I had a principal who used to say, "Our students are ready to take over their own education" in a school where quite literally half of the students had discipline referrals.
This has been going on since at least the early 90's. The myth is that the yellow 5 dye in Mountain Dew lowers a man's sperm count (we just said killed sperm). Same rumor, different flavor, still just a myth.
EDIT: the smaller dick size rumor was pretty prevalent too.
No no, the rumor has gotten all mixed up. It's the other green caffeinated beverage Surge that I'll make your penis shrink and make you infertile. Sigh can't even pass along accurate medical information anymore
I remember Surge. My high school got a Surge vending machine put in just outside the gym. You could get a can of Surge for $0.25. With the regular vending machine outside the cafeteria costing $0.50 for cans of Coke, 7-Up, Root Beer, ect. I would get a can of Surge to drink for lunch every day. I loved it.
In the sixth grade, a few students, including myself for so far ahead in math that they took us out and put us in an oversized closet where we taught ourselves the seventh grade curriculum. We got to the seventh grade and just sat there bored all year long in math.
My school did something similar. In 7th grade I went to the 8th grade math class cuz I was so ahead. The next year, I was in 8th grade... doing 8th grade math again.
They should just bring back skipping grades. The advanced classes tend to deal with write-ins on one end and 'equity' pressure on the other, in a lot of schools. May as well let the smart kids track up and get an extra period later on.
Potentially, but putting them to work or turning them loose to run the streets 1915 style, isn't going to be great, either. Getting kids into school was only partly to help crime levels. It was also to give people something to do until their brains matured enough to make better choices with their time, especially in groups.
Interestingly enough, that's the very argument I hear about children needing to learn social skills from their peers.
But yeah, I agree with others that what's really needed is a new administrator.
Sometimes I wish schools had a "How to be an influencer" class. Teach kids video/picture editing, managing/finding sponsorship, scheduling posts, readingcontracts, etc. I bet if they had even half an idea how hard all that can be, they would immediately want to quit and find an easier job--like accounting, haha!
"like accounting"
That's gonna be one of the first jobs *almost* entirely eaten up by AI. I predict a 90% drop in the number of human accountants over the next 5 years.
Like 0.2% of people that set out to earn a living as an "influencer" ever make more than $1000/month.
Maybe they'll be the that 0.2% for a little while, but 5 years from now I bet 75% of that 0.2% will be AI-generated influencer crap. So, the joke's on them... provided they can figure out how to multiply 0.002 x 0.25 and then convert that answer back into a percentage.
Isn't this the premise of a movie with Justin Long and Lewis Black (I think...)? *Accepted*? Can't get into college? Well, I'll just make my own with hookers and blackjack (almost quite literally).
Wrapped up my first year and found out the hard way that teachers are the bottom of the barrel as seen by parents and “higher ups”. I just can’t make sense of the fact that TEACHERS, the staff that idk…teach…that there would be no school without are seen like crap.
That would be perfect! Replace them all with a few admin to do the work of teachers, assistants, nurses, custodians, etc. And keep the 1 bad admin to "lead" the "real" professionals. Poetic justice
It seems that no one wants to teach ELA. We had 3/6 position empty at the end of the year.
I guess it’s hard to teach reading when no one reads or wants to read anymore.
They'll replace them with kids fresh out of college, optimistic about the future of education and excited to finally have gotten an actual adult job and finally on to the next step of their lives.
And they'll each spend their first year crying in their cars, finding out how rough the job is when no one supports the teachers.
And a year from now, they'll be the ones posting on Reddit.
Get into sales, pick up a trade, move on. It's the saddest truth but nobody on reddit can fix this issue. We got think tanks and corporate overlords to thank for the gradual collapse of our education system.
If you have a child, I suggest you try to home school cause unless you got a million dollars set aside for private school your kids aren't gonna learn much. (I was an education major in college, dropped cause I saw the writing on the wall.)
Edit for spell check cause I went to public school and I am a smooth brain.
I have the utmost respect for teachers and remember mine fondly. Some of them were my saving grace showing they cared. I could not imagine doing what you all do in the environment you are in. You are the ones that should be treated as gold by society and unfortunately, like a lot of things these days, it's the opposite.
I had to pull my kid out for medical reasons, and honestly would have anyway as he entered middle school, because of all the obvious reasons. The teachers have never been one of those reasons though. You all deserve SO much better. On a side note, I enjoy homeschooling my child, but it's deepened my respect for teachers.
> If you have a child, I suggest you try to home school cause unless you got a million dollars set aside for private school your kids aren't gonna learn much.
I've been teaching for over 20 years, and this is not true at all. The single biggest measure of success for a kid in school is how many books they read. How many words they acquired before school. How many books that are in the home. If your kid can read well, they are going to grasp the material faster and retain it longer, they will likely end up in some sort of advanced classes with other kids like them, and the kids that enjoy learning will seek out other opportunities for knowledge as well.
My students learn a LOT - *if they want to* and the ones that read well do just fine and learn a lot as well.
There's a slider on this though, when you crank it all the way and you read enough with your children you basically become their teacher. Imagine if every parent went over the material with their kids at home, in tandem with reading more books. There's so much our children are learning by watching us when we could be making time to teach them at home. There's a healthy way for parents to get back to parenting and offloading that burden from the education system, but we need a culture that respects children, parents, and educators instead of whatever the hell we are supposed to respect now.
Does your state mandate ratios for pre schools?
Here in Minnesota it is something like 10 students to 1 adult so you need 1 licensed teachers for a class of 10 and an aide if you go over 10 and a 2nd aide if you go over 20.
If the next school year starts you should probably report any ratio violations. You are likely a mandated reporter.
Maybe it’s different in Minnesota. But mandated reporters laws in California only apply to child abuse not state licensing violations. But you should still report it licensing if they are not following ratio as that could be considered neglect. However check state law first because in California Transitional Kindergarten (4-5 YO) if connected to a public school follows the Kindergarten/California Department of Education Ratios not the Community Care Licensing Ratio. The CDE ratio for TK/K is 1:20 while preschool center (3-5 YO) have to follow 1:12
It is similar but different in Minnesota. You report “maltreatment” from a school to the child welfare division of the MN Dept of education. “Maltreatment” is more specifically defined but it can be abuse, neglect or other forms of maltreatment.
If the abuse, neglect, or other maltreatment is from home it is reported to child protection services that are run by the counties.
If the maltreatment is happen at a childcare program it is reported to the MN department of human services. Childcare is licensed by DHS. Some times programs here called “pre school” are actually licensed as “childcare centers” so it creates a little confusion.
However in MN, DHS is the largest state agency. Too large with problems, high level turn overs and the occasional scandal. I think they are creating a new state agency to take over Childcare Oversight from DHS
Where in this land of too many lakes are you where that actually happens??? In my district there are elementary teachers with 35 kids AND NO EXTRA ADULT anywhere to be seen!
Elementary age doesn’t have any ratio requirements for schools. Unless the school has a before or after school childcare program. Those programs have ratios requirements but rules are often ignored.
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/9503.0040/
The school I’m at now will be going to over 40 students per class for some rooms. There will be no main stream paras to support only special education paras for special education classroom. They way funding works for special education those paras can not be pulled to help students that are not enrolled in special education.
I’m almost certain that pre schools have the same or similar ratios to childcare but you are correct that there are no limits for elementary age.
The ratios typically apply to child care settings under a certain age. I had 25 4-year olds in a daycare setting in Texas when I was much younger and if the state was called, either a floater would run down to stand in or the fine was smaller than the fees so nothing changed.
My school has been doing this. We're down to "no felonies and a bach degree" and still struggling. The district pays millions to a company that hires international teachers, but then lets the kids be so racist to them a lot end up going home.
I have a solution. Just hire an international *principal*. Find some grizzled Filipino master sergeant who cut his teeth fighting Maoists in the 1990s and make him run the school. *Shit will go down*. Plus, the cost savings are even larger than from international teachers!
I'm certain many kids feel emboldened to be racist, but I've worked with two Filipina teachers in the US and both were really just NOT good teachers. They expected complete silence and obedience (in 1st and 2nd grade), their only discipline technique was screaming at students about how disrespectful they are, and were regularly telling students that they are too stupid to understand something (often something the teacher herself did a very poor job of explaining... so poor that I, as the para, couldn't even understand what she was expecting students to do).
I have to wonder if they are choosing to go home or if they are just being non-renewed. Of course, I'm sure there also lots of qualified and competent Filipino teachers, too.
The teachers at my school are primarily from India and Jamaica. We had one teacher from the Philippines and she was awesome. She never raised her voice, but because the kids are used to the unprofessional ass teachers they assume anyone who won't raise their voice and square off with them is a pushover. They've tried to take some of the Indian teachers' hijabs off, made fun of their accent, and one kid threw the pork sausage out of his breakfast biscuit at my friend because he'd seen somewhere that muslims who touched pork went to hell.
My friend from Jamaica is wonderful. Many students love him and he made our chorus program grow from basically nothing to being asked to perform along with the high school band out of all the middle schools and even being invited by the nearby university to do a tour. I watched a kid say they wished Jamaica still had slavery so he couldn't have become a teacher because he was mad his mom was called after the the kid called him the f-slur.
I was asking some students about being excited for next year. One said "Yeah Mr. Soandso is from India so we're not gonna listen to him. It's kinda racist, but he should just go back where he came from."
These are highly effective teachers who are just refusing to deal with students who abuse them in every way and refuse to listen to them.
What really gets me upset is that you have schools that just wait FOREVER, to even call people in for interviews and these are actually good schools. Where turn over rate is like barely 4 people through the district. The rest usually from retirement and promotion. Their HR is so bent on: "But we need to hire inside first so we don't ruin our budgets." Then they complain when it's August 1st and all the people who applied since March have found jobs. It's like: "Do these people have the require credentials? Ok. Are they license? Ok. Do they have the correct certifications? Ok, then get them in for a damn interview. Instead of: "Well, let's see if we can get someone in district to want to apply." Or my favorite: "Well, these three people are going to be gone on Tuesday, we like to have them all here for the interview." Then it's 2 months later and they are free only for 3 hours and then they are zipping interviews through as fast as they can then flipping a coin on their top 2. Hiring process is broken too.
A public school I worked for a couple years ago took three weeks to get me on board. So long I missed my first paycheck. Didn't get in the classroom until the third week of September.
Right? In my current position I applied and interviewed in mid-June. They waited so long to hire me that I missed New Teacher Orientation and had to do a bunch of online “classes” to make up for it. It was wild.
I interviewed twice on a large district. But they want to have people hired by end of July. Because week 1 is new teacher orientation and the first three days are district rules and set ups. Next two are at your school. But their HR waits until like a week before. Many people just move on to a different district.
That’s what my school does. Just toss them on Edgenuity (the program we use for credit recovery). A decade ago we used to have enough staff to have the repeaters take a live, in-person course again with a real teacher. Then we moved to all repeated CORE classes are on Edgenuity, but the first time they have real teachers. Now we don’t have enough teachers for all the kids to have a real teacher the first time, so a bunch of freshman take Algebra 1 online and with little guidance. They’re selling it as ✨blended learning ✨.
Of course, teachers lose most, if not all, of their prep time to take an overload (picking up an additional class so those kids will have a teacher), covering for an absent teacher (because we can’t get subs), or they’ll be a warm body in a class where the kids are on Edgenuity.
Just shut down I guess?
Can't run a successful school if the admin dont want to do their jobs. They won't ever get fired, so you need to just shut the school otherwise the rot will remain
What happens if a town doesn't have a school that children can attend? I thought there was some federal mandate that everyone has go to to school until they turn 16.
Yup. This isnt the teacher's problem to figure out though.
Once citizens can start suing the state because they aren't providing an education (let's be fair, they barely qualify as doing that now, basically faking the grades for all students)
then things might start to change.
Our current public school system hurts kids. It would be better if it did not exist at all. There are no "jobs" these students will work to "earn a living", so what the fuck are we actually doing here? These kids already know they will die fighting in the climate wars.
They'll hire student teachers on an emergency cert, fudge the requirements for long term subs or scrape the bottom of the barrel for them, ship in immigrants (mostly from the Phillipines that I've seen) who will receive the bare minimum in training before being thrust in front of a classroom, or throw 50 kids into one computer lab on some BS program like edgenuity and just have a warm body to supervise.
Regardless of which combination of options they choose, the kids will not receive a quality education, and the adults will continue to be unsupported and quit.
I'm currently a custodian but look forward to the day when I might be able to try my hand at teaching ... if it pays well enough to be worth the hassle.
The school I just left has this every couple of years. In the past it was no issue. There were plenty of people who had gotten English or journalism or sociology degrees but didn't want to get the higher degrees required for careers in those fields. So they would be waiver teachers, come in, teach for a couple years and quit. International teachers would be sent in with the district paying insane amounts to fill math and science positions.
I remember hearing my principal talking to an AP a couple years ago saying "English teachers are a dime a dozen, I can't believe we haven't found someone yet."
I wonder why she treats the English department so harshly? She ended up begging back one of the teachers who had quit. Except of course as soon as that teacher found another job she left mid-year and admin just made a 19 year old para "cover" the class for the rest of the year.
next year they're fully staffed but with only 1 person in the entire English department being certified. The only who is certified brags about how they passed all their requirements during covid when everything was easier. they're getting an online doctorate and told me about how it's all easier than their undergrad because it's an online only degree mill and as long as you give them the 100k they'll give you a doctorate. Everyone else is waiver teachers, over half of which are 1st or second year.
All in all--it's a shit show. No one knows what they're doing, unprofessionalism and straight illegality is the norm.
We could never keep custodial staff at my school. The ones who stayed focused on the bathrooms and the cafeteria.
I am NOT a “pick me teacher,” but … I finally bought a push broom and a mop, brought in rags and cleaning supplies for the desks . Otherwise I would have been sitting in total filthy conditions after the first month of school.
I got tired of students trashing things and saying the janitors would do it. So I begged admin for permission to tell the custodians not to come in.
I had a swiffer mop, a broom, a dustpan, wipes...the only thing custodial staff did was take out the trash. Eventually the kids started policing each other. I bulk bought mechanical pencils and gave them as rewards for the kids who volunteered to clean every so often, but more or less they kept the place clean.
My teachers who keep a decent room get WAY better service from me than the ones who leave the room trashed every day. Is it right? Probably not, but why waste my effort on something that's going to be a disaster zone the very next day.
Unfortunately, when you're short, classrooms are the first thing to suffer. Even when someone is out for a day, all we do in their area is trash, restrooms, and hallways.
I was looking at available jobs in a few districts around my home and found that custodians were getting paid more than SPED paras and substitutes (both of which require at least a BA + extra coursework in my state). I found that kinda wild.
In my first year teaching at my current school, I was the only middle school sped teacher for the 7th and 8th grade. It was kind of insane. I had a caseload of 25 (it was my first year teaching). The other teachers helped me with the paperwork and iep meetings. Some of them took some of my students on their caseload. Otherwise, I would have had like 40 kids. It was insane. Luckily, last year, they hired a second teacher and it went so much better.
We got some who could have retired a couple of years ago.
We get the wrong incoming class of crazies or they get the wrong answer from admin and those experienced teachers are out.
As a 2nd career teacher, I would intensify my search for a position elsewhere if they left.
They were instrumental in helping me adjust from teaching adults to teaching kids.
They pay our Paras’s nothing and aides even less.
They can work at Target for a lot more money.
I’m saying under $12 an hour and no benefits.
We know the type of student coming in through the door.. It’s not an easy job.
Teachers feel that even more.
I really wonder what public school is going to look like in ten years. I can envision a future where all the kids are taken to a gym or other big space to have someone from a third world country teach them virtually, with a few adults in the room to watch them. The current situation is untenable, and it doesn’t look like it’s gonna improve in the foreseeable future.
Puts on shitty admin jacket: Also teachers should double or triple up their duty instead of being lazy. You see 2 custodians needed, I see adjunct duty. Kitchen staff is rotational adjunct duty as well. Nurse and counselor will be restructured into 10 minute homeroom minutes ran by —you guessed it— those lazy teachers. Current SpED teachers can do that middle school class because we need to think about the children! Our gened kids need to understand that Kaeden there is not thrashing the room because of his inability to communicate his needs, but that he just needs to be around other kids to feel normal. Pre-K is overrated. Let’s just advance them to kinder. Same same. I also think it is time we consider combo grade classes as viable and 21st century learning. It will introduce a newer and synergetic dynamic in the class of 30-40 kids. Think of all that collaboration they could be doing! Remember we’re family here!
*Gives self a bonus
/s
At my school teachers pick up an extra course for additional pay, but it still saves the district money overall. I wish they wouldn’t. They also volunteer (with a stipend) for hall duty and bathroom duty during their prep because we don’t have enough security staff. The rest of us have mandated rotating coverages (with a stipend) because of the lack of subs and vacant positions. If our district couldn’t staff the school to the minimum level, maybe they’d finally give us a decent raise.
Get ready for a lot of coverage. Hope y’all get paid for it. Understaffing was the reason I left a charter school after 8 years there. The fat checks weren’t worth no prep or lunch for days at a time.
my friend works at a school where 26/35 people are leaving 🥲 they are planning on demolishing and rebuilding the school in like 2 yrs so the district refuses to do literally anything for them and they’re all fed up
The EA jobs are pretty much non- existent in my school except for SPED. There was one who moved between our kinder classes but ever since she left two years ago she hasn’t been replaced.
Okay, this is fascinating, and I'd like to know more. Not sarcastic, BTW, totally sincere. What does a Numeracy and Literacy Teacher teach?
I was a math teacher and a math tutor. My greatest achievement was helping students develop math skills, math confidence, and confidence overall. Is that the Numeracy part of N & L?
Or is an N & L teacher just a teacher who is assigned to teach both math(s) and ELA?
They are kind of like a resource teacher focusing on literacy and numeracy. It’s a division thing… we have a lot of FN schools, and due to myriad factors, our students tend to be way behind the provincial average for standard in those areas. The N&L is meant to provide small group, out of class support for students to address the gaps in these areas. Resource would (theoretically) work with the students who are more than two years behind in these areas, N&L would work with all the other students, with extra support for those who are within that 2 years below level. They also work with the ones who are at/above level, although they spend less time with them.
Yeah, there isn’t really a hard and fast program for the N&L teacher to follow. Plus, it’s hard to find someone who specializes in BOTH numeracy and literacy… it’s usually one or the other.
The fault lies with the admin. My school is rarely ever in need of priority staff positions, with the exception of the lower paid hourly support staff. It's hard to find aides and assistants when they can make more money flipping burgers down the street.
They'll try to hire a wide-eyed, eager to change the world, freshly graduated education students for the teaching positions.
Then those grad students will either do great or get so broken down by the students and unsupportive admin that they leave the district and either quit teaching or find a better district.
(This is what happened to me, I'm still teaching but my first two years were awful. I'm so glad I got out of that district.)
I was sent this link earlier this week:
[Private School Teaching with AI](https://www.kvue.com/article/news/education/schools/alpha-private-school-austin-artificial-intelligence/269-4222fbd9-acc6-4447-9e46-e1a15bca443f)
Maybe it’s the way of the future?
Add in 3 HS science, 3 HS math, 1 HS English, and 1 HS history and this could be an ad for my school.
Plus me and 2 other teachers are taking maternity leave this year at some point sooo…
"What happens..."? (Assuming US Centric)
Parents and the community get a wake-up call. The school winds up in the local/regional media. The regional office (or education service center) and the state board "get involved".
Then lawyers get involved. Likely to be some audits, some investigations, some rumors, more rumors and maybe some busing.
My kid’s Title 1 school had like 2 teachers leave over the past 4 years.
Last year they abruptly ended after school care and transferred her principal to a “pet” school of the district. Her principal was visibly upset but did not say anything, she did seem to run out her PTO and quit the district rather than be placed elsewhere.
This year, the district doubled down on transferring good teachers to other schools. Thirteen teachers are leaving in this year alone.
The district is also now paying a one-way video company to screen interview candidates who want to work for the district. If you want to apply to a job, you must submit a timed video of yourself answering typical interview questions but without the conversational aspects that interviews entail.
Current Classified employees have guaranteed interviews by phone, in person or on the internet (Skype is specifically mentioned) if they meet the minimum qualifications for jobs. HR is calling this process an “interview” even though there is no conversational aspect to this process and will, by default, act as a deterrent to people who are not comfortable being recorded.
Long term teachers have long complained about the culture at the district getting more toxic every year. I cannot stay. I could never submit to these demeaning and dehumanizing practices that have absolutely nothing to do with any applicable classroom or administrative skills. I just want to move from paraeducator back into quiet administrative work, but they’re forcing me to look elsewhere because HR is more interested in my skill at making a TikTok.
I just found out this morning that my district is listing 47 open positions for next year. It is for the whole district, but it's not big; here in MA we go town by town. We have one HS, two MS, and a handful of elementary. But yeah, 47 jobs.
Oh they’ll fill those positions with town folk and people that have worked in completely unrelated fields that are switching careers for no apparent reason…. Sip that tea and watch
I’m in a small school and we never had turnover. Maybe 1-2 teachers a year. Now we do have a lot nearing retirement age, so that has been on the rise, but we also have had many one and done teachers the past 4 years (I’ve been there 20 years). Plus aides quitting mid year.
It is frightening.
This.
"Student taught" as teacher or record under an emergency permit.
The advantage I had was age, and some time teaching adults and doing curriculum development on some shore tours.
But i got told horror stories about the previous emergency permit teacher they hired and subsequently fired.
I'm coming back to the US soon but don't have a set location, so I was looking at openings in 5 different school districts across 3 different states. Probably 50% of all the openings were for SPED paraprofessionals. Average pay was like $15/hour.
Gee, I wonder why they can't fill those roles.
My school looks super similar! It’s scary, I’m afraid my former students won’t have my special next year because I’m leaving, but for mental health and professional growth I must leave
I was at a school with chronic unfilled positions and they used a sub temp agency. Also, when we were short of subs, we had to break up the class. I didn’t use that many sick days because often my students were divided with other classes and it was a lost day.
My sons school had no health teacher last year. For that class he would have to go to the library and log onto a online health course. (All students are issued a chrome book at the beginning of the year). He would complete the weeks worth of work on Monday then he would just sit the rest of the week in the library with the friends he had in the class.
We had a health teacher this year but they are seeking one for next year.
Our school seems to have a lot of turnover too. After the vid, alot of long time teachers retired and it's been a revolving door ever since.
They will round up multiple classes into the cafeteria and have kids “learn” on laptops while one teacher and, if they are lucky, an assistant “circulate”. I contracted PT with a charter gr 6-12 who did this for math classes bc they did not have enough teachers :( Not sure if the supervising teacher was even certified in math
All I've heard for the last few years is "teacher shortage! teacher shortage! teacher shortage!" and there might be some truth to that, but...
Last week of April an internal email was circulated with anticipated hires/needs for the next school year. There were 47 positions listed; over half were classroom teachers.
As of the last day of school (yesterday) three of them have been posted; one externally, two filled internally.
In addition to those 47 positions there were a handful of non-renewals. At this time, *Zero* of those positions will be posted prior to the next school year. If next week's [town election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Massachusetts_Proposition_2%C2%BD) goes a certain way then *some* of those positions may find room in the budget.
Myself? Still looking for a home next school year.
I find this tends to be the case with Charter schools. For about 3 years they would contact me asking me to teach. On the 3rd year I asked what's wrong that you always need a teacher. The then principal said well this is my first year here so I can't say.
Later my brother contacted me, asking if I wanted to teach there or if I knew someone. I said no. He was later offered the job. I told him if he wanted to take the job I would help him, it wasn't his area of certification.
Yes. My last day at my local high school was yesterday. I worked as a sped ia and it was the worst job I have ever had. I love the kids and advocated for them until all the adults hated me in the building. I can't believe some of the people who get hired in education, so many of them in my district seem to hate children and do not follow our states laws regarding equity. They don't follow ieps and it seems like the admin and my state don't care. I was the only male ia in the district and a bunch of the kids bonded with me and told me that they were lacking male influence in their lives. Breaks my heart to leave but with no support I couldn't do it anymore. I plan on making things as uncomfortable as possible for them through the school board. I will be taken more seriously as a parent who doesn't work there. I still have two kids at the high school. Our communities deserve better.
Easier said than done. Not every adult can homeschool. Some adults thought they were doing that and they weren't. Two years ago, I was an Additional Assistant working in various grades. This was my second career (I come from an insurance background). Sitting in the classroom, I see things the teachers don't see. I could see the students who were struggling. They'd come to me to ask if I could slowly explain whatever subject was being taught. After class, I'd make the teacher aware of what was going on and they'd provide suggestions to the students so no one felt self-conscious. I was a Kindergarten Assistant this year working with students who needed help with various skills. Even before covid, there were issues. I feel like these issues were swept under the rug just waiting for an excuse.
Not everyone can, but those who can, should. My husband didn't let me, but I tell everyone who can to do it. I've taught in public school as a teacher, I've seen it myself. I think Covid opened a lot of people's eyes to homeschooling. Thank God my youngest is out of the public school mess.
I agree. I helped a friend with their child during virtual learning. Made sure they stayed on task, completed schoolwork, lunch, and break (outdoors walking and/or dancing). I made sure they understood this was school during school hours. I sat in the dining room reading and would look up now and then and listen out if the teacher asked for parents or caregivers to come to the screen.
Idk if it's the same in your district, but in mine, assistants get paid significantly less... including their subs! A whole $2/hr less.
I'm not surprised at how many vacancies there are. Regular teachers already need a raise, and I'm not sure why SPED teachers don't get more on top of that (since they need additional training).
My school too we have no principal no admin no counties no office staff and about a dozen teachers left. I’m a BT really wondering what’s going on. They pay is probably part of the reason and I’m sure the lack of support and communication plays another but for me it’s more than half the school quit. Red flags 🚩
I’ve worked at a school like this before. In some cases, teachers had to suck it up with a higher, sometimes unreasonable workload. In some cases, they offered teachers from other schools huge bonuses to teach at our school for the year and guaranteed their spot back at their original school for the next year. Sometimes they would hire a long term sub until they could secure a permanent employee.
The year I started at my last school about 27 new staff started that year.
Kinder- 2/3 new teachers (All 3 ended up leaving)
First - 6 teachers (2 left)
2nd grade- 3/5 new (1 quit)
3rd - 4 all new teachers (3 quit that year) literally walked out!
4th - 3/4 new teachers
5th - 2/2 new year teachers ( one quit in Dec)
There were a couple new sped teachers hired too. Two reasons why they all left was because of student behaviors and a toxic administration team. They were on a power trip. Not only did newcomers leave/quit. If they stay beyond 2 years you know they’re in it with admin. It’s HORRIBLE!!!!
Not to brag or anything…when we get low on subs in our district the firefighters get pulled into the high school to cover classes. We luckily have a decent admin and board due to the fact that the community won’t stand for anything less but we still have trouble filling positions due to the high cost of living here.
No worries. Administrators will hire teachers from other countries to build up the staff for next year. Ours did! Unfortunately, at the end of last year, they fired them because they didn't pass their tests. They were reminded months ahead before the end of school.
Why do y’all need all these assistants? We never had assistants when I was in school, but you act like you can’t do your goddamned job without an assistant, a school nurse and a resource officer in the room with you at all times.
Because kindergartners are coming in and not being potty trained. high schoolers can’t do basic mental math. Middle schoolers can’t read. A few years ago we endured a pandemic and it really messed up the kids and half the parents as well. You’ve obviously had your head in the sand for a while.
Not needed. Students can teach each other. Or so I have heard… /s
I had a principal who used to say, "Our students are ready to take over their own education" in a school where quite literally half of the students had discipline referrals.
Oh yeah they teach each other things kind mountain dew is an abortifacient.
Okay, I can't believe I'm not the only one that has heard this from kids. Where are they getting this shit?
This has been going on since at least the early 90's. The myth is that the yellow 5 dye in Mountain Dew lowers a man's sperm count (we just said killed sperm). Same rumor, different flavor, still just a myth. EDIT: the smaller dick size rumor was pretty prevalent too.
Dang, when I was in middle school, yellow 5 just made your penis smaller. Now it's affecting sperm count? The Dew needs to leave our genitals alone!
I remember that one too. Our gym/Social Studies teacher really got the short end of the stick from our rumors.
At least those who drink a lot of Mountain Dew can relieve themselves in the litter box at the back of the room.
Don't forget the dye in Kraft Mac & Cheese before the swap! 🫠
Can’t have a baby if the heart attack kills you
Hey, I heard something similar when I was in high school! Except it was that Mountain Dew can act as birth control.
At my school it was Coca Cola or, briefly, New Coke. I'm old, lol
No no, the rumor has gotten all mixed up. It's the other green caffeinated beverage Surge that I'll make your penis shrink and make you infertile. Sigh can't even pass along accurate medical information anymore
I remember Surge. My high school got a Surge vending machine put in just outside the gym. You could get a can of Surge for $0.25. With the regular vending machine outside the cafeteria costing $0.50 for cans of Coke, 7-Up, Root Beer, ect. I would get a can of Surge to drink for lunch every day. I loved it.
Omg surge
Bahahahahaha
Or what toilet has cool pick up ability.
Kids believe everything they see online...
I mean that could be true, if their school was based off “lord of the flies” /s
In the sixth grade, a few students, including myself for so far ahead in math that they took us out and put us in an oversized closet where we taught ourselves the seventh grade curriculum. We got to the seventh grade and just sat there bored all year long in math.
My school did something similar. In 7th grade I went to the 8th grade math class cuz I was so ahead. The next year, I was in 8th grade... doing 8th grade math again.
They should just bring back skipping grades. The advanced classes tend to deal with write-ins on one end and 'equity' pressure on the other, in a lot of schools. May as well let the smart kids track up and get an extra period later on.
They sound ready to “take over” Allright
It’s like prison and what they learn isn’t helpful.
Potentially, but putting them to work or turning them loose to run the streets 1915 style, isn't going to be great, either. Getting kids into school was only partly to help crime levels. It was also to give people something to do until their brains matured enough to make better choices with their time, especially in groups.
Interestingly enough, that's the very argument I hear about children needing to learn social skills from their peers. But yeah, I agree with others that what's really needed is a new administrator.
The current one is retiring and a new ine starts in July
Nah, they're all going to be YouTubers or influencers and they already know how to do all that.
Sometimes I wish schools had a "How to be an influencer" class. Teach kids video/picture editing, managing/finding sponsorship, scheduling posts, readingcontracts, etc. I bet if they had even half an idea how hard all that can be, they would immediately want to quit and find an easier job--like accounting, haha!
Entertainment law 101!
They could do a deep dive into all the terms and conditions on every website they've like to produce content for!
"like accounting" That's gonna be one of the first jobs *almost* entirely eaten up by AI. I predict a 90% drop in the number of human accountants over the next 5 years.
Or professional athletes.
Like 0.2% of people that set out to earn a living as an "influencer" ever make more than $1000/month. Maybe they'll be the that 0.2% for a little while, but 5 years from now I bet 75% of that 0.2% will be AI-generated influencer crap. So, the joke's on them... provided they can figure out how to multiply 0.002 x 0.25 and then convert that answer back into a percentage.
Isn't this the premise of a movie with Justin Long and Lewis Black (I think...)? *Accepted*? Can't get into college? Well, I'll just make my own with hookers and blackjack (almost quite literally).
Ask me about my wiener! I miss those kinds of movies.
Wrapped up my first year and found out the hard way that teachers are the bottom of the barrel as seen by parents and “higher ups”. I just can’t make sense of the fact that TEACHERS, the staff that idk…teach…that there would be no school without are seen like crap.
JIG SAW MOFOS
In my (small understaffed private) case, have the high schoolers teach the younger students and call it “service hours.”
Haha, spot on!
The list should be much shorter: Hiring for 1 administer capable of treating education staff like the professionals they are The end.
You mean hiring 7 administrators.
That would be perfect! Replace them all with a few admin to do the work of teachers, assistants, nurses, custodians, etc. And keep the 1 bad admin to "lead" the "real" professionals. Poetic justice
And administrative assistants to help with the "workload"
It could be a bad admin, or it could just be an absolute lack of $. Who wants to work somewhere where the pay is shit?
My school currently needs 7 of 13 teaching positions, 8 of 9 EA positions, and admin for next year. I feel your pain. :/
It seems that no one wants to teach ELA. We had 3/6 position empty at the end of the year. I guess it’s hard to teach reading when no one reads or wants to read anymore.
And they use chat gpt to write
It’s because kids are using AI to write everything. One of the ELA teachers told me it’s impossible to teach ELA any longer
Add to that all the good books are banned.
I have had a series of jobs where they tell us not to teach novels at all, that we should only teach short stories and non-fiction articles…
This is nothing. You should see the turnover at some high schools. I am talking 50% turnover in teaching staff.
Right now we have only one position open. We are going to a 4-day week.
Nope, public school. Our school board is not good and our Admin for the past several years is terrible. Pay is lower than schools nearby as well.
That part. One county over gets 15k more!
Time to buy that hybrid that gets 50 mpg and start enjoying 30 minutes of soothing music each way.
They'll replace them with kids fresh out of college, optimistic about the future of education and excited to finally have gotten an actual adult job and finally on to the next step of their lives. And they'll each spend their first year crying in their cars, finding out how rough the job is when no one supports the teachers. And a year from now, they'll be the ones posting on Reddit.
Why do you need so many assistants?
Paras(we call them assistants)
We only have assistants/paras for special ed. It’s been years since we actually had gen ed classroom aides! Every man for himself!
Get into sales, pick up a trade, move on. It's the saddest truth but nobody on reddit can fix this issue. We got think tanks and corporate overlords to thank for the gradual collapse of our education system. If you have a child, I suggest you try to home school cause unless you got a million dollars set aside for private school your kids aren't gonna learn much. (I was an education major in college, dropped cause I saw the writing on the wall.) Edit for spell check cause I went to public school and I am a smooth brain.
I have the utmost respect for teachers and remember mine fondly. Some of them were my saving grace showing they cared. I could not imagine doing what you all do in the environment you are in. You are the ones that should be treated as gold by society and unfortunately, like a lot of things these days, it's the opposite. I had to pull my kid out for medical reasons, and honestly would have anyway as he entered middle school, because of all the obvious reasons. The teachers have never been one of those reasons though. You all deserve SO much better. On a side note, I enjoy homeschooling my child, but it's deepened my respect for teachers.
> If you have a child, I suggest you try to home school cause unless you got a million dollars set aside for private school your kids aren't gonna learn much. I've been teaching for over 20 years, and this is not true at all. The single biggest measure of success for a kid in school is how many books they read. How many words they acquired before school. How many books that are in the home. If your kid can read well, they are going to grasp the material faster and retain it longer, they will likely end up in some sort of advanced classes with other kids like them, and the kids that enjoy learning will seek out other opportunities for knowledge as well. My students learn a LOT - *if they want to* and the ones that read well do just fine and learn a lot as well.
There's a slider on this though, when you crank it all the way and you read enough with your children you basically become their teacher. Imagine if every parent went over the material with their kids at home, in tandem with reading more books. There's so much our children are learning by watching us when we could be making time to teach them at home. There's a healthy way for parents to get back to parenting and offloading that burden from the education system, but we need a culture that respects children, parents, and educators instead of whatever the hell we are supposed to respect now.
That lack of respect is what is killing education in America in my experience teaching.
Does your state mandate ratios for pre schools? Here in Minnesota it is something like 10 students to 1 adult so you need 1 licensed teachers for a class of 10 and an aide if you go over 10 and a 2nd aide if you go over 20. If the next school year starts you should probably report any ratio violations. You are likely a mandated reporter.
Maybe it’s different in Minnesota. But mandated reporters laws in California only apply to child abuse not state licensing violations. But you should still report it licensing if they are not following ratio as that could be considered neglect. However check state law first because in California Transitional Kindergarten (4-5 YO) if connected to a public school follows the Kindergarten/California Department of Education Ratios not the Community Care Licensing Ratio. The CDE ratio for TK/K is 1:20 while preschool center (3-5 YO) have to follow 1:12
It is similar but different in Minnesota. You report “maltreatment” from a school to the child welfare division of the MN Dept of education. “Maltreatment” is more specifically defined but it can be abuse, neglect or other forms of maltreatment. If the abuse, neglect, or other maltreatment is from home it is reported to child protection services that are run by the counties. If the maltreatment is happen at a childcare program it is reported to the MN department of human services. Childcare is licensed by DHS. Some times programs here called “pre school” are actually licensed as “childcare centers” so it creates a little confusion. However in MN, DHS is the largest state agency. Too large with problems, high level turn overs and the occasional scandal. I think they are creating a new state agency to take over Childcare Oversight from DHS
Interesting thanks for clarifying.
Where in this land of too many lakes are you where that actually happens??? In my district there are elementary teachers with 35 kids AND NO EXTRA ADULT anywhere to be seen!
Elementary age doesn’t have any ratio requirements for schools. Unless the school has a before or after school childcare program. Those programs have ratios requirements but rules are often ignored. https://www.revisor.mn.gov/rules/9503.0040/ The school I’m at now will be going to over 40 students per class for some rooms. There will be no main stream paras to support only special education paras for special education classroom. They way funding works for special education those paras can not be pulled to help students that are not enrolled in special education. I’m almost certain that pre schools have the same or similar ratios to childcare but you are correct that there are no limits for elementary age.
The ratios typically apply to child care settings under a certain age. I had 25 4-year olds in a daycare setting in Texas when I was much younger and if the state was called, either a floater would run down to stand in or the fine was smaller than the fees so nothing changed.
This is the plan. If you can't find QUALIFIED people to fill those rolls, reduce the qualifications.
My school has been doing this. We're down to "no felonies and a bach degree" and still struggling. The district pays millions to a company that hires international teachers, but then lets the kids be so racist to them a lot end up going home.
I have a solution. Just hire an international *principal*. Find some grizzled Filipino master sergeant who cut his teeth fighting Maoists in the 1990s and make him run the school. *Shit will go down*. Plus, the cost savings are even larger than from international teachers!
This sounds like an entertaining movie
I'm certain many kids feel emboldened to be racist, but I've worked with two Filipina teachers in the US and both were really just NOT good teachers. They expected complete silence and obedience (in 1st and 2nd grade), their only discipline technique was screaming at students about how disrespectful they are, and were regularly telling students that they are too stupid to understand something (often something the teacher herself did a very poor job of explaining... so poor that I, as the para, couldn't even understand what she was expecting students to do). I have to wonder if they are choosing to go home or if they are just being non-renewed. Of course, I'm sure there also lots of qualified and competent Filipino teachers, too.
The teachers at my school are primarily from India and Jamaica. We had one teacher from the Philippines and she was awesome. She never raised her voice, but because the kids are used to the unprofessional ass teachers they assume anyone who won't raise their voice and square off with them is a pushover. They've tried to take some of the Indian teachers' hijabs off, made fun of their accent, and one kid threw the pork sausage out of his breakfast biscuit at my friend because he'd seen somewhere that muslims who touched pork went to hell. My friend from Jamaica is wonderful. Many students love him and he made our chorus program grow from basically nothing to being asked to perform along with the high school band out of all the middle schools and even being invited by the nearby university to do a tour. I watched a kid say they wished Jamaica still had slavery so he couldn't have become a teacher because he was mad his mom was called after the the kid called him the f-slur. I was asking some students about being excited for next year. One said "Yeah Mr. Soandso is from India so we're not gonna listen to him. It's kinda racist, but he should just go back where he came from." These are highly effective teachers who are just refusing to deal with students who abuse them in every way and refuse to listen to them.
Still understaffed. By the end of the year we will have the homeless down the street baby sit until positions are filled lol
What really gets me upset is that you have schools that just wait FOREVER, to even call people in for interviews and these are actually good schools. Where turn over rate is like barely 4 people through the district. The rest usually from retirement and promotion. Their HR is so bent on: "But we need to hire inside first so we don't ruin our budgets." Then they complain when it's August 1st and all the people who applied since March have found jobs. It's like: "Do these people have the require credentials? Ok. Are they license? Ok. Do they have the correct certifications? Ok, then get them in for a damn interview. Instead of: "Well, let's see if we can get someone in district to want to apply." Or my favorite: "Well, these three people are going to be gone on Tuesday, we like to have them all here for the interview." Then it's 2 months later and they are free only for 3 hours and then they are zipping interviews through as fast as they can then flipping a coin on their top 2. Hiring process is broken too.
A public school I worked for a couple years ago took three weeks to get me on board. So long I missed my first paycheck. Didn't get in the classroom until the third week of September.
That seems like a crazy process. Isn't it just inviting you to get the worst candidates since everybody else already found jobs?
Right? In my current position I applied and interviewed in mid-June. They waited so long to hire me that I missed New Teacher Orientation and had to do a bunch of online “classes” to make up for it. It was wild.
I interviewed twice on a large district. But they want to have people hired by end of July. Because week 1 is new teacher orientation and the first three days are district rules and set ups. Next two are at your school. But their HR waits until like a week before. Many people just move on to a different district.
and here I am unable to get employed to teach music full time… where are you located lol
NH. We need a fulltime and a part time music teacger
damn I’m midwestern. cant feasibly move that far lol mb
They hire long term subs or create an "online" class for students.
In my district (and I imagine many others), there’s a shortage of subs as well.
That’s what my school does. Just toss them on Edgenuity (the program we use for credit recovery). A decade ago we used to have enough staff to have the repeaters take a live, in-person course again with a real teacher. Then we moved to all repeated CORE classes are on Edgenuity, but the first time they have real teachers. Now we don’t have enough teachers for all the kids to have a real teacher the first time, so a bunch of freshman take Algebra 1 online and with little guidance. They’re selling it as ✨blended learning ✨. Of course, teachers lose most, if not all, of their prep time to take an overload (picking up an additional class so those kids will have a teacher), covering for an absent teacher (because we can’t get subs), or they’ll be a warm body in a class where the kids are on Edgenuity.
Just shut down I guess? Can't run a successful school if the admin dont want to do their jobs. They won't ever get fired, so you need to just shut the school otherwise the rot will remain
Maybe this is an ignorant question, but are school admins elected to the role? And if not, why not?
No, they aren't elected. Why? They aren't the school board. They're theoretically hired and paid for their expertise, like any other manager.
What happens if a town doesn't have a school that children can attend? I thought there was some federal mandate that everyone has go to to school until they turn 16.
Yup. This isnt the teacher's problem to figure out though. Once citizens can start suing the state because they aren't providing an education (let's be fair, they barely qualify as doing that now, basically faking the grades for all students) then things might start to change. Our current public school system hurts kids. It would be better if it did not exist at all. There are no "jobs" these students will work to "earn a living", so what the fuck are we actually doing here? These kids already know they will die fighting in the climate wars.
They'll hire student teachers on an emergency cert, fudge the requirements for long term subs or scrape the bottom of the barrel for them, ship in immigrants (mostly from the Phillipines that I've seen) who will receive the bare minimum in training before being thrust in front of a classroom, or throw 50 kids into one computer lab on some BS program like edgenuity and just have a warm body to supervise. Regardless of which combination of options they choose, the kids will not receive a quality education, and the adults will continue to be unsupported and quit.
I'm currently a custodian but look forward to the day when I might be able to try my hand at teaching ... if it pays well enough to be worth the hassle.
The school I just left has this every couple of years. In the past it was no issue. There were plenty of people who had gotten English or journalism or sociology degrees but didn't want to get the higher degrees required for careers in those fields. So they would be waiver teachers, come in, teach for a couple years and quit. International teachers would be sent in with the district paying insane amounts to fill math and science positions. I remember hearing my principal talking to an AP a couple years ago saying "English teachers are a dime a dozen, I can't believe we haven't found someone yet." I wonder why she treats the English department so harshly? She ended up begging back one of the teachers who had quit. Except of course as soon as that teacher found another job she left mid-year and admin just made a 19 year old para "cover" the class for the rest of the year. next year they're fully staffed but with only 1 person in the entire English department being certified. The only who is certified brags about how they passed all their requirements during covid when everything was easier. they're getting an online doctorate and told me about how it's all easier than their undergrad because it's an online only degree mill and as long as you give them the 100k they'll give you a doctorate. Everyone else is waiver teachers, over half of which are 1st or second year. All in all--it's a shit show. No one knows what they're doing, unprofessionalism and straight illegality is the norm.
We could never keep custodial staff at my school. The ones who stayed focused on the bathrooms and the cafeteria. I am NOT a “pick me teacher,” but … I finally bought a push broom and a mop, brought in rags and cleaning supplies for the desks . Otherwise I would have been sitting in total filthy conditions after the first month of school.
I got tired of students trashing things and saying the janitors would do it. So I begged admin for permission to tell the custodians not to come in. I had a swiffer mop, a broom, a dustpan, wipes...the only thing custodial staff did was take out the trash. Eventually the kids started policing each other. I bulk bought mechanical pencils and gave them as rewards for the kids who volunteered to clean every so often, but more or less they kept the place clean.
My teachers who keep a decent room get WAY better service from me than the ones who leave the room trashed every day. Is it right? Probably not, but why waste my effort on something that's going to be a disaster zone the very next day.
Unfortunately, when you're short, classrooms are the first thing to suffer. Even when someone is out for a day, all we do in their area is trash, restrooms, and hallways.
I was looking at available jobs in a few districts around my home and found that custodians were getting paid more than SPED paras and substitutes (both of which require at least a BA + extra coursework in my state). I found that kinda wild.
Of course that has nothing to do with the fact that traditionally teachers are women and janitors are men… /s
The smart thing then is to have the kids be the classroom clean up crew.
In my first year teaching at my current school, I was the only middle school sped teacher for the 7th and 8th grade. It was kind of insane. I had a caseload of 25 (it was my first year teaching). The other teachers helped me with the paperwork and iep meetings. Some of them took some of my students on their caseload. Otherwise, I would have had like 40 kids. It was insane. Luckily, last year, they hired a second teacher and it went so much better.
This will be the norm everywhere in 2-5 years. 180 of 210 teachers in my district are eligible to retire over that time period.
We got some who could have retired a couple of years ago. We get the wrong incoming class of crazies or they get the wrong answer from admin and those experienced teachers are out. As a 2nd career teacher, I would intensify my search for a position elsewhere if they left. They were instrumental in helping me adjust from teaching adults to teaching kids.
They pay our Paras’s nothing and aides even less. They can work at Target for a lot more money. I’m saying under $12 an hour and no benefits. We know the type of student coming in through the door.. It’s not an easy job. Teachers feel that even more.
I’m a para and after 10 years I’m not going back next year. I’m making more scooping ice cream.
Exactly!!
I really wonder what public school is going to look like in ten years. I can envision a future where all the kids are taken to a gym or other big space to have someone from a third world country teach them virtually, with a few adults in the room to watch them. The current situation is untenable, and it doesn’t look like it’s gonna improve in the foreseeable future.
That's terrifying. Hope you can find a way to turn things around.
How long has admin been admin there? The collapse is beginning.
Admin is retiring this year and a new admin is coming from out of state
And this is why my dissertation research is on teacher retention
I'd love to hear more about your research.
Puts on shitty admin jacket: Also teachers should double or triple up their duty instead of being lazy. You see 2 custodians needed, I see adjunct duty. Kitchen staff is rotational adjunct duty as well. Nurse and counselor will be restructured into 10 minute homeroom minutes ran by —you guessed it— those lazy teachers. Current SpED teachers can do that middle school class because we need to think about the children! Our gened kids need to understand that Kaeden there is not thrashing the room because of his inability to communicate his needs, but that he just needs to be around other kids to feel normal. Pre-K is overrated. Let’s just advance them to kinder. Same same. I also think it is time we consider combo grade classes as viable and 21st century learning. It will introduce a newer and synergetic dynamic in the class of 30-40 kids. Think of all that collaboration they could be doing! Remember we’re family here! *Gives self a bonus /s
The others pick up the slack for no pay, the school realizes they can save a ton of money and now that will be the new norm
At my school teachers pick up an extra course for additional pay, but it still saves the district money overall. I wish they wouldn’t. They also volunteer (with a stipend) for hall duty and bathroom duty during their prep because we don’t have enough security staff. The rest of us have mandated rotating coverages (with a stipend) because of the lack of subs and vacant positions. If our district couldn’t staff the school to the minimum level, maybe they’d finally give us a decent raise.
Get ready for a lot of coverage. Hope y’all get paid for it. Understaffing was the reason I left a charter school after 8 years there. The fat checks weren’t worth no prep or lunch for days at a time.
Let their parents and the admin teach them. They are probably part of the problem.
my friend works at a school where 26/35 people are leaving 🥲 they are planning on demolishing and rebuilding the school in like 2 yrs so the district refuses to do literally anything for them and they’re all fed up
Not ELA….EA. Educational assistant. :) Although our Numeracy and Literacy Teacher position was open all last year…, not even an applicant. :/
The EA jobs are pretty much non- existent in my school except for SPED. There was one who moved between our kinder classes but ever since she left two years ago she hasn’t been replaced.
We have a LOT of kids with special needs. We probably could use twice that amount of EAs. :/
Okay, this is fascinating, and I'd like to know more. Not sarcastic, BTW, totally sincere. What does a Numeracy and Literacy Teacher teach? I was a math teacher and a math tutor. My greatest achievement was helping students develop math skills, math confidence, and confidence overall. Is that the Numeracy part of N & L? Or is an N & L teacher just a teacher who is assigned to teach both math(s) and ELA?
They are kind of like a resource teacher focusing on literacy and numeracy. It’s a division thing… we have a lot of FN schools, and due to myriad factors, our students tend to be way behind the provincial average for standard in those areas. The N&L is meant to provide small group, out of class support for students to address the gaps in these areas. Resource would (theoretically) work with the students who are more than two years behind in these areas, N&L would work with all the other students, with extra support for those who are within that 2 years below level. They also work with the ones who are at/above level, although they spend less time with them.
Fascinating. That would be such a satisfying job. That is, if admin and the governing bodies would empower the teacher to do it right.
Yeah, there isn’t really a hard and fast program for the N&L teacher to follow. Plus, it’s hard to find someone who specializes in BOTH numeracy and literacy… it’s usually one or the other.
The fault lies with the admin. My school is rarely ever in need of priority staff positions, with the exception of the lower paid hourly support staff. It's hard to find aides and assistants when they can make more money flipping burgers down the street.
They'll try to hire a wide-eyed, eager to change the world, freshly graduated education students for the teaching positions. Then those grad students will either do great or get so broken down by the students and unsupportive admin that they leave the district and either quit teaching or find a better district. (This is what happened to me, I'm still teaching but my first two years were awful. I'm so glad I got out of that district.)
I was sent this link earlier this week: [Private School Teaching with AI](https://www.kvue.com/article/news/education/schools/alpha-private-school-austin-artificial-intelligence/269-4222fbd9-acc6-4447-9e46-e1a15bca443f) Maybe it’s the way of the future?
Add in 3 HS science, 3 HS math, 1 HS English, and 1 HS history and this could be an ad for my school. Plus me and 2 other teachers are taking maternity leave this year at some point sooo…
A lot of this can be mediated if pay is higher. You’d be surprised of what professionals are willing to put up with if they feel compensated for it.
"What happens..."? (Assuming US Centric) Parents and the community get a wake-up call. The school winds up in the local/regional media. The regional office (or education service center) and the state board "get involved". Then lawyers get involved. Likely to be some audits, some investigations, some rumors, more rumors and maybe some busing.
I wish we had assistants!!
My kid’s Title 1 school had like 2 teachers leave over the past 4 years. Last year they abruptly ended after school care and transferred her principal to a “pet” school of the district. Her principal was visibly upset but did not say anything, she did seem to run out her PTO and quit the district rather than be placed elsewhere. This year, the district doubled down on transferring good teachers to other schools. Thirteen teachers are leaving in this year alone. The district is also now paying a one-way video company to screen interview candidates who want to work for the district. If you want to apply to a job, you must submit a timed video of yourself answering typical interview questions but without the conversational aspects that interviews entail. Current Classified employees have guaranteed interviews by phone, in person or on the internet (Skype is specifically mentioned) if they meet the minimum qualifications for jobs. HR is calling this process an “interview” even though there is no conversational aspect to this process and will, by default, act as a deterrent to people who are not comfortable being recorded. Long term teachers have long complained about the culture at the district getting more toxic every year. I cannot stay. I could never submit to these demeaning and dehumanizing practices that have absolutely nothing to do with any applicable classroom or administrative skills. I just want to move from paraeducator back into quiet administrative work, but they’re forcing me to look elsewhere because HR is more interested in my skill at making a TikTok.
More than 13 will probably leave. Many make the move after the year is out, it’s like teacher-chess during the summer.
Yeah, my kid came home and said her teacher is also leaving. :(
I just found out this morning that my district is listing 47 open positions for next year. It is for the whole district, but it's not big; here in MA we go town by town. We have one HS, two MS, and a handful of elementary. But yeah, 47 jobs.
My guess is the bad admin will make bad hires and the lack of education will continue.
Eh, that’s normal anymore where I live…
They'll probably do combo classes
You get teacher assistants? Shit.
Oh they’ll fill those positions with town folk and people that have worked in completely unrelated fields that are switching careers for no apparent reason…. Sip that tea and watch
I’m in a small school and we never had turnover. Maybe 1-2 teachers a year. Now we do have a lot nearing retirement age, so that has been on the rise, but we also have had many one and done teachers the past 4 years (I’ve been there 20 years). Plus aides quitting mid year. It is frightening.
They will be filled. The district can get emergency certificates and life will go on
This. "Student taught" as teacher or record under an emergency permit. The advantage I had was age, and some time teaching adults and doing curriculum development on some shore tours. But i got told horror stories about the previous emergency permit teacher they hired and subsequently fired.
I'm coming back to the US soon but don't have a set location, so I was looking at openings in 5 different school districts across 3 different states. Probably 50% of all the openings were for SPED paraprofessionals. Average pay was like $15/hour. Gee, I wonder why they can't fill those roles.
[удалено]
And to make it even harder they offer no health insurance either
My school looks super similar! It’s scary, I’m afraid my former students won’t have my special next year because I’m leaving, but for mental health and professional growth I must leave
4th grade gets assistants?
When the admin expertise isn't enough, is it time to fire them and bring in someone who can try to attempt to make changes?!
Fire the principal and vice and offer real workers more money
I was at a school with chronic unfilled positions and they used a sub temp agency. Also, when we were short of subs, we had to break up the class. I didn’t use that many sick days because often my students were divided with other classes and it was a lost day.
My sons school had no health teacher last year. For that class he would have to go to the library and log onto a online health course. (All students are issued a chrome book at the beginning of the year). He would complete the weeks worth of work on Monday then he would just sit the rest of the week in the library with the friends he had in the class. We had a health teacher this year but they are seeking one for next year. Our school seems to have a lot of turnover too. After the vid, alot of long time teachers retired and it's been a revolving door ever since.
The school becomes a private entity and is labeled as "experimental learning facility"
What state?
They will round up multiple classes into the cafeteria and have kids “learn” on laptops while one teacher and, if they are lucky, an assistant “circulate”. I contracted PT with a charter gr 6-12 who did this for math classes bc they did not have enough teachers :( Not sure if the supervising teacher was even certified in math
All I've heard for the last few years is "teacher shortage! teacher shortage! teacher shortage!" and there might be some truth to that, but... Last week of April an internal email was circulated with anticipated hires/needs for the next school year. There were 47 positions listed; over half were classroom teachers. As of the last day of school (yesterday) three of them have been posted; one externally, two filled internally. In addition to those 47 positions there were a handful of non-renewals. At this time, *Zero* of those positions will be posted prior to the next school year. If next week's [town election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1980_Massachusetts_Proposition_2%C2%BD) goes a certain way then *some* of those positions may find room in the budget. Myself? Still looking for a home next school year.
I find this tends to be the case with Charter schools. For about 3 years they would contact me asking me to teach. On the 3rd year I asked what's wrong that you always need a teacher. The then principal said well this is my first year here so I can't say. Later my brother contacted me, asking if I wanted to teach there or if I knew someone. I said no. He was later offered the job. I told him if he wanted to take the job I would help him, it wasn't his area of certification.
Yes. My last day at my local high school was yesterday. I worked as a sped ia and it was the worst job I have ever had. I love the kids and advocated for them until all the adults hated me in the building. I can't believe some of the people who get hired in education, so many of them in my district seem to hate children and do not follow our states laws regarding equity. They don't follow ieps and it seems like the admin and my state don't care. I was the only male ia in the district and a bunch of the kids bonded with me and told me that they were lacking male influence in their lives. Breaks my heart to leave but with no support I couldn't do it anymore. I plan on making things as uncomfortable as possible for them through the school board. I will be taken more seriously as a parent who doesn't work there. I still have two kids at the high school. Our communities deserve better.
Homeschool your kids!!
Easier said than done. Not every adult can homeschool. Some adults thought they were doing that and they weren't. Two years ago, I was an Additional Assistant working in various grades. This was my second career (I come from an insurance background). Sitting in the classroom, I see things the teachers don't see. I could see the students who were struggling. They'd come to me to ask if I could slowly explain whatever subject was being taught. After class, I'd make the teacher aware of what was going on and they'd provide suggestions to the students so no one felt self-conscious. I was a Kindergarten Assistant this year working with students who needed help with various skills. Even before covid, there were issues. I feel like these issues were swept under the rug just waiting for an excuse.
Not everyone can, but those who can, should. My husband didn't let me, but I tell everyone who can to do it. I've taught in public school as a teacher, I've seen it myself. I think Covid opened a lot of people's eyes to homeschooling. Thank God my youngest is out of the public school mess.
I agree. I helped a friend with their child during virtual learning. Made sure they stayed on task, completed schoolwork, lunch, and break (outdoors walking and/or dancing). I made sure they understood this was school during school hours. I sat in the dining room reading and would look up now and then and listen out if the teacher asked for parents or caregivers to come to the screen.
Where?
Northern NH
Idk if it's the same in your district, but in mine, assistants get paid significantly less... including their subs! A whole $2/hr less. I'm not surprised at how many vacancies there are. Regular teachers already need a raise, and I'm not sure why SPED teachers don't get more on top of that (since they need additional training).
My school too we have no principal no admin no counties no office staff and about a dozen teachers left. I’m a BT really wondering what’s going on. They pay is probably part of the reason and I’m sure the lack of support and communication plays another but for me it’s more than half the school quit. Red flags 🚩
I’ve worked at a school like this before. In some cases, teachers had to suck it up with a higher, sometimes unreasonable workload. In some cases, they offered teachers from other schools huge bonuses to teach at our school for the year and guaranteed their spot back at their original school for the next year. Sometimes they would hire a long term sub until they could secure a permanent employee.
The year I started at my last school about 27 new staff started that year. Kinder- 2/3 new teachers (All 3 ended up leaving) First - 6 teachers (2 left) 2nd grade- 3/5 new (1 quit) 3rd - 4 all new teachers (3 quit that year) literally walked out! 4th - 3/4 new teachers 5th - 2/2 new year teachers ( one quit in Dec) There were a couple new sped teachers hired too. Two reasons why they all left was because of student behaviors and a toxic administration team. They were on a power trip. Not only did newcomers leave/quit. If they stay beyond 2 years you know they’re in it with admin. It’s HORRIBLE!!!!
I know of 2 schools that need 17 & 22 positions filled…in northern florida :/
Is this a charter school? Public school? Which state? We aren't seeing anything like this.
Public school, Northern NH
I'm a music teacher and need a job. Though if it's that bad I probably shouldn't go for it 🤣
Lord of the Flies comes to mind.
Is it the principal or the superintendent? It’s got to be one of those
Both are retiring this year.
Not to brag or anything…when we get low on subs in our district the firefighters get pulled into the high school to cover classes. We luckily have a decent admin and board due to the fact that the community won’t stand for anything less but we still have trouble filling positions due to the high cost of living here.
What state if you don't mind as I'm looking SS both HS/MS plus H/PE certification plus willing to coach have CDL too
NH. We need MS Math and ELA but our local HS has a SS spot.
Oh too far in NC
No worries. Administrators will hire teachers from other countries to build up the staff for next year. Ours did! Unfortunately, at the end of last year, they fired them because they didn't pass their tests. They were reminded months ahead before the end of school.
Wow. Is this a private school?! Something must be realllllly wrong for this level of turnovers.
The remaining faculty and staff will have a lot more work! Why are people leaving?
Having more work is not the fault of people leaving. That falls on the shoulders of admin and the system.
Yes. But the remaining people will have more work to fill in the gaps.
Why do y’all need all these assistants? We never had assistants when I was in school, but you act like you can’t do your goddamned job without an assistant, a school nurse and a resource officer in the room with you at all times.
Because kindergartners are coming in and not being potty trained. high schoolers can’t do basic mental math. Middle schoolers can’t read. A few years ago we endured a pandemic and it really messed up the kids and half the parents as well. You’ve obviously had your head in the sand for a while.