$5k bonus for MCPS general educators to become special educators

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting salary for teachers needs to be 85K, like in Finland. Only the very top secondary graduates are accepted into university schools of Education. Masters degree required. Parents held accountable for absentee students.

Every teacher I know (I quit after 6 years) want to say to the parent: Parent is a verb. Do your job like I do mine.

Teachers in other countries are also given more time at work to do the prep, planning, and grading. That’s an afterthought in the US. I spend over 90% of my day in front of students, so the clear expectation is that I spend every night grading and preparing for the next day. We should get AT LEAST half of our days to do the prep/planning/grading. I posted above that I’m no longer giving up weekends and I mean it. The stack of papers to grade remains on my desk. I’m no longer spending extra time going the extra mile, which means my lessons will be less engaging. I’m sorry, but the “your students will suffer” argument no longer works. I spent many years sacrificing my health and my family for this job. No more.

We have had teachers returning emails at all hours of the day and night. There are a few bad teachers but many spend nights/weekends on class prep and support. Its even worse with the lack of clear curriculum and text books where they have to make up their own.

Are you saying teachers who don’t cater to your whim are bad then? I used to be the teacher with email on my phone and would jump when a parent absurdly emails me at 2 am on a Saturday… no more. I’m done. Contract hours. I’ll email you when I get to it. Parents here have lost all privileges to my time and my sanity. You keep taking and taking with zero respect. Call us all victims if it makes you feel better. We are done.

No, I was saying some teachers are working very hard. However, it is very frustrating when some teachers don't return emails at all. You are really nasty and I hope you are no longer teaching.

I’m a teacher and a parent. I would not mind at all if my own children’s teachers took the PP’s stance of no off-hour email responses. I want my kids to have well-rested, respected, and present teachers. I know they’ll only get that if the teacher is afforded a work / life balance. If we want teachers to respond to emails quicker, then time needs to be given to them to do that.

When I’m teaching, I don’t get a chance to sit at my laptop until 2:30pm. I usually have a ton of unanswered emails by then since they were piling up all day. I also have to prepare for the next day, make any alterations to my lesson plans or student data books, and I have to grade some papers. I leave at 4. If the email responses don’t happen, I’ll try again in the morning at 6:30 when I get to my desk. I’m no longer doing work past 4pm. I’m already devoting 9.5 hours of each day to work. My family gets me at home.

This does not make me a bad teacher.

I don't expect teachers to answer at all hours of the day and night and that was my point but I do expect them to answer within 48 hours or so. I don't bother emailing teachers who don't email back but then they should not complain when I don't bother to email things like my child will not be attending class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister used to teach for a school district that decided not to open schools on Fridays to save money running the buildings and on school buses. The students stayed an extra hour each day for the other 4 days. Morale soared and the district saw the fewest departures from employees on record. No drop in academic success.

My sister was a SPED teacher and yes, she was paid a bit more than General Ed. Not enough to make anyone switch careers.

Work-life balance, people.

Morale soared for the teachers, but not the working parents who suddenly needed to spend thousands of dollars a year on child care on Fridays.

How much support would there be for public schools if you tried that here?

Its called parenting, so yes, they need to work it out.

Which they would do, in MoCo, by a combination of moving kids to private schools and voting out the BoE members that approved the plan. It wouldn't go well for MCEA.

We don't have enough private schools nor affordable ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting salary for teachers needs to be 85K, like in Finland. Only the very top secondary graduates are accepted into university schools of Education. Masters degree required. Parents held accountable for absentee students.

Every teacher I know (I quit after 6 years) want to say to the parent: Parent is a verb. Do your job like I do mine.

Teachers in other countries are also given more time at work to do the prep, planning, and grading. That’s an afterthought in the US. I spend over 90% of my day in front of students, so the clear expectation is that I spend every night grading and preparing for the next day. We should get AT LEAST half of our days to do the prep/planning/grading. I posted above that I’m no longer giving up weekends and I mean it. The stack of papers to grade remains on my desk. I’m no longer spending extra time going the extra mile, which means my lessons will be less engaging. I’m sorry, but the “your students will suffer” argument no longer works. I spent many years sacrificing my health and my family for this job. No more.

We have had teachers returning emails at all hours of the day and night. There are a few bad teachers but many spend nights/weekends on class prep and support. Its even worse with the lack of clear curriculum and text books where they have to make up their own.

Are you saying teachers who don’t cater to your whim are bad then? I used to be the teacher with email on my phone and would jump when a parent absurdly emails me at 2 am on a Saturday… no more. I’m done. Contract hours. I’ll email you when I get to it. Parents here have lost all privileges to my time and my sanity. You keep taking and taking with zero respect. Call us all victims if it makes you feel better. We are done.

No, I was saying some teachers are working very hard. However, it is very frustrating when some teachers don't return emails at all. You are really nasty and I hope you are no longer teaching.

Of course you had to add in the insult. I hope you’re no longer a parent because you seem incredibly stupid. Oh wait….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting salary for teachers needs to be 85K, like in Finland. Only the very top secondary graduates are accepted into university schools of Education. Masters degree required. Parents held accountable for absentee students.

Every teacher I know (I quit after 6 years) want to say to the parent: Parent is a verb. Do your job like I do mine.

Teachers in other countries are also given more time at work to do the prep, planning, and grading. That’s an afterthought in the US. I spend over 90% of my day in front of students, so the clear expectation is that I spend every night grading and preparing for the next day. We should get AT LEAST half of our days to do the prep/planning/grading. I posted above that I’m no longer giving up weekends and I mean it. The stack of papers to grade remains on my desk. I’m no longer spending extra time going the extra mile, which means my lessons will be less engaging. I’m sorry, but the “your students will suffer” argument no longer works. I spent many years sacrificing my health and my family for this job. No more.

We have had teachers returning emails at all hours of the day and night. There are a few bad teachers but many spend nights/weekends on class prep and support. Its even worse with the lack of clear curriculum and text books where they have to make up their own.

Are you saying teachers who don’t cater to your whim are bad then? I used to be the teacher with email on my phone and would jump when a parent absurdly emails me at 2 am on a Saturday… no more. I’m done. Contract hours. I’ll email you when I get to it. Parents here have lost all privileges to my time and my sanity. You keep taking and taking with zero respect. Call us all victims if it makes you feel better. We are done.

No, I was saying some teachers are working very hard. However, it is very frustrating when some teachers don't return emails at all. You are really nasty and I hope you are no longer teaching.

Of course you had to add in the insult. I hope you’re no longer a parent because you seem incredibly stupid. Oh wait….

We are the very involved parents.. the ones who email and actually support our kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting salary for teachers needs to be 85K, like in Finland. Only the very top secondary graduates are accepted into university schools of Education. Masters degree required. Parents held accountable for absentee students.

Every teacher I know (I quit after 6 years) want to say to the parent: Parent is a verb. Do your job like I do mine.

Teachers in other countries are also given more time at work to do the prep, planning, and grading. That’s an afterthought in the US. I spend over 90% of my day in front of students, so the clear expectation is that I spend every night grading and preparing for the next day. We should get AT LEAST half of our days to do the prep/planning/grading. I posted above that I’m no longer giving up weekends and I mean it. The stack of papers to grade remains on my desk. I’m no longer spending extra time going the extra mile, which means my lessons will be less engaging. I’m sorry, but the “your students will suffer” argument no longer works. I spent many years sacrificing my health and my family for this job. No more.

We have had teachers returning emails at all hours of the day and night. There are a few bad teachers but many spend nights/weekends on class prep and support. Its even worse with the lack of clear curriculum and text books where they have to make up their own.

Are you saying teachers who don’t cater to your whim are bad then? I used to be the teacher with email on my phone and would jump when a parent absurdly emails me at 2 am on a Saturday… no more. I’m done. Contract hours. I’ll email you when I get to it. Parents here have lost all privileges to my time and my sanity. You keep taking and taking with zero respect. Call us all victims if it makes you feel better. We are done.

No, I was saying some teachers are working very hard. However, it is very frustrating when some teachers don't return emails at all. You are really nasty and I hope you are no longer teaching.

I’m a teacher and a parent. I would not mind at all if my own children’s teachers took the PP’s stance of no off-hour email responses. I want my kids to have well-rested, respected, and present teachers. I know they’ll only get that if the teacher is afforded a work / life balance. If we want teachers to respond to emails quicker, then time needs to be given to them to do that.

When I’m teaching, I don’t get a chance to sit at my laptop until 2:30pm. I usually have a ton of unanswered emails by then since they were piling up all day. I also have to prepare for the next day, make any alterations to my lesson plans or student data books, and I have to grade some papers. I leave at 4. If the email responses don’t happen, I’ll try again in the morning at 6:30 when I get to my desk. I’m no longer doing work past 4pm. I’m already devoting 9.5 hours of each day to work. My family gets me at home.

This does not make me a bad teacher.

I don't expect teachers to answer at all hours of the day and night and that was my point but I do expect them to answer within 48 hours or so. I don't bother emailing teachers who don't email back but then they should not complain when I don't bother to email things like my child will not be attending class.

The larger point is that teachers should be given time during work hours to actually get work done. That’s not the case now. Teachers are with students for the majority of the day, leaving the vast piles of paperwork and emails for their own time. It isn’t acceptable and it needs to change. There’s a growing movement among many professions to demand a work / life balance. The expectation can no longer be that all prep and grading is done at home. Unfortunately, that includes responding to the deluge of emails we often receive. I often get over 20 emails a day that require thoughtful, detailed responses. When should I get that done?

I’d gladly trade higher pay for more TIME.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Starting salary for teachers needs to be 85K, like in Finland. Only the very top secondary graduates are accepted into university schools of Education. Masters degree required. Parents held accountable for absentee students.

Every teacher I know (I quit after 6 years) want to say to the parent: Parent is a verb. Do your job like I do mine.

Teachers in other countries are also given more time at work to do the prep, planning, and grading. That’s an afterthought in the US. I spend over 90% of my day in front of students, so the clear expectation is that I spend every night grading and preparing for the next day. We should get AT LEAST half of our days to do the prep/planning/grading. I posted above that I’m no longer giving up weekends and I mean it. The stack of papers to grade remains on my desk. I’m no longer spending extra time going the extra mile, which means my lessons will be less engaging. I’m sorry, but the “your students will suffer” argument no longer works. I spent many years sacrificing my health and my family for this job. No more.

We have had teachers returning emails at all hours of the day and night. There are a few bad teachers but many spend nights/weekends on class prep and support. Its even worse with the lack of clear curriculum and text books where they have to make up their own.

Are you saying teachers who don’t cater to your whim are bad then? I used to be the teacher with email on my phone and would jump when a parent absurdly emails me at 2 am on a Saturday… no more. I’m done. Contract hours. I’ll email you when I get to it. Parents here have lost all privileges to my time and my sanity. You keep taking and taking with zero respect. Call us all victims if it makes you feel better. We are done.

No, I was saying some teachers are working very hard. However, it is very frustrating when some teachers don't return emails at all. You are really nasty and I hope you are no longer teaching.

Of course you had to add in the insult. I hope you’re no longer a parent because you seem incredibly stupid. Oh wait….

We are the very involved parents.. the ones who email and actually support our kids.

Then you’d know teachers don’t want emails saying your kid won’t be there. They have to then forward it to the attendance office. Email the attendance office and cc the teacher if you feel inclined but don’t expect an email back about it either.

[Anonymous]

130 kids. 260 parents. Get all those emails returned promptly? You'll be lucky to get a return email in a week. I don't work outside my paid hours. Why would I? Where is my annual 100K bonus and promotion?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They have to be duel-certified so that’s not where the problem is.

However, current sped teachers feel ignored and disrespected. And who’s going to fill the newly open positions if someone switches to an open special ed position?

Like Aaron Burr?

Yes Sir!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister used to teach for a school district that decided not to open schools on Fridays to save money running the buildings and on school buses. The students stayed an extra hour each day for the other 4 days. Morale soared and the district saw the fewest departures from employees on record. No drop in academic success.

My sister was a SPED teacher and yes, she was paid a bit more than General Ed. Not enough to make anyone switch careers.

Work-life balance, people.

Morale soared for the teachers, but not the working parents who suddenly needed to spend thousands of dollars a year on child care on Fridays.

How much support would there be for public schools if you tried that here?

Its called parenting, so yes, they need to work it out.

LOL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:130 kids. 260 parents. Get all those emails returned promptly? You'll be lucky to get a return email in a week. I don't work outside my paid hours. Why would I? Where is my annual 100K bonus and promotion?

Okay, I was pretty sympathetic until this comment. As someone who has been a salaried employee for my entire career, that means sometimes I work 8.5 hours a day and sometimes I work 12 hours a day plus weekends. Not every job pays a bonus - though I do believe that teachers are not fairly compensated and neither are nurses, police, firemen etc.

[Anonymous]

I have more than 140 kids this year and they keep adding more. Just got told today that I am required to respond to any parent within 24 hrs. Had two teachers leave the department last week and we have to cover their classes.

Expect bear minimum responses from me this year...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have more than 140 kids this year and they keep adding more. Just got told today that I am required to respond to any parent within 24 hrs. Had two teachers leave the department last week and we have to cover their classes.

Expect bear minimum responses from me this year...

I can sympathize. I know it must be hard and understand why you might only be able to provide the bare minimum.

[Anonymous]

We don't work 24 hours a day. We work 8. Eliminate one of our classes and there will be time to respond to emails. Until then, tough.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister used to teach for a school district that decided not to open schools on Fridays to save money running the buildings and on school buses. The students stayed an extra hour each day for the other 4 days. Morale soared and the district saw the fewest departures from employees on record. No drop in academic success.

My sister was a SPED teacher and yes, she was paid a bit more than General Ed. Not enough to make anyone switch careers.

Work-life balance, people.

Morale soared for the teachers, but not the working parents who suddenly needed to spend thousands of dollars a year on child care on Fridays.

How much support would there be for public schools if you tried that here?

Teachers and schools are not day-care providers. Responsibility of the parents. It was the first argument that got knocked down when the system changed to 4-days per week. Overwhelming support for the change. Great business opportunity for daycare providers. Do you see how capitalism works? Do you see how parenting works?

+1. Everything will adapt. If more school districts did this, business and camps would adjust to the new normal. Daycares, camps, activity providers would expand or spring up to accommodate. If/When parents couldn’t afford, it would put pressure on community and government to adapt and take care of its citizens either with salaries that keep up or with reduced cost/taxes/etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My sister used to teach for a school district that decided not to open schools on Fridays to save money running the buildings and on school buses. The students stayed an extra hour each day for the other 4 days. Morale soared and the district saw the fewest departures from employees on record. No drop in academic success.

My sister was a SPED teacher and yes, she was paid a bit more than General Ed. Not enough to make anyone switch careers.

Work-life balance, people.

Morale soared for the teachers, but not the working parents who suddenly needed to spend thousands of dollars a year on child care on Fridays.

How much support would there be for public schools if you tried that here?

Teachers and schools are not day-care providers. Responsibility of the parents. It was the first argument that got knocked down when the system changed to 4-days per week. Overwhelming support for the change. Great business opportunity for daycare providers. Do you see how capitalism works? Do you see how parenting works?

+1. Everything will adapt. If more school districts did this, business and camps would adjust to the new normal. Daycares, camps, activity providers would expand or spring up to accommodate. If/When parents couldn’t afford, it would put pressure on community and government to adapt and take care of its citizens either with salaries that keep up or with reduced cost/taxes/etc.

Keep dreaming of those 3 day weekends.