MCPS Teaching position - help!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't seem to get in the system. Not sure what I am doing wrong but MCPS keeps kicking back my application. Tenured in PGCPS (PE, Health, Team Lead, coaching), worked for HCPSS last school year, and check all the requirement boxes. Interviews with specific schools who have advertised positions always go well, I know all the key terminology, am patient and skilled teacher, I'm confident (if not modest) that I'm reading the room correctly and they all say they'll be in touch, that it's a good fit, then positions go elsewhere. Down to the wire here.

What am I doing wrong?

A close friend of mine has been trying to get a high school STEM job in MCPS for years. Admittedly, they’ve had a couple of offers over that period, but only from the schools where there were bad vibes coming from the principal or department heads. Few positions and no offers from the schools with more functional staff. I really thought they’d be fighting to get a math teacher.

That's how many of us get in from outside the county. I was hired in as a science educator last minute because no one else wanted the position. But once I was in and was able to move, I transferred out to a better school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't seem to get in the system. Not sure what I am doing wrong but MCPS keeps kicking back my application. Tenured in PGCPS (PE, Health, Team Lead, coaching), worked for HCPSS last school year, and check all the requirement boxes. Interviews with specific schools who have advertised positions always go well, I know all the key terminology, am patient and skilled teacher, I'm confident (if not modest) that I'm reading the room correctly and they all say they'll be in touch, that it's a good fit, then positions go elsewhere. Down to the wire here.

What am I doing wrong?

A close friend of mine has been trying to get a high school STEM job in MCPS for years. Admittedly, they’ve had a couple of offers over that period, but only from the schools where there were bad vibes coming from the principal or department heads. Few positions and no offers from the schools with more functional staff. I really thought they’d be fighting to get a math teacher.

That's how many of us get in from outside the county. I was hired in as a science educator last minute because no one else wanted the position. But once I was in and was able to move, I transferred out to a better school.

Fair enough, but if MCPS really has the staffing/recruiting problems they claim to, they probably should change that practice.

[Anonymous]

I had a similar frustration. Go to a job fair if they have any more coming up. I did that (a different county, last summer) and got hired within 5 minutes of showing up.

I had pre-registered for the fair, which included uploading my resume. The assistant principals were at the job fair looking for people to hire. I'm not sure if they had seen my resume ahead of time and were on the look out for me, or they just spotted my name tag and subject area, but I literally stepped away from the sign-in table and they approached me. I had extra copies of my resume with me which they perused as they asked some questions. They gave me a form to fill out which they forwarded to the central office, and then HR contacted me within a day or two to complete the paperwork.

Bottom line-- Central admin may be overwhelmed or just suffering bureaucratic sclerosis, but principals are highly motivated to fill empty positions.

If there are no more job fairs, you may just want to directly send your resume to principals at schools you're interested in. Couldn't hurt.

[Anonymous]

No one cares about teachers thriving in their careers. If they did teachers would be treated as professionals by being supported and trusted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't seem to get in the system. Not sure what I am doing wrong but MCPS keeps kicking back my application. Tenured in PGCPS (PE, Health, Team Lead, coaching), worked for HCPSS last school year, and check all the requirement boxes. Interviews with specific schools who have advertised positions always go well, I know all the key terminology, am patient and skilled teacher, I'm confident (if not modest) that I'm reading the room correctly and they all say they'll be in touch, that it's a good fit, then positions go elsewhere. Down to the wire here.

What am I doing wrong?

A close friend of mine has been trying to get a high school STEM job in MCPS for years. Admittedly, they’ve had a couple of offers over that period, but only from the schools where there were bad vibes coming from the principal or department heads. Few positions and no offers from the schools with more functional staff. I really thought they’d be fighting to get a math teacher.

This is weird. Math is pretty easy to get hired for. Maybe your friend is being very selective about what schools they are willing to apply to or maybe they are being very rigid about what classes they want to teach. I came from outside without any teaching credentials (career changer) and got hired pretty quickly once I was in the MCPS jobs database. But to start off with, you need to be somewhat flexible

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can't seem to get in the system. Not sure what I am doing wrong but MCPS keeps kicking back my application. Tenured in PGCPS (PE, Health, Team Lead, coaching), worked for HCPSS last school year, and check all the requirement boxes. Interviews with specific schools who have advertised positions always go well, I know all the key terminology, am patient and skilled teacher, I'm confident (if not modest) that I'm reading the room correctly and they all say they'll be in touch, that it's a good fit, then positions go elsewhere. Down to the wire here.

What am I doing wrong?

A close friend of mine has been trying to get a high school STEM job in MCPS for years. Admittedly, they’ve had a couple of offers over that period, but only from the schools where there were bad vibes coming from the principal or department heads. Few positions and no offers from the schools with more functional staff. I really thought they’d be fighting to get a math teacher.

This is weird. Math is pretty easy to get hired for. Maybe your friend is being very selective about what schools they are willing to apply to or maybe they are being very rigid about what classes they want to teach. I came from outside without any teaching credentials (career changer) and got hired pretty quickly once I was in the MCPS jobs database. But to start off with, you need to be somewhat flexible

+1 you really do need to be flexible when first coming into the system. Honestly it benefits anyone to be flexible. It’s very rare that anyone has what they consider to be their perfect schedule at their perfect school with their preferred preps. It can happen but it takes time to find your fit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most PE and Health teachers are former classroom teachers who take the PRAXIS. Very few are certified. They want an “easy” job. Many principals don’t care about PE and will hire anyone. PE is becoming a joke in MCPS. I suggest looking at Howard Co.

Very true! I know a kindergarten teacher that took the Praxis to get r health certification. She will now be teaching MS Health this year. Joke’s on her because the behavior in those kind of classes is off the charts!

If she can handle a kindergarten room, she can handle any room.

This. Plus the classes are just one quarter. If you get a student or parent who is a PITA, you only have to put up with them for 9 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If I was hiring for a position, would I pay a college student 50k and be able to work with them to teach properly or would I hire you, about 100k? Sorry but you aren’t in the budget. Yes it’s a teacher shortage but it’s a money shortage too.

There may be some truth to this...I have 2 middle schoolers and both kids seem to have a number of young teachers new to the school (but not new to teaching). Not straight out of college, but I their late 20s.

[Anonymous]

Why would anyone want to teach especially in a toxic culture like mcps. It's so bad mcea even takes your money to make your life difficult.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why would anyone want to teach especially in a toxic culture like mcps. It's so bad mcea even takes your money to make your life difficult.

Excellent points. Do you know of any vacancies?

[Anonymous]

You mean I can put myself in crap situations with no support or help while being responsible for oversized classes and no bathroom breaks for min wage. Where do I sign up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You mean I can put myself in crap situations with no support or help while being responsible for oversized classes and no bathroom breaks for min wage. Where do I sign up?

That's the original question.