How is FCPS teacher/staff shortage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A teacher who picks up an additional class to teach will also get a significant salary increase. Some will want to do it, especially if the teacher is near retirement. (Retirement pay is based on the average of the last few years of teaching.)

It is NOT a “significant” increase, especially when you consider that I lose a planning. Beyond that, though, a principal trying to strong arm staff in order avoid posting a job? Not exactly great leadership.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Our school has no shortage of subs. Plus we had several long term subs for teachers on maternity leave. No vacancies at our school next year. Not worried at all.

Our school is the same. This is most schools in FCPS.

Serious “Iraqi Information Minister” vibes here. This is absolutely not “most schools in FCPS” - the vacancy list is right there on the website.

It's there every year. Longer than usual but not much, at most schools.

Seriously. The national teacher shortage is a crisis. But it's not dire in FCPS, yet.

Disagree. It’s 100% dire in special education in FCPS. Like, not sure how this can possibly work next year dire.

Okay, it's dire in special education, as noted in the reddit thread. But in any given FCPS school, it's not dire. In many schools, it's no different from any other year.

There has been a change to the way positions are posted this year which makes it look like there are fewer vacancies at schools. Multiple vacancies in one category used to have an individual listing for each vacancy. Now there is only one listing. For example, my school has 3 vacancies in 4th and 3 vacancies in 5th - 6 vacant positions. However, there is only 1 position listed as ES 4-6. I have confirmed with friends that it is the same practice at their schools, too.

Yup. That is why if 400 positions are listed it could be a whole lot more!

This is correct. I'm convinced it's an attempt to cover for the poorly run schools so unsuspecting people looking to transfer won't be scared off.

Also my school is trying to convince the remaining members of certain departments to all pick up an extra class so they don’t have to hire a replacement for the people leaving.

Leave that school if there is any way you possibly can. I'm serious. This is terribly unfair to the staff and it will filter down to the students, who are already getting screwed. The community needs to see what's going on. Nothing will happen until parents figure out what's going on and start complaining.

+ a million FCPS is great at covering up and deflecting. It's been going on for years. Teachers and students pay a high price for this behavior.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A teacher who picks up an additional class to teach will also get a significant salary increase. Some will want to do it, especially if the teacher is near retirement. (Retirement pay is based on the average of the last few years of teaching.)

No, retirement is based on the three highest years, which is why some teachers leave teaching and become an IA for a year or two. It is less responsibility, but their retirement is not affected.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school has no shortage of subs. Plus we had several long term subs for teachers on maternity leave. No vacancies at our school next year. Not worried at all.

Our school is the same. This is most schools in FCPS.

Serious “Iraqi Information Minister” vibes here. This is absolutely not “most schools in FCPS” - the vacancy list is right there on the website.

It's there every year. Longer than usual but not much, at most schools.

Seriously. The national teacher shortage is a crisis. But it's not dire in FCPS, yet.

Disagree. It’s 100% dire in special education in FCPS. Like, not sure how this can possibly work next year dire.

Okay, it's dire in special education, as noted in the reddit thread. But in any given FCPS school, it's not dire. In many schools, it's no different from any other year.

There has been a change to the way positions are posted this year which makes it look like there are fewer vacancies at schools. Multiple vacancies in one category used to have an individual listing for each vacancy. Now there is only one listing. For example, my school has 3 vacancies in 4th and 3 vacancies in 5th - 6 vacant positions. However, there is only 1 position listed as ES 4-6. I have confirmed with friends that it is the same practice at their schools, too.

Does this explain why so few kindergarten vacancies have been listed? Barely any for teacher or K-IA.

[Anonymous]

Parents are assholes and FCPS is corrupt so many employees leave.

[Anonymous]

Boston has poverty. Lots of homeless kids and kids living in the projects. Kids in gangs. You also make six figures after only a couple years there, and it’s kind of necessary bc it’s a high cost of living area. Doesn’t it take like over 20 years to hit six figures in Fairfax County? COL might be a bit better in NoVA but it’s pretty similar to Boston area.

Boston Public Schools is competitive to get a teaching job. If you aren’t “good enough” the district can non-renew you and you need to teach elsewhere. If you make it three years in BPS you get tenure so you’ll probably stay unless something gets that bad that the pay and security and benefits are no longer worth it. I’m sure there’s people who quit out of choice bc it’s stressful or they move, but there’s always people from all over the place (even outside MA) wanting to teach there bc they want to teach in MA for the unions that get decent benefits & pay. Even if it’s challenging, to make six figures after a couple years with all that time off is pretty nice.

So I think if other places offered more job security, better pay increases that never freeze, etc. teachers might be more inclined to stay even when they’re dealing with high needs students. BPS prefers teachers certified in they’d subject plus special Ed and/or ESL. They also prefer bilingual teachers. They won’t always find that, but considering most of their job posts prefer these qualifications you can assume a majority of the student body has an IEP and/or is not a native English speaker.

If Boston can be a competitive place to land a teaching job despite having a lot of high needs students who might be in gangs, may not speak any English, have special needs, are homeless, etc. I think other places with high needs populations could make changes to make teaching there more attractive so people are actually wanting to relocate to teach there and are more likely to be retained too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thus comment really gets to the heart of the issue.

“ What comes to mind when you think of public schools in Miami, NYC, LA, Chicago? Horrible? Terrible? That's a common first thought, but ill-informed. Our sheer numbers aren't quite there to match those metro areas yet, but we're right behind them and the number of kids at poverty level here at FCPS is growing fast. It's impossible for a school to avoid issues when they have to serve a poorer, more needy population. There's nothing inherently bad about that, but it's a reality one has to accept. Our area is no longer majority only upper middle class families.”

Comment about Boston was referring to this comment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher who picks up an additional class to teach will also get a significant salary increase. Some will want to do it, especially if the teacher is near retirement. (Retirement pay is based on the average of the last few years of teaching.)

No, retirement is based on the three highest years, which is why some teachers leave teaching and become an IA for a year or two. It is less responsibility, but their retirement is not affected.

Do IAs have VRS benefits? I need to teach a few more years and it’s getting so hard. My salary doesn’t significantly increase anymore and DH makes the primary salary. This sounds like a great idea and something for me to look into. I would rather take a pay cut with less responsibility than pick up an extra class in my final teaching years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher who picks up an additional class to teach will also get a significant salary increase. Some will want to do it, especially if the teacher is near retirement. (Retirement pay is based on the average of the last few years of teaching.)

No, retirement is based on the three highest years, which is why some teachers leave teaching and become an IA for a year or two. It is less responsibility, but their retirement is not affected.

Do IAs have VRS benefits? I need to teach a few more years and it’s getting so hard. My salary doesn’t significantly increase anymore and DH makes the primary salary. This sounds like a great idea and something for me to look into. I would rather take a pay cut with less responsibility than pick up an extra class in my final teaching years.

It is my impression there is a different retirement plan/options for IAs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher who picks up an additional class to teach will also get a significant salary increase. Some will want to do it, especially if the teacher is near retirement. (Retirement pay is based on the average of the last few years of teaching.)

No, retirement is based on the three highest years, which is why some teachers leave teaching and become an IA for a year or two. It is less responsibility, but their retirement is not affected.

Do IAs have VRS benefits? I need to teach a few more years and it’s getting so hard. My salary doesn’t significantly increase anymore and DH makes the primary salary. This sounds like a great idea and something for me to look into. I would rather take a pay cut with less responsibility than pick up an extra class in my final teaching years.

It is my impression there is a different retirement plan/options for IAs.

Full-time IAs are members of ERFC and VRS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher who picks up an additional class to teach will also get a significant salary increase. Some will want to do it, especially if the teacher is near retirement. (Retirement pay is based on the average of the last few years of teaching.)

No, retirement is based on the three highest years, which is why some teachers leave teaching and become an IA for a year or two. It is less responsibility, but their retirement is not affected.

Do IAs have VRS benefits? I need to teach a few more years and it’s getting so hard. My salary doesn’t significantly increase anymore and DH makes the primary salary. This sounds like a great idea and something for me to look into. I would rather take a pay cut with less responsibility than pick up an extra class in my final teaching years.

It is my impression there is a different retirement plan/options for IAs.

It's the same. The IA salary is so bad and burnout is so high that most don't pay much attention to the VRS benefits. I doubt most IAs nowadays stay at the job long enough for it to be a good incentive. This is obviously different for teachers who switch to IA positions in their final years.

In previous years, I'd say switching to an IA role in the final years would be a fun way to wind down. Now? Not so sure. I would talk to a couple IAs at your specific school before you decide to do this. Our school has four leaving this year, even though they're taking reduced benefits to do so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher who picks up an additional class to teach will also get a significant salary increase. Some will want to do it, especially if the teacher is near retirement. (Retirement pay is based on the average of the last few years of teaching.)

No, retirement is based on the three highest years, which is why some teachers leave teaching and become an IA for a year or two. It is less responsibility, but their retirement is not affected.

Do IAs have VRS benefits? I need to teach a few more years and it’s getting so hard. My salary doesn’t significantly increase anymore and DH makes the primary salary. This sounds like a great idea and something for me to look into. I would rather take a pay cut with less responsibility than pick up an extra class in my final teaching years.

It is my impression there is a different retirement plan/options for IAs.

Full-time IAs are members of ERFC and VRS.

+1, the FCERS is for part-time and cafeteria, custodial, bus drivers, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher who picks up an additional class to teach will also get a significant salary increase. Some will want to do it, especially if the teacher is near retirement. (Retirement pay is based on the average of the last few years of teaching.)

No, retirement is based on the three highest years, which is why some teachers leave teaching and become an IA for a year or two. It is less responsibility, but their retirement is not affected.

Do IAs have VRS benefits? I need to teach a few more years and it’s getting so hard. My salary doesn’t significantly increase anymore and DH makes the primary salary. This sounds like a great idea and something for me to look into. I would rather take a pay cut with less responsibility than pick up an extra class in my final teaching years.

It is my impression there is a different retirement plan/options for IAs.

It's the same. The IA salary is so bad and burnout is so high that most don't pay much attention to the VRS benefits. I doubt most IAs nowadays stay at the job long enough for it to be a good incentive. This is obviously different for teachers who switch to IA positions in their final years.

In previous years, I'd say switching to an IA role in the final years would be a fun way to wind down. Now? Not so sure. I would talk to a couple IAs at your specific school before you decide to do this. Our school has four leaving this year, even though they're taking reduced benefits to do so.

+1, we also have many leaving. They’ve been used this year as subs to cover classrooms. Their schedule changes daily versus a fixed schedule of supporting the teachers/rooms where they are normally assigned.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher who picks up an additional class to teach will also get a significant salary increase. Some will want to do it, especially if the teacher is near retirement. (Retirement pay is based on the average of the last few years of teaching.)

No, retirement is based on the three highest years, which is why some teachers leave teaching and become an IA for a year or two. It is less responsibility, but their retirement is not affected.

Do IAs have VRS benefits? I need to teach a few more years and it’s getting so hard. My salary doesn’t significantly increase anymore and DH makes the primary salary. This sounds like a great idea and something for me to look into. I would rather take a pay cut with less responsibility than pick up an extra class in my final teaching years.

It is my impression there is a different retirement plan/options for IAs.

It's the same. The IA salary is so bad and burnout is so high that most don't pay much attention to the VRS benefits. I doubt most IAs nowadays stay at the job long enough for it to be a good incentive. This is obviously different for teachers who switch to IA positions in their final years.

In previous years, I'd say switching to an IA role in the final years would be a fun way to wind down. Now? Not so sure. I would talk to a couple IAs at your specific school before you decide to do this. Our school has four leaving this year, even though they're taking reduced benefits to do so.

Can a teacher retire, draw VRS and ERFC benefits, take a break from the system and return to work as an IA while still drawing benefits?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A teacher who picks up an additional class to teach will also get a significant salary increase. Some will want to do it, especially if the teacher is near retirement. (Retirement pay is based on the average of the last few years of teaching.)

No, retirement is based on the three highest years, which is why some teachers leave teaching and become an IA for a year or two. It is less responsibility, but their retirement is not affected.

Do IAs have VRS benefits? I need to teach a few more years and it’s getting so hard. My salary doesn’t significantly increase anymore and DH makes the primary salary. This sounds like a great idea and something for me to look into. I would rather take a pay cut with less responsibility than pick up an extra class in my final teaching years.

It is my impression there is a different retirement plan/options for IAs.

It's the same. The IA salary is so bad and burnout is so high that most don't pay much attention to the VRS benefits. I doubt most IAs nowadays stay at the job long enough for it to be a good incentive. This is obviously different for teachers who switch to IA positions in their final years.

In previous years, I'd say switching to an IA role in the final years would be a fun way to wind down. Now? Not so sure. I would talk to a couple IAs at your specific school before you decide to do this. Our school has four leaving this year, even though they're taking reduced benefits to do so.

Can a teacher retire, draw VRS and ERFC benefits, take a break from the system and return to work as an IA while still drawing benefits?

I’d have to look it up, but I’m pretty sure the answer is no. More to the point, though, if you did that and if you were allowed to return at the top of the IA pay scale, you’d be making $44k pre tax and that number wouldn’t increase because you’re at the top.