Staff turnover

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi! I am the sped teacher who quit in October. If you think anyone gets into special education to lie to parents I don’t know how to help you. Instead of fighting your special education teachers fight the administration to get to support their supposed to have to do the job they’re supposed to do

What are you doing now?

As I shared upthread I am a nanny now. I was making $117,000 in DCPS and making $100,000 as a nanny. So a paycut- but only slightly.
2 cool kids- full health & dental & matching 401k. The hours are bit longer, 5:30 vs. teaching 3:30 but when I leave I’m done.
Not everyone’s next go to but I just love working with kids. So it was a natural fit

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

The cynicism here is unnecessary. Why would anyone ever go into the field of Special Education if they wanted to harm children? Perhaps this problem is bigger than you think...read and listen to the teachers on this thread.

It's not that parents think that all teachers want to harm children. It's that teachers - and definitely the union - are advocating for thing to make their jobs easier and avoid accountability, which are sometimes in direct conflict with what's best for children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

The cynicism here is unnecessary. Why would anyone ever go into the field of Special Education if they wanted to harm children? Perhaps this problem is bigger than you think...read and listen to the teachers on this thread.

It's not that parents think that all teachers want to harm children. It's that teachers - and definitely the union - are advocating for thing to make their jobs easier and avoid accountability, which are sometimes in direct conflict with what's best for children.

Listen to what they are saying. They are unable to do their jobs because of demands from administration (which trickled downhill from Central Office). It has nothing to do with the union.

[Anonymous]

How about asking for accountability to the administrators?
DCPS parents are obsessed with thinking that ‘reform’ happens by squeezing the folks with the least amount of power.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

The cynicism here is unnecessary. Why would anyone ever go into the field of Special Education if they wanted to harm children? Perhaps this problem is bigger than you think...read and listen to the teachers on this thread.

It's not that parents think that all teachers want to harm children. It's that teachers - and definitely the union - are advocating for thing to make their jobs easier and avoid accountability, which are sometimes in direct conflict with what's best for children.

Listen to what they are saying. They are unable to do their jobs because of demands from administration (which trickled downhill from Central Office). It has nothing to do with the union.

One of the union's consistent talking points is eliminating reporting and transparency and they use the same excuse, but then parents wouldn't know how their children are doing and DCPS wouldn't have tools to eliminate poorly performing teachers. The latter is the union's goal. No one here thinks there have ever been adequate resources for SPED kids and everyone agrees to increase the budget. But some people don't agree with the union pressure to reduce accountability and transparency for teachers.

You need to listen to what parents - especially SPED parents - are saying. Go over to the kids with special needs and disabilities forum. We know the teachers aren't on our SPED kid's side. Stop pretending that teachers advocate for SPED kids when you're advocating for yourselves. Parents advocate for SPED kids, not teachers and not admin.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

The cynicism here is unnecessary. Why would anyone ever go into the field of Special Education if they wanted to harm children? Perhaps this problem is bigger than you think...read and listen to the teachers on this thread.

It's not that parents think that all teachers want to harm children. It's that teachers - and definitely the union - are advocating for thing to make their jobs easier and avoid accountability, which are sometimes in direct conflict with what's best for children.

Listen to what they are saying. They are unable to do their jobs because of demands from administration (which trickled downhill from Central Office). It has nothing to do with the union.

One of the union's consistent talking points is eliminating reporting and transparency and they use the same excuse, but then parents wouldn't know how their children are doing and DCPS wouldn't have tools to eliminate poorly performing teachers. The latter is the union's goal. No one here thinks there have ever been adequate resources for SPED kids and everyone agrees to increase the budget. But some people don't agree with the union pressure to reduce accountability and transparency for teachers.

You need to listen to what parents - especially SPED parents - are saying. Go over to the kids with special needs and disabilities forum. We know the teachers aren't on our SPED kid's side. Stop pretending that teachers advocate for SPED kids when you're advocating for yourselves. Parents advocate for SPED kids, not teachers and not admin.

Can you show where the union is asking for reduced accountability? This is not the same as asking for more financial or human capital support for that accountability

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

The cynicism here is unnecessary. Why would anyone ever go into the field of Special Education if they wanted to harm children? Perhaps this problem is bigger than you think...read and listen to the teachers on this thread.

It's not that parents think that all teachers want to harm children. It's that teachers - and definitely the union - are advocating for thing to make their jobs easier and avoid accountability, which are sometimes in direct conflict with what's best for children.

Listen to what they are saying. They are unable to do their jobs because of demands from administration (which trickled downhill from Central Office). It has nothing to do with the union.

One of the union's consistent talking points is eliminating reporting and transparency and they use the same excuse, but then parents wouldn't know how their children are doing and DCPS wouldn't have tools to eliminate poorly performing teachers. The latter is the union's goal. No one here thinks there have ever been adequate resources for SPED kids and everyone agrees to increase the budget. But some people don't agree with the union pressure to reduce accountability and transparency for teachers.

You need to listen to what parents - especially SPED parents - are saying. Go over to the kids with special needs and disabilities forum. We know the teachers aren't on our SPED kid's side. Stop pretending that teachers advocate for SPED kids when you're advocating for yourselves. Parents advocate for SPED kids, not teachers and not admin.

Different sped teacher here. If you don't think sped teachers care about sped kids, then why in hell do you think we do it? Are there some terrible sped teachers - of course there are. That's going to be true in any job. But if you think all sped teachers are out to screw over sped kids, then I don't know what to tell you. You might as well homeschool. Why would you send your child to school every day?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

The cynicism here is unnecessary. Why would anyone ever go into the field of Special Education if they wanted to harm children? Perhaps this problem is bigger than you think...read and listen to the teachers on this thread.

It's not that parents think that all teachers want to harm children. It's that teachers - and definitely the union - are advocating for thing to make their jobs easier and avoid accountability, which are sometimes in direct conflict with what's best for children.

Listen to what they are saying. They are unable to do their jobs because of demands from administration (which trickled downhill from Central Office). It has nothing to do with the union.

One of the union's consistent talking points is eliminating reporting and transparency and they use the same excuse, but then parents wouldn't know how their children are doing and DCPS wouldn't have tools to eliminate poorly performing teachers. The latter is the union's goal. No one here thinks there have ever been adequate resources for SPED kids and everyone agrees to increase the budget. But some people don't agree with the union pressure to reduce accountability and transparency for teachers.

You need to listen to what parents - especially SPED parents - are saying. Go over to the kids with special needs and disabilities forum. We know the teachers aren't on our SPED kid's side. Stop pretending that teachers advocate for SPED kids when you're advocating for yourselves. Parents advocate for SPED kids, not teachers and not admin.

Different sped teacher here. If you don't think sped teachers care about sped kids, then why in hell do you think we do it? Are there some terrible sped teachers - of course there are. That's going to be true in any job. But if you think all sped teachers are out to screw over sped kids, then I don't know what to tell you. You might as well homeschool. Why would you send your child to school every day?

Enough with this union messaging that parents who point out that teachers are advocating for themselves not kids must think that teachers are out to get kids. You're not helping your case when you screech at parents that they must be Republicans, bad parents, bad people, etc. whenever they try to advocate for their kids when it contradicts with union objectives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

The cynicism here is unnecessary. Why would anyone ever go into the field of Special Education if they wanted to harm children? Perhaps this problem is bigger than you think...read and listen to the teachers on this thread.

It's not that parents think that all teachers want to harm children. It's that teachers - and definitely the union - are advocating for thing to make their jobs easier and avoid accountability, which are sometimes in direct conflict with what's best for children.

Listen to what they are saying. They are unable to do their jobs because of demands from administration (which trickled downhill from Central Office). It has nothing to do with the union.

One of the union's consistent talking points is eliminating reporting and transparency and they use the same excuse, but then parents wouldn't know how their children are doing and DCPS wouldn't have tools to eliminate poorly performing teachers. The latter is the union's goal. No one here thinks there have ever been adequate resources for SPED kids and everyone agrees to increase the budget. But some people don't agree with the union pressure to reduce accountability and transparency for teachers.

You need to listen to what parents - especially SPED parents - are saying. Go over to the kids with special needs and disabilities forum. We know the teachers aren't on our SPED kid's side. Stop pretending that teachers advocate for SPED kids when you're advocating for yourselves. Parents advocate for SPED kids, not teachers and not admin.

Different sped teacher here. If you don't think sped teachers care about sped kids, then why in hell do you think we do it? Are there some terrible sped teachers - of course there are. That's going to be true in any job. But if you think all sped teachers are out to screw over sped kids, then I don't know what to tell you. You might as well homeschool. Why would you send your child to school every day?

Enough with this union messaging that parents who point out that teachers are advocating for themselves not kids must think that teachers are out to get kids. You're not helping your case when you screech at parents that they must be Republicans, bad parents, bad people, etc. whenever they try to advocate for their kids when it contradicts with union objectives.

Rather than continuing to be an anti - union cynic, could you answer the question I (non sped teacher) posted at 12:53 yesterday? Still waiting on that answer.
I haven’t seen any of the sped teachers call you bad parents or (god forbid) republicans on this thread either so not sure what that means, Screech

[Anonymous]

Yup, I am a teacher, and I am done. Worst year in my 30 year career. Will be leaving in June. Can't wait though I will do everything I can to make this a great year for my students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

The cynicism here is unnecessary. Why would anyone ever go into the field of Special Education if they wanted to harm children? Perhaps this problem is bigger than you think...read and listen to the teachers on this thread.

It's not that parents think that all teachers want to harm children. It's that teachers - and definitely the union - are advocating for thing to make their jobs easier and avoid accountability, which are sometimes in direct conflict with what's best for children.

Listen to what they are saying. They are unable to do their jobs because of demands from administration (which trickled downhill from Central Office). It has nothing to do with the union.

One of the union's consistent talking points is eliminating reporting and transparency and they use the same excuse, but then parents wouldn't know how their children are doing and DCPS wouldn't have tools to eliminate poorly performing teachers. The latter is the union's goal. No one here thinks there have ever been adequate resources for SPED kids and everyone agrees to increase the budget. But some people don't agree with the union pressure to reduce accountability and transparency for teachers.

You need to listen to what parents - especially SPED parents - are saying. Go over to the kids with special needs and disabilities forum. We know the teachers aren't on our SPED kid's side. Stop pretending that teachers advocate for SPED kids when you're advocating for yourselves. Parents advocate for SPED kids, not teachers and not admin.

Different sped teacher here. If you don't think sped teachers care about sped kids, then why in hell do you think we do it? Are there some terrible sped teachers - of course there are. That's going to be true in any job. But if you think all sped teachers are out to screw over sped kids, then I don't know what to tell you. You might as well homeschool. Why would you send your child to school every day?

Enough with this union messaging that parents who point out that teachers are advocating for themselves not kids must think that teachers are out to get kids. You're not helping your case when you screech at parents that they must be Republicans, bad parents, bad people, etc. whenever they try to advocate for their kids when it contradicts with union objectives.

So by that thinking. Charters must be doing great things for kids with disabilities since they don’t toe the union line, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

Uh huh. You expect us (sped teachers) to keep up our end but not DCPS’s promise of more funding and staffing. Tell me why my self contained classroom has +25% more students than it should and no extra assistant? How am I to ensure student safety and growth when I have too many students and some who have frequent aggressive meltdowns that require an adult’s full attention?

I hate it when parents only blame sped teachers, you are part of the reason for the shortage. Of course there’s no excuses for lies but I will say I feel for sped teachers who do and the poor kids who are not getting what they need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

The cynicism here is unnecessary. Why would anyone ever go into the field of Special Education if they wanted to harm children? Perhaps this problem is bigger than you think...read and listen to the teachers on this thread.

It's not that parents think that all teachers want to harm children. It's that teachers - and definitely the union - are advocating for thing to make their jobs easier and avoid accountability, which are sometimes in direct conflict with what's best for children.

Listen to what they are saying. They are unable to do their jobs because of demands from administration (which trickled downhill from Central Office). It has nothing to do with the union.

One of the union's consistent talking points is eliminating reporting and transparency and they use the same excuse, but then parents wouldn't know how their children are doing and DCPS wouldn't have tools to eliminate poorly performing teachers. The latter is the union's goal. No one here thinks there have ever been adequate resources for SPED kids and everyone agrees to increase the budget. But some people don't agree with the union pressure to reduce accountability and transparency for teachers.

You need to listen to what parents - especially SPED parents - are saying. Go over to the kids with special needs and disabilities forum. We know the teachers aren't on our SPED kid's side. Stop pretending that teachers advocate for SPED kids when you're advocating for yourselves. Parents advocate for SPED kids, not teachers and not admin.

You’re a fool. I advocate for my students daily and you know who I ask to help when I cannot do it alone? PARENTS. Because many times dcps won’t listen to just us most of the time.

If you hate sped teachers so much, please homeschool!

[Anonymous]

DCPS parent here. I love our teachers. To those of you planning on leaving or considering doing so, are there things individual parents or the PTA could do to make your situation better? I feel lucky with the teachers we have now and what I've seen of the other teachers at our school, and I'd like to contribute to a positive work environment for them however I can. I don't have a ton of control over the school's administration or DCPS Central Office, but if there are ways I could help, I'd like to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hi! I am the sped teacher who quit in October. If you think anyone gets into special education to lie to parents I don’t know how to help you. Instead of fighting your special education teachers fight the administration to get to support their supposed to have to do the job they’re supposed to do

What are you doing now?

As I shared upthread I am a nanny now. I was making $117,000 in DCPS and making $100,000 as a nanny. So a paycut- but only slightly.
2 cool kids- full health & dental & matching 401k. The hours are bit longer, 5:30 vs. teaching 3:30 but when I leave I’m done.
Not everyone’s next go to but I just love working with kids. So it was a natural fit

So you get paid $48 an hour or they pay you a salary? How did you find the job - you have to admit thats not a typical nanny rate