Anne Arundel - NO special ed teachers will return

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a massive struggle to find special ed teachers in a good year. Firing the ones you have instead of working with them to make it a safe environment is a ridiculous suggestion.

If you read the article, they met their requests. The reality is, no level of meeting the demands is ever going to be good enough. Honestly, contract the labor out. It might end up being more expensive on the margins, but at least you won't have to put up with this kind of bullshit. Call them on their bluff. This is literally what happened in the article. They are finding contractors to help the kids. Problem solved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is the union not the teachers. The teachers want to go back but are told by the union what ato post. My friend posted she wanted to go back on social media and union asked her to take it down

So what is the union going to do if they go against them? Fire her? If the union isn't representing her views, what are they there for? The union works for her, not the other way around. That is ridiculous.

She's afraid they will retaliate by not representing her in the future. She deleted her post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a massive struggle to find special ed teachers in a good year. Firing the ones you have instead of working with them to make it a safe environment is a ridiculous suggestion.

If you read the article, they met their requests. The reality is, no level of meeting the demands is ever going to be good enough. Honestly, contract the labor out. It might end up being more expensive on the margins, but at least you won't have to put up with this kind of bullshit. Call them on their bluff. This is literally what happened in the article. They are finding contractors to help the kids. Problem solved.

I wish AACo would start doing this across the board. Once the teachers realize their paycheck might be at risk, I think many of them might magically decide it's time to return to work.

I'm also curious if the enrollment numbers have dropped across the board. At our ES, I know some of the grades have lost 30-40 kids, so wondering if teaching positions will be eliminated.

[Anonymous]

So those of you saying fire them, where are you getting new sped teachers from right now? There aren't 100s of unemployed, ready to work people with sped credentials. They can't even find enough subs on a daily basis when we aren't in a pandemic, and that has basically no qualifications. I get the frustration, but unless you want someone with no classroom education or experience teaching the neediest kids, there isn't a better option, is there?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a massive struggle to find special ed teachers in a good year. Firing the ones you have instead of working with them to make it a safe environment is a ridiculous suggestion.

If you read the article, they met their requests. The reality is, no level of meeting the demands is ever going to be good enough. Honestly, contract the labor out. It might end up being more expensive on the margins, but at least you won't have to put up with this kind of bullshit. Call them on their bluff. This is literally what happened in the article. They are finding contractors to help the kids. Problem solved.

I wish AACo would start doing this across the board. Once the teachers realize their paycheck might be at risk, I think many of them might magically decide it's time to return to work.

I'm also curious if the enrollment numbers have dropped across the board. At our ES, I know some of the grades have lost 30-40 kids, so wondering if teaching positions will be eliminated.

This. Of course they're not going to go back to work if they think they can collect the same pay check without doing their jobs. Once the furlough notices start going out I think people's positions will change fairly quickly.

They wouldn't even be eligible for unemployment if the reason they were furloughed was because they refused to go in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So those of you saying fire them, where are you getting new sped teachers from right now? There aren't 100s of unemployed, ready to work people with sped credentials. They can't even find enough subs on a daily basis when we aren't in a pandemic, and that has basically no qualifications. I get the frustration, but unless you want someone with no classroom education or experience teaching the neediest kids, there isn't a better option, is there?

I don't really see the downside. The teachers have worked hard to ensure schools won't open anytime soon regardless if what is done. It's true that firing/furloughing the teachers might not allow reopening, but that's already the situation that we're in.

The best way to deal with this problem long-term is to nip this in the bud now.

[Anonymous]

Why is there such a shortage of Sped teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So those of you saying fire them, where are you getting new sped teachers from right now? There aren't 100s of unemployed, ready to work people with sped credentials. They can't even find enough subs on a daily basis when we aren't in a pandemic, and that has basically no qualifications. I get the frustration, but unless you want someone with no classroom education or experience teaching the neediest kids, there isn't a better option, is there?

I don't really see the downside. The teachers have worked hard to ensure schools won't open anytime soon regardless if what is done. It's true that firing/furloughing the teachers might not allow reopening, but that's already the situation that we're in.

The best way to deal with this problem long-term is to nip this in the bud now.

So you'd rather have no school than virtual school? Am I understanding that correctly? And then when school reopens eventually have no teachers to come in? That seems incredibly short sighted, but maybe I'm missing something.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There is a massive struggle to find special ed teachers in a good year. Firing the ones you have instead of working with them to make it a safe environment is a ridiculous suggestion.

If you read the article, they met their requests. The reality is, no level of meeting the demands is ever going to be good enough. Honestly, contract the labor out. It might end up being more expensive on the margins, but at least you won't have to put up with this kind of bullshit. Call them on their bluff. This is literally what happened in the article. They are finding contractors to help the kids. Problem solved.

I read the article and do not find where it clearly states that all of the teacher requests were met. It simply states some of the measures the district is putting in place. Social distance markers do not guarantee that students will remain on those markers at all times. I'm not arguing with you about the need to return to school, but I don't think it is clear as you are claiming that all teacher concerns have been addressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is there such a shortage of Sped teachers?

1. Low pay
2. Challenging, sometimes physically and/or emotionally exhausting work
3. Threat of lawsuits (which is why people join the union in the first place)
4. Paperwork/meeting burnout. There is no extra payment for being a sped teacher vs. gened, despite having to do tons of documentation, meetings, coordination, etc.

I know two former sped teachers who went into private practice doing ABA therapy, 2 others who started leaving sped credentials off resumes to get gen ed jobs, and MANY who just quit altogether to stay home with their own kids or pursue an entirely different career path. It is truly a labor of love if you pursue it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why should teachers have the choice to return? Everyone else has been told to get on with it or get out. What about police force, supermarket workers, nurses and the rest. Teachers are being far to precious. Get on with the job you are paid for. Children are paying the price.

#ReopenSchools

If so many other professionals can work from home and get paid for the work that they do, why can’t teachers do the same? Most of you guys are sitting at home working and getting a paycheck. But you are up in arms when teachers want to do the same? Smh

[Anonymous]

I'm with the teachers. There shouldn't be in person schooling. Good for them for standing up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why should teachers have the choice to return? Everyone else has been told to get on with it or get out. What about police force, supermarket workers, nurses and the rest. Teachers are being far to precious. Get on with the job you are paid for. Children are paying the price.

#ReopenSchools

If so many other professionals can work from home and get paid for the work that they do, why can’t teachers do the same? Most of you guys are sitting at home working and getting a paycheck. But you are up in arms when teachers want to do the same? Smh

Shhh that's too logical for DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why should teachers have the choice to return? Everyone else has been told to get on with it or get out. What about police force, supermarket workers, nurses and the rest. Teachers are being far to precious. Get on with the job you are paid for. Children are paying the price.

#ReopenSchools

If so many other professionals can work from home and get paid for the work that they do, why can’t teachers do the same? Most of you guys are sitting at home working and getting a paycheck. But you are up in arms when teachers want to do the same? Smh

Shhh that's too logical for DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why should teachers have the choice to return? Everyone else has been told to get on with it or get out. What about police force, supermarket workers, nurses and the rest. Teachers are being far to precious. Get on with the job you are paid for. Children are paying the price.

#ReopenSchools

If so many other professionals can work from home and get paid for the work that they do, why can’t teachers do the same? Most of you guys are sitting at home working and getting a paycheck. But you are up in arms when teachers want to do the same? Smh

Your argument is fundamentally flawed.

I am a professional who works from home, but the difference is I work with ADULTS, not children, who are fully capable of using technology to do their day-to-day jobs. In my experience, 6 year olds are not experts in using Word, PowerPoint, Zoom, or interacting only with other people via computer.

Young children were not meant to use computers all day. Are educators now condoning the use of screens for 6+ hours a day for a 6 year old? Last time I checked, I thought there was some guidance that suggested this much screen time was inappropriate for developing brains, but I'm not the expert