Anther school vent...............

[hrh_disney_queen]

You already did take it to the ACLU. What have they done about it? And once the school gets no more funding, will you pull your child out?

Really Magic Mom, why would I pull my DD out if the school got more funding?

Read her quote again, she wrote NO MORE funding.

 

[Mouse House Mama]

Hmmmmmmm.......I wonder where the OP is?

 

[MI mom of 3]

As far as teachers salaries go....

Teachers, like any other salaried positions, make X dollars a year. A year is 12 months! They are expected to work however many hours it takes to do the job that they were hired in for. They have a contract that I am sure spells it all out, so there are no surprises.

My husband is not a teacher, he is however salaried. So the above applies to him. He is paid X dollars a year. He is expected to work however many hours it takes to get his job done. If that means bring it home...he does it. If that means work weekends...he does it. He also travels quite a bit for work. That means that instead of his regular 8 hour work day he will be working up to 15-16 hours a day for the same rate.

I work in a public school as a para. My kids have attended that school. I have seen wonderful teachers, and I have seen teachers that needed to retire, or were in the WRONG profession. I have great respect for teachers. But I am sick of (some) teachers feeling that they work harder and are under more stress than other professions. I don't get it. You chose it. Stop whining!!!!

 

[jemgumby]

Read her quote again, she wrote NO MORE funding.

Whoops, my bad. To answer her question, no I would not pull my child out if the school did not receive funding because if that is what it takes for them to learn a hard lesson then that is how it will have to be. The money they receive is conditional and if they can't meet those conditions then they should not get it. Again, I give generously to my DD's schools. I am usually the first parent they ask to send in stuff, etc. because I don't mind as it goes to the kids. What I do mind is the double standard of not following the law by having the school to be a neutral place and then trying to enforce other rules. It can't go both ways. Rules are rules. They should follow them ALL and then if they get federal funding then that is great. Ok, seriously this will be my last post on this.

 

[december]

As far as teachers salaries go....

Teachers, like any other salaried positions, make X dollars a year. A year is 12 months! They are expected to work however many hours it takes to do the job that they were hired in for. They have a contract that I am sure spells it all out, so there are no surprises.

My husband is not a teacher, he is however salaried. So the above applies to him. He is paid X dollars a year. He is expected to work however many hours it takes to get his job done. If that means bring it home...he does it. If that means work weekends...he does it. He also travels quite a bit for work. That means that instead of his regular 8 hour work day he will be working up to 15-16 hours a day for the same rate.

I work in a public school as a para. My kids have attended that school. I have seen wonderful teachers, and I have seen teachers that needed to retire, or were in the WRONG profession. I have great respect for teachers. But I am sick of (some) teachers feeling that they work harder and are under more stress than other professions. I don't get it. You chose it. Stop whining!!!!

Who is whining? Most of us here are trying to clear up misconceptions, like that teachers only work part-time, and get tons of paid time off. As far as understanding my contract, I have no problems there. When I'm paid for something extra, like the summer school I was offered this summer (and told to bring my new 3 wk old along for ), I was offered my hourly rate. To get my hourly rate, they take my contract salary, divide it by my contract days, and divide that by 8. That is standard practice here for any extra work beyond our contracted days. Most of us are on 10 month contracts, not 12 month, even though we get a check for 12 months out of the year. (Getting paid in 10 monthly increments is not an option here.)

 

[Magic Mom]

As far as teachers salaries go....

Teachers, like any other salaried positions, make X dollars a year. A year is 12 months! They are expected to work however many hours it takes to do the job that they were hired in for. They have a contract that I am sure spells it all out, so there are no surprises.

!!!!

I think their contract is typically for 180-190 days. That is the amount of days their salary pays for, not a full year. If the school year is extended, then their pay should be increased.

 

[MM27]

As far as teachers salaries go....

Teachers, like any other salaried positions, make X dollars a year. A year is 12 months! They are expected to work however many hours it takes to do the job that they were hired in for. They have a contract that I am sure spells it all out, so there are no surprises.

My husband is not a teacher, he is however salaried. So the above applies to him. He is paid X dollars a year. He is expected to work however many hours it takes to get his job done. If that means bring it home...he does it. If that means work weekends...he does it. He also travels quite a bit for work. That means that instead of his regular 8 hour work day he will be working up to 15-16 hours a day for the same rate.

I work in a public school as a para. My kids have attended that school. I have seen wonderful teachers, and I have seen teachers that needed to retire, or were in the WRONG profession. I have great respect for teachers. But I am sick of (some) teachers feeling that they work harder and are under more stress than other professions. I don't get it. You chose it. Stop whining!!!!

please show a post where anyone said that teachers work harder or are under more stress than other professions.

I am a teacher. I know about my work load and my stress levels (and what causes them) I wouldn't compare that to another job because I don't know what it's like to be a nurse or accountant or whatever other profession you are talking about.

Along the same lines, what bothers me most is when people assume that they know what my job is like because they either have children in school or because they have gone to school themselves. You hear of a teacher that makes a high salary and assume that every teacher makes that. I have a friend who has been a police officer for as many years as I have been a teacher and he makes double what I make. Should I assume that all police officers make that kind of money? And don't they just sit in their cars drinking coffee and eating doughnuts anyway? Why do they make so much? (I'm kidding by the way)

 

[Cor44432]

We are contracted for 185 days, not 12 months.

Most teachers on this thread and others don't initiate the conversation
by whining and complaining. They are simply trying to explain to some
people the truth about the daily tasks required to make a successful
classroom function.

When people make posts and state things about schools, salaries, classrooms, calendars, etc. in which they know nothing about, then don't be surprised when teachers step up to defend the profession and set the record straight.

 

[GeorgiaPeach8]

I have a great suggestion to people who think teachers don't work hard enough, that we (teachers) are making stupid rules, that we don't care about your kid, that we only got in this job to get summers off...blah, blah, blah---

GO TO A PRIVATE SCHOOL!!!

If we are screwing it up so badly, pay someone to do it your way.

There I said it...flame away! I'm completely sick of teacher-bashers.

 

[Embel]

Oh and I HAVE to tell this one more story before I go. Now this is what I call smart. This past Christmas THE SCHOOL gave my nephew a Christmas present (he's very low income so he qualified for some sort of program) now keep in mind THEY gave it to him. Well hes in the 4th grade and told his buddies that it could be a bomb. One of the buddies told the teacher what he said and she took the present and him to the principals office and they called the police and the mom. Well when mom gets there they have the boy in a chair and a pair of handcuffs on the table in front of him and the principal and police are all telling him that he could go to jail for remarks like that. The kid was scared to death. Mom asks where he got the gift to begin with and they told her at school. OK now (well this is where they probably would've had to put the handcuffs on me to keep me from choking somebody silly) I could not believe, well I guess I can, that this could happen. If I give you a gift im pretty much gonna know what I put in it and then you turn around and tell me that its a bomb, well correct me if im wrong here but wouldnt you disagree with that person and say NO its not, its a teddybear (or whatever). I cant say that I would start screaming and run for my life. Geez am I missing something. I know that common sense is pretty much extinct but good grief these people run, actually run, a school. But anyway they suspended nephew for 2 weeks. Mom took the present and threw it at the principal and told her to NEVER give her son nothing else as long as he was in her school. The nephew was told to never, ever, under any circumstances to utter the B word at school. Not even playing.

.

There are a couple of things about this story that bother me. Kids aren't really allowed to joke about the presence of bombs. I doubt that there is a "you can joke about bombs as long as we know there isn't one" clause for this type of situation. You are hung up on the fact that the school knew there wasn't one, and that isn't the point.

Your nephew's Mom threw the present. Not a great example.

But the most bothersome thing for me is how all of this might have transpired in a child's eyes. Perhaps the boy was embarassed at receiving a gift that branded him as low income. If I am reading you correctly, he did not say he had a bomb, he speculated that the school may have given him a bomb.

I can picture a child saying this in an effort to act tough & deflect the pity or ridicule that he might gotten from his friends for getting the gift. If so, it wasn't a well thought out action, and warranted a trip to the principal's office, but not a 2 week suspension.

 

[GeorgiaPeach8]

When people make posts and state things about schools, salaries, classrooms, calendars, etc. in which they know nothing about, then don't be surprised when teachers step up to defend the profession and set the record straight.

Also, one more note on teacher salaries. Yes, we have a contract and essentially we understand that we are contracted for a job not a certain number of hours. However, my district wants the best of both worlds. I don't receive standard lunch periods or 15 minute breaks like an hourly paid employee--I can live with that. If a teacher mentions this, we are reminded that we are salary. Then the last time we were released early for inclement weather, our district sent an email reminding everyone that if they left early because of weather, they would have to make up their "time."

I wish they would just pick one...I'm I a salary employee or hourly???

 

[freckles and boo]

Many parents don't outright teach their kids to be disrespectful, but they show them that it's okay by their own words/actions...

...So every time a parent tells their kid how stupid an assignment is, or talks poorly about something the teacher said or did, they are telling the child that it's okay to have that attitude and disrespect. Many parents think that it's okay to do that, but they probably wouldn't like it if the teacher started talking to their child about what he/she thought about the way they parent.

My brother's wife is notorious for this. She and my brother are poorly educated adults and they refuse to accept any responsibility for their children's struggles. I don't know how one family can have so many "bad" teachers. They criticize their children's teachers in front of my nieces and my nephew without any regard to how that affects the children. My oldest niece is twelve and quite bright but she is picking up her mom's terrible attitude about school and teachers. It makes me sad. My sister and I try very hard to counter it when we hear it by but I only see them every other month or so. I have flat out told my SIL that she is doing her kids a terrible disservice. I have told my niece, in front of her mother, that no matter what she thinks of her teacher that she has to do her very, very best because in the end she is responsible for learning. Unfortunately it is something that I have very little control over. My own kids KNOW that I am on the same team as their teachers.

 

[hrh_disney_queen]

Whoops, my bad. To answer her question, no I would not pull my child out if the school did not receive funding because if that is what it takes for them to learn a hard lesson then that is how it will have to be. The money they receive is conditional and if they can't meet those conditions then they should not get it. Again, I give generously to my DD's schools. I am usually the first parent they ask to send in stuff, etc. because I don't mind as it goes to the kids. What I do mind is the double standard of not following the law by having the school to be a neutral place and then trying to enforce other rules. It can't go both ways. Rules are rules. They should follow them ALL and then if they get federal funding then that is great. Ok, seriously this will be my last post on this.

But won't less/no funding be hurting your child right along with "them"? Seems like you and the ACLU may be cutting off your nose to spite your face.

 

[mhsjax]

I absolutely do not mean this in a hostile way, but I don't know of any teachers who are lookong for any pity. However, I also don't know why people always bring up "all that time off teachers have". We don't get paid for it so how does that pertain to anything?


(P.S. I have to add that we generally go in at 7:15 and don't even have lunch off - somebody has to be with the kids at all times, but that's just part of the job.)

I am not going to argue time off, my niece was a teacher and she worked extremely long hours plus stuff in the summer for different certifications. But, in our school the teachers do not eat with the kids, they have paid workers that roam around the cafeteria while the kids eat. The teacher all eat in the teachers lounge and I know this because I eat lunch with my kids at least one day a week.

 

[kaytieeldr]

And teachers are well aware of this when they decide to pursue this career. They are also well aware that most are underpaid and overworked. They chose to be teachers, no one is forcing them. I can't feel pity for someone who is out of work by 3-4 p.m. each day, has off numerous weeks throughout the school year and has summers off.

In one sentence, you show awareness that teachers are underpaid and overworked; in the next, you indicate their workday ends at 3 or 4 PM. Are you sure? When do you think the typical teacher is planning lessons, or correcting homework, or responding to e-mails from parents, or meeting with parents, or any of dozens of other job-related tasks that cannot be managed during the standard eight hour workday? And a teacher whose workday ends at 3 probably got there and started working at 6 or so - i.e. minimum eight-hour workday on-site, not counting all the after work hours they need to devote to work.

And - an observation I've made just from this thread - teachers apparently don't just have one boss (principal) or two or three (superindendent, school board). No, it appears teachers have fifty or sixty direct 'bosses - the above-mentioned, plus their students' parents - and thousands of indirect bosses in the taxpaying public.

Dang. I wouldn't want THAT stress! And still have to do my job, i.e. educate those students? I don't know how all you teachers in this thread do it!

 

[mhsjax]

I don't know how teachers do it either. I volunteer and the behavior I see is just unbelievable. Well I guess you teachers believe it. I would be in jail. I couldn't put up with some of those kids. I think some parents just don't parent anymore and expect the school system to handle everything. Hats off to you teachers.

 

[horseshowmom]

And - an observation I've made just from this thread - teachers apparently don't just have one boss (principal) or two or three (superindendent, school board). No, it appears teachers have fifty or sixty direct 'bosses - the above-mentioned, plus their students' parents - and thousands of indirect bosses in the taxpaying public.

Dang. I wouldn't want THAT stress! And still have to do my job, i.e. educate those students? I don't know how all you teachers in this thread do it!

You are 100% correct about the number of bosses. I wish I had a dollar for every parent who has complained to one of our staff members about the teacher being unreasonable about what they expect the student to learn. When you try to explain to them about state mandated curriculum and the testing requirements, they generally leave in a huff (often with a few choice words ). And it doesn't matter that you know you're right, it's still hard on the nerves.

 

[Teacher03]

I have a great suggestion to people who think teachers don't work hard enough, that we (teachers) are making stupid rules, that we don't care about your kid, that we only got in this job to get summers off...blah, blah, blah---

GO TO A PRIVATE SCHOOL!!!
If we are screwing it up so badly, pay someone to do it your way.

There I said it...flame away! I'm completely sick of teacher-bashers.

Wait a minute! I teach at a private school and I am held to the same standards as public school teachers, and I promise that I work just as hard. The only difference is I make ALOT less. It is a misconception if you think private schools cater to parents because they pay. Teachers, both private and public, have to stick together !

 

[monsterkitty]

I think their contract is typically for 180-190 days. That is the amount of days their salary pays for, not a full year. If the school year is extended, then their pay should be increased.

Our contract is 210 days. We have 200 days with students, 6 inservice days, and 4 work days. We used to be contracted for 200 days of which 190 were student-contact days. However, we added days to our calendar because of state-mandated testing due to NCLB. The test is spread out over 7 days. This allows for 3 snow days if we need them. By doing this the students do not lose learning time because of the lovely testing.

When we increased our calendar year, we as a union voted not to take a pay increase. My district is a very poor district and we know the students need that extra time.

Please note, I am not whining about the extra days without increased pay. Remember, we voted to do this!

 

[kaytieeldr]

First off, they just want our kids to attend all days of school so they can get their money from the government so that is just point blank greed.

Greed? Really? You don't think that maybe - just maybe - 'they' want your kids to attend all days of school so your kids can get the FULL BENEFIT of the education being offered / lessons being taught?????