Leaving the suburbs for DCPS pay??

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, thanks for that helpful advice. I had no idea teachers are required to make home visits, it seems like an intrusion of privacy if I don't know the family well. Also, is wonder how teachers east of the river feel about visiting certain home of children who are not well kept. What's better about Arlington vs DCPS for you?

Thank you for explaining DCPS at the ECE level.

They don't have to be actually in the home-- they are not pushy about it. It can be at school, playground, building lobby, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, thanks for that helpful advice. I had no idea teachers are required to make home visits, it seems like an intrusion of privacy if I don't know the family well. Also, is wonder how teachers east of the river feel about visiting certain home of children who are not well kept. What's better about Arlington vs DCPS for you?

Thank you for explaining DCPS at the ECE level.

They don't have to be actually in the home-- they are not pushy about it. It can be at school, playground, building lobby, etc.

[Anonymous]

I have never worked in the suburbs. I’ve been in DCPS or charters nearly 10 years, since my first year teaching. I love my principal, colleagues, individual school culture (Title 1 School in SE, for what it’s worth) but I can tell you that daily I consider whether I have sold my soul to reforms and constant upheaval.

I’m in ECE and while it’s easier than being in an upper grade it’s no cake walk. Depending on where you teach you’ll have your own fair share of kids with various social/emotional and behavior concerns. My friend in FCPS constantly remarks over what I deal with solo that her admin. would step in for (behavior, parent concerns, families that need social work type services) —- just be prepared to be a lot more independent on that end for better or for worse. I like the autonomy, but some don’t.

The money isn’t that much better unless you’re in a high poverty school. With bonuses, step level increases etc. related to performance pay, I would be taking a massive pay cut to work anywhere else at this point and now that I have a kid and husband I just can’t work the same extra hours I did before. From what I can tell work/life balance is much harder in DCPS even if you’re typically good at drawing boundaries because 1) you’re constantly filling in gaps and working harder not smarter because of what the district doesn’t provide (I make my own curriculum materials, I’ve personally funded or used DonorsChoose grants for at least 80% of my classroom materials) and 2) your evaluation scores depend on lots of subjective variables (parent involvement, attendance at extracurricular events, etc.). I debate all the time about whether moving schools or districts would be less stressful, and while thus far I haven’t really wanted to, it feels icky to realize they basically have me financially trapped.

Things are VERY much about metrics, assessment scores, etc. here (more so than I can tell in suburbs). Even at ECE level. It feels like *everything* is quantified and compared in an apples to oranges way and that’s exhausting. It can be an extremely competitive and hypercritical environment instead of the collaborative environment you may be used to and I largely blame IMPACT and top down obsession with data.

The upper level leadership is disorganized at best and unethical at worst, and this was the case long before the current news stories. Like PPs have said, it will largely depend on your school. I stay because of my schools leadership, the families, etc. and not because of the pay. But central office completely disrespects teachers and has very out of touch expectations. It can sometimes feel like they pay well because they know otherwise you’d get fed up with being treated like a cog in a broken machine and just leave.

Choose schools very carefully if you make the switch. There are wonderful people and places to work in DCPS in spite of the overall culture.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes there are crazy cursing and violent behaviors in ece too. I see it every year

Oh, I don't doubt it. Getting cursed out or assaulted by a four year old is taxing, but if I had to choose my poison, then I'd take that over a six foot tall 16 year old doing it.

[Anonymous]

Four year olds are cursing at their teachers?!!! Oh my goodness. That's absurd, no wonder DCPS is a mess. How does one discipline a four year old at school for that behavior? Seems like you are fighting against culture and family values.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Four year olds are cursing at their teachers?!!! Oh my goodness. That's absurd, no wonder DCPS is a mess. How does one discipline a four year old at school for that behavior? Seems like you are fighting against culture and family values.

In a similar way that you would discipline a second or third grader: loss of privileges

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, thanks for that helpful advice. I had no idea teachers are required to make home visits, it seems like an intrusion of privacy if I don't know the family well. Also, is wonder how teachers east of the river feel about visiting certain home of children who are not well kept. What's better about Arlington vs DCPS for you?

Thank you for explaining DCPS at the ECE level.

Yes, the river is the dividing line between clean people and filthy people.

Teaching in DCPS is not a good fit for you, and not only because your grammar is unintelligible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:PP, thanks for that helpful advice. I had no idea teachers are required to make home visits, it seems like an intrusion of privacy if I don't know the family well. Also, is wonder how teachers east of the river feel about visiting certain home of children who are not well kept. What's better about Arlington vs DCPS for you?

Thank you for explaining DCPS at the ECE level.

Yes, the river is the dividing line between clean people and filthy people.

Teaching in DCPS is not a good fit for you, and not only because your grammar is unintelligible.

+ 100,000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Four year olds are cursing at their teachers?!!! Oh my goodness. That's absurd, no wonder DCPS is a mess. How does one discipline a four year old at school for that behavior? Seems like you are fighting against culture and family values.

This is an interesting question. I am an ECE teacher and two years ago I had 5 major behavioral issues in my classroom. MAJOR, think hitting, biting, pushing, swearing, jumping on tables, breaking stuff, etc. It was pretty much impossible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Four year olds are cursing at their teachers?!!! Oh my goodness. That's absurd, no wonder DCPS is a mess. How does one discipline a four year old at school for that behavior? Seems like you are fighting against culture and family values.

This is an interesting question. I am an ECE teacher and two years ago I had 5 major behavioral issues in my classroom. MAJOR, think hitting, biting, pushing, swearing, jumping on tables, breaking stuff, etc. It was pretty much impossible.

With an IEP, a social worker, and a behavior support paraprofessional.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP, thanks for that helpful advice. I had no idea teachers are required to make home visits, it seems like an intrusion of privacy if I don't know the family well. Also, is wonder how teachers east of the river feel about visiting certain home of children who are not well kept. What's better about Arlington vs DCPS for you?

Thank you for explaining DCPS at the ECE level.

Excuse me?

[Anonymous]

Are teachers request to visit homes that are inhabitable or unclean when they see certain children everyday who aren't well kept? Wouldn't the families in these conditions object to homevisits for fear of embarrassment? I'd be afraid to visit a home of a student who was unkempt (dirty clothing, headline, etc.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are teachers request to visit homes that are inhabitable or unclean when they see certain children everyday who aren't well kept? Wouldn't the families in these conditions object to homevisits for fear of embarrassment? I'd be afraid to visit a home of a student who was unkempt (dirty clothing, headline, etc.)

Because lice discriminate by affluence?

Are you OP? If so, you have a lot to learn. It’s hard to believe you are a teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are teachers request to visit homes that are inhabitable or unclean when they see certain children everyday who aren't well kept? Wouldn't the families in these conditions object to homevisits for fear of embarrassment? I'd be afraid to visit a home of a student who was unkempt (dirty clothing, headline, etc.)

This has got to be a joke. Afraid of an unclean environment? I work in a SCHOOL. Kids are dirty; they rub snot on their sleeves and hands. Our janitorial staff is a joke and we're lucky if the trash gets taken out. I'm pretty sure a filthy house is nothing to be afraid of.

I did the burbs to DC thing (sort of). I worked in a low-income, majority minority school in CA before moving to DC. I thought I was experienced at dealing with dysfunction, but DCPS had new types of dysfunction I hadn't anticipated. My school in CA was constantly out of everything (paper, books, whiteboard markers, desks, toilet paper, classroom space...), but everyone in the building was trying to do the right thing. I knew I could count on the other teachers in the building. The admins and counselors were stretched beyond belief, but I never felt like they were adversaries. In DCPS I never had trouble getting paper or whiteboard markers, but it felt like every man for himself. I would literally go in my classroom and lock the door from the inside (to keep out the random students who were roaming in the hall) and hope the admins would just leave me alone to teach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Four year olds are cursing at their teachers?!!! Oh my goodness. That's absurd, no wonder DCPS is a mess. How does one discipline a four year old at school for that behavior? Seems like you are fighting against culture and family values.

This is an interesting question. I am an ECE teacher and two years ago I had 5 major behavioral issues in my classroom. MAJOR, think hitting, biting, pushing, swearing, jumping on tables, breaking stuff, etc. It was pretty much impossible.

With an IEP, a social worker, and a behavior support paraprofessional.

That doesn’t work when your social worker says they aren’t experienced with three year olds and sends us to early stages which doesn’t give IEPs for behavior. Or at least that’s what I was told