Would you pay a teacher for after-school help?

[BrerMom]

I know that contractually, the day is over for middle-school & high-school teachers at 3:00 unless there is a staff meeting or department meeting scheduled.

I routinely have kids in my room for after school help until 3:30 or 4:00, sometimes longer. I've never considered charging a fee and would feel very uncomfortable doing so. They're my "kids" and it's easier to help them when there are less students than in the regular classroom. I've tutored in the summer in my home and have charged for that, but they aren't my current students, so I see that as different.

My daughter's high school teacher charges $15 per 30-minute session. Sessions begin right after school in the classroom. My DD thinks it's different because I will help one to five students at a time whereas her teacher has individual sessions only.

On the flip-side, there is a lot of administrative pressure for math teachers to provide after-school help at least twice a week, but other disciplines don't seem to have the same expectation.

What do you think? I've been tempted to ask if she's paying the school district some kind of rent for the room, but I think that would be rude since I'm 99% sure the answer would be no.

 

[akhenaten]

I would be very upset if any teachers in my children's schools were charging students to tutor them on school property!! That does not seem appropriate at all.

ETA if you are a taxpayer then the question of the teacher paying rent would be valid!

 

[okeydokey]

My kids' school has organized after school help twice a week from 3:30-5:00. The teachers each take a turn leading so nobody has to do it all the time, but I don't think they get paid. They also have FCAT practice twice a week after school for a couple of months before the test, but we don't attend.

 

[englishteacha]

It's expected that I will stay after school when kids need help. Usually they stay until the late bus comes around 3ish (our "teaching day" ends at 2:25, and contractually I have to stay till 2:45 anyway). I can set my own schedule, and I don't have to stay every day. I have one student who would ask to stay every day, then spend the entire time searching for things in his locker or going for a drink, or otherwise wasting my time. He didn't actually need help. Most days, he was the only reason I was staying. I had to have a talk with him and his mother about it. Now he takes his homework home and sits at the kitchen table to do it with his mom's supervision.

I would never think of charging "my kids" if they want extra help. And even if I were doing tutoring, I couldn't use the school building for it. I would think that your DD's teacher's contract would specify that she had to stay, for free, on occasion. Our school offers an after school program ($25 a year) that offers homework help 4 days a week from 3-4, and an activity from 4-5ish.

 

[castleview]

Oooh - interesting dilemma. DH is a science teacher and I used to teach. We both think it's morally wrong. I've known teachers who tutor for big bucks in the evening or at the library after hours, but it's never in the classroom. If he's charging on his contracted time, that's way wrong. After that, it's his choice whether he wants to help or not. Having said that, 30 minutes is a big amount of time.

Yes, school systems expect you to do a lot from the goodness of your heart. But afterschool help comes with the job IMHO and you can control which days you are available for it. (Unless it's a kid who does no work every day and then shows up for extra help the day before a test...that's a whole other situation LOL).

Maybe he'll rethink it when a parent accuses him of not giving enough instruction in class in order to increase his after school business.

 

[daisyduck123]

Hi! Teacher here

We actually have a rule in my county that teachers are NOT allowed to tutor (for pay) students that go to their school anytime during the school year.

Only during summer vacations are we allowed to tutor students who attend our own school.

 

[mirthmaiden]

I am student teaching right now. My mentor teacher stays after for group tutoring on Tuesday and Wednesday. The school system gives her a stipend for doing so, which I think is perfectly acceptable.

 

[MM27]

we are not allowed to tutor (for a fee) students that we teach. If a parent wants a teacher to do private tutoring they usually contact the VP to see if any teachers are interested and any teacher except the child's classroom teacher can take the job.

When I student taught, the school had the same policy. My cooperating teacher had a student that was in her class that she was working one on one with before school every day. Some of the other teachers in the school were giving her a really hard time because she was doing for free what they could have been getting paid for.

 

[SwedishMeatball]

When I taught in SW Missouri, we were paid with Title I funds for those students.

 

[kidzmom3]

our school system has the teacher contracts specify that they must stay at the school until the late bus (it comes 40 minutes after the regular end of school at each school). They have to offer extra help on 3 of these days. The other two can be used to meet parents, plan etc.... If they work with a club or a sport and cannot commit to the 3 days, they have to arrange for another teacher in the same subject to be avail so that heir students have the opportunity for help 3 days a week.

 

[MAKmom]

I paid a teacher to tutor DD20 when she was in 5th grade after school. It was not her math teacher. I was happy it was in school... I just had to pick her up.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

We have paid for teachers to tutor DD however they are not her current teachers, that is not allowed.

As far as tutoring sessions with the current teachers they provide that for free in the mornings/afternoons on certain days. It is required they do that.

 

[BrerMom]

MAKmom: And that's one reason I'm not complaining to anyone IRL - she does need the one-on-one time and it's much easier for me just to have her stay after school than to drive her somewhere.

OK, nobody asked, but does it make a difference that it's the choir director?

To clarify: in my middle school building, the only teachers that stay after school on a regular basis are the math teachers. Most of us stay after school for students at least twice a week. We are not contractually required or paid to stay at all. I did get a thank you card from a parent once after many weeks of extra help.

MM27, that's an interesting unintended consequence. I've always felt that if a kid wants to succeed, I'll help them all I can. One year, I tutored a kid one-on-one before school twice a week, but none of my fellow teachers complained. They were probably just glad it wasn't them.

 

[englishteacha]

Hmmm...choir director. Is she/he providing voice lessons? That is a bit different from helping a child learn their verbs or multiplication tables. Still, I don't think it should be on school property unless she has an arrangement with the school to "rent" space.

 

[BrerMom]

Voice lessons or after-school help, it has the same result regardless of what you call it, IMO. She's helping DD learn her part of the songs in the choir. I suppose the parallel could be that she helps my DD prepare for a concert and I help my students prepare for a test.

Do you think that voice lessons would be an exception to the question or am I reading something into your response?

 

[horseshowmom]

As a previous poster said, our teacher handbook prohibits us from paid tutoring for any child that we personally teach. I do know of one teacher who has tutored other students in her room after school (a practice that might be stopped if anybody complained, but the individuals were very happy for the very inexpensive tutoring sessions).

Personally, I would never tutor onsite and would never want to do paid tutoring for a child I taught (too much of a chance that someone would see it as a conflict of interest). I have done afterschool tutoring at no charge when students were willing to participate.

Our school does have an afterschool program twice a week that employs teachers to serve as tutors, but I don't view that as the same thing. Parents aren't personally paying for individual tutoring in that case.

 

[golfgal]

I think what is more strange is that you aren't required to stay after school to be available to help students vs the choir teacher giving voice lessons. I have never attended, taught or had my kids in a school that didn't require some amount of time after school to be available to help. Her the teachers are required to be at school at least 30 minutes before school and an hour after school, although most are there until 5:00 or so (high school gets out at 2:30, middle school at 3:00).

If I wanted a teacher to tutor my child for a fee and they were willing to do it after school I would be jumping for joy that I didn't have to drive him/her to another 'thing'.

 

[dg39]

I also had a tutor for my dd in the past. It was a teacher from her school, but not her teacher. That also isn't allowed in our school district. The teacher would come to my house after school and stay for 1 hr. I paid 60.00.

If the teacher was willing to stay after school and tutor my dd, I would pay her fee with no problem. ONLY, if my child is the only one she is tutoring.

My thoughts are her work day ended at 3pm. The only diff. is, instead of coming to my home, she tutored at school. I would rather my dd stay at school and get tutored and then I'd go pick her up. The school is 5 min. away and picking her up would be no problem.

Sometimes a teacher helps students during lunch hour. The student along with others who need some help would eat lunch in the class while the teacher is going over some material. The teachers don't get paid for that, but, it's not one on one tutoring. It's more like alittle help in the subject.

I would rather have one on one tutoring after school and pay for it.

 

[Laugh O. Grams]

I'd have no problem whatsoever paying one of my daughter's teachers for afterschool tutoring.

 

[Cindy B]

Not on the school property... however if you went off site that could be worked out.

However, you will have a hard time getting parents to pay since it has been free. You know the saying why pay for milk when I can get the cow for free--it applies in this case.

You could reduce your own "free time" hours. My son's Math teacher is like that--she sort of makes it difficult for the students/parents to come so she gets limited students, but she does offer herself up for "free" so to speak.

The Math teachers hourse were be at school by 7 am on morning a week. In order to get there that early, students had to get a pass from her one week prior to the tutoring date, write out the pass, get the parent to sign the pass, give it back to the math teacher, have the math teacher log it, stamp it give the pass back to the student. Student then had to show up with this pass present it to the office staff and then sign in with her.


Quite honeslty that whole pass business was such as pain, not many students did it... (the pass was lost, parent didn't sign, etc.) However, there were a few that did.