To the DISer whose husband was looking for a teaching job

[daughtersrus]

Does the contract provide a cash payout upon retirement of unused sick days? I am only asking you, because you are quoting from it and I do not have a copy of it.

Here is a link to the contract. Article VIII covers Sick Leave. It's about 3/4 of the way down the page.

http://ntlongcber.com/cber/docs/_CF.htm

 

[MrsPete]

I didn't say you were whinning, did I ? . . . Did I equate college teaching as public school teaching??

Did you say I personally was whining? No, but someone was complaining about teachers whining, when actually this isn't a whining thread -- it's more of a correcting misunderstandings -- or attempting to correct misunderstandings thread.

Yes, you certainly implied that you understand teachers' jobs because of your college experience. That's how I interpreted it; sorry if I took that wrong.

When teachers say they do not get paid for time off in the summer this is not totally true. How many other people working salary jobs get that much vacation time in a year?

This is simply untrue. I work 10 months a year, and I receive 10 paychecks a year. I do not work in the summer, and I receive no paychecks in the summer. If I want to buy groceries, put gas into my car, and have money for other purposes, I'd better save a portion of each of my 10 paychecks for those unpaid months. These are facts. Summer is not "vacation" in the sense that the teachers are paid for that time. It is unpaid time off.

1. Many teachers have masters degrees or beyond which we pay for . . . 5. The stress level in the classroom is very high in many places. I personally know of two teachers who were attacked by students last year. One of these teachers has permanent damage from the attack. Gone are the days of "misbehavior" being gum chewing or talking in class.

It may be different in other places, but here teachers pursuing a master's degree (or higher) are reimbursed 40% of their tuition; no reimbursement for books or other expenses. I do not know how similar this is to other professions. In some states teachers are required to earn a master's degree within X years; my state does not require that, and most teachers here have only a bachelor's degree. A teacher with a Master's degree here earns 10% more than a teacher with a bachelor's degree. A teacher with National Board Certification earns 12% more than a teacher without.

I've been hit by a student. It is absolutely true that teachers are facing much more violent behavior than ever before, and it's scary. It's not a teacher thing or a school thing; it's a measure of the direction in which our society is moving, and it's bad on multiple levels.

I just want to add a bit of info. ABC 6 Providence reported last night that the average amount of sick days for a Central Falls High School teacher is 23 days per year. That's average, some teachers have less and some more. That's 12.77% of there work year out sick. They are still being paid and the school department has to pay a substitute.
Please remember this is not cometary just more information to help you form your opinion.

Does that mean they're given 23 days per year, or that the average teacher has accumulated 23 days from multiple years? I personally have about 140 sick days. I earn them at a rate of 10 days per year, and I've been teaching for 17 years. You can see that I haven't used many of those sick days, but I do like knowing that I have them. If something catestrophic happens, I can stay out almost a whole year. But don't lose track of the fact that it took me almost two decades to accumulate those 140 days.

In other jobs I've worked -- jobs where people were required to "use or lose" their 10 sick days each year, most people used exactly 10 sick days each year. Hmmmm.

 

[Telcogirl]

Here is a link to the contract. Article VIII covers Sick Leave. It's about 3/4 of the way down the page.

http://ntlongcber.com/cber/docs/_CF.htm

Thank you for the link.

It looks like there is partial compensation for accrued and unused sick time. While some view this as a benefit that motivates employees to not take sick time, I for one, have always found it interesting that there is a cash payout for good health.

That is not a common benefit in the private sector.

 

[fac]

No, but someone was complaining about teachers whining, when actually this isn't a whining thread -- it's more of a correcting misunderstandings -- or attempting to correct misunderstandings thread.

Well, we have to agree on disagree then.
I re-read my comment on teaching at college level, nowhere was an implication to equate the work with public school teaching. Try to compare the teaching job with whatever you want...

 

[MrsPete]

Well, we have to agree on disagree then.

I 'spose so because what I'm seeing is "Teachers do this", and people responding with, "No, this is how it really is". I'm not seeing, "Why don't you feel sorry for me and give me more money!"

 

[Amy8888]

No, NCLB is a huge joke. NCLB doesn't help kids. It sets them up for failure.

Yes, I agree with this. I just meant that it is federal legislation and the legislation itself is "take no prisoners." I do not agree with the way the legislation is written and I am glad Obama is trying to reform it.

NCLB has issues however, when it comes to reading instruction in my building, we have really stepped it up! It is not just decoding words, but teaching reading comprehension strategies that these students can use for the rest of their life. My big slogan in my room is Reading is Thinking. We are predicting, making inferences, summarizing, visualizing, making connections, etc. I tell all my students, this isn't for the test, these strategies will make reading easier and you'll enjoy it more. My fifth grade girls and I had a major discussion walking down the hall on the way to reading group about what parts of the book the Lightening Thief that they were able to visualize (none of them have seen the movie). I wish I had a video camera to record their discussions. It was amazing. These were girls that if it wasn't for NCLB would have been left behind

Bridget, you are like a breath of fresh air. How amazing it is to read something like this. While I am not a fan of NCLB, I don't think regular assessments are necessarily a bad thing. I heard once something along the lines of "Teaching to the test isn't a bad thing when you have a test worth teaching towards." Your example is what I believe NCLB can do, if teachers keep an open mind.

 

[daughtersrus]

It appears that the two sides are negotiating once again.


http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/03/03/rhode.island.school.firings/