Anonymous wrote:This is confusing because I am a DCUM reader and from DCUM I have learned that only charter schools have high teacher turnover. So confusing...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was a constant frustration throughout the DCPS years. Teachers maxed out their benefits and planned to take leave during the school year. I understand that its a hard job, but when you have the summer off and your wife gives birth in July, I find it pretty frustrating that you plan to take paternity leave February-May during the school year . its very disruptive to the class and shows a clear lack of empathy for their students. This is what makes parents want to cut benefits of teachers and hate the union.

Wow. I don’t know where to begin with your post.

If teachers are so integral to the students’ experience, you’d think we’d respect them more.

You have NO IDEA what that family was enduring, and you also have absolutely no right to this information. Teachers are allowed to take care of their own needs and to put their families first… you know, kind of like you get to.

And I am so sick of hearing “summers off.” They are UNPAID summers and many of us have to scramble for extra work. Many of us also attend training (on our own dime) and prep for the next school year (unpaid). And if it’s such a good deal, why aren’t you teaching? For all the DCUM posters who go on and on and on about how great of a benefit it is, I can’t figure out why we have a teacher shortage. Why aren’t you joining us?

Perhaps you don’t want to be treated with the same disrespect you dish out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My Deal eighth-grader now has three teachers out on leave, and another who talks incessantly to her students about how she's about to get fired (the principal apparently spends a lot of time observing her in the classroom, according to my kid). And often, they can't find substitutes so either they basically do nothing under the watch of an aide or a teacher from another team who is drafted into duty. My kid has never finished the year with the same science teacher in their three years at Deal: sixth grade, the teacher quit about two days before school began; seventh grade, the teacher quit right after school began; eighth grade, the teacher basically stopped grading all assignments -- resulting in all of her students getting horrid report-card grades until the prinicpal had to intervene -- and now is on leave.

I realize that teachers will need leave for dire circumstances, but it just seems like there's no coordination or planning for it.

I’m not at Deal, but to me this sounds like teacher burnout more than uncoordinated leave.

Teaching isn’t what it used to be, and people aren’t putting up with the poor working conditions anymore.

This x1000.

Whenever teachers "complain" online, there's always someone who says "then quit." Well, that's what they're doing.
I taught for almost ten years until it became unbearable. Parents, kids, bureaucrats. I couldn't take it anymore. I went back to corporate life, and even when I have to work 60-70 hour weeks with stakeholders from hell, it's still more pleasant than what I experienced as a teacher.

I don't blame anyone for taking advantage of any relief available to them until they can find something else. Getting out of teaching is extremely difficult, especially for those who went into it straight out of college.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Plan for it?” You’re joking, right? Do you think there is some stable of highly qualified teachers out there waiting to step in when someone gets sick, has jury duty, turns out to be incompetent…?

Welcome to the teaching shortage crisis.

As a teacher I think "teacher shortage" implies there are not enough teachers. There are many qualified teachers out there. The statement is partly true but not truly reflective of the situation because there are plenty of qualified teachers in this country, many are choosing NOT to teach for various reasons.

If it was stated that there was a doctor shortage then what would you think? Not enough qualified doctors or plenty of doctors but just not wanting to do the job.

Teaching is a demanding job. Paying teachers more is a start, but it is the respect and time for planning and recovery. I spend about 30 - 60 minutes on emails every day. Surely this was not what was happening 20 years ago.

Anonymous wrote:“Plan for it?” You’re joking, right? Do you think there is some stable of highly qualified teachers out there waiting to step in when someone gets sick, has jury duty, turns out to be incompetent…?

Welcome to the teaching shortage crisis.

Anonymous wrote:My Deal eighth-grader now has three teachers out on leave, and another who talks incessantly to her students about how she's about to get fired (the principal apparently spends a lot of time observing her in the classroom, according to my kid). And often, they can't find substitutes so either they basically do nothing under the watch of an aide or a teacher from another team who is drafted into duty. My kid has never finished the year with the same science teacher in their three years at Deal: sixth grade, the teacher quit about two days before school began; seventh grade, the teacher quit right after school began; eighth grade, the teacher basically stopped grading all assignments -- resulting in all of her students getting horrid report-card grades until the prinicpal had to intervene -- and now is on leave.

I realize that teachers will need leave for dire circumstances, but it just seems like there's no coordination or planning for it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paternity leave is a feminist issue. Let’s support that as much as possible.

OP, in sixth grade your student had a teacher that was different than expected. That’s not the same as the teacher leaving in a disruptive way while the school year is underway. The next year, it sounds like the teacher left shortly after the school year began, so again that isn’t terribly disruptive.

You have no idea how disruptive it was, so I'm not sure why you're even commenting here. They had to disperse all these students to already overcrowded classrooms elsewhere, and in one of the years, dispersed them again mid-year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Paternity leave is a feminist issue. Let’s support that as much as possible.

OP, in sixth grade your student had a teacher that was different than expected. That’s not the same as the teacher leaving in a disruptive way while the school year is underway. The next year, it sounds like the teacher left shortly after the school year began, so again that isn’t terribly disruptive.

You have no idea how disruptive it was, so I'm not sure why you're even commenting here. They had to disperse all these students to already overcrowded classrooms elsewhere, and in one of the years, dispersed them again mid-year.

Anonymous wrote:Paternity leave is a feminist issue. Let’s support that as much as possible.

OP, in sixth grade your student had a teacher that was different than expected. That’s not the same as the teacher leaving in a disruptive way while the school year is underway. The next year, it sounds like the teacher left shortly after the school year began, so again that isn’t terribly disruptive.

Anonymous wrote:Paternity leave is a feminist issue. Let’s support that as much as possible.

OP, in sixth grade your student had a teacher that was different than expected. That’s not the same as the teacher leaving in a disruptive way while the school year is underway. The next year, it sounds like the teacher left shortly after the school year began, so again that isn’t terribly disruptive.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was a constant frustration throughout the DCPS years. Teachers maxed out their benefits and planned to take leave during the school year. I understand that its a hard job, but when you have the summer off and your wife gives birth in July, I find it pretty frustrating that you plan to take paternity leave February-May during the school year . its very disruptive to the class and shows a clear lack of empathy for their students. This is what makes parents want to cut benefits of teachers and hate the union.

Wow. I don’t know where to begin with your post.

If teachers are so integral to the students’ experience, you’d think we’d respect them more.

You have NO IDEA what that family was enduring, and you also have absolutely no right to this information. Teachers are allowed to take care of their own needs and to put their families first… you know, kind of like you get to.

And I am so sick of hearing “summers off.” They are UNPAID summers and many of us have to scramble for extra work. Many of us also attend training (on our own dime) and prep for the next school year (unpaid). And if it’s such a good deal, why aren’t you teaching? For all the DCUM posters who go on and on and on about how great of a benefit it is, I can’t figure out why we have a teacher shortage. Why aren’t you joining us?

I’m not joining you because I made different career decisions a long time ago and it did not involve a school year schedule where young vulnerable students are counting on me to be in the classroom for a 9 month stretch.. Each fall a teacher signs a contract committing to be in the classroom for a 9 month school year. If you can’t make that commitment do something else that year. I’d be open to providing a lump sum to a dad cover 4 weeks of child care but I think its abuse of the benefit to take multiple months of paternity leave in the middle of the school year many months after the birth. Let’s all remember that mothers get maternity leave for physical reasons. Paternity leave is there if you need to bond with your child or help the mother with an infant - it’s not to offset the cost of daycare (which is going to go on for years!).

Perhaps you don’t want to be treated with the same disrespect you dish out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This was a constant frustration throughout the DCPS years. Teachers maxed out their benefits and planned to take leave during the school year. I understand that its a hard job, but when you have the summer off and your wife gives birth in July, I find it pretty frustrating that you plan to take paternity leave February-May during the school year . its very disruptive to the class and shows a clear lack of empathy for their students. This is what makes parents want to cut benefits of teachers and hate the union.

Wow. I don’t know where to begin with your post.

If teachers are so integral to the students’ experience, you’d think we’d respect them more.

You have NO IDEA what that family was enduring, and you also have absolutely no right to this information. Teachers are allowed to take care of their own needs and to put their families first… you know, kind of like you get to.

And I am so sick of hearing “summers off.” They are UNPAID summers and many of us have to scramble for extra work. Many of us also attend training (on our own dime) and prep for the next school year (unpaid). And if it’s such a good deal, why aren’t you teaching? For all the DCUM posters who go on and on and on about how great of a benefit it is, I can’t figure out why we have a teacher shortage. Why aren’t you joining us?

I’m not joining you because I made different career decisions a long time ago and it did not involve a school year schedule where young vulnerable students are counting on me to be in the classroom for a 9 month stretch.. Each fall a teacher signs a contract committing to be in the classroom for a 9 month school year. If you can’t make that commitment do something else that year. I’d be open to providing a lump sum to a dad cover 4 weeks of child care but I think its abuse of the benefit to take multiple months of paternity leave in the middle of the school year many months after the birth. Let’s all remember that mothers get maternity leave for physical reasons. Paternity leave is there if you need to bond with your child or help the mother with an infant - it’s not to offset the cost of daycare (which is going to go on for years!).

Perhaps you don’t want to be treated with the same disrespect you dish out.