incompetent teacher -- what can parents do?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Out of curiosity I searched for the teacher in question and she shows up as working at an MCPS school. I won’t state her name but looks like she landed somewhere else in the system, just as everyone predicted, holy cow.

I don't know her name so can't Google, but would you say the school she was transferred to has families with fewer advantages or ability to advocate than Pyle?

[Anonymous]

100%

[Anonymous]

I will say MOST principals are good about not passing a lemon. I've had other admin call me and ask for references for a teacher who is trying to get out of my building and I'm always upfront with any concerns. Some principals (very few) do make the mistake of hiring without calling the current principal and then get stuck with a teacher who will need to be on an improvement plan upon hiring.

[Anonymous]

Many reasons to be unhappy with the instuction your child gets in the classroom -
- incompetent teachers who are the unfortunate product of the US public school system
- incompetent teachers because the low teacher's pay does not attract academic superstars
- Classroom disruptions because of unruly students who cannot be disciplined
- Horrible, terrible MCPS curriculum and no textbooks
- undifferentiated student body. Under grade, on grade and above grade students are all in the same classroom and no one is being served.


What can you do?
- Complain and insist that your child is moved to another teacher
- Enrich at home
- Download MCPS curriculum (only implementation sucked, most curriculum is not terrible), and teach at home
- Get a tutor at home
- Put in time and effort. It is only three years of hard-work from your side for the middle school years.

Once they are in HS, the differentiation happens naturally. Only the top students take AP classes. You could still get a terrible teacher in HS. At that point you do not complain and you hunker down so that you are not dinged when teachers give you recommendation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will say MOST principals are good about not passing a lemon. I've had other admin call me and ask for references for a teacher who is trying to get out of my building and I'm always upfront with any concerns. Some principals (very few) do make the mistake of hiring without calling the current principal and then get stuck with a teacher who will need to be on an improvement plan upon hiring.

Are you kidding? Most good principals will do whatever it takes to get terrible teachers out of their school.

[Anonymous]

Principals don’t always have a choice. Those are called “placements.” They can then start documenting ASAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I will say MOST principals are good about not passing a lemon. I've had other admin call me and ask for references for a teacher who is trying to get out of my building and I'm always upfront with any concerns. Some principals (very few) do make the mistake of hiring without calling the current principal and then get stuck with a teacher who will need to be on an improvement plan upon hiring.

Are you kidding? Most good principals will do whatever it takes to get terrible teachers out of their school.

Are you a principal? If not, then you don't know what you're talking about. I cannot think of a single principal that I know who would pass a lemon. Trust me, I wish I could do it but I cannot have my name attached to something like that. The real issue is that the teacher union makes administration jump through too many hoops to get the lemons out. Teachers have to be on growth plans with regularly documented observations for months at a time before placing a teacher on PAR. Then you have to wait it out while the teacher gets visited from an outside observer (consulting teacher) and hope he/she sees the same issues that you do in the classroom. Then you get to gather 20 binders full of artifacts and present them to the PAR panel at the end of the year and hope that the teacher is dismissed. It's a huge pain in the butt but I do it when needed because I cannot let my students receive inadequate instruction year after year from an under performing teacher. Fortunately, most teachers who struggle are very responsive to feedback and do well with the help of our staff development teacher.

[Anonymous]

Yes. And when teachers stay an extra year it is generally because of either machinations on the part of the teacher (ie using leave to work the system) or a disorganized principal who loses a critical deadline. I’ve also seen examples where a principal should have sought help from compliance, because they feared taking action when the teacher has a health or mental health issue, just returned from maternity leave, belongs to a protected class, (ie age, person of color) or something along those lines.

[Anonymous]

*misses a deadline not loses

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out of curiosity I searched for the teacher in question and she shows up as working at an MCPS school. I won’t state her name but looks like she landed somewhere else in the system, just as everyone predicted, holy cow.

I don't know her name so can't Google, but would you say the school she was transferred to has families with fewer advantages or ability to advocate than Pyle?

Yes they put her in a low income MCPS middle school. She’s back again!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many reasons to be unhappy with the instuction your child gets in the classroom -
- incompetent teachers who are the unfortunate product of the US public school system
- incompetent teachers because the low teacher's pay does not attract academic superstars
- Classroom disruptions because of unruly students who cannot be disciplined
- Horrible, terrible MCPS curriculum and no textbooks
- undifferentiated student body. Under grade, on grade and above grade students are all in the same classroom and no one is being served.


What can you do?
- Complain and insist that your child is moved to another teacher
- Enrich at home
- Download MCPS curriculum (only implementation sucked, most curriculum is not terrible), and teach at home
- Get a tutor at home
- Put in time and effort. It is only three years of hard-work from your side for the middle school years.

Once they are in HS, the differentiation happens naturally. Only the top students take AP classes. You could still get a terrible teacher in HS. At that point you do not complain and you hunker down so that you are not dinged when teachers give you recommendation.

You can’t download the whole curriculum. You’ll only get a snapshot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out of curiosity I searched for the teacher in question and she shows up as working at an MCPS school. I won’t state her name but looks like she landed somewhere else in the system, just as everyone predicted, holy cow.

I don't know her name so can't Google, but would you say the school she was transferred to has families with fewer advantages or ability to advocate than Pyle?

Yes they put her in a low income MCPS middle school. She’s back again!

Name the school. Not everyone here has their kid in a W-feeder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out of curiosity I searched for the teacher in question and she shows up as working at an MCPS school. I won’t state her name but looks like she landed somewhere else in the system, just as everyone predicted, holy cow.

If you look her up on the MD judiciary case search, you’ll notice there’s an interesting upcoming public trial. Who’s going? Who’s bringing popcorn?

I just did, but I only see past cases (last action in Nov 2017) for Montgomery County. Is it in another county?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out of curiosity I searched for the teacher in question and she shows up as working at an MCPS school. I won’t state her name but looks like she landed somewhere else in the system, just as everyone predicted, holy cow.

If you look her up on the MD judiciary case search, you’ll notice there’s an interesting upcoming public trial. Who’s going? Who’s bringing popcorn?

I just did, but I only see past cases (last action in Nov 2017) for Montgomery County. Is it in another county?

She's not the only mcps teacher in that judicial system database, including ones with active and disturbing cases. I think teachers are compelled to report, so I assume the county knows about these teachers' legal issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Out of curiosity I searched for the teacher in question and she shows up as working at an MCPS school. I won’t state her name but looks like she landed somewhere else in the system, just as everyone predicted, holy cow.

If you look her up on the MD judiciary case search, you’ll notice there’s an interesting upcoming public trial. Who’s going? Who’s bringing popcorn?

I just did, but I only see past cases (last action in Nov 2017) for Montgomery County. Is it in another county?

it's an open case in montgomery county