MCPS asks for 4 days off so teachers can prepare building for in-person instruction

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's totally silly that they wouldn't give them the days to prepare. That's been one of the issues with transitioning - it isn't easy to do.

They should get a few days when we have an actual return date. It makes no sense to set up classrooms when we aren't realistically going back this year and if we do it will only be select populations.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I pray someone from Central office with any authority is reading this thread. For gods sake, you’ve had a YEAR to plan for this and you act like you’re surprised we might actually return to a school building, like ever. I never thought I’d have to beg for the CHOICE to send my kid to school.

New poster here. I agree with nearly everyone here. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Open the schools, teachers can prepare any afternoon after classes end - or before 9am when classes start. You're only teaching like 4-5 hours a day.

Honestly, rooms just won’t get set up then.

If I told my boss, “you are not giving me extra time off to do something that is essential for my job, so I’m just going to ship it,” I would get fired. I work for a nonprofit and don’t get paid a lot, but I am a professional. I am salaried and do what it takes to get my job done. This past year has been a nightmare and work got much busier than usual because I work on issues related to the pandemic. I worked late into the night most nights to get the work done, with no extra time off and no extra pay.

Thankfully, not all teachers have your attitude.

Except teachers are not asking for “time off”, they are asking for time to set up rooms for in-person instruction that you demanded. I’m a career-changer. I used to work a salaried position in two different state governments. If we had a physical setup for events ( time sensitive) to complete that took us away from a public-facing duty, we got the time. We were not told to come in on a Saturday or work from 5 pm until whenever multiple nights.

Setting up a classroom is not the same as an extra intellectual task. It’s physical labor.

There are multiple teachers telling you that rooms will not get set up. It’s the logical outcome of not having sufficient time provided for the task. Personally, I don’t think my students need more than a desk and a screen. They will have to stay seated in their taped off square anyway. The walls will stay bare and it will be okay. Because, according to you, in-school is automatically thousands of times better instruction somehow. This is the product you purchased.

Sorry, but using state government as a comparison is a joke. Also controlled by public sector unions, and there may be 5 people in every agency who stay after 4:59 p.m. to actually get work done. Yes, I was a state government employee. If you are a "professional" and care about doing a job well, you will work the extra hours.

Since you are a state employee hardly working, perhaps you can volunteer to help with set up since you are being paid.

When I worked for the county, I was lucky if I started at 8-9 and was home by 7 PM, sometimes later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My personal belongings are stacked on the shelves to the ceiling.

You stored your personal belongings at your workplace and now you want the government to pay you to organize them so your workplace can again be used for work. Interesting position.

[Anonymous]

MCPS teachers - don't feed these petty trolls. They wouldn't last a week in a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS teachers - don't feed these petty trolls. They wouldn't last a week in a school.

I have never talked to a single MCPS parent that is so irrationally hateful towards teachers. I have heard lots of things about administration, but not teachers. Its gotta be like one person who has issues that keeps posting over, and over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:What I'm seeing on this forum is very interesting. Teachers are saying that they are working hard to maintain DL and some parents are denying it. Parents are saying that DL is not working for their child and some teachers are denying it. Both of these things can be true. Teachers can be working hard and DL can also not work for everybody. Trash-talking parents and teachers for trying their hardest doesn't help anybody in this situation and only leads to an adversarial relationship with resentment on both sides. Ultimately, both "sides" want the same thing, for students to receive an education.

Should teachers get 4 days to set up their classroom? I have no idea. But I do know that both parents and teachers are working really hard and are reaching a point where they feel like they are burning out and that's it's just easier to blame somebody else. It is possible for both groups to feel the same way, but for different reasons.

I like you, rational poster.

I'm a working parent who is not burned out at all. My kids are getting straight A's. But they should be in school right now.

And I still think it's pathetic that MCPS teachers are teaching four days a week, for about five hours a day. That's not a full-time job. And they do not spend the rest of the time preparing for anything. Believe me, I listen to my kids' classes, and there's nothing special going on.

So I think it's time for teachers to stop accusing parents of not parenting their kids. That's not the issue here. The issue is that you need to reopen schools. Especially after Biden just reiterated it about half an hour ago. There is NO meaningful spread through smartly open schools, and I'm sick of my kids falling behind all of their friends in privates who have been at school all year.

You are saying that because you don’t SEE them doing work it ain’t happening? LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What I'm seeing on this forum is very interesting. Teachers are saying that they are working hard to maintain DL and some parents are denying it. Parents are saying that DL is not working for their child and some teachers are denying it. Both of these things can be true. Teachers can be working hard and DL can also not work for everybody. Trash-talking parents and teachers for trying their hardest doesn't help anybody in this situation and only leads to an adversarial relationship with resentment on both sides. Ultimately, both "sides" want the same thing, for students to receive an education.

Should teachers get 4 days to set up their classroom? I have no idea. But I do know that both parents and teachers are working really hard and are reaching a point where they feel like they are burning out and that's it's just easier to blame somebody else. It is possible for both groups to feel the same way, but for different reasons.

I like you, rational poster.

I'm a working parent who is not burned out at all. My kids are getting straight A's. But they should be in school right now.

And I still think it's pathetic that MCPS teachers are teaching four days a week, for about five hours a day. That's not a full-time job. And they do not spend the rest of the time preparing for anything. Believe me, I listen to my kids' classes, and there's nothing special going on.

So I think it's time for teachers to stop accusing parents of not parenting their kids. That's not the issue here. The issue is that you need to reopen schools. Especially after Biden just reiterated it about half an hour ago. There is NO meaningful spread through smartly open schools, and I'm sick of my kids falling behind all of their friends in privates who have been at school all year.

The real truth PP. You need to keep up and you’re angry. It’s not all about you. Parents are upset that going back to school isn’t an option yet and teachers are upset they may have to go too soon before vaccinations. Both sides feel as though a choice is being made for them. Truth is a choice was made for all of us and we are stuck in it. Your anger is misplaced.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My personal belongings are stacked on the shelves to the ceiling.

You stored your personal belongings at your workplace and now you want the government to pay you to organize them so your workplace can again be used for work. Interesting position.

A lot of the materials in a classroom belong to the teacher. Classroom libraries, markers, pencils, clipboards, stuffed animals, rugs, stools, cushions, rocking chairs, rolling chairs, wiggle cushions, posters on the walls and more.

We aren't talking about make-up and clothing, we are talking about materials that are used for instruction or to create a comfortable workspace for students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My personal belongings are stacked on the shelves to the ceiling.

You stored your personal belongings at your workplace and now you want the government to pay you to organize them so your workplace can again be used for work. Interesting position.

A lot of the materials in a classroom belong to the teacher. Classroom libraries, markers, pencils, clipboards, stuffed animals, rugs, stools, cushions, rocking chairs, rolling chairs, wiggle cushions, posters on the walls and more.

We aren't talking about make-up and clothing, we are talking about materials that are used for instruction or to create a comfortable workspace for students.

Exactly...Most teachers spend enormous amounts of their own money on materials for their classroom. A PP listed many examples above. Add to that bookshelves, containers, games, manipulatives (stored in large containers), and so much more. Teachers do not empty their classrooms at the end of each school year. All of these personal materials are packed up and yes, stacked on shelves.

You don't know what you don't know...

[Anonymous]

Listen I’m 100 percent for it if you’re actually going back. Take a week and we’ll do khan academy or whatever. But first we need a commitment from MCPS and the union.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:MCPS teachers - don't feed these petty trolls. They wouldn't last a week in a school.

I have never talked to a single MCPS parent that is so irrationally hateful towards teachers. I have heard lots of things about administration, but not teachers. Its gotta be like one person who has issues that keeps posting over, and over.

I'm pretty sure it's one guy and sometimes his side kick and neither have had children inperson in this county. This is a mental health problem.
-a parent who doesn't always love everything that happens in mcps but is far from the kook on this thread

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? So they lose their health insurance over the summer, or have to go on COBRA?

A year's worth of health insurance premiums are prorated across 10 months.

Yes but you are paying the employee’s share, not the full cost over the summer months. You do not pay COBRA rates. -NP

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You stored your personal belongings at your workplace and now you want the government to pay you to organize them so your workplace can again be used for work. Interesting position.

It would be nice if MCPS would supply a reasonable classroom full of stuff, but teachers routinely "supplement" out their own pockets. After a few years, it's quite a bit of stuff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Really? So they lose their health insurance over the summer, or have to go on COBRA?

A year's worth of health insurance premiums are prorated across 10 months.

Yes but you are paying the employee’s share, not the full cost over the summer months. You do not pay COBRA rates. -NP

Collective bargaining rocks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Listen I’m 100 percent for it if you’re actually going back. Take a week and we’ll do khan academy or whatever. But first we need a commitment from MCPS and the union.

What about a plan that calls for anyone who takes the four days and then refuses to come back to forfeit pay and benefits for that week?

Overall, it's hard to see the vaccination ploy as anything other than bad faith on the part of the union. Is this just a fishing expedition for hazard pay? Let's not forget the union successfully bargained to shorten the work week to 37.5 hours because of the pandemic, so the effective hourly rate has already increased this school year. Yeah, yeah, some teachers work more. But the union wouldn't have bargained for if members didn't want it.