How is FCPS teacher/staff shortage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For perspective - My daughter applied to Fairfax a few months ago from another county. She had eight interviews (all remote) the day she applied. Eight job offers on the spot. She still gets calls even though she has accepted a position. Fairfax needs teachers.

Another perspective, I contacted HR more than once in the spring to see if there could be any negotiation on the salary scale. I work in a neighboring district and would like to come to FCPS as an experienced and certified special ed teacher so I could be in the same district as my children. It would be a big pay cut since they won’t give experienced teachers all of their years of experience. I would make less even if I was put on the same step but it would be closer than their max entry that is posted. I never got a response.

They should just remove that maximum entry step. If you come over with 20 years exp, credit the 20.

+1. FCPS is beyond stupid to not remove the maximum entry step, especially in the critical shortage positions. It's also time to consider signing bonuses for certain teaching and classroom positions.

If other districts did the same, how long until teachers just jumped between districts every year?

Experienced teacher here. Why would we do that? Some of us started teaching long before we had kids. Now that are own children are older, we want to work in the same district and be on the same schedule as our children but a 20k - 30k pay cut makes that hard to justify. What would anyone gain by switching every year?

Because of seniority is fully portable between districts, you could easily cycle between FCPS, FCCPS, ACPS, and LCPS depending on where you live and collect signing bonuses every year.

I work in one of those districts and we don’t give signing bonuses. If the others do, I doubt they are much. As I posted before, I would be taking a 20-30k pay cut to come to FCPS and can’t do it. I would consider if it was a 10k cut to be on the same schedule as my kids. After 20 years of teaching, a 1-2k signing bonus isn’t worth the hassle of changing classrooms, new teachers orientation, getting to know new staff and admin, shall I go on? Experienced teachers wouldn’t care about a signing bonus. Like many, my husband makes more than me which is how I can afford to stay in teaching for a full career.

But out of curiosity, how much are they offering?

[Anonymous]

Not sure the suggestion of a signing bonus was targeted at experienced teachers… more to try to win the recruitment war against PW, Loudoun, and to attract other teachers from other states

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure the suggestion of a signing bonus was targeted at experienced teachers… more to try to win the recruitment war against PW, Loudoun, and to attract other teachers from other states

I am searching now out of curiosity and I can’t find any local public schools that do this. It’s an interesting idea but it would have to be significant to recruit people to the area. There are shortages everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure the suggestion of a signing bonus was targeted at experienced teachers… more to try to win the recruitment war against PW, Loudoun, and to attract other teachers from other states

I am searching now out of curiosity and I can’t find any local public schools that do this. It’s an interesting idea but it would have to be significant to recruit people to the area. There are shortages everywhere.

I have spent my entire career in FCPS and I don't recall them ever offering signing bonuses.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 850 vacancies right now in FCPS. As a point of reference, there were 550 a year ago and 350 four years ago at this time.

This is a national crisis.

Thank you for this data! This is the actual information that we need to highlight and push. No one cares about people complaining, but data can get peoples attention.

Are there any principals on here who attended the meeting this morning? Any updates? It sounded to me as though it was a bit of an urgent call about staffing.

Any intel on this meeting? Or has anyone seen discussion about it elsewhere?

Would love to know more about what the data are and what the plan is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure the suggestion of a signing bonus was targeted at experienced teachers… more to try to win the recruitment war against PW, Loudoun, and to attract other teachers from other states

I am searching now out of curiosity and I can’t find any local public schools that do this. It’s an interesting idea but it would have to be significant to recruit people to the area. There are shortages everywhere.

I have spent my entire career in FCPS and I don't recall them ever offering signing bonuses.

None of the districts in this area have signing bonuses. Not sure what poster is talking about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For perspective - My daughter applied to Fairfax a few months ago from another county. She had eight interviews (all remote) the day she applied. Eight job offers on the spot. She still gets calls even though she has accepted a position. Fairfax needs teachers.

Another perspective, I contacted HR more than once in the spring to see if there could be any negotiation on the salary scale. I work in a neighboring district and would like to come to FCPS as an experienced and certified special ed teacher so I could be in the same district as my children. It would be a big pay cut since they won’t give experienced teachers all of their years of experience. I would make less even if I was put on the same step but it would be closer than their max entry that is posted. I never got a response.

They should just remove that maximum entry step. If you come over with 20 years exp, credit the 20.

+1. FCPS is beyond stupid to not remove the maximum entry step, especially in the critical shortage positions. It's also time to consider signing bonuses for certain teaching and classroom positions.

If other districts did the same, how long until teachers just jumped between districts every year?

Experienced teacher here. Why would we do that? Some of us started teaching long before we had kids. Now that are own children are older, we want to work in the same district and be on the same schedule as our children but a 20k - 30k pay cut makes that hard to justify. What would anyone gain by switching every year?

Because of seniority is fully portable between districts, you could easily cycle between FCPS, FCCPS, ACPS, and LCPS depending on where you live and collect signing bonuses every year.

I work in one of those districts and we don’t give signing bonuses. If the others do, I doubt they are much. As I posted before, I would be taking a 20-30k pay cut to come to FCPS and can’t do it. I would consider if it was a 10k cut to be on the same schedule as my kids. After 20 years of teaching, a 1-2k signing bonus isn’t worth the hassle of changing classrooms, new teachers orientation, getting to know new staff and admin, shall I go on? Experienced teachers wouldn’t care about a signing bonus. Like many, my husband makes more than me which is how I can afford to stay in teaching for a full career.

But out of curiosity, how much are they offering?

I’m the PP who posted about signing bonuses. To my knowledge it’s never been a widespread thing but it should be. I don’t think it would sway the longtime teachers to switch districts but it would maybe get some career switcher program graduates and new teachers to choose District A over District B if the commute was similar. Make it a one time opportunity per district if people are seriously worried that someone would hop back and forth from Alexandria to Loudoun each year for an extra $2,000 pre tax. I’m on my phone and can’t post links but Prince William was doing it last year for certain SPED positions and Alternate Paths definitely was too. I’ve heard that a few of the other public-private placement schools were doing it too but did not personally see the websites. Those places obviously serve a niche population but the requirements to work there are the same as any other public SPED classroom so they’re competing for the same people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure the suggestion of a signing bonus was targeted at experienced teachers… more to try to win the recruitment war against PW, Loudoun, and to attract other teachers from other states

I am searching now out of curiosity and I can’t find any local public schools that do this. It’s an interesting idea but it would have to be significant to recruit people to the area. There are shortages everywhere.

I have spent my entire career in FCPS and I don't recall them ever offering signing bonuses.

None of the districts in this area have signing bonuses. Not sure what poster is talking about.

Frederick Co. Maryland offered signing bonuses for SpEd about 15 years ago or so. I remember a teacher got hired. Showed up for a few days to collect the signing bonus and then completely disappeared. They finally tracked down his mother to get in touch with and figure out what happened to him. Total AWOL situation that felt very scammy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure the suggestion of a signing bonus was targeted at experienced teachers… more to try to win the recruitment war against PW, Loudoun, and to attract other teachers from other states

I am searching now out of curiosity and I can’t find any local public schools that do this. It’s an interesting idea but it would have to be significant to recruit people to the area. There are shortages everywhere.

I have spent my entire career in FCPS and I don't recall them ever offering signing bonuses.

None of the districts in this area have signing bonuses. Not sure what poster is talking about.

Frederick Co. Maryland offered signing bonuses for SpEd about 15 years ago or so. I remember a teacher got hired. Showed up for a few days to collect the signing bonus and then completely disappeared. They finally tracked down his mother to get in touch with and figure out what happened to him. Total AWOL situation that felt very scammy.

Could easily be mitigated… the signing bonus should be given at the end of the school year once they stick around. Or half on the front, half on the back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For perspective - My daughter applied to Fairfax a few months ago from another county. She had eight interviews (all remote) the day she applied. Eight job offers on the spot. She still gets calls even though she has accepted a position. Fairfax needs teachers.

Another perspective, I contacted HR more than once in the spring to see if there could be any negotiation on the salary scale. I work in a neighboring district and would like to come to FCPS as an experienced and certified special ed teacher so I could be in the same district as my children. It would be a big pay cut since they won’t give experienced teachers all of their years of experience. I would make less even if I was put on the same step but it would be closer than their max entry that is posted. I never got a response.

They should just remove that maximum entry step. If you come over with 20 years exp, credit the 20.

+1. FCPS is beyond stupid to not remove the maximum entry step, especially in the critical shortage positions. It's also time to consider signing bonuses for certain teaching and classroom positions.

If other districts did the same, how long until teachers just jumped between districts every year?

Experienced teacher here. Why would we do that? Some of us started teaching long before we had kids. Now that are own children are older, we want to work in the same district and be on the same schedule as our children but a 20k - 30k pay cut makes that hard to justify. What would anyone gain by switching every year?

Because of seniority is fully portable between districts, you could easily cycle between FCPS, FCCPS, ACPS, and LCPS depending on where you live and collect signing bonuses every year.

I work in one of those districts and we don’t give signing bonuses. If the others do, I doubt they are much. As I posted before, I would be taking a 20-30k pay cut to come to FCPS and can’t do it. I would consider if it was a 10k cut to be on the same schedule as my kids. After 20 years of teaching, a 1-2k signing bonus isn’t worth the hassle of changing classrooms, new teachers orientation, getting to know new staff and admin, shall I go on? Experienced teachers wouldn’t care about a signing bonus. Like many, my husband makes more than me which is how I can afford to stay in teaching for a full career.

But out of curiosity, how much are they offering?

I’m the PP who posted about signing bonuses. To my knowledge it’s never been a widespread thing but it should be. I don’t think it would sway the longtime teachers to switch districts but it would maybe get some career switcher program graduates and new teachers to choose District A over District B if the commute was similar. Make it a one time opportunity per district if people are seriously worried that someone would hop back and forth from Alexandria to Loudoun each year for an extra $2,000 pre tax. I’m on my phone and can’t post links but Prince William was doing it last year for certain SPED positions and Alternate Paths definitely was too. I’ve heard that a few of the other public-private placement schools were doing it too but did not personally see the websites. Those places obviously serve a niche population but the requirements to work there are the same as any other public SPED classroom so they’re competing for the same people.

The public placement "private" day schools have even lower hiring standards then fcps and they really struggle to fill jobs. Year round so they pay more but a lot of burnout.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For perspective - My daughter applied to Fairfax a few months ago from another county. She had eight interviews (all remote) the day she applied. Eight job offers on the spot. She still gets calls even though she has accepted a position. Fairfax needs teachers.

Another perspective, I contacted HR more than once in the spring to see if there could be any negotiation on the salary scale. I work in a neighboring district and would like to come to FCPS as an experienced and certified special ed teacher so I could be in the same district as my children. It would be a big pay cut since they won’t give experienced teachers all of their years of experience. I would make less even if I was put on the same step but it would be closer than their max entry that is posted. I never got a response.

They should just remove that maximum entry step. If you come over with 20 years exp, credit the 20.

+1. FCPS is beyond stupid to not remove the maximum entry step, especially in the critical shortage positions. It's also time to consider signing bonuses for certain teaching and classroom positions.

If other districts did the same, how long until teachers just jumped between districts every year?

Experienced teacher here. Why would we do that? Some of us started teaching long before we had kids. Now that are own children are older, we want to work in the same district and be on the same schedule as our children but a 20k - 30k pay cut makes that hard to justify. What would anyone gain by switching every year?

Because of seniority is fully portable between districts, you could easily cycle between FCPS, FCCPS, ACPS, and LCPS depending on where you live and collect signing bonuses every year.

I work in one of those districts and we don’t give signing bonuses. If the others do, I doubt they are much. As I posted before, I would be taking a 20-30k pay cut to come to FCPS and can’t do it. I would consider if it was a 10k cut to be on the same schedule as my kids. After 20 years of teaching, a 1-2k signing bonus isn’t worth the hassle of changing classrooms, new teachers orientation, getting to know new staff and admin, shall I go on? Experienced teachers wouldn’t care about a signing bonus. Like many, my husband makes more than me which is how I can afford to stay in teaching for a full career.

But out of curiosity, how much are they offering?

I’m the PP who posted about signing bonuses. To my knowledge it’s never been a widespread thing but it should be. I don’t think it would sway the longtime teachers to switch districts but it would maybe get some career switcher program graduates and new teachers to choose District A over District B if the commute was similar. Make it a one time opportunity per district if people are seriously worried that someone would hop back and forth from Alexandria to Loudoun each year for an extra $2,000 pre tax. I’m on my phone and can’t post links but Prince William was doing it last year for certain SPED positions and Alternate Paths definitely was too. I’ve heard that a few of the other public-private placement schools were doing it too but did not personally see the websites. Those places obviously serve a niche population but the requirements to work there are the same as any other public SPED classroom so they’re competing for the same people.

The public placement "private" day schools have even lower hiring standards then fcps and they really struggle to fill jobs. Year round so they pay more but a lot of burnout.

The private placement schools serve a much higher needs population. It’s not comparable to the typical FCPS Sped teacher. The FCPS teachers have a cushy life compared to those teachers.

[Anonymous]

Virginia Beach is offering a $5k signing bonus to any teacher hired in July/august.

To prevent jumping ship repeatedly, they just have to say you must work at least x years or pay it back. Problem solved. The average new hire tenure is under 5 years, so make it 5 years and you’ll probably convince people to stay longer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure the suggestion of a signing bonus was targeted at experienced teachers… more to try to win the recruitment war against PW, Loudoun, and to attract other teachers from other states

I am searching now out of curiosity and I can’t find any local public schools that do this. It’s an interesting idea but it would have to be significant to recruit people to the area. There are shortages everywhere.

I have spent my entire career in FCPS and I don't recall them ever offering signing bonuses.

None of the districts in this area have signing bonuses. Not sure what poster is talking about.

Frederick Co. Maryland offered signing bonuses for SpEd about 15 years ago or so. I remember a teacher got hired. Showed up for a few days to collect the signing bonus and then completely disappeared. They finally tracked down his mother to get in touch with and figure out what happened to him. Total AWOL situation that felt very scammy.

I'm surprised they would offer the $2k up front. I would think it would be more like $200 a month over a 10 month contract, or ~$181 over 11 months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virginia Beach is offering a $5k signing bonus to any teacher hired in July/august.

To prevent jumping ship repeatedly, they just have to say you must work at least x years or pay it back. Problem solved. The average new hire tenure is under 5 years, so make it 5 years and you’ll probably convince people to stay longer.

Actually might have been Hampton. It was one of the districts in the tidewater area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virginia Beach is offering a $5k signing bonus to any teacher hired in July/august.

To prevent jumping ship repeatedly, they just have to say you must work at least x years or pay it back. Problem solved. The average new hire tenure is under 5 years, so make it 5 years and you’ll probably convince people to stay longer.

A lot of companies do this for bonuses. As a teacher, I actually think this is a good idea.