As the new school year begins, students and teachers are more than thrilled to get back into the school groove. Students get to skip class and walk the halls again, teachers get to have one-sided conversations with their students and TMA can continue to do, well, whatever it does: what’s not to love about the back-to-school season? 

It was a pleasant surprise to many when word started spreading that ACPS did not come to play this school year. Like every year, ACPS prepared in advance for the year, making sure they had enough teachers hired to cater to all students. This alone would be great; however, as it seems, ACPS lost count and hired way too many teachers! It’s normal to see a classroom overflowing with students, but now they are also overflowing with teachers.

Senior Ronald Durden said he was “positively gobsmacked” to see three adults in his fifth period government class on the first day of school.

“So, I walk into my Honors Government class, and I see three teachers just standing at the door. I was really thrown, obviously: why would there be three people teaching one class? Never in my twenty-seven years as an ACPS student have I ever experienced something like that,” Durden said. “I didn’t ask many questions, though; I just assumed that I must have missed the SEAL lesson where they talked about this.” 

Like students, teachers weren’t aware there would be multiple teachers assigned to one class until the first day of school. Though they say they were confused at first, they soon realized they could use it to their advantages.

English teacher Taylor Kelce is still learning the ins and out of teaching as she earned her Master’s in Education two days ago, but says all of her coworkers were just as confused as she was on the first day.

“I walked into the room with my iced caramel nonfat latte, and there were four adults squished onto the couch by the door. I mean, honestly, it looked comfy: nothing like a good group hug to bring people together! But I definitely thought it was odd. By the end of the class, though, we really got into a groove,” Kelce said.

She explained how the average teaching process has changed with the new system.

“With four other teachers, there isn’t much for me to do, so I basically get paid a whole lot of money for doing nothing! Throughout the day, I just sit at a random desk and pretend to do work, even though I’m actually playing chess online,” she said. “I’m actually living the life. I thought after college, it would be all downhill, but boy, was I wrong!”

The benefits don’t stop there, though: rumor among staff has it that the more teachers you work with, the more money you get paid. 

This means that teachers like Kelce, who teach with upwards of four to five other adults, get paid quadruple and quintuple of the base pay of 250,000¢ annually.

“We are so glad that ACPS has been able to provide such support, emotionally and financially, to our hard-working teachers. We appreciate them so much that I’m talking about how I appreciate them even though it isn’t Teacher Appreciation week!” said Principal Sen Trall-Offis in an interview with the Wire, West Potomac High School’s student publication. “Wow, that was a lot of appreciation’s in one sentence. Can we cut that?”

Trall-Offis said that he “personally” understands how hard teachers work and explained how this is connected to ACPS’s culture in general.

“I, for one, value how hard our teachers work, and I show that by doing more than just saying it once or twice, you know? At ACPS, we say it three times!” he said with a cheery smile. “It just warms my heart to know that all of our teachers out there feel seen and recognized. I would just die if they didn’t, honestly!”