How big a deal are the recent teacher involuntary transfers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:While this sucks for the teachers involved (I've been on the receiving end of a hodge podge of classes right before school starts), I think rebalancing is the best thing for the system and for the students. If one school is short 10 teachers and has 35+ classes, while another school has classes at 25, that would not be good for students.

Agreed.

[Anonymous]

Is there a way to find out what teachers are still assigned to a school, or what teachers have transliterated in, before the start of the year? Our school does not update the staff directory on its website until after school starts.

[Anonymous]

Interestingly, MCPS Careers has the position of Chief of Human Resources and Development posted as of this morning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to find out what teachers are still assigned to a school, or what teachers have transliterated in, before the start of the year? Our school does not update the staff directory on its website until after school starts.

Even the teachers who work there won’t find out until they return to work in late August. Why do you need this information right now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Involuntary doesn’t mean “against the strong wishes of the teacher.” It just means the system initiated it. It happened to my spouse a few years ago and he was slightly bummed but nothing more - he had to learn a new building/community but got a slightly shorter commute, and it’s worked out fine. I wouldn’t assume a bunch of people would quit over this or anything dramatic.

That’s not the definition but that’s what it means for a teacher. It is not a request or a choice.

Right. But that doesn’t make it terrible. You are told to move and you do, but that doesn’t mean the teacher is upset about the order.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to find out what teachers are still assigned to a school, or what teachers have transliterated in, before the start of the year? Our school does not update the staff directory on its website until after school starts.

Even the teachers who work there won’t find out until they return to work in late August. Why do you need this information right now?

I don't think the PP was asking about which teacher their child will have, just a way to know whether or not a given teacher is still working at the school.

Sometimes you can see staff listings in the general staff directory before they appear in the one on the school's own site.

https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/directory/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm copying my post from the other thread, since this one appeared while I was typing (very slowly apparently):

Sherwood and Damascus HS are the only two HS without any open teaching positions. A couple others have only 1 or 2 spots, but most have 3-8 open positions. (74 1.0 FTE, 118 total HS teaching positions right now.) When principals get staffing allocations in February, it is based on projected enrollment. Then they use their course requests to assign that staffing. There is flexibility in how they do the sectioning and decisions they can make about under enrolled and over enrolled courses that influences who they need to involuntary transfer. If enrollment changes later on, or course sectioning needs to be adjusted, that can affect teacher assignments within the school. I wonder if enrollment at Sherwood dropped significantly, or if this is just an attempt to balance staffing and solve some of the worst problems at other schools. During the pandemic, with the advent of the virtual academy, they had to shift staff between schools - that was covered under the MOU I think. It seems that the same idea is being applied here, but without an MOU in place.

The article is misleading because it doesn't distinguish between teachers assigned to a different school (which is not normal and not covered by contract) and teachers reassigned within the building (which is allowed).

I really don’t think there is a difference. They were most likely able to reshuffle and create bigger classes at Sherwood which still meet the required student teacher ratio. Then they were able to reassign teachers to other schools to fill empty positions. I am a teacher, and yes I know it’s not optimal, but I understand I work for MCPS, not for my specific school. It’s about making sure all students have qualified teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Involuntary doesn’t mean “against the strong wishes of the teacher.” It just means the system initiated it. It happened to my spouse a few years ago and he was slightly bummed but nothing more - he had to learn a new building/community but got a slightly shorter commute, and it’s worked out fine. I wouldn’t assume a bunch of people would quit over this or anything dramatic.

That’s not the definition but that’s what it means for a teacher. It is not a request or a choice.

It's correct that its not a request or a choice. But teachers know its a possibility. It happened to me earlier in my teaching career, and was difficult, but your first few years teaching it is a very real possibility. I know of a teacher a few years ago who was transferred during teacher preservice days. A few kindergarten students went to private school, and it was enough to lose a teacher position.

That happened at my child's school more than once. They had to reduce the number of classes at the last minute so they didn't need all the teachers. This was pre-pandemic. We have a lot of embassy and foreign service people in my child's district so last minute transfers happen regularly which impacts the staffing needs at the local school.

[Anonymous]

Hmm. So the issue is if they get moved now to a new school. That would violate the contract. Anyone know how many teachers that has happened to, or which schools? Do the teachers have any recourse if it violates their contract?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Apparently MCPS involuntarily transferred teachers in the last few weeks. Which violates their contract. How many were affected and will MCPS have to roll that back since it violates the mcea contract? I do understand why they moved teachers from overstaffed to understaffed schools. From the report I heard on the news, I think it was WUSA maybe, Sherwood high school was particularly impacted.

I am an MCPS teacher, and involuntary transfers are not against the contract. If your school loses teacher positions, they transfer teachers, and they start with the teachers who have the least amount of years in MCPS. It happens all the time, so I am not sure why this is any different than in previous years.

I don’t think these were related to lost positions. These are moves MCPS is making to cover shortages at other schools. Since there are no limits on class sizes they are just making classes bigger to grab extra teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While this sucks for the teachers involved (I've been on the receiving end of a hodge podge of classes right before school starts), I think rebalancing is the best thing for the system and for the students. If one school is short 10 teachers and has 35+ classes, while another school has classes at 25, that would not be good for students.

Agreed.

All this does is create large class sizes at every school. This creates another problem and is a disservice to the students, tax payers, and the teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to find out what teachers are still assigned to a school, or what teachers have transliterated in, before the start of the year? Our school does not update the staff directory on its website until after school starts.

Even the teachers who work there won’t find out until they return to work in late August. Why do you need this information right now?

I'm not the PP, but for my HS-er, teacher assignment does affect course enrollment/selection. There is a class she really wants to take, but the teacher has been totally incompetent -- if she's moving along, my kid would definitely take the class, but if she's staying, kid will need to choose a different class. The last couple of years the kids have tried to teach themselves the subject, but it has not been going great. Other people might be in a similar situation, where the teacher assignment would make a difference as to class selection.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there a way to find out what teachers are still assigned to a school, or what teachers have transliterated in, before the start of the year? Our school does not update the staff directory on its website until after school starts.

Even the teachers who work there won’t find out until they return to work in late August. Why do you need this information right now?

I'm not the PP, but for my HS-er, teacher assignment does affect course enrollment/selection. There is a class she really wants to take, but the teacher has been totally incompetent -- if she's moving along, my kid would definitely take the class, but if she's staying, kid will need to choose a different class. The last couple of years the kids have tried to teach themselves the subject, but it has not been going great. Other people might be in a similar situation, where the teacher assignment would make a difference as to class selection.

Then you can either call the school and ask or wait until her class schedule shows up and make necessary changes then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:While this sucks for the teachers involved (I've been on the receiving end of a hodge podge of classes right before school starts), I think rebalancing is the best thing for the system and for the students. If one school is short 10 teachers and has 35+ classes, while another school has classes at 25, that would not be good for students.

Agreed.

All this does is create large class sizes at every school. This creates another problem and is a disservice to the students, tax payers, and the teachers.

I agree but I don’t know if there another solution this close to the beginning of the school year. If they don’t do some reshuffling then there would be classes with no teachers, most likely in the most needy schools. We are at a crisis point in public schools right now. I am a special education teacher at small school in the county, working with mainstream special education students. Many self-contained special ed classes had no teachers or substitutes last year. I think in the next few years special Ed teachers like me will be moved around so that the most needy children have actual special Ed teachers (that is just my thinking, I have not actually been told this).

[Anonymous]

https://wjla.com/news/crisis-in-the-classrooms/montgomery-county-public-schools-involuntary-teacher-transfer-staffing-shortage-employees-recruit-open-position-hiring-job-summer-break-mcps-maryland-challenges-surplus-deficit-new-year-back-to-school?fs=e&s=cl&fbclid=IwAR3EVCUqosuUzvlN9UZflZeTjRFS-chdzGQ5ZGbQ3wiBThJt8fyHJAhtjJY

From this article it seems like it is a breach of contract.

“7News obtained a copy of the MCPS teacher contract, and it clearly states, that principals will notify employees who have been involuntarily transferred no later than Monday, February 28, 2022, and will provide the (MCEA) education association a list of unit members identified for involuntary transfer by the third Friday in March.”