Deal teachers taking leave

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was a constant frustration throughout the DCPS years. Teachers maxed out their benefits and planned to take leave during the school year. I understand that its a hard job, but when you have the summer off and your wife gives birth in July, I find it pretty frustrating that you plan to take paternity leave February-May during the school year . its very disruptive to the class and shows a clear lack of empathy for their students. This is what makes parents want to cut benefits of teachers and hate the union.

Wow. I don’t know where to begin with your post.

If teachers are so integral to the students’ experience, you’d think we’d respect them more.

You have NO IDEA what that family was enduring, and you also have absolutely no right to this information. Teachers are allowed to take care of their own needs and to put their families first… you know, kind of like you get to.

And I am so sick of hearing “summers off.” They are UNPAID summers and many of us have to scramble for extra work. Many of us also attend training (on our own dime) and prep for the next school year (unpaid). And if it’s such a good deal, why aren’t you teaching? For all the DCUM posters who go on and on and on about how great of a benefit it is, I can’t figure out why we have a teacher shortage. Why aren’t you joining us?

I’m not joining you because I made different career decisions a long time ago and it did not involve a school year schedule where young vulnerable students are counting on me to be in the classroom for a 9 month stretch.. Each fall a teacher signs a contract committing to be in the classroom for a 9 month school year. If you can’t make that commitment do something else that year. I’d be open to providing a lump sum to a dad cover 4 weeks of child care but I think its abuse of the benefit to take multiple months of paternity leave in the middle of the school year many months after the birth. Let’s all remember that mothers get maternity leave for physical reasons. Paternity leave is there if you need to bond with your child or help the mother with an infant - it’s not to offset the cost of daycare (which is going to go on for years!).

Perhaps you don’t want to be treated with the same disrespect you dish out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was a constant frustration throughout the DCPS years. Teachers maxed out their benefits and planned to take leave during the school year. I understand that its a hard job, but when you have the summer off and your wife gives birth in July, I find it pretty frustrating that you plan to take paternity leave February-May during the school year . its very disruptive to the class and shows a clear lack of empathy for their students. This is what makes parents want to cut benefits of teachers and hate the union.

Wow. I don’t know where to begin with your post.

If teachers are so integral to the students’ experience, you’d think we’d respect them more.

You have NO IDEA what that family was enduring, and you also have absolutely no right to this information. Teachers are allowed to take care of their own needs and to put their families first… you know, kind of like you get to.

And I am so sick of hearing “summers off.” They are UNPAID summers and many of us have to scramble for extra work. Many of us also attend training (on our own dime) and prep for the next school year (unpaid). And if it’s such a good deal, why aren’t you teaching? For all the DCUM posters who go on and on and on about how great of a benefit it is, I can’t figure out why we have a teacher shortage. Why aren’t you joining us?

I’m not joining you because I made different career decisions a long time ago and it did not involve a school year schedule where young vulnerable students are counting on me to be in the classroom for a 9 month stretch.. Each fall a teacher signs a contract committing to be in the classroom for a 9 month school year. If you can’t make that commitment do something else that year. I’d be open to providing a lump sum to a dad cover 4 weeks of child care but I think its abuse of the benefit to take multiple months of paternity leave in the middle of the school year many months after the birth. Let’s all remember that mothers get maternity leave for physical reasons. Paternity leave is there if you need to bond with your child or help the mother with an infant - it’s not to offset the cost of daycare (which is going to go on for years!).

Perhaps you don’t want to be treated with the same disrespect you dish out.

Again: you have ABSOLUTELY no right to comment on that teacher’s use of his leave. NONE. He is allowed to take care of his family first, the same way you are.

I’ll be honest: your assumption that teachers should be chained to your wants and desires is physically sickening. When teachers signed on for this job, they have NO IDEA if life is going to throw curve balls their way.

I work with a teacher who is currently on leave for cancer treatment. Are you going to write back that she should have waited until her unpaid summer to treat her cancer? How DARE she not finish out her contract. She’s so selfish, right?

And we wonder why there aren’t many people left willing to deal with the PP.

[Anonymous]

Paternity leave is a feminist issue. Let’s support that as much as possible.

OP, in sixth grade your student had a teacher that was different than expected. That’s not the same as the teacher leaving in a disruptive way while the school year is underway. The next year, it sounds like the teacher left shortly after the school year began, so again that isn’t terribly disruptive.

[Anonymous]

Bwahaha yes but yeah high income parents only Deal will serve your families’ needs…

They are all bureaucracies. All of the DCPS middle schools will serve your kids. Deal’s only magic is that “white people already go there” tired ass trope.

Find school closer to home. Accept that it’s the DMV in teacher form. Send your kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Paternity leave is a feminist issue. Let’s support that as much as possible.

OP, in sixth grade your student had a teacher that was different than expected. That’s not the same as the teacher leaving in a disruptive way while the school year is underway. The next year, it sounds like the teacher left shortly after the school year began, so again that isn’t terribly disruptive.

I believe OP is personally being affected by the teacher shortage, which is going to happen to more people as the shortage worsens.

My own kid lost 2 middle school teachers in the middle of the year last year. Yes, it was disruptive to her education. But as a teacher myself, I understood. We get a finite time on this planet, and nobody should be miserable. I wouldn’t want a teacher to sacrifice his/her own happiness and health for what is ultimately just a job like any other.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Paternity leave is a feminist issue. Let’s support that as much as possible.

OP, in sixth grade your student had a teacher that was different than expected. That’s not the same as the teacher leaving in a disruptive way while the school year is underway. The next year, it sounds like the teacher left shortly after the school year began, so again that isn’t terribly disruptive.

You have no idea how disruptive it was, so I'm not sure why you're even commenting here. They had to disperse all these students to already overcrowded classrooms elsewhere, and in one of the years, dispersed them again mid-year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paternity leave is a feminist issue. Let’s support that as much as possible.

OP, in sixth grade your student had a teacher that was different than expected. That’s not the same as the teacher leaving in a disruptive way while the school year is underway. The next year, it sounds like the teacher left shortly after the school year began, so again that isn’t terribly disruptive.

You have no idea how disruptive it was, so I'm not sure why you're even commenting here. They had to disperse all these students to already overcrowded classrooms elsewhere, and in one of the years, dispersed them again mid-year.

I think the major flaw this year is that there are only 4 8th grade teams so they can’t move the kids around. In 6th and 7th they had five teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paternity leave is a feminist issue. Let’s support that as much as possible.

OP, in sixth grade your student had a teacher that was different than expected. That’s not the same as the teacher leaving in a disruptive way while the school year is underway. The next year, it sounds like the teacher left shortly after the school year began, so again that isn’t terribly disruptive.

You have no idea how disruptive it was, so I'm not sure why you're even commenting here. They had to disperse all these students to already overcrowded classrooms elsewhere, and in one of the years, dispersed them again mid-year.

I’m the teacher PP who has dealt with this on both ends. It has happened to my own child twice recently AND I’ve absorbed a quitting teacher’s students.

I don’t wish misery on anybody, and teaching is currently a miserable, thankless job that negatively impacts health. I’d rather people take care of themselves than stay in the classroom for me or my child. I’m not that selfish, and I say this as someone more affected by this than you are.

If it upsets you, then advocate for better working conditions so teachers stay. This is going to get much worse if we don’t.

[Anonymous]

Wow—that a nightmare.

Deal is falling apart.

Other options?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Deal eighth-grader now has three teachers out on leave, and another who talks incessantly to her students about how she's about to get fired (the principal apparently spends a lot of time observing her in the classroom, according to my kid). And often, they can't find substitutes so either they basically do nothing under the watch of an aide or a teacher from another team who is drafted into duty. My kid has never finished the year with the same science teacher in their three years at Deal: sixth grade, the teacher quit about two days before school began; seventh grade, the teacher quit right after school began; eighth grade, the teacher basically stopped grading all assignments -- resulting in all of her students getting horrid report-card grades until the prinicpal had to intervene -- and now is on leave.

I realize that teachers will need leave for dire circumstances, but it just seems like there's no coordination or planning for it.

The teachers absolutely need to conduct their lives as they see fit and as their jobs permit.

At the same time, I understand your frustration, OP! That's a bad run -- a lot of disruption and a lot of wasted time -- for your child.

It is possible that the admins did everything possible and still circumstances weren't improvable. But there's a good chance that they are not being either not providing a good work environment for the teachers or that they are not being as industrious as required to manage the staffing changes smoothly. Our middle school has not had it this bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Plan for it?” You’re joking, right? Do you think there is some stable of highly qualified teachers out there waiting to step in when someone gets sick, has jury duty, turns out to be incompetent…?

Welcome to the teaching shortage crisis.

As a teacher I think "teacher shortage" implies there are not enough teachers. There are many qualified teachers out there. The statement is partly true but not truly reflective of the situation because there are plenty of qualified teachers in this country, many are choosing NOT to teach for various reasons.

If it was stated that there was a doctor shortage then what would you think? Not enough qualified doctors or plenty of doctors but just not wanting to do the job.

Teaching is a demanding job. Paying teachers more is a start, but it is the respect and time for planning and recovery. I spend about 30 - 60 minutes on emails every day. Surely this was not what was happening 20 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Plan for it?” You’re joking, right? Do you think there is some stable of highly qualified teachers out there waiting to step in when someone gets sick, has jury duty, turns out to be incompetent…?

Welcome to the teaching shortage crisis.

As a teacher I think "teacher shortage" implies there are not enough teachers. There are many qualified teachers out there. The statement is partly true but not truly reflective of the situation because there are plenty of qualified teachers in this country, many are choosing NOT to teach for various reasons.

If it was stated that there was a doctor shortage then what would you think? Not enough qualified doctors or plenty of doctors but just not wanting to do the job.

Teaching is a demanding job. Paying teachers more is a start, but it is the respect and time for planning and recovery. I spend about 30 - 60 minutes on emails every day. Surely this was not what was happening 20 years ago.

I agree... paying teachers is a start. If you ask me whether I want more pay or more time, however, I'm going to pick time.

I work 60 to 70 hours a week. That wasn't the case 20 years ago when I started teaching. The job has gotten exponentially harder and I have fewer resources at my disposal to deal with all of the job's demands. And those on-duty hours are far more exhausting than they used to be.

I think we haven't hit bottom yet. School systems are going to be scrambling and begging for warm bodies to fill classrooms. This will be the case until districts take a hard look at the impossible load they are placing on teachers. If they fix it, we'll get somewhere and the many available teachers will come back to classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My Deal eighth-grader now has three teachers out on leave, and another who talks incessantly to her students about how she's about to get fired (the principal apparently spends a lot of time observing her in the classroom, according to my kid). And often, they can't find substitutes so either they basically do nothing under the watch of an aide or a teacher from another team who is drafted into duty. My kid has never finished the year with the same science teacher in their three years at Deal: sixth grade, the teacher quit about two days before school began; seventh grade, the teacher quit right after school began; eighth grade, the teacher basically stopped grading all assignments -- resulting in all of her students getting horrid report-card grades until the prinicpal had to intervene -- and now is on leave.

I realize that teachers will need leave for dire circumstances, but it just seems like there's no coordination or planning for it.

I’m not at Deal, but to me this sounds like teacher burnout more than uncoordinated leave.

Teaching isn’t what it used to be, and people aren’t putting up with the poor working conditions anymore.

This x1000.

Whenever teachers "complain" online, there's always someone who says "then quit." Well, that's what they're doing.
I taught for almost ten years until it became unbearable. Parents, kids, bureaucrats. I couldn't take it anymore. I went back to corporate life, and even when I have to work 60-70 hour weeks with stakeholders from hell, it's still more pleasant than what I experienced as a teacher.

I don't blame anyone for taking advantage of any relief available to them until they can find something else. Getting out of teaching is extremely difficult, especially for those who went into it straight out of college.

This. And then the parents become like the entitled Boomers who yell at customer service workers online that OMG IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT THEN JUST QUIT, then throw tantrums because there’s a two hour wait for their favorite meal at Applebee’s or McDonalds closes early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was a constant frustration throughout the DCPS years. Teachers maxed out their benefits and planned to take leave during the school year. I understand that its a hard job, but when you have the summer off and your wife gives birth in July, I find it pretty frustrating that you plan to take paternity leave February-May during the school year . its very disruptive to the class and shows a clear lack of empathy for their students. This is what makes parents want to cut benefits of teachers and hate the union.

Wow. I don’t know where to begin with your post.

If teachers are so integral to the students’ experience, you’d think we’d respect them more.

You have NO IDEA what that family was enduring, and you also have absolutely no right to this information. Teachers are allowed to take care of their own needs and to put their families first… you know, kind of like you get to.

And I am so sick of hearing “summers off.” They are UNPAID summers and many of us have to scramble for extra work. Many of us also attend training (on our own dime) and prep for the next school year (unpaid). And if it’s such a good deal, why aren’t you teaching? For all the DCUM posters who go on and on and on about how great of a benefit it is, I can’t figure out why we have a teacher shortage. Why aren’t you joining us?

Perhaps you don’t want to be treated with the same disrespect you dish out.

Nailed it. End of thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is confusing because I am a DCUM reader and from DCUM I have learned that only charter schools have high teacher turnover. So confusing...

ROFL