How is FCPS teacher/staff shortage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think things will be better. There will be too much. To do and not enough time. Admin will continue to expect more and the stress of trying to do it all and being dinged when you can’t will burn us out.

With all of the meetings and requirements before school starts and through September, I’ve been starting off recent school years already behind.

We just received an email listing 11 online trainings that need to be completed by the end of September. Hoo-ray.

2 Teachers

Yep. And two of the trainings I’m assigned are for systems/programs that I don’t even have access to. It’s stuff like this that wastes my time and shows a lack of respect for my time/my job. These little things add up and are what drive staff over the edge.

Are others expected to have 15 minute conferences with every family by mid-September? That’s another thing that puts me behind early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:107 K-6 Homeroom positions listed. Looks like many students will have long term subs starting the year.

If your child has an actual teacher, will the spillover effects of having other kids in the school without a teacher affect them? I think my kid will have a teacher since I do a lot of volunteering, but wondering what else I should do to mitigate the situation for her.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think things will be better. There will be too much. To do and not enough time. Admin will continue to expect more and the stress of trying to do it all and being dinged when you can’t will burn us out.

With all of the meetings and requirements before school starts and through September, I’ve been starting off recent school years already behind.

We just received an email listing 11 online trainings that need to be completed by the end of September. Hoo-ray.

2 Teachers

Yep. And two of the trainings I’m assigned are for systems/programs that I don’t even have access to. It’s stuff like this that wastes my time and shows a lack of respect for my time/my job. These little things add up and are what drive staff over the edge.

Are others expected to have 15 minute conferences with every family by mid-September? That’s another thing that puts me behind early.

You are whining about having to meet parents? 15 mins is nothing and means so much to families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think things will be better. There will be too much. To do and not enough time. Admin will continue to expect more and the stress of trying to do it all and being dinged when you can’t will burn us out.

With all of the meetings and requirements before school starts and through September, I’ve been starting off recent school years already behind.

We just received an email listing 11 online trainings that need to be completed by the end of September. Hoo-ray.

2 Teachers

Yep. And two of the trainings I’m assigned are for systems/programs that I don’t even have access to. It’s stuff like this that wastes my time and shows a lack of respect for my time/my job. These little things add up and are what drive staff over the edge.

Are others expected to have 15 minute conferences with every family by mid-September? That’s another thing that puts me behind early.

You are whining about having to meet parents? 15 mins is nothing and means so much to families.

No. Not whining about meeting with families. The problem is all of the things that are required that take away from being prepared to actually teach an ES class. The issue is it is something that is done at the beginning of the year on top of trainings, meetings, open house, BTSN, etc.

15 minutes per family x 26 is 6.5 hours. With 2 of 5 planning periods a week already taken up by team meetings, 6.5 hours takes up the rest of two weeks of planning time at the beginning of the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:107 K-6 Homeroom positions listed. Looks like many students will have long term subs starting the year.

If your child has an actual teacher, will the spillover effects of having other kids in the school without a teacher affect them? I think my kid will have a teacher since I do a lot of volunteering, but wondering what else I should do to mitigate the situation for her.

100%

I'm a FCPS teacher. We have four 5th grade classes at my school. Only 2 of those classrooms had teachers this last school year. Only one of those rooms missing a teacher got a permanent sub and that didn't happen until after winter break.

When my kids were at PE, music, library, or art, instead of being able to use that time to return parent emails/calls and plan, I had to go into one of the other classrooms that was missing a teacher and help teach. Basically reinforce topics that students may not have fully understood under the sub. I don't know if this was standard practice at all FCPS classes without a permanent teacher, but the ones in my school without one had several quizzes each week. That's what gave us the guidelines of what the students may not have grasped from the sub.

If your kid doesn't get a permanent teacher this year, I'd fight tooth & nail to get them into a class with one. Kids in classrooms without teachers are being shortchanged. They are being promoted to the next grade wildly unprepared!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think things will be better. There will be too much. To do and not enough time. Admin will continue to expect more and the stress of trying to do it all and being dinged when you can’t will burn us out.

With all of the meetings and requirements before school starts and through September, I’ve been starting off recent school years already behind.

We just received an email listing 11 online trainings that need to be completed by the end of September. Hoo-ray.

2 Teachers

Yep. And two of the trainings I’m assigned are for systems/programs that I don’t even have access to. It’s stuff like this that wastes my time and shows a lack of respect for my time/my job. These little things add up and are what drive staff over the edge.

Are others expected to have 15 minute conferences with every family by mid-September? That’s another thing that puts me behind early.

You are whining about having to meet parents? 15 mins is nothing and means so much to families.

No. Not whining about meeting with families. The problem is all of the things that are required that take away from being prepared to actually teach an ES class. The issue is it is something that is done at the beginning of the year on top of trainings, meetings, open house, BTSN, etc.

15 minutes per family x 26 is 6.5 hours. With 2 of 5 planning periods a week already taken up by team meetings, 6.5 hours takes up the rest of two weeks of planning time at the beginning of the year.

It's literally 1 day, and it's a day without school. For gen-ed parents, we that's the only conference that we'll get all year. Now that report card comments are cut and paste, that's the only thing approaching genuine feedback that we get all year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:107 K-6 Homeroom positions listed. Looks like many students will have long term subs starting the year.

If your child has an actual teacher, will the spillover effects of having other kids in the school without a teacher affect them? I think my kid will have a teacher since I do a lot of volunteering, but wondering what else I should do to mitigate the situation for her.

100%

I'm a FCPS teacher. We have four 5th grade classes at my school. Only 2 of those classrooms had teachers this last school year. Only one of those rooms missing a teacher got a permanent sub and that didn't happen until after winter break.

When my kids were at PE, music, library, or art, instead of being able to use that time to return parent emails/calls and plan, I had to go into one of the other classrooms that was missing a teacher and help teach. Basically reinforce topics that students may not have fully understood under the sub. I don't know if this was standard practice at all FCPS classes without a permanent teacher, but the ones in my school without one had several quizzes each week. That's what gave us the guidelines of what the students may not have grasped from the sub.

If your kid doesn't get a permanent teacher this year, I'd fight tooth & nail to get them into a class with one. Kids in classrooms without teachers are being shortchanged. They are being promoted to the next grade wildly unprepared!

Yup. Different teacher. We did sub plans the majority of the year too and graded for a class without a teacher. It was really hard and overwhelming. In my opinion, the county should put all instructional coaches and resource teachers in classrooms so no kid has a sub. That should be the priority.

[Anonymous]

Staff shortage is pretty bad and there is no one to hire. We have a month and half a 4 person team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Staff shortage is pretty bad and there is no one to hire. We have a month and half a 4 person team.

I am the PP. We have two openings for a K-6 teacher and my principal has received no resumes. Not looking forward to doing sub plans again… 😢

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:107 K-6 Homeroom positions listed. Looks like many students will have long term subs starting the year.

If your child has an actual teacher, will the spillover effects of having other kids in the school without a teacher affect them? I think my kid will have a teacher since I do a lot of volunteering, but wondering what else I should do to mitigate the situation for her.

100%

I'm a FCPS teacher. We have four 5th grade classes at my school. Only 2 of those classrooms had teachers this last school year. Only one of those rooms missing a teacher got a permanent sub and that didn't happen until after winter break.

When my kids were at PE, music, library, or art, instead of being able to use that time to return parent emails/calls and plan, I had to go into one of the other classrooms that was missing a teacher and help teach. Basically reinforce topics that students may not have fully understood under the sub. I don't know if this was standard practice at all FCPS classes without a permanent teacher, but the ones in my school without one had several quizzes each week. That's what gave us the guidelines of what the students may not have grasped from the sub.

If your kid doesn't get a permanent teacher this year, I'd fight tooth & nail to get them into a class with one. Kids in classrooms without teachers are being shortchanged. They are being promoted to the next grade wildly unprepared!

Any suggestions on how to do this effectively to ensure that my child gets a teacher? I already do a ton of volunteering and am chairing the August teacher luncheon. Should I send a preemptive email? If so, what are some of the good talking points to include? My child does not have an IEP and is not old enough for AAP. Maybe just mention it in passing when the PTA board meets with the principal?

I know that my child's rising grade had one teacher missing last year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:107 K-6 Homeroom positions listed. Looks like many students will have long term subs starting the year.

If your child has an actual teacher, will the spillover effects of having other kids in the school without a teacher affect them? I think my kid will have a teacher since I do a lot of volunteering, but wondering what else I should do to mitigate the situation for her.

100%

I'm a FCPS teacher. We have four 5th grade classes at my school. Only 2 of those classrooms had teachers this last school year. Only one of those rooms missing a teacher got a permanent sub and that didn't happen until after winter break.

When my kids were at PE, music, library, or art, instead of being able to use that time to return parent emails/calls and plan, I had to go into one of the other classrooms that was missing a teacher and help teach. Basically reinforce topics that students may not have fully understood under the sub. I don't know if this was standard practice at all FCPS classes without a permanent teacher, but the ones in my school without one had several quizzes each week. That's what gave us the guidelines of what the students may not have grasped from the sub.

If your kid doesn't get a permanent teacher this year, I'd fight tooth & nail to get them into a class with one. Kids in classrooms without teachers are being shortchanged. They are being promoted to the next grade wildly unprepared!

Yup. Different teacher. We did sub plans the majority of the year too and graded for a class without a teacher. It was really hard and overwhelming. In my opinion, the county should put all instructional coaches and resource teachers in classrooms so no kid has a sub. That should be the priority.

What is an instructional coach? What is a resource teacher? If a resource teacher is a specials teacher, I don't see how they can just cancel art and music classes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many special education openings are there county-wide?

I counted 135 (special education, preschool autism, multiple disabilities, emotional disabilities, etc.).

I did not count all of the IA positions (autism, Cat A, Cat B), public health attendants.

https://careers.fcps.edu/vl/vacancy.htm

How many total special education teachers are there in FCPS? Trying to get a sense for the actual scope of this problem. If there are 10,000 special education teachers, than 135 openings is nothing to be worried about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Staff shortage is pretty bad and there is no one to hire. We have a month and half a 4 person team.

I am the PP. We have two openings for a K-6 teacher and my principal has received no resumes. Not looking forward to doing sub plans again… 😢

D

P. The teacher shortage is not just an FCPS problem, it is a statewide and nationwide issue. I know that there are caps for number of students per class, but is anyone in FCPS or VDOE considering an emergency waiver so that a school that is missing some teachers could redistribute the 75 students in 2 classes instead of 3? Two classes of 35 students is better than 2 classes of 25 students and one class with no teacher, isn't it? For the students and for the teachers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Staff shortage is pretty bad and there is no one to hire. We have a month and half a 4 person team.

I am the PP. We have two openings for a K-6 teacher and my principal has received no resumes. Not looking forward to doing sub plans again… 😢

D

P. The teacher shortage is not just an FCPS problem, it is a statewide and nationwide issue. I know that there are caps for number of students per class, but is anyone in FCPS or VDOE considering an emergency waiver so that a school that is missing some teachers could redistribute the 75 students in 2 classes instead of 3? Two classes of 35 students is better than 2 classes of 25 students and one class with no teacher, isn't it? For the students and for the teachers?

We combined kindergarten classes this year due to lack of subs. Two out of the three teachers in kindergarten aren't coming back next year. One is quitting teaching altogether. It's mostly crowd control when you have more than 30 kids in a classroom and it's draining as hell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Staff shortage is pretty bad and there is no one to hire. We have a month and half a 4 person team.

I am the PP. We have two openings for a K-6 teacher and my principal has received no resumes. Not looking forward to doing sub plans again… 😢

D

P. The teacher shortage is not just an FCPS problem, it is a statewide and nationwide issue. I know that there are caps for number of students per class, but is anyone in FCPS or VDOE considering an emergency waiver so that a school that is missing some teachers could redistribute the 75 students in 2 classes instead of 3? Two classes of 35 students is better than 2 classes of 25 students and one class with no teacher, isn't it? For the students and for the teachers?

School systems will need to get creative. In Virginia, a class is defined as "a grouping of students in which they regularly receive instruction in the Standards of Learning by one or more teachers."

If more than one teacher is assigned to a class for the purposes of instructing students, each teacher can count towards meeting the student-teacher ratio and any maximum class size requirements.

They also only have to be in compliance on September 30th and March 31st. In between, they can go over the maximum. If they are out of compliance on the 9/30 and 3/31 dates, they must have a plan to come back into compliance.