New High School Teacher Contract Times

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So treat us and pay us like professionals. I bet you don’t have to sign in every day.

This is ridiculous...professional adults being treated like children. No one should be surprised why FCPS can't keep people. Do Gatehouse employees sign in?

The signing in has to do with at large schools they need to know who isn’t there before the bell rings so someone can go cover a classroom without a teacher. The issue is that so many administrators become tyrants.

My husband is a morning person and likes getting to school early in the morning. He was often the first teacher to arrive. He gets busy grading and helping students with math homework before school and then would realize it is 7:50. So he goes to the office to sign in and a petty administrator would berate him and try to mark him as late even though he arrived at school before 7 am. He was getting there before the sign in books were even put out so he couldnt sign in when he got there.

Over the course of his 25 years of teaching he no longer has any patience for administrators. He is over having to argue he shouldn’t be marked late or told he is no longer allowed to come so early in the morning even though he has found more students like getting math help early in the morning after going home and trying to do homework and not understanding how to do it. Or doing test reviews the morning before a test.

So he started last year no longer going in early after a new especially petty administrator started at his school. So he signs in and a couple minutes before being required and doesn’t open his classroom door in the morning until the bell rings. Then leaves the minute the contract says he can.

It's happening at smaller schools too.

I was an elementary teacher. When I was teaching first grade, there was another teacher who would oversleep. (Honestly, she was a great teacher, but she had trouble with the alarm clock, I guess.) There were a couple of times that she was not there --and the asst principal had to call her. It's not good when teachers are not there when the kids arrive. There is good reason for checking in.
It does seem to me that today, you should be able to check in that you are present electronically. I would hope that the honor system would be enough.

Then you deal with the staff that is a problem-when you do it for everyone you create an environment of distrust-where teachers and staff no longer put in extra energy or effort-because their supervisor has already discounted them. FCPS often overlooks the fact that they are dealing with humans. Eventually humans stop caring.

So, you have kids without a teacher? That's a safety issue.

You talked about one teacher-figure something out for the staff you are struggling with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So treat us and pay us like professionals. I bet you don’t have to sign in every day.

This is ridiculous...professional adults being treated like children. No one should be surprised why FCPS can't keep people. Do Gatehouse employees sign in?

The signing in has to do with at large schools they need to know who isn’t there before the bell rings so someone can go cover a classroom without a teacher. The issue is that so many administrators become tyrants.

My husband is a morning person and likes getting to school early in the morning. He was often the first teacher to arrive. He gets busy grading and helping students with math homework before school and then would realize it is 7:50. So he goes to the office to sign in and a petty administrator would berate him and try to mark him as late even though he arrived at school before 7 am. He was getting there before the sign in books were even put out so he couldnt sign in when he got there.

Over the course of his 25 years of teaching he no longer has any patience for administrators. He is over having to argue he shouldn’t be marked late or told he is no longer allowed to come so early in the morning even though he has found more students like getting math help early in the morning after going home and trying to do homework and not understanding how to do it. Or doing test reviews the morning before a test.

So he started last year no longer going in early after a new especially petty administrator started at his school. So he signs in and a couple minutes before being required and doesn’t open his classroom door in the morning until the bell rings. Then leaves the minute the contract says he can.

It's happening at smaller schools too.

I was an elementary teacher. When I was teaching first grade, there was another teacher who would oversleep. (Honestly, she was a great teacher, but she had trouble with the alarm clock, I guess.) There were a couple of times that she was not there --and the asst principal had to call her. It's not good when teachers are not there when the kids arrive. There is good reason for checking in.
It does seem to me that today, you should be able to check in that you are present electronically. I would hope that the honor system would be enough.

Then you deal with the staff that is a problem-when you do it for everyone you create an environment of distrust-where teachers and staff no longer put in extra energy or effort-because their supervisor has already discounted them. FCPS often overlooks the fact that they are dealing with humans. Eventually humans stop caring.

So, you have kids without a teacher? That's a safety issue.

A million years ago before sign-in sheets and key cards we would call the main office if we were running late or weren’t coming in. That process worked. If a teacher was running late and didn’t call in and was running the risk that their classroom would be empty when students arrived, the principal would give a consequence.

[Anonymous]

I’m required to call or text my admin by 7am if I am not coming in that day. He knows who isn’t going to be there by 7am. The sign in book is such BS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do teachers in HS ever stay after school for study sessions and such or is that only in MS? Is that just done on teacher’s own time and not required if they do?

High school is supposed to stay after 1 day per week like middle school. It was always considered to fall under “other duties as assigned” in our contract. Unpaid, but “for the kids”.

With all the BS hall monitoring duty and forced contract hour stuff though, most of us have cut our after school time from 60/90 minutes to the 30 minutes after dismissal we are required to be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m required to call or text my admin by 7am if I am not coming in that day. He knows who isn’t going to be there by 7am. The sign in book is such BS.

Is signing in a HS thing? In my 30 years of teaching I’ve never know an ES principal to require morning sign in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well, they could choose to come in earlier like a responsible professional.

Aah condescending Karen has entered the chat

Teachers are in a profession, so I'm not sure why it's weird not to expect them to behave differently than other professionals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m required to call or text my admin by 7am if I am not coming in that day. He knows who isn’t going to be there by 7am. The sign in book is such BS.

Is signing in a HS thing? In my 30 years of teaching I’ve never know an ES principal to require morning sign in.

I've never had to do it at middle or high school. I suspect it's an "ineffective admin" thing. Rather than deal with 1 or 2 dud employees, make everyone do something stupid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teachers have been told by their admin that this new set contract time is because of the collective bargaining agreement worked out by the combined unions. (FEU)

Teachers are told “you can come in as early as you care to but you must stay until the contract end time” - at many HS 3:30.

Students are told they must not come in before 7:45. No exceptions. And then when the weapon detectors are in place, go through them.

Teachers are frustrated and very unhappy.

Unions keep saying that they got the teachers a 6% raise -so hooray! But many ask at what expense?

Good. Too many teachers were waltzing out the door as soon as the kids left. There was no chance for a kid to even go get help or ask a question unless it was scheduled in advance. Now teachers have to stay after until 3:30 and I think that is ultimately better for the kids.

Wrong. I actually reduced the amount of time I'm available to kids after school. We now have to have our monthly department meetings and our weekly CT meetings after school instead of planning periodsbecause of the changes, and I can't be in two places at once.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Good. Too many teachers were waltzing out the door as soon as the kids left. There was no chance for a kid to even go get help or ask a question unless it was scheduled in advance. Now teachers have to stay after until 3:30 and I think that is ultimately better for the kids.

Every Middle and High School has a built in "remediation" time. It's usually called [mascot] time. That is a built in time for students to get extra help. So after school isn't the only option

Yep. Even with the time after now, kids should be setting up time. Teachers will be pulled into meetings etc and aren't likely to be sitting there waiting for someone to need help.

That’s a fair point. But at least the teachers will be there everyday after school so that provides more days the student can come.

Unless the time is taken up with meetings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Good. Too many teachers were waltzing out the door as soon as the kids left. There was no chance for a kid to even go get help or ask a question unless it was scheduled in advance. Now teachers have to stay after until 3:30 and I think that is ultimately better for the kids.

Every Middle and High School has a built in "remediation" time. It's usually called [mascot] time. That is a built in time for students to get extra help. So after school isn't the only option

Yep. Even with the time after now, kids should be setting up time. Teachers will be pulled into meetings etc and aren't likely to be sitting there waiting for someone to need help.

That’s a fair point. But at least the teachers will be there everyday after school so that provides more days the student can come.

Unless the time is taken up with meetings.

It is.

I am on 3 CTs. 2 days after school I now have CT meetings (the third is during my planning), the 3rd I have department or faculty meetings 2x per month. I used to be available every day. I put in my syllabus that I have 30 minutes once per week after school when I used to be there for an hour every day for kids to drop in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So treat us and pay us like professionals. I bet you don’t have to sign in every day.

This is ridiculous...professional adults being treated like children. No one should be surprised why FCPS can't keep people. Do Gatehouse employees sign in?

The signing in has to do with at large schools they need to know who isn’t there before the bell rings so someone can go cover a classroom without a teacher. The issue is that so many administrators become tyrants.

My husband is a morning person and likes getting to school early in the morning. He was often the first teacher to arrive. He gets busy grading and helping students with math homework before school and then would realize it is 7:50. So he goes to the office to sign in and a petty administrator would berate him and try to mark him as late even though he arrived at school before 7 am. He was getting there before the sign in books were even put out so he couldnt sign in when he got there.

Over the course of his 25 years of teaching he no longer has any patience for administrators. He is over having to argue he shouldn’t be marked late or told he is no longer allowed to come so early in the morning even though he has found more students like getting math help early in the morning after going home and trying to do homework and not understanding how to do it. Or doing test reviews the morning before a test.

So he started last year no longer going in early after a new especially petty administrator started at his school. So he signs in and a couple minutes before being required and doesn’t open his classroom door in the morning until the bell rings. Then leaves the minute the contract says he can.

It's happening at smaller schools too.

I was an elementary teacher. When I was teaching first grade, there was another teacher who would oversleep. (Honestly, she was a great teacher, but she had trouble with the alarm clock, I guess.) There were a couple of times that she was not there --and the asst principal had to call her. It's not good when teachers are not there when the kids arrive. There is good reason for checking in.
It does seem to me that today, you should be able to check in that you are present electronically. I would hope that the honor system would be enough.

Then you deal with the staff that is a problem-when you do it for everyone you create an environment of distrust-where teachers and staff no longer put in extra energy or effort-because their supervisor has already discounted them. FCPS often overlooks the fact that they are dealing with humans. Eventually humans stop caring.

So, you have kids without a teacher? That's a safety issue.

That’s not what PP is saying. Stop with the sign-in sheets for EVERYONE. If there’s a teacher that is late, then admin needs to deal with that directly. That chronically late teacher should be required to sign in for a period of time. But not everyone else. It’s the same with lesson plans. If you’re planned and ready to go, you shouldn’t have to turn in lesson plans. But if your instruction shows that you’re just winging it and making up lessons as you go, then you should have to turn them in.

THIS!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m required to call or text my admin by 7am if I am not coming in that day. He knows who isn’t going to be there by 7am. The sign in book is such BS.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Good. Too many teachers were waltzing out the door as soon as the kids left. There was no chance for a kid to even go get help or ask a question unless it was scheduled in advance. Now teachers have to stay after until 3:30 and I think that is ultimately better for the kids.

Every Middle and High School has a built in "remediation" time. It's usually called [mascot] time. That is a built in time for students to get extra help. So after school isn't the only option

Yep. Even with the time after now, kids should be setting up time. Teachers will be pulled into meetings etc and aren't likely to be sitting there waiting for someone to need help.

That’s a fair point. But at least the teachers will be there everyday after school so that provides more days the student can come.

Unless the time is taken up with meetings.

It is.

I am on 3 CTs. 2 days after school I now have CT meetings (the third is during my planning), the 3rd I have department or faculty meetings 2x per month. I used to be available every day. I put in my syllabus that I have 30 minutes once per week after school when I used to be there for an hour every day for kids to drop in.

It's so sad most of these meetings are a waste of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So treat us and pay us like professionals. I bet you don’t have to sign in every day.

This is ridiculous...professional adults being treated like children. No one should be surprised why FCPS can't keep people. Do Gatehouse employees sign in?

The signing in has to do with at large schools they need to know who isn’t there before the bell rings so someone can go cover a classroom without a teacher. The issue is that so many administrators become tyrants.

My husband is a morning person and likes getting to school early in the morning. He was often the first teacher to arrive. He gets busy grading and helping students with math homework before school and then would realize it is 7:50. So he goes to the office to sign in and a petty administrator would berate him and try to mark him as late even though he arrived at school before 7 am. He was getting there before the sign in books were even put out so he couldnt sign in when he got there.

Over the course of his 25 years of teaching he no longer has any patience for administrators. He is over having to argue he shouldn’t be marked late or told he is no longer allowed to come so early in the morning even though he has found more students like getting math help early in the morning after going home and trying to do homework and not understanding how to do it. Or doing test reviews the morning before a test.

So he started last year no longer going in early after a new especially petty administrator started at his school. So he signs in and a couple minutes before being required and doesn’t open his classroom door in the morning until the bell rings. Then leaves the minute the contract says he can.

It's happening at smaller schools too.

I was an elementary teacher. When I was teaching first grade, there was another teacher who would oversleep. (Honestly, she was a great teacher, but she had trouble with the alarm clock, I guess.) There were a couple of times that she was not there --and the asst principal had to call her. It's not good when teachers are not there when the kids arrive. There is good reason for checking in.
It does seem to me that today, you should be able to check in that you are present electronically. I would hope that the honor system would be enough.

Then you deal with the staff that is a problem-when you do it for everyone you create an environment of distrust-where teachers and staff no longer put in extra energy or effort-because their supervisor has already discounted them. FCPS often overlooks the fact that they are dealing with humans. Eventually humans stop caring.

+1 the only employees signing in should be substitutes, guest speaker/volunteers, and parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So treat us and pay us like professionals. I bet you don’t have to sign in every day.

This is ridiculous...professional adults being treated like children. No one should be surprised why FCPS can't keep people. Do Gatehouse employees sign in?

The signing in has to do with at large schools they need to know who isn’t there before the bell rings so someone can go cover a classroom without a teacher. The issue is that so many administrators become tyrants.

My husband is a morning person and likes getting to school early in the morning. He was often the first teacher to arrive. He gets busy grading and helping students with math homework before school and then would realize it is 7:50. So he goes to the office to sign in and a petty administrator would berate him and try to mark him as late even though he arrived at school before 7 am. He was getting there before the sign in books were even put out so he couldnt sign in when he got there.

Over the course of his 25 years of teaching he no longer has any patience for administrators. He is over having to argue he shouldn’t be marked late or told he is no longer allowed to come so early in the morning even though he has found more students like getting math help early in the morning after going home and trying to do homework and not understanding how to do it. Or doing test reviews the morning before a test.

So he started last year no longer going in early after a new especially petty administrator started at his school. So he signs in and a couple minutes before being required and doesn’t open his classroom door in the morning until the bell rings. Then leaves the minute the contract says he can.

It's happening at smaller schools too.

I was an elementary teacher. When I was teaching first grade, there was another teacher who would oversleep. (Honestly, she was a great teacher, but she had trouble with the alarm clock, I guess.) There were a couple of times that she was not there --and the asst principal had to call her. It's not good when teachers are not there when the kids arrive. There is good reason for checking in.
It does seem to me that today, you should be able to check in that you are present electronically. I would hope that the honor system would be enough.

Then you deal with the staff that is a problem-when you do it for everyone you create an environment of distrust-where teachers and staff no longer put in extra energy or effort-because their supervisor has already discounted them. FCPS often overlooks the fact that they are dealing with humans. Eventually humans stop caring.

+1 the only employees signing in should be substitutes, guest speaker/volunteers, and parents.

This