Anonymous wrote:The school board/democrats screwed with classroom management with all the woke restorative justice bs. It's impossible to discipline students now especially if they are lower income and/or brown.
Suspensions and expulsions are unheard of. Kids know there are no consequences too.

So yes, some of the issues are a direct result of the sb.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm a parent and what I'm hearing is that I think what we need to advocate for is to pare down what we expect from teachers so they can do the most important things well and have a sustainable job. SOme thoughts:

1. I honestly don't think the norm is that parents should be sending teachers emails with questions that require a response. Your kid can talk to the teacher about most issues. That should be the norm. I think administrators need to step in and create a policy that protects teachers on this rather than saying teachers need to respond in x time. I want principals to say their job is to protect teachers' instructional time and that it is beyond the scope of teachers' time to respond to every parent or kid's email. I just don't see how this is manageable and has the ability to spiral out of control (and also just invade teachers' minds while they are teaching).

2. I think ES could use more specialist teachers in more subjects. Science and social studies could become 'specials' taught by a teacher that teaches all grades like art and music teachers do freeing up general ES teachers to have more planning/grading/assessment time (and perhaps resource time to work with kids who need more support/meet IEP needs) and to focus just on language arts and math.

3. I think data on student learning can be really useful for teachers, but I think we underestimate how these can create pressure when they are built into accountability systems. There are so many things beyond the teachers' control that impact this.

4. I think there needs to be a clearer path up for people within the teaching field that keeps them teaching but rewards experience and gives them some more autonomy to do what they are good at and interested in. Maybe yearly cash bonuses for certain roles like mentoring new teachers, supporting long-term subs, being a parent liaison, data analysis, work with special ed students etc. Teachers can choose their PD to work towards these roles and be rewarded for specifically doing it. There's got to be some way of rewarding merit and taking on extras.

ES specialist should not be social studies and science.

The real need in ES is a specialist first for reading and then if they have funding then math. I think most if not all ES have reading specialists already.

How many adults say "I'm not good at math" ? How many ES teachers would say that?

If a teacher does not have math knowledge and confidence then they will spend less time teaching it and more time playing silly math games.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish our school board would drop all of the social and political stuff, and only focus kn the core school mission of literacy, math, science and academics/arts.

One of the gold standards for professional and social interactions is that you NEVER discuss politics, religion, sex or race with others who are not your intimate circle.

Our fcps has decided their mission is to put our poor teachers in a situation where they have to not only talk about, but promote and inject into their lessons, those hot button issues of politics, religion, sex and race every single day, whether they want to or not.

The school board knows these issues and themes are going be controversial. They know that no matter what position is taken, someone, somewhere is going to be offended, enraged, and activated.

Yet the school board makes incorporating hot button social issues into every facet of the curriculum and school culture their entire focus. Why on earth would the leadership do this to the teachers.

Imagine going into work every single day, knowing that your boss and company leadership are going to make you say things, do things and articulate positions that are 100% guaranteed to make one or many of your clients blow their top, send you angry emails, go to your supervisors, blast you online, or go to the media??

We are talking about people who went into their profession because they like to have reading time on the rug or do art projects. Who spend all summer finding interesting ways to talk about Shakespeare. Who are math geeks or history fanatics. Who are teaching because they want to coach football. Or who just want summer vacation and two weeks off at Christmas.

Yet every single day, they have to go to work knowing that our Gatehouse, superintendent and school board are hard at work on finding ways to incorporate the latest social fad or political controversy as The. Most. Important. focus of FCPS. Not literacy. Not math. Not life skills or trades.

What dread our teachers must have going into work, not knowing when or which day the leaders are going to decree from high the next fad social political idea that teachers are going to have to field, knowing that these idiotic decisions from leadership are going to get them yelled at by some parent, somewhere, who is very justifiably upset that their kids are being taught controversial things that have nothing to do with the subjects being taught, are not age appropriate and not what the teacher signed up to teach.

No one, no where, would be able to handle that constant work stress that teachers are having to manage thanks to our school board and old superintedent.

It is not surprising that many of them are quitting.

They aren't being allowed to do the job they were hired to do, and their bosses are regularly creating duties that are going to get the teachers yelled at.

You are clueless if you really think any of this has anything to do with teachers in Fairfax County quitting. Did the school board suddenly become radically different and radically "politically correct" just this year? Of course not.

The teacher shortage is a nationwide crisis, primarily caused by crazed parents who did nothing but complain about teachers and school closings during the pandemic. Teachers aren't paid enough anywhere in the country to put up will any of your bullshit.

+10000 No one is forced to say anything. That is ridiculous. I have been in FCPS for 12 years and I have never been mandated to discuss co teoversial topics or talk about sex or religion or whatever. The only minor change is we will be educating kids more this year about the new holidays in the calendar. That is just basic information, not teaching them religion.

The PO before this one is manufacturing controversy where none exists. My friends are leaving the profession because they are burned out, overworked, underpaid, besieged by endless parent emails and endless criticism and even when they work 80 hour weeks they are never done. I literally have never once heard a friend who left the profession in the past two years talk about the SB forcing controversial issues on anyone. Two of my closest friends retired earlier than planned because teaching online was exponentially more work and more stress. Two colleagues from last year both left to be stay at home parents with no intention ever to ever return to the classroom because they had come to hate it so much…micromanaged, constantly getting emails from parents about every little thing, never enough time, endless paperwork. The worst loss was one of our best SpEd teachers. Pay isn’t even the biggest issue. It’s that the job is 3x more work than it was 25 years ago, with no commensurate rise in satisfaction or recognition or compensation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I'm a parent and what I'm hearing is that I think what we need to advocate for is to pare down what we expect from teachers so they can do the most important things well and have a sustainable job. SOme thoughts:

1. I honestly don't think the norm is that parents should be sending teachers emails with questions that require a response. Your kid can talk to the teacher about most issues. That should be the norm. I think administrators need to step in and create a policy that protects teachers on this rather than saying teachers need to respond in x time. I want principals to say their job is to protect teachers' instructional time and that it is beyond the scope of teachers' time to respond to every parent or kid's email. I just don't see how this is manageable and has the ability to spiral out of control (and also just invade teachers' minds while they are teaching).

2. I think ES could use more specialist teachers in more subjects. Science and social studies could become 'specials' taught by a teacher that teaches all grades like art and music teachers do freeing up general ES teachers to have more planning/grading/assessment time (and perhaps resource time to work with kids who need more support/meet IEP needs) and to focus just on language arts and math.

3. I think data on student learning can be really useful for teachers, but I think we underestimate how these can create pressure when they are built into accountability systems. There are so many things beyond the teachers' control that impact this.

4. I think there needs to be a clearer path up for people within the teaching field that keeps them teaching but rewards experience and gives them some more autonomy to do what they are good at and interested in. Maybe yearly cash bonuses for certain roles like mentoring new teachers, supporting long-term subs, being a parent liaison, data analysis, work with special ed students etc. Teachers can choose their PD to work towards these roles and be rewarded for specifically doing it. There's got to be some way of rewarding merit and taking on extras.

ES specialist should not be social studies and science.

The real need in ES is a specialist first for reading and then if they have funding then math. I think most if not all ES have reading specialists already.

How many adults say "I'm not good at math" ? How many ES teachers would say that?

If a teacher does not have math knowledge and confidence then they will spend less time teaching it and more time playing silly math games.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone here actually gotten a teaching job through this program?

Anonymous wrote:

I'm a parent and what I'm hearing is that I think what we need to advocate for is to pare down what we expect from teachers so they can do the most important things well and have a sustainable job. SOme thoughts:

1. I honestly don't think the norm is that parents should be sending teachers emails with questions that require a response. Your kid can talk to the teacher about most issues. That should be the norm. I think administrators need to step in and create a policy that protects teachers on this rather than saying teachers need to respond in x time. I want principals to say their job is to protect teachers' instructional time and that it is beyond the scope of teachers' time to respond to every parent or kid's email. I just don't see how this is manageable and has the ability to spiral out of control (and also just invade teachers' minds while they are teaching).

2. I think ES could use more specialist teachers in more subjects. Science and social studies could become 'specials' taught by a teacher that teaches all grades like art and music teachers do freeing up general ES teachers to have more planning/grading/assessment time (and perhaps resource time to work with kids who need more support/meet IEP needs) and to focus just on language arts and math.

3. I think data on student learning can be really useful for teachers, but I think we underestimate how these can create pressure when they are built into accountability systems. There are so many things beyond the teachers' control that impact this.

4. I think there needs to be a clearer path up for people within the teaching field that keeps them teaching but rewards experience and gives them some more autonomy to do what they are good at and interested in. Maybe yearly cash bonuses for certain roles like mentoring new teachers, supporting long-term subs, being a parent liaison, data analysis, work with special ed students etc. Teachers can choose their PD to work towards these roles and be rewarded for specifically doing it. There's got to be some way of rewarding merit and taking on extras.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:500 teachers needed one week before school. FCPS will fill classrooms with unskilled workers who don’t know the subject they are hired to teach and pay them $48K/year instead of paying up for real teachers.

Pay is higher than that. My friend just received offer for job to teach early elementary for 64k.

Has your friend ever taught before? Does your friend have no more than a BS/BA degree in a field other than teaching? Is he/she doing this residency program?

She has taught PreK/K for over 8 years. Has BA and another advanced degree. She will not be doing the residency program. She has no plans to get a teaching certificate. I guess her pay is more tpyical for her degree and experience

Anonymous wrote:I just wish our school board would drop all of the social and political stuff, and only focus kn the core school mission of literacy, math, science and academics/arts.

One of the gold standards for professional and social interactions is that you NEVER discuss politics, religion, sex or race with others who are not your intimate circle.

Our fcps has decided their mission is to put our poor teachers in a situation where they have to not only talk about, but promote and inject into their lessons, those hot button issues of politics, religion, sex and race every single day, whether they want to or not.

The school board knows these issues and themes are going be controversial. They know that no matter what position is taken, someone, somewhere is going to be offended, enraged, and activated.

Yet the school board makes incorporating hot button social issues into every facet of the curriculum and school culture their entire focus. Why on earth would the leadership do this to the teachers.

Imagine going into work every single day, knowing that your boss and company leadership are going to make you say things, do things and articulate positions that are 100% guaranteed to make one or many of your clients blow their top, send you angry emails, go to your supervisors, blast you online, or go to the media??

We are talking about people who went into their profession because they like to have reading time on the rug or do art projects. Who spend all summer finding interesting ways to talk about Shakespeare. Who are math geeks or history fanatics. Who are teaching because they want to coach football. Or who just want summer vacation and two weeks off at Christmas.

Yet every single day, they have to go to work knowing that our Gatehouse, superintendent and school board are hard at work on finding ways to incorporate the latest social fad or political controversy as The. Most. Important. focus of FCPS. Not literacy. Not math. Not life skills or trades.

What dread our teachers must have going into work, not knowing when or which day the leaders are going to decree from high the next fad social political idea that teachers are going to have to field, knowing that these idiotic decisions from leadership are going to get them yelled at by some parent, somewhere, who is very justifiably upset that their kids are being taught controversial things that have nothing to do with the subjects being taught, are not age appropriate and not what the teacher signed up to teach.

No one, no where, would be able to handle that constant work stress that teachers are having to manage thanks to our school board and old superintedent.

It is not surprising that many of them are quitting.

They aren't being allowed to do the job they were hired to do, and their bosses are regularly creating duties that are going to get the teachers yelled at.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:11:51 is clearly not a teacher. Nothing in that post reflects the reality of teaching in FCPS. Just another poster using DCUM and public education to score political points:

+1 I hope people are on to these tactics.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish our school board would drop all of the social and political stuff, and only focus kn the core school mission of literacy, math, science and academics/arts.

One of the gold standards for professional and social interactions is that you NEVER discuss politics, religion, sex or race with others who are not your intimate circle.

Our fcps has decided their mission is to put our poor teachers in a situation where they have to not only talk about, but promote and inject into their lessons, those hot button issues of politics, religion, sex and race every single day, whether they want to or not.

The school board knows these issues and themes are going be controversial. They know that no matter what position is taken, someone, somewhere is going to be offended, enraged, and activated.

Yet the school board makes incorporating hot button social issues into every facet of the curriculum and school culture their entire focus. Why on earth would the leadership do this to the teachers.

Imagine going into work every single day, knowing that your boss and company leadership are going to make you say things, do things and articulate positions that are 100% guaranteed to make one or many of your clients blow their top, send you angry emails, go to your supervisors, blast you online, or go to the media??

We are talking about people who went into their profession because they like to have reading time on the rug or do art projects. Who spend all summer finding interesting ways to talk about Shakespeare. Who are math geeks or history fanatics. Who are teaching because they want to coach football. Or who just want summer vacation and two weeks off at Christmas.

Yet every single day, they have to go to work knowing that our Gatehouse, superintendent and school board are hard at work on finding ways to incorporate the latest social fad or political controversy as The. Most. Important. focus of FCPS. Not literacy. Not math. Not life skills or trades.

What dread our teachers must have going into work, not knowing when or which day the leaders are going to decree from high the next fad social political idea that teachers are going to have to field, knowing that these idiotic decisions from leadership are going to get them yelled at by some parent, somewhere, who is very justifiably upset that their kids are being taught controversial things that have nothing to do with the subjects being taught, are not age appropriate and not what the teacher signed up to teach.

No one, no where, would be able to handle that constant work stress that teachers are having to manage thanks to our school board and old superintedent.

It is not surprising that many of them are quitting.

They aren't being allowed to do the job they were hired to do, and their bosses are regularly creating duties that are going to get the teachers yelled at.

You are clueless if you really think any of this has anything to do with teachers in Fairfax County quitting. Did the school board suddenly become radically different and radically "politically correct" just this year? Of course not.

The teacher shortage is a nationwide crisis, primarily caused by crazed parents who did nothing but complain about teachers and school closings during the pandemic. Teachers aren't paid enough anywhere in the country to put up will any of your bullshit.

Sorry but that post was 100% correct.

Focusing on incorporating all this controversial stuff into the curriculum has riled up parents and made teaching an unpleasant profession.

If the teachers only had to focus on teaching the subject matter and academic skills, then their jobs would be much more pleasant and manageable. And the results coming out of the pandemic would be much brighter and better.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish our school board would drop all of the social and political stuff, and only focus kn the core school mission of literacy, math, science and academics/arts.

One of the gold standards for professional and social interactions is that you NEVER discuss politics, religion, sex or race with others who are not your intimate circle.

Our fcps has decided their mission is to put our poor teachers in a situation where they have to not only talk about, but promote and inject into their lessons, those hot button issues of politics, religion, sex and race every single day, whether they want to or not.

The school board knows these issues and themes are going be controversial. They know that no matter what position is taken, someone, somewhere is going to be offended, enraged, and activated.

Yet the school board makes incorporating hot button social issues into every facet of the curriculum and school culture their entire focus. Why on earth would the leadership do this to the teachers.

Imagine going into work every single day, knowing that your boss and company leadership are going to make you say things, do things and articulate positions that are 100% guaranteed to make one or many of your clients blow their top, send you angry emails, go to your supervisors, blast you online, or go to the media??

We are talking about people who went into their profession because they like to have reading time on the rug or do art projects. Who spend all summer finding interesting ways to talk about Shakespeare. Who are math geeks or history fanatics. Who are teaching because they want to coach football. Or who just want summer vacation and two weeks off at Christmas.

Yet every single day, they have to go to work knowing that our Gatehouse, superintendent and school board are hard at work on finding ways to incorporate the latest social fad or political controversy as The. Most. Important. focus of FCPS. Not literacy. Not math. Not life skills or trades.

What dread our teachers must have going into work, not knowing when or which day the leaders are going to decree from high the next fad social political idea that teachers are going to have to field, knowing that these idiotic decisions from leadership are going to get them yelled at by some parent, somewhere, who is very justifiably upset that their kids are being taught controversial things that have nothing to do with the subjects being taught, are not age appropriate and not what the teacher signed up to teach.

No one, no where, would be able to handle that constant work stress that teachers are having to manage thanks to our school board and old superintedent.

It is not surprising that many of them are quitting.

They aren't being allowed to do the job they were hired to do, and their bosses are regularly creating duties that are going to get the teachers yelled at.

You are clueless if you really think any of this has anything to do with teachers in Fairfax County quitting. Did the school board suddenly become radically different and radically "politically correct" just this year? Of course not.

The teacher shortage is a nationwide crisis, primarily caused by crazed parents who did nothing but complain about teachers and school closings during the pandemic. Teachers aren't paid enough anywhere in the country to put up will any of your bullshit.

+10000 No one is forced to say anything. That is ridiculous. I have been in FCPS for 12 years and I have never been mandated to discuss co teoversial topics or talk about sex or religion or whatever. The only minor change is we will be educating kids more this year about the new holidays in the calendar. That is just basic information, not teaching them religion.

The PO before this one is manufacturing controversy where none exists. My friends are leaving the profession because they are burned out, overworked, underpaid, besieged by endless parent emails and endless criticism and even when they work 80 hour weeks they are never done. I literally have never once heard a friend who left the profession in the past two years talk about the SB forcing controversial issues on anyone. Two of my closest friends retired earlier than planned because teaching online was exponentially more work and more stress. Two colleagues from last year both left to be stay at home parents with no intention ever to ever return to the classroom because they had come to hate it so much…micromanaged, constantly getting emails from parents about every little thing, never enough time, endless paperwork. The worst loss was one of our best SpEd teachers. Pay isn’t even the biggest issue. It’s that the job is 3x more work than it was 25 years ago, with no commensurate rise in satisfaction or recognition or compensation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I just wish our school board would drop all of the social and political stuff, and only focus kn the core school mission of literacy, math, science and academics/arts.

One of the gold standards for professional and social interactions is that you NEVER discuss politics, religion, sex or race with others who are not your intimate circle.

Our fcps has decided their mission is to put our poor teachers in a situation where they have to not only talk about, but promote and inject into their lessons, those hot button issues of politics, religion, sex and race every single day, whether they want to or not.

The school board knows these issues and themes are going be controversial. They know that no matter what position is taken, someone, somewhere is going to be offended, enraged, and activated.

Yet the school board makes incorporating hot button social issues into every facet of the curriculum and school culture their entire focus. Why on earth would the leadership do this to the teachers.

Imagine going into work every single day, knowing that your boss and company leadership are going to make you say things, do things and articulate positions that are 100% guaranteed to make one or many of your clients blow their top, send you angry emails, go to your supervisors, blast you online, or go to the media??

We are talking about people who went into their profession because they like to have reading time on the rug or do art projects. Who spend all summer finding interesting ways to talk about Shakespeare. Who are math geeks or history fanatics. Who are teaching because they want to coach football. Or who just want summer vacation and two weeks off at Christmas.

Yet every single day, they have to go to work knowing that our Gatehouse, superintendent and school board are hard at work on finding ways to incorporate the latest social fad or political controversy as The. Most. Important. focus of FCPS. Not literacy. Not math. Not life skills or trades.

What dread our teachers must have going into work, not knowing when or which day the leaders are going to decree from high the next fad social political idea that teachers are going to have to field, knowing that these idiotic decisions from leadership are going to get them yelled at by some parent, somewhere, who is very justifiably upset that their kids are being taught controversial things that have nothing to do with the subjects being taught, are not age appropriate and not what the teacher signed up to teach.

No one, no where, would be able to handle that constant work stress that teachers are having to manage thanks to our school board and old superintedent.

It is not surprising that many of them are quitting.

They aren't being allowed to do the job they were hired to do, and their bosses are regularly creating duties that are going to get the teachers yelled at.

You are clueless if you really think any of this has anything to do with teachers in Fairfax County quitting. Did the school board suddenly become radically different and radically "politically correct" just this year? Of course not.

The teacher shortage is a nationwide crisis, primarily caused by crazed parents who did nothing but complain about teachers and school closings during the pandemic. Teachers aren't paid enough anywhere in the country to put up will any of your bullshit.