Teacher workdays/school planning are ridiculous!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m of two thoughts:

Yes, the calendar is too disjointed and it needs to be fixed.

But teachers need work days. If we want teachers to stay in the profession, they need to be granted time during the work week (even just occasionally) to get their work done. It shouldn’t be the expectation that nights and weekends belong to their jobs, too.

I have a demanding job. It has me on calls for a good portion of the day. This means I have to work outside of work hours to get my work done.

Teachers need to also use their time more efficiently. FCPS ES and MS have very little grading to do.

What percentage of your 40 hours are you on the phone with a client. Don’t count anything else, like meeting with a colleague to plan a call, or reviewing information before a call. Also if the call is such that you can multitask, don’t include that.

40 hours?

As a professional, the expectation is far more than that.

Sorry that is your experience but I am not allowed to work past 40 hours at my job and I make a high salary with good benefits. the customer is charged overtime if they require me to work over, which they want to avoid, so my tasks are expected to be done in 40 hours. I don’t have a work computer at home so when I leave the office, I am done.

[Anonymous]

I would be more supportive of teacher work days if they weren’t such self-licking ice cream cones. They’re added to make up for principals poor staffing/scheduling choices, and the lowered expectations for teachers during the day. If rules are followed teachers get plenty of at-work time but when principals schedule meetings an assign other duties, they’re not asked to make trade-offs, it’s offloaded to parents and the school year gets 20 days longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m of two thoughts:

Yes, the calendar is too disjointed and it needs to be fixed.

But teachers need work days. If we want teachers to stay in the profession, they need to be granted time during the work week (even just occasionally) to get their work done. It shouldn’t be the expectation that nights and weekends belong to their jobs, too.

I have a demanding job. It has me on calls for a good portion of the day. This means I have to work outside of work hours to get my work done.

Teachers need to also use their time more efficiently. FCPS ES and MS have very little grading to do.

What percentage of your 40 hours are you on the phone with a client. Don’t count anything else, like meeting with a colleague to plan a call, or reviewing information before a call. Also if the call is such that you can multitask, don’t include that.

40 hours?

As a professional, the expectation is far more than that.

DP. I see where that poster is going. How often, during your 40 hours in the workplace, are you actively participating in a call? And not one during which you can multitask.

You’re being asked because that PP is trying to draw a comparison between your calls and the 25-28 hours a week a teacher is actively presenting a lesson and can’t do other work.

We all work after hours. You were being asked how many hours during that initial 40 can you get your own work done vs being actively on a call.

This, although calls or meetings without customers don’t count. If you need to meet with your boss or colleague that doesn’t count as working. Only if clients are present.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just messed up. We have a super short Q3. Teacher work day and school planning immediately after the spring break. 3 days days off in May to celebrate yet another religious holiday. This school year has been a disaster. These kids are barely in school.

There needs to be 1 TW per quarter. One. And follow federal holiday schedule, no religious stuff. FYI, not a Christian here, I don't care if you are closed on my religious holidays or not.

Will you promise not to complain if your kid’s teacher switches to all multiple choice assessments, and doesn’t get things in grade book? Or would you prefer if they put videos on the SMART board and graded at school?

I actually wouldn't mind multiple choice. As far as grade books - most of my DC' teachers didn't have anything for a month.

This is literally what our sixth grade AAP does. No work is done on paper and no work comes home. There’s nothing for them to grade outside of school because it’s automatically created by the computer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just messed up. We have a super short Q3. Teacher work day and school planning immediately after the spring break. 3 days days off in May to celebrate yet another religious holiday. This school year has been a disaster. These kids are barely in school.

There needs to be 1 TW per quarter. One. And follow federal holiday schedule, no religious stuff. FYI, not a Christian here, I don't care if you are closed on my religious holidays or not.

Will you promise not to complain if your kid’s teacher switches to all multiple choice assessments, and doesn’t get things in grade book? Or would you prefer if they put videos on the SMART board and graded at school?

I actually wouldn't mind multiple choice. As far as grade books - most of my DC' teachers didn't have anything for a month.

This is literally what our sixth grade AAP does. No work is done on paper and no work comes home. There’s nothing for them to grade outside of school because it’s automatically created by the computer.

What school? That sucks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is just messed up. We have a super short Q3. Teacher work day and school planning immediately after the spring break. 3 days days off in May to celebrate yet another religious holiday. This school year has been a disaster. These kids are barely in school.

There needs to be 1 TW per quarter. One. And follow federal holiday schedule, no religious stuff. FYI, not a Christian here, I don't care if you are closed on my religious holidays or not.

This statement is factually inaccurate. By the end of the year, the kids will have spent just as much time in school as they have every other year. There are legal time requirements mandated by the VDOE. The kids will surpass it, as they always do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just messed up. We have a super short Q3. Teacher work day and school planning immediately after the spring break. 3 days days off in May to celebrate yet another religious holiday. This school year has been a disaster. These kids are barely in school.

There needs to be 1 TW per quarter. One. And follow federal holiday schedule, no religious stuff. FYI, not a Christian here, I don't care if you are closed on my religious holidays or not.

This statement is factually inaccurate. By the end of the year, the kids will have spent just as much time in school as they have every other year. There are legal time requirements mandated by the VDOE. The kids will surpass it, as they always do.

You still don't get it. People do not want a calendar full of disruptions. They want the calendar we had just a few years ago where we met the requirements without the school year did not dragging on so long. It's much easier to find childcare in the summer and much better for kids to have a consistent schedule during the school year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m of two thoughts:

Yes, the calendar is too disjointed and it needs to be fixed.

But teachers need work days. If we want teachers to stay in the profession, they need to be granted time during the work week (even just occasionally) to get their work done. It shouldn’t be the expectation that nights and weekends belong to their jobs, too.

I have a demanding job. It has me on calls for a good portion of the day. This means I have to work outside of work hours to get my work done.

Teachers need to also use their time more efficiently. FCPS ES and MS have very little grading to do.

Is there a message board devoted to anonymous randos screaming that you’re terrible at your job?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just messed up. We have a super short Q3. Teacher work day and school planning immediately after the spring break. 3 days days off in May to celebrate yet another religious holiday. This school year has been a disaster. These kids are barely in school.

There needs to be 1 TW per quarter. One. And follow federal holiday schedule, no religious stuff. FYI, not a Christian here, I don't care if you are closed on my religious holidays or not.

This statement is factually inaccurate. By the end of the year, the kids will have spent just as much time in school as they have every other year. There are legal time requirements mandated by the VDOE. The kids will surpass it, as they always do.

But it will have taken more than 20 more days to get that bare minimum than it has in years past. Even the board acknowledges it. Taking away 20 days of summer isn’t what the population FCPS is meant to serve wants to see.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just messed up. We have a super short Q3. Teacher work day and school planning immediately after the spring break. 3 days days off in May to celebrate yet another religious holiday. This school year has been a disaster. These kids are barely in school.

There needs to be 1 TW per quarter. One. And follow federal holiday schedule, no religious stuff. FYI, not a Christian here, I don't care if you are closed on my religious holidays or not.

This statement is factually inaccurate. By the end of the year, the kids will have spent just as much time in school as they have every other year. There are legal time requirements mandated by the VDOE. The kids will surpass it, as they always do.

The statement is factually inaccurate. They will have spent a minimum of 990 hours in school. If you want to brag about 993 hours (the number of hours elementary students will have barring another unexpected closures) as surpassing mandated requirements, that’s fine, I guess. But that number is low compared to other years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is just messed up. We have a super short Q3. Teacher work day and school planning immediately after the spring break. 3 days days off in May to celebrate yet another religious holiday. This school year has been a disaster. These kids are barely in school.

There needs to be 1 TW per quarter. One. And follow federal holiday schedule, no religious stuff. FYI, not a Christian here, I don't care if you are closed on my religious holidays or not.

This statement is factually inaccurate. By the end of the year, the kids will have spent just as much time in school as they have every other year. There are legal time requirements mandated by the VDOE. The kids will surpass it, as they always do.

The statement is factually inaccurate. They will have spent a minimum of 990 hours in school. If you want to brag about 993 hours (the number of hours elementary students will have barring another unexpected closures) as surpassing mandated requirements, that’s fine, I guess. But that number is low compared to other years.

Preschool and pre-K had to add extra time to the calendar to make the minimum number of hours or else they would lose their funding. This was a post I saw on FB in a special needs group (my youngest is in K now so we just finished the preschool program.) They usually start about a week later and end about a week earlier than K-12 while still meeting their hours. So the fact that they had to extend the preschool school year to make the minimum hours should tell you that K-12 is only juuuuust going to squeak by.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would be more supportive of teacher work days if they weren’t such self-licking ice cream cones. They’re added to make up for principals poor staffing/scheduling choices, and the lowered expectations for teachers during the day. If rules are followed teachers get plenty of at-work time but when principals schedule meetings an assign other duties, they’re not asked to make trade-offs, it’s offloaded to parents and the school year gets 20 days longer.

So are you penalizing teachers for administrative decisions? I don’t understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids are so poorly behaved today that I cannot criticize teachers for needing extra mental health days and planning days.

and do you think the lack of consistency in the school calendar help student behavior in any way?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Memorial Day is not a religious holiday.

Fine, but the one right after? Are you kidding me?

I'm pretty excited about an extended Memorial Day. That one worked out well.

I would much rather my kids get out 2 days earlier than have the extended memorial day

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m of two thoughts:

Yes, the calendar is too disjointed and it needs to be fixed.

But teachers need work days. If we want teachers to stay in the profession, they need to be granted time during the work week (even just occasionally) to get their work done. It shouldn’t be the expectation that nights and weekends belong to their jobs, too.

I have a demanding job. It has me on calls for a good portion of the day. This means I have to work outside of work hours to get my work done.

Teachers need to also use their time more efficiently. FCPS ES and MS have very little grading to do.

You sound ignorant. You don't have a clue what's asked of teachers. Also school isn't daycare figure out your parenting.