Teachers in my district leaving mid year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how this thread got to where it is, but the original topic was about teachers leaving mid-year. Is this fcps? When I was in fcps, no one left mid-year unless they were retiring because fcps has a rule that if you do that, then you can never work in fcps again. Moreover, you had to give notice that you were not returning sometime around March or April, but hiring in schools didn't happen until June and July, so that meant it was extremely hard to leave at all.

Was that the same for teachers living mid year for a spouse's job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on the verge of leaving. My retirement amount will be greatly reduced. We'll deal with that as a family (and I'll find some other kind of job, with less pay and less vacation time). It just doesn't matter anymore as much. Even the golden handcuffs can be cut off when the price is too high to stay.

I mean school is just for 180 days a year, and at least my kid's teachers are out a few days a month. They'd be pressed to work 160 days total. Meanwhile, int he real world the rest of us work 50-60 hour weeks for 260-270 days a year, but I guess the grass is always greener.

180 days for students is 190 or 210 days for adults.

An 8-hour day of teaching equals a 12-hour day of teaching plus planning/grading.

Remove your head from your butt.
It is not a hat.

Thank you for this!
Signed - a teacher who took a rare Saturday off to go to a college football game. I’ll suffer for it on Monday because I can’t get all my grading and planning done in just one day (Sunday).

Long time teacher here and it pains me to read about teachers dedicating their entire weekend to grading and planning. I totally understand that you want to feel prepared for class, but when teachers put this much of their own time into their work, it enables the school system to continue to pile on unnecessary meetings and trainings, because everything is still getting done. Can you have an honest discussion with your admin about the work load? I have been teaching a long time, which helps, but I work contract hours and that is pretty much it. I work very hard while I am at school, but I leave at the end of the day and don't think about it at home. I don't want to burn out before I retire, so I am fiercely protective of my private time and keep tight boundaries. I would encourage other teachers to try to do the same. No job at our salary level is worth giving up weekends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on the verge of leaving. My retirement amount will be greatly reduced. We'll deal with that as a family (and I'll find some other kind of job, with less pay and less vacation time). It just doesn't matter anymore as much. Even the golden handcuffs can be cut off when the price is too high to stay.

I mean school is just for 180 days a year, and at least my kid's teachers are out a few days a month. They'd be pressed to work 160 days total. Meanwhile, int he real world the rest of us work 50-60 hour weeks for 260-270 days a year, but I guess the grass is always greener.

180 days for students is 190 or 210 days for adults.

An 8-hour day of teaching equals a 12-hour day of teaching plus planning/grading.

Remove your head from your butt.
It is not a hat.

Thank you for this!
Signed - a teacher who took a rare Saturday off to go to a college football game. I’ll suffer for it on Monday because I can’t get all my grading and planning done in just one day (Sunday).

Long time teacher here and it pains me to read about teachers dedicating their entire weekend to grading and planning. I totally understand that you want to feel prepared for class, but when teachers put this much of their own time into their work, it enables the school system to continue to pile on unnecessary meetings and trainings, because everything is still getting done. Can you have an honest discussion with your admin about the work load? I have been teaching a long time, which helps, but I work contract hours and that is pretty much it. I work very hard while I am at school, but I leave at the end of the day and don't think about it at home. I don't want to burn out before I retire, so I am fiercely protective of my private time and keep tight boundaries. I would encourage other teachers to try to do the same. No job at our salary level is worth giving up weekends.

I’m part time in MCPS. My contract hours are 4 hours and 12 minutes plus the 30 minute duty free lunch. I teach 3 50 minute classes and have over 100 students. There is no way I can even meet the bare minimum requirements for teachers in that short amount of time. Just the mountain of forms and checklists I keep getting asked to complete for SpEd is a full time job.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on the verge of leaving. My retirement amount will be greatly reduced. We'll deal with that as a family (and I'll find some other kind of job, with less pay and less vacation time). It just doesn't matter anymore as much. Even the golden handcuffs can be cut off when the price is too high to stay.

I mean school is just for 180 days a year, and at least my kid's teachers are out a few days a month. They'd be pressed to work 160 days total. Meanwhile, int he real world the rest of us work 50-60 hour weeks for 260-270 days a year, but I guess the grass is always greener.

180 days for students is 190 or 210 days for adults.

An 8-hour day of teaching equals a 12-hour day of teaching plus planning/grading.

Remove your head from your butt.
It is not a hat.

Thank you for this!
Signed - a teacher who took a rare Saturday off to go to a college football game. I’ll suffer for it on Monday because I can’t get all my grading and planning done in just one day (Sunday).

Long time teacher here and it pains me to read about teachers dedicating their entire weekend to grading and planning. I totally understand that you want to feel prepared for class, but when teachers put this much of their own time into their work, it enables the school system to continue to pile on unnecessary meetings and trainings, because everything is still getting done. Can you have an honest discussion with your admin about the work load? I have been teaching a long time, which helps, but I work contract hours and that is pretty much it. I work very hard while I am at school, but I leave at the end of the day and don't think about it at home. I don't want to burn out before I retire, so I am fiercely protective of my private time and keep tight boundaries. I would encourage other teachers to try to do the same. No job at our salary level is worth giving up weekends.

Agreed

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on the verge of leaving. My retirement amount will be greatly reduced. We'll deal with that as a family (and I'll find some other kind of job, with less pay and less vacation time). It just doesn't matter anymore as much. Even the golden handcuffs can be cut off when the price is too high to stay.

I mean school is just for 180 days a year, and at least my kid's teachers are out a few days a month. They'd be pressed to work 160 days total. Meanwhile, int he real world the rest of us work 50-60 hour weeks for 260-270 days a year, but I guess the grass is always greener.

180 days for students is 190 or 210 days for adults.

An 8-hour day of teaching equals a 12-hour day of teaching plus planning/grading.

Remove your head from your butt.
It is not a hat.

Thank you for this!
Signed - a teacher who took a rare Saturday off to go to a college football game. I’ll suffer for it on Monday because I can’t get all my grading and planning done in just one day (Sunday).

Long time teacher here and it pains me to read about teachers dedicating their entire weekend to grading and planning. I totally understand that you want to feel prepared for class, but when teachers put this much of their own time into their work, it enables the school system to continue to pile on unnecessary meetings and trainings, because everything is still getting done. Can you have an honest discussion with your admin about the work load? I have been teaching a long time, which helps, but I work contract hours and that is pretty much it. I work very hard while I am at school, but I leave at the end of the day and don't think about it at home. I don't want to burn out before I retire, so I am fiercely protective of my private time and keep tight boundaries. I would encourage other teachers to try to do the same. No job at our salary level is worth giving up weekends.

I’m part time in MCPS. My contract hours are 4 hours and 12 minutes plus the 30 minute duty free lunch. I teach 3 50 minute classes and have over 100 students. There is no way I can even meet the bare minimum requirements for teachers in that short amount of time. Just the mountain of forms and checklists I keep getting asked to complete for SpEd is a full time job.

I don't think that the non-teacher world understands what a time suck all of the Sped paperwork is. When half of the class has an IEP or 504, that adds meetings, forms, and non-teaching obligations. I *absolutely* think that kids who need help should have the teacher's help. We should meet their needs. But the bureaucratic mess of districts who just don't want to be sued and are CYA-ing and making teacher busywork is soul crushing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure how this thread got to where it is, but the original topic was about teachers leaving mid-year. Is this fcps? When I was in fcps, no one left mid-year unless they were retiring because fcps has a rule that if you do that, then you can never work in fcps again. Moreover, you had to give notice that you were not returning sometime around March or April, but hiring in schools didn't happen until June and July, so that meant it was extremely hard to leave at all.

Was that the same for teachers living mid year for a spouse's job?

It was for anyone except military. But I heard that they do make exceptions on a case by case basis, but it was still pretty rare that a person couldn't hold out until the end of the school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most passionate teacher I know of (15 year veteran, won national awards) just left to stay at home. Her husband makes a lot of money and they just didn’t need her paltry income with all the stress that comes with it. She was an AP teacher and was routinely getting kids who couldn’t read or write in high school. And discipline problems that derailed her class constantly. She used to be able to kick kids out of her class.

Are you serious that kids in high school can’t read or write? That seems like a pretty big problem, and it also seems outrageous given how much all the teachers here are claiming to spend on testing and grading. Surely we could figure it out before high school.

I'm on my phone and can't link it, but there was just an article in the Post about a charter school in AZ that's failing and had to bring in teachers from the Philippines because the pay is too low and the behavioral and academic needs of the kids are too high to attract American teachers. This area is mostly in a better situation, but yes, there are a bunch of kids who graduate who are functionally illiterate. Some of these kids missed 30-40 days of school per year before Covid and spent most of their class time sleeping, wandering the hallways, playing on their phones, or disrupting class. How do you expect a teacher to remediate that and teach the students who actually want to learn?

I’m in the same boat with a student PP. He has already injured several young students and will seriously injure one soon (as in, he will jab an eye with something sharp because he wants to see what would happen). To help with everyone else’s well-being and safety as long as we don’t infringe upon his rights!

I don’t expect them to remediate that in a regular classroom. But I expect them to fail those students and keep them back a level. If they still can’t keep up (with the kids a year younger) then I would expect them to be placed in a special school that’s designed to handle severe learning disorders and/or behavioral issues.

Otherwise, we have this crazy situation where everyone thinks they need to go to college to prove that they’re literate so they can get a job at Walmart or an entry level office job that really shouldn’t need a college degree..

Those schools don’t exist. Exactly how high taxes are you willing to pay? Do you know how much every single one of those schools would cost to build and staff? It’s not realistic.

Every other country has those schools. They don’t keep kids who are 2+ years behind in the same grade just because. It really sounds insane. The money would work out. Do you know that some of those kids get a 1:1 aide?? What a waste of money. And now all the good teachers are leaving because they can’t stand it anymore, putting up with behavioral issues and having the stress of teaching so many levels in one classroom. If the law is a problem then the law needs to be changed. It’s not a written in stone thing. DCUM is full of lawyers and lobbyists. I’m sure that someone could get the ball rolling to change the law.

LOL. What the hell does this mean? “The money will work out” from WHERE.

Putting the high needs kids together means that we can staff those schools with trained people and we don’t need to have people trained for all sorts of specialized issues in every single school. That is definitely cheaper than having special IEPs and 1:1 aides and stopping classes all the time for disruptions. That’s not even considering the teachers leaving that we now need to figure out how to replace.

ROFL. Do you know how little those aides are paid?

Building and staffing even ONE of these fictional schools you want is a multi, multimillion dollar process. No, the money will not “work out” — not even close — but hey, keep dreaming.

Call me a pessimist, but I think this has a good chance of becoming a “separate but equal” situation. I know you have good intentions, but chances are high that such schools would become understaffed and underfunded. The average politician largely doesn’t care about special needs kids and won’t put in the extra effort needed to support such a school.

Also, special needs kids might want to be around normal kids too. Are you going to segregate them against their will?

Why are you relying to me? I saying that these “separate schools” cannot and will not be built, to someone who keeps insisting they can.

I'm responding to the "call me a pessimist" poster. We already have a separate but equal school system in this country if you look around at how segregated schools are in most of the nation.

But, outside of that, from my perspective, I'm 100% behind Least Restrictive Environment for any student with disabilities, even mild to moderate behavioral or emotional disabilities (or those that manifest that way). But LRE for students who are out of control, who throw things in the classroom, turn over chairs and tables, injure staff or students seriously or regularly or who disrupt or prevent everyone else from learning? LRE for those students is a different class or a different school. LRE cannot mean that things that disrupt safety and learning are allowed. I've got a kid who talks so loudly during my lessons, even with another staff member there to try and keep him from hurting others or himself and disrupting learning, that I can't hear myself talk. On Friday, he did injure another student even with the support person. He doesn't have an IEP but needs one and definitely needs a different classroom. But, no, the sped team wants to put in weeks, months or years of interventions if recent history is any guide and they only care about this student's needs, everyone else be damned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most passionate teacher I know of (15 year veteran, won national awards) just left to stay at home. Her husband makes a lot of money and they just didn’t need her paltry income with all the stress that comes with it. She was an AP teacher and was routinely getting kids who couldn’t read or write in high school. And discipline problems that derailed her class constantly. She used to be able to kick kids out of her class.

Are you serious that kids in high school can’t read or write? That seems like a pretty big problem, and it also seems outrageous given how much all the teachers here are claiming to spend on testing and grading. Surely we could figure it out before high school.

I'm on my phone and can't link it, but there was just an article in the Post about a charter school in AZ that's failing and had to bring in teachers from the Philippines because the pay is too low and the behavioral and academic needs of the kids are too high to attract American teachers. This area is mostly in a better situation, but yes, there are a bunch of kids who graduate who are functionally illiterate. Some of these kids missed 30-40 days of school per year before Covid and spent most of their class time sleeping, wandering the hallways, playing on their phones, or disrupting class. How do you expect a teacher to remediate that and teach the students who actually want to learn?

I don’t expect them to remediate that in a regular classroom. But I expect them to fail those students and keep them back a level. If they still can’t keep up (with the kids a year younger) then I would expect them to be placed in a special school that’s designed to handle severe learning disorders and/or behavioral issues.

Otherwise, we have this crazy situation where everyone thinks they need to go to college to prove that they’re literate so they can get a job at Walmart or an entry level office job that really shouldn’t need a college degree..

Those schools don’t exist. Exactly how high taxes are you willing to pay? Do you know how much every single one of those schools would cost to build and staff? It’s not realistic.

Every other country has those schools. They don’t keep kids who are 2+ years behind in the same grade just because. It really sounds insane. The money would work out. Do you know that some of those kids get a 1:1 aide?? What a waste of money. And now all the good teachers are leaving because they can’t stand it anymore, putting up with behavioral issues and having the stress of teaching so many levels in one classroom. If the law is a problem then the law needs to be changed. It’s not a written in stone thing. DCUM is full of lawyers and lobbyists. I’m sure that someone could get the ball rolling to change the law.

LOL. What the hell does this mean? “The money will work out” from WHERE.

Putting the high needs kids together means that we can staff those schools with trained people and we don’t need to have people trained for all sorts of specialized issues in every single school. That is definitely cheaper than having special IEPs and 1:1 aides and stopping classes all the time for disruptions. That’s not even considering the teachers leaving that we now need to figure out how to replace.

ROFL. Do you know how little those aides are paid?

Building and staffing even ONE of these fictional schools you want is a multi, multimillion dollar process. No, the money will not “work out” — not even close — but hey, keep dreaming.

Call me a pessimist, but I think this has a good chance of becoming a “separate but equal” situation. I know you have good intentions, but chances are high that such schools would become understaffed and underfunded. The average politician largely doesn’t care about special needs kids and won’t put in the extra effort needed to support such a school.

Also, special needs kids might want to be around normal kids too. Are you going to segregate them against their will?

Why are you relying to me? I saying that these “separate schools” cannot and will not be built, to someone who keeps insisting they can.

I'm responding to the "call me a pessimist" poster. We already have a separate but equal school system in this country if you look around at how segregated schools are in most of the nation.

But, outside of that, from my perspective, I'm 100% behind Least Restrictive Environment for any student with disabilities, even mild to moderate behavioral or emotional disabilities (or those that manifest that way). But LRE for students who are out of control, who throw things in the classroom, turn over chairs and tables, injure staff or students seriously or regularly or who disrupt or prevent everyone else from learning? LRE for those students is a different class or a different school. LRE cannot mean that things that disrupt safety and learning are allowed. I've got a kid who talks so loudly during my lessons, even with another staff member there to try and keep him from hurting others or himself and disrupting learning, that I can't hear myself talk. On Friday, he did injure another student even with the support person. He doesn't have an IEP but needs one and definitely needs a different classroom. But, no, the sped team wants to put in weeks, months or years of interventions if recent history is any guide and they only care about this student's needs, everyone else be damned.

Agreed 100%. LRE needs to be a lot less broadly applied and a lot more reasonable for kids who disrupt others’ learning and especially for those who endanger others’ safety.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on the verge of leaving. My retirement amount will be greatly reduced. We'll deal with that as a family (and I'll find some other kind of job, with less pay and less vacation time). It just doesn't matter anymore as much. Even the golden handcuffs can be cut off when the price is too high to stay.

I mean school is just for 180 days a year, and at least my kid's teachers are out a few days a month. They'd be pressed to work 160 days total. Meanwhile, int he real world the rest of us work 50-60 hour weeks for 260-270 days a year, but I guess the grass is always greener.

180 days for students is 190 or 210 days for adults.

An 8-hour day of teaching equals a 12-hour day of teaching plus planning/grading.

Remove your head from your butt.
It is not a hat.

Thank you for this!
Signed - a teacher who took a rare Saturday off to go to a college football game. I’ll suffer for it on Monday because I can’t get all my grading and planning done in just one day (Sunday).

Long time teacher here and it pains me to read about teachers dedicating their entire weekend to grading and planning. I totally understand that you want to feel prepared for class, but when teachers put this much of their own time into their work, it enables the school system to continue to pile on unnecessary meetings and trainings, because everything is still getting done. Can you have an honest discussion with your admin about the work load? I have been teaching a long time, which helps, but I work contract hours and that is pretty much it. I work very hard while I am at school, but I leave at the end of the day and don't think about it at home. I don't want to burn out before I retire, so I am fiercely protective of my private time and keep tight boundaries. I would encourage other teachers to try to do the same. No job at our salary level is worth giving up weekends.

I am not a teacher, but yes!! Do what you can do in the hours you are paid to do it. And then say “sorry, can’t do more, I have a life”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on the verge of leaving. My retirement amount will be greatly reduced. We'll deal with that as a family (and I'll find some other kind of job, with less pay and less vacation time). It just doesn't matter anymore as much. Even the golden handcuffs can be cut off when the price is too high to stay.

I mean school is just for 180 days a year, and at least my kid's teachers are out a few days a month. They'd be pressed to work 160 days total. Meanwhile, int he real world the rest of us work 50-60 hour weeks for 260-270 days a year, but I guess the grass is always greener.

180 days for students is 190 or 210 days for adults.

An 8-hour day of teaching equals a 12-hour day of teaching plus planning/grading.

Remove your head from your butt.
It is not a hat.

Thank you for this!
Signed - a teacher who took a rare Saturday off to go to a college football game. I’ll suffer for it on Monday because I can’t get all my grading and planning done in just one day (Sunday).

Long time teacher here and it pains me to read about teachers dedicating their entire weekend to grading and planning. I totally understand that you want to feel prepared for class, but when teachers put this much of their own time into their work, it enables the school system to continue to pile on unnecessary meetings and trainings, because everything is still getting done. Can you have an honest discussion with your admin about the work load? I have been teaching a long time, which helps, but I work contract hours and that is pretty much it. I work very hard while I am at school, but I leave at the end of the day and don't think about it at home. I don't want to burn out before I retire, so I am fiercely protective of my private time and keep tight boundaries. I would encourage other teachers to try to do the same. No job at our salary level is worth giving up weekends.

I am not a teacher, but yes!! Do what you can do in the hours you are paid to do it. And then say “sorry, can’t do more, I have a life”

I do this. I go in an hour early get what I can done. Leave on time and I don't check emails once I leave. I have a family that needs me. I check email once on Sundays to see whats ahead from my admin but communication with families waits until Monday-unless it's something super important but most can absolutely wait. My day starts at 8 and ends at 4:35 then I go home and do my most important job be a parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on the verge of leaving. My retirement amount will be greatly reduced. We'll deal with that as a family (and I'll find some other kind of job, with less pay and less vacation time). It just doesn't matter anymore as much. Even the golden handcuffs can be cut off when the price is too high to stay.

I mean school is just for 180 days a year, and at least my kid's teachers are out a few days a month. They'd be pressed to work 160 days total. Meanwhile, int he real world the rest of us work 50-60 hour weeks for 260-270 days a year, but I guess the grass is always greener.

180 days for students is 190 or 210 days for adults.

An 8-hour day of teaching equals a 12-hour day of teaching plus planning/grading.

Remove your head from your butt.
It is not a hat.

Thank you for this!
Signed - a teacher who took a rare Saturday off to go to a college football game. I’ll suffer for it on Monday because I can’t get all my grading and planning done in just one day (Sunday).

Long time teacher here and it pains me to read about teachers dedicating their entire weekend to grading and planning. I totally understand that you want to feel prepared for class, but when teachers put this much of their own time into their work, it enables the school system to continue to pile on unnecessary meetings and trainings, because everything is still getting done. Can you have an honest discussion with your admin about the work load? I have been teaching a long time, which helps, but I work contract hours and that is pretty much it. I work very hard while I am at school, but I leave at the end of the day and don't think about it at home. I don't want to burn out before I retire, so I am fiercely protective of my private time and keep tight boundaries. I would encourage other teachers to try to do the same. No job at our salary level is worth giving up weekends.

I am not a teacher, but yes!! Do what you can do in the hours you are paid to do it. And then say “sorry, can’t do more, I have a life”

I do this. I go in an hour early get what I can done. Leave on time and I don't check emails once I leave. I have a family that needs me. I check email once on Sundays to see whats ahead from my admin but communication with families waits until Monday-unless it's something super important but most can absolutely wait. My day starts at 8 and ends at 4:35 then I go home and do my most important job be a parent.

You aren’t doing this if you are going in an hour early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on the verge of leaving. My retirement amount will be greatly reduced. We'll deal with that as a family (and I'll find some other kind of job, with less pay and less vacation time). It just doesn't matter anymore as much. Even the golden handcuffs can be cut off when the price is too high to stay.

I mean school is just for 180 days a year, and at least my kid's teachers are out a few days a month. They'd be pressed to work 160 days total. Meanwhile, int he real world the rest of us work 50-60 hour weeks for 260-270 days a year, but I guess the grass is always greener.

180 days for students is 190 or 210 days for adults.

An 8-hour day of teaching equals a 12-hour day of teaching plus planning/grading.

Remove your head from your butt.
It is not a hat.

Thank you for this!
Signed - a teacher who took a rare Saturday off to go to a college football game. I’ll suffer for it on Monday because I can’t get all my grading and planning done in just one day (Sunday).

Long time teacher here and it pains me to read about teachers dedicating their entire weekend to grading and planning. I totally understand that you want to feel prepared for class, but when teachers put this much of their own time into their work, it enables the school system to continue to pile on unnecessary meetings and trainings, because everything is still getting done. Can you have an honest discussion with your admin about the work load? I have been teaching a long time, which helps, but I work contract hours and that is pretty much it. I work very hard while I am at school, but I leave at the end of the day and don't think about it at home. I don't want to burn out before I retire, so I am fiercely protective of my private time and keep tight boundaries. I would encourage other teachers to try to do the same. No job at our salary level is worth giving up weekends.

I am not a teacher, but yes!! Do what you can do in the hours you are paid to do it. And then say “sorry, can’t do more, I have a life”

I do this. I go in an hour early get what I can done. Leave on time and I don't check emails once I leave. I have a family that needs me. I check email once on Sundays to see whats ahead from my admin but communication with families waits until Monday-unless it's something super important but most can absolutely wait. My day starts at 8 and ends at 4:35 then I go home and do my most important job be a parent.

You aren’t doing this if you are going in an hour early.

Literally nothing would get done. There is so much. And for me this is a huge change because I use to work on weekends and answer emails at night. None of that happens so baby steps but trust me I've cut a lot out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on the verge of leaving. My retirement amount will be greatly reduced. We'll deal with that as a family (and I'll find some other kind of job, with less pay and less vacation time). It just doesn't matter anymore as much. Even the golden handcuffs can be cut off when the price is too high to stay.

I mean school is just for 180 days a year, and at least my kid's teachers are out a few days a month. They'd be pressed to work 160 days total. Meanwhile, int he real world the rest of us work 50-60 hour weeks for 260-270 days a year, but I guess the grass is always greener.

180 days for students is 190 or 210 days for adults.

An 8-hour day of teaching equals a 12-hour day of teaching plus planning/grading.

Remove your head from your butt.
It is not a hat.

Thank you for this!
Signed - a teacher who took a rare Saturday off to go to a college football game. I’ll suffer for it on Monday because I can’t get all my grading and planning done in just one day (Sunday).

Long time teacher here and it pains me to read about teachers dedicating their entire weekend to grading and planning. I totally understand that you want to feel prepared for class, but when teachers put this much of their own time into their work, it enables the school system to continue to pile on unnecessary meetings and trainings, because everything is still getting done. Can you have an honest discussion with your admin about the work load? I have been teaching a long time, which helps, but I work contract hours and that is pretty much it. I work very hard while I am at school, but I leave at the end of the day and don't think about it at home. I don't want to burn out before I retire, so I am fiercely protective of my private time and keep tight boundaries. I would encourage other teachers to try to do the same. No job at our salary level is worth giving up weekends.

I am not a teacher, but yes!! Do what you can do in the hours you are paid to do it. And then say “sorry, can’t do more, I have a life”

I do this. I go in an hour early get what I can done. Leave on time and I don't check emails once I leave. I have a family that needs me. I check email once on Sundays to see whats ahead from my admin but communication with families waits until Monday-unless it's something super important but most can absolutely wait. My day starts at 8 and ends at 4:35 then I go home and do my most important job be a parent.

You aren’t doing this if you are going in an hour early.

Literally nothing would get done. There is so much. And for me this is a huge change because I use to work on weekends and answer emails at night. None of that happens so baby steps but trust me I've cut a lot out.

I understand. I'm trying to cut back and I'd say I'm now in the 50-52 hours a week range. I'm an ES teacher. It's too much. I don't get close to everything done or meet all expectations, but honestly you can't say you are only doing what you can do in the hours you are paid to do it.

[Anonymous]

The teachers at my schools always say, "What, are they going to fire us?" when we don't meet these insane BS deadlines. Do they understand we don't sit at a desk all day like the ones making the decisions? The planning, grading, etc usually occurs after hours due to the crazy BS meetings that eat up what little planning time we have. Some of my colleagues volunteer to sub during planning for a teacher who is out that day. I don't so I can pick up my kids at daycare by 5pm and not have to pay extra for the hour between 5-6pm.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I'm on the verge of leaving. My retirement amount will be greatly reduced. We'll deal with that as a family (and I'll find some other kind of job, with less pay and less vacation time). It just doesn't matter anymore as much. Even the golden handcuffs can be cut off when the price is too high to stay.

I mean school is just for 180 days a year, and at least my kid's teachers are out a few days a month. They'd be pressed to work 160 days total. Meanwhile, int he real world the rest of us work 50-60 hour weeks for 260-270 days a year, but I guess the grass is always greener.

180 days for students is 190 or 210 days for adults.

An 8-hour day of teaching equals a 12-hour day of teaching plus planning/grading.

Remove your head from your butt.
It is not a hat.

Thank you for this!
Signed - a teacher who took a rare Saturday off to go to a college football game. I’ll suffer for it on Monday because I can’t get all my grading and planning done in just one day (Sunday).

Long time teacher here and it pains me to read about teachers dedicating their entire weekend to grading and planning. I totally understand that you want to feel prepared for class, but when teachers put this much of their own time into their work, it enables the school system to continue to pile on unnecessary meetings and trainings, because everything is still getting done. Can you have an honest discussion with your admin about the work load? I have been teaching a long time, which helps, but I work contract hours and that is pretty much it. I work very hard while I am at school, but I leave at the end of the day and don't think about it at home. I don't want to burn out before I retire, so I am fiercely protective of my private time and keep tight boundaries. I would encourage other teachers to try to do the same. No job at our salary level is worth giving up weekends.

I am not a teacher, but yes!! Do what you can do in the hours you are paid to do it. And then say “sorry, can’t do more, I have a life”

I do this. I go in an hour early get what I can done. Leave on time and I don't check emails once I leave. I have a family that needs me. I check email once on Sundays to see whats ahead from my admin but communication with families waits until Monday-unless it's something super important but most can absolutely wait. My day starts at 8 and ends at 4:35 then I go home and do my most important job be a parent.

You aren’t doing this if you are going in an hour early.

You are if you work for MCPS, because we are paid for an 8.5 hour day but only required to be in the building for 7.5 hours. (We are not paid for our 30 minute lunch)