NPR Article on Public Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen - you need to understand that we live in a society where there is a balance between supply and demand. Teachers are in serious demand and in low supply. The counties need to keep them as happy as possible and they don’t have any money to give them decent pay increases. So they give them time off. We had huge turnover at my kids school over the last 1 1/2 years. I will gladly take a couple days off rather than go back to online or have 50 kids in a class. If you want to keep your kids in school, take care of your teachers. Seriously.

Then we really, really need to adapt the European model of year round school. 6 weeks on, 2 weeks off.

Let’s go already.

That would be a nightmare for MS and HS where kids work, swim team and other activities.

That would be a nightmare for working parents to have to constantly arrange child care.

Yes, we should continue to make all of our educational decisions around sports schedules.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen - you need to understand that we live in a society where there is a balance between supply and demand. Teachers are in serious demand and in low supply. The counties need to keep them as happy as possible and they don’t have any money to give them decent pay increases. So they give them time off. We had huge turnover at my kids school over the last 1 1/2 years. I will gladly take a couple days off rather than go back to online or have 50 kids in a class. If you want to keep your kids in school, take care of your teachers. Seriously.

actually what the article says is school districts are chosing to hoard money.

(and the article also says that schools inexplicably lack the ability to require staff to schedule time off in advance to avoid shortages.)

In the past when sub shortages were bad but not dire you always had to have a sub scheduled in advance order to take personal leave and the principal always reserved the right to not approve personal leave if it was right before or after a major holiday since those are very in-demand times. Now the subs are so in demand it's very common to have a hard time securing a sub or have the sub cancel at the last minute because they took a different job.

I would absolutely like to see the salary for substitutes get increased since they are only getting $18 an hour in my district.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:THANK YOU parent above!! Teacher here who pushed for reopening ASAP last year and voluntarily went back early. It’s been a hell of a year and the teacher hate has added to the toll a lot. We are indeed being asked to do more than ever and support students who NEED more than ever. It’s been really really hard. Your support means more than you’ll ever know. ❤️

I have written this before but I truly adore and am so grateful for my daughter’s teachers. I am devastated by the lasting impact of the isolation and failure to met her extra needs during the pandemic and it’s hard to describe the impact of that without making it sound like I blame her teachers who I truly care about and want to support. I think many families are feeling both things and I certainly don’t have a perfect solution for going forward. I personally would be happy to give all teachers a huge raise, maybe that would help some with recruiting back teachers who have left.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen - you need to understand that we live in a society where there is a balance between supply and demand. Teachers are in serious demand and in low supply. The counties need to keep them as happy as possible and they don’t have any money to give them decent pay increases. So they give them time off. We had huge turnover at my kids school over the last 1 1/2 years. I will gladly take a couple days off rather than go back to online or have 50 kids in a class. If you want to keep your kids in school, take care of your teachers. Seriously.

Then we really, really need to adapt the European model of year round school. 6 weeks on, 2 weeks off.

Let’s go already.

This is unnecessary - we just need to get back to fall 2020. Somehow we all managed before then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen - you need to understand that we live in a society where there is a balance between supply and demand. Teachers are in serious demand and in low supply. The counties need to keep them as happy as possible and they don’t have any money to give them decent pay increases. So they give them time off. We had huge turnover at my kids school over the last 1 1/2 years. I will gladly take a couple days off rather than go back to online or have 50 kids in a class. If you want to keep your kids in school, take care of your teachers. Seriously.

Then we really, really need to adapt the European model of year round school. 6 weeks on, 2 weeks off.

Let’s go already.

This is unnecessary - we just need to get back to fall 2020. Somehow we all managed before then.

We will manage with whatever schedule we have.

Not sure if the 6/2 schedule is something teachers want though. Is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THANK YOU parent above!! Teacher here who pushed for reopening ASAP last year and voluntarily went back early. It’s been a hell of a year and the teacher hate has added to the toll a lot. We are indeed being asked to do more than ever and support students who NEED more than ever. It’s been really really hard. Your support means more than you’ll ever know. ❤️

I have written this before but I truly adore and am so grateful for my daughter’s teachers. I am devastated by the lasting impact of the isolation and failure to met her extra needs during the pandemic and it’s hard to describe the impact of that without making it sound like I blame her teachers who I truly care about and want to support. I think many families are feeling both things and I certainly don’t have a perfect solution for going forward. I personally would be happy to give all teachers a huge raise, maybe that would help some with recruiting back teachers who have left.

What does that have to do with her teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:THANK YOU parent above!! Teacher here who pushed for reopening ASAP last year and voluntarily went back early. It’s been a hell of a year and the teacher hate has added to the toll a lot. We are indeed being asked to do more than ever and support students who NEED more than ever. It’s been really really hard. Your support means more than you’ll ever know. ❤️

I have written this before but I truly adore and am so grateful for my daughter’s teachers. I am devastated by the lasting impact of the isolation and failure to met her extra needs during the pandemic and it’s hard to describe the impact of that without making it sound like I blame her teachers who I truly care about and want to support. I think many families are feeling both things and I certainly don’t have a perfect solution for going forward. I personally would be happy to give all teachers a huge raise, maybe that would help some with recruiting back teachers who have left.

What does that have to do with her teachers?

With schools closed she did not receive any of the services she was entitled to in a manner she could access and her IEP was rewritten to a virtual format that made it useless. So I am frustrated schools were closed sooooo much longer than necessary and I do blame local teachers unions en masse for that, although not individuals of course. All of our friends and family in NY and CT were able to have at least some school for the elementary school kids because they prioritized the youngest learners and other kids who have trouble accessing virtual school.

[Anonymous]

ZERO SYMPATHY

You reap what you sew.

They complained and whined about returning last year even when there was no risk. So this is what they get. So no I don’t want to hear any of their complaints.

They should have went back last year in person as planned. It tells you a lot about teachers as a whole when they couldn’t foresee the major issue they were creating for themselves and didn’t plan accordingly.

[Anonymous]

There is such a disconnect from my perspective. The school systems like MCPS take 3 billion a year - which is an incredible sum - and provide poor instruction (even prior to the closing). They consistently choose rotten curriculum. The MCPS teachers are flat out unkind to special Ed children and love any kid that makes them look good. There’s too much testing. Their buildings are new in wealthy and poor areas and always deferred in middle class areas.

They push values I don’t agree with - and that don’t work in the real world. (Behavior issues are not rewarded in the real world). Merit is rewarded in the real world. Sports is only valued in sales.

It’s become an expensive Alice and Wonderland place. Where down is up, and up is down. Ready for education credits like the Netherlands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I am both a teacher and a parent. I teach at a private school but send my kids to public (I can’t justify the cost to send them to my school even with the significant discount). Anyway, we didn’t shut down for the 7 weeks FCPS did in March/April 2020. I kept working while my kids were off for seven weeks. It was maddening.

My kids aren’t behind because I supplement significantly at home but many of their peers are way behind what I am teaching my students. The time off, the virtual learning, the stress of the pandemic have all taken a hard toll on kids.

I am embarrassed by how others in this profession are behaving.

I was highly, highly critical of school closures and the hypocritical response to them on the left. But, I do see that my kid’s school is working extremely hard and with some staff shortages. I actually would be in support of additional time off this year but ONLY if carefully planned far in advance and with childcare options in place (free). where is all the covid money going??

No.
School is not just about providing (free) childcare. It is a place to actually get an EDUCATION. Middle and High school kids don't need (free) childcare--they need to LEARN.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I am both a teacher and a parent. I teach at a private school but send my kids to public (I can’t justify the cost to send them to my school even with the significant discount). Anyway, we didn’t shut down for the 7 weeks FCPS did in March/April 2020. I kept working while my kids were off for seven weeks. It was maddening.

My kids aren’t behind because I supplement significantly at home but many of their peers are way behind what I am teaching my students. The time off, the virtual learning, the stress of the pandemic have all taken a hard toll on kids.

I am embarrassed by how others in this profession are behaving.

I was highly, highly critical of school closures and the hypocritical response to them on the left. But, I do see that my kid’s school is working extremely hard and with some staff shortages. I actually would be in support of additional time off this year but ONLY if carefully planned far in advance and with childcare options in place (free). where is all the covid money going??

No.
School is not just about providing (free) childcare. It is a place to actually get an EDUCATION. Middle and High school kids don't need (free) childcare--they need to LEARN.

school is partially about childcare. but keep on making that transparently stupid argument all the way to the next President Trump.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:ZERO SYMPATHY

You reap what you sew.

They complained and whined about returning last year even when there was no risk. So this is what they get. So no I don’t want to hear any of their complaints.

They should have went back last year in person as planned. It tells you a lot about teachers as a whole when they couldn’t foresee the major issue they were creating for themselves and didn’t plan accordingly.

"They should have gone back"

[Anonymous]

There are NO SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS.

This is not about complaining teachers or philosophies or whatever. It’s about the job market. If you look around your office and imagine that for every single person who takes a day or two off for Thanksgiving you need to hire a temporary worker to fill their job, then you understand the situation the school systems are in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I am both a teacher and a parent. I teach at a private school but send my kids to public (I can’t justify the cost to send them to my school even with the significant discount). Anyway, we didn’t shut down for the 7 weeks FCPS did in March/April 2020. I kept working while my kids were off for seven weeks. It was maddening.

My kids aren’t behind because I supplement significantly at home but many of their peers are way behind what I am teaching my students. The time off, the virtual learning, the stress of the pandemic have all taken a hard toll on kids.

I am embarrassed by how others in this profession are behaving.

I was highly, highly critical of school closures and the hypocritical response to them on the left. But, I do see that my kid’s school is working extremely hard and with some staff shortages. I actually would be in support of additional time off this year but ONLY if carefully planned far in advance and with childcare options in place (free). where is all the covid money going??

No.
School is not just about providing (free) childcare. It is a place to actually get an EDUCATION. Middle and High school kids don't need (free) childcare--they need to LEARN.

school is partially about childcare. but keep on making that transparently stupid argument all the way to the next President Trump.

Yeah, that retort about school not being childcare is mystifying to me. For families with kids, their lives have been structured, for decades, around the expectation that their kids would be in school, five days a week at set times. If public schools can’t meet thst expectation, then it may be time to provide parents more options (such as vouchers).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Listen - you need to understand that we live in a society where there is a balance between supply and demand. Teachers are in serious demand and in low supply. The counties need to keep them as happy as possible and they don’t have any money to give them decent pay increases. So they give them time off. We had huge turnover at my kids school over the last 1 1/2 years. I will gladly take a couple days off rather than go back to online or have 50 kids in a class. If you want to keep your kids in school, take care of your teachers. Seriously.

Then we really, really need to adapt the European model of year round school. 6 weeks on, 2 weeks off.

Let’s go already.

That would be a nightmare for MS and HS where kids work, swim team and other activities.

That would be a nightmare for working parents to have to constantly arrange child care.

Yes, we should continue to make all of our educational decisions around sports schedules.

Right?

There would be childcare options for shorter breaks spread throughout the year, because the camps that are now summer camps would pivot to doing camps then. (Many already run winter break or spring break camps). Have a month in the summer and the rest of the breaks scheduled at the end of each quarter/term.