Incentives to Keep Teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I’m not PP, but, yes, I work 65-70 hours a week. I don’t get paid overtime. I only get 7 federal holidays. I get paged and work on my days off, which are limited. I don’t get good healtcare coverage from my work, but it’s not bad. This is standard in technology. However, I am paid way more than teachers in my present job. That said, at the beginning of my career, I worked even over 100 hours a week and even 36 straight hours before, and I got paid only barely more than my wife, who was a teacher. She’s no longer teaching, but still in the general field. She makes more, but not much more than if she had remained a teacher.

So the teacher in your relationship quit. That’s the point of this thread. What would she have needed to stay on as a teacher? More pay? More of a work/life balance? More respect? More supportive / useful admin?

The point was the pay and benefits are good and better than many other jobs.

[Anonymous]

Have you ever been attacked or assaulted by students and then been told in more or less words that nothing can be done about it. Even if a kid hurts their hand punching a teacher they might blame the teacher.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't make sense working hard in 8 years of college to join education and be powerless and unsupported while students parents and admin abuse and take advantage of teachers good will.

Teachers are now sending out a warning to students not to become teachers.
Dont ruin your lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever been attacked or assaulted by students and then been told in more or less words that nothing can be done about it. Even if a kid hurts their hand punching a teacher they might blame the teacher.

So how does this get changed? I totally agree that the level of serious misbehavior and violence has ripple effects throughout the entire system. Teachers should not have to fear for their safety, and students shouldn't either. The lack of tools to address serious behavior issues leads to teachers quitting and undermines parental faith in schools, which often manifests itself in a lack of respect for teachers and other educators (even if that's not fair).

How can this be addressed? I don't see it happening.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I’m not PP, but, yes, I work 65-70 hours a week. I don’t get paid overtime. I only get 7 federal holidays. I get paged and work on my days off, which are limited. I don’t get good healtcare coverage from my work, but it’s not bad. This is standard in technology. However, I am paid way more than teachers in my present job. That said, at the beginning of my career, I worked even over 100 hours a week and even 36 straight hours before, and I got paid only barely more than my wife, who was a teacher. She’s no longer teaching, but still in the general field. She makes more, but not much more than if she had remained a teacher.

So the teacher in your relationship quit. That’s the point of this thread. What would she have needed to stay on as a teacher? More pay? More of a work/life balance? More respect? More supportive / useful admin?

Actually, she didn’t quit. She is still in education, but not in the classroom.

We need more people in the classroom and fewer sitting in offices. Admin and support staff positions are bloated because so many people use those jobs to avoid teaching.

What would it take for her to go back into the classroom?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I’m not PP, but, yes, I work 65-70 hours a week. I don’t get paid overtime. I only get 7 federal holidays. I get paged and work on my days off, which are limited. I don’t get good healtcare coverage from my work, but it’s not bad. This is standard in technology. However, I am paid way more than teachers in my present job. That said, at the beginning of my career, I worked even over 100 hours a week and even 36 straight hours before, and I got paid only barely more than my wife, who was a teacher. She’s no longer teaching, but still in the general field. She makes more, but not much more than if she had remained a teacher.

So the teacher in your relationship quit. That’s the point of this thread. What would she have needed to stay on as a teacher? More pay? More of a work/life balance? More respect? More supportive / useful admin?

The point was the pay and benefits are good and better than many other jobs.

And yet the teacher on this scenario quit, so the pay and benefits clearly aren’t that great. Sure, she may have stayed in education somehow but she isn’t a teacher. And we are extremely short on teachers.

So if the point was that pay and benefits are good, then using someone who left the classroom as your example isn’t very useful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I’m not PP, but, yes, I work 65-70 hours a week. I don’t get paid overtime. I only get 7 federal holidays. I get paged and work on my days off, which are limited. I don’t get good healtcare coverage from my work, but it’s not bad. This is standard in technology. However, I am paid way more than teachers in my present job. That said, at the beginning of my career, I worked even over 100 hours a week and even 36 straight hours before, and I got paid only barely more than my wife, who was a teacher. She’s no longer teaching, but still in the general field. She makes more, but not much more than if she had remained a teacher.

So the teacher in your relationship quit. That’s the point of this thread. What would she have needed to stay on as a teacher? More pay? More of a work/life balance? More respect? More supportive / useful admin?

The point was the pay and benefits are good and better than many other jobs.

And yet the teacher on this scenario quit, so the pay and benefits clearly aren’t that great. Sure, she may have stayed in education somehow but she isn’t a teacher. And we are extremely short on teachers.

So if the point was that pay and benefits are good, then using someone who left the classroom as your example isn’t very useful.

It just goes to show that despite the great pay and benefits that the grass is always greener somewhere else.

[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: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.

I’m not PP, but, yes, I work 65-70 hours a week. I don’t get paid overtime. I only get 7 federal holidays. I get paged and work on my days off, which are limited. I don’t get good healtcare coverage from my work, but it’s not bad. This is standard in technology. However, I am paid way more than teachers in my present job. That said, at the beginning of my career, I worked even over 100 hours a week and even 36 straight hours before, and I got paid only barely more than my wife, who was a teacher. She’s no longer teaching, but still in the general field. She makes more, but not much more than if she had remained a teacher.

So the teacher in your relationship quit. That’s the point of this thread. What would she have needed to stay on as a teacher? More pay? More of a work/life balance? More respect? More supportive / useful admin?

The point was the pay and benefits are good and better than many other jobs.

And yet the teacher on this scenario quit, so the pay and benefits clearly aren’t that great. Sure, she may have stayed in education somehow but she isn’t a teacher. And we are extremely short on teachers.

So if the point was that pay and benefits are good, then using someone who left the classroom as your example isn’t very useful.

It just goes to show that despite the great pay and benefits that the grass is always greener somewhere else.

Exactly. So teachers are quitting. They are finding that the grass is always greener outside the classroom. We continue talking to our coworkers who have quit. They report higher pay, less stress, more respectful bosses, and more time with families. So more of us follow them.

[Anonymous]

Any kid with an IEP goes to a specialized school?? That’s dumb as shit

Anonymous wrote:At the end of the day, I signed up to teach. I don’t need additional perks. I just want to teach. I don’t need housing. I just want to teach.

How can I do that? I hate to say it BUT we need to go back to how it was. Take away the electronics. Laptops and cellphones included. Give these kids pencil and paper. Go back to having class segregated with on grade level, below and above. If your child has an IEP or 504 for whatever the damn reason is, they need to go to a specialized school.

[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:

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.

I’m not PP, but, yes, I work 65-70 hours a week. I don’t get paid overtime. I only get 7 federal holidays. I get paged and work on my days off, which are limited. I don’t get good healtcare coverage from my work, but it’s not bad. This is standard in technology. However, I am paid way more than teachers in my present job. That said, at the beginning of my career, I worked even over 100 hours a week and even 36 straight hours before, and I got paid only barely more than my wife, who was a teacher. She’s no longer teaching, but still in the general field. She makes more, but not much more than if she had remained a teacher.

So the teacher in your relationship quit. That’s the point of this thread. What would she have needed to stay on as a teacher? More pay? More of a work/life balance? More respect? More supportive / useful admin?

The point was the pay and benefits are good and better than many other jobs.

And yet the teacher on this scenario quit, so the pay and benefits clearly aren’t that great. Sure, she may have stayed in education somehow but she isn’t a teacher. And we are extremely short on teachers.

So if the point was that pay and benefits are good, then using someone who left the classroom as your example isn’t very useful.

It just goes to show that despite the great pay and benefits that the grass is always greener somewhere else.

Exactly. So teachers are quitting. They are finding that the grass is always greener outside the classroom. We continue talking to our coworkers who have quit. They report higher pay, less stress, more respectful bosses, and more time with families. So more of us follow them.

And, that's ok. Many of us have been in similar situations with jobs and choose to leave. The county isn't any better to work for in similar positions. For me, my entire salary would have gone to child care so it wasn't worth working at a job I was miserable at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I’m not PP, but, yes, I work 65-70 hours a week. I don’t get paid overtime. I only get 7 federal holidays. I get paged and work on my days off, which are limited. I don’t get good healtcare coverage from my work, but it’s not bad. This is standard in technology. However, I am paid way more than teachers in my present job. That said, at the beginning of my career, I worked even over 100 hours a week and even 36 straight hours before, and I got paid only barely more than my wife, who was a teacher. She’s no longer teaching, but still in the general field. She makes more, but not much more than if she had remained a teacher.

So the teacher in your relationship quit. That’s the point of this thread. What would she have needed to stay on as a teacher? More pay? More of a work/life balance? More respect? More supportive / useful admin?

Actually, she didn’t quit. She is still in education, but not in the classroom.

We need more people in the classroom and fewer sitting in offices. Admin and support staff positions are bloated because so many people use those jobs to avoid teaching.

What would it take for her to go back into the classroom?

She’s not in an office. I can’t give move info, since that will reveal who we are

[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: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.

I’m not PP, but, yes, I work 65-70 hours a week. I don’t get paid overtime. I only get 7 federal holidays. I get paged and work on my days off, which are limited. I don’t get good healtcare coverage from my work, but it’s not bad. This is standard in technology. However, I am paid way more than teachers in my present job. That said, at the beginning of my career, I worked even over 100 hours a week and even 36 straight hours before, and I got paid only barely more than my wife, who was a teacher. She’s no longer teaching, but still in the general field. She makes more, but not much more than if she had remained a teacher.

So the teacher in your relationship quit. That’s the point of this thread. What would she have needed to stay on as a teacher? More pay? More of a work/life balance? More respect? More supportive / useful admin?

Actually, she didn’t quit. She is still in education, but not in the classroom.

We need more people in the classroom and fewer sitting in offices. Admin and support staff positions are bloated because so many people use those jobs to avoid teaching.

What would it take for her to go back into the classroom?

She’s not in an office. I can’t give move info, since that will reveal who we are

I’m still curious: what would it take to get her back in the classroom? We have plenty of people employed by MCPS who don’t teach. Frankly, there are far too many of them, and the county would benefit from shrinking admin/central office. We need more teachers. What would it take to get her back to teaching?

[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:

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.

I’m not PP, but, yes, I work 65-70 hours a week. I don’t get paid overtime. I only get 7 federal holidays. I get paged and work on my days off, which are limited. I don’t get good healtcare coverage from my work, but it’s not bad. This is standard in technology. However, I am paid way more than teachers in my present job. That said, at the beginning of my career, I worked even over 100 hours a week and even 36 straight hours before, and I got paid only barely more than my wife, who was a teacher. She’s no longer teaching, but still in the general field. She makes more, but not much more than if she had remained a teacher.

So the teacher in your relationship quit. That’s the point of this thread. What would she have needed to stay on as a teacher? More pay? More of a work/life balance? More respect? More supportive / useful admin?

Actually, she didn’t quit. She is still in education, but not in the classroom.

We need more people in the classroom and fewer sitting in offices. Admin and support staff positions are bloated because so many people use those jobs to avoid teaching.

What would it take for her to go back into the classroom?

She’s not in an office. I can’t give move info, since that will reveal who we are

I’m still curious: what would it take to get her back in the classroom? We have plenty of people employed by MCPS who don’t teach. Frankly, there are far too many of them, and the county would benefit from shrinking admin/central office. We need more teachers. What would it take to get her back to teaching?

Lets be real. She's not going back to the classroom and those who are in admin generally aren't great teachers so best to leave them there.

[Anonymous]

Teachers getting cussed out? No consequence.
Vaping in the bathrooms? No consequence.
Late to class? No consequence.
E in a quarter? Still pass.

[Anonymous]

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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.

I’m not PP, but, yes, I work 65-70 hours a week. I don’t get paid overtime. I only get 7 federal holidays. I get paged and work on my days off, which are limited. I don’t get good healtcare coverage from my work, but it’s not bad. This is standard in technology. However, I am paid way more than teachers in my present job. That said, at the beginning of my career, I worked even over 100 hours a week and even 36 straight hours before, and I got paid only barely more than my wife, who was a teacher. She’s no longer teaching, but still in the general field. She makes more, but not much more than if she had remained a teacher.

It seems you were in a pretty crummy job situation. What made you stay? For anyone who counters with “but I also do XYZ…” why do you stay in your job that also isn’t great. These are honest questions. All jobs have crappy parts to them but not every career has shortages of people to take those jobs. So if you are in one of the jobs, why do you stay? That could help answer the teacher retention question.