My 4th grader has no teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- the 29 kids is one class. That class stays together. Here’s their schedule-

8:40- breakfast and morning circle with an “extra teacher” I think she teaches something else after she sees them.

9:15- this is reading time. They don’t know who is teaching it. They said they will try to get subs and the reading specialist will help when she can. If they don’t have a sub, it will be whomever is available.

11:15- lunch/recess

12:25- Specials. They are hoping to keep this class together and not with the not hired yet teachers.

1:10- Math with the math specialist. Once a teacher gets hired, they will be broken up into smaller classes.

2:30- Sci/SsThey don’t know who will cover. They are hoping for daily subs until they can find someone. Until then, it will most likely be a different teacher or para than reading as the teachers also all have different jobs.

The other classes get to just stay with 1 teacher all day. I know you all say that I should just think this is fine and normal, but different teachers all day and each day being different is not going to create the community that my child needs. And it will be a completely different experience than the other 4th grade classes.

Call your school board rep and ask why this is allowed. Call your county council member and ask why this is allowed. They can say staffing, but it sounds like the principal made a choice to screw this particular class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- the 29 kids is one class. That class stays together. Here’s their schedule-

8:40- breakfast and morning circle with an “extra teacher” I think she teaches something else after she sees them.

9:15- this is reading time. They don’t know who is teaching it. They said they will try to get subs and the reading specialist will help when she can. If they don’t have a sub, it will be whomever is available.

11:15- lunch/recess

12:25- Specials. They are hoping to keep this class together and not with the not hired yet teachers.

1:10- Math with the math specialist. Once a teacher gets hired, they will be broken up into smaller classes.

2:30- Sci/SsThey don’t know who will cover. They are hoping for daily subs until they can find someone. Until then, it will most likely be a different teacher or para than reading as the teachers also all have different jobs.

The other classes get to just stay with 1 teacher all day. I know you all say that I should just think this is fine and normal, but different teachers all day and each day being different is not going to create the community that my child needs. And it will be a completely different experience than the other 4th grade classes.

Yikes. It’s not like departmentalizing in middle or upper elementary. It’s literally a rotating cast of subs or paras who are not responsible for lesson planning and don’t have any teaching credentials. I have never heard of anything like this. I think they need to pull an educator from central office.

[Anonymous]

I'd very much familiarize myself with state regulations regarding class room teachers and licensing as well as the mechanisms to make a formal complaint (specifically the kind that will generate paperwork for the principal). I would then regularly make those complaints.

[Anonymous]

I would move to teaching but it is a pay cut for me and therefore I cant do it. And its not even a big pay cut- its 5-10k right now but I get raises every year (around 5-7%). It doesnt make financial sense for most working professionals with a bachelors, masters, etc. to move into teaching unless their spouse is the primary income.

You want teachers. Pay people. Every teacher I know is either a) staying until retirement because they are less than 5 years away from 25 years 2) staying 2-5 more years to make 15/20 years so that pension/healthcare is more subsidized 3)waiting until their kids are HS age so they dont need summer camps if a parent is working 4)looking for a new job and is willing to break contract if they get offered the position.

They can train as many teachers as they want but less and less people are going into teaching because it is not a well-paid profession compared to other educated professionals.

Your child is just experiencing a national phenomenon right now. I hope we can turn it around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What grade? I would call Catholic schools near your house and ask if they have any openings. It sounds like a wasted school year. My son had a terrible second grade year with a revolving parade of subs. He also had a terrible first grade teacher and a k teacher was who went on illness leave. When he was going to get a third grade teacher who was going to go out on maternity leave in Nov. I moved him to Catholic school.

We are not Catholics and we believe in Abortion Rights. Do other denominations of Christians or other faiths not operate schools? At this point, I would be ok with a Madarsa.

[Anonymous]

What's bizarre to me is that the class with no teacher is the biggest class? That makes no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What grade? I would call Catholic schools near your house and ask if they have any openings. It sounds like a wasted school year. My son had a terrible second grade year with a revolving parade of subs. He also had a terrible first grade teacher and a k teacher was who went on illness leave. When he was going to get a third grade teacher who was going to go out on maternity leave in Nov. I moved him to Catholic school.

We are not Catholics and we believe in Abortion Rights. Do other denominations of Christians or other faiths not operate schools? At this point, I would be ok with a Madarsa.

Look at the smaller Episcopal schools.


What this principal should have done is departmentalized one credentialed teacher for the whole grade level for Reading and another for art while having the third classroom for science/ss with each staff member taking 1/3 (or one class) of the day when subs are not available. This ss/science classroom could draw from some of the distance learning materials that were created and delivered by other staff personnel during distance learning.

Is your principal new? This is easy to solve equitably even under these far from ideal circumstances.

[Anonymous]

They are just going to sit and read for two hours straight in the morning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids graduated out of MCPS last year. I spent a lot of my time through the years to research the MCPS curriculum and enrich, expand, accelerate it for my children. Yes, I did send them to MCPS for normal socialization, for learning how school works and other fun and interesting stuff, but my kids always had my home grown parallel system of education at home. I covered most of the subjects (between DH and I, we have multiple college degrees in multiple fields) at home, except for FL which was taught by an MCPS teacher

My kids were also in the magnet pipeline and I am sorry to say that even in the magnet programs, it was common to have dud teachers and worse administrators. Of course, the magnet programs were a 100 times better than the regular program because of the excellent cohort of students, the informed parents, and the pace and rigor of the curriculum - but it also fell short especially in middle school because of some terrible teachers, exceptionally evil and lazy administrators, and the general exodus of great teachers.

Unfortunately, all this was happening way before COVID. The quality of MCPS education has been going downhill for a long time because of the swinging pendulum of extreme right and extreme left.

I have no words of wisdom for OP. My heart aches for her and her child. Please do whatever is necessary to make sure that they are getting a very good education at home, in private schools, in private coaching classes, through online resources.

You're so extra. So was your response to a mention of not having a centralized teacher assignment in elementary.

+1 on bolded. No substance in that answer except for bragging and pats on the back

OP, I am so sorry for your situation. It truly sucks for your child. I dont think there is anything you can do, except to stay on top of her assignments, make sure nothing falls through the cracks with all the transitions. You might also want to ask school admin for designated person to send your questions/concerns to or a person that would "lead" parent communication for that class while the situation is being worked out. I am thinking in terms of weekly emails on what kids are learning in class/updates/etc. I do agree with the point that despite the challenges, your DD will be way ahead of her elementary peers when it comes to MS.

Seriously, are your kids as stupid as you? (Then why worry about them not having teachers? They are being taught to their potential.) Be happy that at least you are being provided some kind of babysitting.

What pats on the back? Education has been subpar for years in MCPS but those who complained about it were labelled "Tiger parents". People are now complaining about lack of qualified teachers in all schools and an eroded system in the name of equity. Sorry, but it will continue to suck for all of you. If the parents lack the wisdom to make alternate arrangements for their children's education that they are equally culpable. It will be interesting to see how these kids fare in high school and college. I will get my popcorn.

[Anonymous]

My apologies art= math above. Not sure how that slipped in.

[Anonymous]

They don’t exactly incentivize teachers and they especially don’t incentivize substitutes so you’re better off homeschooling this year if you want her to learn something.

[Anonymous]

Teachers are quitting teaching in droves and nobody even bothered to try and fix it so they will come back.

[Anonymous]

I normally think posters exaggerate their school grievances, but that schedule IS terrible. That’s practically redshirting fourth grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Great Resignation is very real. Please be patient with the remaining school staff who are desperately trying to make this work and not quit themselves.

If not for the tireless efforts of MCPS administrators working to avoid this, it would be so much worse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids graduated out of MCPS last year. I spent a lot of my time through the years to research the MCPS curriculum and enrich, expand, accelerate it for my children. Yes, I did send them to MCPS for normal socialization, for learning how school works and other fun and interesting stuff, but my kids always had my home grown parallel system of education at home. I covered most of the subjects (between DH and I, we have multiple college degrees in multiple fields) at home, except for FL which was taught by an MCPS teacher

My kids were also in the magnet pipeline and I am sorry to say that even in the magnet programs, it was common to have dud teachers and worse administrators. Of course, the magnet programs were a 100 times better than the regular program because of the excellent cohort of students, the informed parents, and the pace and rigor of the curriculum - but it also fell short especially in middle school because of some terrible teachers, exceptionally evil and lazy administrators, and the general exodus of great teachers.

Unfortunately, all this was happening way before COVID. The quality of MCPS education has been going downhill for a long time because of the swinging pendulum of extreme right and extreme left.

I have no words of wisdom for OP. My heart aches for her and her child. Please do whatever is necessary to make sure that they are getting a very good education at home, in private schools, in private coaching classes, through online resources.

You're so extra. So was your response to a mention of not having a centralized teacher assignment in elementary.

+1 on bolded. No substance in that answer except for bragging and pats on the back

OP, I am so sorry for your situation. It truly sucks for your child. I dont think there is anything you can do, except to stay on top of her assignments, make sure nothing falls through the cracks with all the transitions. You might also want to ask school admin for designated person to send your questions/concerns to or a person that would "lead" parent communication for that class while the situation is being worked out. I am thinking in terms of weekly emails on what kids are learning in class/updates/etc. I do agree with the point that despite the challenges, your DD will be way ahead of her elementary peers when it comes to MS.

Seriously, are your kids as stupid as you? (Then why worry about them not having teachers? They are being taught to their potential.) Be happy that at least you are being provided some kind of babysitting.

What pats on the back? Education has been subpar for years in MCPS but those who complained about it were labelled "Tiger parents". People are now complaining about lack of qualified teachers in all schools and an eroded system in the name of equity. Sorry, but it will continue to suck for all of you. If the parents lack the wisdom to make alternate arrangements for their children's education that they are equally culpable. It will be interesting to see how these kids fare in high school and college. I will get my popcorn.

I agree, if the redoubled their focus on equity these problems would be solved.