Incentives to Keep Teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I'm a "let the whole system burn" teacher. I don't care what happens to it anymore. Truly. 3 years and I'm done. I truly believe there's going to be a whole meltdown, there'll be entire schools that have to close and or class sizes in the 40's or 50's, and eventually special ed will have to be taken over through private insurance. But again, I don't care anymore. This system has chewed me up and spit me out. Let it burn.

There's a small group of posters that get hard at the thought of getting children with special needs out of public schools so that they and their kids won't have to see them anymore.

Keep it in your pants. It isn't going to happen.

I don’t think this was what the PP was saying, but that said, I do think that such a proposal would pass at this point if it was put to a public vote. Classrooms are just far too disruptive now for any learning to take place, and the majority of people are sick of it. The laws should be changed to only allow kids to stay in mainstream classrooms, special ed diagnoses or not, if they do not interfere with the learning of other students.

You seem to suddenly have a bulge in the front of your pants, too.

Would a referendum like that pass? Maybe. Lots of crazy ideas could pass a vote of the masses. But it is never going to happen, not the least because it is unworkable.

It's not clear it would pass even a vote of the masses. Have you looked at how many kids these days have IEPs or 504 plans?

I recently had a class of 36. Over half of them had an IEP or a 504. I had a coteacher, but that wasn’t nearly enough. Every time we had an assessment, I had to give it 5 different ways to meet all the plans. When I gave classwork, I had to produce it in 3 different ways. During group work, we had to contend with 12-14 hands up simultaneously. There we just 2 of us. 6 adults still wouldn’t have been enough.

Yes, I’m aware how many students have 504s and IEPs. So many that teachers cannot adequately meet all their needs simultaneously. We are mere humans.

Exactly. I certainly agree MCPS, and school systems at-large, are not resourcing special education services appropriately-- both the supports in mainstream classrooms and the self-contained programs. But the scope of special needs makes it wildly impractical to somehow move that out of public schools.

I don't think it's possible to resource special education the way they used to because there are 3X-4X as many kids being diagnosed these days especially at the wealthier schools.

They're diagnosing a wider range of conditions, including many that don't require the same level of accommodations or services. There does seem to be more higher-needs students as well, though, and schools are going to have to adjust their budget priorities to accommodate those needs. It's clear it is in *everyone's* best interest to provide more resources.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I'm a "let the whole system burn" teacher. I don't care what happens to it anymore. Truly. 3 years and I'm done. I truly believe there's going to be a whole meltdown, there'll be entire schools that have to close and or class sizes in the 40's or 50's, and eventually special ed will have to be taken over through private insurance. But again, I don't care anymore. This system has chewed me up and spit me out. Let it burn.

There's a small group of posters that get hard at the thought of getting children with special needs out of public schools so that they and their kids won't have to see them anymore.

Keep it in your pants. It isn't going to happen.

I don’t think this was what the PP was saying, but that said, I do think that such a proposal would pass at this point if it was put to a public vote. Classrooms are just far too disruptive now for any learning to take place, and the majority of people are sick of it. The laws should be changed to only allow kids to stay in mainstream classrooms, special ed diagnoses or not, if they do not interfere with the learning of other students.

You seem to suddenly have a bulge in the front of your pants, too.

Would a referendum like that pass? Maybe. Lots of crazy ideas could pass a vote of the masses. But it is never going to happen, not the least because it is unworkable.

It's not clear it would pass even a vote of the masses. Have you looked at how many kids these days have IEPs or 504 plans?

I recently had a class of 36. Over half of them had an IEP or a 504. I had a coteacher, but that wasn’t nearly enough. Every time we had an assessment, I had to give it 5 different ways to meet all the plans. When I gave classwork, I had to produce it in 3 different ways. During group work, we had to contend with 12-14 hands up simultaneously. There we just 2 of us. 6 adults still wouldn’t have been enough.

Yes, I’m aware how many students have 504s and IEPs. So many that teachers cannot adequately meet all their needs simultaneously. We are mere humans.

Exactly. I certainly agree MCPS, and school systems at-large, are not resourcing special education services appropriately-- both the supports in mainstream classrooms and the self-contained programs. But the scope of special needs makes it wildly impractical to somehow move that out of public schools.

I don't think it's possible to resource special education the way they used to because there are 3X-4X as many kids being diagnosed these days especially at the wealthier schools.

They're diagnosing a wider range of conditions, including many that don't require the same level of accommodations or services. There does seem to be more higher-needs students as well, though, and schools are going to have to adjust their budget priorities to accommodate those needs. It's clear it is in *everyone's* best interest to provide more resources.

Yes, the new criteria is anyone with sufficient funds to afford a private diagnosis has special needs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I'm a "let the whole system burn" teacher. I don't care what happens to it anymore. Truly. 3 years and I'm done. I truly believe there's going to be a whole meltdown, there'll be entire schools that have to close and or class sizes in the 40's or 50's, and eventually special ed will have to be taken over through private insurance. But again, I don't care anymore. This system has chewed me up and spit me out. Let it burn.

There's a small group of posters that get hard at the thought of getting children with special needs out of public schools so that they and their kids won't have to see them anymore.

Keep it in your pants. It isn't going to happen.

I don’t think this was what the PP was saying, but that said, I do think that such a proposal would pass at this point if it was put to a public vote. Classrooms are just far too disruptive now for any learning to take place, and the majority of people are sick of it. The laws should be changed to only allow kids to stay in mainstream classrooms, special ed diagnoses or not, if they do not interfere with the learning of other students.

You seem to suddenly have a bulge in the front of your pants, too.

Would a referendum like that pass? Maybe. Lots of crazy ideas could pass a vote of the masses. But it is never going to happen, not the least because it is unworkable.

It's not clear it would pass even a vote of the masses. Have you looked at how many kids these days have IEPs or 504 plans?

I recently had a class of 36. Over half of them had an IEP or a 504. I had a coteacher, but that wasn’t nearly enough. Every time we had an assessment, I had to give it 5 different ways to meet all the plans. When I gave classwork, I had to produce it in 3 different ways. During group work, we had to contend with 12-14 hands up simultaneously. There we just 2 of us. 6 adults still wouldn’t have been enough.

Yes, I’m aware how many students have 504s and IEPs. So many that teachers cannot adequately meet all their needs simultaneously. We are mere humans.

Exactly. I certainly agree MCPS, and school systems at-large, are not resourcing special education services appropriately-- both the supports in mainstream classrooms and the self-contained programs. But the scope of special needs makes it wildly impractical to somehow move that out of public schools.

I don't think it's possible to resource special education the way they used to because there are 3X-4X as many kids being diagnosed these days especially at the wealthier schools.

They're diagnosing a wider range of conditions, including many that don't require the same level of accommodations or services. There does seem to be more higher-needs students as well, though, and schools are going to have to adjust their budget priorities to accommodate those needs. It's clear it is in *everyone's* best interest to provide more resources.

But it’s blood from stone. Each new 504 or IEP means the existing teacher now has to meet those needs at the same time as many other students’ needs. One assessment five different ways, with all the prep time that requires (that the teacher doesn’t have). Teachers are now delivering individually crafted instruction to many students at once. It’s not sustainable and, frankly, not successful. The people who get criticized are the very teachers finding ways to operate in a very broken system. That is, until they also quit.

[Anonymous]

Strip back the standardized testing. Once a year, age-appropriate, then move on. TRUST the teachers to design effective lesson plans and differentiate. Stop hiring so many "assistant directors of thinking and innovation" and add more counselors, aides, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I'm a "let the whole system burn" teacher. I don't care what happens to it anymore. Truly. 3 years and I'm done. I truly believe there's going to be a whole meltdown, there'll be entire schools that have to close and or class sizes in the 40's or 50's, and eventually special ed will have to be taken over through private insurance. But again, I don't care anymore. This system has chewed me up and spit me out. Let it burn.

There's a small group of posters that get hard at the thought of getting children with special needs out of public schools so that they and their kids won't have to see them anymore.

Keep it in your pants. It isn't going to happen.

I don’t think this was what the PP was saying, but that said, I do think that such a proposal would pass at this point if it was put to a public vote. Classrooms are just far too disruptive now for any learning to take place, and the majority of people are sick of it. The laws should be changed to only allow kids to stay in mainstream classrooms, special ed diagnoses or not, if they do not interfere with the learning of other students.

You seem to suddenly have a bulge in the front of your pants, too.

Would a referendum like that pass? Maybe. Lots of crazy ideas could pass a vote of the masses. But it is never going to happen, not the least because it is unworkable.

It's not clear it would pass even a vote of the masses. Have you looked at how many kids these days have IEPs or 504 plans?

I recently had a class of 36. Over half of them had an IEP or a 504. I had a coteacher, but that wasn’t nearly enough. Every time we had an assessment, I had to give it 5 different ways to meet all the plans. When I gave classwork, I had to produce it in 3 different ways. During group work, we had to contend with 12-14 hands up simultaneously. There we just 2 of us. 6 adults still wouldn’t have been enough.

Yes, I’m aware how many students have 504s and IEPs. So many that teachers cannot adequately meet all their needs simultaneously. We are mere humans.

I think this would be addressed with appropriate tracking in classes. The behavioral issues about disrupting other people are something else. And neither of those is directly linked to special ed. There are some special Ed kids who don’t disturb anyone and who could be easily managed with appropriate tracking.

Our elementary dumped all the IEP kids in one classroom regardless of needs. If your child had a mild need, it sucked as not only did the your child get ignored but they didn't get an equal education. Some kids need more help than others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

And yet we can’t keep teachers in the classroom. Here we are commenting on a thread about how to incentivize people to stay in the profession.

TEACHERS know that the benefits aren’t worth the agony, but DCUM is here to tell teachers that their jobs are amazing. We’ll keep pretending that the teacher shortage isn’t a thing.

I am an MCPS employee. I know the benefits are great and my pay is not bad. I am a few years away from retiring with my full pension and I am leaving at the end of the school year. The stress and constant changes and demands are no longer worth it. I handed in my retirement papers and feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders.

Most jobs have constant changes and demands. The only difference is you don’t have to be worried about being terminated for no good reason.

People who haven’t taught should stop commenting on the job because you don’t know it. Sure, other jobs have changes (challenges, you mean?) and demands. Some of them are even hard jobs. But they aren’t teaching, which comes with a unique set of challenges.

I’ve worked other jobs AND I’ve taught.

You think social workers, police, fire fighters, EMT's have it easy? Why don't you try being child welfare investigator for a week?

All those jobs come with overtime. Teachers are stuck either grading/planning on their own time or being castigated/reprimanded for not getting it done on time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

And yet we can’t keep teachers in the classroom. Here we are commenting on a thread about how to incentivize people to stay in the profession.

TEACHERS know that the benefits aren’t worth the agony, but DCUM is here to tell teachers that their jobs are amazing. We’ll keep pretending that the teacher shortage isn’t a thing.

I am an MCPS employee. I know the benefits are great and my pay is not bad. I am a few years away from retiring with my full pension and I am leaving at the end of the school year. The stress and constant changes and demands are no longer worth it. I handed in my retirement papers and feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders.

Most jobs have constant changes and demands. The only difference is you don’t have to be worried about being terminated for no good reason.

People who haven’t taught should stop commenting on the job because you don’t know it. Sure, other jobs have changes (challenges, you mean?) and demands. Some of them are even hard jobs. But they aren’t teaching, which comes with a unique set of challenges.

I’ve worked other jobs AND I’ve taught.

You think social workers, police, fire fighters, EMT's have it easy? Why don't you try being child welfare investigator for a week?

All those jobs come with overtime. Teachers are stuck either grading/planning on their own time or being castigated/reprimanded for not getting it done on time.

Yep!!! I know of a few firefighters that benefit (and love) the overtime pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

And yet we can’t keep teachers in the classroom. Here we are commenting on a thread about how to incentivize people to stay in the profession.

TEACHERS know that the benefits aren’t worth the agony, but DCUM is here to tell teachers that their jobs are amazing. We’ll keep pretending that the teacher shortage isn’t a thing.

I am an MCPS employee. I know the benefits are great and my pay is not bad. I am a few years away from retiring with my full pension and I am leaving at the end of the school year. The stress and constant changes and demands are no longer worth it. I handed in my retirement papers and feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders.

Congratulations! I took 3 years off when my children were younger. The stress, fatigue, and anxiety melted away. I forgot how bad it was, which is why I came back. I won’t be making it much longer and I’ll be kissing full pension goodbye. I don’t care. It isn’t worth my health and happiness.

The posters who love to remind us about the amazing benefits haven’t actually tried the job. The benefits aren’t worth it. At all.

Teaching isn't the only difficult job in the county. Lots of difficult jobs in social service for example. But, you work 10 months, we work 12 months. You get a pension, we don't. You get far better health care than we do, etc. So, yup, try changing jobs to what others do.

Do you work 65-70 hours per week? Teachers do, and that is why they are getting out. The pension isn't enough because the pay isn't enough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

And yet we can’t keep teachers in the classroom. Here we are commenting on a thread about how to incentivize people to stay in the profession.

TEACHERS know that the benefits aren’t worth the agony, but DCUM is here to tell teachers that their jobs are amazing. We’ll keep pretending that the teacher shortage isn’t a thing.

I am an MCPS employee. I know the benefits are great and my pay is not bad. I am a few years away from retiring with my full pension and I am leaving at the end of the school year. The stress and constant changes and demands are no longer worth it. I handed in my retirement papers and feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders.

Congratulations! I took 3 years off when my children were younger. The stress, fatigue, and anxiety melted away. I forgot how bad it was, which is why I came back. I won’t be making it much longer and I’ll be kissing full pension goodbye. I don’t care. It isn’t worth my health and happiness.

The posters who love to remind us about the amazing benefits haven’t actually tried the job. The benefits aren’t worth it. At all.

Teaching isn't the only difficult job in the county. Lots of difficult jobs in social service for example. But, you work 10 months, we work 12 months. You get a pension, we don't. You get far better health care than we do, etc. So, yup, try changing jobs to what others do.

Do you work 65-70 hours per week? Teachers do, and that is why they are getting out. The pension isn't enough because the pay isn't enough.

No offense but few teachers log anything close to that. It's a job like any other. Most people have to put in more than 40 to stay employed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

And yet we can’t keep teachers in the classroom. Here we are commenting on a thread about how to incentivize people to stay in the profession.

TEACHERS know that the benefits aren’t worth the agony, but DCUM is here to tell teachers that their jobs are amazing. We’ll keep pretending that the teacher shortage isn’t a thing.

I am an MCPS employee. I know the benefits are great and my pay is not bad. I am a few years away from retiring with my full pension and I am leaving at the end of the school year. The stress and constant changes and demands are no longer worth it. I handed in my retirement papers and feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders.

Congratulations! I took 3 years off when my children were younger. The stress, fatigue, and anxiety melted away. I forgot how bad it was, which is why I came back. I won’t be making it much longer and I’ll be kissing full pension goodbye. I don’t care. It isn’t worth my health and happiness.

The posters who love to remind us about the amazing benefits haven’t actually tried the job. The benefits aren’t worth it. At all.

Teaching isn't the only difficult job in the county. Lots of difficult jobs in social service for example. But, you work 10 months, we work 12 months. You get a pension, we don't. You get far better health care than we do, etc. So, yup, try changing jobs to what others do.

Do you work 65-70 hours per week? Teachers do, and that is why they are getting out. The pension isn't enough because the pay isn't enough.

No offense but few teachers log anything close to that. It's a job like any other. Most people have to put in more than 40 to stay employed.

I’m guessing you don’t teach. 60-70 hours is normal in my department. We even have to take personal leave to grade papers, a way to buy time (from ourselves) in order to get it all done.

Teaching is definitely not a job like any other. Most jobs don’t require you to present material for 30 hours a week with no time to prepare. They also don’t hold you 100% accountable for how that material is received by the disengaged or disruptive people before you.

[Anonymous]

I just do t know why we are forced to fill put our yellow time sheets incorrectly every week. We have to leave off the true time data. Smells fishy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are already plenty of incentives. The problem is the grass is always greener, but at least there's no shortage of new teachers to fill in for the unhappy ones who leave.

Exactly. They get really good benefits and there are housing programs already. And after the first few years the pay is decent to good for a ten month employee and they get tuition benefits for a masters or PhD.

And yet we can’t keep teachers in the classroom. Here we are commenting on a thread about how to incentivize people to stay in the profession.

TEACHERS know that the benefits aren’t worth the agony, but DCUM is here to tell teachers that their jobs are amazing. We’ll keep pretending that the teacher shortage isn’t a thing.

I am an MCPS employee. I know the benefits are great and my pay is not bad. I am a few years away from retiring with my full pension and I am leaving at the end of the school year. The stress and constant changes and demands are no longer worth it. I handed in my retirement papers and feel like the weight of the world has been lifted from my shoulders.

Congratulations! I took 3 years off when my children were younger. The stress, fatigue, and anxiety melted away. I forgot how bad it was, which is why I came back. I won’t be making it much longer and I’ll be kissing full pension goodbye. I don’t care. It isn’t worth my health and happiness.

The posters who love to remind us about the amazing benefits haven’t actually tried the job. The benefits aren’t worth it. At all.

Teaching isn't the only difficult job in the county. Lots of difficult jobs in social service for example. But, you work 10 months, we work 12 months. You get a pension, we don't. You get far better health care than we do, etc. So, yup, try changing jobs to what others do.

Do you work 65-70 hours per week? Teachers do, and that is why they are getting out. The pension isn't enough because the pay isn't enough.

No offense but few teachers log anything close to that. It's a job like any other. Most people have to put in more than 40 to stay employed.

A rare few but most don't. Let's be real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I'm a "let the whole system burn" teacher. I don't care what happens to it anymore. Truly. 3 years and I'm done. I truly believe there's going to be a whole meltdown, there'll be entire schools that have to close and or class sizes in the 40's or 50's, and eventually special ed will have to be taken over through private insurance. But again, I don't care anymore. This system has chewed me up and spit me out. Let it burn.

There's a small group of posters that get hard at the thought of getting children with special needs out of public schools so that they and their kids won't have to see them anymore.

Keep it in your pants. It isn't going to happen.

I don’t think this was what the PP was saying, but that said, I do think that such a proposal would pass at this point if it was put to a public vote. Classrooms are just far too disruptive now for any learning to take place, and the majority of people are sick of it. The laws should be changed to only allow kids to stay in mainstream classrooms, special ed diagnoses or not, if they do not interfere with the learning of other students.

Sounds good to me.

That's the current law, with the caveat that the school needs to try services and supports for the student that could make the mainstream classroom effective and appropriate.

The law isn't the issue here. The issue is that schools don't want to provide services/supports nor do they want to move students to more restrictive placements because both are expensive.

The law is absolutely the issue. It's the entire issue, in fact. It's a pie-in-the-sky, aspirational list of demands that has never come with even 1/3 of the federal funding necessary to support it. It was badly funded at the time it passed! And now the number of students it's supposed to cover has quadrupled. It's unworkable. It creates a bottomless pit of entitlements with no funding. On what planet does that make sense? The result has been a decades-long shell game where parents rightfully point to a law that says their child has the right to unlimited supports in whatever they need, at someone else's expense, and the school district faces the reality on the ground and in the gap between the two, filling out endless paperwork, are the dwindling staff. IDEA needs to be radically overhauled and some kind of actual legal limits placed on paperwork and meetings and lawsuits so at least the state of affairs is honest for everyone. Literally no other country does it like we do, and there's a reason why. IDEA is completely disintegrating under the weight of its own contradictions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yeah, I'm a "let the whole system burn" teacher. I don't care what happens to it anymore. Truly. 3 years and I'm done. I truly believe there's going to be a whole meltdown, there'll be entire schools that have to close and or class sizes in the 40's or 50's, and eventually special ed will have to be taken over through private insurance. But again, I don't care anymore. This system has chewed me up and spit me out. Let it burn.

There's a small group of posters that get hard at the thought of getting children with special needs out of public schools so that they and their kids won't have to see them anymore.

Keep it in your pants. It isn't going to happen.

I don’t think this was what the PP was saying, but that said, I do think that such a proposal would pass at this point if it was put to a public vote. Classrooms are just far too disruptive now for any learning to take place, and the majority of people are sick of it. The laws should be changed to only allow kids to stay in mainstream classrooms, special ed diagnoses or not, if they do not interfere with the learning of other students.

Sounds good to me.

That's the current law, with the caveat that the school needs to try services and supports for the student that could make the mainstream classroom effective and appropriate.

The law isn't the issue here. The issue is that schools don't want to provide services/supports nor do they want to move students to more restrictive placements because both are expensive.

The law is absolutely the issue. It's the entire issue, in fact. It's a pie-in-the-sky, aspirational list of demands that has never come with even 1/3 of the federal funding necessary to support it. It was badly funded at the time it passed! And now the number of students it's supposed to cover has quadrupled. It's unworkable. It creates a bottomless pit of entitlements with no funding. On what planet does that make sense? The result has been a decades-long shell game where parents rightfully point to a law that says their child has the right to unlimited supports in whatever they need, at someone else's expense, and the school district faces the reality on the ground and in the gap between the two, filling out endless paperwork, are the dwindling staff. IDEA needs to be radically overhauled and some kind of actual legal limits placed on paperwork and meetings and lawsuits so at least the state of affairs is honest for everyone. Literally no other country does it like we do, and there's a reason why. IDEA is completely disintegrating under the weight of its own contradictions.

Absolutely true! This is a huge problem and it is certainly part of the reason we have a growing teacher shortage.

[Anonymous]

If you live in MCPS you want

A. Child with significant needs that an IEP and self contained class is blatantly obvious and the only solution

B. Child that has an IQ so far above their peers that there is no cohort and magnet placement occurs beginning in elem

C. To have an HHI that you can afford private

I have a child in my A category. My other child is an average student. Not DCUM average, truly a B/1100 SAT student. I’m lucky that I have the money for my option C category.