Alleged teacher shortage

[Anonymous]

Legitimately curious where people get their information who claim there is a teacher shortage in FCPS.

I am sure there are shortages in specialized subject areas, especially special ed, but not buying it re general ed classroom teachers.

I understand there are no substitutes since their daily pay is like $100 pre-tax and our school sent an email to parents begging them to get certified, put names on sublist. Just havent seen any sign the county has widespread difficulty filling normal classroom positions.

[Anonymous]

I think many teachers are looking to get out
Of the classroom and either to become a specialist
Or go into Administration.

[Anonymous]

I don't know the history of all this, but maybe one of the transformations coming out of all this is really finding a way to recruit college grads into the profession. College grad underemployment is huge and getting worse. It's a 2:1 value proposition because it gives this group a profession to dedicate themselves and draws from a younger, healthier population.

"The unemployment rate for young college graduates exceeds that of the general population, and about 41 percent of recent college graduates -- and 33.8 percent of all college graduates -- are underemployed in that they are working in jobs that don't require a college degree, according to new data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York."

https://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2020/02/18/41-recent-grads-work-jobs-not-requiring-degree

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Legitimately curious where people get their information who claim there is a teacher shortage in FCPS.

I am sure there are shortages in specialized subject areas, especially special ed, but not buying it re general ed classroom teachers.

I understand there are no substitutes since their daily pay is like $100 pre-tax and our school sent an email to parents begging them to get certified, put names on sublist. Just havent seen any sign the county has widespread difficulty filling normal classroom positions.

Teacher at FCPS. There are many schools who had long term subs all year in gen ed classrooms. There is a teacher shortage. I also think once schools decide on a plan there will be a lot of teachers resigning if they are scared to go back or if there are child care issues. We were hiring at my school and the amount of resumed coming in the past few years have gone down drastically.

[Anonymous]

Just go to the Employment section of the FCPS website. You will see the pages and pages of jobs. They are in all areas and at all grade levels.

I paid attention for the first time this school year and noticed that there were pages of jobs available all year long. Usually positions are filled by Sept 1 or August at the latest. That wasn’t the case this year.

I spoke with someone in leadership about it once during casual conversation and they confirmed that yes the shortage is real.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Legitimately curious where people get their information who claim there is a teacher shortage in FCPS.

I am sure there are shortages in specialized subject areas, especially special ed, but not buying it re general ed classroom teachers.

I understand there are no substitutes since their daily pay is like $100 pre-tax and our school sent an email to parents begging them to get certified, put names on sublist. Just havent seen any sign the county has widespread difficulty filling normal classroom positions.

Teacher at FCPS. There are many schools who had long term subs all year in gen ed classrooms. There is a teacher shortage. I also think once schools decide on a plan there will be a lot of teachers resigning if they are scared to go back or if there are child care issues. We were hiring at my school and the amount of resumed coming in the past few years have gone down drastically.

I think you are overestimating the amount of teachers who can afford to forgo their pay. There are not that many teaching out of the goodness of their hearts - most actually need the salary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just go to the Employment section of the FCPS website. You will see the pages and pages of jobs. They are in all areas and at all grade levels.

I paid attention for the first time this school year and noticed that there were pages of jobs available all year long. Usually positions are filled by Sept 1 or August at the latest. That wasn’t the case this year.

I spoke with someone in leadership about it once during casual conversation and they confirmed that yes the shortage is real.

I don’t see this at a good schools. Our vacancies are always filled immediately, with the exception of sped assistants because who wants to put up with that for $17/hour? They don’t last long when they can make the same in Kindergarten or the library.

[Anonymous]

From the state BOE
https://www.13newsnow.com/article/news/local/virginia/virginia-board-of-education-report-teacher-shortages-under-funding-and-persistent-achievement-gaps-among-findings/291-3ab2d610-7628-422d-8690-0f8e5169766f

[Anonymous]

There isn’t a shortage. There are enough certified teachers to work but they are choosing not to. Of course, the school districts don’t care about why teachers leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Legitimately curious where people get their information who claim there is a teacher shortage in FCPS.

I am sure there are shortages in specialized subject areas, especially special ed, but not buying it re general ed classroom teachers.

I understand there are no substitutes since their daily pay is like $100 pre-tax and our school sent an email to parents begging them to get certified, put names on sublist. Just havent seen any sign the county has widespread difficulty filling normal classroom positions.

Teacher at FCPS. There are many schools who had long term subs all year in gen ed classrooms. There is a teacher shortage. I also think once schools decide on a plan there will be a lot of teachers resigning if they are scared to go back or if there are child care issues. We were hiring at my school and the amount of resumed coming in the past few years have gone down drastically.

I think you are overestimating the amount of teachers who can afford to forgo their pay. There are not that many teaching out of the goodness of their hearts - most actually need the salary.

NP Our school has many positions filled by newly graduated teachers. Many don't make it too long before they follow a specialty that leads them out of the classroom. What you have left are people older than 50 who are waiting for retirement. Everyone has figured out that if you just need a "salary", there are other paths available that will give a comparable salary with less stress. Some can see in college that teaching is not the profession it used to be and they go elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

There was a whole news story about this earlier this year or last year. FCPS is now incentivizing high school teachers to join the teaching force post college that they are offering them contracts. A large majority of teachers also leave after 5 years.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/amid-teacher-shortages-virginia-takes-steps-to-lure-students-into-the-profession/2019/07/20/b9bf2b2a-a997-11e9-a3a6-ab670962db05_story.html%3foutputType=amp

[Anonymous]

Our school currently has 10 openings from people who have decided to leave/retire. Last year we had 4 or 5. They were all filled. I’m interested to see if these are filled. They are all academic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just go to the Employment section of the FCPS website. You will see the pages and pages of jobs. They are in all areas and at all grade levels.

I paid attention for the first time this school year and noticed that there were pages of jobs available all year long. Usually positions are filled by Sept 1 or August at the latest. That wasn’t the case this year.

I spoke with someone in leadership about it once during casual conversation and they confirmed that yes the shortage is real.

I don’t see this at a good schools. Our vacancies are always filled immediately, with the exception of sped assistants because who wants to put up with that for $17/hour? They don’t last long when they can make the same in Kindergarten or the library.

What is a “good school” by your standards? I work at a good school by Great Schools standard and we have a ton of vacancies right now. There aren’t enough qualified, certified applicants able to fill them. It happens every year. Usually we just end up teaching more classes and/or having larger classrooms.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There isn’t a shortage. There are enough certified teachers to work but they are choosing not to. Of course, the school districts don’t care about why teachers leave.

This is false. Less people are majoring in education. There is data to support it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just go to the Employment section of the FCPS website. You will see the pages and pages of jobs. They are in all areas and at all grade levels.

I paid attention for the first time this school year and noticed that there were pages of jobs available all year long. Usually positions are filled by Sept 1 or August at the latest. That wasn’t the case this year.

I spoke with someone in leadership about it once during casual conversation and they confirmed that yes the shortage is real.

I don’t see this at a good schools. Our vacancies are always filled immediately, with the exception of sped assistants because who wants to put up with that for $17/hour? They don’t last long when they can make the same in Kindergarten or the library.

What is a “good school” by your standards? I work at a good school by Great Schools standard and we have a ton of vacancies right now. There aren’t enough qualified, certified applicants able to fill them. It happens every year. Usually we just end up teaching more classes and/or having larger classrooms.

I’m the PP. We are at a highly rated ES in a great neighborhood with involved parents. We have maybe 2-3 openings per year, almost always due to retirement or out of state move, and those positions are filled before the end of the previous school year. This year had 2 vacancies (both teachers moving away for spouse jobs) and the replacements have already been announced and introduced. Young but experienced teachers from other local schools.