There was a horrible teacher at my child's elementary school. She would belittle the students (2nd graders) and had horrible nicknames for them. Several of the students developed terrible anxiety problems and started medication. One year she didn't cover science and then gave each of the students a B in science. The principal's response was to demote her from 3rd grader to 2nd grade. She is still there and the principal denies there is a problem.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They technically do - they run out the good teachers with poor administration and not treating them well and keep the crappy ones.

So very true.
Why are those 70 something year olds still playing their dirty games in the office of teacher recruitment?
So many talented teachers apply to MCPS who never receive any call back for an interview, while classrooms get assigned people with 'emergency certifiations", peope with minimal or no experience in teaching.

A lot of people with emergency certification are part of partnership programs that MCPS has with local colleges. These people are often career-changers who may have limited experience in teaching, but more experience in working hard, collaborating with others and learning new things. They have gotten the most up-to-date education on teaching techniques and strategies, usually with a MAT (Master of Arts in Teaching). Not saying they won't need support in their first years of teaching, but just to clarify that emergency certification doesn't necessarily equal "possible loser with a pulse."

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:They technically do - they run out the good teachers with poor administration and not treating them well and keep the crappy ones.

So very true.
Why are those 70 something year olds still playing their dirty games in the office of teacher recruitment?
So many talented teachers apply to MCPS who never receive any call back for an interview, while classrooms get assigned people with 'emergency certifiations", peope with minimal or no experience in teaching.

Not often the case. Look at the HQ percentages for MCPS. All of the LTS in my building were former MCPS teachers or experienced teachers from other school systems.

Anonymous wrote:They technically do - they run out the good teachers with poor administration and not treating them well and keep the crappy ones.

So very true.
Why are those 70 something year olds still playing their dirty games in the office of teacher recruitment?
So many talented teachers apply to MCPS who never receive any call back for an interview, while classrooms get assigned people with 'emergency certifiations", peope with minimal or no experience in teaching.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The simple answer is that it is very difficult to get rid of a tenured teacher unless some misbehavior is suspected. I think a lot has to do with the teacher's relationship with the principal. We have a lousy teacher in our ES but she survives, and there have been complaints about her teaching levied for about 8 years. You'd have to pay me lots to teach in MCPS, and frankly, I am unimpressed with 2.0 and the new grading.

A teacher of 35 years said to a girl in front of a class of 30+ students, "How can your mother let you out of the house looking like that. You look like a hooker."

Just one of her more famous quotes this year.

I bet the teacher was right, though!

+1

I think it all the time. I just don't say it because 9 times out of 10, mom comes sashaying in dressed like a "working girl" herself.

It is VERY hard to be fired from MCPS - and I work for MCPS. If you have a strong principal who can work the system - they can put a teacher on PAR or push them out of the school. However, that doesn't get them fired. Even on PAR it can take years or not happen at all. And this is with complaints from teachers, family, etc. It's very frustrating as a teacher to watch an ineffective or completely ineffective teacher languish in the system.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The simple answer is that it is very difficult to get rid of a tenured teacher unless some misbehavior is suspected. I think a lot has to do with the teacher's relationship with the principal. We have a lousy teacher in our ES but she survives, and there have been complaints about her teaching levied for about 8 years. You'd have to pay me lots to teach in MCPS, and frankly, I am unimpressed with 2.0 and the new grading.

A teacher of 35 years said to a girl in front of a class of 30+ students, "How can your mother let you out of the house looking like that. You look like a hooker."

Just one of her more famous quotes this year.

I bet the teacher was right, though!

Anonymous wrote:Short answer: No. It is very hard to fire a teacher.

Long answer: the problem is administration. Weast pushed out the good administrators and "recruited" a bunch of "Yes-men" who would do whatever WEAST wanted (and Weast was a total moron). So what you have right now is a bunch of weak, spineless "leaders" in MCPS who cannot run a school or student body, and just spend their time out of the building at meetings, "trainings", checking in with their principal mentors and being totally oblivious to what is actually going on in their schools.

I am a teacher and I hate it. I see the teachers around me who are terrible at their job and should be kicked out, but the paper trail has to be long (talking years) and almost always the union protects these idiots.

I say - no tenure, no union. Period. I don't think we go to a merit pay system, but I think we find better ways to evaluate teachers. Bottom line, ask any teacher or student in a school who the worst three teachers in the building are, and they will all have pretty much the same answer. It is sad.

Go teach in a private school. You'll love knowing you can be fired at will, regardless of how effective your teaching is.

Anonymous wrote:
I say - no tenure, no union. Period. I don't think we go to a merit pay system, but I think we find better ways to evaluate teachers. Bottom line, ask any teacher or student in a school who the worst three teachers in the building are, and they will all have pretty much the same answer. It is sad.

You want the incompetent yes-people to be able to fire you at will?

Short answer: No. It is very hard to fire a teacher.

Long answer: the problem is administration. Weast pushed out the good administrators and "recruited" a bunch of "Yes-men" who would do whatever WEAST wanted (and Weast was a total moron). So what you have right now is a bunch of weak, spineless "leaders" in MCPS who cannot run a school or student body, and just spend their time out of the building at meetings, "trainings", checking in with their principal mentors and being totally oblivious to what is actually going on in their schools.

I am a teacher and I hate it. I see the teachers around me who are terrible at their job and should be kicked out, but the paper trail has to be long (talking years) and almost always the union protects these idiots.

I say - no tenure, no union. Period. I don't think we go to a merit pay system, but I think we find better ways to evaluate teachers. Bottom line, ask any teacher or student in a school who the worst three teachers in the building are, and they will all have pretty much the same answer. It is sad.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
How about teachers who:

*lose kids' assignments
*fail to grade kids' work
*enter NOTHING in Edline all quarter and then input 3-4 grades, all bad, with no explanation - and then cannot find the work when asked about it
*can't find a student's work so gives him 100%
*can't find a student's work so gives him a zero
*does not control the classroom at all such that it is mayhem all the time

I know a teacher like this. Some of us have been riding the administration about it for YEARS (multiple kids from same family have had the teacher). And they are "working on it."

Seriously?

So, the problem IS the administration, then. A good administrator knows how to either inspire a bad teacher to improve or inspire the teacher to leave (transfer, retire, quit, stc.)

I agree about a good administrator. But the problem is not just bad administration. The administration would not have to remove the bad teacher, if the teacher weren't bad. (Not the PP.)

No one who needs a job to pay the bills will be "inspired" to leave.

There are easier ways to earn a money than teaching. Even bad teaching requires more effort than many jobs thatactually pay better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
How about teachers who:

*lose kids' assignments
*fail to grade kids' work
*enter NOTHING in Edline all quarter and then input 3-4 grades, all bad, with no explanation - and then cannot find the work when asked about it
*can't find a student's work so gives him 100%
*can't find a student's work so gives him a zero
*does not control the classroom at all such that it is mayhem all the time

I know a teacher like this. Some of us have been riding the administration about it for YEARS (multiple kids from same family have had the teacher). And they are "working on it."

Seriously?

So, the problem IS the administration, then. A good administrator knows how to either inspire a bad teacher to improve or inspire the teacher to leave (transfer, retire, quit, stc.)

I agree about a good administrator. But the problem is not just bad administration. The administration would not have to remove the bad teacher, if the teacher weren't bad. (Not the PP.)

No one who needs a job to pay the bills will be "inspired" to leave.

Anonymous wrote:

The simple answer is that it is very difficult to get rid of a tenured teacher unless some misbehavior is suspected. I think a lot has to do with the teacher's relationship with the principal. We have a lousy teacher in our ES but she survives, and there have been complaints about her teaching levied for about 8 years. You'd have to pay me lots to teach in MCPS, and frankly, I am unimpressed with 2.0 and the new grading.

This is bad but why is everyone focusing on getting rid of the teachers? The principals, area superintendents, curriculum office staff, planning office and superintendent are the level of positions that should be held accountable and someone should be fired for all the failures. The teachers are not responsible for 2.0 or the new grading system. The teachers are not responsible for Algebra 2.0. The teachers were not the ones who let Joynes stay in the system.

Yes, there are some bad teachers but many teachers are just as fed up with MCPS.

b/c teachers are the first line of defense

Central Office folks are tied to the state and federal mandates. If you want to blame someone, blame the climbers who want to impress Arne.

We're all fucking pawns, folks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
How about teachers who:

*lose kids' assignments
*fail to grade kids' work
*enter NOTHING in Edline all quarter and then input 3-4 grades, all bad, with no explanation - and then cannot find the work when asked about it
*can't find a student's work so gives him 100%
*can't find a student's work so gives him a zero
*does not control the classroom at all such that it is mayhem all the time

I know a teacher like this. Some of us have been riding the administration about it for YEARS (multiple kids from same family have had the teacher). And they are "working on it."

Seriously?

So, the problem IS the administration, then. A good administrator knows how to either inspire a bad teacher to improve or inspire the teacher to leave (transfer, retire, quit, stc.)

I agree about a good administrator. But the problem is not just bad administration. The administration would not have to remove the bad teacher, if the teacher weren't bad. (Not the PP.)

Anonymous wrote:
How about teachers who:

*lose kids' assignments
*fail to grade kids' work
*enter NOTHING in Edline all quarter and then input 3-4 grades, all bad, with no explanation - and then cannot find the work when asked about it
*can't find a student's work so gives him 100%
*can't find a student's work so gives him a zero
*does not control the classroom at all such that it is mayhem all the time

I know a teacher like this. Some of us have been riding the administration about it for YEARS (multiple kids from same family have had the teacher). And they are "working on it."

Seriously?

So, the problem IS the administration, then. A good administrator knows how to either inspire a bad teacher to improve or inspire the teacher to leave (transfer, retire, quit, stc.)