Hardy MS 7th Grade Science Situation

[Anonymous]

Teachers quitting is not exclusive to Hardy. This is happening everywhere given the climate/conditions of teaching right now. If the profession is not reimagined, then this will only get worse.

[Anonymous]

Many DCPS have lots of vacancies still. It is just reality at this point. Calm down!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many DCPS have lots of vacancies still. It is just reality at this point. Calm down!

It's not the vacancies posters are agitated about. It's the abandonment of the students for so many hours and so many weeks, with no action taken to support their learning until the vacancy is filled.

[Anonymous]

I just heard that there are elementary schools in MCPS that are having to combine classes because of teacher shortages. Elementary classes with 50 kids. This is not a Hardy or even DCPS issue. To me, it's a reason to keep my kid in school as much as possible. If something happens and there's a vacancy and a month or more of class is lost (or pointless because there are 50 kids in it), I don't want my kid to already have missed days or weeks due to the sniffles or vacation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers quitting is not exclusive to Hardy. This is happening everywhere given the climate/conditions of teaching right now. If the profession is not reimagined, then this will only get worse.

The teacher went to a different school district. Districts poaching each other’s teachers mid-year - let alone mid-term - to make up for their own deficiencies is rather crappy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers quitting is not exclusive to Hardy. This is happening everywhere given the climate/conditions of teaching right now. If the profession is not reimagined, then this will only get worse.

The teacher went to a different school district. Districts poaching each other’s teachers mid-year - let alone mid-term - to make up for their own deficiencies is rather crappy.

It is what it is. There is no law against it.

[Anonymous]

When my kid has had first period with a wasted class with a long term sub where they do nothing I refuse to send my kid to that class. I say he has a headache from the chaotic class so it’s an excused absence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any teacher that quits with no notice mid-term and any school system that hires such a teacher deserves no favors from anybody.

Sit down bonehead

The teacher concerned has entered the chat . . .

In all seriousness, in what other professional occupation would this be considered acceptable?

Any. Only in education is it perceived as unethical to quit at a certain time of the year.

I mean, if you were a litigator, you would literally have to ask a judge to quit mid-case... and that permission would often get denied.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP.
The exact same thing happened in the few weeks before the drama teacher started.
I don't understand why subs in situations like this are not doing any instruction.
Is it one bad sub? There is a curriculum. How dare the guy show up to class as a substitute teacher and then not teach anything at all?

Because a sub has zero idea how to teach. They are babysitting and maybe handing out a reading or related activity. Teacher here and, unless they were a former teacher, there’s no way I would want a sub teaching a lesson.

Exactly. Also, when would the sub put together materials? They are definitely not paid enough to work outside of the school day, which is when teachers do pretty much all of their planning. If the expectation was full on lesson planning for a sub, I doubt ANYONE would take the job.

I get that for one-off subbing, but this is a multiple weeks situation. How are there not prior years' materials somewhere available to faculty? Prior years, or nearby school's materials? Or DCPS central's? It's simply not ok to make kids sit around 90 minutes several times a week, for multiple weeks, *and* pay a substitute teacher for that time! That sub, at the very least, should be prepping lessons while they're ignoring idle students in front of them, rather than scrolling tiktok.

Prepping lessons how? The curriculum is available online to teachers with an account for it. Zero other teachers or administrators have time to do it for the sub. The sub would have no way of understanding science pedagogy unless they had been a science teacher previously. I suppose if an admin told them what, generally, is being covered at this time of year in that subject, they could search some videos on their own hotspot account (they can’t access DCPS wifi). But I guarantee they’re being pulled to cover some other class rather than having planning time. Forget about planning hands-on explorations - not happening. They need an actual science teacher pronto.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My Hardy 7th grader says the did nothing in Science today. NOTHING. I pressed and he said they were told the new teacher was going to be there "any day now". I saw that email but haven't read the word doc yet. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I've yet to be impressed with Hardy. It seems like things like this are constantly happening. It was the same last year with the 6th grade art teacher. Then we had the unethical behaviors of the new athletic director, now the 7th graders haven't had a legit Science class in weeks. Oh also, forget about hearing anything back from a few of the teachers I emailed about conferences and progress reports back in October. I reached out to AP Brady at the beginning of the year to express my frustration with communication issues and she basically form lettered me over and over again.

I feel your frustration. I know a possible solution. More teachers need to be employed to alleviate the stress on overworked teachers. For that to happen the budget has to be increased to cover the cost of more teachers. And each teacher needs to be paid more, much more than you think. Only this will help lure new teachers, and retain the many excellent teachers out there. In all your life, have you ever heard of so many teachers quitting just like that in the middle of the school year. In the past, like pre-pandemic, teachers left at the end of the school year. Now, that is no more. You all have jobs out there. Would you quit in a week like the science teacher? The science teacher knows there are positions all over the country. There are so many vacancies. The science teacher might not even go into teaching and head for more lucrative fields. So please understand that the teachers you are emailing probably haven't had a planning period for weeks, is continually being asked to do more, and only has 25 minutes to eat lunch. Not the best working conditions. What do you think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NP.
The exact same thing happened in the few weeks before the drama teacher started.
I don't understand why subs in situations like this are not doing any instruction.
Is it one bad sub? There is a curriculum. How dare the guy show up to class as a substitute teacher and then not teach anything at all?

You are clueless. A sub used to get paid $120 a day. It is now about $160. They are still being paid less per hour than a the starting pay at Buc-ee's. You can't expect a fabulous education from the sub (glorified babysitter).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any teacher that quits with no notice mid-term and any school system that hires such a teacher deserves no favors from anybody.

Sit down bonehead

The teacher concerned has entered the chat . . .

In all seriousness, in what other professional occupation would this be considered acceptable?

Any. Only in education is it perceived as unethical to quit at a certain time of the year.

That’s BS. There are plenty of jobs where it’s considered a jerk move to quit mid-project (eg, consulting) or mid-season (accountant).

So what would you say to the BASIS teacher who quit after completing their first day of teaching in August this year?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The science teacher just up and left. No notice to the school to allow them to find a replacement. No e-mail to the parents to give them a head’s up or explain why she was leaving. No apparent consideration given to how severely she was screwing over her students for the year. We understand that DCPS has its issues and that the school administration is a mess, but to take out one’s frustration on the students is really appalling.

You are pathetic. Every teacher is concerned about their students. If a teacher isn't concerned, then good riddance. Sadly the teacher weighed up their options and still decided that leaving was better than staying. Yes, it sucks for parents and students, but the teacher is only human and has to what is right for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Last year at Deal they were doubling up classes when teachers left mid-year. Seems like for a short-term solution that would be the most fair for kids not receiving any instruction at all.

Are you kidding? So if your colleague left, you wouldn't mind taking their workload? You would love to put yourself out there and do the two jobs for the pay of one? Go see a doctor please. You are living in lalaland.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many DCPS have lots of vacancies still. It is just reality at this point. Calm down!

It's not the vacancies posters are agitated about. It's the abandonment of the students for so many hours and so many weeks, with no action taken to support their learning until the vacancy is filled.

You just don't get it. There are no teachers out there. The DCPS pool for hiring is empty. There is no teacher shortage because there are plenty of teachers and new graduates. You need to examine why they don't want to teach.