DCPS teachers are quitting at an alarming rate, how can parents help?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I agree with many of the previous posters. As a new DCPS high school teacher, a boy came into my classroom and began dragging a girl around by her hair. She picked up the trash can and hit him with it until he let her go. Though I was shouting for security, none came. The students all knew who the boy was and ID'd him to the VP, however his behavior was never addressed in any way. He was in school the next day like nothing happened. I pestered the VP to at least have a sit down with both the girl and the boy, but it never happened.

I have SO many stories like this. I gave up long ago on security or support from the admins. I lock my classroom door from the inside to keep my students safe. The students are so far behind and have so many troubles, it is exhausting. Not to mention many students are hungry and the (free and reduced) food they feed in the cafeteria is absolutely disgusting.

The school has a nice building, a beautiful closet full of whiteboard markers, new textbooks, and supplies for activities - all things my previous school didn't have- but until basic needs are met, all those nice things are useless.

Why the hell didn't someone call the police?

If I were treated this way, it's what I would do. If my child were treated this way, it's what I'd want her to do. Why would you observe criminal assault and not file a police report?!

What school are you getting paid to show up at, and ignore criminal behavior?

You do realize to a lot of these kids this is normal behavior right? It's behavior they see at home and on the street. So while you would expect your daughter to call the police, in these communities you would be considered a snitch and not taking care of your own business.

Besides at my DCPS school if we call the police we better have a bloody face or major injury. Otherwise he'll hath no fury like the principal. You won't be long employed at DCPS if you go callling the police about everything you see

And that, in a nutshell, explains why higher SES families do not want their children in schools with lower SES children.

... for whom the biggest concern is getting caught with a fidget spinner.

[Anonymous]

I taught at Ballou last year. In some ways it's worse than the article made it out to be, and in other ways it's better. The vast majority of the kids have really shitty lives: abuse, trauma, you name it. Oddly enough, outside of cursing and being loud, most of them are pretty good. Some of the best behaved ones have the worst personal stories. They make you want to come to work just to help them get the tools they need to escape. But there's about 15% of them who make teaching next to impossible.The things that they do in a classroom would get them arrested if they were adults in the workplace. But even they aren't that bad when you get to know them. It reminds me of that old Looney Tunes skit with the coyote and the sheepdog. They're the best of friends until they get to work and clock in. Then they're at each other's throats. Some of those kids are like that. It doesn't matter how much you talk to them outside of class or how often they eat lunch in your room. Some of them would come to my room crying about things going on their lives. The minute the bell rang and we were in class, they were completely unbearable. I loved working with them, but it takes a toll on you mentally, emotionally, and physically.

I was tempted to quit in the beginning until I got to know the kids and realized that their behavior wasn't personal. When you meet some of the parents, you begin to understand. I didn't have a bad experience with the principal. I felt supported the whole time, but there are limits to that support. It would be a lot easier if they could round up that 15% and put them in small classes of maybe 5-10 max, but that will never happen because DCPS won't allot the funds for something like that. It would be even better if we had some autonomy with our curriculum. When you have 25 kids in one room who are so far behind academically, you really need the time to build up their skills. Unfortunately, that won't happen either.

There will continue to be high teacher turnover until DCPS stops blaming schools for things that parents should be responsible for controlling. Last year there was a metric that required us to have a certain number of students in attendance each day. We were responsible for calling homes and trying to convince parents to get their kids to school on time. Most didn't answer or have a working number. Still, it was on us.

[Anonymous]

Parents can help by offering to be a reference.

[Anonymous]

Another former DCPS teacher, I am now in MCPS. The straw that broke the camel's back for me, happened when my second grader brought a steak knife to the school to stab a boy he didn't like. I called the the school security. Teachers in DCPS are forbidden from calling the police, instead the school security officer or the administration are the only ones who can call. The school that I worked at worked with the local police station and had specific officers that were assigned to the school. So, whenever the school called, only the officers who worked closely with the school were called. The administration and security guards also had these officers personal cell phone numbers. This ensures that this is never a record of 911 being dialed from the school number. IF 911 if called from a school number, the administration and those in the office have to report it and file an incident report with central office.

I'm trying to imagine what would make a second grader feel so threatened that he would settle on stabbing someone as the best solution. Just thinking about it is giving me chills.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I taught at Ballou last year. In some ways it's worse than the article made it out to be, and in other ways it's better. The vast majority of the kids have really shitty lives: abuse, trauma, you name it. Oddly enough, outside of cursing and being loud, most of them are pretty good. Some of the best behaved ones have the worst personal stories. They make you want to come to work just to help them get the tools they need to escape. But there's about 15% of them who make teaching next to impossible.The things that they do in a classroom would get them arrested if they were adults in the workplace. But even they aren't that bad when you get to know them. It reminds me of that old Looney Tunes skit with the coyote and the sheepdog. They're the best of friends until they get to work and clock in. Then they're at each other's throats. Some of those kids are like that. It doesn't matter how much you talk to them outside of class or how often they eat lunch in your room. Some of them would come to my room crying about things going on their lives. The minute the bell rang and we were in class, they were completely unbearable. I loved working with them, but it takes a toll on you mentally, emotionally, and physically.

I was tempted to quit in the beginning until I got to know the kids and realized that their behavior wasn't personal. When you meet some of the parents, you begin to understand. I didn't have a bad experience with the principal. I felt supported the whole time, but there are limits to that support. It would be a lot easier if they could round up that 15% and put them in small classes of maybe 5-10 max, but that will never happen because DCPS won't allot the funds for something like that. It would be even better if we had some autonomy with our curriculum. When you have 25 kids in one room who are so far behind academically, you really need the time to build up their skills. Unfortunately, that won't happen either.

There will continue to be high teacher turnover until DCPS stops blaming schools for things that parents should be responsible for controlling. Last year there was a metric that required us to have a certain number of students in attendance each day. We were responsible for calling homes and trying to convince parents to get their kids to school on time. Most didn't answer or have a working number. Still, it was on us.

Thanks for doing a good job in challenging circumstances!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I taught at Ballou last year. In some ways it's worse than the article made it out to be, and in other ways it's better. The vast majority of the kids have really shitty lives: abuse, trauma, you name it. Oddly enough, outside of cursing and being loud, most of them are pretty good. Some of the best behaved ones have the worst personal stories. They make you want to come to work just to help them get the tools they need to escape. But there's about 15% of them who make teaching next to impossible.The things that they do in a classroom would get them arrested if they were adults in the workplace. But even they aren't that bad when you get to know them. It reminds me of that old Looney Tunes skit with the coyote and the sheepdog. They're the best of friends until they get to work and clock in. Then they're at each other's throats. Some of those kids are like that. It doesn't matter how much you talk to them outside of class or how often they eat lunch in your room. Some of them would come to my room crying about things going on their lives. The minute the bell rang and we were in class, they were completely unbearable. I loved working with them, but it takes a toll on you mentally, emotionally, and physically.

I was tempted to quit in the beginning until I got to know the kids and realized that their behavior wasn't personal. When you meet some of the parents, you begin to understand. I didn't have a bad experience with the principal. I felt supported the whole time, but there are limits to that support. It would be a lot easier if they could round up that 15% and put them in small classes of maybe 5-10 max, but that will never happen because DCPS won't allot the funds for something like that. It would be even better if we had some autonomy with our curriculum. When you have 25 kids in one room who are so far behind academically, you really need the time to build up their skills. Unfortunately, that won't happen either.

There will continue to be high teacher turnover until DCPS stops blaming schools for things that parents should be responsible for controlling. Last year there was a metric that required us to have a certain number of students in attendance each day. We were responsible for calling homes and trying to convince parents to get their kids to school on time. Most didn't answer or have a working number. Still, it was on us.

NP and dcps teacher at 40/40 school in ward 8. This is the issue, someone needs to get creative for those 15%. So many kids want to learn and they just ruin it.

Also completely agree about problems with admin and zero ability to consequence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not quitting because of behavior problems, although I'll admit they're not fun. I'm quitting because I'm sick of admin who have less teaching experience than me - and absolutely zero experience in my field - telling me that I'm "developing" after receiving effective or highly effective ratings from others. I'm sick of being told by admin that because my kids are behind grade level standards in reading, that I "don't have time" to teach social/emotional skills. I'm sick of the system acting like the only thing that matters is doing better on the end of year tests. I'm tired of top-down regulations from people in central office who have no idea what it's like to actually be in my classroom.

Dcps teacher here. I agree with everything you said. Are you staying in teaching or starting a new career path?

[Anonymous]

I agree with many of the previous posters. As a new DCPS high school teacher, a boy came into my classroom and began dragging a girl around by her hair. She picked up the trash can and hit him with it until he let her go. Though I was shouting for security, none came. The students all knew who the boy was and ID'd him to the VP, however his behavior was never addressed in any way. He was in school the next day like nothing happened. I pestered the VP to at least have a sit down with both the girl and the boy, but it never happened.

I have SO many stories like this. I gave up long ago on security or support from the admins. I lock my classroom door from the inside to keep my students safe. The students are so far behind and have so many troubles, it is exhausting. Not to mention many students are hungry and the (free and reduced) food they feed in the cafeteria is absolutely disgusting.

The school has a nice building, a beautiful closet full of whiteboard markers, new textbooks, and supplies for activities - all things my previous school didn't have- but until basic needs are met, all those nice things are useless.

But basic needs are met. The govt is providing housing, food, medical care, school supplies, school clothing, education, etc and so on to the majority of these students. Even you point out the school is feeding them. They might not like the food and no it's no necessarily organic and preservative free but it is food which is a basic need. So the basic needs of many students are already being met by the govt. The govt can provide basics. It can not provide the quality you as a high SES parent expect for your own child.

I guess I'll be a voice of dissension here--I just want to say we should be careful not to stereotype all kids from lower SES backgrounds. I grew up with many lower SES kids (many were bused in from the projects on the other side of town). Not all of them fit the stereotype. Some were quiet kids who did well in school despite their circumstances. Many weren't doing super well academically; more like middling, but were not in trouble often and did not see this behavior in their own homes.

Yes, there was a significant minority of these kids in my schools--maybe 10-20%--who got in trouble fairly frequently. Perhaps it's even higher in DC, and to some extent, it may even be a matter of survival given concentrated poverty, high crime rates, and trauma exposure in their neighborhoods (i.e., acting "tough" so that they won't be targeted by bullies). However, let's be careful not to paint all of these kids with the same brush.

You are right, not all of them fit the stereotype but the ones who don't are the exception, not the rule. The narrative we as high SES parents tell ourselves about the poor downtrodden kids who "just want to learn" is nothing more than that. A narrative to make us feel better. Most kids even in high SES schools don't care that much about learning. School is just something their parents insist they must do and must do well, so they do it. Leave it up to kids and they majority would prefer to be playing no matter what SES level they are. It's the outlier kids who would choose to study instead.

Another former DCPS teacher, I am now in MCPS. The straw that broke the camel's back for me, happened when my second grader brought a steak knife to the school to stab a boy he didn't like. I called the the school security. Teachers in DCPS are forbidden from calling the police, instead the school security officer or the administration are the only ones who can call. The school that I worked at worked with the local police station and had specific officers that were assigned to the school. So, whenever the school called, only the officers who worked closely with the school were called. The administration and security guards also had these officers personal cell phone numbers. This ensures that this is never a record of 911 being dialed from the school number. IF 911 if called from a school number, the administration and those in the office have to report it and file an incident report with central office.

I'm trying to imagine what would make a second grader feel so threatened that he would settle on stabbing someone as the best solution. Just thinking about it is giving me chills.

Ugh, this is such a pretensions white high SES parent thing to say. He must feel threatened to do something like this! Nah, the kid most probably saw or heard older kids use this as a solution when other kids have pissed them off or done something they don't like, so the 2nd grader decides if the older kids did it to solve their problem, then he will to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am not quitting because of behavior problems, although I'll admit they're not fun. I'm quitting because I'm sick of admin who have less teaching experience than me - and absolutely zero experience in my field - telling me that I'm "developing" after receiving effective or highly effective ratings from others. I'm sick of being told by admin that because my kids are behind grade level standards in reading, that I "don't have time" to teach social/emotional skills. I'm sick of the system acting like the only thing that matters is doing better on the end of year tests. I'm tired of top-down regulations from people in central office who have no idea what it's like to actually be in my classroom.

Dcps teacher here. I agree with everything you said. Are you staying in teaching or starting a new career path?

for now i'm staying in teaching, but not dcps. we'll see if it gets better for me, otherwise i might choose a new path. not sure what that would be. you got ideas?

[Anonymous]

I've been looking for a HS Social Studies DCPS position and there is never anything available!

[Anonymous]

Another former DCPS teacher, I am now in MCPS. The straw that broke the camel's back for me, happened when my second grader brought a steak knife to the school to stab a boy he didn't like. I called the the school security. Teachers in DCPS are forbidden from calling the police, instead the school security officer or the administration are the only ones who can call. The school that I worked at worked with the local police station and had specific officers that were assigned to the school. So, whenever the school called, only the officers who worked closely with the school were called. The administration and security guards also had these officers personal cell phone numbers. This ensures that this is never a record of 911 being dialed from the school number. IF 911 if called from a school number, the administration and those in the office have to report it and file an incident report with central office.

I'm trying to imagine what would make a second grader feel so threatened that he would settle on stabbing someone as the best solution. Just thinking about it is giving me chills.

Ugh, this is such a pretensions white high SES parent thing to say. He must feel threatened to do something like this! Nah, the kid most probably saw or heard older kids use this as a solution when other kids have pissed them off or done something they don't like, so the 2nd grader decides if the older kids did it to solve their problem, then he will to.

You kinda suck at being a person. It's probably not useful news to you, but when you finally come to the realization you might recall that you'd been warned.

I sincerely hope you don't have kids of your own but if you do, you should be made aware that they're learning how to solve problems at that age but not very skilled. Implications sit in a nebulous cloud of possibilities that they've gleaned from sources as varied as overheard conversations and as unreliable as cartoons.

They do know fear pretty well, though, and it's reasonable to conclude that kid was scared and didn't feel he could rely on anyone to help him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Another former DCPS teacher, I am now in MCPS. The straw that broke the camel's back for me, happened when my second grader brought a steak knife to the school to stab a boy he didn't like. I called the the school security. Teachers in DCPS are forbidden from calling the police, instead the school security officer or the administration are the only ones who can call. The school that I worked at worked with the local police station and had specific officers that were assigned to the school. So, whenever the school called, only the officers who worked closely with the school were called. The administration and security guards also had these officers personal cell phone numbers. This ensures that this is never a record of 911 being dialed from the school number. IF 911 if called from a school number, the administration and those in the office have to report it and file an incident report with central office.

I'm trying to imagine what would make a second grader feel so threatened that he would settle on stabbing someone as the best solution. Just thinking about it is giving me chills.

Ugh, this is such a pretensions white high SES parent thing to say. He must feel threatened to do something like this! Nah, the kid most probably saw or heard older kids use this as a solution when other kids have pissed them off or done something they don't like, so the 2nd grader decides if the older kids did it to solve their problem, then he will to.

You kinda suck at being a person. It's probably not useful news to you, but when you finally come to the realization you might recall that you'd been warned.

I sincerely hope you don't have kids of your own but if you do, you should be made aware that they're learning how to solve problems at that age but not very skilled. Implications sit in a nebulous cloud of possibilities that they've gleaned from sources as varied as overheard conversations and as unreliable as cartoons.

They do know fear pretty well, though, and it's reasonable to conclude that kid was scared and didn't feel he could rely on anyone to help him.

And BTW, I'm not white.

[Anonymous]

By holding the chancellor accountable in how he allocates budget funds and stop creating $177K roles like Deputy Chancellor of Social Emotional Academic Development (https://www.idealist.org/en/government-job/28ca6f663e2a4bcd92c8bf995bc6e75c-deputy-chancellor-social-emotional-academic-devolpment-dc-public-schools-washington) and Chief Equity and Diversity Officer (https://www.idealist.org/en/government-job/6660675ae8db40beb272e43713559b8d-chief-equity-and-diversity-dc-public-schools-washington).

Invest in supporting teachers in-house. Skim the very top at central office and stop creating stupid roles that don't help teachers and principals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I taught at Ballou last year. In some ways it's worse than the article made it out to be, and in other ways it's better. The vast majority of the kids have really shitty lives: abuse, trauma, you name it. Oddly enough, outside of cursing and being loud, most of them are pretty good. Some of the best behaved ones have the worst personal stories. They make you want to come to work just to help them get the tools they need to escape. But there's about 15% of them who make teaching next to impossible.The things that they do in a classroom would get them arrested if they were adults in the workplace. But even they aren't that bad when you get to know them. It reminds me of that old Looney Tunes skit with the coyote and the sheepdog. They're the best of friends until they get to work and clock in. Then they're at each other's throats. Some of those kids are like that. It doesn't matter how much you talk to them outside of class or how often they eat lunch in your room. Some of them would come to my room crying about things going on their lives. The minute the bell rang and we were in class, they were completely unbearable. I loved working with them, but it takes a toll on you mentally, emotionally, and physically.

I was tempted to quit in the beginning until I got to know the kids and realized that their behavior wasn't personal. When you meet some of the parents, you begin to understand. I didn't have a bad experience with the principal. I felt supported the whole time, but there are limits to that support. It would be a lot easier if they could round up that 15% and put them in small classes of maybe 5-10 max, but that will never happen because DCPS won't allot the funds for something like that. It would be even better if we had some autonomy with our curriculum. When you have 25 kids in one room who are so far behind academically, you really need the time to build up their skills. Unfortunately, that won't happen either.

There will continue to be high teacher turnover until DCPS stops blaming schools for things that parents should be responsible for controlling. Last year there was a metric that required us to have a certain number of students in attendance each day. We were responsible for calling homes and trying to convince parents to get their kids to school on time. Most didn't answer or have a working number. Still, it was on us.

I worked in DCPS and with kids who dropped out. This is probably the best description I've ever read. It goes without saying that as sweet as the kids are, I would never work in either scenario again. it's not actually teaching...it's something else. I'm probably the better for it, but the kids (who are there year after year, aren't). Yes, stop setting teachers up to fail. DO try creative alternatives. Any. All. It's better than the status quo which is no one learning anyway and high teacher burnout.

[Anonymous]

I am a parent at a High Income school, almost no FARMS, the teacher turn over each year is about 25%. This is is nuts. These teachers are moving to other schools int he district or the nearby, they are not leaving the professio


Parents are wondering what tony suggestions welcome.