Anonymous wrote:I have a very good friend who teaches in my district. She is *this* close to walking out. She's asking for help with an out of control class and it's unclear if she's going to get real support. She has kids who need social work support, kids who need to have someone come and take them out for a break each day, kids who need behavioral help. I don't think the district is going to help her. If they don't, I think all of us in primary are going to have to band together and tell our superintendent that if he doesn't start designating funds to support students and teachers in real time that we're all going to vote down our upcoming contract. I'm so over the "team" (ie, the sped teacher, the psych, the social worker, the principal) offering stupid suggestions or suggestions that no human can implement while working with an entire classroom. We need aides, the social worker to come in the room for 30 minutes a few times a week, and when we call the office saying it's an emergency, someone needs to come running down the hall instead of showing up 15 minutes later.

SO we’ll said. Catholic Charities was DCPS answer to covering increased mental health needs. I don’t know why, but they haven’t shown up yet. We need more aids to be follow troubled kids throughout the day, especially during unstructured times like recess. Help DCPS!!

Anonymous wrote:Hi! I am the sped teacher who quit in October. If you think anyone gets into special education to lie to parents I don’t know how to help you. Instead of fighting your special education teachers fight the administration to get to support their supposed to have to do the job they’re supposed to do

What are you doing now?

I have a very good friend who teaches in my district. She is *this* close to walking out. She's asking for help with an out of control class and it's unclear if she's going to get real support. She has kids who need social work support, kids who need to have someone come and take them out for a break each day, kids who need behavioral help. I don't think the district is going to help her. If they don't, I think all of us in primary are going to have to band together and tell our superintendent that if he doesn't start designating funds to support students and teachers in real time that we're all going to vote down our upcoming contract. I'm so over the "team" (ie, the sped teacher, the psych, the social worker, the principal) offering stupid suggestions or suggestions that no human can implement while working with an entire classroom. We need aides, the social worker to come in the room for 30 minutes a few times a week, and when we call the office saying it's an emergency, someone needs to come running down the hall instead of showing up 15 minutes later.

Hi! I am the sped teacher who quit in October. If you think anyone gets into special education to lie to parents I don’t know how to help you. Instead of fighting your special education teachers fight the administration to get to support their supposed to have to do the job they’re supposed to do

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

The cynicism here is unnecessary. Why would anyone ever go into the field of Special Education if they wanted to harm children? Perhaps this problem is bigger than you think...read and listen to the teachers on this thread.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

No it’s actually because DCPS won’t adequately fund sped teachers in the budget. They do it by numbers of kids not hours. So one teacher can have 15 kids and each of those kids have 10 hours. Those hours can be in and out of gen Ed. Across multiple grade levels. There is no way to meet those hours. DCPS doesn’t care and it puts teachers in a horrible situation that they can’t do it. It’s a funding issue

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

City council needs to enact a law that requires DCPS to share the schedule of exactly when and with whom kids are receiving IEP hours. None of this 10 hours out of the classroom time but you get 30 minutes in the classroom because there’s no one to service the hours. Wtf are “consult hours” where a SPED teacher can check off discussing with the teacher and call it hours met? Prove with a schedule you are meeting the hours.

you understand this type of demand requires more record-keeping on the part of SPED teachers, no? Which is upthread what SPED teachers are complaining about.

I'm not dismissing the problem, I'm just saying this solution would have some unintended consequences.

NP. I'm a former sped teacher. Our sped system is broken, and I honestly can't say who's to blame. I don't think anyone ever maliciously wanted me to lie about not meeting service hours. We didn't have enough teachers to meet the number of hours on the books. We started off with enough, but then they'd quit (rightfully so in many cases). Kids would get shuffled around, and we'd try to make it work. Then people called out, and we couldn't get subs in the building. Somebody had to cover the classes, and they genuinely tried to make sped teachers the last resort. Admins would even cover some of the classes.

Even when we were fully staffed, stuff would happen. Kids would miss school and throw the schedule out of whack. Sure, you build in make-up time but then you have 4-5 kids who need to be tested for eligibility and that's about 2 hours per kid to do the testing. Maybe you get sick and can't come in. Then some mandate comes in to get this shiny new document signed or call parents or do something that takes you away from the kids. God help you if some of them go into crisis mode and you're the only teacher they'll respond to (and not the counselors, social workers, or other support staff). And the icing on the cake...impromptu meetings to address issues, legitimate or not, regarding your student (IEPs, Eligibility, progress, due process). I did the best I could, but after five years it wasn't worth my mental health plus I had my own kid with an IEP to take care of at home because her teachers were struggling to help her for the same reasons.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

SPED parent here, and many of us do know. Teachers and SPED intervention specialists are constantly lying about my child's abilities to justify reducing services. It's a constant battle and my kid is very far behind peers.

I appreciate the teacher insight. Eliminating oversight or reporting feels like a constant union theme to reduce transparency into teacher performance and student outcomes. We need more funding and staff for SPED. Moving control to the SBOE (Robert White's proposed legislation) would be a de facto move to more control for the teacher union, and that's historically been a very bad move for all kids but especially SPED kids. This shows us that what teachers want (reduced reporting and transparency) is not in the best interest of children.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

City council needs to enact a law that requires DCPS to share the schedule of exactly when and with whom kids are receiving IEP hours. None of this 10 hours out of the classroom time but you get 30 minutes in the classroom because there’s no one to service the hours. Wtf are “consult hours” where a SPED teacher can check off discussing with the teacher and call it hours met? Prove with a schedule you are meeting the hours.

you understand this type of demand requires more record-keeping on the part of SPED teachers, no? Which is upthread what SPED teachers are complaining about.

I'm not dismissing the problem, I'm just saying this solution would have some unintended consequences.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

City council needs to enact a law that requires DCPS to share the schedule of exactly when and with whom kids are receiving IEP hours. None of this 10 hours out of the classroom time but you get 30 minutes in the classroom because there’s no one to service the hours. Wtf are “consult hours” where a SPED teacher can check off discussing with the teacher and call it hours met? Prove with a schedule you are meeting the hours.

Anonymous wrote:I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

The lying about sped is spot on. Not a sped teacher but sat in meetings where the admin and sped team lied about services. I don’t blame the sped teacher- the sped team has to follow the lead of the admin.

If DCPS parents only knew..

Anonymous wrote:

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.

Yawwwwwwnnnnn.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People are being extremely mean to teachers. What do you expect?

Only on DCUM.

Not even close.

I left in October and already posted on this thread.
For me the pandemic exacerbated problems that already existed in public education. I got in teaching because I love working with kids. Not because I love learning targets, useless data, and giving mandated assessments that don’t actually explain who the child is as a learner.

It’s been a slowly creeping evolution. However when all the kids returned this fall (I went back in December of 2020) I realized that there was nothing left of the job I loved.

Also, as an extra burden I taught sped. And the gulf between what we promised parents and what we actually had the supplies and resources to provide is huge. So I felt like I was daily left with 2 choices. 1. Lie to parents about what was happening 2. Work non stop to make myself not feel like a liar- even though my efforts never covered the Gap.

I took on a role as a well compensated nanny. I get to hang out with kids, explore, plan field trips and meet them where they are at. Oh, and we have a credit card for any activities we do. The irony is it’s what teaching should have been but never was.

Anonymous wrote:Mundo Verde has had 17 staff leave since the beginning of the school year. http://www.mundoverdepcs.org/sy2122-school-communications/2021/11/15/staffing-challenges

Oh wow - that’s both campuses right?