Staff turnover

[Anonymous]

^^ 100% not a typical nanny rate- but it is if you go through an agency. Parents who value consistent childcare and can afford to pay for it.
I am paid $37 an hour, 50 hours a week so last ten hours are time and a half. I balked at first at a job that ended at 5:30 instead of 3:30, as teaching did. But then I realized- I was never actually done at 3:30. So when I leave my nanny family- I’m done.
I was careful to not only look for a well paying job but one that was centered around creating an educational environment. Although not required, I plan themed based learning (just took the plans from my classroom) and we do science experiments, sensory explorations, field trips. All with a provided credit card for child related experiences.
We also go to the playgrounds too… but I love that I can recreate a classroom & scratch that teacher itch.

[Anonymous]

*sorry, also had a signing bonus and monthly bonuses for ontime arrival ect. And I have the right of first refusal for weekend babysitting- which would be @ overtime rate- but for now I want my weekends free.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ 100% not a typical nanny rate- but it is if you go through an agency. Parents who value consistent childcare and can afford to pay for it.
I am paid $37 an hour, 50 hours a week so last ten hours are time and a half. I balked at first at a job that ended at 5:30 instead of 3:30, as teaching did. But then I realized- I was never actually done at 3:30. So when I leave my nanny family- I’m done.
I was careful to not only look for a well paying job but one that was centered around creating an educational environment. Although not required, I plan themed based learning (just took the plans from my classroom) and we do science experiments, sensory explorations, field trips. All with a provided credit card for child related experiences.
We also go to the playgrounds too… but I love that I can recreate a classroom & scratch that teacher itch.

oh wow - seems like a good option - good luck

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote: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.

Advocate for better curriculum (not DCPS created), more planning time without meetings, fewer tests that we have to enter into a computer to do nothing with, and actual behavior support so I can teach. At my school the white parents love to talk about how amazing our principal is, but she could care less about anything other than compliance and keeping her own job.

[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.

In this, you are wrong. SOME testing and reporting is helpful. Too MUCH is just the opposite. Currently there is waaay too much, which does harm children. If I didn’t have so much administrative busy work, I could plan more field trips, hands-on experiences, FUN learning opportunities.

[Anonymous]

PP from above. I didn’t go into teaching to PROVE I could do my job. I went into it to actually DO my job. The proving is making the doing difficult. Too much time goes into weighing the cow now and not enough into fattening it.

[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.

What are you talking about? The PP I was reasoning to literally said "We know teachers aren't on our sped kid's side." To me, that seems a pretty clear statement that they don't think sped teachers care about their kids. Or am I misinterpreting?

[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.

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.

Based on what I've read on this thread, none of the parents will believe that you care about the kids. They don't seem to understand that asking for smaller class sizes and more support might be good for the teacher, but is ALSO good for the kids. These things make our jobs easier, definitely, which makes it possible to do more for the kids we work with. Isn't that the whole point?

[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.

In this, you are wrong. SOME testing and reporting is helpful. Too MUCH is just the opposite. Currently there is waaay too much, which does harm children. If I didn’t have so much administrative busy work, I could plan more field trips, hands-on experiences, FUN learning opportunities.

So true. I have to say, and this is definitely not a common opinion, but I don't mind testing days. I put the kids on a computer, I'm not allowed to help them since it's a test, so as long as they stay quiet, I can work on all the boatloads of paperwork i have to do. It's not enough time to make up for the increased paperwork overall, but it means less I have to do from home that evening. This year, we are testing one day a week - it's extremely helpful for my schedule because I have time to get paperwork done.

All that said, I am DEFINITELY advocating for a decrease in testing because it is TERRIBLE for students, and especially my special education students. Each test is another day that they get to feel stupid - they struggle through the test or just give up in the first 5 minutes. My students need more time for instruction to actually learn how to do the work. They need small group and 1:1 support to provide targeted support and learning strategies. If I COULD skip the test and just teach, I would do it and bring the paperwork home. But I'm not allowed to do that. So I use the time to my advantage to get everything done.

Some tests are needed, for sure. But testing every week in every grade is unnecessary and doing far more harm to kids than anything.

[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.

In this, you are wrong. SOME testing and reporting is helpful. Too MUCH is just the opposite. Currently there is waaay too much, which does harm children. If I didn’t have so much administrative busy work, I could plan more field trips, hands-on experiences, FUN learning opportunities.

So true. I have to say, and this is definitely not a common opinion, but I don't mind testing days. I put the kids on a computer, I'm not allowed to help them since it's a test, so as long as they stay quiet, I can work on all the boatloads of paperwork i have to do. It's not enough time to make up for the increased paperwork overall, but it means less I have to do from home that evening. This year, we are testing one day a week - it's extremely helpful for my schedule because I have time to get paperwork done.

All that said, I am DEFINITELY advocating for a decrease in testing because it is TERRIBLE for students, and especially my special education students. Each test is another day that they get to feel stupid - they struggle through the test or just give up in the first 5 minutes. My students need more time for instruction to actually learn how to do the work. They need small group and 1:1 support to provide targeted support and learning strategies. If I COULD skip the test and just teach, I would do it and bring the paperwork home. But I'm not allowed to do that. So I use the time to my advantage to get everything done.

Some tests are needed, for sure. But testing every week in every grade is unnecessary and doing far more harm to kids than anything.

Testing one day a week is appalling. I am a teacher and things like this will make me send my own kid to private if we can afford it. No child should be on a computer 20% of their schooling time. Especially after last year.

[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.

In this, you are wrong. SOME testing and reporting is helpful. Too MUCH is just the opposite. Currently there is waaay too much, which does harm children. If I didn’t have so much administrative busy work, I could plan more field trips, hands-on experiences, FUN learning opportunities.

So true. I have to say, and this is definitely not a common opinion, but I don't mind testing days. I put the kids on a computer, I'm not allowed to help them since it's a test, so as long as they stay quiet, I can work on all the boatloads of paperwork i have to do. It's not enough time to make up for the increased paperwork overall, but it means less I have to do from home that evening. This year, we are testing one day a week - it's extremely helpful for my schedule because I have time to get paperwork done.

All that said, I am DEFINITELY advocating for a decrease in testing because it is TERRIBLE for students, and especially my special education students. Each test is another day that they get to feel stupid - they struggle through the test or just give up in the first 5 minutes. My students need more time for instruction to actually learn how to do the work. They need small group and 1:1 support to provide targeted support and learning strategies. If I COULD skip the test and just teach, I would do it and bring the paperwork home. But I'm not allowed to do that. So I use the time to my advantage to get everything done.

Some tests are needed, for sure. But testing every week in every grade is unnecessary and doing far more harm to kids than anything.

Testing one day a week is appalling. I am a teacher and things like this will make me send my own kid to private if we can afford it. No child should be on a computer 20% of their schooling time. Especially after last year.

And it's only one test a week now. In September, it was 2, and it will be back to 2 central assigned tests in January because of MOY testing.

And this doesn't even include teacher created assessments (the ones we actually use to support students because we can design them to provide us actual useful information).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP from above. I didn’t go into teaching to PROVE I could do my job. I went into it to actually DO my job. The proving is making the doing difficult. Too much time goes into weighing the cow now and not enough into fattening it.

what an odd metaphor

[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.

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.

Based on what I've read on this thread, none of the parents will believe that you care about the kids. They don't seem to understand that asking for smaller class sizes and more support might be good for the teacher, but is ALSO good for the kids. These things make our jobs easier, definitely, which makes it possible to do more for the kids we work with. Isn't that the whole point?

Assuming parents don't know that smaller class sizes is treating them like idiots. It's really not going to do you any favors.

[Anonymous]

i seem to remember a whole lot of dialog here less than a year ago where union members were arguing that they were advocating for themselves and not children, and that this was the explicit purpose of the union.

and now we're supposed to forget that they said that

[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.

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.

Based on what I've read on this thread, none of the parents will believe that you care about the kids. They don't seem to understand that asking for smaller class sizes and more support might be good for the teacher, but is ALSO good for the kids. These things make our jobs easier, definitely, which makes it possible to do more for the kids we work with. Isn't that the whole point?

Assuming parents don't know that smaller class sizes is treating them like idiots. It's really not going to do you any favors.

Did you mean assuming parents don’t know smaller class sizes are better is treating them like idiots?

Because that’s not true, some parents really don’t know. I tried to explain to parents the need for making sure we had another aide in the room for both the growth of their child and safety. But 50% of them don’t care because the incidents that have happened are small and their child is still learning. But there could be no incidents at all and their child could learn more!