Near half of MCPS full-time teacher voids fall within Special Education

[Anonymous]

And, the article doesn't mention at all, how many Spec Ed positions this year have been filled by long-term subs? Unqualified long-term subs at that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And, the article doesn't mention at all, how many Spec Ed positions this year have been filled by long-term subs? Unqualified long-term subs at that?

Or part time positions that are not filled.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How can schools meet the needs of students with disabilities without filling these positions? Some schools do not have any Special Education
Teachers:

https://moco360.media/2023/09/21/nearly-half-of-all-current-mcps-full-time-teacher-voids-fall-within-special-education-data-shows/

It's just that these days, there are 300% more students requiring special education than even ten years ago. The problem is especially bad in the wealthy areas where people can get a private diagnosis where almost every kid has ADHD or something similar.

Getting that ADHD diag might get you a 504 with extended time. It's not getting you an IEP with sped supports.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And, the article doesn't mention at all, how many Spec Ed positions this year have been filled by long-term subs? Unqualified long-term subs at that?

Or part time positions that are not filled.

Or special education positions that are currently being filled by non-certified special education teachers. My old school had a habit of using gen Ed teachers as special education “co-teachers” in classrooms so they didn’t have to leave when positions were cut. But they could not case manage, test students, or fulfill the other duties of an actual special education teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:IMO, one of the problems is that MCPS has not developed any standardized, evidence-based "special instruction" curriculum for any kind of disability. For example, only recently has MCPS even begun to train teachers in the gold-standard reading instruction packages that have an evidence basis for dyslexia. As a result, kids don't progress - although they could be with the right instruction - and endless meetings, documentation and conflict ensue. Worse, this means every special ed teacher is left to reinvent the wheel, which is time-consuming and ineffective. Multiply that by, literally, every single kind of disability, and huge amounts of time are wasted, not to mention the waste of a child's development and the increase in a negative ripple effect - depression, anxiety, negative conduct in the classroom and conflict with parents.

Another problem is neither special educators nor general ed nor admin really understand their legal obligations. As a result endless hours are wasted when do something wrong - it's often wildly wrong and, again, results in lots of meetings, documentation and paperwork to force the teacher or admin to do the legally-required thing. I was always mind-boggled how much time I and the entire IEP team wasted on these, extremely obvious matters.

Finally, structurally, MCPS's support framework for SPED is crap. Teacher Reports are generic and don't match IEP goals and objectives so there is no data collection, the gradebook system is not modifiable in any way for accommodations and while there is standardization in terms of ideas for offering accommodations, there is no standardization in the delivery and documentation of accommodations, which, again, leaves sped teachers to reinvent the wheel.

#1 +1,000
#2 I don't have personal experience so I can't speak to this
#3 I agree. This includes teacher vs. paraeducator staffing allocations, and delivery of services in Gen Ed classrooms vs. Resource class.

The unrelenting pressure from parents exists because students aren't being served. It's true that other school systems aren't getting this right either, but many are doing better than MCPS and we could learn from them.

[Anonymous]

I’m very curious how many employees in central office are certified teachers. Why are they not being sent back in the classrooms? PGCPS did this post pandemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m very curious how many employees in central office are certified teachers. Why are they not being sent back in the classrooms? PGCPS did this post pandemic.

They may be certified in the wrong subjects or the wrong levels. Someone with an ES cert can’t teach grades 7-12 or vice versa. An English cert won’t help if the vacancies are in math, science, and SPED.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m very curious how many employees in central office are certified teachers. Why are they not being sent back in the classrooms? PGCPS did this post pandemic.

They may be certified in the wrong subjects or the wrong levels. Someone with an ES cert can’t teach grades 7-12 or vice versa. An English cert won’t help if the vacancies are in math, science, and SPED.

Doesn't really matter...because anyone can teach outside of their cert for one year, so they absolutely could be bringing back central office employees to fill positions-they just don't want to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m very curious how many employees in central office are certified teachers. Why are they not being sent back in the classrooms? PGCPS did this post pandemic.

They may be certified in the wrong subjects or the wrong levels. Someone with an ES cert can’t teach grades 7-12 or vice versa. An English cert won’t help if the vacancies are in math, science, and SPED.

Doesn't really matter...because anyone can teach outside of their cert for one year, so they absolutely could be bringing back central office employees to fill positions-they just don't want to.

Maybe because you shouldn’t force people who purposely left the classroom for another position to return to the classroom. Do you really want someone teaching your kids if they don’t want to be a teacher?

Plus, they probably don’t want to risk Central Office staff quitting rather than returning to the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m very curious how many employees in central office are certified teachers. Why are they not being sent back in the classrooms? PGCPS did this post pandemic.

They may be certified in the wrong subjects or the wrong levels. Someone with an ES cert can’t teach grades 7-12 or vice versa. An English cert won’t help if the vacancies are in math, science, and SPED.

Doesn't really matter...because anyone can teach outside of their cert for one year, so they absolutely could be bringing back central office employees to fill positions-they just don't want to.

Maybe because you shouldn’t force people who purposely left the classroom for another position to return to the classroom. Do you really want someone teaching your kids if they don’t want to be a teacher?

Plus, they probably don’t want to risk Central Office staff quitting rather than returning to the classroom.

Ummmmm I’m pretty sure if the alternative is NO ONE teaching them, then yes. Considering the number of teachers leaving in droves, I’d imagine this is already the case. Maybe bringing in additional people from central office could lighten their load and make their job more manageable.

[Anonymous]

This is happening with speech pathologists. They are filling the positions with people who are not certified or are remote and then the full time SLP has to deal with the paperwork/meetings/testing that the other person can't do.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And, the article doesn't mention at all, how many Spec Ed positions this year have been filled by long-term subs? Unqualified long-term subs at that?

Or part time positions that are not filled.

Or special education positions that are currently being filled by non-certified special education teachers. My old school had a habit of using gen Ed teachers as special education “co-teachers” in classrooms so they didn’t have to leave when positions were cut. But they could not case manage, test students, or fulfill the other duties of an actual special education teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCEA does not represent special education teachers.


Well, maybe on paper…

+1
The union bargained for a special signing bonus for new special Ed teachers or for any general Ed teacher who switched over to special Ed. The HUGE mistake here was not giving retention bonuses to current special Ed teachers because they’re leaving in droves

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special Ed teachers (and paras) need a 10 or 20% stipend on top of MCEA or SEIU rates.

It isn’t about money. It’s about the workload and the working conditions. I wouldn’t go back to Special Ed even if you gave me a 30-40% raise.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCEA does not represent special education teachers.


Well, maybe on paper…

+1
The union bargained for a special signing bonus for new special Ed teachers or for any general Ed teacher who switched over to special Ed. The HUGE mistake here was not giving retention bonuses to current special Ed teachers because they’re leaving in droves

MCPS made it clear that it didn’t want to set a precedent of retention bonuses. That was never going to be on the table. However, signing bonuses were.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCEA does not represent special education teachers.


Well, maybe on paper…

+1
The union bargained for a special signing bonus for new special Ed teachers or for any general Ed teacher who switched over to special Ed. The HUGE mistake here was not giving retention bonuses to current special Ed teachers because they’re leaving in droves

MCEA tried to fight the signing bonuses- they didn't "bargain" for it.

I don't think a retention bonus would be a bad idea, although they should work like they do in other jobs. That is, they should come with a three year commitment, otherwise the recipient has to pay back the bonus.