OT-Do teachers get vacation?

[crisi]

I prefer my job where I might not get a month off annually (unless I saved all my days up) but where I got to do what I wanted on my 'personal' day. Heck, I've never worked anywhere that had 'sick' days. We have a certain number of days/year to do w/as we please including travel or even getting sick . As long as there is coverage and your work is caught up no one even asks what it's for.

Our furlough days are universally hated - particularly the one mid-summer. Its sort of the worst situation - we didn't have the stacks of time teachers do (and I know a lot of teachers have pretty short summers by the time they finish one year, start another - not to mention any coaching or anything that might be mid-summer), nor did we have much time to vacation when prices were cheap and places not crowded.

 

[torinsmom]

I work in a charter school, and we get 12-14(depending on how long you have worked there) days per year to use as personal/sick/vacation. We have a week in Spring, a week in Fall, in addition to the normal holidays off(we get a week for Christmas on average) We have 6 weeks off in summer, NOT 3 months as some people like to think. We can only carryover 10 days to the next year, which really bites because I would love to bank mine. Right now, I have 21 days for the year, so I either need to use 11 days between now and June, or get paid $50 per day, which I think is ridiculous! My time is worth more than $50, as I make basically $170 per day.

We are not allowed to take more than 2 consecutive days off, but they do not tell us we cannot take the days before breaks(what does that hurt? ). Usually, I will plan trips on fall break or spring break and take the day before and the day after off. Next trip I have planned is NEXT fall break, so I need to find some reasons to use some of my days before the end of the year. I have a co-teacher so it doesn't really affect the kids when one of us is out. The other one just works harder. As a matter of fact, my co-teacher will be out Monday and Tuesday for a skiing trip and I will be running the class.

Marsha

 

[stephbillalec]

CT teacher here!
In my district we get two personal days per year. They can accrue to a total of 4. We can not take them during the first or last two weeks of school or right before or after a holiday or scheduled break. If we want to take more than two in a row, we have to put in a request that must be approved by the superintendent...and she's *very* tough. I don't think a family vacation would fly.
The one thing about being a teacher that totally stinks is not being able to be flexible when it comes to travel plans...and it's the flexibility that gets the best travel bargains! However, the pros of being a teacher far surpass the cons so I won't be changing professions anytime soon.

 

[snowy76]

The one thing about being a teacher that totally stinks is not being able to be flexible when it comes to travel plans...and it's the flexibility that gets the best travel bargains! However, the pros of being a teacher far surpass the cons so I won't be changing professions anytime soon.

ITA. We're always confined to traveling during summer - WDW in July, yikes! - because school ends here in the last week of June. During the year I have a week off at Xmas, in Feb, and in April, but DH doesn't have the seniority to get those weeks off -- one or two guys just above him ALWAYS take those weeks off. He works in a newsroom so they limit how many people can be off at a time. So we can never go anywhere during the colder months - always stuck in a pile of snow in Syracuse!

 

[mmiller711]

I also work for our local school dist. here in MI as a teacher's aide. We have the same rules about days off as teachers do. We are allowed between 9 and 15 days per year based on years worked. Two of those are personal days. They can not be used for travel, they can not be used before or after a school vacation. There are a host of other restrictions. We can bank days but only two are allowed as personal per year and with all the restrictions you really can not vacation with them. The district also can refuse to pay sick days that are taken before or after a school vacation without a Dr. slip. We do have time off at Christmas, Easter, etc... That time is NOT paid. We get 6 days off at Easter and we get paid for Good Friday and Easter Monday so 4 days are not paid. The same for other majoy holidays. No pay for summer!! I have never been able to take my kids for the Christmas party or Halloween. We can not enjoy a vacation from the Michigan cold. Not to mention I would love to go when it is "off season".
With all that being said I love my job. Working with the kids is wonderful! I sure don't do it for the big pay because as underpaid as teachers are, we are way below them. I could get a job at McDonalds and make more but I sure wouldn't enjoy it as much!

 

[delilah]

I have never known of any teachers that have had vacation during the term, all the way from when I was in Kindergarten to graduating from medical school, with HS, undergrad and graduate school in between. I have had several miss a day or so because they were sick, and, sometimes, they take part of a day off for personal business, like closing on a new house.

If it is any consolation to you, working parents of school aged children have the same constraints on their vacation times that teachers do. The difference is that since our business doesn't close down when school is on Christmas, fall, spring or summer break, or on the legal holidays and school improvement days, or snow days, I have to "burn" my vacation days to care for my school aged son. In terms of practicality, I do it because I have a total of 23 PTO days, along with 5 days CME that I can use, while my husband has only 15. Believe it or not, those fall, spring, Christmas, school improvement days, snow days and legal holidays really add up, the same way an extra cookie a day will add 10 pounds over a years time. Since my son has been in school, and not hospital day care, which never closed for holidays or breaks, except the week after Christmas, I have managed to use my total allocation of PTO each year, with only a one week vacation and a 5 day CME trip to show for it. The rest was just nibbled away by various times school was closed and the office was open.


I personally wish that schools were open year round with staggered break times. I guess that would be difficult for other parents, or at least would require a shift in thought process. Actually, it might work better than it would seem on first impression. Then, the various activities that parents use to care for children could be open year round, instead of just a few weeks during the school year and during the summer. So, people who work there would have a steady pay check, and fewer would be needed, since, perhaps, only 1/3 or 1/4 or whatever fraction of kids would be out at any given time. It would completely eliminate the problem we have in our office, namely, we all have kids, and all need the same days off. So, I don't always get to stay home with my son, sometimes my husband does, because we can't have all the doctors gone at the same time. It usually takes alot of cooperation, negotiation and luck for us to be able to take a vacation, all three of us together, at the same time.

 

[flying_babyb]

I also work for our local school dist. here in MI as a teacher's aide. The district also can refuse to pay sick days that are taken before or after a school vacation without a Dr. slip. We do have time off at Christmas, Easter, etc... That time is NOT paid. We get 6 days off at Easter and we get paid for Good Friday and Easter Monday so 4 !

WOW! remind me not to cross the border! I live i wi and the teacher here are spolied. I know I get as much time off as I want as a Aide's assistant. THe mc. donalds comment, wow, my mother (ironically) works at the MI Mc.donalds near our home town in WI. She makes 6.95 a hour. If she worked 20 hours a week, she would make the same as I do teaching preschool 20 hours. It sad! I should be working at a school district (sigh).
I know my situation is differnt but The main preschool teacher at our center (she is certifired and could work in a school district) can take off whenever she wants! Shes got two weeks comming up. Everyone (but two of us) gets a paid week off. Other times, we can get unpaid time off whenever, usally without approval as long as it is on the calander. Heck Ive got my week comming up for my disney trip. My preschoolers and I will be studying calaforina (we incroprate counting and colors, words, the basic stuff) with my upcomming trip. Then I send the kids postcards everyday while Im gone and they learn more. They look forward to teachers going on vacation, because well, we never really do leave. We email, send postcards and usally buy a souvineer for the classroom. My boss, she goes overboard, and brings back candy or some little gift for each child and teacher. Our boss dosennt mind our vacations since we make them "work" for the classroom. Last year, we "Visited" 5 states and two countries in one year (the one teacher broght back a paris snack for eveyone too). I guess if i were a parent, I wouldnt mind if the teacher went on vacation as long as she made talking about it before hand and after a learning experance. I know that the kids love seeing the photos of "historical" places I go on vacation. My kids spend so much time reading my scrapbooks ( I write them simple for that fact, and put them in the reading center for about a week, I also make a small scrapbook for the kids to read, often having them help me, and design the pagess during art time.)

 

[mericletwins]

Hi from NJ~
It is different from district to district. In my district we get 10 sick days per year that carry over. We also get 3 personal days per year that convert to sick days if not used. Only one personal day per year can be used in connection with a holiday OR a weekend. Any time we take a sick day, we may be asked for a Dr.'s note. The administration also "frowns upon" days without pay and we can't really go that route. I would if I could. To make matters worse, we live in a summer resort area and Dh manages a seafood restaurant. He gets no time off from May through September. Combine that with my school schedule and we basically end up with Christmas (which I think is too crowded) and Easter. We will be doing Easter for the 2nd time. I would LOVE to be able to go at an off-peak time but unless the school relaxes their policy about unpaid days, it doesn't look like it will happen.

BTW, the three personal days I get I use for one field trip each for my three kids. My kids are in the same district where I teach, so I can't be "sick" and go on the trip.

 

[belle&beast]

Hi from NJ~
It is different from district to district. In my district we get 10 sick days per year that carry over. We also get 3 personal days per year that convert to sick days if not used.

Same here, however we cannot use our personal business days in conjunction with a holiday or break. My DH owns a landscaping and lawn care business, so he cannot travel from late March to late November, so we have to travel in the winter. I work 3 days a week and am able to use my personal days to travel, and I did last year and will again in December. We won't be doing this forever, my kids are getting older and I won't pull them out as they get into higher grades. So for us, that is the only way to take a family vacation.

 

[Mickey'snewestfan]

Not being able to go to WDW on the off season seems like a reasonable trade off for being a teacher to me, but that's because I love my job.

What doesn't seem reasonable to me is that you can't save up vacation days (or sick days either, my school let you have a maximum of 10 sick days on the book at any given time) for things like maternity leave. When I adopted my son I got 10 days paid leave. I hadn't taken a single sick or personal day in the past 5 years. If I had given birth to him I would have gotten short term disability, but as it was I got nothing.

I'm hoping to start the process of adoptiong #2 soon -- and will be in the same boat.

 

[GoingEaster07]

my husband teaches and he only gets regular vacation (christmas, summer and some holidays (mlk day) He has a lot of personal and sick days but he can't just take a week off whenever he wants.

that's why we are forced to take a vacation on his spring break which is easter week ..it stinks but that's how it is..we need a vacation

 

[FloridaTeacher]

In my district, teachers get 10 days per school year. If you don't use them, they roll over to the next year. These 10 are sick or personal. We also earn comp. time but cannot use it during instructional time (we can use it during planning period, teacher planning days, etc.).

Basically how it works out for me is if I need a whole day, I take 5.5 of it as sick/personal and 2 as comp. (cause I always have comp.). I also use a full day of comp. if I am going to be out on a teacher planning/professional day.

Our last Disney trip (Oct. 2007) - I had 1 holiday (Columbus day), 1 planning day that I used comp. for and 3 regular days that I split between sick/personal and comp. My kids only missed 3 days of school.

I am blessed to work in a great school district.

Happy Camping!

 

[perdidochas]

Then why do they call them PERSONAL days? That seems rather intrusive.

Crisi- Yes the heat and crowds are also part of the reason we don't go during summer. Dear friend told me they have a long week in April not associated w/ Easter next year. She would be willing to go then. That would work for us w/ points and weather.

I prefer my job where I might not get a month off annually (unless I saved all my days up) but where I got to do what I wanted on my 'personal' day. Heck, I've never worked anywhere that had 'sick' days. We have a certain number of days/year to do w/as we please including travel or even getting sick . As long as there is coverage and your work is caught up no one even asks what it's for.

Thanks to those teachers out there putting up w/ all the stuff that you have to put up with!

In terms of personal days, it's district by district. I've worked in districts where you couldn't use personal days to extend holidays (but otherwise could use them for whatever). My wife works in a district that not only gives 6 personal days a year, but also allow the teachers to use them to extend holidays (which is very nice) unless the school is having absentee problems with staff.

 

[Mermaid4me]

I'm a teacher who misses school to vacation in WDW.

We go every May & I miss 6 days of school.
Last Jan., we threw in an extra trip & I missed 5 or 6 school days then.

Some of the DISers on this board are very misinformed about teachers as a whole.

Any DISer who teaches in my county (A.A. County in Md.) knows that we don't get a fall break, winter break, week long spring break, week long anything except Christmas. YES...that is the only vacation we have during the entire year that we have MON.-FRI. off.

We only get Wed.-Fri. at Thanksgiving.
We only get Thur, Fri, & Monday at Easter in the spring.

I know some areas get 2 weeks at Christmas...not us...just the one week.

No, I'm not complaining...Just stating the facts.
I chose to work in this county, so I deal with the lousy vacations by just going during the school year.

We check in to SSR on May 12....can't wait!!!

I couldn't agree more!! I too am a teacher from MD (Mont Co) and I choose to go every May as well. I have 3 personal days which I to use for my annual Disney trip. I have 3 DS who will miss 3 days of school. Youngest is 4 no problem, and 4th grader and 6th grader. I have already spoken to their teachers and they had no problem. My older 2 have not missed a day of school yet! My point is this- "do what you feel is best for your family" . I believe each person is respectfully entitled to their own opinion. I chose to take a little break every May to go to the happiest place on earth! It does wonders for our family- a chance to just be together and get away from our HECTIC day to day life! To us this is very important to us. We will always have such wonderful memories from our trips. We check into POP on May 3rd, sooooooooooooooooo excited. To all who have upcoming trips, have a WONDERFUL time!!

Mermaid4me

POP May 07
POLY 06
CR 05
ASMo 01
Offsite 86
CR 79

 

[waltskids]

NJ teacher here (currently on maternity leave)
DH and I work in the same school district. We get 10 sick days per year, which can be rolled over. We also get 2 personal days which turn into sick days if not used. Our personal days cannot be used to extend a holiday. They also cannot be used together at any time of the year. DH and I always go to WDW during the summer or during holidays.

 

[bigbabyblues]

The teachers at my DS' school don't get vacation days, and I don't think the public school teachers do here either, at least my friend didn't the two years she taught before she moved.

 

[lady9]

As a teacher, I can tell you that in my district we have no vacation days and three personal days but they are restrictive. In other words, they must be used under the conditions stated in the contract i.e. funeral, marriage, graduation, etc. We can take up to 3 unpaid days but it can't occur more than twice while employed.

On another note, I took my DS to the orthodontist last week on a day we had a snow day. The receptionist irritated me by saying, "It must be nice to have a paid day off!" Snow days are the only days off I get that are paid (with the exception of an occasional sick one). June, July, and August aren't paid vacation. I get paid for 184 days a year and that's it. I choose to have my pay spread out over 12 months but I don't have to do that. As I did my taxes this year, I figured out I spent $2,092 on classroom materials and snacks for the kids. Only $250 of that can be used to reduce the tax I owe. I don't mind because I love my job and my class but it just sad that many people think we have it made because we don't "work" in the summer.

 

[Dallas_Lady]

I am a teacher in Texas, and I get 10 sub days a year (plus ones that have rolled over from the previous years). However, I cannot take more than 3 in a row without a medical reason and doctor's authorization. We also cannot use them to extend holidays. So, no off season trips for me while I'm working.

 

[dougsmom98]

I am a teacher in Maine and in our district we get scheduled school vacations (Christmas, President's week and Spring Break), and then we also get 3 personal days but they are not allowed to be taken to extend to a long weekend or vacation. We do not get to bank any personal days. We use them or lose them. I actually can't imagine getting vacation time anyway because when we do not go to work, we have to have detailed sub plans for our classes. We also have to correct all the work from when we are out. Even during maternity leave I had to do a ton of work before I could be out. It's not worth taking time off. I rarely use my personal days.

 

[JulieEck]

The kick in the butt is that while I take these 3 days to go to Disney I will still need to plan every minute of those days so that a sub can teach my class. I can't think of many other jobs where you can't take a personal day or be sick without spending hours compensating for that time.

There are a lot of jobs out there for which your work doesn't get done for you while you are gone. I'm an Accountant and nobody does my job except me. If I'm out for one day or 5 days, I do all of my work before I leave and after I return. It usually takes at least a half day just to sort through mail, email and voice mail on the first day back after vacation. If possible, I'll check email, etc. while on vacation so it isn't too bad when I return. My DH also works very hard and lots of extra hours the week before a trip getting things done before he leaves. I've had to come in on sick days (DD sick) and bring her with me because of something that had to be done that day or it would be late (tax returns). I just bring her with me and let her "camp out" in my office for the few hours it takes for me to finish. I've also taken work home to do on sick days.
There are jobs though for which you don't have to worry about "your" work as it's a collective effort or there is someone else scheduled to fill in.