Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Outdoor Education Compensation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Outdoor educators ask AACPS to pay teachers for overnight outdoor-education duty
Summary
An Anne Arundel County outdoor educator urged the school board to compensate fourth-grade teachers for overnight stays at the Arlington Echo outdoor education program, saying the district currently requires overnight supervision without pay.
An outdoor-education instructor told the Anne Arundel County Public Schools Board of Education that the district should pay teachers who stay overnight with students during fourth-grade outdoor education experiences.
Ted Hall, who said he has been an outdoor educator in Anne Arundel County for 32 years, described the Arlington Echo program and said teachers who stay overnight are not compensated: "We tell the teachers they have to spend the night, but we don't pay them." He said the district once had nearly all schools participate in overnight programming, but participation fell after COVID and after the program became mandatory without additional compensation for teachers.
Why it matters: Hall argued that paying teachers for overnight duty is a matter of equity and would help sustain the program. He said other Maryland outdoor-education programs pay teachers and that Anne Arundel County is an outlier in not compensating overnight time.
Speakers requested that the board examine funding to pay teachers for overnight and overtime work related to outdoor-education programs.
No board votes were held during the hearing. The testimony will be considered as the board refines budget priorities in upcoming workshops.
