Does Anyone Have Any Examples of How the MCPS Shortage is Impacting Things This Year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No consistent teacher for a high school Computer Science class. It’s a series of short term subs who are babysitting the class. The curriculum is not being taught and this is a class my child needed as a technology credit.

This was an issue in the summer, too. Ended up being a wasted class.

It seems strange, but if there have to be long term subs (who know nothing about the subject) somewhere in the school, this is the course for it. My dd took the same course a couple of years ago with a teacher who'd been there a long time (I think at the same school as this complaint came up in a more specific way at a PTA meeting) and every single class day was sitting at their computer and working through an existing tutorial website. Like every class. She admitted to me once that she sometimes just submitted anything to the website because the teacher didn't grade the material, just checked it off for completion.

She later took another computer science course, and two different classes (one beginning, one advanced) were in the same teacher/room. And this worked because, again, there was no lecture or large class work per se. Basically an independent study class. In that class, apparently, the teacher knew a lot if you approached her with questions. But students rarely did.

Don't get me wrong-- this is a terrible way to teach the class. But actually, a LT sub can do it as well as anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:35 kids in my son's high school geometry class.

Basically the same as any other year...

This is normal at our middle school.

[Anonymous]

Same as any year. The people on his forum are nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m sure (I hope, at least!) that this year teachers are staying home when they have cold-type symptoms that in past years they’d just push through.


But I don’t think we want teachers, even vaccinated ones, powering through that throat tickle or slight cough to head into the classroom. So everybody scrambles to cover. Following those covid best practices is inevitably going to exacerbate the shortage of subs that’s been a recurring problem for years.

Teachers aren’t allowed to get tested in schools and we are under a lot of pressure to keep showing up even when sick because of the shortage. We are all losing planning periods to cover other classes. Schools/admin does not want to test teachers bc there is a shortage already. A former colleague of mine tested positive and her administrator told her not to say anything.

[Anonymous]

Long term subs are much better than what is happening now: dire shortage of subs to cover ill staff so other teachers are pulled and lose lesson planning time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Same as any year. The people on his forum are nuts.

Are you insane? This is not close to any other year. At the elementary school I work at, we have one classroom with no teacher at all, a special Ed opening, and several para openings. There are no teachers to hire. There are no subs to cover classes. There are no long term subs. Would you want your elementary school student to have no teacher? Because that is our reality. We are all getting pulled to cover that class and all of the others with sick teachers. We are also required to have quarantine lesson plans. This is not the same. If it’s the same for YOUR CHILD, feel lucky.

[Anonymous]

The tone of some of these posts come off as are there any “real” effects of the sub shortage? Like if your kid doesnt have horror stories it must not be real. The sick teachers who don’t have time to plan lessons for your children, grade their work, and get back to you via email because they are covering other classes during the periods they used to do that….those aren’t “real” effects obviously.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sure (I hope, at least!) that this year teachers are staying home when they have cold-type symptoms that in past years they’d just push through.


But I don’t think we want teachers, even vaccinated ones, powering through that throat tickle or slight cough to head into the classroom. So everybody scrambles to cover. Following those covid best practices is inevitably going to exacerbate the shortage of subs that’s been a recurring problem for years.

Teachers aren’t allowed to get tested in schools and we are under a lot of pressure to keep showing up even when sick because of the shortage. We are all losing planning periods to cover other classes. Schools/admin does not want to test teachers bc there is a shortage already. A former colleague of mine tested positive and her administrator told her not to say anything.

This really pisses me off- both for you as teachers but also for our kids who are forced to quarantine for 10 days if exposed.

[Anonymous]

I didn’t think MCPS could get any worse. I was wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sure (I hope, at least!) that this year teachers are staying home when they have cold-type symptoms that in past years they’d just push through.


But I don’t think we want teachers, even vaccinated ones, powering through that throat tickle or slight cough to head into the classroom. So everybody scrambles to cover. Following those covid best practices is inevitably going to exacerbate the shortage of subs that’s been a recurring problem for years.

Teachers aren’t allowed to get tested in schools and we are under a lot of pressure to keep showing up even when sick because of the shortage. We are all losing planning periods to cover other classes. Schools/admin does not want to test teachers bc there is a shortage already. A former colleague of mine tested positive and her administrator told her not to say anything.

This really pisses me off- both for you as teachers but also for our kids who are forced to quarantine for 10 days if exposed.

It's amazing since there isn't a shortage. Last I knew kids were going to private in droves and they were laying teachers off. Oh wait that's what they were saying last week...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Exactly. I remember when my DS' Spanish class had 38 students and the teacher told us on back to school night that she would have difficulty managing such a large class. No joke!

If only! DC on 5th short term sub for Spanish. So far all non Spanish speakers!

I have studies 6 languages and the best teachers have been non-native speakers. They understood what makes the language hard since they had once started themselves. The worst ones have been native speakers who barely spoke another language.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sure (I hope, at least!) that this year teachers are staying home when they have cold-type symptoms that in past years they’d just push through.


But I don’t think we want teachers, even vaccinated ones, powering through that throat tickle or slight cough to head into the classroom. So everybody scrambles to cover. Following those covid best practices is inevitably going to exacerbate the shortage of subs that’s been a recurring problem for years.

Teachers aren’t allowed to get tested in schools and we are under a lot of pressure to keep showing up even when sick because of the shortage. We are all losing planning periods to cover other classes. Schools/admin does not want to test teachers bc there is a shortage already. A former colleague of mine tested positive and her administrator told her not to say anything.

This really pisses me off- both for you as teachers but also for our kids who are forced to quarantine for 10 days if exposed.

It's amazing since there isn't a shortage. Last I knew kids were going to private in droves and they were laying teachers off. Oh wait that's what they were saying last week...

Agree, the only shortage is in the OP's mind.

[Anonymous]

I have kids at two different MCPS elementary schools. Both are in classes with 24 kids, which seems perfectly normal. Both are in classes with good, solid teachers who have been at the schools for several years. There is one long-term sub in another class at one school, but it is for a planned maternity leave, not a shortage.

The biggest issues I have seen are with the bus - the schedules and routes are constantly changing... the bus is often late or gets lost because they have a sub... it's been highly inconsistent.

[Anonymous]

There was a huge issue at my school because so many teachers were asked to do coverage that too few were attending the testing trainings. These are held during our planning periods, but nearly everyone has to do coverage during planning. Only about 27% of staff managed to complete training by the deadline. The testing coordinator sent out a poorly worded email which did not recognize that people missed the trainings because they were forced yo do coverage. It implied consequences. Of course, some recipients blew up in reply all’s. It is a mess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn’t think MCPS could get any worse. I was wrong.

There’s a school district in WV that’s moving to half-day Fridays to compensate for the staff shortages. Other states have called in the National Guard to drive school buses because of driver shortages. It could be worse.