Teachers Resigning Like Crazy?

[Anonymous]

Teachers are leaving because administrators are refusing to discipline children and school systems are refusing to separate out poorly behaving/severely learning disabled children from the general education classroom. This didn't happen when we were children because kids were disciplined and because kids couldn't handle being in a general education classroom were put in separate schools. We need to go back to that model. Sorry, but equity is not working.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are leaving because administrators are refusing to discipline children and school systems are refusing to separate out poorly behaving/severely learning disabled children from the general education classroom. This didn't happen when we were children because kids were disciplined and because kids couldn't handle being in a general education classroom were put in separate schools. We need to go back to that model. Sorry, but equity is not working.

+ 1,000,000

[Anonymous]

Well, when this sort of crap happens, I understand: https://fcpdnews.wordpress.com/2023/02/16/fcps-instructional-assistant-charged-with-assault/
For some perspective, last May or June, this same school (Saratoga ES) had a (I think) 5th or 6th grade student assaulted a teacher by stabbing her with a pair of scissors and attempt to stab a couple others (assistant principals?)...in that case, this same principal (Erica Loesch) did *not* call the police.

So what lessons do the kids learn from this episode? If a teacher so much as touches you, the cops will be called and the teacher will be arrested; but if you stab someone with a weapon, you won't.

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is normal in 2023. And there aren’t hordes of fresh-faced grads eager to take their places either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school has many people leaving as well in large part due to our awful principal

What school?

[Anonymous]

Teacher here. Principals get in trouble from above for having too many suspensions or disciplinary statistics so they don’t want to follow through. Kids get way too many chances, and without documentation, nothing happens.

Now that we cannot tell a child they must stay in a designated room, because that is considered seclusion, they can wander the building at will, and do.

Special education teachers cannot keep up with the workload. It’s impossible.

I know several teachers who have been attacked by special education students, and these teachers have been out for weeks as a result. One needs surgery. When a teacher is assaulted, law enforcement is supposed to be notified, but they never do that. When a teacher is out on short-term disability, they only get paid 2/3 of their pay, even if it wasn’t their fault a child hurt them severely. They can’t work their side jobs on weekends or evenings when laid up. Bills have to be paid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. Principals get in trouble from above for having too many suspensions or disciplinary statistics so they don’t want to follow through. Kids get way too many chances, and without documentation, nothing happens.

Now that we cannot tell a child they must stay in a designated room, because that is considered seclusion, they can wander the building at will, and do.

Special education teachers cannot keep up with the workload. It’s impossible.

I know several teachers who have been attacked by special education students, and these teachers have been out for weeks as a result. One needs surgery. When a teacher is assaulted, law enforcement is supposed to be notified, but they never do that. When a teacher is out on short-term disability, they only get paid 2/3 of their pay, even if it wasn’t their fault a child hurt them severely. They can’t work their side jobs on weekends or evenings when laid up. Bills have to be paid.

Those are outrageous working conditions. We should have zero tolerance for disruptive behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. Principals get in trouble from above for having too many suspensions or disciplinary statistics so they don’t want to follow through. Kids get way too many chances, and without documentation, nothing happens.

Now that we cannot tell a child they must stay in a designated room, because that is considered seclusion, they can wander the building at will, and do.

Special education teachers cannot keep up with the workload. It’s impossible.

I know several teachers who have been attacked by special education students, and these teachers have been out for weeks as a result. One needs surgery. When a teacher is assaulted, law enforcement is supposed to be notified, but they never do that. When a teacher is out on short-term disability, they only get paid 2/3 of their pay, even if it wasn’t their fault a child hurt them severely. They can’t work their side jobs on weekends or evenings when laid up. Bills have to be paid.

All of the above and more. Public education is in big trouble across the country. Think about what you're seeing at your child's school. Would you recommend that your child become a teacher? I'm guessing a resounding "no" is the answer. I know I wouldn't

[Anonymous]

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!

[Anonymous]

When I bring my daughter to toddler storytime at the library the behaviors and parenting is shocking. We dont go anymore after a boy kept putting hands on my daughter. I know they are toddlers but parents/caregivers are all there and everyone is too busy on their phones and not actually present.

Fast forward a few years and put them in a school building without parents and I am afraid if what that will look like.

Things are out of control. You see it everywhere. Teachers are abused and are not paid enough to stay I get it.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers are leaving because administrators are refusing to discipline children and school systems are refusing to separate out poorly behaving/severely learning disabled children from the general education classroom. This didn't happen when we were children because kids were disciplined and because kids couldn't handle being in a general education classroom were put in separate schools. We need to go back to that model. Sorry, but equity is not working.

While I agree with some of this, most of our SPED kids are not behavior problems. Only a handful are. Many of our behavior problems are non sped students.

[Anonymous]

I’m a teacher and right now I want to call in sick and just not care that I don’t show up and let someone else deal with it. I’m so sick of the rain and behaviors and colleagues.

I have a teammate who is very incapable of the job but it’s a filled position so admin won’t do anything and have another position to hire for next year.

There is also inconsistency across the county. I think about leaving but how do I find a good admin and strong team when no one wants to leave those schools? We still have schools like this.

[Anonymous]

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.

[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.

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.

1 million percent these kids could care less what teachers and admin say and they care even less when their parents speak to them. Blatant disrespect and it's all day.