"Is MCPS losing its edge?"

[Anonymous]

I feel like things have gotten worse since this article came out, not better, for MCPS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like things have gotten worse since this article came out, not better, for MCPS.

Things are always getting worse. That’s one constant you can rely on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Mcps educator here- i stay because the benefits are so good. You will lose good educators if you dismantle the union because our benefits will go downhill. We can't attract or retain current educators even with our good pay, pension and health benefits. If you think the teaching staff is bad now, wait until you take away any positive benefits of the job.

The benefits are slipping.

The current insurance debacle is bad for current employees and worse for retirees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mcps educator here- i stay because the benefits are so good. You will lose good educators if you dismantle the union because our benefits will go downhill. We can't attract or retain current educators even with our good pay, pension and health benefits. If you think the teaching staff is bad now, wait until you take away any positive benefits of the job.

The benefits are slipping.

The current insurance debacle is bad for current employees and worse for retirees.

What is going on with insurance?

[Anonymous]

MCPS has lost its edge. It’s done.

That’s why student count is down and anyone who can has already opted out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mcps educator here- i stay because the benefits are so good. You will lose good educators if you dismantle the union because our benefits will go downhill. We can't attract or retain current educators even with our good pay, pension and health benefits. If you think the teaching staff is bad now, wait until you take away any positive benefits of the job.

Then you need to fix what is wrong vs just focusing on money. And, stop hiring non certified teachers who have no educational background. Some are ok, most aren’t.

Counties are going to hire those who are available. Career changers are available.

There’s a shortage of certified teachers willing to do the work. I know a ton of people who have moved out of the classroom and into other professions. You’d have to provide better working conditions to get them back. They’re happier where they are.

And MCPS isn’t going to pay people for all of their experience, either. Strong teachers moving with 20+ years of experience aren’t going to MCPS because the district caps the salary scale. Other districts and privates do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mcps educator here- i stay because the benefits are so good. You will lose good educators if you dismantle the union because our benefits will go downhill. We can't attract or retain current educators even with our good pay, pension and health benefits. If you think the teaching staff is bad now, wait until you take away any positive benefits of the job.

Then you need to fix what is wrong vs just focusing on money. And, stop hiring non certified teachers who have no educational background. Some are ok, most aren’t.

Chicken and egg- you need to pay competitively and create in-demand jobs that attract people to the field. So few young people are going into education these days- thus, the need to draw people from other fields.

The pay is competitive. Pay is better than other equal county jobs and better benefits especially when you consider it’s 10 month vs 12 month pay. The issue is housing prices and cost of living. You can thank those overpaying for their homes and driving prices up.

DP. The question is not whether the pay is better than other county jobs (and I wonder what might be considered "equal" in this post), on a monthly basis or otherwise. The question is whether total compensation is competitive vs. the set of jobs that those currently teaching or who might consider teaching would have available to them, given education & experience, when considered in the light of the work experience, including time off, working conditions, etc.

Those "overpaying" for their homes are participating in a market. They are deciding if a particular price is worth the location, size, condition, configuration, etc., along with a seller/landlord who is deciding if an offer is enough for them, given their own aims (market exit, trading up/down, income stream, etc.) and the community/financial environment at the time of sale/rental agreement.

Teachers are participating in that market, to one degree or another. If enough wealthier folks are living in the area so that the housing market goes up, there would be, theoretically, that wealth to be tapped via taxes to support competitive public salaries, better approaching an equilibrium. If the offered compensation paradigms fail to attract/retain enough qualified teachers, say, because the tax base objects to the tax levels required to achieve high enough compensation (or is unwilling to support shifts in funding from other public uses for that compensation), then the community loses out on educator numbers, quality or both.

[Anonymous]

Awful student behavior and awful leadership make it very unappealing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Awful student behavior and awful leadership make it very unappealing.

Our school leadership is the worst. Few rules, structure, consistency and they cave into the kids vs be authority. Nor do they respond to parents or staff.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Awful student behavior and awful leadership make it very unappealing.

Our school leadership is the worst. Few rules, structure, consistency and they cave into the kids vs be authority. Nor do they respond to parents or staff.

Or the school administrators do a lot of CYA when their incompetence is exposed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mcps educator here- i stay because the benefits are so good. You will lose good educators if you dismantle the union because our benefits will go downhill. We can't attract or retain current educators even with our good pay, pension and health benefits. If you think the teaching staff is bad now, wait until you take away any positive benefits of the job.

The benefits are slipping.

The current insurance debacle is bad for current employees and worse for retirees.

What is going on with insurance?

Options are more limited and the choices that remain involving paying more for less.

I have bone marrow cancer and another life threatening chronic immune condition. Both have been well-managed because my specialists have not been second guessed by a nurse care manager. I don’t know if next year, the option to pay more to avoid care management will still exist.

[Anonymous]

MCPS is doing fine. There will always be haters.

My kids are doing well. They are college bound.

Stop acting like this is the norm. MCPS has over 150K kids. There are 400 parents on DCUM hatin’. Just stop.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is doing fine. There will always be haters.

My kids are doing well. They are college bound.

Stop acting like this is the norm. MCPS has over 150K kids. There are 400 parents on DCUM hatin’. Just stop.

The basis of this thread is a Bethesda magazine article that lays out numerous problems in MCPS. You can’t blame DCUM for this one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MCPS is doing fine. There will always be haters.

My kids are doing well. They are college bound.

Stop acting like this is the norm. MCPS has over 150K kids. There are 400 parents on DCUM hatin’. Just stop.

If you look at test scores, many kids are not doing well so check your privilege.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mcps educator here- i stay because the benefits are so good. You will lose good educators if you dismantle the union because our benefits will go downhill. We can't attract or retain current educators even with our good pay, pension and health benefits. If you think the teaching staff is bad now, wait until you take away any positive benefits of the job.

The benefits are slipping.

The current insurance debacle is bad for current employees and worse for retirees.

What is going on with insurance?

Options are more limited and the choices that remain involving paying more for less.

I have bone marrow cancer and another life threatening chronic immune condition. Both have been well-managed because my specialists have not been second guessed by a nurse care manager. I don’t know if next year, the option to pay more to avoid care management will still exist.

Did you hear rumors that they would do away with the option to avoid care management?