what is going to happen to teachers' salaries next year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope everyone who is writing here with their thoughts in Reid’s proposal also writes the school board, the union (if they are a member) and signs up to speak at the May 13 budget hearing. https://www.fcps.edu/school-board/community-participation

Reid, the school board and the union seem extremely out of touch with what most teachers and parents want.

and out of touch with spending-teacher salaries and cuts at ES shouldn’t even have to be issue when FCPS has a documented increase in spending of $1 billion in last 5 years. $1 billion increase in budget since 2021 and Reid says still can’t find $ to pay the teachers and is instead making cuts to impact ES. Oh, but let’s make sure to buy $17 million worth of electric buses, hire and pay so many consultants to do study after study that aren’t actually used….

I saw they reduced the expenditure by $2.8 mil. Are they still budgeting $17 mil for electric buses?

[Anonymous]

County employees -- operational employees who have far less to do than FCPS operations -- got SIX percent last year, when McKay and team cut FCPS to 3 or 4 percent. Some got 10 to 12 percent, which McKay/Walkinshaw celebrated as a victory for collective bargaining and workers finally getting a say in contracts.

FCPS is the largest employer in the county and it's biggest cost is labor, specifically school-based labor. It's also the main reason anyone buys homes and relocates corporations here.

Don't fall for misleading info from our "colleagues" in county government and don't attack each other. That's when they win -- there is zero reason educators have to take peanuts every year given what we bring to this region. Be proud and stand together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here. I would rather get a smaller raise than have any of the cuts happen. These cuts will make my job harder and is not in the best interest of students. If the cuts were instructional coaches, there would be less pushback as they do not work with students and make teacher’s jobs easier. IMO, those positions should be the first to go.

Agreed but the big culprit where cuts need to happen is Gatehouse and most of those people absolutely do nothing but make teachers lives horrible.

Gatehouse employee here: Most of the people at “Gatehouse” are operational employees that are in the same collective bargaining unit as the teachers, and we aren’t making the fancy paychecks people think are. Everything we do is to support schools, and without us, people wouldn’t get hired, get their paychecks, get benefits support, supplies, building maintenance, tech support, security upgrades, etc. BUT there are a lot of “senior leadership” and chief positions at Gatehouse that have been created by Dr. Reid and we don’t need them. I really wish people would stop lumping all of Gatehouse together, because there are a lot of us that really care about teachers. A pay raise isn’t a victory if it comes at the cost of other employees, and I would happily take a lower pay raise to save jobs. Heck, give me back my telework and I’ll forfeit my entire raise!

We're not talking about operational positions. You're absolutely needed and we appreciate your work. We're talking about the "specialists" (thanks for all the extra testing that we have to do that reduce our time to teach, folks) and whoever is pushing the flavor-du-jour fad (SBG last year, UDL this year. What's next year?) and the "equity team" that lectures us once a year about oppression (what are you doing for kids exactly?) and other assorted meddlers.

+1

The equity team at Willow oaks can be cut as well as flavor of the moment programs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do instructional coaches do?

They literally make more work for teachers. That's their entire job. Some of them are nice people and well-liked, but few of us would miss those positions if they were all cut.

Can you give an example of “more work?”

Different teacher, force us to sit in an hour long meeting to plan a unit that we already material to use from the previous year.

“Unpack standards” that are already unpacked in the pacing.
CT meetings that always start with a grounding exercise.
CT meetings in which we “jigsaw” an article and then “share out” about what we read.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do instructional coaches do?

They literally make more work for teachers. That's their entire job. Some of them are nice people and well-liked, but few of us would miss those positions if they were all cut.

Can you give an example of “more work?”

Different teacher, force us to sit in an hour long meeting to plan a unit that we already material to use from the previous year.

“Unpack standards” that are already unpacked in the pacing.
CT meetings that always start with a grounding exercise.
CT meetings in which we “jigsaw” an article and then “share out” about what we read.

DP. Add to that a huge list of pointless questions that need to be answered and documented during the CT meeting. When are we supposed to discuss what we're actually doing then?
This is the same person who sent us a document last year about how if a student was on their phone in class (most of them were), we should have a discussion with the student to understand why they're using the phone, since phones are such a part of this generation's nature... I kid you not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do instructional coaches do?

They literally make more work for teachers. That's their entire job. Some of them are nice people and well-liked, but few of us would miss those positions if they were all cut.

I disagree, at least at our school. With all the new teachers, they really help out with their planning and coaching. These teachers have mentors, but they can’t do it all, especially when they’re teaching their own classes.

Also with the amount of teacher trainees and novice teachers there is an absolute need for coaching support. I’ve seen first hand that teacher skillset in the county is not what it was 15 years ago.

I was a young, naive teacher once. Do you know who I learned from? My colleagues at the same grade level. This is one reasons some of this training needs to be examined much more carefully.

I admit that I worked with colleagues that, for the most part, got along well. I worked in three different school systems and always learned more from my team. And, while we did have team meetings from time to time, we also gathered informally after school frequently as friends sharing ideas and suggestions.

And I’ve listened to MANY of those veteran colleagues state that they are exhausted with having to do this and that new teachers today need so much more support. This isn’t a criticism but instead an acknowledgment that more support is necessary.

I’m one of those veteran teachers.

I’d rather help the new members in the department myself. Coaches are out of the classroom and therefore are no longer using the skills, dealing with the stress, etc. And as circumstances change year after year, coaches actually lose the expertise they are supposed to have. Their knowledge becomes outdated.

I’d rather the coaches go back into classrooms. Take the weight off the rest of us. We’ll continue to support our new teachers the way we always have.

Exactly. You’re ONE of them and I’m sure there are some more on this board that hate coaches and will pipe up. I can promise you that across the county many veteran teachers genuinely emotionally dump on me about their work load due to novice teachers. Stop thinking that your experience is the only one and accept that the teacher candidate pool has changed drastically over the last 15-20 years.

And no I’m not an instructional coach.

Please. I still have the same amount of work to do. The coach isn’t in the classroom, doesn’t collaborate or provide materials, etc. New teachers lean on me just as much now as they did before coaches.

Put them back in the classrooms so they can alleviate loads - fewer students, less grading, etc. Now all they do is duplicate effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do instructional coaches do?

They literally make more work for teachers. That's their entire job. Some of them are nice people and well-liked, but few of us would miss those positions if they were all cut.

I disagree, at least at our school. With all the new teachers, they really help out with their planning and coaching. These teachers have mentors, but they can’t do it all, especially when they’re teaching their own classes.

Also with the amount of teacher trainees and novice teachers there is an absolute need for coaching support. I’ve seen first hand that teacher skillset in the county is not what it was 15 years ago.

I was a young, naive teacher once. Do you know who I learned from? My colleagues at the same grade level. This is one reasons some of this training needs to be examined much more carefully.

I admit that I worked with colleagues that, for the most part, got along well. I worked in three different school systems and always learned more from my team. And, while we did have team meetings from time to time, we also gathered informally after school frequently as friends sharing ideas and suggestions.

And I’ve listened to MANY of those veteran colleagues state that they are exhausted with having to do this and that new teachers today need so much more support. This isn’t a criticism but instead an acknowledgment that more support is necessary.

I’m one of those veteran teachers.

I’d rather help the new members in the department myself. Coaches are out of the classroom and therefore are no longer using the skills, dealing with the stress, etc. And as circumstances change year after year, coaches actually lose the expertise they are supposed to have. Their knowledge becomes outdated.

I’d rather the coaches go back into classrooms. Take the weight off the rest of us. We’ll continue to support our new teachers the way we always have.

Exactly. You’re ONE of them and I’m sure there are some more on this board that hate coaches and will pipe up. I can promise you that across the county many veteran teachers genuinely emotionally dump on me about their work load due to novice teachers. Stop thinking that your experience is the only one and accept that the teacher candidate pool has changed drastically over the last 15-20 years.

And no I’m not an instructional coach.

Please. I still have the same amount of work to do. The coach isn’t in the classroom, doesn’t collaborate or provide materials, etc. New teachers lean on me just as much now as they did before coaches.

Put them back in the classrooms so they can alleviate loads - fewer students, less grading, etc. Now all they do is duplicate effort.

Maybe their job needs to be reimagined. They should be pairing themselves with teachers in the classroom and coaching them in the moment. Identifying a skill deficit, create an agreed upon instructional intervention, coach them and then run fidelity checks to ensure skill acquisition etc.

Fairfax County runs itself with the delusion that all staff have the necessary foundational knowledge, which is not the case. There is no systematic method of implementing new programming and people that are already struggling drown even more. FCPS needs to be stripped down and put back together in a socially valid way with all stakeholders having a voice at the table.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:County employees -- operational employees who have far less to do than FCPS operations -- got SIX percent last year, when McKay and team cut FCPS to 3 or 4 percent. Some got 10 to 12 percent, which McKay/Walkinshaw celebrated as a victory for collective bargaining and workers finally getting a say in contracts.

FCPS is the largest employer in the county and it's biggest cost is labor, specifically school-based labor. It's also the main reason anyone buys homes and relocates corporations here.

Don't fall for misleading info from our "colleagues" in county government and don't attack each other. That's when they win -- there is zero reason educators have to take peanuts every year given what we bring to this region. Be proud and stand together.

You have got to stop putting out lies. Fairfax County gave all its employees a 2% MSA in the FY25 budget. There were other targeted increases based on performance so some employees got between a 3% and 6% raise. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budget/sites/budget/files/Assets/Documents/fy2025/fy2025-adopted-package.pdf

FCPS gave all of its employees a 4% MSA plus a 2% midyear increase. “The approved budget includes a 4% compensation increase for all employees, funding to maintain class sizes in light of projected enrollment growth, continuation of key multiyear initiatives, and resources to support student well-being outside the classroom. The approved budget also maintains the mid-year 2% compensation increase for all employees approved by the School Board in January.” https://www.fcps.edu/news/fairfax-county-school-board-adopts-fy-2025-budget-focusing-available-resources-staff#:~:text=The%20FY%202025%20Approved%20Budget,the%20FY%202024%20Approved%20Budget.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope everyone who is writing here with their thoughts in Reid’s proposal also writes the school board, the union (if they are a member) and signs up to speak at the May 13 budget hearing. https://www.fcps.edu/school-board/community-participation

Reid, the school board and the union seem extremely out of touch with what most teachers and parents want.

and out of touch with spending-teacher salaries and cuts at ES shouldn’t even have to be issue when FCPS has a documented increase in spending of $1 billion in last 5 years. $1 billion increase in budget since 2021 and Reid says still can’t find $ to pay the teachers and is instead making cuts to impact ES. Oh, but let’s make sure to buy $17 million worth of electric buses, hire and pay so many consultants to do study after study that aren’t actually used….

I saw they reduced the expenditure by $2.8 mil. Are they still budgeting $17 mil for electric buses?

FCPS seems to have been missing point of budgets being used to plan and look ahead and that don’t run a school system this big as if live paycheck to paycheck and spend entirety of paychecks when get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope everyone who is writing here with their thoughts in Reid’s proposal also writes the school board, the union (if they are a member) and signs up to speak at the May 13 budget hearing. https://www.fcps.edu/school-board/community-participation

Reid, the school board and the union seem extremely out of touch with what most teachers and parents want.

and out of touch with spending-teacher salaries and cuts at ES shouldn’t even have to be issue when FCPS has a documented increase in spending of $1 billion in last 5 years. $1 billion increase in budget since 2021 and Reid says still can’t find $ to pay the teachers and is instead making cuts to impact ES. Oh, but let’s make sure to buy $17 million worth of electric buses, hire and pay so many consultants to do study after study that aren’t actually used….

I saw they reduced the expenditure by $2.8 mil. Are they still budgeting $17 mil for electric buses?

They already spent it when could have spent it on teachers. FCPS seems to have been missing point of budgets- need to look ahead don’t run a school system this big as if live paycheck to paycheck and spending entirely of paychecks when get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:County employees -- operational employees who have far less to do than FCPS operations -- got SIX percent last year, when McKay and team cut FCPS to 3 or 4 percent. Some got 10 to 12 percent, which McKay/Walkinshaw celebrated as a victory for collective bargaining and workers finally getting a say in contracts.

FCPS is the largest employer in the county and it's biggest cost is labor, specifically school-based labor. It's also the main reason anyone buys homes and relocates corporations here.

Don't fall for misleading info from our "colleagues" in county government and don't attack each other. That's when they win -- there is zero reason educators have to take peanuts every year given what we bring to this region. Be proud and stand together.

You have got to stop putting out lies. Fairfax County gave all its employees a 2% MSA in the FY25 budget. There were other targeted increases based on performance so some employees got between a 3% and 6% raise. https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/budget/sites/budget/files/Assets/Documents/fy2025/fy2025-adopted-package.pdf

FCPS gave all of its employees a 4% MSA plus a 2% midyear increase. “The approved budget includes a 4% compensation increase for all employees, funding to maintain class sizes in light of projected enrollment growth, continuation of key multiyear initiatives, and resources to support student well-being outside the classroom. The approved budget also maintains the mid-year 2% compensation increase for all employees approved by the School Board in January.” https://www.fcps.edu/news/fairfax-county-school-board-adopts-fy-2025-budget-focusing-available-resources-staff#:~:text=The%20FY%202025%20Approved%20Budget,the%20FY%202024%20Approved%20Budget.

In the spirit of putting out lies: nobody in FCPS got a 2% increase mid year this year. Due to tightness in last year’s budget (2023-2024), part of last year’s increase had to be held until the middle of the year. So everyone got the rest of their increase (2%) in January of 2024. That line of the budget was just maintaining the increase that was given, hence the word “maintains,” so that everyone didn’t wind up with a 2% decrease.

A bit misleading in the budget, but there is no truth in the statement that FCPS employees got a 4% increase this year followed by a 2% mid year increase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do instructional coaches do?

They literally make more work for teachers. That's their entire job. Some of them are nice people and well-liked, but few of us would miss those positions if they were all cut.

I disagree, at least at our school. With all the new teachers, they really help out with their planning and coaching. These teachers have mentors, but they can’t do it all, especially when they’re teaching their own classes.

Also with the amount of teacher trainees and novice teachers there is an absolute need for coaching support. I’ve seen first hand that teacher skillset in the county is not what it was 15 years ago.

I was a young, naive teacher once. Do you know who I learned from? My colleagues at the same grade level. This is one reasons some of this training needs to be examined much more carefully.

I admit that I worked with colleagues that, for the most part, got along well. I worked in three different school systems and always learned more from my team. And, while we did have team meetings from time to time, we also gathered informally after school frequently as friends sharing ideas and suggestions.

And I’ve listened to MANY of those veteran colleagues state that they are exhausted with having to do this and that new teachers today need so much more support. This isn’t a criticism but instead an acknowledgment that more support is necessary.

I’m one of those veteran teachers.

I’d rather help the new members in the department myself. Coaches are out of the classroom and therefore are no longer using the skills, dealing with the stress, etc. And as circumstances change year after year, coaches actually lose the expertise they are supposed to have. Their knowledge becomes outdated.

I’d rather the coaches go back into classrooms. Take the weight off the rest of us. We’ll continue to support our new teachers the way we always have.

Exactly. You’re ONE of them and I’m sure there are some more on this board that hate coaches and will pipe up. I can promise you that across the county many veteran teachers genuinely emotionally dump on me about their work load due to novice teachers. Stop thinking that your experience is the only one and accept that the teacher candidate pool has changed drastically over the last 15-20 years.

And no I’m not an instructional coach.

Please. I still have the same amount of work to do. The coach isn’t in the classroom, doesn’t collaborate or provide materials, etc. New teachers lean on me just as much now as they did before coaches.

Put them back in the classrooms so they can alleviate loads - fewer students, less grading, etc. Now all they do is duplicate effort.

Maybe their job needs to be reimagined. They should be pairing themselves with teachers in the classroom and coaching them in the moment. Identifying a skill deficit, create an agreed upon instructional intervention, coach them and then run fidelity checks to ensure skill acquisition etc.

Fairfax County runs itself with the delusion that all staff have the necessary foundational knowledge, which is not the case. There is no systematic method of implementing new programming and people that are already struggling drown even more. FCPS needs to be stripped down and put back together in a socially valid way with all stakeholders having a voice at the table.

It makes more sense to take a class or other responsibilities from a veteran teacher and pair that teacher with a new hire. The veteran teacher is still an educator who can directly coach, whereas the instructional coach is a step removed from the profession and no longer practicing the skills.

[Anonymous]

Maybe their job needs to be reimagined. They should be pairing themselves with teachers in the classroom and coaching them in the moment. Identifying a skill deficit, create an agreed upon instructional intervention, coach them and then run fidelity checks to ensure skill acquisition etc.

What makes you think they have better ideas than the teachers they are supposed to help? Some took the job to get out of the classroom.

I knew someone who was hired as an instructional coach who was an ESL teacher and had never been a classroom teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do instructional coaches do?

They literally make more work for teachers. That's their entire job. Some of them are nice people and well-liked, but few of us would miss those positions if they were all cut.

I disagree, at least at our school. With all the new teachers, they really help out with their planning and coaching. These teachers have mentors, but they can’t do it all, especially when they’re teaching their own classes.

Also with the amount of teacher trainees and novice teachers there is an absolute need for coaching support. I’ve seen first hand that teacher skillset in the county is not what it was 15 years ago.

I was a young, naive teacher once. Do you know who I learned from? My colleagues at the same grade level. This is one reasons some of this training needs to be examined much more carefully.

I admit that I worked with colleagues that, for the most part, got along well. I worked in three different school systems and always learned more from my team. And, while we did have team meetings from time to time, we also gathered informally after school frequently as friends sharing ideas and suggestions.

And I’ve listened to MANY of those veteran colleagues state that they are exhausted with having to do this and that new teachers today need so much more support. This isn’t a criticism but instead an acknowledgment that more support is necessary.

I’m one of those veteran teachers.

I’d rather help the new members in the department myself. Coaches are out of the classroom and therefore are no longer using the skills, dealing with the stress, etc. And as circumstances change year after year, coaches actually lose the expertise they are supposed to have. Their knowledge becomes outdated.

I’d rather the coaches go back into classrooms. Take the weight off the rest of us. We’ll continue to support our new teachers the way we always have.

Exactly. You’re ONE of them and I’m sure there are some more on this board that hate coaches and will pipe up. I can promise you that across the county many veteran teachers genuinely emotionally dump on me about their work load due to novice teachers. Stop thinking that your experience is the only one and accept that the teacher candidate pool has changed drastically over the last 15-20 years.

And no I’m not an instructional coach.

Please. I still have the same amount of work to do. The coach isn’t in the classroom, doesn’t collaborate or provide materials, etc. New teachers lean on me just as much now as they did before coaches.

Put them back in the classrooms so they can alleviate loads - fewer students, less grading, etc. Now all they do is duplicate effort.

Maybe their job needs to be reimagined. They should be pairing themselves with teachers in the classroom and coaching them in the moment. Identifying a skill deficit, create an agreed upon instructional intervention, coach them and then run fidelity checks to ensure skill acquisition etc.

Fairfax County runs itself with the delusion that all staff have the necessary foundational knowledge, which is not the case. There is no systematic method of implementing new programming and people that are already struggling drown even more. FCPS needs to be stripped down and put back together in a socially valid way with all stakeholders having a voice at the table.

We had a program like that in our elementary school. Coach was half a day in class, half a day making the rest of us do more work. We all learned the program really well and I will say that it was pretty universally implemented throughout the school. Would have been great if they didn't decide ten years later that it was a terrible program and kids weren't learning any better than before - worse, in fact - and then fired the coach and brought in another horrible program to force on everyone. In ten years we will find out this one sucked too. They could save a lot of money and trouble if they just let teachers do their jobs. We all knew that program wasn't any good right from the start.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Maybe their job needs to be reimagined. They should be pairing themselves with teachers in the classroom and coaching them in the moment. Identifying a skill deficit, create an agreed upon instructional intervention, coach them and then run fidelity checks to ensure skill acquisition etc.

What makes you think they have better ideas than the teachers they are supposed to help? Some took the job to get out of the classroom.

I knew someone who was hired as an instructional coach who was an ESL teacher and had never been a classroom teacher.

I'm an ESL teacher and we work in classrooms plenty, and often have our own classroom. Just because we often have to go to two or three different rooms in a day doesn't mean classroom teachers know more about literacy instruction than we do.