ExSqueeze Me? Is That My Arse Draggin'?

The Trib carried a front page story on the effects of the additional period and schedule change. The cyber-side contains comments from readers. Its quite an array of opinions. I still can't believe some folks think we get paid for our summer vacation. It's as though high school never ends: there is always that percentage of people who are always "behind" and sometimes my patience with them wears thin. For the record: Hillsborough teachers get paid for 201 days of work. We are effectively laid off and must plan for it.

I have a friend who regularly uses this inflation calculator to see how he's doing. Try it but be warned that it may be the "straw".

Anyone who has read The Wall and followed the links to other blogs KNOWS that everything mentioned in the story was expected. Anyone who watched or attended the board meetings knows that everything in the story was expected. In fact these results were spelled out in a thorough and professional manner by high caliber teachers.

Anyone who watched or attended the board meetings knew that everything mentioned in the story was also ignored.

I have been so totally exhausted trying to keep up that The Wall has suffered. I'm also running full throttle and urinated. It is April in October and I see no relief.

I'm ready to do something.

I am including a comment from the cyber-article by a first year teacher (cheerfulstorm) that mirrors what was said by a veteran teacher at one of the board meetings.

As a first year teacher, I have to say, I'm dragging. Not only because of the 6 classes (I don't know any different), but because I don't have a classroom, I often don't have the materials I need, the few kids who are more than disrespectful, the parents who think that I should spend an hour more time a day with their one kid out of my 160, and the six classes of papers I have to grade.

So say I have one essay a week for my kids...at six minutes a piece, I spend approx 15 hours grading only 1 assignment. Plus it takes about 2 hours a week to plan, and I lose my planning period to running around the school signing papers or answering the 50 emails in my inbox from parents and administrators or even to the kid who needs some extra help or make up an assignment.

Yes, we work 40 hours a week - 7am to 3 pm - with a paid lunch because most of us have to perform a 15 minute duty for the school during that time. So that's 18-20 hours of MY OWN TIME not spent in front of the kids every week. Not to mention, when the kids have the day off, the teachers are generally working. I'll be attending a mandatory professional development day on Friday while the kids are sleeping in.

In addition, I'm working toward my own Masters' degree to be able to teach my students even better. So...60 hours a week, and a salary that tops out at $65K if you've been teaching for 30 years.

Gotta say, I'm moving to a state with a stronger union once I finish my degree, because no one but teachers can really look out for teachers. Everyone else takes a crap on them, looks like. And people wonder why 50% of new teachers don't make it past year 3. Good thing I like the kids and want them to succeed, or I'd be joining them.

-from eloguentmind

MYTH 1: Teachers only work 300 minutes a day.

Most work a 12 month yr. in 10 months.
My average weekday:
5:30- wake
6:45- work
7:15- Pay Day/School Begins
10:23-12:03- planning/conference/meetings/grading/duty/lunch
3:00- School Day Ends tutoring/grading/meetings/phone calls/emails/paperwork/test make up/letters of recommendation/trainings (Pay Day Ends)
4:45- Leave
6:00-9:00- Grade essays, projects, homework, data entry, emails, planning, website
I work a 13-14 hour day. I work ¾ of my Sunday. That’s about 70 hrs. a week. I’m not the only one. 38 wks x 70 hrs = 2660 hrs, whereas in the “real world” 52 wks x 50 hrs is 2600 hrs, and vacation time is often paid. We may work as much as, if not more than, the “real worlders”.

MYTH 2: Teachers don’t want to work, but they want to get raises.

I work harder than many people. I am also the yearbook advisor and tutor two week nights, on the weekends, and all summer in order to make up for the salary. Our “8% raise” was not a raise. Some teachers only received a 6% increase or less. Our day was increased by 20 min., 2 holidays were removed from the schedule, and one must factor in about 2 % for inflation. Doing the math, one learns that the “raise” is actually JUST compensation for the extended days.

MYTH 3: Teachers only work when they are with students.

In the “real world” most people sit behind a desk the majority of their day. They call this work. Do they not? If so, then please tell me what it is called when a teacher does the same thing? I’m a high school English Honors teacher. I have 150 students. When I assign a small paper, of 500 words on Civil Rights and Martin Luther King’s influences on our social consciousness, it takes me about 10 min. to grade, assess, and comment on each paper. 10 min. x 150 papers is 1500 min. My paid planning time is only 50 min. It takes me 30 planning periods, or 6 weeks of school, to properly grade one high school English assignment. I have at least 150 papers of various length and content to grade a day.

I would have NO PROBLEM working the way I do if the community, school officials, parents, and students treated my craft/profession with dignity and respect. An earlier writer said that teachers are raising the students because many parents are not, and they are exactly right. I have been pushed, hit, cursed at, threatened, etc. But, I stay because I LOVE the craft of what I do. I hold onto the hope that America will open its eyes and see that we need to make a change in our cultural values. We are the wealthiest nation, yet our public school system ranks 20th in the world. I can’t give up on what I was called to do just yet. Give us less students with more support and respect, and I promise you, you will have a happy teacher, which results in happy students! Our children deserve it.

"What we're seeing is what we expected," said David Steele, the district's general director for secondary education.

Let's see how that comment plays when the FCAT scores come in. Copy and paste it somewhere. I'm thinking a T shirt design.

Later. My arse is draggin'.