MCPS Reaches Agreement with MCEA to Raise Teachers' Wages

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are always aspects of other jobs that nobody talks about. I know a bunch of tech workers. Many of them do job hop a lot to get their raises. For a variety of obvious reasons that would not work for teaching. But there is also no job security. Half of my tech worker friends have been laid off in the last year and a couple of them are still unemployed.

Tech has a huge range is salaries as it is job or company specific. Layoffs are very common. No raises except if you company jump.

This has nothing to do w this thread. But I’m in tech. We absolutely get yearly raises and it has nothing to do with merit. Stop pretending like you know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a “snobby” degree. I’m not a better teacher than colleagues who went to less “snobby” schools. I didn’t take any education classes until graduate school, while these colleagues started getting real-life practice while still an undergraduate. I had to catch up. What my snobby degree arguably did do was make it easier to transition to a new field and out of MCPS. I may have had more options because I hadn’t zeroed in exclusively on education as an undergraduate. I’m not sure young people are incentivized to seek out teaching as an undergraduate these days because they can find their way there through different tracks and preserve other options at the same time.

Finally, someone that seems to get it. It may seem horribly unfair, but compensation for a job is only very loosely tied to how good you are at your job, or how hard you work. It is more based on your replacement cost, which in turn is associated with the compensation offered to people with similar skills/education/experience in other jobs that could do your job at a minimally acceptable level.

I’m not sure I read it the same way. To me, they are saying they have an out because they have a degree other than education. Many teachers do not. While teachers have transferable skills, teaching is all they know. So many are feeling incredible disenfranchised right now and overwhelmed.

PP here, and yes, that’s exactly it. That’s why teacher pay is what it is. Could some teachers change jobs and make more in total compensation? Yes, some could, but most could not.

I’m a teacher. I easily could. I have a bachelors in Econ and a maters in computer science. Do you know how many teachers I know with the same educational backgrounds? Actually most. We do this bc we love the kids. I could be making so much more…. Stop and think about that when you’re on a teacher rant. We are listening. We are planning our next moves.

Who has time for that? No one cares about your posts. The majority thinks they are insane and disregard them. Again, no one cares. Just stop posting, for your own sake.

Meant to be a reply to a psycho…not a teacher.

It's pretty clear the psycho here is you, jfc what is wrong with you?

You. You’re the problem. It’s you.

It’s hilarious we can all find the one who is seriously deranged and yet they can’t figure out multiple people replying to them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a “snobby” degree. I’m not a better teacher than colleagues who went to less “snobby” schools. I didn’t take any education classes until graduate school, while these colleagues started getting real-life practice while still an undergraduate. I had to catch up. What my snobby degree arguably did do was make it easier to transition to a new field and out of MCPS. I may have had more options because I hadn’t zeroed in exclusively on education as an undergraduate. I’m not sure young people are incentivized to seek out teaching as an undergraduate these days because they can find their way there through different tracks and preserve other options at the same time.

Finally, someone that seems to get it. It may seem horribly unfair, but compensation for a job is only very loosely tied to how good you are at your job, or how hard you work. It is more based on your replacement cost, which in turn is associated with the compensation offered to people with similar skills/education/experience in other jobs that could do your job at a minimally acceptable level.

I’m not sure I read it the same way. To me, they are saying they have an out because they have a degree other than education. Many teachers do not. While teachers have transferable skills, teaching is all they know. So many are feeling incredible disenfranchised right now and overwhelmed.

PP here, and yes, that’s exactly it. That’s why teacher pay is what it is. Could some teachers change jobs and make more in total compensation? Yes, some could, but most could not.

I’m a teacher. I easily could. I have a bachelors in Econ and a maters in computer science. Do you know how many teachers I know with the same educational backgrounds? Actually most. We do this bc we love the kids. I could be making so much more…. Stop and think about that when you’re on a teacher rant. We are listening. We are planning our next moves.

Who has time for that? No one cares about your posts. The majority thinks they are insane and disregard them. Again, no one cares. Just stop posting, for your own sake.

Meant to be a reply to a psycho…not a teacher.

It's pretty clear the psycho here is you, jfc what is wrong with you?

You. You’re the problem. It’s you.

How much time have you spent crafting juvenile insults for me? You literally can't even articulate what it is that I've said that is wrong or that you disagree with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are always aspects of other jobs that nobody talks about. I know a bunch of tech workers. Many of them do job hop a lot to get their raises. For a variety of obvious reasons that would not work for teaching. But there is also no job security. Half of my tech worker friends have been laid off in the last year and a couple of them are still unemployed.

Tech has a huge range is salaries as it is job or company specific. Layoffs are very common. No raises except if you company jump.

This has nothing to do w this thread. But I’m in tech. We absolutely get yearly raises and it has nothing to do with merit. Stop pretending like you know.

Maybe your company but that’s not the norm.

[Anonymous]

Teacher jobs have also lost appeal because they are so inflexible. Many jobs are now hybrid or 100% remote.
Teachers have to be in person 5 days a week and cannot be late. Taking a day off is a big hassle. No thanks. I will stick with my chill remote job

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher jobs have also lost appeal because they are so inflexible. Many jobs are now hybrid or 100% remote.
Teachers have to be in person 5 days a week and cannot be late. Taking a day off is a big hassle. No thanks. I will stick with my chill remote job

Forget taking off a whole day. It’s almost impossible to take the time to receive an important phone call. I’m waiting for results from a biopsy. I’ve asked that my doctor call after 3 pm, but I realize she is very busy. I can’t take the day off just to receive her call, but I’m not supposed to answer my phone during class.

I’ve been joking that I was lucky to get my initial cancer diagnosis in 2021 when we were still in Zoom school. I just muted myself, answered the phone, listened to my doctor tell me I had cancer, said thank you, promised to call a number to set up an appointment, and within 1 minute had unmuted myself and pretended nothing had happened while I taught the rest of the class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher jobs have also lost appeal because they are so inflexible. Many jobs are now hybrid or 100% remote.
Teachers have to be in person 5 days a week and cannot be late. Taking a day off is a big hassle. No thanks. I will stick with my chill remote job

Forget taking off a whole day. It’s almost impossible to take the time to receive an important phone call. I’m waiting for results from a biopsy. I’ve asked that my doctor call after 3 pm, but I realize she is very busy. I can’t take the day off just to receive her call, but I’m not supposed to answer my phone during class.

I’ve been joking that I was lucky to get my initial cancer diagnosis in 2021 when we were still in Zoom school. I just muted myself, answered the phone, listened to my doctor tell me I had cancer, said thank you, promised to call a number to set up an appointment, and within 1 minute had unmuted myself and pretended nothing had happened while I taught the rest of the class.

I am so so sorry. I hope you are getting the help and support you needed then (and now).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are always aspects of other jobs that nobody talks about. I know a bunch of tech workers. Many of them do job hop a lot to get their raises. For a variety of obvious reasons that would not work for teaching. But there is also no job security. Half of my tech worker friends have been laid off in the last year and a couple of them are still unemployed.

Tech has a huge range is salaries as it is job or company specific. Layoffs are very common. No raises except if you company jump.

This has nothing to do w this thread. But I’m in tech. We absolutely get yearly raises and it has nothing to do with merit. Stop pretending like you know.

Maybe your company but that’s not the norm.

Unless you're at a fortune 500 that is concerned with retention you normally have to change jobs to get a raise in tech but these days most people don't hang around anywhere for more than a year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a “snobby” degree. I’m not a better teacher than colleagues who went to less “snobby” schools. I didn’t take any education classes until graduate school, while these colleagues started getting real-life practice while still an undergraduate. I had to catch up. What my snobby degree arguably did do was make it easier to transition to a new field and out of MCPS. I may have had more options because I hadn’t zeroed in exclusively on education as an undergraduate. I’m not sure young people are incentivized to seek out teaching as an undergraduate these days because they can find their way there through different tracks and preserve other options at the same time.

Finally, someone that seems to get it. It may seem horribly unfair, but compensation for a job is only very loosely tied to how good you are at your job, or how hard you work. It is more based on your replacement cost, which in turn is associated with the compensation offered to people with similar skills/education/experience in other jobs that could do your job at a minimally acceptable level.

The replacement cost is obviously too encourage more teachers to get into the career and deal with the challenges of modern education.

[Anonymous]

MoCo 360 has a new article out about the scale and impact of the sub shortage and subsequent teacher exodus: https://moco360.media/2023/06/29/mcps-teachers-quitting-amid-substitute-staff-shortages-student-behavior-issues/

Montgomery County Public Schools continues to be plagued by substitute teacher shortages, with recently-obtained data showing nearly half of over 164,000 requests went unfilled over the past school year. Current and former MCPS teachers suggest student behavioral issues and insufficient pay rates could be to blame—and some teachers are quitting as a result.

A 10-year veteran MCPS teacher—who requested anonymity for privacy and safety concerns—recently announced she had made the difficult decision to leave the county’s public school system, citing behavioral issues as a key reason. She told MoCo360 that substitutes face unique barriers when attempting to address misbehavior issues.

“Students are in there filming TikTok videos and getting into fights in the classroom,” she said. “They wouldn’t necessarily exhibit that behavior with their own teacher, but as a substitute you don’t have that relationship with them.”

The anonymous teacher told MoCo360 that in the course of her job duties, she deals with middle school students “screaming, yelling, pushing, biting, making threats, assaulting staff members” and more on a daily basis.

Over the course of the 2022-23 school year, MCPS generated over 164,000 requests for short-term substitute teachers, according to data obtained by MoCo360—a number higher than the school district’s 160,500 student population.

Of those job requests, over 75,000 couldn’t be filled by a substitute, meaning another staff member at school had to fill the vacancy or classes had to be combined. Some educators say in recent months they’ve ended up covering an average of one or two classes a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MoCo 360 has a new article out about the scale and impact of the sub shortage and subsequent teacher exodus: https://moco360.media/2023/06/29/mcps-teachers-quitting-amid-substitute-staff-shortages-student-behavior-issues/

Montgomery County Public Schools continues to be plagued by substitute teacher shortages, with recently-obtained data showing nearly half of over 164,000 requests went unfilled over the past school year. Current and former MCPS teachers suggest student behavioral issues and insufficient pay rates could be to blame—and some teachers are quitting as a result.

A 10-year veteran MCPS teacher—who requested anonymity for privacy and safety concerns—recently announced she had made the difficult decision to leave the county’s public school system, citing behavioral issues as a key reason. She told MoCo360 that substitutes face unique barriers when attempting to address misbehavior issues.

“Students are in there filming TikTok videos and getting into fights in the classroom,” she said. “They wouldn’t necessarily exhibit that behavior with their own teacher, but as a substitute you don’t have that relationship with them.”

The anonymous teacher told MoCo360 that in the course of her job duties, she deals with middle school students “screaming, yelling, pushing, biting, making threats, assaulting staff members” and more on a daily basis.

Over the course of the 2022-23 school year, MCPS generated over 164,000 requests for short-term substitute teachers, according to data obtained by MoCo360—a number higher than the school district’s 160,500 student population.

Of those job requests, over 75,000 couldn’t be filled by a substitute, meaning another staff member at school had to fill the vacancy or classes had to be combined. Some educators say in recent months they’ve ended up covering an average of one or two classes a week.

Thanks for sharing the link. And thanks to Em Espey for this reporting.