Anonymous wrote:The teachers in our cluster have been wonderful. I know it’s hard, but I am an attorney and would love to switch over to teach (maybe part-time) for a few years before I retire. But not possible because of licensing.

actually, you CAN be hired with out a license. It's called a contingent license. A J.D. is an advanced degree, which could help, especially if you can claim any STEM background. Back in the day, most pre-law students I knew had pretty rigorous undergraduate course loads, including things like calculus and statistics. Depending on your situation, you might just have enough math/stem credits to pull it off. (Other fields, social studies, etc, don't have quite as high a demand as STEM). Anyways, usually mid summer school districts have the "we don't need no stinking license" cattle call to fill all the unfilled positions they couldn't find licensed teachers for.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are making a couple of pretty big assumptions. My experience as a classroom teacher is very different. No parent would sue? I’m not so sure about that, particularly in priviledged and litigious MoCo. But, even if they don’t sue, they will stir up trouble for the teacher because, after all, their precious snowflake deserves to have her/his phone at all times! Teachers already don’t have enough time to do their jobs. They don’t need an additional time-consuming fight with some idiot parent complaining about their kid’s loss-of-phone “trauma.” In addition, you assume the school administrators will back the teacher who took the phone. All I can say to that is....LOL! LMAO! The teacher would be thrown under the bus in a split second. MOST administrators just want to placate the parents. That’s how the principals curry favor and move up to central office positions where they rarely have to deal with parents, teachers, or students, but can mandate what goes on in schools. Nice work, if you can get it?. MCPS needs a district-wide policy banning the use of cell phones during instruction. But...that will never happen because the school system’s “leadership” lacks both vision and guts.

I agree, and I'm not sure why they haven't done it already. If phones are seen inside the classrooms, teachers should be able to take them away. It's a pretty easy no brainer. They can use them in the hallways or recess.

To be honest, as much as I don't like the excessive inequality in top private schools, I have to say that their discipline system works well. If they break the rules multiple times, they will eventually get kicked out.

Agree. Kids in my child's school can only have cell phones AFTER they leave lunch. They get an hour break and once they leave the lunch room, they can go to their lockers and check up on things, text parents update on pick-ups or sport game changes, etc... Then they go back in the locker before the period is over. You would think they would scarf thru lunch and go get their phones, but they don't. They have round tables of 10 kids (like a wedding) and they all eat, talk, laugh, etc.... Most go back after 30-40min for the last 20min or so. If NONE of them have it, none of them need it. Kids and teens don't realize they are subconsciously craving human interaction.

If they are caught with a phone first time is a detention. Second time is a week's detention, and third time is suspension and parent meeting. Oh, and detention is one hour BEFORE school starts, not after. So the kids need a ride from a parent. It works.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not saying there isn't a lot truth to this, but the union also has a real incentive to play up dissatisfaction as they start the CBA negotiations.

The turnover at my kid’s ES over the past five years has been unbelievable. Teachers do not feel supported by administration and are fed up with the useless initiatives constantly being pushed by Central Office.

I think there is much truth to it.

Ours too and we are in a pretty decent ES in Rockville, MD. Many teachers leave for less pay and go private. The big bucks are in the top private schools. 1 of my 4 kids went to a top 5 and the teachers are chilll, creative, involved, and it is amazing how they can shine. Class sitting out in the grass for a lesson on a nice day, sure? Extra field trips. Yup. Greenhouse to grow things. Absolutely. Want to learn math facts? Let's integrate that into a 4-square game. That one kid barely has screen time and they are in 6th. Meanwhile, I volunteer in my 2nd grader's classroom and they are all glued to screens for a large portion of the day. It is not the teachers. It is the environment. It is that for the most part parents aren't invested in their kid's education in public school. Many view it as childcare.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are making a couple of pretty big assumptions. My experience as a classroom teacher is very different. No parent would sue? I’m not so sure about that, particularly in priviledged and litigious MoCo. But, even if they don’t sue, they will stir up trouble for the teacher because, after all, their precious snowflake deserves to have her/his phone at all times! Teachers already don’t have enough time to do their jobs. They don’t need an additional time-consuming fight with some idiot parent complaining about their kid’s loss-of-phone “trauma.” In addition, you assume the school administrators will back the teacher who took the phone. All I can say to that is....LOL! LMAO! The teacher would be thrown under the bus in a split second. MOST administrators just want to placate the parents. That’s how the principals curry favor and move up to central office positions where they rarely have to deal with parents, teachers, or students, but can mandate what goes on in schools. Nice work, if you can get it?. MCPS needs a district-wide policy banning the use of cell phones during instruction. But...that will never happen because the school system’s “leadership” lacks both vision and guts.

I agree, and I'm not sure why they haven't done it already. If phones are seen inside the classrooms, teachers should be able to take them away. It's a pretty easy no brainer. They can use them in the hallways or recess.

To be honest, as much as I don't like the excessive inequality in top private schools, I have to say that their discipline system works well. If they break the rules multiple times, they will eventually get kicked out.

I teach ES and devices are banned, including smart watches. We have one student whose parents appealed, so he gets to keep his smart watch while that's worked out. But no cell phones--they stay in backpacks, turned off. If they are seen in class, they go to the office and the parent has to come pick it up. I don't understand why it's not possible to have the same policy in MS/HS.

MS/HS students aren't monitored and managed constantly like ES students. HS students have bigger pockets, wear hoodies all day, and carry their backpacks. There is no way to managed them keeping their phones put away. You have no idea how "critical" phones are to MS/HS students and their social lives. They are at the point that they will "die" if they can't constantly check their notifications. I'm in high school and I start class with a reminder every period to put phones into backpacks, and to take out airpods and earbuds. Of course, I have to go tap on the shoulder of about 4 or 5 kids who can't _hear_the instructions to take out their earbuds. I wasn't hired to be the cell phone police, and I have no interest in doing that. I'm not about to take $500 devices away from kids and then be responsible for the things.

Cell phones and social media addiction are stealing motivation from our students. Why do they need to learn anything, when they think they have all information at their fingertips and would rather just be entertained all day? Critical thinking? What's that? I am shocked and dismayed that my current average 11th grade high school students can't do tasks that my 8th grade students from 10 years ago had no problem with. The complete lack of intellectual curiosity is saddening. Teachers are considering leaving education not because of any one particular thing, but because there is a complete disconnect between current societal needs, current parent imaginings of what should and is happening in the schools, current disengagement in education by students, and a system designed in a different century for kids with different motivations and a society with different needs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You are making a couple of pretty big assumptions. My experience as a classroom teacher is very different. No parent would sue? I’m not so sure about that, particularly in priviledged and litigious MoCo. But, even if they don’t sue, they will stir up trouble for the teacher because, after all, their precious snowflake deserves to have her/his phone at all times! Teachers already don’t have enough time to do their jobs. They don’t need an additional time-consuming fight with some idiot parent complaining about their kid’s loss-of-phone “trauma.” In addition, you assume the school administrators will back the teacher who took the phone. All I can say to that is....LOL! LMAO! The teacher would be thrown under the bus in a split second. MOST administrators just want to placate the parents. That’s how the principals curry favor and move up to central office positions where they rarely have to deal with parents, teachers, or students, but can mandate what goes on in schools. Nice work, if you can get it?. MCPS needs a district-wide policy banning the use of cell phones during instruction. But...that will never happen because the school system’s “leadership” lacks both vision and guts.

I agree, and I'm not sure why they haven't done it already. If phones are seen inside the classrooms, teachers should be able to take them away. It's a pretty easy no brainer. They can use them in the hallways or recess.

To be honest, as much as I don't like the excessive inequality in top private schools, I have to say that their discipline system works well. If they break the rules multiple times, they will eventually get kicked out.

I teach ES and devices are banned, including smart watches. We have one student whose parents appealed, so he gets to keep his smart watch while that's worked out. But no cell phones--they stay in backpacks, turned off. If they are seen in class, they go to the office and the parent has to come pick it up. I don't understand why it's not possible to have the same policy in MS/HS.

Anonymous wrote:You are making a couple of pretty big assumptions. My experience as a classroom teacher is very different. No parent would sue? I’m not so sure about that, particularly in priviledged and litigious MoCo. But, even if they don’t sue, they will stir up trouble for the teacher because, after all, their precious snowflake deserves to have her/his phone at all times! Teachers already don’t have enough time to do their jobs. They don’t need an additional time-consuming fight with some idiot parent complaining about their kid’s loss-of-phone “trauma.” In addition, you assume the school administrators will back the teacher who took the phone. All I can say to that is....LOL! LMAO! The teacher would be thrown under the bus in a split second. MOST administrators just want to placate the parents. That’s how the principals curry favor and move up to central office positions where they rarely have to deal with parents, teachers, or students, but can mandate what goes on in schools. Nice work, if you can get it?. MCPS needs a district-wide policy banning the use of cell phones during instruction. But...that will never happen because the school system’s “leadership” lacks both vision and guts.

I agree, and I'm not sure why they haven't done it already. If phones are seen inside the classrooms, teachers should be able to take them away. It's a pretty easy no brainer. They can use them in the hallways or recess.

To be honest, as much as I don't like the excessive inequality in top private schools, I have to say that their discipline system works well. If they break the rules multiple times, they will eventually get kicked out.

My teacher friends have definitely said it's gotten worse since Smith has come on board.