teacher

instructional assistant

elementary school teacher

special education teacher

human resources specialist

Charles County Public Schools

I am mostly unhappy with the career of teaching in itself - not the Charles County Public Schools administration. Nationwide, systemic change needs to happen in order to improve a majority of people's satisfaction with the career. I do not think the people at the board and the administration in charge do a poor job given the circumstances surrounding money and other common problems with public education. That being said, where you work is key - some school-level administration is great, and other times, not-so-great. These administrators do get moved around, so it can be a bit of a crapshoot.

Problems I have with the career: I do not feel as if I am paid enough to execute all the duties I am asked to do. Teaching has one of the lowest salary ceilings, especially when compared to careers with similar qualifications. These careers tend to be less demanding and are often in fields where there is little-to-no red tape in implementing proven production increases in the workplace. 

I also do not feel as if I can do everything I need to do to be effective in the day/hours for which I am paid. The only people that hurts are myself (struggling as a professional, perhaps even being a known "problem" for admin) and the students. Lastly, I am not happy with the teaching career because the only opportunity for growth and get fairly compensated is to go the admin route. Sure, I could take on responsibilities and head committees, but the stipends do not cover the cost of my time and sanity. 

That said, I am not completely unhappy; I do get to work with some great colleagues and young people. Even on my worst days of teaching my content, I always remind myself that they will not remember the content-specific information, but they will remember how I made them feel. 

Although the compensation seems high, there is a mandatory 7% off the top of your salary gone to retirement.  The insurance rates are high ($120+ a month for basic), also you must pay the EACC whether or not your a member, then it costs more to join.  I worked at one school, Matthew Henson so I can only speak to this school.  The   environment was terrible, most teachers are very uptight and are difficult to get anything from.  (I was a special education teacher).   The special education department was treated horribly, constant pressure from administration and central office to basically take over classrooms and be a case manager which requires an intense amount of paperwork and data collection.  Some new employees there were not even capable of performing the duties required of the position while other more capable employees (like me) were expected to control lesson planning, classroom behavior management and case management flawlessly and were chastised when things were not perfect.  Administration is not supportive and complain if you send them students no matter the severity of the behavior.   The principal is a bully that uses her power to intimidate employees and offers no help or compliments of any kind (at least to my department).  All in all Charles County talks like they are a great progressive school system, however the curriculum is AP (even for the lowest students) and is always changing, there is extremely high turnover and the paperwork borders on the ludicrous.  The school I was at switched to an inclusion model midway through the year without notice and without training.  Also the teacher evaluation system is a joke and undefined and the administrators are poorly prepared to implement it and it is subjective and arbitrary.  The assessments are in constant flux and are used to evaluate teachers even though the county might throw out the test the following year.  Do yourself a favor keep yourself and your child as far away as possible... at least from Matthew Henson.

As a Substitute Teacher I cannot confirm the benefits, raises, insurance coverage offered by the School System BUT...I can say that employee benefits are made available. My category allows me to opt-in for insurance and other benefits, but at the low hourly wage I chose not to do so. I have my own coverage plans.

The educators, administrative staff, coaches, counselors and all who engage with any school services/oversight are serious about their youth, about imparting the knowledge and life skills they will need to 'go to the next level.' The young people are just like anyone you find in our society today. Some are eager, some need coaching. Some behave well, some may not at times. However, one thing I notice is that most students are benefiting from the encouragement and hard work on the part of the teachers.

The salaries for teachers and administrative staff are good. I have seen the scale for permanent administrative staff when I reviewed their vacancy board. The position I thought to pursue won't be opening until the next school year. My category is hourly wage and not bad for supplemental income. However, that is what it is for me. Just that. Since my history is in executive support/Congress, Media and corporate (many hats), that is where I can expect to solidify my financial base. I have my 'Plan' but I truly enjoy this experience.

To anyone graduating from college with a degree in education, who wants to find a healthy, wholesome, place to make a difference in the educational lives of our young people - Charles County Public Schools is a very good place to build that foundation.

I’ve been retired for eight years and a lot of changes have occurred during that period. I taught there 28 years and can honestly say I worked for the best administrators in my career and experienced the absolute worst administrators you could ever imagine, all in the same school. I would recommend Charles County to any young teacher, but would advise them to seek out knowledgeable employees and find out what schools to stay out. The pay is good, the benefits are generous and the support you get in getting a master’s degree is very good. I would suggest you get in a school located no further north than LaPlata and live in King George, Va, where housing and rentals are more reasonable. My main complaints with the system is how slow they are to get rid of principals who are known to be impossible to work for and work with. The county used to do school climate surveys and even when the results were a disaster, attrition out of control and morale at the bottom, the central administration would do nothing. Only when the parents got involved would the central office take action. They are deathly afraid of parents

Present subject matter to students under the direction and guidance of teachers, using lectures, discussions, or supervised role-playing methods. Tutor and assist children individually or in small groups in order to help them master assignments and to reinforce learning concepts presented by teachers. Supervise students in classrooms, halls, cafeterias, school yards, and gymnasiums, or on field trips. Enforce administration policies and rules governing students.
Responsible for providing instruction, managing the classroom environment, and promoting student learning in the absence of the regular classroom teacher. Participate in teacher-parent conferences regarding students progress and or problems. Prepared lesson outline and plans assigned subjects, and submit for teacher review. Discuss assigned duties with classroom teachers in order to coordinate instructional efforts. Prepare lesson materials, bulletin board displays, exhibits, equipment, and demonstrations.

I have a good school.  Good admin, good ILT that want nothing but to help support me support my kids.  But the school environment is bad, because of the county. 

 The county refuses to allow behavior management in schools, and this makes the environment frustrating, especially when kids get away with their behavior.  It shows the others there are no negative consequences.  Try as admin might, there is nothing that can be done.  The county seems to try all the new educational research without actually looking at the research, so it is implemented poorly and becomes a drag on the staff.  The board of ed has most members that have never been in the education field, and seem to have no idea what teaching is like in the present day.

The county can be good, but the current board of ed members need to go.  One of them (or a previous one) chose to homeschool their kids.  If this doesn't speak for itself, nothing will.

Work with under achievers in elementary math to help them excel.  I learned that some could understand much quicker than others and some just didn’t understand at all.  Children were eager to learn, always put forth their best effort and were very delightful.  The hardest part was dealing with the fact that My Principal, for some reason showed repulse of me or didn’t care for me and never supported  me in work related matters with parent’s residual comments regarding their student matters.  The most enjoyable part of the job was seeing the brightness on my student’s faces when I gave them treats of positive reinforcement for their well done work and efforts for the week.

What is the best part of working at the company?
So many good things to say…excellent management staff, caring and compassionate people, great benefits, fair salaries, great working environment. 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Everyone has stressful days, it’s part of the job, our teams work together and help out when needed so the stress is shared and not piled on one person. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Friendly work environment. Nobody is going to sit and watch anyone down. 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
There is no typical day working with students, but if you know your job and what’s expected of you, your day Will have hiccups, but you’ll be well equipped to handle the days that are not so typical.

This position required extensive multi-tasking at all levels.  When a day was extremely stressful, management was always aware and on occasion would order lunch for the staff.  Management always said thank you and appreciated hard work.  I learned that when management cares about their staff, employees work harder.  I enjoyed being the keeper of information.  I enjoyed being able to relay important information to the community, the schools and other internal clients as needed.  This was also the hardest part of the job.  During the times when the incoming calls was really high, it interfered with the normal day to day workflow.  This taught me to multi-task and prepare for the days when the call volume was high. It was enjoyable working for a group of people who genuinely cared about the well-being and education of young people.

Job security was strong. I taught at one of the better schools in the district, and despite constant changes with administration, the school culture remained fairly consistent and strong. As a teacher, I was given a significant amount of autonomy and was able to flourish as a result. The one downside was how conservative the district remained, which resulted in constant challenge to incorporate innovative ideas, programs, and activities for my students. There are opportunities for advancement within the district, but I found these to involve quite a bit of nepotism.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 4 salaries reported	$64,024 per year
Instructional assistant 1 salary reported	$22.82 per hour
Elementary school teacher 4 salaries reported	$65,066 per year
Special education teacher 3 salaries reported	$52,000 per year
Human resources specialist 1 salary reported	$132,805 per year

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