Teachers in my district leaving mid year

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

I'm on my phone and can't link it, but there was just an article in the Post about a charter school in AZ that's failing and had to bring in teachers from the Philippines because the pay is too low and the behavioral and academic needs of the kids are too high to attract American teachers. This area is mostly in a better situation, but yes, there are a bunch of kids who graduate who are functionally illiterate. Some of these kids missed 30-40 days of school per year before Covid and spent most of their class time sleeping, wandering the hallways, playing on their phones, or disrupting class. How do you expect a teacher to remediate that and teach the students who actually want to learn?

This article was phenomenal and really captured the chaotic energy that some classrooms have and makes you understand why teachers might leave the profession.

Can someone post this article? I can't find it for the life of me on the WaPo website, but sounds like the type of article I enjoy reading. Thanks-

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious if school districts can have teachers sign a contract that requires them to stay the entire school year as a way to avoid mid-year exodus?
Otherwise, the teacher will have to pay back benefits, relinquish sign-on bonuses, and other perks previously granted upon hiring.

It tends to work in other professions (at least in mine). I imagine the teachers union would have a tantrum and it would be a deterrent in recruiting, but if this was a normal standard in academics as a whole then the (even bigger ) problem of teachers leaving mid-year would be minimal.

Yes, in Maryland at least teachers who leave mid year can have their teaching license revoked.

In Illinois too. However, given the job market, no state is going to revoke a license or suspend it temporarily. And all of the teachers I know leaving teaching are going to non public school jobs, so it doesn't matter even if their licenses were suspended.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most passionate teacher I know of (15 year veteran, won national awards) just left to stay at home. Her husband makes a lot of money and they just didn’t need her paltry income with all the stress that comes with it. She was an AP teacher and was routinely getting kids who couldn’t read or write in high school. And discipline problems that derailed her class constantly. She used to be able to kick kids out of her class.

Are you serious that kids in high school can’t read or write? That seems like a pretty big problem, and it also seems outrageous given how much all the teachers here are claiming to spend on testing and grading. Surely we could figure it out before high school.

I'm on my phone and can't link it, but there was just an article in the Post about a charter school in AZ that's failing and had to bring in teachers from the Philippines because the pay is too low and the behavioral and academic needs of the kids are too high to attract American teachers. This area is mostly in a better situation, but yes, there are a bunch of kids who graduate who are functionally illiterate. Some of these kids missed 30-40 days of school per year before Covid and spent most of their class time sleeping, wandering the hallways, playing on their phones, or disrupting class. How do you expect a teacher to remediate that and teach the students who actually want to learn?

I don’t expect them to remediate that in a regular classroom. But I expect them to fail those students and keep them back a level. If they still can’t keep up (with the kids a year younger) then I would expect them to be placed in a special school that’s designed to handle severe learning disorders and/or behavioral issues.

Otherwise, we have this crazy situation where everyone thinks they need to go to college to prove that they’re literate so they can get a job at Walmart or an entry level office job that really shouldn’t need a college degree..

It's hard to fail a kid when district offices won't allow it to happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most passionate teacher I know of (15 year veteran, won national awards) just left to stay at home. Her husband makes a lot of money and they just didn’t need her paltry income with all the stress that comes with it. She was an AP teacher and was routinely getting kids who couldn’t read or write in high school. And discipline problems that derailed her class constantly. She used to be able to kick kids out of her class.

Are you serious that kids in high school can’t read or write? That seems like a pretty big problem, and it also seems outrageous given how much all the teachers here are claiming to spend on testing and grading. Surely we could figure it out before high school.

The kids who can’t read usually aren’t showing up to school that much. I suppose this is the teachers’ fault for failing to rouse them from bed and chauffeur them to school?

I typically have 1-2 kids every year who miss 30+ days each year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most passionate teacher I know of (15 year veteran, won national awards) just left to stay at home. Her husband makes a lot of money and they just didn’t need her paltry income with all the stress that comes with it. She was an AP teacher and was routinely getting kids who couldn’t read or write in high school. And discipline problems that derailed her class constantly. She used to be able to kick kids out of her class.

Are you serious that kids in high school can’t read or write? That seems like a pretty big problem, and it also seems outrageous given how much all the teachers here are claiming to spend on testing and grading. Surely we could figure it out before high school.

I'm on my phone and can't link it, but there was just an article in the Post about a charter school in AZ that's failing and had to bring in teachers from the Philippines because the pay is too low and the behavioral and academic needs of the kids are too high to attract American teachers. This area is mostly in a better situation, but yes, there are a bunch of kids who graduate who are functionally illiterate. Some of these kids missed 30-40 days of school per year before Covid and spent most of their class time sleeping, wandering the hallways, playing on their phones, or disrupting class. How do you expect a teacher to remediate that and teach the students who actually want to learn?

I don’t expect them to remediate that in a regular classroom. But I expect them to fail those students and keep them back a level. If they still can’t keep up (with the kids a year younger) then I would expect them to be placed in a special school that’s designed to handle severe learning disorders and/or behavioral issues.

Otherwise, we have this crazy situation where everyone thinks they need to go to college to prove that they’re literate so they can get a job at Walmart or an entry level office job that really shouldn’t need a college degree..

Those schools don’t exist. Exactly how high taxes are you willing to pay? Do you know how much every single one of those schools would cost to build and staff? It’s not realistic.

[Anonymous]

And such schools would violate least restrictive environment as it is currently interpreted. We can't just decide kids need to be shipped to a special school. There are a million steps to move a child to a specialized program and IME it's only in very extreme cases. The behavior issues we all discuss here are present in almost every single classroom.



PP looking for the article, it's here but I assume it's behind a paywall if you don't have an account: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/10/02/teacher-shortage-bullhead-city-arizona/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most passionate teacher I know of (15 year veteran, won national awards) just left to stay at home. Her husband makes a lot of money and they just didn’t need her paltry income with all the stress that comes with it. She was an AP teacher and was routinely getting kids who couldn’t read or write in high school. And discipline problems that derailed her class constantly. She used to be able to kick kids out of her class.

Are you serious that kids in high school can’t read or write? That seems like a pretty big problem, and it also seems outrageous given how much all the teachers here are claiming to spend on testing and grading. Surely we could figure it out before high school.

I'm on my phone and can't link it, but there was just an article in the Post about a charter school in AZ that's failing and had to bring in teachers from the Philippines because the pay is too low and the behavioral and academic needs of the kids are too high to attract American teachers. This area is mostly in a better situation, but yes, there are a bunch of kids who graduate who are functionally illiterate. Some of these kids missed 30-40 days of school per year before Covid and spent most of their class time sleeping, wandering the hallways, playing on their phones, or disrupting class. How do you expect a teacher to remediate that and teach the students who actually want to learn?

I don’t expect them to remediate that in a regular classroom. But I expect them to fail those students and keep them back a level. If they still can’t keep up (with the kids a year younger) then I would expect them to be placed in a special school that’s designed to handle severe learning disorders and/or behavioral issues.

Otherwise, we have this crazy situation where everyone thinks they need to go to college to prove that they’re literate so they can get a job at Walmart or an entry level office job that really shouldn’t need a college degree..

Those schools don’t exist. Exactly how high taxes are you willing to pay? Do you know how much every single one of those schools would cost to build and staff? It’s not realistic.

Every other country has those schools. They don’t keep kids who are 2+ years behind in the same grade just because. It really sounds insane. The money would work out. Do you know that some of those kids get a 1:1 aide?? What a waste of money. And now all the good teachers are leaving because they can’t stand it anymore, putting up with behavioral issues and having the stress of teaching so many levels in one classroom. If the law is a problem then the law needs to be changed. It’s not a written in stone thing. DCUM is full of lawyers and lobbyists. I’m sure that someone could get the ball rolling to change the law.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Curious if school districts can have teachers sign a contract that requires them to stay the entire school year as a way to avoid mid-year exodus?
Otherwise, the teacher will have to pay back benefits, relinquish sign-on bonuses, and other perks previously granted upon hiring.

It tends to work in other professions (at least in mine). I imagine the teachers union would have a tantrum and it would be a deterrent in recruiting, but if this was a normal standard in academics as a whole then the (even bigger ) problem of teachers leaving mid-year would be minimal.

Most districts already have this. It's considered bad form to leave mid-year and other districts will not hire teachers who do. That isn't making as much of an impact anymore, however, because teachers are leaving for other fields instead. We just lost a teacher last week to another career field and we're currently covering her classes since there is no replacement.

It's going to keep happening because teaching is TERRIBLE right now. As an example: I woke up at 6am on Saturday and worked for 10 hours. I only took breaks to drive my kid somewhere and to make dinner. I was up again at 6am today and I'll work through to the evening... probably another 8-10 hours. DCUM is my 5-minute break I give myself between stacks of papers. I can't keep this up. My last day off was September 10th (a Saturday). I've worked at least 7-8 hours every day since then and often much more.

I'm quitting at the end of the year. The only thing keeping me going is the fact I don't want to dump this work on my already too-busy coworkers.

what do you teach???

Also, what changes could realistically be made that would make teaching tolerable for you?

Working lights and HVAC, adequate textbooks and instructional materials, smaller class sizes, less standardized testing.

Also, no mold and rodents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most passionate teacher I know of (15 year veteran, won national awards) just left to stay at home. Her husband makes a lot of money and they just didn’t need her paltry income with all the stress that comes with it. She was an AP teacher and was routinely getting kids who couldn’t read or write in high school. And discipline problems that derailed her class constantly. She used to be able to kick kids out of her class.

Are you serious that kids in high school can’t read or write? That seems like a pretty big problem, and it also seems outrageous given how much all the teachers here are claiming to spend on testing and grading. Surely we could figure it out before high school.

I'm on my phone and can't link it, but there was just an article in the Post about a charter school in AZ that's failing and had to bring in teachers from the Philippines because the pay is too low and the behavioral and academic needs of the kids are too high to attract American teachers. This area is mostly in a better situation, but yes, there are a bunch of kids who graduate who are functionally illiterate. Some of these kids missed 30-40 days of school per year before Covid and spent most of their class time sleeping, wandering the hallways, playing on their phones, or disrupting class. How do you expect a teacher to remediate that and teach the students who actually want to learn?

I don’t expect them to remediate that in a regular classroom. But I expect them to fail those students and keep them back a level. If they still can’t keep up (with the kids a year younger) then I would expect them to be placed in a special school that’s designed to handle severe learning disorders and/or behavioral issues.

Otherwise, we have this crazy situation where everyone thinks they need to go to college to prove that they’re literate so they can get a job at Walmart or an entry level office job that really shouldn’t need a college degree..

Those schools don’t exist. Exactly how high taxes are you willing to pay? Do you know how much every single one of those schools would cost to build and staff? It’s not realistic.

Every other country has those schools. They don’t keep kids who are 2+ years behind in the same grade just because. It really sounds insane. The money would work out. Do you know that some of those kids get a 1:1 aide?? What a waste of money. And now all the good teachers are leaving because they can’t stand it anymore, putting up with behavioral issues and having the stress of teaching so many levels in one classroom. If the law is a problem then the law needs to be changed. It’s not a written in stone thing. DCUM is full of lawyers and lobbyists. I’m sure that someone could get the ball rolling to change the law.

In most countries the disruptive kids get kicked out or left behind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most passionate teacher I know of (15 year veteran, won national awards) just left to stay at home. Her husband makes a lot of money and they just didn’t need her paltry income with all the stress that comes with it. She was an AP teacher and was routinely getting kids who couldn’t read or write in high school. And discipline problems that derailed her class constantly. She used to be able to kick kids out of her class.

Are you serious that kids in high school can’t read or write? That seems like a pretty big problem, and it also seems outrageous given how much all the teachers here are claiming to spend on testing and grading. Surely we could figure it out before high school.

I'm on my phone and can't link it, but there was just an article in the Post about a charter school in AZ that's failing and had to bring in teachers from the Philippines because the pay is too low and the behavioral and academic needs of the kids are too high to attract American teachers. This area is mostly in a better situation, but yes, there are a bunch of kids who graduate who are functionally illiterate. Some of these kids missed 30-40 days of school per year before Covid and spent most of their class time sleeping, wandering the hallways, playing on their phones, or disrupting class. How do you expect a teacher to remediate that and teach the students who actually want to learn?

I don’t expect them to remediate that in a regular classroom. But I expect them to fail those students and keep them back a level. If they still can’t keep up (with the kids a year younger) then I would expect them to be placed in a special school that’s designed to handle severe learning disorders and/or behavioral issues.


Not here.
Otherwise, we have this crazy situation where everyone thinks they need to go to college to prove that they’re literate so they can get a job at Walmart or an entry level office job that really shouldn’t need a college degree..

Those schools don’t exist. Exactly how high taxes are you willing to pay? Do you know how much every single one of those schools would cost to build and staff? It’s not realistic.

Every other country has those schools. They don’t keep kids who are 2+ years behind in the same grade just because. It really sounds insane. The money would work out. Do you know that some of those kids get a 1:1 aide?? What a waste of money. And now all the good teachers are leaving because they can’t stand it anymore, putting up with behavioral issues and having the stress of teaching so many levels in one classroom. If the law is a problem then the law needs to be changed. It’s not a written in stone thing. DCUM is full of lawyers and lobbyists. I’m sure that someone could get the ball rolling to change the law.

In most countries the disruptive kids get kicked out or left behind.

Not here!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pp:

But when the prior teacher stops working weekend, threads are made about her in the FCPS forum on how her grades aren’t done in a timely manner.

If I want my job to be a 40 hour per week job, there would be zero grading done. My planning periods are enough time to plan, not grade. I can create and copy one lesson in an hour if I’m super fast. I have two preps on the block, so if I keep up with that I’m on track. The other 30 minutes is recording SPED data, IEPs/504s, contacting home, contacting absent kids, preparing work for kids who are going to be out, etc.

All grading is done outside of school hours. I am currently grading AP math tests. The average test takes 4-5 minutes to grade, and I have 92 students in that course this year. Best case scenario, that’s 6 hours of grading. Worst case, nearly 8. I also have algebra tests to grade. I try to stagger them so only one prep tests each week, but that’s 6-8 hours of work every weekend, and that’s if I never grade homework/class work/quizzes.

Tell me how to be more efficient. All multiple choice? Have kids grade each other’s work? Make assessments 5 questions instead of 20? I’m guessing you can see why that is all awful.

When I ask my department how to get better, they all admit to working weekends. I’m not unique.

How can it be better? Class sizes of 20 vs 32. Additional staff hired purely to tutor/catch up/assess absent kids so I don’t have to. 4 courses to teach instead of 5 so I have a period to grade. If I had 80 students and 2 hours a day to plan/grade, it would be amazing. Instead I have 150 and an hour. But the reality is that’s not going to happen, so more people are going to quit and 10 years from now math instruction will be on a computer and my only job will be to run around and answer questions, because that’s the only way I can support the 250 kids who will be on my roster.

When I was in school, teachers regularly had us grade each other’s work. We’d switch papers and get pens and the teacher would go through the answers out loud in class. Is that not done anymore?

No. Kids are not allowed to know each others’ grades on anything. I can even have a TA grade for me (because that would be a student grading other students’ work). Can you imagine the fall out if Larla failed a class and it came to light that Larlo marked her papers?

Plus, I honestly need to be the one to grade if I want to identify trends in mistakes and see specific errors kids are making. How can I adequately remediate if I don’t see the types of misconceptions kids have? If it was the old school “test and move on, too bad if you failed” then I guess it wouldn’t matter, but that’s been gone 20+ years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Surely there must be people in far-flung places willing to grade essays for a pittance. I would be willing to pay someone if it gave me back my weekends!

There are lots of unemployed military spouses with bachelors and graduate degrees who can't stay in the workforce because they move too often. Sounds like a perfect job for them!

[Anonymous]

Plus, I honestly need to be the one to grade if I want to identify trends in mistakes and see specific errors kids are making. How can I adequately remediate if I don’t see the types of misconceptions kids have? If it was the old school “test and move on, too bad if you failed” then I guess it wouldn’t matter, but that’s been gone 20+ years.

+1 We need to see the assessments to see what the kids know/don't know/are confusing (and in what ways).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Plus, I honestly need to be the one to grade if I want to identify trends in mistakes and see specific errors kids are making. How can I adequately remediate if I don’t see the types of misconceptions kids have? If it was the old school “test and move on, too bad if you failed” then I guess it wouldn’t matter, but that’s been gone 20+ years.

+1 We need to see the assessments to see what the kids know/don't know/are confusing (and in what ways).

You can see them after they are graded. It takes less time to look over graded tests than to do the actual grading.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The most passionate teacher I know of (15 year veteran, won national awards) just left to stay at home. Her husband makes a lot of money and they just didn’t need her paltry income with all the stress that comes with it. She was an AP teacher and was routinely getting kids who couldn’t read or write in high school. And discipline problems that derailed her class constantly. She used to be able to kick kids out of her class.

Are you serious that kids in high school can’t read or write? That seems like a pretty big problem, and it also seems outrageous given how much all the teachers here are claiming to spend on testing and grading. Surely we could figure it out before high school.

I'm on my phone and can't link it, but there was just an article in the Post about a charter school in AZ that's failing and had to bring in teachers from the Philippines because the pay is too low and the behavioral and academic needs of the kids are too high to attract American teachers. This area is mostly in a better situation, but yes, there are a bunch of kids who graduate who are functionally illiterate. Some of these kids missed 30-40 days of school per year before Covid and spent most of their class time sleeping, wandering the hallways, playing on their phones, or disrupting class. How do you expect a teacher to remediate that and teach the students who actually want to learn?

I don’t expect them to remediate that in a regular classroom. But I expect them to fail those students and keep them back a level. If they still can’t keep up (with the kids a year younger) then I would expect them to be placed in a special school that’s designed to handle severe learning disorders and/or behavioral issues.

Otherwise, we have this crazy situation where everyone thinks they need to go to college to prove that they’re literate so they can get a job at Walmart or an entry level office job that really shouldn’t need a college degree..

Those schools don’t exist. Exactly how high taxes are you willing to pay? Do you know how much every single one of those schools would cost to build and staff? It’s not realistic.

Every other country has those schools. They don’t keep kids who are 2+ years behind in the same grade just because. It really sounds insane. The money would work out. Do you know that some of those kids get a 1:1 aide?? What a waste of money. And now all the good teachers are leaving because they can’t stand it anymore, putting up with behavioral issues and having the stress of teaching so many levels in one classroom. If the law is a problem then the law needs to be changed. It’s not a written in stone thing. DCUM is full of lawyers and lobbyists. I’m sure that someone could get the ball rolling to change the law.

LOL. What the hell does this mean? “The money will work out” from WHERE.