Anonymous wrote:My HS kid’s grades are all fully updated. We are happy.

My kids' grades in both MS and HS are also all fully updated. Most of their teachers are very good about keeping grades updated. Essays in social studies and English take a few weeks to get updated, but that's understandable. Everything else usually is updated within 24 hours.

My HS kid’s grades are all fully updated. We are happy.

I didn’t go in at regular time because my kids had a two hour delay too.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which is why it makes no sense to not use 4 snow days and two late starts to get grading done.

This expectation is unreasonable for teachers who have small children at home. You have no idea what obligations are outside of time at school.

Many professionals have small kids at home and are expected to work on snow days or if there are delays. You sort it out, taking turns with your spouse, paying for childcare, calling grandparents, trading with neighbors, turning on TV as a babysitter, working early before the kids are awake, etc. If teachers want to be considered professionals then they should stop arguing that the same expectations don't apply to them.

Nobody is saying that other professions have it easier. And of course other professions face issues with childcare, work outside job hours, etc.

But the point here is a teacher’s job is actually designed in a way that requires off-hours to get essential tasks done. When people complain (legitimately) that grading takes a while, they should know why. We receive no time in our 40 work hours to do it. Many of us work 60 and still can’t get it all done.

That’s probably happening in other professions, and that’s also not okay. We shouldn’t be championing systems that require so much sacrifice from employees.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which is why it makes no sense to not use 4 snow days and two late starts to get grading done.

This expectation is unreasonable for teachers who have small children at home. You have no idea what obligations are outside of time at school.

Feeling defensive? There has never been an expectation from FCPS for ANY teacher, with or without children, to work during snow days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which is why it makes no sense to not use 4 snow days and two late starts to get grading done.

This expectation is unreasonable for teachers who have small children at home. You have no idea what obligations are outside of time at school.

Many professionals have small kids at home and are expected to work on snow days or if there are delays. You sort it out, taking turns with your spouse, paying for childcare, calling grandparents, trading with neighbors, turning on TV as a babysitter, working early before the kids are awake, etc. If teachers want to be considered professionals then they should stop arguing that the same expectations don't apply to them.

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Which is why it makes no sense to not use 4 snow days and two late starts to get grading done.

They weren’t being paid to work those days. Stop expecting teachers to be martyrs.

I’m a teacher and I completely agree that if they didn’t bring home paperwork or their laptop, then it would be incredibly difficult to grade.

But we were paid for those days, so it doesn’t necessarily count as grading on their own time. In the past 20 years, I’ve taken a few snow days off where I’ve done nothing, but it’s disingenuous to say that working during a snow day is equivalent to being a martyr.

But we aren’t paid on Saturdays or Sundays and many of us work weekends. And ultimately: it isn’t about contract hours anyway. It’s about a job that doesn’t give you any time for the major and necessary tasks (like grading and planning).

That’s why this thread exists and all the other ones like it. Teachers could grade in a timely manner if work hours were available for tasks like these. But when we are forcing teachers to choose between grading and their own families, we can’t fault teachers for their choices.

I would say its generally true that teachers need more grading time.
But in this particular month FCPS teachers were handed four full days and four additional hours (two two hour delays) of unimpeded time. There is no reason the vast majority of teachers couldn't have used some of that free time to catch up on behind work, like any other professional would.

I bet a lot of teachers , like me, went in at our usual time on the delay days and used those hours to do grading. Most of us do appreciate when we get a little extra time like that to get caught up but the bigger systemic issue that dogs us year after year is that a) grading is a major requirement of our job but b) with the amount of classes we teach and other duties and tasks dumped on us, there is actually not time to grade during our contract. That creates the issue of your kids going multiple weeks without grades input, which nobody wants.

Those 2-hour delays are great for getting extra work done (grading, photocopying, responding to emails). The school is quiet, so it’s easy to be productive.