Extremely affluent parents poaching teachers

[Anonymous]

We hired a teacher for our two elementary school kids. It is expensive but our kids learn best through one-on-one instruction so I think it’s worth it. The teacher we hired didn’t feel comfortable going back this year so it was win/win. I found her through Wyzant. I didn’t “poach” her.

I do feel bad about inequality in educational resources and outcomes but, at the same time, I think that placing the blame on concerned parents like me is misguided and unfair. All blame deserves to go to the federal and state governments which failed to prioritize the opening of schools.

I’m not going to let my kids suffer from the mistakes of others, especially if I have the resources to fix it for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you have a marketable skill (teaching) why not get while the gettin’s good? If communities feel this is harming their ability to provide education, pay more. Supply and demand.

What happens next year when the family goes back to its private and doesn't need you anymore?

[Anonymous]

" People love to focus on the supposed inequity here but what about the teachers being hired? It’s win/win. They’re making good money and aren’t taking on as much risk. Everyone is happy. "

Except the teacher unions. If this ramps up the "best of the best" will be drawing NBA (pre-pandemic) salaries.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Really interesting article. Is DCUM mostly middle class orUMC at most? Because I haven’t really seen people talking much about this - poaching a former classroom teacher. While it seems that most people on in these boards are focused on the public vs. private school debate, the extremely wealthy are bypassing private schools altogether and starting their own pods with a couple friends or hiring former classroom teachers just for their own families. Why have your kid be in a class of 12-15 when they can be tutored one-on-one or with just a few friends? It reminds me of how the extremely wealthy routinely used to hire governesses and private tutors before heading off to boarding school. Has anyone on here actually done this or was invited to join a pod like this? What did it cost? What’s been your experience with it!


Affluent Parents Are Poaching Teachers for Their Private Pods in the Midst of Public School Shortages

https://www.parents.com/kids/education/back-to-school/affluent-parents-are-poaching-teachers-for-their-private-pods-in-the-midst-of-public-school-shortages/

Parents.com has heard that public school teachers across the country are being offered a lot more money to teach kids privately during the pandemic. While it can mean potentially safer conditions for teachers, education advocates are concerned about what it means for low-income students.
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When school districts opened this year, some families gravitated toward a quickly-orgazined model of "parent-organized discovery sites" (pods) in which families—typically those within the same socioeconomic circles—merge their children together in small groups for socialization or to share a learning space. The concept is appealing to busy parents, exhausted by a spring spent working from home while simultaneously supervising their own children's e-learning. Frequently employing certified educators familiar with a district's curriculum, some independent pods exist solely as a supplement to a district's online teaching, while others may operate more like independent microschools. And these pods aren't cheap: ones in New York and California can cost about $2,500 a child per month.
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Earlier this summer, Bay Area tech investor Jason Calacanis—a venture capitalist for companies including ride-sharing firm Uber and relaxation app Calm—tweeted a job listing offering details of his search: "Looking for the best 4-6th grade teacher in Bay Area who wants a 1-year contract, that will beat whatever they are getting paid." Calacanis added a finder's fee of a $2,000 Uber Eats gift card.

Calacanis later tweeted teachers hired for these pods could receive as much as $240 a day for a 10-student pod for six hours, and that the instruction kids would receive would be supplemental to the remote learning provided by schools.

In July, Colleen Ganjian, an education consultant who works with high schoolers in the Washington D.C. area, told the Washington Post that families in her network were seeking an equivalent to a "nanny share on steroids." Ganjian noted that prices start at $25 to $30 per hour for a college or graduate student, and $50 to $100 per hour for a trained tutor. As for poaching a teacher from a public school? She said that could cost as much as $100,000 a year.

In New York City, Aleta LaFargue is managing her 7-year-old's remote learning from a public elementary school while staging a campaign run for District 3 of the city council. During one Zoom class, LaFargue noticed another student was being assisted not by a parent, but by a hired teacher.

"And I thought, 'Wow, how nice,'" she says. "I know people in the Hamptons having actual classroom teachers coming to their homes. But I'm a single mom—this isn't an option for my child, or for the children of many, many other New Yorkers."

I mean, duh.

This is why we’re all warning against Republican-billionaire efforts, personified by DeVos, to destroy and privatize public schools.

Because then the very wealthy benefit and everyone else gets screwed.

This is the natural endgame of every radical libertarian policy of the GOP, and we get a test case for it in this COVID response, in which we are all left on our own to deal with it without a federal response.

[Anonymous]

Is there any evidence these parents are getting quality teachers? Seems like much ado about nothing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I would think twice before signing on to a situation like that. Working for rich people who are used to being in control of everything is not the environment I'd want to work in.

+1 I've taught for 13 years in some top independents in the US and UK, and I would NEVER agree to do this. Having admin who can/will shield teachers from crazed "important" parents is a necessity.

100% I'd have to get paid a lot more to work for family that was watching and controlling every single move I made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there any evidence these parents are getting quality teachers? Seems like much ado about nothing.

I'm sure the parents are doing their due diligence. They're not going to bring someone into their home that they didn't already do research on.

[Anonymous]

Do they make lunch too?

[Anonymous]

I saw A LOT of ads like this in Fl, but the requesting families failed to understand that even though their are benefits for teachers to want to do this, the pay was substantially low for a *premium service.*

But it’s FL, so theirs that.

[Anonymous]

Unless I was in a transitional place with my career, I wouldn’t do this. What happens if the parent doesn’t pay, or decides to stop the pod/class. I wouldn’t have the financial means to hire a lawyer. Not to mention benefits, retirement, or getting my old school district job back.

Probably a job best for new graduates, newly retired, or someone getting reading to move in the next few years.

[Anonymous]

I was approached by several families who wanted a pod teacher. However, they wanted 10-20 hrs per week of supervision and wanted to pay nanny rates ($20-$25/hr.) An experiences private school teacher makes far more money, so I don’t see how “poaching” is possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But they don’t get benefits that they’d otherwise get from the schools

I think their pension is worth more than their pay. Also, they get far more paid leave than other professions with all the holidays and summers. This isn't a very good deal for a teacher.

[Anonymous]

Why are you waking up now, OP?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But they don’t get benefits that they’d otherwise get from the schools

I think their pension is worth more than their pay. Also, they get far more paid leave than other professions with all the holidays and summers. This isn't a very good deal for a teacher.

Incoming Fairfax County teachers haven’t had a pension since at LEAST 2004, when I joined. A 403b is not nearly as good a deal. I SAH now, but I would absolutely organize and teach a pod for my kid if all of this is still going on when he hits kindergarten.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The $2500 a month price tag the article claims is high comes in a lot cheaper than independents. If I could get a great teacher in a 12 kid classroom for that price, I’d be all over it

Most on the top of the pay scale are pushing/or at six figures. Not one would leave their career for $2500!