I am a school leader at a charter in the city and I am leaving before the holiday break. I have been an educator for 9 years and know this work is my purpose. I am a DC native that is unapologetically passionate about the students and families and communities that I serve. Like most of us, I am no stranger to the most challenging aspects of being public school educator- breaking up fights, physically restraining students from self-harm, being cursed at and threatened by parents, deescalating mental breakdowns triggered by hunger or abuse, all while trying to foster a love of learning and build a foundation for success and ultimately, a way out of the cycle. These all-too-common occurrences, though, have never led me to step away. Until this year.

I am no stranger to burn out but I simply have nothing left. So so so many people are running on fumes but are forcing themselves to operate as they always have. A previous poster mentioned drinking heavily. We all do…way too much. Our lounge banter is darker than ever before. The fires are nonstop so one has the energy to be innovative about how we can make this better so no one knows who to turn to for support. We support each other but we are pouring from empty cups at this point.

At the end of last month I realized I couldn’t remember what I had done on any weekend since school started, not like “oh, I’ve been such a homebody,” but I literally couldn’t remember. I hadn’t seen my friends or family in months. I realized I was falling to pieces and am only more of a burden to those who are falling apart themselves. We have lost 2 leaders so far this year and 3 teachers (none related to vaccine requirements). So many of our strongest have said they are holding onto dear hope to make it to the end of the year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am at a DCPS school and I will be leaving after this year. The expectations are unbearable. There is very little positive regard from admin.

I will be leaving DCPS at the end of the year as well. If I find a better opportunity mid-year, I will leave mid-year. Teaching is extremely stressful but even more so in a district that continually throws additional requirements on my plate without the training or **time** to get them done.

This seems to be a common issue that I hear about from teachers. What are the new requirements about?

I wonder sometimes how everyone's desire for more data (see: complaints about OSSE) conflicts with the fact that that it requires teachers/school staff to do more bureaucratic, time-consuming record-keeping.

I know there’s additional paperwork requirements for SPED teachers. We have kids with 12 hours of pull out instruction on IEPs and they literally get 0 because the SPED teacher is doing paperwork.

There’s additional testing called RCTs that are at least one per subject per quarter for ES. Someone (WTU?) send a survey and I think I counted 9 district required assessments for the first quarter.

The kids’ behavior is out of control and there’s nothing admin can or will do. They can’t be suspended (and that just makes our job of teaching them harder). Kids running around the school building, just walking out, wandering the room, calling teachers bruh, etc.

Kids a need significant emotional help and they aren’t getting it. We had five self harm threats in a week in one grade level.

Building security issues, staff don’t have keys, classrooms don’t have heat, we run out of drinking water, bathrooms don’t work, etc.

Are RCTs = randomized control trials? What is that? Are those teacher assessments or student assessments?

RCTs are required curricular tasks. They are assessments designed by central and given to students in every content area at least once a term. Teachers are not allowed to modify them I any way to meet the needs of the students or classroom instruction. Iready, diebels, and tests like that are nationally normed, so while they are time consuming, they are least provide good comparative data. Anet is designed to be like PARCC and prepare students for that test. I don't find the data nearly as useful since most of my students are below grade level and struggle through it, but at least it helps me prepare them for PARCC. RCTs are not normed, are not based on PARCC, and no one really knows where they came from, but they are a new requirement this year. They can't replace teacher created tests, because we still need to do some assessing based on what we have taught and what students have learned to do. So I have no idea what the purpose of RCTs is, other than to be another test that takes away from instructional time and provides absolutely no value to instruction.

I helped create the RCTs over the summer for DCPS and in theory it made sense as a great quick way for teachers to check in and get data. In reality, as the PP mentioned, we have WAY TOO MANY tests that we need to administer, and as PP mentioned they all meet different needs. It is incredibly frustrating, because you barely have time to receive and analyze data before getting another batch. It just results in instructional time being lost for testing and teachers trying to grade based off way too many data points

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am at a DCPS school and I will be leaving after this year. The expectations are unbearable. There is very little positive regard from admin.

I will be leaving DCPS at the end of the year as well. If I find a better opportunity mid-year, I will leave mid-year. Teaching is extremely stressful but even more so in a district that continually throws additional requirements on my plate without the training or **time** to get them done.

This seems to be a common issue that I hear about from teachers. What are the new requirements about?

I wonder sometimes how everyone's desire for more data (see: complaints about OSSE) conflicts with the fact that that it requires teachers/school staff to do more bureaucratic, time-consuming record-keeping.

I know there’s additional paperwork requirements for SPED teachers. We have kids with 12 hours of pull out instruction on IEPs and they literally get 0 because the SPED teacher is doing paperwork.

There’s additional testing called RCTs that are at least one per subject per quarter for ES. Someone (WTU?) send a survey and I think I counted 9 district required assessments for the first quarter.

The kids’ behavior is out of control and there’s nothing admin can or will do. They can’t be suspended (and that just makes our job of teaching them harder). Kids running around the school building, just walking out, wandering the room, calling teachers bruh, etc.

Kids a need significant emotional help and they aren’t getting it. We had five self harm threats in a week in one grade level.

Building security issues, staff don’t have keys, classrooms don’t have heat, we run out of drinking water, bathrooms don’t work, etc.

Are RCTs = randomized control trials? What is that? Are those teacher assessments or student assessments?

RCTs are required curricular tasks. They are assessments designed by central and given to students in every content area at least once a term. Teachers are not allowed to modify them I any way to meet the needs of the students or classroom instruction. Iready, diebels, and tests like that are nationally normed, so while they are time consuming, they are least provide good comparative data. Anet is designed to be like PARCC and prepare students for that test. I don't find the data nearly as useful since most of my students are below grade level and struggle through it, but at least it helps me prepare them for PARCC. RCTs are not normed, are not based on PARCC, and no one really knows where they came from, but they are a new requirement this year. They can't replace teacher created tests, because we still need to do some assessing based on what we have taught and what students have learned to do. So I have no idea what the purpose of RCTs is, other than to be another test that takes away from instructional time and provides absolutely no value to instruction.

RCTs are required curriculum tasks, assessments that the students are required to do in all subjects multiple times a year, with the assessments we already give there has been assessments almost every week since school started

This is my first year teaching (mid-career shift) I am giving it everything but I don't see myself doing it next year. I have many months to prepare for next year; I will likely stick it out this year for my colleagues & stability but I am already thinking about what I need to do now to make a shift outside the classroom.

Upper elementary, not title 1 school: 20% of our kids are 1-3 years below grade level; most of the students have almost no self sufficiency; grammar is atrocious; behavioral problems are intense and unpredictable.

Anonymous wrote:My building hasn't had anyone quit because we are all really, really supportive of each other. There is a fair amount of drinking after work, going out to bars and lots of "I can't take this anymore" talk. In my district as a whole, we had a bunch of people quit before the year started and a few who quit in the first month. Most of the resignations were because of really stressful behaviors. I think most parents were drowning trying to work from home with kids around, and weren't able to spend time teaching kids basic manners, basic acceptable behaviors because they were just trying to survive. And the daycares who also help teach those things were largely closed. So the things we're seeing would just blow an average person's mind. It's almost like some kids have been running around for nearly 2 years without any parenting at all. They're feral.

It is getting better. After 3 months, they can finally walk in a line and we don't have as many meltdowns or fights.

I mean, I appreciate your sense of humor about this. Thank you.

My building hasn't had anyone quit because we are all really, really supportive of each other. There is a fair amount of drinking after work, going out to bars and lots of "I can't take this anymore" talk. In my district as a whole, we had a bunch of people quit before the year started and a few who quit in the first month. Most of the resignations were because of really stressful behaviors. I think most parents were drowning trying to work from home with kids around, and weren't able to spend time teaching kids basic manners, basic acceptable behaviors because they were just trying to survive. And the daycares who also help teach those things were largely closed. So the things we're seeing would just blow an average person's mind. It's almost like some kids have been running around for nearly 2 years without any parenting at all. They're feral.

It is getting better. After 3 months, they can finally walk in a line and we don't have as many meltdowns or fights.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am at a DCPS school and I will be leaving after this year. The expectations are unbearable. There is very little positive regard from admin.

I will be leaving DCPS at the end of the year as well. If I find a better opportunity mid-year, I will leave mid-year. Teaching is extremely stressful but even more so in a district that continually throws additional requirements on my plate without the training or **time** to get them done.

This seems to be a common issue that I hear about from teachers. What are the new requirements about?

I wonder sometimes how everyone's desire for more data (see: complaints about OSSE) conflicts with the fact that that it requires teachers/school staff to do more bureaucratic, time-consuming record-keeping.

I know there’s additional paperwork requirements for SPED teachers. We have kids with 12 hours of pull out instruction on IEPs and they literally get 0 because the SPED teacher is doing paperwork.

There’s additional testing called RCTs that are at least one per subject per quarter for ES. Someone (WTU?) send a survey and I think I counted 9 district required assessments for the first quarter.

The kids’ behavior is out of control and there’s nothing admin can or will do. They can’t be suspended (and that just makes our job of teaching them harder). Kids running around the school building, just walking out, wandering the room, calling teachers bruh, etc.

Kids a need significant emotional help and they aren’t getting it. We had five self harm threats in a week in one grade level.

Building security issues, staff don’t have keys, classrooms don’t have heat, we run out of drinking water, bathrooms don’t work, etc.

Are RCTs = randomized control trials? What is that? Are those teacher assessments or student assessments?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am at a DCPS school and I will be leaving after this year. The expectations are unbearable. There is very little positive regard from admin.

I will be leaving DCPS at the end of the year as well. If I find a better opportunity mid-year, I will leave mid-year. Teaching is extremely stressful but even more so in a district that continually throws additional requirements on my plate without the training or **time** to get them done.

This seems to be a common issue that I hear about from teachers. What are the new requirements about?

I wonder sometimes how everyone's desire for more data (see: complaints about OSSE) conflicts with the fact that that it requires teachers/school staff to do more bureaucratic, time-consuming record-keeping.

I know there’s additional paperwork requirements for SPED teachers. We have kids with 12 hours of pull out instruction on IEPs and they literally get 0 because the SPED teacher is doing paperwork.

There’s additional testing called RCTs that are at least one per subject per quarter for ES. Someone (WTU?) send a survey and I think I counted 9 district required assessments for the first quarter.

The kids’ behavior is out of control and there’s nothing admin can or will do. They can’t be suspended (and that just makes our job of teaching them harder). Kids running around the school building, just walking out, wandering the room, calling teachers bruh, etc.

Kids a need significant emotional help and they aren’t getting it. We had five self harm threats in a week in one grade level.

Building security issues, staff don’t have keys, classrooms don’t have heat, we run out of drinking water, bathrooms don’t work, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The teachers at my school are overwhelmed with how far behind the kids are because they missed so much school.

I also hear about there being more behavioral issues in ES classes (not from my kids' teachers -- from teacher friends).

Teachers created this mess by shutting down schools for so long and now they don't want to have to help clean it up.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am at a DCPS school and I will be leaving after this year. The expectations are unbearable. There is very little positive regard from admin.

I will be leaving DCPS at the end of the year as well. If I find a better opportunity mid-year, I will leave mid-year. Teaching is extremely stressful but even more so in a district that continually throws additional requirements on my plate without the training or **time** to get them done.

This seems to be a common issue that I hear about from teachers. What are the new requirements about?

I wonder sometimes how everyone's desire for more data (see: complaints about OSSE) conflicts with the fact that that it requires teachers/school staff to do more bureaucratic, time-consuming record-keeping.

Anonymous wrote:The teachers at my school are overwhelmed with how far behind the kids are because they missed so much school.

I also hear about there being more behavioral issues in ES classes (not from my kids' teachers -- from teacher friends).

The teachers at my school are overwhelmed with how far behind the kids are because they missed so much school.

Staff turnover has nothing to do with vaccine hesitancy. Because there are no consequences, as of yet, for not being vaccinated.
It’s because the job has always been hard and is now unbearable.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am at a DCPS school and I will be leaving after this year. The expectations are unbearable. There is very little positive regard from admin.

I will be leaving DCPS at the end of the year as well. If I find a better opportunity mid-year, I will leave mid-year. Teaching is extremely stressful but even more so in a district that continually throws additional requirements on my plate without the training or **time** to get them done.

Can you tell us more about them?

PS- I know of a wonderful MoCo private school currently looking for a middle school math teacher. FWIW.