Montgomery County Schools Trying to Fill Hundreds of Teacher Positions | NBC4 Washington

Like many school systems, Montgomery County Public Schools is looking to fill hundreds of open positions just weeks before the new school year. News4’s Darcy Spencer reports.
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[jeevanga]

I have been applying for many years for teacher positions at MCPS while working there as a support staff. Then applied to PGCPS one time and got hired. Being teaching there happily for three years now. I applied again this school year to come back to MC as a teacher since I live in MC. But they are not forwarding my applications to the principals. I don't understand the mindset of the human resource staff at MCPS.

[artisanhome]

Unreasonable teacher requirements also contribute to teacher shortages in a major way. For example, some counties require teachers to submit at least three RECENT references not only from principals of schools, but also principals who work in the county where they want to teach. This type of requirement limits teaching opportunities to people who are already in the system and already have established relationships with administrators. What about first-year educators? What about educators who left teaching for years and want to return? Human resource personnel will often tell people in these situations to apply for substitute teaching jobs. Well, that isn't a solution because substitute teachers aren't needed everyday. Substitute teachers also don't work at the same school everyday. Therefore, they don't work in a school long enough to build relationships with principals, who substitute teachers rarely see anyway. Substitute teachers could easily spend an entire day at a school and never see or even know the principal. Throughout the day, principals are tied up in meetings. They don't observe substitute teachers. Moreover, not everyone is called back to be long-term substitutes. Those positions might go to resident substitutes who have been waiting for years to become long-term subs, and eventually teachers, long before a new sub got there. The public school system is incredibly disorganized and far too political.