Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Arlington should dump missing middle nonsense handouts for DINKs and provide quality subsidized housing for public servants like teachers, etc.

Oh man that would be amazing.

I think they can do both

Anonymous wrote:Arlington should dump missing middle nonsense handouts for DINKs and provide quality subsidized housing for public servants like teachers, etc.

Hard agree. If the missing middle / expanded housing options could guarantee that a postal worker, a teacher, fireman or police officer would live in one of those duplexes or triplexes I would be ALL FOR IT. Instead they are just going to build pricey condos that young affluent people can afford with help from their parents. No thanks.

Anonymous wrote:Arlington should dump missing middle nonsense handouts for DINKs and provide quality subsidized housing for public servants like teachers, etc.

Oh man that would be amazing.

Arlington should dump missing middle nonsense handouts for DINKs and provide quality subsidized housing for public servants like teachers, etc.

Anonymous wrote:They can stop hiring at Syphax. That would free up lots of money that could actually be used for gasp, the schools.

And add two dollars to every teachers paycheck?

They can stop hiring at Syphax. That would free up lots of money that could actually be used for gasp, the schools.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to treat teachers better. Stop dumping so many responsibilities and administrative tasks on them. Hire more support staff in schools.
Parents need to stop treating teachers like the hired help and like the professionals they are. In another thread here, a parent refers to a kindergarten teacher as "a babysitter." And you all wonder why teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

This. Sorry the fact is teachers may not be able to afford to live in Arlington. Just like I’m not able to afford the neighborhood that I really want to live in. So I don’t live where I work. However, if I was treated horribly at work when it was an emotionally and sometimes physically demanding job, I’d likely be looking elsewhere, too!

The problem with this attitude is that we will lose good teachers because Arlington is so expensive. Fairfax pay isn't that much less and you get more house for the money. They will continue to attract teachers because of that and APS and it's students will be the ones losing out. APS knows this is a problem but they haven't tried to fix it.

Arlington being this expensive is not a new issue.

And FCPS loses teachers to LCPS for the same reason

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to treat teachers better. Stop dumping so many responsibilities and administrative tasks on them. Hire more support staff in schools.
Parents need to stop treating teachers like the hired help and like the professionals they are. In another thread here, a parent refers to a kindergarten teacher as "a babysitter." And you all wonder why teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

This. Sorry the fact is teachers may not be able to afford to live in Arlington. Just like I’m not able to afford the neighborhood that I really want to live in. So I don’t live where I work. However, if I was treated horribly at work when it was an emotionally and sometimes physically demanding job, I’d likely be looking elsewhere, too!

The problem with this attitude is that we will lose good teachers because Arlington is so expensive. Fairfax pay isn't that much less and you get more house for the money. They will continue to attract teachers because of that and APS and it's students will be the ones losing out. APS knows this is a problem but they haven't tried to fix it.

Arlington being this expensive is not a new issue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They need to treat teachers better. Stop dumping so many responsibilities and administrative tasks on them. Hire more support staff in schools.
Parents need to stop treating teachers like the hired help and like the professionals they are. In another thread here, a parent refers to a kindergarten teacher as "a babysitter." And you all wonder why teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

This. Sorry the fact is teachers may not be able to afford to live in Arlington. Just like I’m not able to afford the neighborhood that I really want to live in. So I don’t live where I work. However, if I was treated horribly at work when it was an emotionally and sometimes physically demanding job, I’d likely be looking elsewhere, too!

The problem with this attitude is that we will lose good teachers because Arlington is so expensive. Fairfax pay isn't that much less and you get more house for the money. They will continue to attract teachers because of that and APS and it's students will be the ones losing out. APS knows this is a problem but they haven't tried to fix it.

Anonymous wrote:They need to treat teachers better. Stop dumping so many responsibilities and administrative tasks on them. Hire more support staff in schools.
Parents need to stop treating teachers like the hired help and like the professionals they are. In another thread here, a parent refers to a kindergarten teacher as "a babysitter." And you all wonder why teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

This. Sorry the fact is teachers may not be able to afford to live in Arlington. Just like I’m not able to afford the neighborhood that I really want to live in. So I don’t live where I work. However, if I was treated horribly at work when it was an emotionally and sometimes physically demanding job, I’d likely be looking elsewhere, too!

They need to treat teachers better. Stop dumping so many responsibilities and administrative tasks on them. Hire more support staff in schools.
Parents need to stop treating teachers like the hired help and like the professionals they are. In another thread here, a parent refers to a kindergarten teacher as "a babysitter." And you all wonder why teachers are leaving the profession in droves.

There isn’t enough we can realistically pay to make arlington affordable in teacher salaries. We will get younger teachers who want to live closer to the city or in a more urban neighborhood who likely will move further out when they start their own families. We also get families if there’s another high earner partner. People want a house and yard when having kids. Need to be rich or move further out. Also agree that living where you work is not the same for a small county like ours. Living in Alexandria, Annandale, dc, fairfax can all be reasonable commutes while working in Arlington. To be clear, I think we should pay teachers a lot more. I just don’t think it will ever be enough to live here w a house and yard.

Its rare to live and work in the same place. In my 25 years in Arlington, I have only worked in the county 1 of those years.

Anonymous wrote:I am a substitute at my child’s school and am aware of a few amazing teachers not coming back next year. All of them say that pay is the reason. They cannot afford to life close to Arlington, and so they are way more incentivized to work where they can live. For the same salary, they can buy a house and have a quick commute. Staying with APS means continuing to rent a condo or commuting 45+ min. (And if they have kids, it means having a different schedule than their kid!)

How can we solve this problem?! We pay these crazy high taxes and property values in part because of the schools. If APS can’t retain quality, experienced teachers… what are we doing?

Driving down property values.

I am a substitute at my child’s school and am aware of a few amazing teachers not coming back next year. All of them say that pay is the reason. They cannot afford to life close to Arlington, and so they are way more incentivized to work where they can live. For the same salary, they can buy a house and have a quick commute. Staying with APS means continuing to rent a condo or commuting 45+ min. (And if they have kids, it means having a different schedule than their kid!)

How can we solve this problem?! We pay these crazy high taxes and property values in part because of the schools. If APS can’t retain quality, experienced teachers… what are we doing?