MCPS faces Teacher shortage next year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teaching is also one of those jobs where...you're sitting next to someone who makes 3 figures and doesn't care because they've been around 25 years. Meanwhile, you're doing everything for your students and make 55k. That is why I quit and now make a 3 figure salary myself. This is not sustainable. Teachers need to realize they deserve better. The public doesn't care-hell the public is the problem. People continually whine about teachers while simultaneously beg for teachers. It's pathetic. Teachers know this. They just are bigger than your abuse. Teachers are heroes for reasons you've never thought of.

The job is not sustainable if staff have to sacrifice their personal lives to do the job.

My kids teachers work at most 180 days a year. Most of them are out all the time for various personal reasons so it's a lot less than 180 days. I don't think they're really sacrificing their personal lives. Meanwhile the rest of us are working 50 weeks a year and 60 hours a week. I wish I had teacher hours.

You are welcome to have them. There is a teacher shortage and we could use more people!

It would be much more productive to acknowledge how common regular teacher absences are than to disparage a parent raising a legitimate concern. Teacher absences are a huge problem for which there is no solution, at least from a parent perspective. It doesn't matter what the reason is (that's a matter between the administration and the teacher), but significant absences harm student learning, which doesn't get acknowledged. If you want teachers to be paid like highly skilled professionals, ensure they are held to the same standards that highly skilled professionals in other industries are.

If someone says they wish they had a teacher's hours, it's not disparaging to point out that they can have them if choose to be a teacher.

DP. It's not disparaging. It's a dumb response. Many people who are teachers would HATE my job, and I would hate being a teacher regardless of the hours. Everyone has different skills and preferences and trying to use that as a "gotcha" is just... no. What matters is what are the factors that are driving the teacher shortage. Is the pension not being generous enough driving the teacher shortage? No. Is it not enough days off of work? No. Based on my conversations with teacher friends, the compensation is not the issue either, though I'm sure this is different in other places where compensation is truly terrible. Could it be work hours during the workday (including grading papers)? Sure, I buy that. Is it the lack of flexibility? I can definitely see that. Is it the frustration of dealing with the bureaucracy and parents? That is definitely something I've heard cited from multiple teachers. Is it anti-teacher posts on DCUM? No, sorry.

All of the "I wish I could work teachers hours" or "I think it would have been fun" are dumb comments that deserve that kind of response. It's the same as people sitting around daydreaming about being a farmer; it's stupid and no one means it, but it's even more obvious because becoming a teacher is actually pretty easy. If people actually thought it sounded like fun, they'd go do it, and we wouldn't have a shortage. But those comments can absolutely dominate conversations here and step one in figuring out why there's a teacher shortage is often pointing out that those comments aren't grounded in reality.

As for your ideas about the teacher shortage, maybe you're right, maybe you're wrong, but I'd say current teachers considering leaving and people leaving are who we should actually be asking. Is there any data on that?

When someone says "I wish I could work teachers hours," what they are saying is that they work longer hours/have fewer days off than teachers do. The "I think it would have been fun" comment is dumb, no question, but that's not what I or PPs were responding to so mentioning that comment is just changing the subject. And as I said I have spoken with teachers about this which informs my opinion. Have you? If they are saying they are leaving for better retirement benefits, they are lying, but I doubt it because no real teacher would say that.

[Anonymous]

The pension is getting smaller and it takes longer to be vested and retire, the behaviors are getting bigger, the bureaucracy is growing. The treatment of teachers is decreasing. The starting salary is getting better but it takes a long time to get to a decent wage (especially when you take out deductions for the pension/union dues). The job is composed of mainly women and women are realizing they have been putting up with too much BS. Women also take on the brunt of dealing with household chores, taking their kids to dr appointments and taking off when their kids are sick. I think teaching starts to get easier as you get more seasoned however we are losing many teachers before this happens. It doesn't matter if people think teaching is easy, the fact is we are losing good teachers too early in their careers. We are also losing school psychologists because of pay and workload. We are also losing speech pathologists - there are open positions that current SLP's have to absorb, as well as contractors being hired with little experience. Even worse, current teachers are telling their children not to go into teaching.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teaching is also one of those jobs where...you're sitting next to someone who makes 3 figures and doesn't care because they've been around 25 years. Meanwhile, you're doing everything for your students and make 55k. That is why I quit and now make a 3 figure salary myself. This is not sustainable. Teachers need to realize they deserve better. The public doesn't care-hell the public is the problem. People continually whine about teachers while simultaneously beg for teachers. It's pathetic. Teachers know this. They just are bigger than your abuse. Teachers are heroes for reasons you've never thought of.

The job is not sustainable if staff have to sacrifice their personal lives to do the job.

My kids teachers work at most 180 days a year. Most of them are out all the time for various personal reasons so it's a lot less than 180 days. I don't think they're really sacrificing their personal lives. Meanwhile the rest of us are working 50 weeks a year and 60 hours a week. I wish I had teacher hours.

You are welcome to have them. There is a teacher shortage and we could use more people!

It would be much more productive to acknowledge how common regular teacher absences are than to disparage a parent raising a legitimate concern. Teacher absences are a huge problem for which there is no solution, at least from a parent perspective. It doesn't matter what the reason is (that's a matter between the administration and the teacher), but significant absences harm student learning, which doesn't get acknowledged. If you want teachers to be paid like highly skilled professionals, ensure they are held to the same standards that highly skilled professionals in other industries are.

If someone says they wish they had a teacher's hours, it's not disparaging to point out that they can have them if choose to be a teacher.

DP. It's not disparaging. It's a dumb response. Many people who are teachers would HATE my job, and I would hate being a teacher regardless of the hours. Everyone has different skills and preferences and trying to use that as a "gotcha" is just... no. What matters is what are the factors that are driving the teacher shortage. Is the pension not being generous enough driving the teacher shortage? No. Is it not enough days off of work? No. Based on my conversations with teacher friends, the compensation is not the issue either, though I'm sure this is different in other places where compensation is truly terrible. Could it be work hours during the workday (including grading papers)? Sure, I buy that. Is it the lack of flexibility? I can definitely see that. Is it the frustration of dealing with the bureaucracy and parents? That is definitely something I've heard cited from multiple teachers. Is it anti-teacher posts on DCUM? No, sorry.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The pension is getting smaller and it takes longer to be vested and retire, the behaviors are getting bigger, the bureaucracy is growing. The treatment of teachers is decreasing. The starting salary is getting better but it takes a long time to get to a decent wage (especially when you take out deductions for the pension/union dues). The job is composed of mainly women and women are realizing they have been putting up with too much BS. Women also take on the brunt of dealing with household chores, taking their kids to dr appointments and taking off when their kids are sick. I think teaching starts to get easier as you get more seasoned however we are losing many teachers before this happens. It doesn't matter if people think teaching is easy, the fact is we are losing good teachers too early in their careers. We are also losing school psychologists because of pay and workload. We are also losing speech pathologists - there are open positions that current SLP's have to absorb, as well as contractors being hired with little experience. Even worse, current teachers are telling their children not to go into teaching.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teaching is also one of those jobs where...you're sitting next to someone who makes 3 figures and doesn't care because they've been around 25 years. Meanwhile, you're doing everything for your students and make 55k. That is why I quit and now make a 3 figure salary myself. This is not sustainable. Teachers need to realize they deserve better. The public doesn't care-hell the public is the problem. People continually whine about teachers while simultaneously beg for teachers. It's pathetic. Teachers know this. They just are bigger than your abuse. Teachers are heroes for reasons you've never thought of.

The job is not sustainable if staff have to sacrifice their personal lives to do the job.

My kids teachers work at most 180 days a year. Most of them are out all the time for various personal reasons so it's a lot less than 180 days. I don't think they're really sacrificing their personal lives. Meanwhile the rest of us are working 50 weeks a year and 60 hours a week. I wish I had teacher hours.

You are welcome to have them. There is a teacher shortage and we could use more people!

It would be much more productive to acknowledge how common regular teacher absences are than to disparage a parent raising a legitimate concern. Teacher absences are a huge problem for which there is no solution, at least from a parent perspective. It doesn't matter what the reason is (that's a matter between the administration and the teacher), but significant absences harm student learning, which doesn't get acknowledged. If you want teachers to be paid like highly skilled professionals, ensure they are held to the same standards that highly skilled professionals in other industries are.

If someone says they wish they had a teacher's hours, it's not disparaging to point out that they can have them if choose to be a teacher.

DP. It's not disparaging. It's a dumb response. Many people who are teachers would HATE my job, and I would hate being a teacher regardless of the hours. Everyone has different skills and preferences and trying to use that as a "gotcha" is just... no. What matters is what are the factors that are driving the teacher shortage. Is the pension not being generous enough driving the teacher shortage? No. Is it not enough days off of work? No. Based on my conversations with teacher friends, the compensation is not the issue either, though I'm sure this is different in other places where compensation is truly terrible. Could it be work hours during the workday (including grading papers)? Sure, I buy that. Is it the lack of flexibility? I can definitely see that. Is it the frustration of dealing with the bureaucracy and parents? That is definitely something I've heard cited from multiple teachers. Is it anti-teacher posts on DCUM? No, sorry.

at least they have a pension not like anyone else does these days

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“As of June 13, there were 581 unfilled positions. Meanwhile, 973 teachers have indicated they will be resigning or retiring.“


https://www.mymcmedia.org/mcps-faces-teacher-shortage-for-next-school-year/


No mention of staffing for student support or bus driver positions.

I guess this worked out despite all the hype.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The pension is getting smaller and it takes longer to be vested and retire, the behaviors are getting bigger, the bureaucracy is growing. The treatment of teachers is decreasing. The starting salary is getting better but it takes a long time to get to a decent wage (especially when you take out deductions for the pension/union dues). The job is composed of mainly women and women are realizing they have been putting up with too much BS. Women also take on the brunt of dealing with household chores, taking their kids to dr appointments and taking off when their kids are sick. I think teaching starts to get easier as you get more seasoned however we are losing many teachers before this happens. It doesn't matter if people think teaching is easy, the fact is we are losing good teachers too early in their careers. We are also losing school psychologists because of pay and workload. We are also losing speech pathologists - there are open positions that current SLP's have to absorb, as well as contractors being hired with little experience. Even worse, current teachers are telling their children not to go into teaching.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teaching is also one of those jobs where...you're sitting next to someone who makes 3 figures and doesn't care because they've been around 25 years. Meanwhile, you're doing everything for your students and make 55k. That is why I quit and now make a 3 figure salary myself. This is not sustainable. Teachers need to realize they deserve better. The public doesn't care-hell the public is the problem. People continually whine about teachers while simultaneously beg for teachers. It's pathetic. Teachers know this. They just are bigger than your abuse. Teachers are heroes for reasons you've never thought of.

The job is not sustainable if staff have to sacrifice their personal lives to do the job.

My kids teachers work at most 180 days a year. Most of them are out all the time for various personal reasons so it's a lot less than 180 days. I don't think they're really sacrificing their personal lives. Meanwhile the rest of us are working 50 weeks a year and 60 hours a week. I wish I had teacher hours.

You are welcome to have them. There is a teacher shortage and we could use more people!

It would be much more productive to acknowledge how common regular teacher absences are than to disparage a parent raising a legitimate concern. Teacher absences are a huge problem for which there is no solution, at least from a parent perspective. It doesn't matter what the reason is (that's a matter between the administration and the teacher), but significant absences harm student learning, which doesn't get acknowledged. If you want teachers to be paid like highly skilled professionals, ensure they are held to the same standards that highly skilled professionals in other industries are.

If someone says they wish they had a teacher's hours, it's not disparaging to point out that they can have them if choose to be a teacher.

DP. It's not disparaging. It's a dumb response. Many people who are teachers would HATE my job, and I would hate being a teacher regardless of the hours. Everyone has different skills and preferences and trying to use that as a "gotcha" is just... no. What matters is what are the factors that are driving the teacher shortage. Is the pension not being generous enough driving the teacher shortage? No. Is it not enough days off of work? No. Based on my conversations with teacher friends, the compensation is not the issue either, though I'm sure this is different in other places where compensation is truly terrible. Could it be work hours during the workday (including grading papers)? Sure, I buy that. Is it the lack of flexibility? I can definitely see that. Is it the frustration of dealing with the bureaucracy and parents? That is definitely something I've heard cited from multiple teachers. Is it anti-teacher posts on DCUM? No, sorry.

The pension is not "getting worse". The last adjustment was made over a decade ago and involved a tiny decrease when you consider that around the same time the County also created its own supplement. People are living longer so pension benefits cost more. Money does not grow on trees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teaching is also one of those jobs where...you're sitting next to someone who makes 3 figures and doesn't care because they've been around 25 years. Meanwhile, you're doing everything for your students and make 55k. That is why I quit and now make a 3 figure salary myself. This is not sustainable. Teachers need to realize they deserve better. The public doesn't care-hell the public is the problem. People continually whine about teachers while simultaneously beg for teachers. It's pathetic. Teachers know this. They just are bigger than your abuse. Teachers are heroes for reasons you've never thought of.

The job is not sustainable if staff have to sacrifice their personal lives to do the job.

My kids teachers work at most 180 days a year. Most of them are out all the time for various personal reasons so it's a lot less than 180 days. I don't think they're really sacrificing their personal lives. Meanwhile the rest of us are working 50 weeks a year and 60 hours a week. I wish I had teacher hours.

Most of them are out all the time? Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Outsource teaching jobs. Bring in teachers from India. At least for Math, Tech and Science.

[Anonymous]

Special Ed teachers are in short supply. I would not sign up for it unless my family was in danger of starving.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Special Ed teachers are in short supply. I would not sign up for it unless my family was in danger of starving.

To be a Special Education Teacher you need a Master’s degree. More education for more paperwork, meetings, and responsibilities without a pay scale to attract people to the position.

FYI shortages are increasing since the beginning of the school year instead of improving. What’s Central Officials doing to attract more Special Educators, School Psychologists, and Para Educators?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special Ed teachers are in short supply. I would not sign up for it unless my family was in danger of starving.

To be a Special Education Teacher you need a Master’s degree. More education for more paperwork, meetings, and responsibilities without a pay scale to attract people to the position.

FYI shortages are increasing since the beginning of the school year instead of improving. What’s Central Officials doing to attract more Special Educators, School Psychologists, and Para Educators?

MCPS is giving out conditional teaching licenses to people who are willing to teach special education. That is what they are doing!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special Ed teachers are in short supply. I would not sign up for it unless my family was in danger of starving.

To be a Special Education Teacher you need a Master’s degree. More education for more paperwork, meetings, and responsibilities without a pay scale to attract people to the position.

FYI shortages are increasing since the beginning of the school year instead of improving. What’s Central Officials doing to attract more Special Educators, School Psychologists, and Para Educators?

MCPS is giving out conditional teaching licenses to people who are willing to teach special education. That is what they are doing!

So how is the person trained and highly skilled to teach Special Education?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Special Ed teachers are in short supply. I would not sign up for it unless my family was in danger of starving.

To be a Special Education Teacher you need a Master’s degree. More education for more paperwork, meetings, and responsibilities without a pay scale to attract people to the position.

FYI shortages are increasing since the beginning of the school year instead of improving. What’s Central Officials doing to attract more Special Educators, School Psychologists, and Para Educators?

MCPS is giving out conditional teaching licenses to people who are willing to teach special education. That is what they are doing!

So how is the person trained and highly skilled to teach Special Education?

I don’t have A masters degree in special education, but I did pass the praxis. I am able to apply for SpEd positions and even interviewed for a few. However, never took a SpEd position for a few reasons. Better (easier?) schools still have competition for open slots. Or the schools look for specific backgrounds/teacher strengths in SpEd to deal with specific populations.

[Anonymous]

I am seeing 307 teaching positions including long term sub jobs. I think we were down to 250 or so in September.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The pension is getting smaller and it takes longer to be vested and retire, the behaviors are getting bigger, the bureaucracy is growing. The treatment of teachers is decreasing. The starting salary is getting better but it takes a long time to get to a decent wage (especially when you take out deductions for the pension/union dues). The job is composed of mainly women and women are realizing they have been putting up with too much BS. Women also take on the brunt of dealing with household chores, taking their kids to dr appointments and taking off when their kids are sick. I think teaching starts to get easier as you get more seasoned however we are losing many teachers before this happens. It doesn't matter if people think teaching is easy, the fact is we are losing good teachers too early in their careers. We are also losing school psychologists because of pay and workload. We are also losing speech pathologists - there are open positions that current SLP's have to absorb, as well as contractors being hired with little experience. Even worse, current teachers are telling their children not to go into teaching.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teaching is also one of those jobs where...you're sitting next to someone who makes 3 figures and doesn't care because they've been around 25 years. Meanwhile, you're doing everything for your students and make 55k. That is why I quit and now make a 3 figure salary myself. This is not sustainable. Teachers need to realize they deserve better. The public doesn't care-hell the public is the problem. People continually whine about teachers while simultaneously beg for teachers. It's pathetic. Teachers know this. They just are bigger than your abuse. Teachers are heroes for reasons you've never thought of.

Teachers pay 7.5% of salary into the pension including state and county supplemental. This increased from 5% before 2011. So teachers are paying more and getting less compared to the old system. They have lowered the benefits and increase staff contributions every 10 to 15 years since the 1980’s.

The job is not sustainable if staff have to sacrifice their personal lives to do the job.

My kids teachers work at most 180 days a year. Most of them are out all the time for various personal reasons so it's a lot less than 180 days. I don't think they're really sacrificing their personal lives. Meanwhile the rest of us are working 50 weeks a year and 60 hours a week. I wish I had teacher hours.

You are welcome to have them. There is a teacher shortage and we could use more people!

It would be much more productive to acknowledge how common regular teacher absences are than to disparage a parent raising a legitimate concern. Teacher absences are a huge problem for which there is no solution, at least from a parent perspective. It doesn't matter what the reason is (that's a matter between the administration and the teacher), but significant absences harm student learning, which doesn't get acknowledged. If you want teachers to be paid like highly skilled professionals, ensure they are held to the same standards that highly skilled professionals in other industries are.

If someone says they wish they had a teacher's hours, it's not disparaging to point out that they can have them if choose to be a teacher.

DP. It's not disparaging. It's a dumb response. Many people who are teachers would HATE my job, and I would hate being a teacher regardless of the hours. Everyone has different skills and preferences and trying to use that as a "gotcha" is just... no. What matters is what are the factors that are driving the teacher shortage. Is the pension not being generous enough driving the teacher shortage? No. Is it not enough days off of work? No. Based on my conversations with teacher friends, the compensation is not the issue either, though I'm sure this is different in other places where compensation is truly terrible. Could it be work hours during the workday (including grading papers)? Sure, I buy that. Is it the lack of flexibility? I can definitely see that. Is it the frustration of dealing with the bureaucracy and parents? That is definitely something I've heard cited from multiple teachers. Is it anti-teacher posts on DCUM? No, sorry.

The pension is not "getting worse". The last adjustment was made over a decade ago and involved a tiny decrease when you consider that around the same time the County also created its own supplement. People are living longer so pension benefits cost more. Money does not grow on trees.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Teachers pay 7.5% of salary into the pension including state and county supplemental. This increased from 5% before 2011. So teachers are paying more and getting less compared to the old system. They have lowered the benefits and increase staff contributions every 10 to 15 years since the 1980’s.
longer so pension benefits cost more. Money does not grow on trees.

Teachers are getting marginally less compared with the pre-2011 system. These changes happen because as people live longer, pension benefits cost more to provide. Where should that money come from? Should it come from taxpayers who by and large do not get nearly the same level of retirement benefits as teachers do, if they get retirement benefits at all? Btw I am more than happy for you to complain about having to pay soooo much into their retirement. By all means, make that your talking point to people who are told to contribute a MINIMUM of 15% into their retirement accounts that won't protect you from market volatility or long life.