Anonymous wrote:My school had a 4th grade teacher walk away without even the decency of 2 weeks notice. We are searching for a sub, but not really hopeful. Even worse, the other 4th grade teachers are over it and refusing to do more than minimal help. The class is a mess and has about 8 different adults rotating in each day so there’s no consistency. Things are bleak.

Of course they should refuse to do more than what is in their contract. They are already doing more and beyond.

Anonymous wrote:I was wondering how well MCPS was negotiating the teacher shortage.

How many teachers are quitting at your school this year?

What are the qualifications of your student's teachers?

The same people that they replaced. People quit. New teachers are hired. It happens.

My school had a 4th grade teacher walk away without even the decency of 2 weeks notice. We are searching for a sub, but not really hopeful. Even worse, the other 4th grade teachers are over it and refusing to do more than minimal help. The class is a mess and has about 8 different adults rotating in each day so there’s no consistency. Things are bleak.

It is only going to get worse. There are so many stories of teachers walking away. We had a teacher notified that they would be on the involuntary transfer list and just started looking for a job outside of teaching and walked away when he found one. Now that class has a long-term sub for the rest of the year. I am grateful for the subs that step in for these teachers but they don't always have the training to be an effective teacher.

Anonymous wrote:I left last year. I’m even Nationally Board Certified and decided to call it quits. All I ever wanted to be was a teacher and I naively went into this profession thinking I’d change the world. I didn’t even mind working overtime and on weekends because this is my passion. But sadly I learned it’s not worth the low pay and constant harassment from parents, kids, and unsupportive admin. Still miss what it used to be, but the climate and system have changed and it’s become so toxic.

Yep, also NBCT and I'm done after this year. Today while restraining a child, they threatened to bite me and all I could think of was the time off I'd get if he did.

It's time to go.

You can change systems in Maryland and stay in the pension system to keep vesting. It seems like every school system has pro and cons though. All are under major pressure to avoid suspensions and expulsions.

Anonymous wrote:Most of the newer younger teachers at my current school are not staying. It takes 10 years to vest in the Maryland pension. If you are not planning on staying that long it makes sense to leave teacher and start a new career. Seasoned teachers are staying until pensions kick in. I don’t hear many talk about staying longer.

Can you go to another school system in MD and combine years with MCPS for pension purposes? That would at least get you out of here.

Anonymous wrote:I left last year. I’m even Nationally Board Certified and decided to call it quits. All I ever wanted to be was a teacher and I naively went into this profession thinking I’d change the world. I didn’t even mind working overtime and on weekends because this is my passion. But sadly I learned it’s not worth the low pay and constant harassment from parents, kids, and unsupportive admin. Still miss what it used to be, but the climate and system have changed and it’s become so toxic.

There will be a lot of people here who do not understand the level of time and dedication and skill required to achieve this certification. It is a terrible sign that a teacher with the level of investment to do all of that successfully is leaving MCPS.

For what it's worth, PP, as a parent in the district, I am really sorry to hear this.

I left last year. I’m even Nationally Board Certified and decided to call it quits. All I ever wanted to be was a teacher and I naively went into this profession thinking I’d change the world. I didn’t even mind working overtime and on weekends because this is my passion. But sadly I learned it’s not worth the low pay and constant harassment from parents, kids, and unsupportive admin. Still miss what it used to be, but the climate and system have changed and it’s become so toxic.

Most of the newer younger teachers at my current school are not staying. It takes 10 years to vest in the Maryland pension. If you are not planning on staying that long it makes sense to leave teacher and start a new career. Seasoned teachers are staying until pensions kick in. I don’t hear many talk about staying longer.

It's really bad. Everyone is jumping to other schools to try "one more school" before leaving the profession.

There's no calvary coming.

I am a teacher and quitting this year. It’s been five years and I am ready to go. Each year gets worse. Kids are lower than low. Kids are disrespectful. Parents are more demanding and just as disrespectful as their child. More paper work to do with less time to do it. I go home and have nothing to give myself or my children. My weekends are spent in a vegetable state on the sofa. Summers off sounds great but the low pay means I need another job in the summer just to survive. Insert Walmart application.

It is a major problem across the country. How many of us know someone in their 20s that went into teaching in the last three years. Anyone?
I don’t know why Biden hasn’t announced a federal program to pay the student loans of any public school teacher. That would make sense than the loan forgiveness he did. And districts need to immediately raise pay significantly. Who is going to take 40K a year to work round the clock on their feet most of the day with kids disrespecting you (and sometimes actually assaulting you). when you can get an office job for double that where you work 3 days at home and roll into the office at 9:30 on the other days?
At this point the schools that do have teachers are just robbing Peter to pay Paul — there aren’t actually new teachers coming into the system to replace the quits and retirements.

No one is replacing them. You get a sub if you are lucky.

I was wondering how well MCPS was negotiating the teacher shortage.

How many teachers are quitting at your school this year?

What are the qualifications of your student's teachers?