DCPS Central Office Cuts

[Anonymous]

If the school budget must be cut, better it come out of CO than classrooms. If the city budget must be cut, better it not come out of the DCPS budget at all.

[Anonymous]

Are the cuts still happening? He just released $6 billion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's more than a hint of racism in many of these comments. I have no doubt that those calling for mass firings at DCPS are white.

Yup, I definitely see that and it is obvious. I would say that at least 65% of Central Office is black employees. The people complaining about Central Office cannot fathom the fact that black people are in charge. We all know that certain people believe that just because someone is black, they are lazy and unqualified for their position. Case closed. Prove me wrong that this isn’t the reason for the disdain for Central Office. I’ll wait….

How could someone possibly "prove you wrong" when all you have done is assert with zero evidence that they're racist? Comments like this one really do not help. They just make people roll their eyes. More than 60% of teachers at my kids' school are black, so why would I be uniquely racist against CO employees when I like my kids teachers and think that they are good at their jobs? In fact, I'd be happy to nominate several of my kids' teachers to CO because I think they'd be great. Unlike most CO folks I've dealt with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:These comments just show most people have no idea what central staff do or are skilled in.

1) I have never heard of a central employee going to a school once per month to make sure objectives are on the board and teachers are on pace. Yes, that may come up as part of the feedback, but that is not the sole purpose. The truth is when instruction is not high quality, pacing is often an issue and there are teachers who are literally months behind in the curriculum. Some need to start at as basic of a level as knowing what they are supposed to teach for the day, hence the objective on the board.

2) OSSE is in charge of CAPE. They make decisions that central employees are also upset with. We are literally the only “state” that still uses what used to be the PARCC assessment. It is beyond the control of central employees.

3) Central has no control over the actual assignments your child sees, especially homework. RCTs, yes. But I’m going to guess most teachers aren’t sending copies of those home. Yes, there is typically a purchased curriculum, just like every other district in the nation has a curriculum they use. This is not something only DC does. Not even all teachers choose to use the curriculum and then we end up in situations where students aren’t exposed to grade level content.

4) Having worked at both schools and central, I can say the majority of central employees I have met are extremely skilled at their content and are able to go into classrooms and model what they are asking of teachers. They were hired for a reason.

To respond to #1: I have experienced this for the past two years. The central office staff who does this literally has no idea what my content is or how to teach it. But I must have an objective (full of words this individual does not understand) and standard (also something they don’t understand). That’s all they care about. As for pacing, they want to see we are on the same exact lesson on the same exact day as another teacher. Which is ridiculous given that teacher might be absent for a few days or might have students that needed more time on a topic. We were not months behind. But I understand why some teachers are. When a third of your class misses one day a week it’s hard to teach grade level content.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These comments just show most people have no idea what central staff do or are skilled in.

1) I have never heard of a central employee going to a school once per month to make sure objectives are on the board and teachers are on pace. Yes, that may come up as part of the feedback, but that is not the sole purpose. The truth is when instruction is not high quality, pacing is often an issue and there are teachers who are literally months behind in the curriculum. Some need to start at as basic of a level as knowing what they are supposed to teach for the day, hence the objective on the board.

2) OSSE is in charge of CAPE. They make decisions that central employees are also upset with. We are literally the only “state” that still uses what used to be the PARCC assessment. It is beyond the control of central employees.

3) Central has no control over the actual assignments your child sees, especially homework. RCTs, yes. But I’m going to guess most teachers aren’t sending copies of those home. Yes, there is typically a purchased curriculum, just like every other district in the nation has a curriculum they use. This is not something only DC does. Not even all teachers choose to use the curriculum and then we end up in situations where students aren’t exposed to grade level content.

4) Having worked at both schools and central, I can say the majority of central employees I have met are extremely skilled at their content and are able to go into classrooms and model what they are asking of teachers. They were hired for a reason.

To respond to #1: I have experienced this for the past two years. The central office staff who does this literally has no idea what my content is or how to teach it. But I must have an objective (full of words this individual does not understand) and standard (also something they don’t understand). That’s all they care about. As for pacing, they want to see we are on the same exact lesson on the same exact day as another teacher. Which is ridiculous given that teacher might be absent for a few days or might have students that needed more time on a topic. We were not months behind. But I understand why some teachers are. When a third of your class misses one day a week it’s hard to teach grade level content.

I don’t believe this. What is the exact CO role of the person who comes to your class monthly to check out your objectives ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These comments just show most people have no idea what central staff do or are skilled in.

1) I have never heard of a central employee going to a school once per month to make sure objectives are on the board and teachers are on pace. Yes, that may come up as part of the feedback, but that is not the sole purpose. The truth is when instruction is not high quality, pacing is often an issue and there are teachers who are literally months behind in the curriculum. Some need to start at as basic of a level as knowing what they are supposed to teach for the day, hence the objective on the board.

2) OSSE is in charge of CAPE. They make decisions that central employees are also upset with. We are literally the only “state” that still uses what used to be the PARCC assessment. It is beyond the control of central employees.

3) Central has no control over the actual assignments your child sees, especially homework. RCTs, yes. But I’m going to guess most teachers aren’t sending copies of those home. Yes, there is typically a purchased curriculum, just like every other district in the nation has a curriculum they use. This is not something only DC does. Not even all teachers choose to use the curriculum and then we end up in situations where students aren’t exposed to grade level content.

4) Having worked at both schools and central, I can say the majority of central employees I have met are extremely skilled at their content and are able to go into classrooms and model what they are asking of teachers. They were hired for a reason.

To respond to #1: I have experienced this for the past two years. The central office staff who does this literally has no idea what my content is or how to teach it. But I must have an objective (full of words this individual does not understand) and standard (also something they don’t understand). That’s all they care about. As for pacing, they want to see we are on the same exact lesson on the same exact day as another teacher. Which is ridiculous given that teacher might be absent for a few days or might have students that needed more time on a topic. We were not months behind. But I understand why some teachers are. When a third of your class misses one day a week it’s hard to teach grade level content.

I don’t believe this. What is the exact CO role of the person who comes to your class monthly to check out your objectives ?

Pacing: 40 days or so to teach a unit. Teachers are compared to their peers across the city no matter the classroom stats. Teachers get punished. Teachers don’t just have an English 40 day unit but also a social studies 40 day unit. Full speed teaching. Math teachers same with science units. This is the problem. Remember social studies and science teachers … DCPS doesn’t have them at the elementary level. That money is going to central office funding. This is the beef/problem. Odds are stacked against the classroom teacher. Then you have these high and mighty visitors who talk about teaching but can not put in the work.

[Anonymous]

There is 7 (40 day ELA units) and 4 (40 day SS units) unsure about math and science. Then testing and other programs. Trust us when talk about the structure and funding of central office.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some of you all sound like the same folks cheering on the DODGE cuts to the federal gov't workers.

DOGE is cutting jobs randomly. DC has a budget shortfall and central office is incredibly bloated. MOCO central office has fewer employees than DCPS and more than double thr students.

MCPS has triple the number of students as DCPS

[Anonymous]

I used to work at CO. Moved to a different district. Smart and talented people at CO rarely last long. If you start questioning how things are done or suggest better ways of doing things, the old guard at CO lose their minds. OSSE is also terrible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These comments just show most people have no idea what central staff do or are skilled in.

1) I have never heard of a central employee going to a school once per month to make sure objectives are on the board and teachers are on pace. Yes, that may come up as part of the feedback, but that is not the sole purpose. The truth is when instruction is not high quality, pacing is often an issue and there are teachers who are literally months behind in the curriculum. Some need to start at as basic of a level as knowing what they are supposed to teach for the day, hence the objective on the board.

2) OSSE is in charge of CAPE. They make decisions that central employees are also upset with. We are literally the only “state” that still uses what used to be the PARCC assessment. It is beyond the control of central employees.

3) Central has no control over the actual assignments your child sees, especially homework. RCTs, yes. But I’m going to guess most teachers aren’t sending copies of those home. Yes, there is typically a purchased curriculum, just like every other district in the nation has a curriculum they use. This is not something only DC does. Not even all teachers choose to use the curriculum and then we end up in situations where students aren’t exposed to grade level content.

4) Having worked at both schools and central, I can say the majority of central employees I have met are extremely skilled at their content and are able to go into classrooms and model what they are asking of teachers. They were hired for a reason.

To respond to #1: I have experienced this for the past two years. The central office staff who does this literally has no idea what my content is or how to teach it. But I must have an objective (full of words this individual does not understand) and standard (also something they don’t understand). That’s all they care about. As for pacing, they want to see we are on the same exact lesson on the same exact day as another teacher. Which is ridiculous given that teacher might be absent for a few days or might have students that needed more time on a topic. We were not months behind. But I understand why some teachers are. When a third of your class misses one day a week it’s hard to teach grade level content.

I don’t believe this. What is the exact CO role of the person who comes to your class monthly to check out your objectives ?

Not monthly, quarterly. Superintendent.

[Anonymous]

If removing positions from CO means that every school can have a nurse, I'm all for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These comments just show most people have no idea what central staff do or are skilled in.

1) I have never heard of a central employee going to a school once per month to make sure objectives are on the board and teachers are on pace. Yes, that may come up as part of the feedback, but that is not the sole purpose. The truth is when instruction is not high quality, pacing is often an issue and there are teachers who are literally months behind in the curriculum. Some need to start at as basic of a level as knowing what they are supposed to teach for the day, hence the objective on the board.

2) OSSE is in charge of CAPE. They make decisions that central employees are also upset with. We are literally the only “state” that still uses what used to be the PARCC assessment. It is beyond the control of central employees.

3) Central has no control over the actual assignments your child sees, especially homework. RCTs, yes. But I’m going to guess most teachers aren’t sending copies of those home. Yes, there is typically a purchased curriculum, just like every other district in the nation has a curriculum they use. This is not something only DC does. Not even all teachers choose to use the curriculum and then we end up in situations where students aren’t exposed to grade level content.

4) Having worked at both schools and central, I can say the majority of central employees I have met are extremely skilled at their content and are able to go into classrooms and model what they are asking of teachers. They were hired for a reason.

To respond to #1: I have experienced this for the past two years. The central office staff who does this literally has no idea what my content is or how to teach it. But I must have an objective (full of words this individual does not understand) and standard (also something they don’t understand). That’s all they care about. As for pacing, they want to see we are on the same exact lesson on the same exact day as another teacher. Which is ridiculous given that teacher might be absent for a few days or might have students that needed more time on a topic. We were not months behind. But I understand why some teachers are. When a third of your class misses one day a week it’s hard to teach grade level content.

I don’t believe this. What is the exact CO role of the person who comes to your class monthly to check out your objectives ?

Not monthly, quarterly. Superintendent.

There are monthly walk throughs with instructional superintendents in highly sought after schools. The IS never has nice things to say and totally complains about teachers not teaching exactly the same thing at the same time. Expectation is that you can walk through 5 classes in the same grade and see the lesson progress as you move between rooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:These comments just show most people have no idea what central staff do or are skilled in.

1) I have never heard of a central employee going to a school once per month to make sure objectives are on the board and teachers are on pace. Yes, that may come up as part of the feedback, but that is not the sole purpose. The truth is when instruction is not high quality, pacing is often an issue and there are teachers who are literally months behind in the curriculum. Some need to start at as basic of a level as knowing what they are supposed to teach for the day, hence the objective on the board.

2) OSSE is in charge of CAPE. They make decisions that central employees are also upset with. We are literally the only “state” that still uses what used to be the PARCC assessment. It is beyond the control of central employees.

3) Central has no control over the actual assignments your child sees, especially homework. RCTs, yes. But I’m going to guess most teachers aren’t sending copies of those home. Yes, there is typically a purchased curriculum, just like every other district in the nation has a curriculum they use. This is not something only DC does. Not even all teachers choose to use the curriculum and then we end up in situations where students aren’t exposed to grade level content.

4) Having worked at both schools and central, I can say the majority of central employees I have met are extremely skilled at their content and are able to go into classrooms and model what they are asking of teachers. They were hired for a reason.

To respond to #1: I have experienced this for the past two years. The central office staff who does this literally has no idea what my content is or how to teach it. But I must have an objective (full of words this individual does not understand) and standard (also something they don’t understand). That’s all they care about. As for pacing, they want to see we are on the same exact lesson on the same exact day as another teacher. Which is ridiculous given that teacher might be absent for a few days or might have students that needed more time on a topic. We were not months behind. But I understand why some teachers are. When a third of your class misses one day a week it’s hard to teach grade level content.

I don’t believe this. What is the exact CO role of the person who comes to your class monthly to check out your objectives ?

Not monthly, quarterly. Superintendent.

There are monthly walk throughs with instructional superintendents in highly sought after schools. The IS never has nice things to say and totally complains about teachers not teaching exactly the same thing at the same time. Expectation is that you can walk through 5 classes in the same grade and see the lesson progress as you move between rooms.

PP and my school has the same experience with IS. They mention objectives over and over. You can be teaching the most engaging lesson ever and the feedback is there wasn’t an objective posted.

But our IS comes three or four times a year. And I teach at a highly sought after school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are the cuts still happening? He just released $6 billion.

Who is “he” and what is this “6 billion” number?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are the cuts still happening? He just released $6 billion.

Who is “he” and what is this “6 billion” number?

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-administration-releasing-6-billion-education-funding/story?id=124079177