Reply to MCPS faces Teacher shortage next year

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]The pension is getting smaller and it takes longer to be vested and retire, the behaviors are getting bigger, the bureaucracy is growing. The treatment of teachers is decreasing. The starting salary is getting better but it takes a long time to get to a decent wage (especially when you take out deductions for the pension/union dues). The job is composed of mainly women and women are realizing they have been putting up with too much BS.  Women also take on the brunt of dealing with household chores, taking their kids to dr appointments and taking off when their kids are sick. I think teaching starts to get easier as you get more seasoned however we are losing many teachers before this happens. It doesn't matter if people think teaching is easy, the fact is we are losing good teachers too early in their careers. We are also losing school psychologists because of pay and workload. We are also losing speech pathologists - there are open positions that current SLP's have to absorb, as well as contractors being hired with little experience. Even worse, current teachers are telling their children not to go into teaching.

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Teaching is also one of those jobs where...you're sitting next to someone who makes 3 figures and doesn't care because they've been around 25 years. Meanwhile, you're doing everything for your students and make 55k. That is why I quit and now make a 3 figure salary myself. This is not sustainable. Teachers need to realize they deserve better. The public doesn't care-hell the public is the problem. People continually whine about teachers while simultaneously beg for teachers. It's pathetic. Teachers know this. They just are bigger than your abuse. Teachers are heroes for reasons you've never thought of. [/quote]

The job is not sustainable if staff have to sacrifice their personal lives to do the job.[/quote]

My kids teachers work at most 180 days a year. Most of them are out all the time for various personal reasons so it's a lot less than 180 days. I don't think they're really sacrificing their personal lives. Meanwhile the rest of us are working 50 weeks a year and 60 hours a week. I wish I had teacher hours. [/quote]

You are welcome to have them. There is a teacher shortage and we could use more people![/quote]

It would be much more productive to acknowledge how common regular teacher absences are than to disparage a parent raising a legitimate concern. Teacher absences are a huge problem for which there is no solution, at least from a parent perspective. It doesn't matter what the reason is (that's a matter between the administration and the teacher), but significant absences harm student learning, which doesn't get acknowledged. If you want teachers to be paid like highly skilled professionals, ensure they are held to the same standards that highly skilled professionals in other industries are. [/quote]

If someone says they wish they had a teacher's hours, it's not disparaging to point out that they can have them if choose to be a teacher. [/quote]

DP. It's not disparaging. It's a dumb response. Many people who are teachers would HATE my job, and I would hate being a teacher regardless of the hours. Everyone has different skills and preferences and trying to use that as a "gotcha" is just... no. What matters is what are the factors that are driving the teacher shortage. Is the pension not being generous enough driving the teacher shortage? No. Is it not enough days off of work? No. Based on my conversations with teacher friends, the compensation is not the issue either, though I'm sure this is different in other places where compensation is truly terrible. Could it be work hours during the workday (including grading papers)? Sure, I buy that. Is it the lack of flexibility? I can definitely see that. Is it the frustration of dealing with the bureaucracy and parents? That is definitely something I've heard cited from multiple teachers. Is it anti-teacher posts on DCUM? No, sorry.[/quote][/quote]

The pension is not "getting worse". The last adjustment was made over a decade ago and involved a tiny decrease when you consider that around the same time the County also created its own supplement. People are living longer so pension benefits cost more. Money does not grow on trees.[/quote]

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