MCPS faces Teacher shortage next year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But some of the combos I observed are unrealistic for anyone to accept. Far apart schools or working at three different schools? Not really viable. They were combined simply to reduce the number of positions on paper.

Art teachers have had to do those crazy combos for years!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another high profile departure: Jenn Webster is becoming associate superintendent in Washington County

What did she do in MCPS? I have never heard of her before.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m switching grades this year and I don’t understand how MCPS doesn’t have an enrichment hour for students to go to things like band, orchestra, etc. instead it’s just in the middle of normal lessons? It just all feels so poorly planned

I absolutely agree with you but it's because one instrumental music teacher has to teach beginner and advanced sections of several different instruments, typically at multiple schools. There simply isn't a way to schedule that with one enrichment hour.

But fair fourth and fifth grade teachers in mcps it is an absolute bane.

I guess there are some financial constraints so compromises must be made.

No financial problems. It's a choice.

As is most everything since they don't have a limitless budget and need to prioritize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another high profile departure: Jenn Webster is becoming associate superintendent in Washington County

What did she do in MCPS? I have never heard of her before.

Both she and Sarah Sirgo were two of the directors in OSSI, supervising the schools in several clusters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But some of the combos I observed are unrealistic for anyone to accept. Far apart schools or working at three different schools? Not really viable. They were combined simply to reduce the number of positions on paper.

Art teachers have had to do those crazy combos for years!

There are some music teachers assigned to 4 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m switching grades this year and I don’t understand how MCPS doesn’t have an enrichment hour for students to go to things like band, orchestra, etc. instead it’s just in the middle of normal lessons? It just all feels so poorly planned

I absolutely agree with you but it's because one instrumental music teacher has to teach beginner and advanced sections of several different instruments, typically at multiple schools. There simply isn't a way to schedule that with one enrichment hour.

But fair fourth and fifth grade teachers in mcps it is an absolute bane.

I guess there are some financial constraints so compromises must be made.

No financial problems. It's a choice.

As is most everything since they don't have a limitless budget and need to prioritize.

They have a huge budget and can easily cut out wasteful spending.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m switching grades this year and I don’t understand how MCPS doesn’t have an enrichment hour for students to go to things like band, orchestra, etc. instead it’s just in the middle of normal lessons? It just all feels so poorly planned

I absolutely agree with you but it's because one instrumental music teacher has to teach beginner and advanced sections of several different instruments, typically at multiple schools. There simply isn't a way to schedule that with one enrichment hour.

But fair fourth and fifth grade teachers in mcps it is an absolute bane.

I guess there are some financial constraints so compromises must be made.

No financial problems. It's a choice.

As is most everything since they don't have a limitless budget and need to prioritize.

They have a huge budget, but it isn't huge on a per-student basis, and, while there are some economies of scale to be had, there are dis-economies of scale, as well; further, entrenched interests can make it very hard to cut out wasteful spending, and the community would be better served by a budget that can address long-accumulated capital project underfunding in addition to any salary increases necessary to ensure program fulfillment.

Fixed it for ya...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another high profile departure: Jenn Webster is becoming associate superintendent in Washington County

What did she do in MCPS? I have never heard of her before.

Both she and Sarah Sirgo were two of the directors in OSSI, supervising the schools in several clusters.

Webster was a smart cookie, but she wasn't exactly a champion of the people -- OSSI's role appears to be more to back up principals in their feifdoms than to conduct proper oversight/make schools properly responsive to community needs.

[Anonymous]

MyDD had maybe 4-5 different music teachers last year. I am not sure what the issue was but they kept changing.[

quote=Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:But some of the combos I observed are unrealistic for anyone to accept. Far apart schools or working at three different schools? Not really viable. They were combined simply to reduce the number of positions on paper.

Art teachers have had to do those crazy combos for years!

There are some music teachers assigned to 4 schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another high profile departure: Jenn Webster is becoming associate superintendent in Washington County

What did she do in MCPS? I have never heard of her before.

Both she and Sarah Sirgo were two of the directors in OSSI, supervising the schools in several clusters.

Webster was a smart cookie, but she wasn't exactly a champion of the people -- OSSI's role appears to be more to back up principals in their feifdoms than to conduct proper oversight/make schools properly responsive to community needs.

Webster was a principal before that. She was a great principal at Pyle before she became principal of Damascus. Pyle was much stronger back then. Sarah Sirgo was an excellent elementary principal. Her staff loved her. Both were unhappy with the direction MCPS was headed. It’s a bad sign that those two left. It gave me some peace of mind knowing that they were there to push back. I thought they’d stay forever. They were part of the fabric of MCPS, and the fabric is tearing. This is what happens when the BOE doesn’t listen to staff. They ignored two votes of no confidence from both principals and teachers. This is on them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another high profile departure: Jenn Webster is becoming associate superintendent in Washington County

What did she do in MCPS? I have never heard of her before.

Both she and Sarah Sirgo were two of the directors in OSSI, supervising the schools in several clusters.

Webster was a smart cookie, but she wasn't exactly a champion of the people -- OSSI's role appears to be more to back up principals in their feifdoms than to conduct proper oversight/make schools properly responsive to community needs.

Webster was a principal before that. She was a great principal at Pyle before she became principal of Damascus. Pyle was much stronger back then. Sarah Sirgo was an excellent elementary principal. Her staff loved her. Both were unhappy with the direction MCPS was headed. It’s a bad sign that those two left. It gave me some peace of mind knowing that they were there to push back. I thought they’d stay forever. They were part of the fabric of MCPS, and the fabric is tearing. This is what happens when the BOE doesn’t listen to staff. They ignored two votes of no confidence from both principals and teachers. This is on them.

I think you are overthinking things. She clearly got a promotion by going to WCPS. She did this for her own career goals. There is a good chance she will move to be a full superintendent in a few years in another county. Might even come back to MCPS eventually.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Another high profile departure: Jenn Webster is becoming associate superintendent in Washington County

What did she do in MCPS? I have never heard of her before.

Both she and Sarah Sirgo were two of the directors in OSSI, supervising the schools in several clusters.

Webster was a smart cookie, but she wasn't exactly a champion of the people -- OSSI's role appears to be more to back up principals in their feifdoms than to conduct proper oversight/make schools properly responsive to community needs.

Webster was a principal before that. She was a great principal at Pyle before she became principal of Damascus. Pyle was much stronger back then. Sarah Sirgo was an excellent elementary principal. Her staff loved her. Both were unhappy with the direction MCPS was headed. It’s a bad sign that those two left. It gave me some peace of mind knowing that they were there to push back. I thought they’d stay forever. They were part of the fabric of MCPS, and the fabric is tearing. This is what happens when the BOE doesn’t listen to staff. They ignored two votes of no confidence from both principals and teachers. This is on them.

I think you are overthinking things. She clearly got a promotion by going to WCPS. She did this for her own career goals. There is a good chance she will move to be a full superintendent in a few years in another county. Might even come back to MCPS eventually.

Would say it's more than overthinking, they sound unhinged. People change jobs all the time. I wouldn't read that much into it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m switching grades this year and I don’t understand how MCPS doesn’t have an enrichment hour for students to go to things like band, orchestra, etc. instead it’s just in the middle of normal lessons? It just all feels so poorly planned

I absolutely agree with you but it's because one instrumental music teacher has to teach beginner and advanced sections of several different instruments, typically at multiple schools. There simply isn't a way to schedule that with one enrichment hour.

But fair fourth and fifth grade teachers in mcps it is an absolute bane.

I guess there are some financial constraints so compromises must be made.

No financial problems. It's a choice.

As is most everything since they don't have a limitless budget and need to prioritize.

They have a huge budget and can easily cut out wasteful spending.

Yes, that's exactly what they did.

[Anonymous]

Leader in me seems like a huge waste of money. I did the training and it was terrible.
They could have used the money in so many better ways

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leader in me seems like a huge waste of money. I did the training and it was terrible.
They could have used the money in so many better ways

Yes. Both Leader in Me and Benchmark are examples of throwing money away that they won't see back in results.