How is FCPS teacher/staff shortage?
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Anonymous
It's there every year. Longer than usual but not much, at most schools. Seriously. The national teacher shortage is a crisis. But it's not dire in FCPS, yet. |
Anonymous
Yes. But we are talking about retaining teachers. Class sizes do matter because the more kids the harder your job becomes to do effectively. |
Anonymous
Parent of ES kids here. My mother and sisters were teachers. I wanted to go into teaching but saw the amount of administrative BS teachers have to deal with, and couldn't stomach it. I took the much easier route of becoming an engineer, instead. Kudos to those of you who are sticking in there, despite the ever-increasing testing/rules/requirements that are loaded on classroom teachers' plates from the top-down. I 100% support everything on this list, with one exception. I'd require all Gatehouse employees (including Superintendent and School Board) to sub 3 consecutive days, every 2 months. Not necessarily in the same classroom/school (although that gives a better insight into the rhythms of the class), but repeated subbing is what really drives home the challenges that teachers face, and how much energy they expend. |
Anonymous
Disagree. It’s 100% dire in special education in FCPS. Like, not sure how this can possibly work next year dire. |
Anonymous
This is one of those ideas that may sound good at first glance but really makes no sense. Subbing is similar to teaching in a classroom, in some ways easier and in some ways harder. But not exactly representative. And this requirement would necessitate adding more Gatehouse employees to cover the work and would not be great for students, who benefit from consistent teachers rather than more subs. |
Anonymous
Okay, it's dire in special education, as noted in the reddit thread. But in any given FCPS school, it's not dire. In many schools, it's no different from any other year. |
Anonymous
That means it is dire for almost 20% of students, our most vulnerable students in particular (ID, IDS, EAC). And they’re ALL our kids. Therefore, it’s dire in every school in FCPS. |
Anonymous
Exactly. Fairfax County will eventually resemble the other dense cities of the US, perhaps with less homicide and violent crime. But certainly with very, very poor people living alongside the highly privileged. Some school pyramids will take much longer to transform though, and may even be fully insulated due to bad land development opportunity. Looking at Great Falls and Clifton. But everywhere else is only a matter of time before it becomes densified. No amount of teacher support is going to help when FCPS must serve children who starting at ground zero. |
Anonymous
I just spit out my drink laughing at this. The accuracy.... |
Anonymous
YES!So much wasted money in Gatehouse. Smaller class sizes and more staff for intervention positions. It's needed at every level. We won't though teachers have been saying this for years and well before the pandemic. |
Anonymous
+1 "not my problem" until it is |
Anonymous
No, that wasn't the point at all. There's a nationwide teacher shortage and FCPS is doing well, compared to the rest of the country, compared to other local school districts, and in general. Yes, the teacher shortage is a real problem and FCPS is facing it, like every school district is. But it should be acknowledged that FCPS does pay at something of an acceptable level and does work to treat teachers and staff well. There's lots of room for improvement, which we should be advocating for, rather than just criticizing and complaining. |
Anonymous
Some people don’t realize that one Grade 1-3 posting is actually for several openings. |
Anonymous
This. Some principals have multiple openings but just post one on the vacancy list. So 400 positions open could easily be 500-600. |
Anonymous
And people need to realize they aren’t going to leave one school with 10 openings and others with none, they’ll spread out the vacancies to remain operational. I wouldn’t be surprised if they are moving teacher up until the first day of school |