Trying to get a teaching job at an MCPS elementary school, want to know the truth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the PP. Many times, you might be stuck in the first school you work at due to difficulty transferring. My friend accepted a position at a really crappy school because school was just about to start and she needed a job. She has been stuck in that school for nearly 10 years. After her second year, she applied to transfer and has applied every year since then. She is still stuck there. Choose wisely.

I don't see how that's possible if she's in MCPS. After two years, she can apply for open positions anywhere (not to be transferred, but to be hired by a new school). I have been involved in the hiring process at several levels, and we have hired teachers from "bad" schools that have worked out quite well. Does you friend teach a really specific or overpopulated subject area, like elementary art or secondary social studies?

If your friend is still in the same school after 10 years and hasn't been able to get out, that's on her. Either she's not interviewing well or she's a sub-par teacher and her principal isn't "passing the trash" with a good reference because s/he has to look colleagues in the eye.

She ended up quitting because she couldn't stand it anymore. She taught 1st grade. Lots of teachers just up and quit from her school (not FCPS). This is an inner city school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I disagree with the PP. Many times, you might be stuck in the first school you work at due to difficulty transferring. My friend accepted a position at a really crappy school because school was just about to start and she needed a job. She has been stuck in that school for nearly 10 years. After her second year, she applied to transfer and has applied every year since then. She is still stuck there. Choose wisely.

I don't see how that's possible if she's in MCPS. After two years, she can apply for open positions anywhere (not to be transferred, but to be hired by a new school). I have been involved in the hiring process at several levels, and we have hired teachers from "bad" schools that have worked out quite well. Does you friend teach a really specific or overpopulated subject area, like elementary art or secondary social studies?

If your friend is still in the same school after 10 years and hasn't been able to get out, that's on her. Either she's not interviewing well or she's a sub-par teacher and her principal isn't "passing the trash" with a good reference because s/he has to look colleagues in the eye.

She ended up quitting because she couldn't stand it anymore. She taught 1st grade. Lots of teachers just up and quit from her school (not FCPS). This is an inner city school.

OP is looking to teach in MCPS. If she starts off in a school that she does not like, there is opportunity to move on eventually, apparently unlike your friend, who was in a completely different situation.

[Anonymous]

A couple of red flags to look at:

1) What is the transfer rate at the school?

2) On average, how many years have the teachers been teaching?

3) If you can privately talk to a teacher at the school, what do they think "off the record" about the administration and conditions at the school.

Our school has a high transfer rate and a high rate of inexperienced teachers. The principal is a bully and prefers to hire newbies to the county because they do not have tenure so she has a high degree of power to determine their future. The experience teachers transferred or retired. The ones that need the paycheck stayed till they could get tenure and transfer. At our school, there is not a high degree of diversity amongst the staff and the principal tends to hire only young, white, women. - An elementary school in the Churchill cluster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a school administrator but not in an MCPS elementary school, and I'd be hesitant to hire someone who started a thread gossiping about me on social media.

I will say that the quality of school administration is critical to your experience as a new teacher, but this isn't the way to find out about it. I'll also say that what makes parents happy with an admin, and particularly what makes the affluent segment that posts on DCUM, is not always the same as what makes teachers happy.

I didn't know that asking for background information was the same as gossiping, but thanks for the input.

What kind of background information were you expecting to get from people who don't know what school/principal you're talking about?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A couple of red flags to look at:

1) What is the transfer rate at the school?

2) On average, how many years have the teachers been teaching?

3) If you can privately talk to a teacher at the school, what do they think "off the record" about the administration and conditions at the school.


I would not talk to teachers in the school- you never know who it will get back to. Number 1 and 2 are very good ways to get an idea if the admin is teacher friendly. Teachers who like their admin don't leave. Teachers with a lot of experience aren't going to transfer into a school that isn't teacher friendly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a school administrator but not in an MCPS elementary school, and I'd be hesitant to hire someone who started a thread gossiping about me on social media.

I will say that the quality of school administration is critical to your experience as a new teacher, but this isn't the way to find out about it. I'll also say that what makes parents happy with an admin, and particularly what makes the affluent segment that posts on DCUM, is not always the same as what makes teachers happy.

I didn't know that asking for background information was the same as gossiping, but thanks for the input.

What kind of background information were you expecting to get from people who don't know what school/principal you're talking about?

Everyone should be free to ask any question without being hounded by a bully! Your power as an administrator is limited to your school. This a forum not your school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a school administrator but not in an MCPS elementary school, and I'd be hesitant to hire someone who started a thread gossiping about me on social media.

I will say that the quality of school administration is critical to your experience as a new teacher, but this isn't the way to find out about it. I'll also say that what makes parents happy with an admin, and particularly what makes the affluent segment that posts on DCUM, is not always the same as what makes teachers happy.

I didn't know that asking for background information was the same as gossiping, but thanks for the input.

What kind of background information were you expecting to get from people who don't know what school/principal you're talking about?

Everyone should be free to ask any question without being hounded by a bully! Your power as an administrator is limited to your school. This a forum not your school.

+1

[Anonymous]

As a teacher, I agree that administrators can make or break the climate of a school. That said, my understanding is that elementary jobs are hard to come by (I'm a secondary teacher), and you have to get your foot in the door somehow. If you get multiple offers, then sure, take the reviews you hear or read into consideration. But when you're first starting out, you may just need to take the bird in the hand and save your judgments for later.