Treatment of New Special Ed teachers hired by MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an administrator who was assigned one of these teachers to work at my elementary school this year as a SPED teacher. I finally met them this past week and it took them two hours to get to our school from their apartment in Silver Spring. While the teacher is experienced in the Philipines, they don't have much experience with technology which is now a huge component of the job. On a personal note, I'm appalled that MCPS has four grown adults sharing one bedroom apartments with no concrete plans for transportation. These individuals are expected to utilize public transportation to travel all over the county? It's utterly ridiculous. We provided our teacher with Giant gift cards after we were told they had been relying on canned food donations since their arrival.
This is going to be next disaster MCPS has to clear up.

Thank you for your honesty
- an mcps employee

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Let’s not forget all of the fees as part of this program. The agency charges participants $2,500 for a consultancy fee, a fee to check their credentials, visa fee, international flights to get here, plus thousands of dollars of their personal money to cover living expenses until their first paycheck.

http://www.fcec-inc.com/

Everyone is blaming MCPS but they are contracting out with this agency and its this agency's responsibility to do all this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an administrator who was assigned one of these teachers to work at my elementary school this year as a SPED teacher. I finally met them this past week and it took them two hours to get to our school from their apartment in Silver Spring. While the teacher is experienced in the Philipines, they don't have much experience with technology which is now a huge component of the job. On a personal note, I'm appalled that MCPS has four grown adults sharing one bedroom apartments with no concrete plans for transportation. These individuals are expected to utilize public transportation to travel all over the county? It's utterly ridiculous. We provided our teacher with Giant gift cards after we were told they had been relying on canned food donations since their arrival.
This is going to be next disaster MCPS has to clear up.

This isn't on MCPS, this is on the agency they hired. They are using this to boost up staff numbers by hiding them in contacts. Its pretty normal in government. The agency arranged the housing and transportation. I don't see anything wrong with 4 people sharing an apartment to save money and live within their means. Many of us did that and still live in tight situations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:According to MCPS “ In partnership with Foreign Cultural Exchange Consultants, Inc., these distinguished educators from the Philippines are provided with comprehensive support, including assistance in arranging housing accommodations and essential needs such as food, household goods, transportation, and security.” so why the hysteria on social media to get these teachers furniture and other household items? Why is MCEA not crying to the media about this agency and MCPS yet again lying about services? This isn’t much different than the electric bus fiasco. If this agency isn’t doing what McPS paid them to do, it needs to be dealt with ASAP. Stop eating tax payer money!

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/news/mcps-news/2024/06/philippines-cultural-exchange-program-welcome/#:~:text=The%20cohort%20of%2042%20educators,to%20teach%20in%20the%20U.S.

This is with a private agency, not MCPS. MCPS isn't going to care about them any more than anything else.

[Anonymous]

I bet you won’t find these teachers complaining. They are used to living in much more modest homes so 4 adults sharing a room isn’t unusual. They’re here to send money home so living frugally is the way to go that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I bet you won’t find these teachers complaining. They are used to living in much more modest homes so 4 adults sharing a room isn’t unusual. They’re here to send money home so living frugally is the way to go that.

Exactly. This is typical of Filipino workers. They work here and many countries around the world to support their children and parents back home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I bet you won’t find these teachers complaining. They are used to living in much more modest homes so 4 adults sharing a room isn’t unusual. They’re here to send money home so living frugally is the way to go that.

Exactly. This is typical of Filipino workers. They work here and many countries around the world to support their children and parents back home.

My hospital hired some Filipino workers through an agency with basically identical conditions as I stated upthread-- they Uber to work every day. They get shuffled to whatever shift needs them and cant do a thing. It sounds to be like a miserable life but apparently the money is so much better than in the Phillippines that they are willing to endure it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an administrator who was assigned one of these teachers to work at my elementary school this year as a SPED teacher. I finally met them this past week and it took them two hours to get to our school from their apartment in Silver Spring. While the teacher is experienced in the Philipines, they don't have much experience with technology which is now a huge component of the job. On a personal note, I'm appalled that MCPS has four grown adults sharing one bedroom apartments with no concrete plans for transportation. These individuals are expected to utilize public transportation to travel all over the county? It's utterly ridiculous. We provided our teacher with Giant gift cards after we were told they had been relying on canned food donations since their arrival.
This is going to be next disaster MCPS has to clear up.

This isn't on MCPS, this is on the agency they hired. They are using this to boost up staff numbers by hiding them in contacts. Its pretty normal in government. The agency arranged the housing and transportation. I don't see anything wrong with 4 people sharing an apartment to save money and live within their means. Many of us did that and still live in tight situations.

It’s very clear on the agency’s fees section of their website that these teachers will need $2-3k of their own funds to cover personal expenses until their first paycheck. So these women were not prepared and it’s their own fault. Are we sure these women aren’t taking advantage of us?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s not forget all of the fees as part of this program. The agency charges participants $2,500 for a consultancy fee, a fee to check their credentials, visa fee, international flights to get here, plus thousands of dollars of their personal money to cover living expenses until their first paycheck.

http://www.fcec-inc.com/

Everyone is blaming MCPS but they are contracting out with this agency and its this agency's responsibility to do all this.

I blame MCPS for selecting a cheap ass agency

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an administrator who was assigned one of these teachers to work at my elementary school this year as a SPED teacher. I finally met them this past week and it took them two hours to get to our school from their apartment in Silver Spring. While the teacher is experienced in the Philipines, they don't have much experience with technology which is now a huge component of the job. On a personal note, I'm appalled that MCPS has four grown adults sharing one bedroom apartments with no concrete plans for transportation. These individuals are expected to utilize public transportation to travel all over the county? It's utterly ridiculous. We provided our teacher with Giant gift cards after we were told they had been relying on canned food donations since their arrival.
This is going to be next disaster MCPS has to clear up.

Thank you for your honesty. Please do not expect or ask your other staff members to compensate for the disaster created by MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
It’s very clear on the agency’s fees section of their website that these teachers will need $2-3k of their own funds to cover personal expenses until their first paycheck. So these women were not prepared and it’s their own fault. Are we sure these women aren’t taking advantage of us?

What a sincerely weird thing to say. In what way are you being taken advantage of? Get a grip.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still think they should recruit homeless people bc they are americans and war vets that are used to similar war zones and they already have ptsd so its a win win for everyone.

I love this!

Are you serious?

[Anonymous]

I wonder if those filippino teachers have a chance to get out of agency and receive US work visa at the end of school year to be a MCPS hired employee receiving more benefits & pay if they do a great job and school want to hire them? If this is allowed on their contract, they may take this as an opportunity to take this job for now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s not forget all of the fees as part of this program. The agency charges participants $2,500 for a consultancy fee, a fee to check their credentials, visa fee, international flights to get here, plus thousands of dollars of their personal money to cover living expenses until their first paycheck.

http://www.fcec-inc.com/

Everyone is blaming MCPS but they are contracting out with this agency and its this agency's responsibility to do all this.

I blame MCPS for selecting a cheap ass agency

You need to get out of your bubble. These kind of agencies are typical in 3rd world countries. It isn't MCPS's responsibility to ensure they provide better services. Like the PP said, the conditions in these countries are worse so people go abroad and endure this to give their family better living conditions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s not forget all of the fees as part of this program. The agency charges participants $2,500 for a consultancy fee, a fee to check their credentials, visa fee, international flights to get here, plus thousands of dollars of their personal money to cover living expenses until their first paycheck.

http://www.fcec-inc.com/

Everyone is blaming MCPS but they are contracting out with this agency and its this agency's responsibility to do all this.

I blame MCPS for selecting a cheap ass agency

You need to get out of your bubble. These kind of agencies are typical in 3rd world countries. It isn't MCPS's responsibility to ensure they provide better services. Like the PP said, the conditions in these countries are worse so people go abroad and endure this to give their family better living conditions.

This is not a reason for us to exploit people