I think what matters more than anything else is the school leadership (principal, counselors, APs). If they have set a good tone and are helpful to the teachers (instead of playing gotcha or seeing them as adversaries or seeing them as minions or being demanding) then it will be a good place to work. However, with the revolving door that DCPS seems to be, you don't always know what you're going to get. It also takes a special person to be a good principal in a difficult district like DCPS.

I feel like in the "suburbs" the principal quality matters less because the general culture of the schools and districts are already reasonable. Bad leadership is still awful, but at least the structures of the district could help keep the school on track. DCPS has insane district level drama.

Side note: I was one of the people who responded earlier. I worked at Dunbar. I knew going into it that Dunbar had issues, I just never imagined how bad they could be.

Folks, what suburb and what part of DC really makes a huge difference. How can it not? This needs updating but have a look. When you say upper NW schools are "like the suburbs" you do not mean PG county, do you?

http://apps.urban.org/features/ncdb/top-bottom/index.html#11/38.9167/-77.0251

Anonymous wrote:I taught in DC for two years and I'm now in APS. It was like going into battle everyday, very hard core behavior from the Pre-K kids to 6th grade. No money in the world could make me go back. What kids are doing in the classrooms, bathrooms and halls would BLOW your mind.

Can you guys say what schools you taught at, or at least where in the city?

I taught in DC for two years and I'm now in APS. It was like going into battle everyday, very hard core behavior from the Pre-K kids to 6th grade. No money in the world could make me go back. What kids are doing in the classrooms, bathrooms and halls would BLOW your mind.

FYI also, DC is also very stratified. The upper northwest DC schools are a lot like suburban schools, at least through middle school. and in some ways better.

Clipboard invasions are the opposite of mentoring, the opposite of PD, the opposite of everything. These kinds of evals vsn peer coaching, professional learning communities, honest conversations with supportive admin are why I've never looked back from leaving teaching. It's certainly not how I encouraged student growth

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:yikes. this makes me, uh, not want to send my kids to DCPS

I wonder where most posters have taught. Most of my child's teachers at our Ward 4 school have been excellent.

Sigh. It's not the teachers.

I also left DCPS because of the unannounced visits every two days to say "I gotcha". But I mostly left because there were kids being beat up or intimidated by the class bully and the young principal refused to do anything because he didn't want the young child of color to be criminalized. Although that young kid was punching other children, kicking, scratching, cursing, etc. multiple times a day in a daily basis. On one particular day this kid threw a chair and it hit another kid in the back. Fortunately, the other child was okay. But that incident was not documented and the students were used to the violence. Whenever I had parent volunteers the violent child was sent to another classroom to prevent parents from being concerned. Of course, when you teach first grade, the kids have a hard time advocating for themselves or really conveying to their parents the kind of drama that unfolds during the school day.

Anonymous wrote:yikes. this makes me, uh, not want to send my kids to DCPS

I wonder where most posters have taught. Most of my child's teachers at our Ward 4 school have been excellent.

yikes. this makes me, uh, not want to send my kids to DCPS

Those clipboard committees are coming to the burbs. Right now, our walk thrus are announced. However, it is only a matter of time before they start showing up like ninjas. I WANT that to happen. I can’t wait for the day they come and it’s a madhouse because our principal hasn’t spent days suspending the high flyers and grooming her pet teachers to look competent and caring.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did the opposite. I left DCPS for a neighboring suburb for sanity. No amount of money will entice me to go back to DCPS. That pay is definitely "hazard pay".

Which district are you in now? What are the pros an cons?

I'm in PGCPS now and I love it! The post about teachers developing PTSD while in DCPS is VERY true. I was pregnant my last year in DCPS, ended up having Pre-Eclampsia/Emergency C-section due to.....STRESS!
After I had my baby I knew there was no way I could teach in DCPS any longer. Things are much more better now although I am on blood pressure meds as my pressure never went back down after my pregnancy. PGCPS isn't perfect, but things just make sense here. You aren't always anxious about everything, and I don't need to hit up Aleros every afternoon for a drink. Again, no amount of money will ever make me want to go back to DCPS.

I'm 17:08 above. I don't know about you, but my stress dropped immediately when I stopped having to worry about surprise "gotcha" evaluations. I never understood how a surprise evaluation would help me grow. Being able to schedule them allows me to put my best foot forward and then hear suggestions on improvement. I also don't miss the clipboard committee that would come in from downtown or God knows where to observe out of the blue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I did the opposite. I left DCPS for a neighboring suburb for sanity. No amount of money will entice me to go back to DCPS. That pay is definitely "hazard pay".

Which district are you in now? What are the pros an cons?

I'm in PGCPS now and I love it! The post about teachers developing PTSD while in DCPS is VERY true. I was pregnant my last year in DCPS, ended up having Pre-Eclampsia/Emergency C-section due to.....STRESS!
After I had my baby I knew there was no way I could teach in DCPS any longer. Things are much more better now although I am on blood pressure meds as my pressure never went back down after my pregnancy. PGCPS isn't perfect, but things just make sense here. You aren't always anxious about everything, and I don't need to hit up Aleros every afternoon for a drink. Again, no amount of money will ever make me want to go back to DCPS.

XH did the opposite (DCPS to PGCPS) after several teachers at his school took mental health leave. The pay drop was neglible as he wasted less gas in traffic and was less stressed so drinking less and spending less on fast food dinners.

Anonymous wrote:I want to reiterate one point made that DCPS has a wide range of schools- moving to the District for the pay would be worth it if you worked at certain schools. What schools are you considering?

This. And whatever you do, don't take the mentality of "I'll just do a year at (crappy school) and transfer the following year. It won't happen. You'll burn out, get blackballed by your superiors, or find yourself impacted out. I know it sounds overly negative here, but I got sucked in trying to play devil's advocate. The worst decision I ever made was the decision to give it a year and see how it went.