m an elementary school teacher and in elementary schools they really are needed for many reasons. Not sure what they do in middle and high schools though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Something doesn’t match up. Enrollment is shrinking but MCPS is spending much more per student even under the Elrich budget.

That’s mostly going to be wages and salaries. They are rising to keep up with inflation. Plus the state mandated bump in pay by $10k per year for NBCT, boosted existing salaries and has stimulated a lot more teachers to seek certification.

They are rising faster than inflation.

Everyone making less than $85k is getting a pay raise greater than inflation, and that’s before you consider the step increases or the $10k boost for NBCT (for those eligible).

How many teachers do you think are NBCT?

Please share your math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something doesn’t match up. Enrollment is shrinking but MCPS is spending much more per student even under the Elrich budget.

Enrollment has grown by 3,450 students since 2017 they shared.

[Anonymous]

NBCT is a complete scam. Teachers I know who have done it said it was a ton of busy work

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NBCT is a complete scam. Teachers I know who have done it said it was a ton of busy work

+1 I’d rather invest in a worthwhile master’s degree than that.

[Anonymous]

Middle school staff and the SDT did nothing to make my job easier. I suspect they’re more useful to admin who can deploy them as needed. Can’t speak to elementary school. Maybe the fix is to reduce them to .5 in middle and high schools only.

[Anonymous]

SDTs in secondary schools used to have to teach a few classes so they weren't fully released. That's also because secondary schools have resource teachers, department heads, multiple administrators, etc.
In elementary schools, SDTs need to be full-time just to keep everything running.

[Anonymous]

At my elem school, the SDT is also the testing coordinator, which is a very busy job several times a year, but also serves as a default admin and is often needed as a bounce for disruptive students. I could see a drop to .8 but not much more than that at the elementary level, at least based on my experience.

I'm just glad they're not cutting counselors. It's really difficult to even fathom what could be a harmless trim at this point (well, other than at central office, lol). Increasing class sizes, even by just one, has such a ripple effect. Our kindergarten classes currently have 19 each, even though the cap is 18. I know some of you are dealing with numbers in the 20s for K, but we are a Title 1, and I feel like I am missing so many of my students' academic and emotional needs because there are so many of them. My first year, we had 14-16 and that was perfect.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NBCT is a complete scam. Teachers I know who have done it said it was a ton of busy work

+1 I’d rather invest in a worthwhile master’s degree than that.

Most teachers just get MEd degrees that are equally worthless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something doesn’t match up. Enrollment is shrinking but MCPS is spending much more per student even under the Elrich budget.

Enrollment has grown by 3,450 students since 2017 they shared.

And it’s down 4,500 since 2019. The state forecasts that it will continue declining.

[Anonymous]

Do you know how many teachers we could have hired with that unreasonable ginormous payout we paid McKnight?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NBCT is a complete scam. Teachers I know who have done it said it was a ton of busy work

+1 I’d rather invest in a worthwhile master’s degree than that.

Most teachers just get MEd degrees that are equally worthless.

I think you mean doctorates. There are plenty of master degrees that are worth it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you know how many teachers we could have hired with that unreasonable ginormous payout we paid McKnight?

We definitely could have at least used it for paper and ink, since we have none left.