FCPS is in big trouble

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this means is teachers will be asked to do more without compensation. That’s how things always get done.

Without compensation? That’s horrible that teachers don’t get paid. I thought they collected salaries and benefits.

Funny. (/s) It’s the “more” that isn’t compensated and is making SPED teachers leave the profession and creating a hiring crisis for the district. I don’t teach SPED and I never would. You have no idea how much “extra” these teachers do in terms of paperwork and meetings. It’s unmanageable. How do you think FCPS is are going to perform the mandated audit of all SPED kids? Who do you think is going to perform the review of those 200,000 or so files in the next few months? Who else would know how to best evaluate the kids and figure out plans for learning acceleration or compensation?

Honest question - is there a way to provide administrative staff to SPED or classroom teachers to help with the paperwork?

DP. I'm a Special Education teacher and my supervisor asked about this at the meeting with the county. The answer was a big, fat NO. It will fall squarely on the shoulders of the teachers at each individual school to handle. There were 10 Special Education teachers in the room during our last meeting when this was brought up. Every single one of us plus our supervisor has a plan to leave the profession much sooner than we'd originally planned. I wouldn't be surprised if 2-3 people put in their notice after Winter Break.

I'm so sorry, PP. From your answer, it sounds like those of you in the trenches think that administrative support would help? It's flabergasting that higher ups won't even consider giving you any support you need to reduce your workload. I mean, we can't manufacture teachers who don't exist, but there has to be a pool of workers who could support your non-teaching workload. Crazy!

Thanks for what you do.

PP. Thank you. Yes, administrative support would be so appreciated. Our PSL and Central staff could definitely run some of these meetings or at least train us on how to do it or fund planning subs or something to lighten the load but apparently all of that was turned down when it was suggested. I also think the county would save itself a lot of trouble if they'd just cut reimbursement checks for families who can show they paid OOP or co-paid for equivalent hours of private speech or OT during the times their children were not receiving these services from the county.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was one of the parents who immediately emailed the email in the announcement and to our kids case manager about- how are these meetings going to be scheduled- just because I wanted to see the response.

Well, just got the response. The school has no guidance and doesn't expect any guidance until January. And the auto-email from the announcement said thet staff will be trained on the meetings and compensatory services in the next "2-3 months."

So short answer- FCPS has no plan for this.

Why did you immediately email the case manager, who is just a "lowly" teacher? Obviously, you were just trying to throw him/her under the bus, when you knew fair well that the case manager would not yet have an answer.

You realize that your action, which is bullying, probably made your child's case manager, someone who is NOT responsible for the actions of the district two years ago, feel absolutely awful about him or herself, correct?

Whut? I emailed the case manager because that is what we are told to do when we have questions about our kids IEP. Who should I have emailed? The superintendent? The US Department of Educatiob? This was not bullying at all. I am sympathetic to the case manager because she is very nice and has been great to work with.

You said you immediately emailed "just because I wanted to see the response," so you obviously knew the case manager wouldn't actually have an answer yet.

You seem to respect the case manager, but still threw her under the bus. Unbelievable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this means is teachers will be asked to do more without compensation. That’s how things always get done.

Without compensation? That’s horrible that teachers don’t get paid. I thought they collected salaries and benefits.

Funny. (/s) It’s the “more” that isn’t compensated and is making SPED teachers leave the profession and creating a hiring crisis for the district. I don’t teach SPED and I never would. You have no idea how much “extra” these teachers do in terms of paperwork and meetings. It’s unmanageable. How do you think FCPS is are going to perform the mandated audit of all SPED kids? Who do you think is going to perform the review of those 200,000 or so files in the next few months? Who else would know how to best evaluate the kids and figure out plans for learning acceleration or compensation?

DP. I've got 2 kids with IEPS in FCPS, the younger is still in HS. I have a lot of respect for teachers and recognize school systems have never had sufficient funding for the requirements of FAPE. It's unfortunate that teachers and students are crushed by this. Yet, it's not the fault of parents who demand their kids receive a FAPE. Your anger should be directed at administrators, school boards and elected officials. I'm surprised school systems haven't sued for being required to provide a FAPE without sufficient resources.

I am not angry at parents as a category, at all! I am angry at that poster who I responded to who was being disrespectful of SPED teachers. And yes, I am angry at Gatehouse and school administrators. SPED teachers should make more than regular ones. I am a regular teacher saying this! They also should be compensated extra for all the extra hours they will be putting in with this audit.

[Anonymous]

I was a self-contained special ed teacher for many years in FCPS. I came early and stayed late. I was required to eat lunch in the cafeteria with my students to provide behavioral support, which was a duty I traded every other day with my IA, in return for covering recess. We each got about 23 minutes daily for lunch with this trading off system, although if a child was in crisis, I had to deal with that, and ate my sandwich when I could.

I was supposed to get four hours of unencumbered planning time per week. That’s an hour a day while the students were at specials. One of the days, I was required to attend a grade-level team meeting. This often had little to do with my students, as they might be discussing new groups for the gen ed math or reading instruction, and my students were not involved. Now, most schools require two meetings a week for this, so one is math and the other reading. That takes me to three hours a week of planning time. Remember that I teach all subjects, at varying levels. I often had three distinct reading levels, plus a kid that was very advanced or very low as an outlier.

Now, I also had to use one of my hours to meet with the special education team for staffing, and of course IEP or other meetings held while my kids were at specials. On top of this, I had a ton of paperwork, to include IEP data, responding to parent emails, etc. When did I have time to actually plan lessons, gather materials, and otherwise do what any elementary teacher had to do? Not much time.

[Anonymous]

Fcps needs to disband their sped and pay the parents about 50k each to find an acceptable option. Not the parents fault they can't hire and provide services require by law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fcps needs to disband their sped and pay the parents about 50k each to find an acceptable option. Not the parents fault they can't hire and provide services require by law.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this means is teachers will be asked to do more without compensation. That’s how things always get done.

Without compensation? That’s horrible that teachers don’t get paid. I thought they collected salaries and benefits.

Funny. (/s) It’s the “more” that isn’t compensated and is making SPED teachers leave the profession and creating a hiring crisis for the district. I don’t teach SPED and I never would. You have no idea how much “extra” these teachers do in terms of paperwork and meetings. It’s unmanageable. How do you think FCPS is are going to perform the mandated audit of all SPED kids? Who do you think is going to perform the review of those 200,000 or so files in the next few months? Who else would know how to best evaluate the kids and figure out plans for learning acceleration or compensation?

DP. I've got 2 kids with IEPS in FCPS, the younger is still in HS. I have a lot of respect for teachers and recognize school systems have never had sufficient funding for the requirements of FAPE. It's unfortunate that teachers and students are crushed by this. Yet, it's not the fault of parents who demand their kids receive a FAPE. Your anger should be directed at administrators, school boards and elected officials. I'm surprised school systems haven't sued for being required to provide a FAPE without sufficient resources.

Can’t squeeze blood from a stone.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a self-contained special ed teacher for many years in FCPS. I came early and stayed late. I was required to eat lunch in the cafeteria with my students to provide behavioral support, which was a duty I traded every other day with my IA, in return for covering recess. We each got about 23 minutes daily for lunch with this trading off system, although if a child was in crisis, I had to deal with that, and ate my sandwich when I could.

I was supposed to get four hours of unencumbered planning time per week. That’s an hour a day while the students were at specials. One of the days, I was required to attend a grade-level team meeting. This often had little to do with my students, as they might be discussing new groups for the gen ed math or reading instruction, and my students were not involved. Now, most schools require two meetings a week for this, so one is math and the other reading. That takes me to three hours a week of planning time. Remember that I teach all subjects, at varying levels. I often had three distinct reading levels, plus a kid that was very advanced or very low as an outlier.

Now, I also had to use one of my hours to meet with the special education team for staffing, and of course IEP or other meetings held while my kids were at specials. On top of this, I had a ton of paperwork, to include IEP data, responding to parent emails, etc. When did I have time to actually plan lessons, gather materials, and otherwise do what any elementary teacher had to do? Not much time.

I think the vast majority of parents in this forum recognize the challenges/burdens SpEd teachers have - and appreciate what you do for our kids. FCPS has a growing problem with attracting and retaining teachers, especially SpEd teachers. What suggestions do you have for parents to help you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All this means is teachers will be asked to do more without compensation. That’s how things always get done.

Without compensation? That’s horrible that teachers don’t get paid. I thought they collected salaries and benefits.

Funny. (/s) It’s the “more” that isn’t compensated and is making SPED teachers leave the profession and creating a hiring crisis for the district. I don’t teach SPED and I never would. You have no idea how much “extra” these teachers do in terms of paperwork and meetings. It’s unmanageable. How do you think FCPS is are going to perform the mandated audit of all SPED kids? Who do you think is going to perform the review of those 200,000 or so files in the next few months? Who else would know how to best evaluate the kids and figure out plans for learning acceleration or compensation?

DP. I've got 2 kids with IEPS in FCPS, the younger is still in HS. I have a lot of respect for teachers and recognize school systems have never had sufficient funding for the requirements of FAPE. It's unfortunate that teachers and students are crushed by this. Yet, it's not the fault of parents who demand their kids receive a FAPE. Your anger should be directed at administrators, school boards and elected officials. I'm surprised school systems haven't sued for being required to provide a FAPE without sufficient resources.

Can’t squeeze blood from a stone.

Seems like the federal gov't has plenty of resources. States should sue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fcps needs to disband their sped and pay the parents about 50k each to find an acceptable option. Not the parents fault they can't hire and provide services require by law.

It would be 50k/year, and a few outliers cost 200k/year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fcps needs to disband their sped and pay the parents about 50k each to find an acceptable option. Not the parents fault they can't hire and provide services require by law.

Why, of course. That’s the answer! There are all these private agencies/schools just overflowing with high quality teachers. There are empty classrooms just waiting to be filled with FCPS students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fcps needs to disband their sped and pay the parents about 50k each to find an acceptable option. Not the parents fault they can't hire and provide services require by law.

What do you consider an acceptable option? Are you talking $50k annually or as a one time lump sum? I'm one of the special ed teacher PPs and I'd actually be okay with this, as long as the parents signed a contract stating they would not return to FCPS under any circumstances in exchange. I think a lot of my coworkers would agree although no one would say so on the record. I don't think disbanding the program as a whole would be a good idea because there are a lot of students who only need or receive a few hours of support each week and their parents want them educated alongside their non-disabled peers as much as possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fcps needs to disband their sped and pay the parents about 50k each to find an acceptable option. Not the parents fault they can't hire and provide services require by law.

I see, so screw all education and only provide it for kids with special needs. SPED programs already receive a disproportionate amount of education funding, based on the number of kids that are designated as SPED. I get that the programs don’t meet many kids needs but neither does Gen Ed or AAP. Parents are providing tutoring and supplementation for their kids because the Public Schools are not meeting their kids needs.

There are a ton of problems with Public Education. SPED programs need to be better funded, the Federal government needs to fund what it has mandated. But when you start talking about the type of money the you think is appropriate then you are talking yourself out of any services because no one is going to fund at that level. And the more that type of dollar amount is tossed out, the more likely that people will say “Screw it, drop that program all together.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Fcps needs to disband their sped and pay the parents about 50k each to find an acceptable option. Not the parents fault they can't hire and provide services require by law.

Why, of course. That’s the answer! There are all these private agencies/schools just overflowing with high quality teachers. There are empty classrooms just waiting to be filled with FCPS students.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s time to put on big girl pants and move on. Pandemic impacted everyone 100% and not just the kids with special needs and disabilities. I hope we all (parents and schools) learned from it. I will forever appreciate the teachers and staff that did their jobs during an unimaginable situation.

It’s such a head scratcher to see comments like this. Almost every family I know with a SN kid also has at least one NT kid. So the fact that these parents are still talking about the long-term and unresolved issues that impacted iep students says something. They’re not wholly distinct groups of people.

Those have one kid entitled to an adequate education by law (at least a law that people try to enforce) and one NT kid who is not. You don't see the DOE doing anything for NT kids whose learning fell off a cliff during virtual. Now those NT kids will have teachers required to spend more time filling out paperwork and having meeting with SN parents. Meanwhile the requirement to offer any conferences to gen ed student got pulled at our ES.