Vacancies Damaging Children Daily!
September 13, 2023
Don't Our Children Deserve A Certified Teacher In Every Classroom?
Absolutely our children deserve to the have the very best education that $3 billion dollars can buy. https://patch.com/maryland/bowie/2-8b-operating-budget-approved-prince-george-s-education-board.
Mr. House asked me in our meeting last week, what was one of the goals our union would like to work on this year with PGCPS. My primary response was that the culture and climate must change.
We all know from Education 101, that students must be present and in attendance to learn. If you can't get students in front of a teacher on time, the rest of the day or class is wasted. We also know that if you can't get a teacher (certified and qualified) in front of students, no real learning can take place either. I shared this most basic expectation last week with Superintendent House on your behalf.
I expressed also, how having vacancies in the classroom, on the bus, in the cafeteria, and in the offices that support our schools, really do harm our students. I shared my concern for the administrators and supervisors in this union being held accountable for the lack of learning and being blamed for their struggle to get their job done, while trying do the work that vacant position holders should've been hired to do.
Everyone is trying to figure out why PGCPS still has nearly 220 bus vacancies and over 1200 vacancies in classrooms, offices, cafeterias, and support positions from Gwynn Park in the south to Laurel in north. Where are the candidates H. R. says? We can't find people to fill the positions.
Until Mr. House and his administration put their finger on the pulse and find the way to change the culture that has festered here for decades, PGCPS will not make the progress we all want to see.
The primary culture pitfalls that have been stifling the progress of our schools, has been the lack of priority with safety and security for staff and students, and the unwillingness to pay folks for the work that they do day in and day out, and nights and weekends at the expense of their family and personal well being.
What also must be addressed also are the concerns of countless principals and supervisors who say that H.R. is too slow to complete the hiring process, calling prospective new hires weeks or months after individuals have interviewed and been offered a position. Many administrators and supervisors have done everything they could to fill positions under their purview only to find out later that H. R. did not complete the process. Is H. R. experiencing difficulty due to a shortage of Human Resource hiring specialists? If so, why? What needs to be done to fix H.R., if this is the case.
Aren't Prince George's children worthy of having dedicated, respected, financially secure, appreciated, certified and qualified individuals to work in their school system. Why does it seem that it has become acceptable to open school each year, with over a thousand positions vacant.
I assured Mr. House that we recognize that he has only been here for two months, but we hope that he will hit the ground running to change the culture and climate.
ASASP is here to support him and his administration's efforts and plans to bring about the cultural and climatic change that is necessary to ensure that our children receive a world class education.
Changing the climate also means changing the mindset that ASASP members stay after hours and receive no compensation. Stop the practice of asking, suggesting, mandating individuals to cover athletic events for free and to do the work of the vacant positions in their office for free. If our members were offered the pay they deserve to stay late for after hour events, there wouldn't be any more argument about it, because if you paid people, folks would be stepping over themselves to cover events.
It is unfortunate that our students have to suffer the loss of valuable instructional time, day in and day out due to the school system's inability or unwillingness to find, hire and retain enough staff to adequately ensure academic progress.
How long should administrators stay after school with students waiting for late buses or buses that may never show up at all? Why should countless other departments in our union be expected to stay late or complete work over the weekend without compensation? The culture has to change and now is the time.
Mr. House we are with you one hundred percent, but we need for you to see to it that:
^a certified teacher is in front of every child
^that a bus picks up every bus rider on schedule
^that principals and administrators are adequately supported to run class successful schools
^that every departmental employee supporting schools is classified and paid appropriately
^and every ASASP Employee is paid for staying late and covering events after hours.
This, I think is a good place to start!
Jeffery Parker, Executive Director ASASP