When a large number of teachers leave a school in one year

[Anonymous]

Is anyone in central MCPS on here? Any new training plans with the change in superintendent? The system is only as good as the professionals it attracts and keeps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't take that much time to give an anonymous survey...

Yes...and then you have to go through the survey results, compile the results into an executive summary, and then take time out of your day to meet with Central to go over the survey.

Ultimately, we got the attention of Central, which is the point of this thread. They were very present in our school the second half of the school year and even sent a representative to observe at one of our PTA meetings with the principal at the time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't take that much time to give an anonymous survey...

Yes...and then you have to go through the survey results, compile the results into an executive summary, and then take time out of your day to meet with Central to go over the survey.

Ultimately, we got the attention of Central, which is the point of this thread. They were very present in our school the second half of the school year and even sent a representative to observe at one of our PTA meetings with the principal at the time.

And they sent that rep to the school building to speak with staff multiple times, and held two all-day sessions during which staff signed up for one-on-one confidential conferences. We were told to share good AND/OR bad experiences, so it didn't turn into a railroad. But I have to wonder if the attention received from central office was due to this person being on probation in the count (first year in MCPS, but experience elsewhere). Would they have been as responsive if he was one of these young pups they keep promoting?

[Anonymous]

Any parents thinking about doing this at their school? Which ones? I also wonder if the "homegrown" ones are treated with kid gloves.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I saw this happen twice, and each time was a situation in which a newly appointed head/principal was inept. In one case, a newly appointed head bullied teachers and seemed genuinely mentally ill, and in the other case, the head was nice enough, just really incapable of asserting herself or making/sticking to any kind of decision or disciplinary support.

I'm pretty sure at least two full grades of teachers are leaving Jackson Road ES, in Silver Spring. Will MCPS notice/care? No idea.

Goodness, that's serious. My dc would have been at Jackson Road this school year, but it's a good thing we moved. I do think they've had the same principal for many years, so something else is up.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes it can be the teachers themselves--a few bad apples can poison the orchard. If the principal is naive and ignores it, he can end up with an exodus of good teachers who don't want to put up with that kind of interpersonal bullshit. It's worst when the bad apples are school leaders just below the principal--heads of departments, assistant principals etc.--people who like to be in charge but don't necessarily prioritize being a nice team player.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I saw this happen twice, and each time was a situation in which a newly appointed head/principal was inept. In one case, a newly appointed head bullied teachers and seemed genuinely mentally ill, and in the other case, the head was nice enough, just really incapable of asserting herself or making/sticking to any kind of decision or disciplinary support.

I'm pretty sure at least two full grades of teachers are leaving Jackson Road ES, in Silver Spring. Will MCPS notice/care? No idea.

Goodness, that's serious. My dc would have been at Jackson Road this school year, but it's a good thing we moved. I do think they've had the same principal for many years, so something else is up.

My child will be at Jackson Road, and I'm starting to wonder if we should move.

[Anonymous]

Informal poll: which schools have a large number of teachers leaving? I know this is anecdotal and it isn't exactly publicized.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a teacher, I saw this happen twice, and each time was a situation in which a newly appointed head/principal was inept. In one case, a newly appointed head bullied teachers and seemed genuinely mentally ill, and in the other case, the head was nice enough, just really incapable of asserting herself or making/sticking to any kind of decision or disciplinary support.

I'm pretty sure at least two full grades of teachers are leaving Jackson Road ES, in Silver Spring. Will MCPS notice/care? No idea.

Goodness, that's serious. My dc would have been at Jackson Road this school year, but it's a good thing we moved. I do think they've had the same principal for many years, so something else is up.

I have never personally worked at Jackson Road but have several friends over the last 10 years or so who have. No one stays there long. The principal is apparently very difficult to work with. I had one friend who would only speak to her with a union rep present due to her making disparaging comments about a protected class.

In my experience, as a PP said, anytime there is a new principal, after the first and second years you will see a cohort of staff leave who are just not of the same philosophy as that principal. For good principals, teachers will overlook other things that might make working in a particular school less desirable - needy students, lack of parental support, long commute from home, etc. If they don't like a new principal as much, that can be a catalyst and they will often begin to look for other opportunities to work in a more desirable school.

[Anonymous]

That's true--a good principal can make up for a lot. I think it's interesting when teachers leave what's considered a highly desirable school with strong parent community imvolvement/low poverty etc. like what's happened in the W cluster (at the middle school level.)

[Anonymous]

The new superintendent wants to close the achievement gap in a year (see other thread on this). I bet he starts moving staff and principals around to even out instructional quality. Will be interesting to see if he starts moving the best principals to lower performing schools. They do this a bit now but not nearly as much as under Weast. Then there will be teachers moving around too because they want to stick with certain principals or dislike changes at their own school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new superintendent wants to close the achievement gap in a year (see other thread on this). I bet he starts moving staff and principals around to even out instructional quality. Will be interesting to see if he starts moving the best principals to lower performing schools. They do this a bit now but not nearly as much as under Weast. Then there will be teachers moving around too because they want to stick with certain principals or dislike changes at their own school.

Yea... that's why teachers are leaving schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The new superintendent wants to close the achievement gap in a year (see other thread on this). I bet he starts moving staff and principals around to even out instructional quality. Will be interesting to see if he starts moving the best principals to lower performing schools. They do this a bit now but not nearly as much as under Weast. Then there will be teachers moving around too because they want to stick with certain principals or dislike changes at their own school.

Admin can be centrally transferred in this way, but not classroom level teachers. Classroom teachers are only involuntarily transferred when their position is surplused (made unnecessary by a drop in enrollment, for example). An incentive program to for high-performing classroom teachers to voluntarily transfer to lower-performing schools would be great, but it would almost certainly have to involve higher pay and how many DCUM MCPS parents are willing to pay higher taxes to fund sending a great teacher from their Snowflake's W school to teach poor minority kids down County?

[Anonymous]

^^ yeah, try telling that to DCUM. Don't you know how MCPS works? People just get moved around, like when a teacher isn't working out and parents make his or her life miserable, and then s/he isn't at the school the next year. That's totally the result of parents complaining and the teacher "being moved."

[Anonymous]

Yes, it is voluntary on teachers' part, unless it is an enrollment change and the position is cut. Part time teachers are often the most vulnerable, but it could be anyone--ESOL, reading, English, last into a dept., or whatever. Just look at the thread on the parents trying to get rid of a shockingly bad teacher--they can't get rid of her no matter how much parents complain. And parents have no more influence over getting good teachers to stay. If the teacher is unhappy, it is their prerogative to go to the job fair or apply for an interview elsewhere. I think teachers are leaving the W schools more than you would expect. There is a happy medium between low performing schools and the pressure-cooker environment of the W schools. I also think more people are leaving MCPS period. The system is struggling and that is trickling down to the teacher level. There is a negativity that is just "there." It takes a really strong leader to keep up morale.