What happens if FCPS isn't staffed by the first day of school?

[Anonymous]

I am a teacher and never looked at the directory. Haha I just looked and ours has not been updated as many teachers listed are not coming back. But I do see the new people and I see the teacher trainee.

And to answer above, I would prefer a trainee to a long term sub. Our trainees were in it for the long haul and desired to get licensed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would you rather a trainee or a long term sub?

Hard to say. In general a trainee is in it for the long haul and motivated to learn and be part of the school. But I’ve worked with some amazing long term subs who ran circles around the trainees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would you rather a trainee or a long term sub?

Hard to say. In general a trainee is in it for the long haul and motivated to learn and be part of the school. But I’ve worked with some amazing long term subs who ran circles around the trainees.

A lot of long-term subs are also in education/licensing programs--they just weren't officially hired as trainees.

[Anonymous]

If the teacher's not there by 8 minutes after the bell, we get to go home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t teacher trainees have to have a Bachelor’s degree and pass content specific tests?

No, they can be emergency certified before that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid started one year - I think it was 4th grade - without a teacher. He had a series of short term subs for the first week or two, then a long term sub for about 6 weeks. At that point the school gave up on hiring someone, split up his class, and added 8-9 kids to each of the other 3 classrooms. It was not good.

FCPS is a joke. They hire people with no teaching qualifications.
I don’t know how they are getting away with it.

Think about the area you live in. Why would anyone become a K-12 teacher when they can go make better money -- and be more admired by their neighbors -- doing a different kind of work? NOVA is an expensive place to live. More to the point, it is a striver culture. Teaching K-12 is not as valued because it is perceived by the people who live in Fairfax County as lower pay, lower reward field, and therefore, commanding of lower respect. Why would you do that when you could strive for better? There is always the temptation to leave teaching behind for something better. In a mid-size or smaller town/area, teachers are much more valued and a pillar of the community because it is a sought-after job that pays pretty well.

It doesn't help that there are many mal-adapted children in the area with behavioral issues (including being incredibly spoiled) and checked out parents who don't ever correct their behavior and blame the teachers. The teachers are not to be respected, because they chose teaching, obviously. They're dumb for doing that when they could go to law school, or whatever.

When you run it through the lens of simply living in Fairfax County's striver culture, it all begins to make sense why teachers would leave for work that is higher pay, higher status, and higher reward with less work required.

[Anonymous]

Teachers here are also paid disproportionately low compared to other teachers in high COL areas. My sister makes 6 figures in a seattle suburb with 8 years of experience. If I were a brand new baby teacher, I'd be headed elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teachers here are also paid disproportionately low compared to other teachers in high COL areas. My sister makes 6 figures in a seattle suburb with 8 years of experience. If I were a brand new baby teacher, I'd be headed elsewhere.

Even areas that are not high COL. I have 30 years with FCPS. A friend teaches an ES grade outside of Pittsburgh and is making over $115k.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school is fully staffed!

That doesn’t mean there are no teacher trainees.

All I know is my kid has a real teacher who’s been there for years. Yeah!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Don’t teacher trainees have to have a Bachelor’s degree and pass content specific tests?

They have to have a Bachelor's degree in any random subject. They don't have to pass any content specific tests before starting. In my opinion, FCPS should require at least a preliminary passing score on the VCLA Writing Test as a condition to be hired.

[Anonymous]

There are 83 gen ed classroom vacancies for K-6 listed today. Many of those are multiple positions for one listing. The first day for teachers is Friday.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers here are also paid disproportionately low compared to other teachers in high COL areas. My sister makes 6 figures in a seattle suburb with 8 years of experience. If I were a brand new baby teacher, I'd be headed elsewhere.

Even areas that are not high COL. I have 30 years with FCPS. A friend teaches an ES grade outside of Pittsburgh and is making over $115k.

The average teacher pay in the Pittsburgh metro area is 56k. Not sure how your friend is managing this salary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers here are also paid disproportionately low compared to other teachers in high COL areas. My sister makes 6 figures in a seattle suburb with 8 years of experience. If I were a brand new baby teacher, I'd be headed elsewhere.

Even areas that are not high COL. I have 30 years with FCPS. A friend teaches an ES grade outside of Pittsburgh and is making over $115k.

The average teacher pay in the Pittsburgh metro area is 56k. Not sure how your friend is managing this salary.

A teacher with a MA+30 at the top of the pay scale (as I assume this 30-year teacher’s friend is) makes well into 6 figures in the district I grew up in around metro Pittsburgh - only the houses for those teachers to live in are half the price!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are 83 gen ed classroom vacancies for K-6 listed today. Many of those are multiple positions for one listing. The first day for teachers is Friday.

Yes and they update the list on Wednesdays!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers here are also paid disproportionately low compared to other teachers in high COL areas. My sister makes 6 figures in a seattle suburb with 8 years of experience. If I were a brand new baby teacher, I'd be headed elsewhere.

Even areas that are not high COL. I have 30 years with FCPS. A friend teaches an ES grade outside of Pittsburgh and is making over $115k.

The average teacher pay in the Pittsburgh metro area is 56k. Not sure how your friend is managing this salary.

I don’t know about average pay.

It’s in Sewickly (Quaker Valley Schools). I don’t think they list their pay scales like the districts do around here, but I’ll post if I can find it.