Anonymous wrote:Since almost every student requires special services these days, maybe every teacher should be a special ed teacher. I think that's the only way to solve this given the way things are trending

Many people who got into teaching because they are interested in education were never thinking about special education. It is not every teacher’s strength or interest. You have to have a lot of patience for special education

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Anonymous wrote:Since almost every student requires special services these days, maybe every teacher should be a special ed teacher. I think that's the only way to solve this given the way things are trending

The few teachers I know who are dual certified don’t ever let admin know that fact[b]. They have zero desire to be moved into special ed.

I'm a MCPS admin - we have a report we can pull that lists all of the certifications of our staff members. I know I pull it every spring when it's hiring season and consider moving teachers to different grade levels.

Awesome but if you did that and expected gen ed teachers to switch to special ed, you’d run the risk of them quitting. Nobody I know would stay if that happened to them. There’s a good reason that special ed has such high vacancy rates.

Anonymous wrote:Since almost every student requires special services these days, maybe every teacher should be a special ed teacher. I think that's the only way to solve this given the way things are trending

This was tried in a midwestern city with ESL certification. They tried to force everyone to get that certificate so they wouldn't have to offer a separate teaching spot. It didn't work. I've thought about this, that states could require all those graduating with a teaching degree to also take the additional coursework for sped. Even if that happened, all that would actually happen for students with IEPs would be nothing. One human person cannot meet the needs of a gen ed room, the needs of students who speak other languages, the needs of students with IEPs, the needs of students in poverty, etc. It's just not possible. You can theoretically require those courses, but just because someone is certified doesn't mean they can apply what they know given the scope of classroom responsibilities.

I think the federal government needs to wake up, realize that probably quadruple the number of kids who currently have IEPs, need services. They need to pony up and provide billions of dollars in funding. The US needs to offer full ride scholarships for anyone willing to teach special ed, set strict limits on caseloads (ie, 12 kids total instead of 50-75), and limit the number of meetings, and limit the required paperwork. And laws need to be passed to offer sped teachers a 25-50% increase in pay over their gen ed peers. (I'm a gen ed teacher with sped certification who will NEVER be willing to teach sped)

Maaaaaaaybe then we'll attract people willing to teach it. Maybe. Of course this will never happen and students with special needs will suffer. Nothing is ever going to change.

Hi admin. The big question on everyone's mind is how yall get off Scott free with this negative culture of bullying staff

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Anonymous wrote:Since almost every student requires special services these days, maybe every teacher should be a special ed teacher. I think that's the only way to solve this given the way things are trending

The few teachers I know who are dual certified don’t ever let admin know that fact[b]. They have zero desire to be moved into special ed.

I'm a MCPS admin - we have a report we can pull that lists all of the certifications of our staff members. I know I pull it every spring when it's hiring season and consider moving teachers to different grade levels.

Anonymous wrote:Since almost every student requires special services these days, maybe every teacher should be a special ed teacher. I think that's the only way to solve this given the way things are trending

The few teachers I know who are dual certified don’t ever let admin know that fact. They have zero desire to be moved into special ed.

Since almost every student requires special services these days, maybe every teacher should be a special ed teacher. I think that's the only way to solve this given the way things are trending

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Anonymous wrote:I’m very curious how many employees in central office are certified teachers. Why are they not being sent back in the classrooms? PGCPS did this post pandemic.

They may be certified in the wrong subjects or the wrong levels. Someone with an ES cert can’t teach grades 7-12 or vice versa. An English cert won’t help if the vacancies are in math, science, and SPED.

Doesn't really matter...because anyone can teach outside of their cert for one year, so they absolutely could be bringing back central office employees to fill positions-they just don't want to.

Maybe because you shouldn’t force people who purposely left the classroom for another position to return to the classroom. Do you really want someone teaching your kids if they don’t want to be a teacher?

Plus, they probably don’t want to risk Central Office staff quitting rather than returning to the classroom.

Lol you sound like you work at Central.....who cares if central office staff start quitting? The majority of them arent doing much of anything all day ANYWAY...putting them in a classroom would require them to put forth some effort, so yeah, no wonder they dont want to.

No, I’m a classroom teacher and a parent. I don’t want colleagues who would rather be somewhere else (because then I have to pick up their slack) and I certainly don’t want someone responsible for my kids’ education who would rather not be in a classroom. In 2016, Central Office cut positions and people reluctantly returned to the classroom. Two ended up at my school. It was a disaster. Neither had taught in 10+ years. One called out regularly to use up years of saved sick leave. The other showed up in body only, but his mind was clearly elsewhere. I am very grateful those two weren’t in my children’s schools.

Don’t bother. People as dim as PP don’t and won’t get it. To them, it’s all about warm bodies and “punishing” people from central office. Luckily, people like PP have no power.

Lol, no one said anything about punishing anyone. DP btw and I work in a corporate job...if employees under our executives can't do their position or need to be out, you absolutely better believe people from the top down will help with their duties. Same thing with a district office...education is the priority, so if schools need people in there so students are ya know, educated, the top people from central need to get on the ground. Just like in the real world.

Not a PP but someone who works in corporate. I guarantee executive la are not jumping into help line staff or even managers when short staff. The extra work get picked up by line staff still around or doesn’t get done.

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Anonymous wrote:I’m very curious how many employees in central office are certified teachers. Why are they not being sent back in the classrooms? PGCPS did this post pandemic.

They may be certified in the wrong subjects or the wrong levels. Someone with an ES cert can’t teach grades 7-12 or vice versa. An English cert won’t help if the vacancies are in math, science, and SPED.

Doesn't really matter...because anyone can teach outside of their cert for one year, so they absolutely could be bringing back central office employees to fill positions-they just don't want to.

Maybe because you shouldn’t force people who purposely left the classroom for another position to return to the classroom. Do you really want someone teaching your kids if they don’t want to be a teacher?

Plus, they probably don’t want to risk Central Office staff quitting rather than returning to the classroom.

Lol you sound like you work at Central.....who cares if central office staff start quitting? The majority of them arent doing much of anything all day ANYWAY...putting them in a classroom would require them to put forth some effort, so yeah, no wonder they dont want to.

No, I’m a classroom teacher and a parent. I don’t want colleagues who would rather be somewhere else (because then I have to pick up their slack) and I certainly don’t want someone responsible for my kids’ education who would rather not be in a classroom. In 2016, Central Office cut positions and people reluctantly returned to the classroom. Two ended up at my school. It was a disaster. Neither had taught in 10+ years. One called out regularly to use up years of saved sick leave. The other showed up in body only, but his mind was clearly elsewhere. I am very grateful those two weren’t in my children’s schools.

Don’t bother. People as dim as PP don’t and won’t get it. To them, it’s all about warm bodies and “punishing” people from central office. Luckily, people like PP have no power.

Lol, no one said anything about punishing anyone. DP btw and I work in a corporate job...if employees under our executives can't do their position or need to be out, you absolutely better believe people from the top down will help with their duties. Same thing with a district office...education is the priority, so if schools need people in there so students are ya know, educated, the top people from central need to get on the ground. Just like in the real world.

Anonymous wrote:Mcps is repugnant in its treatment of special needs students

+1

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Anonymous wrote:I’m very curious how many employees in central office are certified teachers. Why are they not being sent back in the classrooms? PGCPS did this post pandemic.

They may be certified in the wrong subjects or the wrong levels. Someone with an ES cert can’t teach grades 7-12 or vice versa. An English cert won’t help if the vacancies are in math, science, and SPED.

Doesn't really matter...because anyone can teach outside of their cert for one year, so they absolutely could be bringing back central office employees to fill positions-they just don't want to.

Maybe because you shouldn’t force people who purposely left the classroom for another position to return to the classroom. Do you really want someone teaching your kids if they don’t want to be a teacher?

Plus, they probably don’t want to risk Central Office staff quitting rather than returning to the classroom.

Lol you sound like you work at Central.....who cares if central office staff start quitting? The majority of them arent doing much of anything all day ANYWAY...putting them in a classroom would require them to put forth some effort, so yeah, no wonder they dont want to.

No, I’m a classroom teacher and a parent. I don’t want colleagues who would rather be somewhere else (because then I have to pick up their slack) and I certainly don’t want someone responsible for my kids’ education who would rather not be in a classroom. In 2016, Central Office cut positions and people reluctantly returned to the classroom. Two ended up at my school. It was a disaster. Neither had taught in 10+ years. One called out regularly to use up years of saved sick leave. The other showed up in body only, but his mind was clearly elsewhere. I am very grateful those two weren’t in my children’s schools.

As a parent and former teacher, I'd rather have former teachers than a long term sub who hasnt been in a classroom before and is doing the job to make ends meet. I think you'd know better a classroom teacher.

Can you read?

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Anonymous wrote:I’m very curious how many employees in central office are certified teachers. Why are they not being sent back in the classrooms? PGCPS did this post pandemic.

They may be certified in the wrong subjects or the wrong levels. Someone with an ES cert can’t teach grades 7-12 or vice versa. An English cert won’t help if the vacancies are in math, science, and SPED.

Doesn't really matter...because anyone can teach outside of their cert for one year, so they absolutely could be bringing back central office employees to fill positions-they just don't want to.

Maybe because you shouldn’t force people who purposely left the classroom for another position to return to the classroom. Do you really want someone teaching your kids if they don’t want to be a teacher?

Plus, they probably don’t want to risk Central Office staff quitting rather than returning to the classroom.

Lol you sound like you work at Central.....who cares if central office staff start quitting? The majority of them arent doing much of anything all day ANYWAY...putting them in a classroom would require them to put forth some effort, so yeah, no wonder they dont want to.

No, I’m a classroom teacher and a parent. I don’t want colleagues who would rather be somewhere else (because then I have to pick up their slack) and I certainly don’t want someone responsible for my kids’ education who would rather not be in a classroom. In 2016, Central Office cut positions and people reluctantly returned to the classroom. Two ended up at my school. It was a disaster. Neither had taught in 10+ years. One called out regularly to use up years of saved sick leave. The other showed up in body only, but his mind was clearly elsewhere. I am very grateful those two weren’t in my children’s schools.

Don’t bother. People as dim as PP don’t and won’t get it. To them, it’s all about warm bodies and “punishing” people from central office. Luckily, people like PP have no power.

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Anonymous wrote:I’m very curious how many employees in central office are certified teachers. Why are they not being sent back in the classrooms? PGCPS did this post pandemic.

They may be certified in the wrong subjects or the wrong levels. Someone with an ES cert can’t teach grades 7-12 or vice versa. An English cert won’t help if the vacancies are in math, science, and SPED.

Doesn't really matter...because anyone can teach outside of their cert for one year, so they absolutely could be bringing back central office employees to fill positions-they just don't want to.

Maybe because you shouldn’t force people who purposely left the classroom for another position to return to the classroom. Do you really want someone teaching your kids if they don’t want to be a teacher?

Plus, they probably don’t want to risk Central Office staff quitting rather than returning to the classroom.

Lol you sound like you work at Central.....who cares if central office staff start quitting? The majority of them arent doing much of anything all day ANYWAY...putting them in a classroom would require them to put forth some effort, so yeah, no wonder they dont want to.

Not PP and no, I don’t work for “Central” either but your non-solutions are those at the critical thinking level of a middle school child. It’s not going to happen no matter how many times you stomp your foot. Join the adults in reality.

Anonymous wrote:I’m very curious how many employees in central office are certified teachers. Why are they not being sent back in the classrooms? PGCPS did this post pandemic.

Because they aren’t in the military. If they wanted to be classroom teachers, they’d have applied for those jobs.

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Anonymous wrote:Mcps is repugnant in its treatment of special needs students

I agree with this comment. It's particularly true for students who have special needs and enter the system as ESOL students. Their parents do not know their students' rights and these students' testing and potential placement are put on the back burner.

SpEd testing doesn’t usually happen until 3rd grade due to typical variance in student development.

Where on earth are you getting your logic from? I am an early childhood special educator and our department is growing exponentially every year. Below us, infants and toddlers is exploding. More and more children are being identified and evaluated for services earlier. Third grade is actually on the late side (and yes I have worked k-5 and seen that too)

NP here. At our ES, students are strongly discouraged from pursuing testing to determine IEP qualification until 3rd grade. This includes kids who received therapies from the Infants and Toddlers program.
"There won't be a discrepancy between their IQ and their grades until 3rd grade, so they won't qualify if we test now."
"Most kids catch up by 3rd grade, so let's see if your child is one of them and if not, we'll address your concerns then."
"We just don't see an issue at all. Your child is within the normal range. Please relax and it'll all work out."

Glad to hear that at your school, this nonsense wouldn't fly.

Very different at our ES. We got an ADHD diag in early 2nd and had a 504 by winter break.