Why is there a teacher shortage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If money was so important to you why did you pick teaching.

I don't know any other profession that is so unprofessional.

Pat yourself on the back, poster, because after a day one where I was both kicked and smeared with food (both intentionally), your thoughtless and hurtful comment just sent me right over the edge. Quitting. Done. Outta here. You have NO idea what it’s like. I hope you do not have a child in need of an education because comments like yours are the mail on the coffin for stressed educators. Do you even feel a tiny bit of regret? Or are you perfectly satisfied to have kicked people when they’re down and spat on them to. Unbelievable

PP is a troll who gets off on anonymously bullying people online. Total loser. Don’t give that trash the satisfaction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Too. Typo. But teachers are stupid babysitter so what do you expect?

What a pitiful attempt at trolling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If money was so important to you why did you pick teaching.

I don't know any other profession that is so unprofessional.

+1000

You’re both imbeciles.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If money was so important to you why did you pick teaching.

I don't know any other profession that is so unprofessional.

I think several of the teachers posting here are in denial about the state of teacher compensation relative to other professions in similar areas, but I strongly disagree with this post. Even if you’re not looking to maximize your earning potential, money is obviously important for living in society and having kids. An earlier PP was absolutely right that teacher pay has fallen when adjusted for inflation. Since 2006, inflation has been about 45%, while MCPS salary schedules have only increased by about 25%.

It’s not reasonable to have to expect your pay will go down over time.

As a fellow government employee, but not a teacher, part of the justification for lower pay was great benefits. If benefits are being slashed and salaries are not keeping pace with inflation, that's a recipe for massive departures from the profession.

With that said, before salaries are increased significantly, efforts should be made to address all other working conditions leading to teacher burnout, starting today. Yes, workers will accept more if they earn more, but I suspect that even if every teacher were given a bonus this year, they would still be unhappy with the demands, working hours, lack of autonomy, lack of support, behavior issues, etc.

Well said, it's sad how folks outside teaching understand the issues and folks within teaching still don't get it. Goes to the level of teachers today I guess.

Your sentence structure is illiterate. No, honey, you don’t know better than teachers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If money was so important to you why did you pick teaching.

I don't know any other profession that is so unprofessional.

I think several of the teachers posting here are in denial about the state of teacher compensation relative to other professions in similar areas, but I strongly disagree with this post. Even if you’re not looking to maximize your earning potential, money is obviously important for living in society and having kids. An earlier PP was absolutely right that teacher pay has fallen when adjusted for inflation. Since 2006, inflation has been about 45%, while MCPS salary schedules have only increased by about 25%.

It’s not reasonable to have to expect your pay will go down over time.

As a fellow government employee, but not a teacher, part of the justification for lower pay was great benefits. If benefits are being slashed and salaries are not keeping pace with inflation, that's a recipe for massive departures from the profession.

With that said, before salaries are increased significantly, efforts should be made to address all other working conditions leading to teacher burnout, starting today. Yes, workers will accept more if they earn more, but I suspect that even if every teacher were given a bonus this year, they would still be unhappy with the demands, working hours, lack of autonomy, lack of support, behavior issues, etc.

Well said, it's sad how folks outside teaching understand the issues and folks within teaching still don't get it. Goes to the level of teachers today I guess.

Um… where do you get the idea that people inside teaching don’t understand the issues? There are teachers on this thread who have mentioned working conditions. I have even stated that the pay isn’t as big if a deal as the 60+ hour work weeks.

Your post does serve as a great example of something else that is causing this shortage: the disrespect. We’re teachers, and therefore used to immaturity and bad behavior coming from juveniles. It’s now coming from adults, too. Thank you for providing an example.

The long weeks are a result of bad time management skills do better

Oh, you’re a teenager. Got it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If money was so important to you why did you pick teaching.

I don't know any other profession that is so unprofessional.

Pat yourself on the back, poster, because after a day one where I was both kicked and smeared with food (both intentionally), your thoughtless and hurtful comment just sent me right over the edge. Quitting. Done. Outta here. You have NO idea what it’s like. I hope you do not have a child in need of an education because comments like yours are the mail on the coffin for stressed educators. Do you even feel a tiny bit of regret? Or are you perfectly satisfied to have kicked people when they’re down and spat on them to. Unbelievable

I’m sorry this happened to you! If you do quit, your fellow teachers understand and support that decision. At the start of my career, I would have been appalled by someone leaving a room of students without a teacher. No longer! The conditions can be so miserable and toxic now. No job is worth risking your physical and mental health.

Good luck, PP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If money was so important to you why did you pick teaching.

I don't know any other profession that is so unprofessional.

Pat yourself on the back, poster, because after a day one where I was both kicked and smeared with food (both intentionally), your thoughtless and hurtful comment just sent me right over the edge. Quitting. Done. Outta here. You have NO idea what it’s like. I hope you do not have a child in need of an education because comments like yours are the mail on the coffin for stressed educators. Do you even feel a tiny bit of regret? Or are you perfectly satisfied to have kicked people when they’re down and spat on them to. Unbelievable

A lot of people have no idea what goes on in schools. I spent most of my planning time yesterday helping with an escalated student who really needs professional help, to allow the regular teacher to get through a lesson with the rest of the class. Parents are resistant and won’t consent to any services. This isn’t the first time this year, either. I have a supportive admin team and great coworkers. Without that I’d be thinking about my exit too.

[Anonymous]

I can’t believe that there still aren’t protests in the streets from teachers about least restrictive environment. Yet they’re stressed out and quitting in droves. Do you guys not realize that the public would be behind you on this? You just need to make some noise so lawmakers notice the problem and start asking the public what they want. Laws can be changed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe that there still aren’t protests in the streets from teachers about least restrictive environment. Yet they’re stressed out and quitting in droves. Do you guys not realize that the public would be behind you on this? You just need to make some noise so lawmakers notice the problem and start asking the public what they want. Laws can be changed.

You want schools to segregate kids with developmental disabilities into separate classrooms? No, the public would not be behind you on that. Particularly not once parents of those children told their side of it.

The “f ‘em” attitude that the DMV has for children with autism, ADHD, and other developmental disorders is pretty incredible. Particularly from teachers.

[Anonymous]

The absolute immaturity is astounding. If you hate your job just quit. Noone cares about any of this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The absolute immaturity is astounding. If you hate your job just quit. Noone cares about any of this.

And that’s exactly what’s happening. Teachers are walking away because the job has become too impossible and too disrespected. You say no one cares. I care greatly. Who is going to teach my children? We know that education is important to our society, yet we are not willing to support the very people who are supposed to provide it.

We all lose. Perhaps it’s time you start caring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe that there still aren’t protests in the streets from teachers about least restrictive environment. Yet they’re stressed out and quitting in droves. Do you guys not realize that the public would be behind you on this? You just need to make some noise so lawmakers notice the problem and start asking the public what they want. Laws can be changed.

You want schools to segregate kids with developmental disabilities into separate classrooms? No, the public would not be behind you on that. Particularly not once parents of those children told their side of it.

The “f ‘em” attitude that the DMV has for children with autism, ADHD, and other developmental disorders is pretty incredible. Particularly from teachers.

Not all disabilities are the same. And some really don’t belong in mainstream classes.

Teachers don’t need to evacuate classrooms if a kid needs a bit more time with a reading tutor each week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can’t believe that there still aren’t protests in the streets from teachers about least restrictive environment. Yet they’re stressed out and quitting in droves. Do you guys not realize that the public would be behind you on this? You just need to make some noise so lawmakers notice the problem and start asking the public what they want. Laws can be changed.

You want schools to segregate kids with developmental disabilities into separate classrooms? No, the public would not be behind you on that. Particularly not once parents of those children told their side of it.

The “f ‘em” attitude that the DMV has for children with autism, ADHD, and other developmental disorders is pretty incredible. Particularly from teachers.

Not all disabilities are the same. And some really don’t belong in mainstream classes.

Teachers don’t need to evacuate classrooms if a kid needs a bit more time with a reading tutor each week.

I agree. As the parent of a child who was routinely abused by a special needs child, I object to that child being in a regular classroom. His behavioral issues were dangerous and very disruptive on the class. This child had multiple tantrums daily. In several cases, the rest of the children were required to immediately get up and move into the hallway while the teacher called a special ed specialist to the classroom to handle the child. 25 other children lost learning time multiple times daily due to this behavior. This child also threw things. My child was hit in the by a thrown hard-bound book and was choked by the child when my child picked up a book that the other child wanted. This child hit another child with a chair one day in one of his tantrums. Partway through the school year one of the para-professionals had to be assigned full-time, 1:1 to this child just to make it through the school day. But the IEP for this child did not allow the child to be removed from the classroom and the IEP-required responses to the child meant that it disrupted the learning of the other 25 students more than once daily for the entire school year.

We were so lucky that this family moved out of our school zone into another school zone. I have no problems with non-disruptive children being in regular classrooms, but physically abusive and disruptive children need to be segregated from the regularly classrooms. I complained multiple times about the physical abuse and the school counselor and administration replied that they were limited in what they were allowed to do by the school district mandated IEP for this child and the responses allowed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If money was so important to you why did you pick teaching.

I don't know any other profession that is so unprofessional.

Pat yourself on the back, poster, because after a day one where I was both kicked and smeared with food (both intentionally), your thoughtless and hurtful comment just sent me right over the edge. Quitting. Done. Outta here. You have NO idea what it’s like. I hope you do not have a child in need of an education because comments like yours are the mail on the coffin for stressed educators. Do you even feel a tiny bit of regret? Or are you perfectly satisfied to have kicked people when they’re down and spat on them to. Unbelievable

PP is a troll who gets off on anonymously bullying people online. Total loser. Don’t give that trash the satisfaction.

Thank you. You’re right. It was just bad, veeery bad first day. Things will improve but I’m done at the end of this year. Thanks for the perspective!😌

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If money was so important to you why did you pick teaching.

I don't know any other profession that is so unprofessional.

Pat yourself on the back, poster, because after a day one where I was both kicked and smeared with food (both intentionally), your thoughtless and hurtful comment just sent me right over the edge. Quitting. Done. Outta here. You have NO idea what it’s like. I hope you do not have a child in need of an education because comments like yours are the mail on the coffin for stressed educators. Do you even feel a tiny bit of regret? Or are you perfectly satisfied to have kicked people when they’re down and spat on them to. Unbelievable

PP is a troll who gets off on anonymously bullying people online. Total loser. Don’t give that trash the satisfaction.

Thank you. You’re right. It was just bad, veeery bad first day. Things will improve but I’m done at the end of this year. Thanks for the perspective!😌

Isn't that what you said last year. Please just quit. I'm not a troll. Folks like you are destroying our profession. If you don't want to be there leave instead of dragging down the rest of your coworkers.