demoralized in MCPS

[Anonymous]

Once MD school systems start using test scores in evaluations, some of y’all are screwed. So you should be motivated to try to prop up SLOs as long as you can since you won’t quit and let someone who can teach take your place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe no one pushes back. I've been in two high schools since SLOs were introduced. Behind closed doors, we would always ask, "Who looks at them?"

The only reason we have them is to avoid connecting test data to evaluations. Both scenarios are a joke. But we go through the motions b/c someone who 1) taught eons ago or 2) never taught or 3) taught for a hot second knows better than we do.

I can't believe savvy teachers would fall for this crap.

40% of my EOY evaluation is tied to my SLO. You better believe I take it seriously. My issue with them is in huge amount of time wasted writing them in the fall. I believe my department should have them mostly written and we just choose which one we will be doing. We waste so much time writing them every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can't believe no one pushes back. I've been in two high schools since SLOs were introduced. Behind closed doors, we would always ask, "Who looks at them?"

The only reason we have them is to avoid connecting test data to evaluations. Both scenarios are a joke. But we go through the motions b/c someone who 1) taught eons ago or 2) never taught or 3) taught for a hot second knows better than we do.

I can't believe savvy teachers would fall for this crap.

40% of my EOY evaluation is tied to my SLO. You better believe I take it seriously. My issue with them is in huge amount of time wasted writing them in the fall. I believe my department should have them mostly written and we just choose which one we will be doing. We waste so much time writing them every year.

At least you are taking it seriously. I’d rather write my own because I often teach classes with special populations that other staff in my department do not. However, it would be a good idea to have a few semi-generic ones that teachers could tweak as a team based on the subgroups.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Once MD school systems start using test scores in evaluations, some of y’all are screwed. So you should be motivated to try to prop up SLOs as long as you can since you won’t quit and let someone who can teach take your place.

ha! You're a moron.

We've lost three teachers - 15+ years - already.

EXCELLENT teachers who just walked out . . .

Keep bashing, hon. Soon public ed will be dead bc of people like you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once MD school systems start using test scores in evaluations, some of y’all are screwed. So you should be motivated to try to prop up SLOs as long as you can since you won’t quit and let someone who can teach take your place.

ha! You're a moron.

We've lost three teachers - 15+ years - already.

EXCELLENT teachers who just walked out . . .

Keep bashing, hon. Soon public ed will be dead bc of people like you.

doubtful because these are jobs that can pay six figures where you get great benefits, pension and only work 180 days a year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once MD school systems start using test scores in evaluations, some of y’all are screwed. So you should be motivated to try to prop up SLOs as long as you can since you won’t quit and let someone who can teach take your place.

ha! You're a moron.

We've lost three teachers - 15+ years - already.

EXCELLENT teachers who just walked out . . .

Keep bashing, hon. Soon public ed will be dead bc of people like you.

doubtful because these are jobs that can pay six figures where you get great benefits, pension and only work 180 days a year

Teachers are contracted to work 190 days a year. No one is working 180.

[Anonymous]

And in addition to the 190 days, we need to do summer trainings. I thought I thought we had the choice of doing online trainings (14 hours) but I was notified that because of not going in person in the middle of July and beginning of August — when I was out of the country — I now need to do 21 hours. The problem is that most of the training sessions are difficult to access. I was also reprimanded today for not being at work an hour before instruction. I explained about the weather and very slow traffic at no avail. It’s the disrespect and the lack of human compassion that makes many of us find a way to get out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And in addition to the 190 days, we need to do summer trainings. I thought I thought we had the choice of doing online trainings (14 hours) but I was notified that because of not going in person in the middle of July and beginning of August — when I was out of the country — I now need to do 21 hours. The problem is that most of the training sessions are difficult to access. I was also reprimanded today for not being at work an hour before instruction. I explained about the weather and very slow traffic at no avail. It’s the disrespect and the lack of human compassion that makes many of us find a way to get out.

If you were going to arrive after your duty day starts, you follow protocol: call the office so they can be prepared in case you miss a meeting or they thought you’d be able to cover. And you take the appropriate amount of personal leave. This is not unfair. I was also late yesterday due to the rains, winds, and area drivers. At 7:30, I made the call. I arrived at 8:15 and filled out the leave slip for being 30 min late. Zero drama.

[Anonymous]

In most non-hourly professions, if you’re not going to miss anything (ie instructional time) that you can’t make up on your own time, you wouldn’t have to fill out a leave slip for being 30 minutes late once in a blue moon. Private schools don’t operate like this. I have worked in both, and it’s that kind of nitpicking and not being treated like a professional (especially if I was staying late working on my own time every day) that convinced me to get out of public. That, and the stupidity of the people making the decisions about what’s in the best interest of kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:And in addition to the 190 days, we need to do summer trainings. I thought I thought we had the choice of doing online trainings (14 hours) but I was notified that because of not going in person in the middle of July and beginning of August — when I was out of the country — I now need to do 21 hours. The problem is that most of the training sessions are difficult to access. I was also reprimanded today for not being at work an hour before instruction. I explained about the weather and very slow traffic at no avail. It’s the disrespect and the lack of human compassion that makes many of us find a way to get out.

I also got that email. I thought some of the online mandatory trainings counted for some of it. I had no idea that I owe 21 hours!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In most non-hourly professions, if you’re not going to miss anything (ie instructional time) that you can’t make up on your own time, you wouldn’t have to fill out a leave slip for being 30 minutes late once in a blue moon. Private schools don’t operate like this. I have worked in both, and it’s that kind of nitpicking and not being treated like a professional (especially if I was staying late working on my own time every day) that convinced me to get out of public. That, and the stupidity of the people making the decisions about what’s in the best interest of kids.

I love the myMCPS training. Once they adopt Synergy, myMCPS is out.

Lol

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And in addition to the 190 days, we need to do summer trainings. I thought I thought we had the choice of doing online trainings (14 hours) but I was notified that because of not going in person in the middle of July and beginning of August — when I was out of the country — I now need to do 21 hours. The problem is that most of the training sessions are difficult to access. I was also reprimanded today for not being at work an hour before instruction. I explained about the weather and very slow traffic at no avail. It’s the disrespect and the lack of human compassion that makes many of us find a way to get out.

If you were going to arrive after your duty day starts, you follow protocol: call the office so they can be prepared in case you miss a meeting or they thought you’d be able to cover. And you take the appropriate amount of personal leave. This is not unfair. I was also late yesterday due to the rains, winds, and area drivers. At 7:30, I made the call. I arrived at 8:15 and filled out the leave slip for being 30 min late. Zero drama.

Lol

Maybe I'll buy you a punch card so you can clock in.

I predict you'll be on the admin track soon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Once MD school systems start using test scores in evaluations, some of y’all are screwed. So you should be motivated to try to prop up SLOs as long as you can since you won’t quit and let someone who can teach take your place.

ha! You're a moron.

We've lost three teachers - 15+ years - already.

EXCELLENT teachers who just walked out . . .

Keep bashing, hon. Soon public ed will be dead bc of people like you.

doubtful because these are jobs that can pay six figures where you get great benefits, pension and only work 180 days a year

Imploding systems also translate into revolving doors. If you're happy with teachers coming and going, then good for you. You should be happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In most non-hourly professions, if you’re not going to miss anything (ie instructional time) that you can’t make up on your own time, you wouldn’t have to fill out a leave slip for being 30 minutes late once in a blue moon. Private schools don’t operate like this. I have worked in both, and it’s that kind of nitpicking and not being treated like a professional (especially if I was staying late working on my own time every day) that convinced me to get out of public. That, and the stupidity of the people making the decisions about what’s in the best interest of kids.

I'm thankful that my principal is pretty understanding about things like this, but it's unpredictable depending on her mood. I have a friend whose principal made her come in 30 minutes before the duty day began for her post observation conference, but then the principal freaked out when she realized my friend had left 10 minutes before the duty day ended since she had an appointment she needed to be on time for, and she made her take 15 minutes of personal leave for it. You can't have it both ways.

Either way, we're treated like salaried workers when that's beneficial to the system but by the same token we're also treated like hourly employees when that's beneficial to the system. You can't have it both ways (stay late for this, come early for that, sponsor a club completely uncompensated, serve on the leadership team uncompensated, do whatever it takes to get the work done no matter how long it takes etc., but then also make people take leave for small amounts of time when they're not physically in the building but it doesn't impact instruction in any way). If it's a habit, address it with that person (don't punish every staff member for the one or two who take advantage) but I feel much more willing to put in extra time uncompensated for a principal who doesn't think it's a big deal if I'm 10 minutes late in the morning once in a while or have to leave 15 minutes before the duty day ends to get to an appointment once a month, as long as the work is done and I'm prepared for my students. We're all human and need to give each other the benefit of the doubt. Those kinds of work environments have been the least toxic ones I've experienced, and people are more motivated to go the extra mile than the schools where you're monitored every time you come and go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:And in addition to the 190 days, we need to do summer trainings. I thought I thought we had the choice of doing online trainings (14 hours) but I was notified that because of not going in person in the middle of July and beginning of August — when I was out of the country — I now need to do 21 hours. The problem is that most of the training sessions are difficult to access. I was also reprimanded today for not being at work an hour before instruction. I explained about the weather and very slow traffic at no avail. It’s the disrespect and the lack of human compassion that makes many of us find a way to get out.

If you were going to arrive after your duty day starts, you follow protocol: call the office so they can be prepared in case you miss a meeting or they thought you’d be able to cover. And you take the appropriate amount of personal leave. This is not unfair. I was also late yesterday due to the rains, winds, and area drivers. At 7:30, I made the call. I arrived at 8:15 and filled out the leave slip for being 30 min late. Zero drama.

Lol

Maybe I'll buy you a punch card so you can clock in.

I predict you'll be on the admin track soon.

Oder why you were reprimanded. It wasn’t being late. It’s your sense of entitlement to not follow the same procedures as everyone else in your building. Why are you special and exempt?