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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Signing bonuses, competitive pay, and generous benefits is how employers fill positions. Do more than your competitors, then you will get the better candidates.

Particularly for hard to fill positions including Special Education jobs, MCPS advertise low wages and no benefit or signing bonuses. This results in positions going unfilled while candidates choose other school districts or private employment opportunities.[/quote]
Valuing your personnel goes a long way, and it’s not happening most places. Not just In MCPS.[/quote]

It's not even MCPS. It's the parents of this community and the complete lack of respect teachers get in general. People are sick and tired of being treated this way. You're so privileged bc you have SuMmEr OfF, sToP wHiNiNg....It's disgusting. People who disparaged teachers for two years are running for BOE. No one wants to put up with these types of people anymore. [/quote]

That must be why over 800 teachers quit this year - because the current BOE supports teachers and respects them a lot?

You just buried yourself honey.[/quote]

Ew. Who says “honey” in the year 2022? You just dated yourself. Teachers quit because of parents. [b]You didn’t even make a point for “burying”… you’re really bad at this[/b]. Must be someone vying for the “slate” of imbeciles. [/quote]

Since you didn't get it the first time, let's spell it out so it's simple enough that even someone who works in the MCPS CO or is a member of the current MC BOE could understand the point.

Last year over 500 teachers quit and not all of those positions were filled by the beginning of the 21-22 school year.  The DCUMS posters last year blamed everything on covid.  Most parents bought it, and even though MCPS never filled all the positions, MCPS managed to barely make it to the end of the school year.

This year MCPS doesn't have the covid excuse anymore because rocket scientists like McKnight said everything was fine and the schools had to remain open in-person.  MCPS CO can't blame staff shortages on covid because they were so stupidly stubborn, even though 2100 faculty / staff and over 9% of the student body got sick, causing all sorts of disruptions in January to the point someone begged for National Guard troops to drive kids into school and they had to shut down 21 schools for two weeks each anyway and messed up so badly MCPS kept changing the covid dashboard reporting and metrics to hide how bad it was, imho.  I think either way the MCPS Central Office and MC BOE looked like fools.

Right now I believe there are over 800 anticipated teacher vacancies MCPS will need to fill by August.   Since last year MCPS couldn't fill all 500 positions, what makes anyone think they can realistically fill 800 positions with top-notch teachers this year?  Both McKnight and the BOE knew it was an issue, at least according to the published articles where they were interviewed about it, and it was also supposedly the reason why McKnight flew to her alma mater to recruit alumni (while picking up two personal awards while she was there).  It might be possible MCPS hires 800 people with a pulse, but we all know there is no way MCPS will find 800 quality, certified teachers by August.   Since nothing is ever the fault of the MC BOE or MCPS CO (cough), come August when all of this blows up, I think the MCPS CO will need new scapegoats to blame?

I don't think MCPS can blame covid or a lack of funding.  McKnight already requested oodles of covid money for spec ed and teacher incentives (at least that's what the ESSER III funding says - now, is the money really going to spec ed and teachers?  who knows).   I think last year there was also a property tax increase (with a good chunk for education) that kicked in?  There was also the $160M for electric buses, $2M for discrimination training, $2M for Kid Museum. $1M for bocce ball, etc. so if MCPS could pay a million here and there for goodie bags, I don't see a credible way the MCPS CO can claim a "lack of funding" is the issue (unless they're total idiots and admit incompetent budgeting / fiscal planning?  If you've got the money for cake, there better be bread on the table).

The posters on this thread are testing the waters claiming "entitled parents" are bullying them so badly that they are driven to quit, yet there are never any specific schools or incidents mentioned.  I'm sure there may have been an instance or two that are valid, but I think it pales in comparison to how the MC BOE and MCPS CO treated teachers like cattle this year, imho.  I would believe that the BOE or CO are getting an earful from parents, but line teachers?  Maybe a safety issue at the Title I / Red Zone schools (ex. no SRO's)?  I'd want to see stats from exit interviews or maybe request the Maryland IG investigate any claims like that to determine the real root cause (and hope that's exactly what the new board does when these incumbents are replaced this Fall)?

Is that better at making the point?  Are you happy now?[/quote]

I'm having a bit of trouble following your long post but it seems as though you think Covid IS partly to blame- just not in the way MCPS says.  Are you saying teachers are quitting because they wanted to be virtual for at least a portion of the year?

I absolutely think MCPS should be doing exit interviews to find out why staff are quitting but I don't trust them to actually use the data to make changes.  Anecdotally, the ES teachers I know gripe more about Benchmark, testing, and behavior more than anything else, with the balance between the 3 varying depending what school they are at.[/quote]

No.  Read the thread carefully - to catch you up, last year there were trolls on DCUMS blaming everything on covid.  That doesn't explain this year.

[b]Some poster (probably gets a paycheck from MCPS or MC BOE) is claiming teachers are quitting because of bad parents. [/b] I can believe that the CO is fielding a lot of parent complaints, but teachers?  Eh.  Maybe if the kid was a discipline issue the teacher might have a parent run-in, but most parents don't even know who their kids' teachers names are.

Why are teachers really leaving?  Some are leaving because their school is running amok (ex. no SRO's and "restorative justice"), some are retiring because they are just tired of the messed up direction they get and are frustrated, some may want better pay or have a better opportunity - but which one is the "main" reason?   I don't think it's "one" reason at all.  i think it's just the straw that broke the camel's back.  Most teachers want to teach, not deal with politics or potentially unsafe working conditions.  Teachers are NOT hazardous pay / adventure duty types, for the most part.  If they feel their administration doesn't support them, they leave.  That's why I think this board and McKnight have to go.  They're just bad news.[/quote]

It’s more than one poster, and no, I “get a paycheck” from none of those places, but gold star for effort, I guess.[/quote]

Then sign your name if you want a gold star. Otherwise your mcps paycheck funds your posts.[/quote]

You are arguing with many people, not just one.  I'm another who believes that entitled parents are a huge factor in MCPS teacher attrition.  I also do not work for any of the above groups.  I'm a federal IT contractor and we're not even in Montgomery County.  We are in HCPS.  I only check out MCPS teacher threads because I have 6 friends who are current or former MCPS teachers.  I think the entitled parents are big part of the problem as I know two teachers who actually left MCPS (to other school systems) and one who left teaching entirely and the #1 complaint from those three was the parents.   The second was the administration and the overburdening of teachers with "other duties as assigned" and the bureaucratic work that added hours of time daily.  The three who have stayed all agree with the problems, but they haven't reached their breaking point yet.  [/quote]

Then I really do agree that if, as you say, the teachers are blaming parents (truthfully, I think it's a super small percentage and you're lying - maybe a spouse who works for the CO or board?) I'd really like them to come out and give interviews like this one:

'Demoralized, exhausted, and desperate for relief' | Montgomery Co. teachers plead for help with 'understaffing crisis'
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/education/montgomery-county-maryland-school-education-association-shortage-understaffing/65-dc558781-051b-4ede-bb84-9b5300ec48dc

or maybe this one:

Chad Wilson, who teaches at Gaithersburg High School, is one of the county teachers who cannot afford to live here. He drives a one hour and 15 minutes one way, and that is without traffic delays on Interstate 270.  Wilson said the salary he receives as a teacher with 13 years of experience and a master’s degree is not enough to live on, not to mention when school is not in session between June and September.  The Gaithersburg teacher worked four jobs this summer, “just to put money in my pockets so my son, my wife, my daughter and I wouldn’t be removed from our house, so I could make my mortgage, so I can pay my electric bill,” Wilson said.

or this one:

"Putting it bluntly, teachers are burning out," MCEA President Jennifer Martin stated. "Scripted curriculum, endless data collection, and non-stop testing are sucking the joy out of school for teachers and students alike."  
https://wjla.com/news/local/montgomery-county-public-schools-teachers-resigning-retiring-low-staffing-burnout-great-resignation-maryland-education

or this one:

"MCPS employees are demoralized, exhausted, and desperate for relief," Martin said. "On any given day, half the requests for substitute coverage go unanswered. We have come to a point where there is no way our efforts can come close to meeting the needs of the children we serve.”
https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/education/montgomery-county-maryland-school-education-association-shortage-understaffing/65-dc558781-051b-4ede-bb84-9b5300ec48dc

or this one:

“You are spending an inordinate amount of time explaining data and capturing data rather than focusing on the students in front of you.”
https://wtop.com/montgomery-county/2022/05/resignations-retirements-are-up-at-mcps-teachers-union-says/

or this one:

“The school schedule, our health and our students’ health, students’ prior knowledge — none of that can be taken for granted. And that just compounds the stress.”
https://www.mymcmedia.org/mcps-teachers-shortage-of-substitutes-creates-vicious-cycle/

I got news.  Parents don't make up administration requirements - the Central Office does.  I think that every single CO employee should be back teaching in every open teacher slot in August.  The fact is McKnight screwed up by treating the teachers like cattle in January and focusing on her personal agendas versus listening to the classroom teachers.

She needs to resign.  Now.

[/quote]

And why did McKnight not listen to teachers? She was too busy trying to cowtow to the crazy reopening parents who would rather have their kids cattled into auditoriums, learning nothing at all, rather than god forbid, go virtual for two weeks. They didn’t care because as long as schools are open at any cost, even at the cost of education, then they are happy and shut up. Again, it goes back to the parents being the root of the problem here.[/quote]

Even though she has 21 years exp with MCPS, sounds like she can't handle the job?[/quote]

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