A lot of our parents and the public in general glaze over when they try to get a handle on what's going on. To understand the rising tide of teacher anger one only has to realize that the Superintendent's Proposal will strip some very basic services that students and parents have come to rely on. This was done with NO TEACHER input or awareness despite her claim that she held over 100 meetings. It's really hard to hide 100 meetings from your teachers but that's another posting.
The following schedule is a very basic high school schedule. I have tried to reflect what we can expect to find IF THIS PROPOSAL IS APPROVED.
5:15 AM Wake Up
7:15 AM *Sign In At School
7:25 AM 1st Period
7:25 AM 1st Period
*Take Attendance (Send Attendance Cards to Office)
*Listen To Announcements
8:30 AM 2nd Period
9:26 AM 3rd Period
10:22 AM 4th Period
11:53 AM 5th Period (extended & split to provide multiple 30 min. *Lunches)
12:59 PM 6th Period
1:55 PM 7th Period
3:05 PM *Teacher's Dismissed
4:05 PM *Arrive Home
10:00 PM * Go To Bed (ideally! - yeah I hear the laughing)
Notes:
Bold entries are a variable by school & individual.
Choose ONE 50 minute period as a conference for grading papers, averaging grades, making and returning phone calls, fulfilling administratively assigned duty time, and other curricular necessities. Don't forget to think about "personal needs" like going to the bathroom.
Teachers are expected to be in their doorways between classes monitoring student behavior in the hall and in their classrooms.
Service there will be NO time for:
(please list in "comments" what services you provide now BUT will be unable to find time for next year)
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11 comments:
How To File An OSHA Complaint
http://www.nycosh.org/
where_to_get_help/
how_to_complain.html
For those of you who feel that NOT having the time to attend to your personal needs is something you want to take to the feds go here. It will even provide you with suggestions to avoid retaliation and report it to another federal agency.
Bookmark it.
My ninth-grade English I class helped with this one.
Since The St. Pete Times wrote a timely article last Wednesday, the day after the school board meeting, The Tampa Tribune must have thought it had better weigh in with its own version of the events. I guess it’s better late than never. The Tribune did give it front-page coverage and on first read, it seems like a good article. I guess The Tribune counts on its readers being too busy to read its news articles carefully. Certainly, anything more than a cursory read would have revealed the article for what it was—a poorly written propaganda piece.
I wish! Here's what I do as an ESE specialist
4:45 alarm
6:00 leave house
6:30 arrive school, eat packed food, read email, figure out plan for the day
6:55 cafeteria duty
7:30 paperwork, paperwork, paperwork, meet with students (in crisis, having behavior problems, kicked out of class, suicidal, new to school, to test individually, call parent in their presence, read the riot act, etc.,etc.) assist teachers in classes, teach class, meetings, IEP meetings 3x to drop in on, put out at least 4-5 fires, chase students on the run, change students schedules, plan schedules for the following year, review teachers' paperwork, register new students, plan and put on teacher inservices/trainings, evaluate teachers, and maybe eat lunch anywhere between 12 and 3:30.
3:15 hopefully, last of the ESE buses
3:15 meet with teachers as needed, work on paperwork
4:30 go home, if lucky.
5:00 usual time to leave
This is a better link to file a complaint with OSHA
http://www.osha.gov/pls/osha7/eComplaintForm.html
Note To All:
(oops to many spelling mistakes in the last comment)
Play it close to the vest. Do NOT let anyone know what you will NOT do - yet. It is too soon.
If you are considering giving up a club or a class sponsorship wait until you have your schedule next year before you decide.
If asked by your principal DO NOT LIE. You can say "A lot of things are under consideration I'm really not sure." "I'm not sure yet, has someone volunteered to take over?" "I haven't come to a conclusion as to whether I can do it so I really haven't made a decision."
What classroom, conference, etc. may depend on a positive answer from you so there is no sense making your lot worse. It will be bad enough.
There is also a possibility that things will change at the last moment.
A very important observation was made by a neighbor:
Why would a Board employee, Jim Hamilton, author a pamphlet on the Board's responsibility and make that the defining document of what they can and can't do?
He caught that one in the Trib article.
Suzie—
Do you know where I can find the source for the following statement made here in the comments section?
"[B]oard employee, Jim Hamilton, author a pamphlet on the Board's responsibility..."
"Hamilton’s fiat comes off as clumsy, ill-written blunderbuss for the administration’s attempt to whip the Board into line. He doubtless wrote it as the superintendent’s Rasputin with Elia’s looking over his shoulder. This pair of mess-ups now runs the schools with the Board’s lackadaisical complicity, to hell with taxpayers."
Lee Drury was all over this as is was going on. Ya gotta love her spunk and drive.
http://leedrurydecesarescasting-roomcouch.blogspot.com
/2006/11/alqonquin-bar-nyc-where-round-table.html
Alumni!
E-mail this blog address to your school's Placement Office and Teacher Education Chair. Help them guide and inform their graduates. Let them know what's going on. Keep it informative and matter-of-fact. They need this info.
I did and damn! - it felt great!!!
What I will not be able to do for my school community if I am teaching six periods:
PTSA
Athletic Boosters
Relay For Life (committee)
Anything that requires research that is not directly related to my classroom - accredidation, etc.
Mentoring new teachers during my planning period
Literacy Council
Design and produce FCAT materials for school / department
Basically - anything not directly related to me classes.
This STILL bothers me:
"Schools Superintendent MaryEllen Elia said she made the change to reduce the number of new teachers needed, saving $28 million for teacher salary increases. Otherwise, the district would be forced to hire weaker or unqualified teachers to meet requirements of the state class-size amendment, she said."
$28 mil is 2.8% of the Billion Dollar District Budget.
Our teaching time is INCREASED by 20% to acheive this 2.8% savings. (Did we hire Enron accountants?)
Our incentive is a 9.25% decrease in students (does not apply to classes like PE).
Are things so tight our district can't save 3 cents on the dollar ACROSS THE BOARD?
Our Superintendent may have an education degree but is certainly lacking in BILLION Dollar Management skills.
Was she asleep at the wheel when requesting a tax increase from the county? Isn't millage a percentage of the property value? Haven't property values been going up all over the county? Aren't the taxes limited to a 3% increase a year with Homestead exemption - or something like that? What's going on with the Impact Fees? They were increased!
Too many questions. Not enough answers.
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