Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/ersc/employees/news/qa_about_cigna_medical_plans_in_2023.pdf

‘Never seen it this bad’: America faces catastrophic teacher shortage

Rural school districts in Texas are switching to four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff. Florida is asking veterans with no teaching background to enter classrooms. Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children.

The teacher shortage in America has hit crisis levels — and school officials everywhere are scrambling to ensure that, as students return to classrooms, someone will be there to educate them.


It ain't just MCPS.

We face this shortage because many. many teachers fo not view in person teaching unmasked in a classroom as a safe environment. Mask requirements in school would help, but we really need an indoor clean air push by the federal government. All classrooms should have improved ventilation and be transprent about it.

Anonymous wrote:https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/ersc/employees/news/qa_about_cigna_medical_plans_in_2023.pdf

‘Never seen it this bad’: America faces catastrophic teacher shortage

Rural school districts in Texas are switching to four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff. Florida is asking veterans with no teaching background to enter classrooms. Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children.

The teacher shortage in America has hit crisis levels — and school officials everywhere are scrambling to ensure that, as students return to classrooms, someone will be there to educate them.


It ain't just MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To all the teachers out there, how can parents be more helpful this upcoming school year?

Thank you so much for asking. Just having you ask means so much.

I know many teachers will offer advice especially for younger learner. I will add some advice that can be important for the middle school /high school student.

1. Get into a routine - Early to bed and early to rise - so that they are ¨in the groove¨ before school starts.

2. Discuss with your student the importance of putting the phone away when they are in class. Emphasize how the cell phone distracts them and makes it difficult to learn complicated concepts.

3. Get organized - Emphasize the importance of doing your homework every night (without your cell phone present). Due dates are there because it helps ¨chunk¨ the learning so that students learn at little bit every night. It is difficult /impossible to learn 2 months of material in 2 days.

4. Sit down with your student once a week to look at grades on Parent Vue. If they tell you they did the work but the teacher has not graded it yet, ask to look at their Canvas account. You will be able to see if they submitted it because the time stamp will show up.

Please remember, we are all a team - teacher, families, and students. We work together. We know you are doing your best for your student. We are doing our best too. Together we can be an effective force to help our students succeed.

We look daily on their accounts. But, as a teacher if a parent emails please respond in 48 hours.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/ersc/employees/news/qa_about_cigna_medical_plans_in_2023.pdf

‘Never seen it this bad’: America faces catastrophic teacher shortage

Rural school districts in Texas are switching to four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff. Florida is asking veterans with no teaching background to enter classrooms. Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children.

The teacher shortage in America has hit crisis levels — and school officials everywhere are scrambling to ensure that, as students return to classrooms, someone will be there to educate them.


It ain't just MCPS.

But the higher-ups did make it worse. MCPS has a leader with two MCEA no confidence votes against her. How long do you think that will last?

Anonymous wrote:Re: the support staff shortage. I applied for several para positions only to be told by HR I'm not qualified. I'm a MCPS substitute teacher and have a MA in English. Really?!
I will be contacting the schools with open positions individually.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We need to know why we have a shortage before we can even begin to fix the problem.

Is there legit data?

Blaming retirement and typical turnover isn’t a good answer; that’s something that happens each year and schools should be able to plan to increase the pipeline years in advance.

Are neighboring districts more attractive? Better pay/benefits? Better cost of living? More desirable for other reasons? Are shifting demographics and behavior issues playing a role? Poor leadership at the school? Frustrating curriculum?

I’m not a teacher, but I have a few kids in mcps (plus a fairly recent mcps grad). I’m also essentially a lifelong MoCo resident. Full disclosure: I attended private schools. My day job entails policy work and I am intimately familiar with the County’s budget woes which have been dramatically impacted by shifting demographics—primarily the affluent tax base retiring, dying, or opting for VA while our immigrant and 1st Gen population grows. MoCo doesn’t have money to boost teacher pay, and mcps simply isn’t the most desirable employer in the region the way it was 20+ years ago.

I hope the county realizes this and takes action.

Fun fact: the perception of bad schools impacts housing.

The county has plenty of money for their pet projects. I'm sure if someone did a real audit they could cut out a lot of wasteful spending and find the money for teacher pay raises and school repairs.

So, SO true. The money is there. MCPS just spends the money on useless initiatives and random other expenses that don’t directly benefit students. No oversight, despite the ginormous budget, so MCPS can spend taxpayer money any way it wants without any accountability.

I left county long ago but gave 30 years of money to them as a resident. The issue that is central is an inspector general specifically for MCPS. Until that happens you are simply going to continue seeing hookups.

+1 Central Office employees make top dollar and even received an extra week of vacation last year. Very little vacancies there.

Teacher and support staff wages aren’t even keeping up with inflation and the cost of living in Montgomery County. It’s simple economics why school staff positions are not being filled. The salary doesn’t attract college students to these fields and those college students that choose education are attracted to areas where they can work and live.

MCPS school-based staff here - I often think of the movie poster for Sandra Bullock's Bird Box with her in a blindfold every time I think about some staff members at central office. The constant attempt to just throw stuff at the wall and see if it sticks without actually getting in the trenches at schools is mind-blowing to me. I'm not naive, I know that they have heard that schools are a train wreck right now but you rarely ever see them step foot in a school building. You need to be visiting classrooms constantly to create effective plans for school improvement and curriculum implementation. Our teachers are drowning right now with low morale, lack of subs, crappy Benchmark and kids in so much crisis.

Anonymous wrote:https://www2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/departments/ersc/employees/news/qa_about_cigna_medical_plans_in_2023.pdf

‘Never seen it this bad’: America faces catastrophic teacher shortage

Rural school districts in Texas are switching to four-day weeks this fall due to lack of staff. Florida is asking veterans with no teaching background to enter classrooms. Arizona is allowing college students to step in and instruct children.

The teacher shortage in America has hit crisis levels — and school officials everywhere are scrambling to ensure that, as students return to classrooms, someone will be there to educate them.


It ain't just MCPS.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To all the teachers out there, how can parents be more helpful this upcoming school year?

Thank you so much for asking. Just having you ask means so much.

I know many teachers will offer advice especially for younger learner. I will add some advice that can be important for the middle school /high school student.

1. Get into a routine - Early to bed and early to rise - so that they are ¨in the groove¨ before school starts.

2. Discuss with your student the importance of putting the phone away when they are in class. Emphasize how the cell phone distracts them and makes it difficult to learn complicated concepts.

3. Get organized - Emphasize the importance of doing your homework every night (without your cell phone present). Due dates are there because it helps ¨chunk¨ the learning so that students learn at little bit every night. It is difficult /impossible to learn 2 months of material in 2 days.

4. Sit down with your student once a week to look at grades on Parent Vue. If they tell you they did the work but the teacher has not graded it yet, ask to look at their Canvas account. You will be able to see if they submitted it because the time stamp will show up.

Please remember, we are all a team - teacher, families, and students. We work together. We know you are doing your best for your student. We are doing our best too. Together we can be an effective force to help our students succeed.

We look daily on their accounts. But, as a teacher if a parent emails please respond in 48 hours.

Absolutely! Teachers need to respond in 48 hours, if not 1 business day, so that families have the information they need to support their children.

Please keep the suggestions going for what teachers can do to keep up their end of the bargain. With so many changes in technology, it is important to revisit what everyone can do to help. Thank you for the suggestion.

I answer emails during my planning period. I had no more than one planning period per week from Christmas until June. Teachers aren't being lazy. They are stretched way too thin.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To all the teachers out there, how can parents be more helpful this upcoming school year?

Thank you so much for asking. Just having you ask means so much.

I know many teachers will offer advice especially for younger learner. I will add some advice that can be important for the middle school /high school student.

1. Get into a routine - Early to bed and early to rise - so that they are ¨in the groove¨ before school starts.

2. Discuss with your student the importance of putting the phone away when they are in class. Emphasize how the cell phone distracts them and makes it difficult to learn complicated concepts.

3. Get organized - Emphasize the importance of doing your homework every night (without your cell phone present). Due dates are there because it helps ¨chunk¨ the learning so that students learn at little bit every night. It is difficult /impossible to learn 2 months of material in 2 days.

4. Sit down with your student once a week to look at grades on Parent Vue. If they tell you they did the work but the teacher has not graded it yet, ask to look at their Canvas account. You will be able to see if they submitted it because the time stamp will show up.

Please remember, we are all a team - teacher, families, and students. We work together. We know you are doing your best for your student. We are doing our best too. Together we can be an effective force to help our students succeed.

We look daily on their accounts. But, as a teacher if a parent emails please respond in 48 hours.

Absolutely! Teachers need to respond in 48 hours, if not 1 business day, so that families have the information they need to support their children.

Please keep the suggestions going for what teachers can do to keep up their end of the bargain. With so many changes in technology, it is important to revisit what everyone can do to help. Thank you for the suggestion.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To all the teachers out there, how can parents be more helpful this upcoming school year?

Thank you so much for asking. Just having you ask means so much.

I know many teachers will offer advice especially for younger learner. I will add some advice that can be important for the middle school /high school student.

1. Get into a routine - Early to bed and early to rise - so that they are ¨in the groove¨ before school starts.

2. Discuss with your student the importance of putting the phone away when they are in class. Emphasize how the cell phone distracts them and makes it difficult to learn complicated concepts.

3. Get organized - Emphasize the importance of doing your homework every night (without your cell phone present). Due dates are there because it helps ¨chunk¨ the learning so that students learn at little bit every night. It is difficult /impossible to learn 2 months of material in 2 days.

4. Sit down with your student once a week to look at grades on Parent Vue. If they tell you they did the work but the teacher has not graded it yet, ask to look at their Canvas account. You will be able to see if they submitted it because the time stamp will show up.

Please remember, we are all a team - teacher, families, and students. We work together. We know you are doing your best for your student. We are doing our best too. Together we can be an effective force to help our students succeed.

We look daily on their accounts. But, as a teacher if a parent emails please respond in 48 hours.