Treatment of New Special Ed teachers hired by MCPS

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Will these new international special education hires have MCEA status?

Will they be asked to join MCEA and have dues taken out of their paychecks?

If so, will they know that joining a union and paying dues is voluntary?

40 bucks a paycheck to bargain for better pay and conditions? Sign me up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not usually an MCPS apologist, but doesn't this sound like an issue on the part of the intermediary organization, not MCPS itself?

There's some contracting company in the middle, I assume, and it was their decision not to allow shipping and their decision not to provide sheets.

Maybe we figure out who they are rather than blaming the school district?

It is the contract they signed.

It is on MCPS.

MPCS is the employer. They are ultimately sponsoring the visas and responsible for these employees. Sure, if they hired a horrible third party agency then they bear responsibility as well, but ultimately the school district is holding the bag here. They should have selected a more reputable agency, or done more due diligence. If the teachers are in training with MCPS and other educators are aware of and crowdsourcing basic household items for them, the district is aware of the issue and bears some responsibility. At a minimum they should be working with the agency to handle this for the teachers and not turning a blind eye while the community, teachers, and parents try to rely on charity and donations to provide these folks with the basics. God knows they waste enough money, if they can find millions for DEI surveys they should be able to give each of
these teachers a thousand dollar relocation allowance and charter a bus to IKEA.

How do you know that MCPS isn’t working with the contracting to improve this? The question is going to become What qualifies as furnished housing? Rules for working with contracted employees varies.

Why are MCPS teachers begging for school supplies? Because MCPS doesn’t care!

Schools and departments do order basic supplies every year for teachers, but many choose to purchase and ask for extra supplies.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think they could get teachers but this is a way to hide their numbers by contracting out. Lots of places do it. They were hired though an agency and given housing. They probably earn very little. Are they licensed in md?

No they would be on a temporary certificate until they (if they're eligible on this agreement) satisfy the MD requirements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will these new international special education hires have MCEA status?

Will they be asked to join MCEA and have dues taken out of their paychecks?

If so, will they know that joining a union and paying dues is voluntary?

40 bucks a paycheck to bargain for better pay and conditions? Sign me up.

What better pay? What conditions?

Absolutely no differentiation in the contract for special educators considering all of the extra work involved.

That 80 a month is better served towards my retirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not usually an MCPS apologist, but doesn't this sound like an issue on the part of the intermediary organization, not MCPS itself?

There's some contracting company in the middle, I assume, and it was their decision not to allow shipping and their decision not to provide sheets.

Maybe we figure out who they are rather than blaming the school district?

It is the contract they signed.

It is on MCPS.

MPCS is the employer. They are ultimately sponsoring the visas and responsible for these employees. Sure, if they hired a horrible third party agency then they bear responsibility as well, but ultimately the school district is holding the bag here. They should have selected a more reputable agency, or done more due diligence. If the teachers are in training with MCPS and other educators are aware of and crowdsourcing basic household items for them, the district is aware of the issue and bears some responsibility. At a minimum they should be working with the agency to handle this for the teachers and not turning a blind eye while the community, teachers, and parents try to rely on charity and donations to provide these folks with the basics. God knows they waste enough money, if they can find millions for DEI surveys they should be able to give each of
these teachers a thousand dollar relocation allowance and charter a bus to IKEA.

How do you know that MCPS isn’t working with the contracting to improve this? The question is going to become What qualifies as furnished housing? Rules for working with contracted employees varies.

Why are MCPS teachers begging for school supplies? Because MCPS doesn’t care!

Schools and departments do order basic supplies every year for teachers, but many choose to purchase and ask for extra supplies.

LOL thanks chris cram!

[Anonymous]

I'm a foreigner. When I arrived as a young grad student, no one helped me find accommodation or provided housewares. My tiny teaching assistant stipend did not arrive immediately, since I arrived a few weeks before school started. I came prepared, obviously, like the rest of my grad student classmates!

So I don't understand how it's MCPS' responsibility to provide housing for its teachers.

Were these teachers promised accommodation that MCPS then reneged on? In that case, yes, they have a beef.

[Anonymous]

Special education paperwork has gotten out of control. Partly because parents like to sue MCPS over real or perceived issues. Need to find a way to bring paperwork back to manageable levels or hire some folks just to do the record keeping

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will these new international special education hires have MCEA status?

Will they be asked to join MCEA and have dues taken out of their paychecks?

If so, will they know that joining a union and paying dues is voluntary?

40 bucks a paycheck to bargain for better pay and conditions? Sign me up.

What better pay? What conditions?

Absolutely no differentiation in the contract for special educators considering all of the extra work involved.

That 80 a month is better served towards my retirement.

Automatic raises, amazing benefits, summers off and pensions!!! Such a good deal!

[Anonymous]

The semi/ fully professional but lower-income Filipinos I have known over my years in the DC area is that they live in crowded living quarters, not near work, and send half their pay home to their families (including the young children they have left behind). The ones I've personally known live in 2-bedroom, 1-bath apartments with 4 roommates.

Like nursing, this is a solid way to keep the wages of professionals depressed.

[Anonymous]

I and my sister (both public school teachers) know many teacher friends who have taught overseas with incredible living standard beneifts. However, these were not public schools, but private international ones.

I wonder if the posters here are speaking of public school benefits or private school benefits?

The countries our friends have taught in are Columbia,
UAE, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, and the Caribbean (country unknown).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Give them$100 send them to goodwill

That is where i bought my sheets and all my living goods when I went to college! I initially used my winter coat as my covers. Thank goodness it was walking distance from the college.

[Anonymous]

Also, the software used is glitchy, you can spend time working on something only to have it not save. Much of our paperwork is repetitive but they haven't found a way to cut down on ways to streamline, which makes us have more. For example, we moved to storing our folders online but we still have to print them out. So not only do we have to upload and scan, we also have to print. We also have to submit for medical assistance, which for the speech pathologists can take a long time. Howard County has someone that does caseload management. If that happened in MCPS, special educators would be much happier, as would speech pathologists.

Anonymous wrote:Special education paperwork has gotten out of control. Partly because parents like to sue MCPS over real or perceived issues. Need to find a way to bring paperwork back to manageable levels or hire some folks just to do the record keeping

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a foreigner. When I arrived as a young grad student, no one helped me find accommodation or provided housewares. My tiny teaching assistant stipend did not arrive immediately, since I arrived a few weeks before school started. I came prepared, obviously, like the rest of my grad student classmates!

So I don't understand how it's MCPS' responsibility to provide housing for its teachers.

Were these teachers promised accommodation that MCPS then reneged on? In that case, yes, they have a beef.

I don't think this is MCPS - it sounds like they contracted out to a staffing agency who is providing housing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The semi/ fully professional but lower-income Filipinos I have known over my years in the DC area is that they live in crowded living quarters, not near work, and send half their pay home to their families (including the young children they have left behind). The ones I've personally known live in 2-bedroom, 1-bath apartments with 4 roommates.

Like nursing, this is a solid way to keep the wages of professionals depressed.

A two bedroom for four people is reasonable/normal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Will these new international special education hires have MCEA status?

Will they be asked to join MCEA and have dues taken out of their paychecks?

If so, will they know that joining a union and paying dues is voluntary?

40 bucks a paycheck to bargain for better pay and conditions? Sign me up.

What better pay? What conditions?

Absolutely no differentiation in the contract for special educators considering all of the extra work involved.

That 80 a month is better served towards my retirement.