Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a thought: make special education a 12 month position with additional supplemental pay!

Thats one way to ensure that no special ed teachers apply at MCPS. Even 11 months is risky. I don't think people outside of education realize how much work special ed is. "MY JOBS HARD TOO AND I DONT EVEN GET SUMMERS OFF! TEACHERS ARE JUST LAZY."

MCEA doesn't realize it either. I don't know why any MCPS special education teacher would join MCEA given how little support we've received over the past few years.

If the caseload for Special Education teachers is too burdensome, then prioritize hiring more Special Education teachers. Pay and benefits is one way of doing that. Paying for the Master’s in Special Education would be another.

If too much paperwork is the problem, then streamline the paperwork. Nothing in the IDEA requires the bureaucratic mess MCPS makes of the IEP process.

Not every Special Education teacher needs to teach during the summers but offer a higher pay grade and better benefits then perhaps MCPS could hire enough.

Finally, Dr. McKnight needs to repair the lack of confidence teaching staff have with her ability to lead. Teachers refused to go the extra mile as a middle finger to a school board and school system that ignored their vote of no confidence.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make special education a 12 month job that pays bank. Give them 6-8 weeks paid vacation staggered instead of 2 consecutive months. Have a floater teacher that covers vacations. Also have 2 co teachers in each class plus paras, then it’s smooth transition when vacation happens.

Part of the issue is there are so many more students that require special education today than even ten years ago that it's hard to meet the demand.

Then mcps will have to outsource

+1 And by outsourcing, MCPS should not think throwing a ridiculously low sum like $19 per hour with the burden of finding a provider on parents as an equitable solution. MCPS should hire the outsource and pay the market rate.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Make special education a 12 month job that pays bank. Give them 6-8 weeks paid vacation staggered instead of 2 consecutive months. Have a floater teacher that covers vacations. Also have 2 co teachers in each class plus paras, then it’s smooth transition when vacation happens.

Part of the issue is there are so many more students that require special education today than even ten years ago that it's hard to meet the demand.

Then mcps will have to outsource

Anonymous wrote:If only McKnight, weren't spending all our tax dollars on bocce and left some for special education!

LOL

If only McKnight, weren't spending all our tax dollars on bocce and left some for special education!

Anonymous wrote:Make special education a 12 month job that pays bank. Give them 6-8 weeks paid vacation staggered instead of 2 consecutive months. Have a floater teacher that covers vacations. Also have 2 co teachers in each class plus paras, then it’s smooth transition when vacation happens.

Part of the issue is there are so many more students that require special education today than even ten years ago that it's hard to meet the demand.

Make special education a 12 month job that pays bank. Give them 6-8 weeks paid vacation staggered instead of 2 consecutive months. Have a floater teacher that covers vacations. Also have 2 co teachers in each class plus paras, then it’s smooth transition when vacation happens.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a thought: make special education a 12 month position with additional supplemental pay!

Thats one way to ensure that no special ed teachers apply at MCPS. Even 11 months is risky. I don't think people outside of education realize how much work special ed is. "MY JOBS HARD TOO AND I DONT EVEN GET SUMMERS OFF! TEACHERS ARE JUST LAZY."

MCEA doesn't realize it either. I don't know why any MCPS special education teacher would join MCEA given how little support we've received over the past few years.

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a thought: make special education a 12 month position with additional supplemental pay!

Thats one way to ensure that no special ed teachers apply at MCPS. Even 11 months is risky. I don't think people outside of education realize how much work special ed is. "MY JOBS HARD TOO AND I DONT EVEN GET SUMMERS OFF! TEACHERS ARE JUST LAZY."

I'm a special educator and I agree. It would have to be an 11 month position though. 12 month is a different pay scale and vacation schedule that wouldn't work for classroom based teachers.
Also, I feel bad for the special educators that are already burned out because they will have to fill out more compensatory service paperwork for their caseloads from the summer. The paperwork is truly never ending.

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a thought: make special education a 12 month position with additional supplemental pay!

Here’s a thought: make special education a 12 month position with additional supplemental pay!

Also for those advocating teaching gen ed online and prioritizing ESY services: I agree in theory EXCEPT the pool of teachers isn't coming from the same place. Gen Ed summer school is being taught by GEN ED teachers. ESY is taught (or the services are provided) by SPECIAL ED teachers. In a Home School Model (inclusion) classroom, perhaps this would work. Most kids with ESY in home school model and pull-out intervention service hours on their IEP, but most of those interventions could be provided by gen ed teachers (although for instance in the school where I teach most ESY HSM kids need a phonics pull-out and Orton-Gillingham or Really Great Reading are the approved interventions...most gen ed teachers are not trained in those).

For non-home school model ESY programs though...these are mostly discrete programs (Learning for Independence, School Community Based, Autism Services, Extensions) and a gen ed teacher is not qualified to teach those (unless they have some previous experience with teaching the alternative learning curriculum and providing necessary behavioral supports to an classroom of students with autism and intellectual disabilities).

I agree that ESY is a federal right and that the county should provide it. The solution is to pay teachers enough money to make it hard/impossible to refuse picking up those jobs, and/or increase special ed teacher salaries and extend their contract to include ESY. If that means ending summer school programs for other students to fund that, then that is what MCPS should do.

And go ahead and come at me with complaining about that; yes other students need help/support but kids with goals in critical life skills who require ESY to receive any benefit from their academic program come fall (the fundamental qualification for ESY) should be at the front of the line in terms of priority.

Anonymous wrote:Why can’t they move Gen Ed summer school online and prioritize special Ed being in person? This is discrimination. A Gen Ed teacher is going to be much more helpful than a random neighborhood college kid getting paid $19/hour by special Ed parents scrambling at the last minute to find a new plan. And it’s not just for retention of content but also routine and being in a school environment around peers.

Few Gen Ed teachers are qualified or prepared to teach an SCB class. Additionally, they haven't been trained in MOIEP (online IEP system), aren't used to being the primary service providers for interventions/supports that are typically offered and required in ESY. Children in SCB often have goals in functional and critical life skills that require instruction gen ed teachers don't give. Not to mention the training to support augmentative communication devices, other assistive technology, and on and on. The fact that you think they could just walk into that position is a perfect example of how little parents often understand about the job of educators and the differences between what roles in education involve.

In the Fox article, MCPS said they are committed to providing Compensatory Services in the fall. That’s the same BS MCPS has been spewing for two years. They promise Compensatory Services when they don’t implement IEPs, then deny children services when parents advocate for the services. Students with disabilities still have not recovered from the pandemic learning losses and now they didn’t plan for summer Special Ed staff. Shameful.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Off on PTO today so able to catch up a bit. Went on the news last night…for the third time. Hoping MCPS leadership wises up soon. This situation is UNACCEPTABLE.

https://www.fox5dc.com/news/summer-school-staffing-problems-lead-to-virtual-learning-for-special-needs-students-in-montgomery-co

https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/topics/coronavirus/as-their-special-needs-children-fall-behind-these-parents-are-desperate-for-schools-to-reopen/2020/12/02/106b484f-84c7-4b86-9534-1c404ae3984a_video.html

https://wjla.com/news/local/parents-concerned-about-children-with-special-needs-mcps-lays-out-plan-for-fall

Good for you, OP. Thank you for fighting for all the kids.

+1000 Thank you for speaking up. Special Education has been treated as an afterthought by MCPS. If summer school is in person for general ed students then MCPS should have ESY as in person as well.

For parents who don’t have deep pockets for a lawyer, file a State Complaint with MSDE and submit the MCPS letter as documentation. MCPS has the responsibility to hire and provide service providers. They have a legal responsibility to honor the IEP, not circumvent the IEP with little notice for parents to seek Due Process or alternative arrangements. $19 per hour is a joke and isn’t based on the individual needs of the child. Clearly a violation that should be redressed and a State Compliant is free to file.