Received an email that DS teacher quit Friday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher quits because many parents are severe high-level assholes. They are not willing to take it anymore.
Also, many FCPS teachers hate to work.

I think people on DCUM tend to overstate the asshole parents and understate student behavior. I've worked in schools at varying SES levels and I usually have a couple of difficult parents, most I never hear from at all.

All it takes is a couple though. The one (thankfully her kid is not my student) who shows up 2-3 days every week with her phone out and recording, walking up to whatever staff she sees and demanding they say on camera they won’t make her kid wear a mask or get a covid vaccine? She alone would make me want to quit if I taught her kid.

That’s a nightmare! Still I’d take 2-3 times a week for a short period over truly misbehaving, violent students for 5+ hours, 5 days a week.

Both of these are examples of why teachers and staff leave schools with terrible admin. What kind of principal or AP allows a parent to roll up and shove a camera in staff members' faces multiple times per week or doesn't act on it when teachers raise concerns about violence or repeated disruptions?

SPED laws complicate things in many places, especially when parents fight more appropriate placements

This. Dd had a kid with ODD in her class this year. Everything has been out of control all year. I’ve even seen the teacher crying. The classroom has been evacuated multiple times. Dd says there’s lots of yelling. I think the kid amps up the other kids too. I don’t want to deny a kid an education, but something has got to give. The rest of the class can’t be denied an education either

Nothing will change unless parents and teachers work together to put an end to this; but really we need more parents to stand up against it. It’s impossible to teach with one of these disruptive kids in the class, let alone more than one. And we are seeing an increase in the number of children like this in the classroom.

I have a student like this in my class this year. Throwing chairs and desks, hitting students, destroying property. Did he get suspended? No (he has an IEP for behavior issues). Did he cause my class to evacuate 2-3 times a week for up to 2 hours each time? Yes. I was at my wits end.

Parents: please complain if this is occurring in your child’s class. I had parents complain and admin finally did something. They revised his IEP to put him in a separate SPED classroom. My class is back to “normal” and he is getting the additional support that he really did need. But I know none of that would have happened if parents didn’t complain. I’m so grateful to those families and everyone is better for it.

[Anonymous]

Teacher here (not FCPS). Definitely complain in writing to admin every single time these classroom evacuations occur. They don't listen to teachers but things happen faster when multiple parents complain. I've had bruises and red marks left on my skin from students hitting/grabbing me but nothing happens when I tell admin about it. I have to get the union involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here (not FCPS). Definitely complain in writing to admin every single time these classroom evacuations occur. They don't listen to teachers but things happen faster when multiple parents complain. I've had bruises and red marks left on my skin from students hitting/grabbing me but nothing happens when I tell admin about it. I have to get the union involved.

Out of curiosity, what was the union response? I've had coworkers who went to their unions/ organizations in FCPS about cases like this and they weren't particularly helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here (not FCPS). Definitely complain in writing to admin every single time these classroom evacuations occur. They don't listen to teachers but things happen faster when multiple parents complain. I've had bruises and red marks left on my skin from students hitting/grabbing me but nothing happens when I tell admin about it. I have to get the union involved.

Out of curiosity, what was the union response? I've had coworkers who went to their unions/ organizations in FCPS about cases like this and they weren't particularly helpful.

They held a meeting with the admin and told them I would be documenting future occurrences and would contact the school police even if they chose not to. The admin finally placed a temporary para with the student which helped a bit. The para was helpful with removing the student prior to these outbursts. The student was eventually tested (autistic) and moved into a life skills class in another school. It took many months for this to occur though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here (not FCPS). Definitely complain in writing to admin every single time these classroom evacuations occur. They don't listen to teachers but things happen faster when multiple parents complain. I've had bruises and red marks left on my skin from students hitting/grabbing me but nothing happens when I tell admin about it. I have to get the union involved.

Out of curiosity, what was the union response? I've had coworkers who went to their unions/ organizations in FCPS about cases like this and they weren't particularly helpful.

I'm going to guess that PP is from a state where unions have more power. Ours basically just write notices.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here (not FCPS). Definitely complain in writing to admin every single time these classroom evacuations occur. They don't listen to teachers but things happen faster when multiple parents complain. I've had bruises and red marks left on my skin from students hitting/grabbing me but nothing happens when I tell admin about it. I have to get the union involved.

Out of curiosity, what was the union response? I've had coworkers who went to their unions/ organizations in FCPS about cases like this and they weren't particularly helpful.

FCPS needs contractual agreements through collective bargaining. Employees at the negotiating table would help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here (not FCPS). Definitely complain in writing to admin every single time these classroom evacuations occur. They don't listen to teachers but things happen faster when multiple parents complain. I've had bruises and red marks left on my skin from students hitting/grabbing me but nothing happens when I tell admin about it. I have to get the union involved.

Out of curiosity, what was the union response? I've had coworkers who went to their unions/ organizations in FCPS about cases like this and they weren't particularly helpful.

I'm going to guess that PP is from a state where unions have more power. Ours basically just write notices.

I teach in MD

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The union & school system where my SIL teaches has a new rule for next school year to try to retain more teachers: teachers physically assaulted by a student no longer need to bare the decision of pressing charges. If a kid hits a teacher, the police are called and it is dealt with that way.

I think if we had that rule here, it'd help more teachers. My neighbor has been hit twice this year alone by two different kids. The admins at her school pressed her not to make it into "a thing" or make "waves" about it. Utterly ridiculous.

How does one press charges against a kid below the age of criminal responsibility?

Have…you never heard of the juvenile justice system?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The union & school system where my SIL teaches has a new rule for next school year to try to retain more teachers: teachers physically assaulted by a student no longer need to bare the decision of pressing charges. If a kid hits a teacher, the police are called and it is dealt with that way.

I think if we had that rule here, it'd help more teachers. My neighbor has been hit twice this year alone by two different kids. The admins at her school pressed her not to make it into "a thing" or make "waves" about it. Utterly ridiculous.

How does one press charges against a kid below the age of criminal responsibility?

Have…you never heard of the juvenile justice system?

Juvenile Courts in Fairfax County are more lenient, and less effective, than even the schools are nowadays in addressing behavioral problems. And the probation officers, while I appreciate anyone willing to work for such rterrible pay, do not seem to feel as if accountability is part of being on probation. I rarely see a child being held accountable for repeatedly violating probation. The goal is always to get the student off probation as soon as possible, regardless of the need for the supervision or ongoing violations or criminial behavior. These children learn little, and what they learn is that it is fine to violate standards and any authority. JDRDC in Fairfax has been failing children terribly by attempting to be lenient and restorative.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here (not FCPS). Definitely complain in writing to admin every single time these classroom evacuations occur. They don't listen to teachers but things happen faster when multiple parents complain. I've had bruises and red marks left on my skin from students hitting/grabbing me but nothing happens when I tell admin about it. I have to get the union involved.

Are you in VA or a different state with a real union. The organizations that call themselves unions in Virginia are not that and they won’t actually be helpful. Maybe they will send someone to sit with you at a meeting and give you supplemental insurance but they don’t have any power to really help. There aren’t any unions in Virginia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here (not FCPS). Definitely complain in writing to admin every single time these classroom evacuations occur. They don't listen to teachers but things happen faster when multiple parents complain. I've had bruises and red marks left on my skin from students hitting/grabbing me but nothing happens when I tell admin about it. I have to get the union involved.

Are you in VA or a different state with a real union. The organizations that call themselves unions in Virginia are not that and they won’t actually be helpful. Maybe they will send someone to sit with you at a meeting and give you supplemental insurance but they don’t have any power to really help. There aren’t any unions in Virginia.

Richmond City has managed to get its “association” recognized as a proper union, so it’s possible, but they also don’t have the number of OpenFCPS-style crazies who would stage a Jan 6-style insurrection on the school board meeting if passed in nova…

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here (not FCPS). Definitely complain in writing to admin every single time these classroom evacuations occur. They don't listen to teachers but things happen faster when multiple parents complain. I've had bruises and red marks left on my skin from students hitting/grabbing me but nothing happens when I tell admin about it. I have to get the union involved.

Are you in VA or a different state with a real union. The organizations that call themselves unions in Virginia are not that and they won’t actually be helpful. Maybe they will send someone to sit with you at a meeting and give you supplemental insurance but they don’t have any power to really help. There aren’t any unions in Virginia.

Richmond City has managed to get its “association” recognized as a proper union, so it’s possible, but they also don’t have the number of OpenFCPS-style crazies who would stage a Jan 6-style insurrection on the school board meeting if passed in nova…

APS just approved collective bargaining this week

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher quits because many parents are severe high-level assholes. They are not willing to take it anymore.
Also, many FCPS teachers hate to work.

I think people on DCUM tend to overstate the asshole parents and understate student behavior. I've worked in schools at varying SES levels and I usually have a couple of difficult parents, most I never hear from at all.

All it takes is a couple though. The one (thankfully her kid is not my student) who shows up 2-3 days every week with her phone out and recording, walking up to whatever staff she sees and demanding they say on camera they won’t make her kid wear a mask or get a covid vaccine? She alone would make me want to quit if I taught her kid.

That’s a nightmare! Still I’d take 2-3 times a week for a short period over truly misbehaving, violent students for 5+ hours, 5 days a week.

Both of these are examples of why teachers and staff leave schools with terrible admin. What kind of principal or AP allows a parent to roll up and shove a camera in staff members' faces multiple times per week or doesn't act on it when teachers raise concerns about violence or repeated disruptions?

SPED laws complicate things in many places, especially when parents fight more appropriate placements

This. Dd had a kid with ODD in her class this year. Everything has been out of control all year. I’ve even seen the teacher crying. The classroom has been evacuated multiple times. Dd says there’s lots of yelling. I think the kid amps up the other kids too. I don’t want to deny a kid an education, but something has got to give. The rest of the class can’t be denied an education either

Nothing will change unless parents and teachers work together to put an end to this; but really we need more parents to stand up against it. It’s impossible to teach with one of these disruptive kids in the class, let alone more than one. And we are seeing an increase in the number of children like this in the classroom.

I have a student like this in my class this year. Throwing chairs and desks, hitting students, destroying property. Did he get suspended? No (he has an IEP for behavior issues). Did he cause my class to evacuate 2-3 times a week for up to 2 hours each time? Yes. I was at my wits end.

Parents: please complain if this is occurring in your child’s class. I had parents complain and admin finally did something. They revised his IEP to put him in a separate SPED classroom. My class is back to “normal” and he is getting the additional support that he really did need. But I know none of that would have happened if parents didn’t complain. I’m so grateful to those families and everyone is better for it.

I would have walked to the principal and said I can not do this anymore , you teach the class, I’m taking the day off fire me if you want to but I will not stand by while you allow me and my students to be treated this way day after day. More teachers need to do that

[Anonymous]

This appears to be only the beginning, OP. There could be a mass teacher exodus from FCPS and the surrounding counties in a few weeks that will make your head spin. And there aren't enough wide-eyed new education majors to replace the teachers who are leaving.

It will be very bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teacher here (not FCPS). Definitely complain in writing to admin every single time these classroom evacuations occur. They don't listen to teachers but things happen faster when multiple parents complain. I've had bruises and red marks left on my skin from students hitting/grabbing me but nothing happens when I tell admin about it. I have to get the union involved.

Are you in VA or a different state with a real union. The organizations that call themselves unions in Virginia are not that and they won’t actually be helpful. Maybe they will send someone to sit with you at a meeting and give you supplemental insurance but they don’t have any power to really help. There aren’t any unions in Virginia.

I teach in Baltimore City. I will never teach anywhere without a strong union to back me up.