Let’s cut to the chase and furlough teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: DL in Maryland is a joke. Let’s face it and save our money for a real education when public health permits it. The school can keep posting the random worksheets it doesn’t grade and the YouTube videos of other teachers. One teacher can do that for each grade in that state while we furlough the others. Then those teachers won’t need to whine about how hard it is to teach with their child care responsibilities.

We can treat these teachers equally to school nurses, bus drivers, custodians and paraeducators who have been struggling. And we can balance our budget this year and save the $ for real improvement in the future. I would much rather return to regular school but until that can be done let’s treat all our education professionals equally. Or if teachers want to actually teach live and grade like they really want to educate I am all for paying them. But paying them to sit at home and whine about how online is hard while they each post the same videos as the other 200 teachers in the district without follow up is not ok.

Flame away but we don’t have the extra money for fluff anymore. There are lots of virtual teaching jobs out there for those who actually teach that could be had by teachers who , as they say, actually want to teach.

This is a very real proposal in my hometown district in PA. Several members of the school board are proposing to cancel school entirely next year, furlough all teachers and staff, and resume school in fall 2021. All kids will pick up where they left off, one year older. And it has the support of a substantial portion of the community. It’s a small town, where people think trying to come up with all of these plans for distance learning is too much trouble. I can’t imagine the state would allow it...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: DL in Maryland is a joke. Let’s face it and save our money for a real education when public health permits it. The school can keep posting the random worksheets it doesn’t grade and the YouTube videos of other teachers. One teacher can do that for each grade in that state while we furlough the others. Then those teachers won’t need to whine about how hard it is to teach with their child care responsibilities.

We can treat these teachers equally to school nurses, bus drivers, custodians and paraeducators who have been struggling. And we can balance our budget this year and save the $ for real improvement in the future. I would much rather return to regular school but until that can be done let’s treat all our education professionals equally. Or if teachers want to actually teach live and grade like they really want to educate I am all for paying them. But paying them to sit at home and whine about how online is hard while they each post the same videos as the other 200 teachers in the district without follow up is not ok.

Flame away but we don’t have the extra money for fluff anymore. There are lots of virtual teaching jobs out there for those who actually teach that could be had by teachers who , as they say, actually want to teach.

This is a very real proposal in my hometown district in PA. Several members of the school board are proposing to cancel school entirely next year, furlough all teachers and staff, and resume school in fall 2021. All kids will pick up where they left off, one year older. And it has the support of a substantial portion of the community. It’s a small town, where people think trying to come up with all of these plans for distance learning is too much trouble. I can’t imagine the state would allow it...

That’s a great way to f@ck over kids who will turn 18 this year. We have two in my home. March birthdays. Nothing forces custodial parents to support a child after 18. When I taught at Kennedy, we’d have students couch surfing for months and working all night, then falling asleep in class because they had to leave home as soon as they were legally an adult. Are you aware that court-ordered financial support typically ends at 18. Same with many social safety net programs. Some might extend to high school graduation or 19th birthday, whichever comes soonest, but there would still be a lot of seniors turning 19 between January and April and forced to fend of themselves full-time financially.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: DL in Maryland is a joke. Let’s face it and save our money for a real education when public health permits it. The school can keep posting the random worksheets it doesn’t grade and the YouTube videos of other teachers. One teacher can do that for each grade in that state while we furlough the others. Then those teachers won’t need to whine about how hard it is to teach with their child care responsibilities.

We can treat these teachers equally to school nurses, bus drivers, custodians and paraeducators who have been struggling. And we can balance our budget this year and save the $ for real improvement in the future. I would much rather return to regular school but until that can be done let’s treat all our education professionals equally. Or if teachers want to actually teach live and grade like they really want to educate I am all for paying them. But paying them to sit at home and whine about how online is hard while they each post the same videos as the other 200 teachers in the district without follow up is not ok.

Flame away but we don’t have the extra money for fluff anymore. There are lots of virtual teaching jobs out there for those who actually teach that could be had by teachers who , as they say, actually want to teach.

This is a very real proposal in my hometown district in PA. Several members of the school board are proposing to cancel school entirely next year, furlough all teachers and staff, and resume school in fall 2021. All kids will pick up where they left off, one year older. And it has the support of a substantial portion of the community. It’s a small town, where people think trying to come up with all of these plans for distance learning is too much trouble. I can’t imagine the state would allow it...

That’s a great way to f@ck over kids who will turn 18 this year. We have two in my home. March birthdays. Nothing forces custodial parents to support a child after 18. When I taught at Kennedy, we’d have students couch surfing for months and working all night, then falling asleep in class because they had to leave home as soon as they were legally an adult. Are you aware that court-ordered financial support typically ends at 18. Same with many social safety net programs. Some might extend to high school graduation or 19th birthday, whichever comes soonest, but there would still be a lot of seniors turning 19 between January and April and forced to fend of themselves full-time financially.

I am the Pp, and to be clear, I am not endorsing the proposal, just saying it is being actively discussed in at least one district. I live n the DMV now, but have considered relocating back to my home town or close by at least temporarily until we are past the pandemic. I am closely watching the discussions regarding schooling, as I have a child, young teen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ok, but what happens when you need them again and they have fled to other districts?

Apparently we don’t need them. We parents just need to suck it up and teach while doing our own full time jobs and we’ll be fine - according to the teachers who post on this forum.

Soon enough localities will have massive budget shortfalls because of so many businesses closing and people out of work. County services will be cut, including teachers. It sucks, but from what I’ve seen in the last three months teachers aren’t up to the task of teaching remotely and don’t want to go back to school. Teachers on this forum routinely post that parents need to handle their kids’ education. Think that all makes the case that teacher furloughs and lay offs make sense and are likely inevitable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why people think that distance learning this fall will be the same as distance learning last spring. In the spring, there was zero time to plan for DL, and the districts and teachers did the best they could. I expect a lot more learning in my kids’ distance learning this fall because 1) there is more time to prepare and 2) they have this spring’s experience to learn from.

While it’s true that teachers learned from the spring and will have more tricks up their sleeve for fall, they do not get paid for summer work and are likely to do only so much to prepare to do better for fall, especially since they don’t know what exactly they’re supposed to be preparing for. The district isn’t giving them much to go on. Also, the district isn’t making it easier by changing up the tech and putting restrictions on how much synchronous teaching time they can offer. So I wouldn’t hang your hopes on summer prep, in a nutshell.

But, MCPS has done fantastic job to bring lunch, dinner, and all meals to its students, all the students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t understand why people think that distance learning this fall will be the same as distance learning last spring. In the spring, there was zero time to plan for DL, and the districts and teachers did the best they could. I expect a lot more learning in my kids’ distance learning this fall because 1) there is more time to prepare and 2) they have this spring’s experience to learn from.

I think you’re assuming that all kids have access to the technology they need and supportive home environments, and are old enough and cognitively mature enough to learn remotely. That may be true for some high schoolers and possibly some middle schoolers. Young elementary kids, like mine? Nope.

Now, what I *would* expect is more actual face time from the teachers. I don’t know whether that translates to more learning, but 30 minutes a day isn’t cutting it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
You're not going to get a tax reduction, OP.

You pay taxes to the state, and the state allocates the money where it pleases. Some of it goes to education. This year any extra will be for the pandemic.

Knowing this, does it change your opinion on furloughing teachers? If it doesn't, can we conclude you're just a spiteful, petty little person?

No. I don’t change my mind. And no you can’t conclude that. We have a yawning budget deficit. Businesses that shut, including mine, stopped paying people who don’t work. Are my bosses spiteful and petty for having to make that tough decision? We would all like to be working. But if we cannot we also can’t afford to be paid to do so.

Governments aren’t businesses. They don’t have to balance the books. Depriving more people of income would only exacerbate economic problems. This isn’t a tit-for-tat situation

[Anonymous]

Most teachers would be better off financially if furloughed. Currently, teachers can’t get unemployment over the summer because they aren’t unemployed technically. Furlough teachers and not only they will get 10 months of unemployment, but two extra months of income. And DCUM likes to remind teachers that they are too lazy, stupid, and incompetent to be hired for anything else so it should be easy to recertify eligibility each month.

Meanwhile teachers won’t be spending on supplies and snacks for their students.

What’s the financial downside again?

[Anonymous]

I am a college instructor and I teach online. While I work hard, there's a lot I don't do trol. I can't just borrow great articles and activities for my students since there are copyright restrictions. Lots of times my university won't pay licensing and site fees for activities because they say they don't have the budget. This limits what can be offered to students.
In addition there are. Storage limits within learn management systems and I might want to make longer, better quality videos but am told to keep them short and lower quality because the university doesn't want to buy more storage etc.
A lot goes on behind the scenes that you don't see or know about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:ok, but what happens when you need them again and they have fled to other districts?

Apparently we don’t need them. We parents just need to suck it up and teach while doing our own full time jobs and we’ll be fine - according to the teachers who post on this forum.

Soon enough localities will have massive budget shortfalls because of so many businesses closing and people out of work. County services will be cut, including teachers. It sucks, but from what I’ve seen in the last three months teachers aren’t up to the task of teaching remotely and don’t want to go back to school. Teachers on this forum routinely post that parents need to handle their kids’ education. Think that all makes the case that teacher furloughs and lay offs make sense and are likely inevitable.

There have been many news articles about teacher furloughs across the US already.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a college instructor and I teach online. While I work hard, there's a lot I don't do trol. I can't just borrow great articles and activities for my students since there are copyright restrictions. Lots of times my university won't pay licensing and site fees for activities because they say they don't have the budget. This limits what can be offered to students.
In addition there are. Storage limits within learn management systems and I might want to make longer, better quality videos but am told to keep them short and lower quality because the university doesn't want to buy more storage etc.
A lot goes on behind the scenes that you don't see or know about.

Dude, I'm a "college instructor" too. You realize there is free youtube right? You can post as many 12 hour long videos as you want in 1080p resolution. lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most teachers would be better off financially if furloughed. Currently, teachers can’t get unemployment over the summer because they aren’t unemployed technically. Furlough teachers and not only they will get 10 months of unemployment, but two extra months of income. And DCUM likes to remind teachers that they are too lazy, stupid, and incompetent to be hired for anything else so it should be easy to recertify eligibility each month.

Meanwhile teachers won’t be spending on supplies and snacks for their students.

What’s the financial downside again?

Yeah, I'd love to collect that pandemic unemployment plus $600. I would literally make more money doing nothing than teaching your kids packed into a filthy, unventilated school. I don't know who you think ultimately pays the cost of unemployment, but surprise! It's tax payers.

You aren't going to win this. If teachers lose their jobs, your child will receive less instruction than they did before. You know who that one teacher would be, posting worksheets? The most senior person in the school, so the person least technologically adept and the least likely to care. They definitely would not be available for questions, complaints, or comments, and there would be no synchronous learning. You think firing all her colleagues would inspire this one teacher to suddenly provide your child and 100 others with a world class education? Get real. She would be looking for an out.

If I were furloughed, I would take it as a sign that it was just time to leave the profession. There aren't a lot of perks in education, but job security is one of them. I would absolutely take my M.S. and go elsewhere. I work with students with disabilities, in a position that has a huge problem with attrition. I am rated highly effective. I'm young and computer literate and I can easily take my skills elsewhere. Good luck finding someone to replace me after the furlough-we currently have 10+ vacancies at my school, but I'm sure there are many other passionate educators waiting with bated breath to step in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: DL in Maryland is a joke. Let’s face it and save our money for a real education when public health permits it. The school can keep posting the random worksheets it doesn’t grade and the YouTube videos of other teachers. One teacher can do that for each grade in that state while we furlough the others. Then those teachers won’t need to whine about how hard it is to teach with their child care responsibilities.

We can treat these teachers equally to school nurses, bus drivers, custodians and paraeducators who have been struggling. And we can balance our budget this year and save the $ for real improvement in the future. I would much rather return to regular school but until that can be done let’s treat all our education professionals equally. Or if teachers want to actually teach live and grade like they really want to educate I am all for paying them. But paying them to sit at home and whine about how online is hard while they each post the same videos as the other 200 teachers in the district without follow up is not ok.

Flame away but we don’t have the extra money for fluff anymore. There are lots of virtual teaching jobs out there for those who actually teach that could be had by teachers who , as they say, actually want to teach.

This is a very real proposal in my hometown district in PA. Several members of the school board are proposing to cancel school entirely next year, furlough all teachers and staff, and resume school in fall 2021. All kids will pick up where they left off, one year older. And it has the support of a substantial portion of the community. It’s a small town, where people think trying to come up with all of these plans for distance learning is too much trouble. I can’t imagine the state would allow it...

That’s a great way to f@ck over kids who will turn 18 this year. We have two in my home. March birthdays. Nothing forces custodial parents to support a child after 18. When I taught at Kennedy, we’d have students couch surfing for months and working all night, then falling asleep in class because they had to leave home as soon as they were legally an adult. Are you aware that court-ordered financial support typically ends at 18. Same with many social safety net programs. Some might extend to high school graduation or 19th birthday, whichever comes soonest, but there would still be a lot of seniors turning 19 between January and April and forced to fend of themselves full-time financially.

Only if their parents think like you and raise them off of law and not love.

[Anonymous]

I knew sooner or later, all of this would be the teachers' fault.

[Anonymous]

Maybe we should cut to the chase and furlough all parents who won’t be able to perform their jobs due to childcare issues.