teacher

substitute teacher

special education teacher

support specialist

english teacher

Frederick County Public Schools

I am a specials teacher (art, music, or PE) at an elementary school with a large Title I population. We have a great deal of turnover in all staff- support, teachers, and administrators. Our students move in and out quite frequently and often miss a lot of school. Many of them do not speak English as their first language. Our school system's (and our nation's) trend is currently to raise standards and embrace more standardized testing. Specials is currently pencil/paper tested several times per year in grades 1-5, which I do not agree with at all. Six through eleven year old children should spend their time in specials building lifelong healthy habits and becoming lovers of the arts, not stressing out about tests on vocabulary and the like. Students are spending more and more time learning ABOUT PE, art, or music, and less time actually DOING PE, art, and music. People are going way overboard on PARCC as well. One test should not be dominating our school year. My students' biggest weakness is pencil/paper testing, yet that is what we are focusing most of our efforts on! If they can demonstrate that they know the material in another way, that should be acceptable. 

Specials teachers are being evaluated like classroom teachers, using systems that were written for classroom teachers, and it doesn't transfer well. We are expected to include elements of a math or reading lesson in our lessons, without being given the support that a classroom teacher would receive. For example, they have ELL teachers, reading and math interventionists, and SPED teachers to give them resources, co-teach with them, write lessons, and LET THEM USE THE BATHROOM. They also receive kit lessons that include scripts and all the required materials! Specials teachers have to come up with our own lessons and materials, and type them up very specifically, often buying or making our own materials, which takes massive amounts of planning time. I think if they want to pretend like PE and the arts are the same as reading and math, then they need to provide the same resources that they do for the classroom teachers!

FCPS has been asking teachers to do more with less money and less resources and less support every year. Many people seem to be buckling under the stress, just barely keeping their heads above water, ready to snap. Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of gossiping and scapegoating because of that. There is a lack of communication and consideration in general. 

Lunches are 30 minutes and are supposed to be "duty free" however, are not. We are often required to take students to the cafeteria, or are expected by the principal to volunteer to cover others' lunch duties during our lunch time, and if we say no, we are viewed as "not a team player."

A typical day at work consists of waking early in the morning to drive to the school bus.  After conscientiously searching over the bus and completing the pre-trip inspection, the drive to the first pick-up in the morning commences.  I greet the first riders as they enter the bus with a quiet smiling "good morning" as they tend to be half asleep.  As the morning progresses the good morning becomes louder and more exuberant to each boarding student, often greeting their parents or neighbors along the way.  I often look for emotional or attitudinal changes in the students and monitor them to make adjustments to avoid trouble between students on the bus.  Middle school age is generally where any problems will occur if they should arise, developmentally it is quite understandable.  I get to know my students names and gather information about them to assist me in how I approach them and to keep the bus environment peaceful and welcoming. After the drive to pick up is completed, I pull the bus up to the school and dismiss the students with a well wishing, usually "have a nice/ good day" or "I will see you this afternoon".  Each individual school trip is handled in this manner.  The afternoon is often the similar.  Between trips I check for any left behind items to return to the students, check for any damage to the bus and do a quick clean.  When an occasional issue arises, there is standard procedure to follow.  I build a report with the students that ride to a degree that if there is any problem, a quick chat usually takes care of any problems.  I also like to challenge them with weekly trivia.

Curriculum is written by a select few of the preferiti, whose actual depth of knowledge in their content areas seem(ed) to be largely irrelevant. Guidance will happily load up your classes with students that either barely passed the prerequisites - or in some cases - failed them. Admin will blame you if kids that failed your course's pre-reqs are somehow now getting A's in your honors level course. You will hardly ever get to interact with the students that worked to earn placement in your honors course because all of your time will be squandered trying desperately to get the knuckleheads who should have never been put in your honors class to put down their smartphones and actually care. There is a reason why there are two types of teacher in FCPS schools: those that have tenure and are a few years from retirement, and those fresh out of school themselves that burn out after only a couple of years teaching.

I would guess one's experience at FCPS has a great deal to do with the school/position you are assigned. As a new teacher I was given a class load that I was woefully unprepared for. I was teaching all low-level classes with many students that had severe behavioral problems. I felt extremely unsupported by the administration and made to feel incompetent because I could not control my students (who would still act up even when the principal/VP were present in the room.) 

Overall it was an extremely demoralizing experience. It seems like new teachers are dumped with the least desirable classes and not given a chance to develop their methods in an environment where being a teacher is the main job as opposed to disciplinarian. I wish I had started my teaching career at a different school or county where I might have had a chance.

If you have any compassion for special needs students then RUN from this district as far as you can!! They use restraints and exclusion frequently as the staff are uneducated(or unwilling to implement what they have learned) in the classrooms. Students with "disabilities" are punished, suspended and expelled at a much higher rate than non 504/IEP students. It's difficult to stand by and watch it, and then know by the semesters end they would be "gone" . They push 504/IEP students into alternative schools then from alternative schools completely out of the district. The then spend thousands upon thousands of dollars defending their "decisions" in court all while the child is out of school and receiving zero supports. The amount of money they spend keeping 504/IEP students out of their comprehensive schools, they could completely fund private education for each one for child's lifetime!

In the beginning I really enjoyed a day at work.  My first priority was always the kids.  Most HS kids are fun/funny.  The more difficult kids I knew would change once they got out of school, hopefully for the better! Some co-workers were pleasant, but most were constantly complaining; I dislike that a lot,  I learned a lot from the kids; teachers are psychologists, too.  The administration was not too organized.  There was one principal and four APs.  One would think that would have been enough to stay on track.  I used to arrive at school at 6AM; it is then that I would grade papers and do last-minute planning for the day; I worked through lunch too.  The hardest part of the job was the huge amount of grading papers.  One finds themselves working at night and on weekends.  It is very easy to burnout.  I will never regret choosing the field of teaching -its good and not-so-good aspects have enriched my life.

Very physically taxing;  a lot of lifting, moving large carts, operating large dishwasher machines.  Burns are common.  There is a lot of early  food prep work and facility set up.  End of shift clean up includes sweeping, wrapping, recording foods and putting them away, prep for the next day, cleaning all food reservoirs, stocking all drink and snack racks, wiping down all equipment.  All cafeterias are understaffed.  Employees are often sent to other schools with no notice.  All employees must help even with areas they are untrained on ( cash register, cook, inventory, filling, serving...).  All duties MUST be completed within a few hour time frame.  
There is no vacation time or personal leave, and employees are not allowed to leave until their shift is finished even if their child's school calls with an illness emergency.

Exceptional job providing education to High School age students. 
Very rewarding to watch students develop new skills, and watch their confidence increase. I have learned to be able to tailor tasks to student abilities, classroom management, and how to be more creative in the delivery of content.
Management at the school is incredibly responsive and supportive of the teaching staff. 
The teaching staff is extremely supportive and cooperative with other teachers and administration. I feel very privileged to work with such an exceptional group of people.
The most difficult part of the day is competing for the attention of students who are distracted with cell phones.
By far the most rewarding part of the job is to watch students become engaged, confident, critical thinkers.

I loved LOVED my job at FCPS, sadly I had to relocate due to a move.  The hours were great and loved the holidays off! The only down side was I was hired as a "non-benefited" employee. After completing my first year in the county system, I was terminated weeks before the last day of school due to "changes" in the system. I was told after my first year I would be a "benefited" employee which I am sure could have happened after jumping through a lot of hoops to get there. The administrators at the particular school I was assigned to were abusive in power and catty at times, there was little positive communication between administrators and employees.  Overall the AMAZING teachers and eager students are what kept me coming back.

While the compensation package offered to certificated faculty members in Frederick County Public Schools is approaching comparability to it's neighboring counties, like Montgomery, Howard, and Washington Counties, the system has done little to address the issue of teacher workload.  FCPS embraces new initiatives each year, increases class size each year, and reduces the operating budget each year.  These actions contribute to a stressful workplace where the enjoyable part of the job is found in the students and in the colleagues, which are components of any school, in any system.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Teacher 3 salaries reported	$76,667 per year
Substitute teacher 3 salaries reported	$23.00 per hour
Special education teacher 3 salaries reported	$76,256 per year
Support specialist 3 salaries reported	$40,167 per year
English teacher 5 salaries reported	$63,240 per year

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