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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: Wrong! ()
Date: November 13, 2014 08:39PM

are there bad teachers? Sure.

Protected by union/principals/school board? Bullshit.

It's cheaper for fcps to hire new inexperienced teaches than it is to keep experienced teachers, period. If there's a experienced teacher that sucks, they'd be fired long ago. The "teacher unions" in VA have no teeth, there's no "tenure" in VA.

Get off the fox news teat.

4LjP Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Where are all these IC crunching numbers for the
> classrooms to identify problem teachers??
>
> In 30 minutes I could pick out the 2-3 problem
> teachers/classes by just looking over the students
> grades and class averages and comparing this info
> to other similiar classes/teachers in the same
> school, pyramid or district.
>
> In whole my kids have had some wonderful teachers,
> but I would say there is about a 15-20% of the
> teacher population that is protected by the
> Pricipals, School Board or Teachers Union.
>
> Many of these teachers are protected and need to
> have been sent out the door YEARS ago, but they
> continue to spoil the situation for student after
> student.
>
> It I showed up to a job and did as poorly as some
> of these teachers, I would not have the job for a
> the most 1 week, but many of these problem
> teachers are still there 20+ years later.
>
> I am seeing many, many students getting out from
> under these bad teachers by going to online
> classes. It is not rocket science when there are
> 10 or less kids in a class because they have all
> bailed out to online classes.
>
> Why do these teachers still have a job in these
> sitations??

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: I guess I'm stupid ()
Date: November 13, 2014 08:57PM

" Then it took them less time to become teacher
> masters/leaders than others. Duh!"


You mean it only takes some people 3 years to become a master, but it takes others 25 years?

That doesn't usually happen in the legal or medical professions (your comparison), but I guess teaching is different.

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: 4LjP ()
Date: November 13, 2014 09:36PM

Wrong! Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> are there bad teachers? Sure.
>
> Protected by union/principals/school board?
> Bullshit.
>
> It's cheaper for fcps to hire new inexperienced
> teaches than it is to keep experienced teachers,
> period. If there's a experienced teacher that
> sucks, they'd be fired long ago. The "teacher
> unions" in VA have no teeth, there's no "tenure"
> in VA.
>
> Get off the fox news teat.

You are dead WRONG that crappy teachers are dealt with appropriately. Not sure if the problem is with the Principals and/or FCPS "Process" and/or if the Teachers Union has anything part of this. The Union probably does not have much influence but they may offer to help a teacher if they think they are wrongfully terminated.

The problem with teachers is the "customers" are kids, it is hard for parents to get the straight scoop, but the school Administrators were not born yesterday and they just do NOTHING to sort things out.

We did get one teacher that was total crap and a young one put on probation and I think she decided to quit once she was backed into corner. She needed to go, had kids reading in class rather than doing appropriate work, making up grades, not returning graded papers, not updating Blackboard. Principal gave us all sorts of lip service how good the teacher was, how many people liked her. Well you turn the heat up high enough things will happen, but most parents are too wimpy to rock to the boat and are afraid their kids will be retaliated against.

When you have a crap teacher, what is worse - retaliation or having an entire wasted school year? A new graduate came in mid year, turned out to be an OUTSTANDING 1st year teacher that would put other veterans to shame! I believe when she went out to get married a few years later, she had all the Blackboard pages up to day and published each day by the sub. This lady ROCKED!

But I can tell you we are the poster family for crappy teachers and the Principals are the main problem from what I can see. When I speak with neighbors that had kids and former students that are out of graduate school about a crappy teacher taught for 22 years and hear that the teacher was a train wreck from day one, why did this teacher get to stay around for 22 years?? Teacher retired, we thought we were done with her, NO, she comes back as a substitute!!!

So there is a MAJOR problem here and the Administration CHOOSES not to address the issues.

There are EASILY 6+ teachers in my kids High School that should go, they are ALL well know "BAD" teachers, some have had so many kids transfer out to online classes there are only 7 students left in the class. This is CLEARLY something that people are aware of and CHOOSE to ignore.

If I performed the way some of these teachers perform, I would not last a week in a "real" job.

So think this is BS all you want, but this is not just one school, one set of Administrators, the SYSTEM needs to be turned on end and the stupidity has to STOP.

Oh yea, think of all the MONEY FCPS would likely save in doing this as well.


>

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: OK, so... ()
Date: November 13, 2014 09:55PM

4LjP..what have YOU done to address the situation at your child's school? I mean, besides bitching about it on FFX underground?

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: a few questions ()
Date: November 13, 2014 10:00PM

"So there is a MAJOR problem here and the Administration CHOOSES not to address the issues."


Do you think the master/leader/expert "Instructional Coaches" can rehabilitate/remediate these "crappy" teachers? Maybe the use of the coaches is the "choice" in "addressing the issues"? Do you see it working or should FCPS lay off the "coaches" and use the "process" to remove these "crappy" teachers? What would be "best practice" here?

I certainly understand your anger as we have had to live through a few of these teachers as well.

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: defend ()
Date: November 13, 2014 10:22PM

administration defends the crappy teachers. inbred-ness of this area is that they support their own and perpetuate their narrow views. add the arrogance. its all about them, their achievements, their legacy, their manufactured ridiculous standards. the mission is not about teaching students. they do not care about your child. period.

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: 4Ljp ()
Date: November 13, 2014 10:23PM

OK, so... Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 4LjP..what have YOU done to address the situation
> at your child's school? I mean, besides bitching
> about it on FFX underground?

Lets see, was instrumental in getting at least one teacher removed mid year in my child's class. The replacement teacher was OUTSTANDING, probably just pure dumb luck as how can you find a new teacher easily in December to come in mid year?? After the teacher was gone it was interesting how all the OTHER parents had the same experience as us, but said/did nothing. This seems to be a VERY common theme with parents in this area or in general.

Some of the problem teachers I did not find out all the details until AFTER my kid finished the class and the teacher retired at the end of that year. So there was NOTHING I could have done.

One teacher we shredded with an Assistance Principal, Counselor and it really did no good. There was really no change or action taken, we had a VERY good case so this showed the Administrations true colors.

Many of the other teachers my kids did not get by luck or we attempted to avoid them. The problem is it is hard for a parent to go after a bad teacher when you kid(s) have never had these bad teachers! And do I want to put my kid in a class with these teachers just so I can go try and make a change, at this point only a few years left, it is a bit foolish to bang your head on the wall and shoot yourself in the foot.

So here is the real problem, when your kid only typically has a teacher for 1 year, you really have to act fast and have the ammunition to try and force change. Also SO many other parents are reluctant to "rock the boat". They all tell you the same things you already know, but they choose not to do anything.

So my real question to "Ok so..", WHAT HAVE YOU DONE OTHER THAN TO ACCUSE ME OF JUST BITCHING? At least my family has taken action on any of a number issues, some we were successful with, some not so.

But my point is it should never need to come to this that parents need to force improvements, the crappy teachers are VERY obvious and the Administration seems to do very little to make corrections, changes or improvements as a whole.

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: 4Ljp ()
Date: November 13, 2014 10:38PM

a few questions Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> "So there is a MAJOR problem here and the
> Administration CHOOSES not to address the
> issues."
>
>
> Do you think the master/leader/expert
> "Instructional Coaches" can rehabilitate/remediate
> these "crappy" teachers? Maybe the use of the
> coaches is the "choice" in "addressing the
> issues"? Do you see it working or should FCPS
> lay off the "coaches" and use the "process" to
> remove these "crappy" teachers? What would be
> "best practice" here?
>
> I certainly understand your anger as we have had
> to live through a few of these teachers as well.

Good question, I am not 100% sure what the charter/job description is for these "Instructional Coaches" really is.

Like anything, there needs to be a Total Quality program where parents and students can provide feedback about the teachers, also composite/average grades tell a lot about the situation as well. If there are grades to far out of the norm this should trigger both internal and external reviews.

There seems to be a culture in the Public sector to cover and protect, put it minimal effort and accept mediocrity.

You cannot always judge schools on standardized test scores. Often the view is skewed due to economic factors, many schools have almost the entire student body in tutoring and/or test prep where other areas there is not the money or time for this. So some of the school Administration pats themselves on the back for a great job when in fact they only play a partial role in the level of students being turned out.

I was fortunate enough to be able to pick any school district in FFX and I made a calculated decision. Overall the Middle School was probably by far the best experience we had and had very fewer teacher issues, and some really OUTSTANDING teachers. But ,iddle school goes very quickly.

Elementary and High School is where things can really be a problem.

If I had it to do again, I may have chosen a different pyramid but you learn as you go.

You learn a lot from larger families with kids in multiple grades and parents with Twins or Triplets really get a good overall view as they can directly compare more teachers.

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: Longtime Teacher here ()
Date: November 14, 2014 07:06AM

I've taught in many FCPS schools. The best ones are where the admin and the faculty have a vision that "fits" with the community...that is, they don't always follow the cookie cutter mentality that everything has to be exactly the same in every school. Admin must be trusted by community and faculty alike, or they're not going to last long...they have to remove bad teachers, but also protect good teachers from crazy parents. As an aside, i'm not a fan of what has happened to schools in the past 20 years with the push for more and more standardized testing/data driven teaching. We have less time to do more in-depth teaching, and the stress level to get test results is incredible...for teachers, admin, students and parents alike. Just my $0.02

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: kidding right? ()
Date: November 16, 2014 09:50AM

They are all assistant principals or principals that's why

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: why it matters ()
Date: November 16, 2014 12:01PM

Longtime teacher has it right. The "Gatehouse" level has to listen to the ground level. The ground level is where everything happens. The upper echelon would like to believe that they are "controlling", but this is not really possible on a day to day (or even long term when you know that days turn into years). It's not going to work if every school is forced to function like every other school. The strength is in the "diversity" of the schools. Schools have to be flexible enough to react to their own unique community circumstances. Principals have to stay around long enough to be part of those communities. Dedication and commitment don't seem to be appreciated so people move on to the money at Gatehouse. People are rewarded for not doing a good job so you have a kind of perverse moral hazard. It's not the culture we should be creating.

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: the culture ()
Date: November 16, 2014 12:04PM

^ People are rewarded for doing what they are told to do instead of doing what makes sense. That's why things don't work out and they move on. They are afraid to go against what they are told even if it is not the best solution.

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: Look it up, stupid ()
Date: November 16, 2014 02:11PM

I guess I'm stupid Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You mean it only takes some people 3 years to
> become a master, but it takes others 25 years?

You are arguing from the outliers for obvious reasons (namely, you know full well how wrong you are), but essentially yes. Some are keen to become masters, some are keen to continue a focus on teaching and only come to the idea of mastering later. But you knew that.

> That doesn't usually happen in the legal or
> medical professions (your comparison), but I guess
> teaching is different.

It is what it is. And stupid is what stupid does.

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: yeah, stupid ()
Date: November 16, 2014 04:42PM

" Some are keen to become masters, some are keen to continue a focus on teaching and only come to the idea of mastering later."


Huh? This is an oxymoron. How can you not focus on teaching and become a "master"? You make no sense.

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: IA ()
Date: August 02, 2015 02:25PM

Jenny Skerker was a teacher at VA run. She is a really stupid woman and a bad teacher. We know she didn't sleep her way to the Instructional Coach position because she is also fat so how did she get that job?

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Re: FCPS should layoff Instructional Coaches and Elementary schools foreign language "teachers"
Posted by: JAJ ()
Date: March 03, 2018 03:27PM

PO

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