Teacher resignation in Arlington Schools very high this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

Lies.

We didn’t “know” it was safe.

We expected the surge.

And APS started sending kids back in November.

It was the right call at the time.


Schools should have, and could have reopened. Many (both teachers and parents) fought tooth and nail against this. Meanwhile, our kids suffered and now everyone is seeing the results of this poor decision.

NP.
Hindsight is 20-20. Why do you continue to blame teachers (who didn't make any of these decisions, it is way above their pay grade) for something that was decided based on the best possible information at the time? Keep in mind that the CDC was recommending 6 feet distancing, something that was not possible in most APS schools. Kids do not move through hallways 6 feet apart.

Exactly. It was the right call at the time. APS was following CDC guidelines. With our crowded schools we had limited options.

- Parent

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

Lies.

We didn’t “know” it was safe.

We expected the surge.

And APS started sending kids back in November.

It was the right call at the time.


Schools should have, and could have reopened. Many (both teachers and parents) fought tooth and nail against this. Meanwhile, our kids suffered and now everyone is seeing the results of this poor decision.

NP.
Hindsight is 20-20. Why do you continue to blame teachers (who didn't make any of these decisions, it is way above their pay grade) for something that was decided based on the best possible information at the time? Keep in mind that the CDC was recommending 6 feet distancing, something that was not possible in most APS schools. Kids do not move through hallways 6 feet apart.

Exactly. It was the right call at the time. APS was following CDC guidelines. With our crowded schools we had limited options.

- Parent

No, APS often did not follow the CDC guidelines.

And yes, they made the wrong call several times. If they acknowledged that, it would actually go a very long way in repairing community trust. It should be accompanied by a plan to assist families with students that fell behind.

The only thing one can hope is that they have learned from this experience that leading from a place of fear is terrible and leads to poor outcomes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:

Lies.

We didn’t “know” it was safe.

We expected the surge.

And APS started sending kids back in November.

It was the right call at the time.


Schools should have, and could have reopened. Many (both teachers and parents) fought tooth and nail against this. Meanwhile, our kids suffered and now everyone is seeing the results of this poor decision.

NP.
Hindsight is 20-20. Why do you continue to blame teachers (who didn't make any of these decisions, it is way above their pay grade) for something that was decided based on the best possible information at the time? Keep in mind that the CDC was recommending 6 feet distancing, something that was not possible in most APS schools. Kids do not move through hallways 6 feet apart.

Exactly. It was the right call at the time. APS was following CDC guidelines. With our crowded schools we had limited options.

- Parent

No, APS often did not follow the CDC guidelines.

And yes, they made the wrong call several times. If they acknowledged that, it would actually go a very long way in repairing community trust. It should be accompanied by a plan to assist families with students that fell behind.

The only thing one can hope is that they have learned from this experience that leading from a place of fear is terrible and leads to poor outcomes.

They followed the CDC guidelines.

They should absolutely be pushing to remediate until gaps are closed.

As for trust, why should they GAF about the insane parents throwing tantrums and cursing out teachers on Teams?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:


Exactly. It was the right call at the time. APS was following CDC guidelines. With our crowded schools we had limited options.

- Parent



No, APS often did not follow the CDC guidelines.

And yes, they made the wrong call several times. If they acknowledged that, it would actually go a very long way in repairing community trust. It should be accompanied by a plan to assist families with students that fell behind.

The only thing one can hope is that they have learned from this experience that leading from a place of fear is terrible and leads to poor outcomes.

Please provide proof of your allegation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:


Exactly. It was the right call at the time. APS was following CDC guidelines. With our crowded schools we had limited options.

- Parent



No, APS often did not follow the CDC guidelines.

And yes, they made the wrong call several times. If they acknowledged that, it would actually go a very long way in repairing community trust. It should be accompanied by a plan to assist families with students that fell behind.

The only thing one can hope is that they have learned from this experience that leading from a place of fear is terrible and leads to poor outcomes.

Please provide proof of your allegation.

They followed the CDC guidelines, which would closed all but 4% of school districts when issued and that were written by the teachers unions. After they dragged their feet until 2021, after even NYC and Chicago schools had reopened.

If you want support for pay raises higher than the market, then they need to perform better than the local market. They didn't.

[Anonymous]

All you folks still arguing school closures. That issue was decided in November 2021, and the closed schoolers lost. Forced child masking fell by the wayside right afterwards too.

Youngkin did on higher teacher pay for VA teachers and that issue won as well. However, the issue here seems to be APS teacher pay. Is APS's teacher pay consistent with the Northern Virginia market?

From everything APS has said, APS is consistent with the market. So it must be something other than pay then. From what I understand, many of the teachers don't even live in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

One of the teachers (I think from Alexandria--they, Arlington & DC posted the highest teacher resignations) quoted in the WaPo article talks about large numbers of young teachers leaving. That meshes with what I have seen--where new teachers often gave it a go for 5+ years before leaving, after a challenging year or two, now many are realizing they can easily start over in other fields.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All you folks still arguing school closures. That issue was decided in November 2021, and the closed schoolers lost. Forced child masking fell by the wayside right afterwards too.

Youngkin did on higher teacher pay for VA teachers and that issue won as well. However, the issue here seems to be APS teacher pay. Is APS's teacher pay consistent with the Northern Virginia market?

From everything APS has said, APS is consistent with the market. So it must be something other than pay then. From what I understand, many of the teachers don't even live in Arlington.

No, you were fleeced. Schools were already open and masks would have gone optional when numbers came down - just like they did in uber-liberal DC.

You sold out women for nothing, jerk off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All you folks still arguing school closures. That issue was decided in November 2021, and the closed schoolers lost. Forced child masking fell by the wayside right afterwards too.

Youngkin did on higher teacher pay for VA teachers and that issue won as well. However, the issue here seems to be APS teacher pay. Is APS's teacher pay consistent with the Northern Virginia market?

From everything APS has said, APS is consistent with the market. So it must be something other than pay then. From what I understand, many of the teachers don't even live in Arlington.

Pay is a contributing factor but not the only factor in teacher retention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Remember when a majority of teachers refused to go to work in the fall 2020?

These are not model employees. They've shown 0 regrets about the damage they caused kids, especially the most disadvantaged.

I wish all who refused to work leave and don't let the door hit them on the way out. They've done enough damage to our public school system and should retire or find a new career.

[
choose a number between 1 and 6

Parent here. This comic is SO accurate. Parents, seriously, this is how you came off. So many parents had such a disturbing response during the crisis and an absolute disregard for the safety of our teachers.

As a counterpoint, there were some teachers in APS and teacher who didnt do their job during the pandemic. The parent angst isn't entirely misplaced. Two examples:

My daughter's teacher refused to return to the classroom in Spring 2021 after she was fully vaccinated. My daughter would go in 2 days a week for hybrid and be taught by iPad because her teacher "felt unsafe." Basically she didn't believe that the vaccine worked. For a little kid who couldn't learn virtually, it was a super tough blow not to get in person instruction even after APS "reopened."

We also had issues during virtual. There would be a full class of 7 yos on Teams and the specials teacher literally wouldn't sign in some days. She would "forget' she had class. It happened many times over the year and was never addressed by the administration despite complaints.

I could go on with more examples of significant issues, but will stop.

Did some teachers work really hard and do their best? Yes, absolutely. Did some take advantage of the lack of supervision and chaos? Yes. We're some irrational about returning to the classroom to the detriment of students? Yes.

Were there issues with shitty parents? Yes, but there were also issues with shitty teachers. If you were lucky enough not to run into issues, then great for you. For those who had issues, they were likely never addressed by the administration and those parents are still likely peeved. Myself included. I lost a lot of faith in APS.

This is balanced and well said. I will just add that with suicide and depression among kids at alarming levels, I don't understand the vilification of desperate parents. It's pretty clear that the long school closures played a role in the mental health issues. Why deny this and attack the parents?

The schools are now responsible for mental health, obesity, teaching manners. Everything. Don’t you think we’re asking too much? The parents have to have SOME responsibility.

Would you hold schools responsible for anything? A lot of the complaints from teachers this year included things like a 2nd grade class that didn't know how to function in a classroom. Why do you think that is? Could it have anything to do with schools closing down for 1.5 years?

Other complaints are kids not being properly socialized or not at grade level. It's crazy to me teachers would point to parents for these issues. This is all stuff that was typcially done by schools. It's no surprise kids are playing catch up on academics or behavior when schools were closed for so long.

Of course if the complaint is about Syphax, I'll join teachers there. They were awful all pandemic and I agree.

Silly me. I thought schools were responsible for education.

Yeah exactly. That’s the point. Schools didn’t provide kids with a proper education when they were virtual. My daughter’s teacher would refuse to turn on her camera. Kids were starting a a blank screen. They are kindergarteners. How can they be expected to pay attention to a blank screen?

[Anonymous]

In my neighborhood, the prices for teardown homes are approaching $1M. Basically, if you are a teacher or cop you have no shot of buying a home in Arlington unless you have some other source of wealth. While the housing cost is not the only issue, I would expect Arlington to have severe issues in recruiting and retaining both teachers and police officers for years to come. Much higher pay likely will be needed, which will mean higher taxes, although part of it maybe could be paid for with fewer vanity projects by the County Board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my neighborhood, the prices for teardown homes are approaching $1M. Basically, if you are a teacher or cop you have no shot of buying a home in Arlington unless you have some other source of wealth. While the housing cost is not the only issue, I would expect Arlington to have severe issues in recruiting and retaining both teachers and police officers for years to come. Much higher pay likely will be needed, which will mean higher taxes, although part of it maybe could be paid for with fewer vanity projects by the County Board.

Yes I agree. We need higher salaries for both and less money wasted on stupid vanity projects. We also need cheaper housing. The missing middle seems to address supply but what’s the point if housing is still unaffordable? I mean the new townhomes in our neighborhood are selling for $1 million plus.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All you folks still arguing school closures. That issue was decided in November 2021, and the closed schoolers lost. Forced child masking fell by the wayside right afterwards too.

Youngkin did on higher teacher pay for VA teachers and that issue won as well. However, the issue here seems to be APS teacher pay. Is APS's teacher pay consistent with the Northern Virginia market?

From everything APS has said, APS is consistent with the market. So it must be something other than pay then. From what I understand, many of the teachers don't even live in Arlington.

APS redesigned its pay scale this year. APS made it look like they were raising teacher salaries significantly across the board. However, the reality is very different.

You can see the redesigned pay scale here. https://go.boarddocs.com/vsba/arlington/Board.nsf/files/C9HU3A7A0E7A/$file/Compensation%20Study%20Presentation%20for%2012-9-21%20APS%20School%20Board%20Work%20Session%20-%20Final.pdf

If you were a teacher at step D on the pay scale in 21-22, you were moved to Step A on the new pay scale and then advanced one step. You ultimately were placed at a Step B for 22-23 on the pay scale (not at Step E as would be expected).

There are some nuances to the plan with regard to teachers who were with APS during years that steps were frozen. However, most APS teachers were moved backwards on the pay scale.

So while APS teachers might be making more money than last year, they are not making that much more. APS has published a pay scale which looks great in theory. However, the reality is very different as HR lowered most incumbent APS teachers' step levels during the process.

The whole process has been disheartening and demoralizing to APS teachers. I am one of them and considered quitting at the end of last school year.

APS teachers have provided feedback on the new policy to APS HR and the School Board. However, they have been unwilling to change anything.

If you want to see attrition rates for current staff go down, contact the APS School Board and ask them to revise the policy for how incumbent staff are placed on the new pay scale.

Otherwise, things will get even worse next school year. I will be looking for a job in a neighboring district if APS will not pay me fairly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my neighborhood, the prices for teardown homes are approaching $1M. Basically, if you are a teacher or cop you have no shot of buying a home in Arlington unless you have some other source of wealth. While the housing cost is not the only issue, I would expect Arlington to have severe issues in recruiting and retaining both teachers and police officers for years to come. Much higher pay likely will be needed, which will mean higher taxes, although part of it maybe could be paid for with fewer vanity projects by the County Board.

if cheap housing led to better supply of teachers, we would expect to see better teachers in the Bronx than Scarsdale and that is definitely not the case. The problem occurs when a local gov't isn't willing to invest enough property tax $$$ into schools and teachers salaries. Property tax revenue has got up a lot in recent years, teachers salaries should be going up too. Missing middle won't help as much as paying teachers more, instead missing middle could lead to more overcrowding (3 families in $1M townhomes on one lot vs one $2.5M house) and make working in Arlington less attractive for teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my neighborhood, the prices for teardown homes are approaching $1M. Basically, if you are a teacher or cop you have no shot of buying a home in Arlington unless you have some other source of wealth. While the housing cost is not the only issue, I would expect Arlington to have severe issues in recruiting and retaining both teachers and police officers for years to come. Much higher pay likely will be needed, which will mean higher taxes, although part of it maybe could be paid for with fewer vanity projects by the County Board.

if cheap housing led to better supply of teachers, we would expect to see better teachers in the Bronx than Scarsdale and that is definitely not the case. The problem occurs when a local gov't isn't willing to invest enough property tax $$$ into schools and teachers salaries. Property tax revenue has got up a lot in recent years, teachers salaries should be going up too. Missing middle won't help as much as paying teachers more, instead missing middle could lead to more overcrowding (3 families in $1M townhomes on one lot vs one $2.5M house) and make working in Arlington less attractive for teachers.

Doesn’t the Bronx have the world famous Bronx Science High School? I’m sure those teachers are among the nation’s best public high school teachers.