Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on September 27, 2007 - 22:35.
I love the kids I teach, and most teachers put up with all of the above because they do truly love teaching and working with kids. However, the stress is really getting to me. I was hospitalized for a week last year and my health is steadily worsening. I do not know if I will be in this school district for much longer. If it were not for additional adjunct duties at a local college, I would not be able to pay my bills.
I see the problem as being more complex than salary and parents' disinvolvement. I also see bickering and fighting among Board Members. I see a District that has been indicted several times by County Grand Juries as being derelict in duties. I saw Board Members elected who do not have a clue about education and who barely have a high school education running districts with high poverty and high multicultural populations. I personally know of one Board Member who worked very hard to get elected and who then focused all available attention on one teacher to get that individual fired. Why? Because the teacher had to send that Board Member's child home several times because the child would come to school with head lice!
I see a District which had two Superintendents on the payroll at the same time because one Sup had to be bought out of his contract. That Supe brought crony-ism into the District and that crony took off with half a million in cash from the District.
I see a District which forces teachers to use programs which do not meet all of the Standards of the State. We used to be given 150 minutes a day to teach a literacy program that the publisher requires a commitment of 180 minutes a day. That was last year. This year we have 120 minutes for the same program, and we are expected to march lock-step to the scripted program. Woe to the teacher who leaves something out because there is not enough time to cover all the material!
The math program (according to the publisher) requires 180 minutes daily including extensive use of manipulatives. We are actually given between 45 to 50 minutes dail;y to cover everything in the lessons.
State law requires 100 minutes per week (20 minutes daily) of PE. Our principal has mandated that we teach Social Studies, Science and PE all during that block of 20 minutes per day.
I see a District which buys programs to be taught in the classrooms which have little relevance to the standards or to the needs of the students. I sometimes think that someone is receiving a kickback somewhere for these purchases. Although our contract says that we have academic freedom in the classroom, we are all expected to be on the same page, on the same day. We cannot have posters on our walls other than what is recommended by the authors of the packaged curriculum.
On top of that, or under it, depending on your point of view, wages are low compared to the wages industry and business pays in this area. Many times the children of teachers go into jobs fresh out of high school and earn almost as much as the parent who is teaching. In my district, a teacher with 20 years of experience will earn about 65,000 per year. A teacher who works at my grade level just saw her son get a job a year out of high school making 50,000 a year. It is disheartening to see how low teacher pay is compared to the prevailing earning rates in an area. By the way, in the county where I work you can buy someone's garage for about 300K. Seriously, median houses costs about 600K and we are not talking about Cupertino or Los Altos Hieghts.
The problem is multifaceted. Raising teachers salaries would certainly make meeting ends easier, but it will not solve the other problems. Yes, raise teacher salaries. Yes, pay bonuses to teachers who work in low performing districts and schools and get programs that are research based and are proven to work. Yes, find a way to get parents involved. Yes, hire district office people who who have a clue. Yes, find a way to get highly qualified Board Members to take the reigns and manage districts properly. Let's make school work for our future breadwinners and taxpayers.
One last thing, and I hope you forgive me for the length of this letter: We are a PI school. Every year we meet all of our mandated goals except for one. Last year we met our API goals but missed the every devastating AYP. We passed 21 out of 22 categories and had better than expected growth. The one category we missed was in the subgroup for Special Education. This has happened three years in a row. Our school is now in danger of being taken over by the state because our special ed students cannot meet the requirements of the NCLB regulations! Can you fathom this? We have about 15 to 20 students in special ed out of a population of 600+. That very small subgroup is endangering the future of the school. I love these kids! They are trying very hard! We are not alone! Many schools which service special ed students are in the same boat. When is this inequity going to be addressed and solved?
Did I effectively show that this is a complex issue?
Pay, etc.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on September 27, 2007 - 22:35.
I love the kids I teach, and most teachers put up with all of the above because they do truly love teaching and working with kids. However, the stress is really getting to me. I was hospitalized for a week last year and my health is steadily worsening. I do not know if I will be in this school district for much longer. If it were not for additional adjunct duties at a local college, I would not be able to pay my bills.
I see the problem as being more complex than salary and parents' disinvolvement. I also see bickering and fighting among Board Members. I see a District that has been indicted several times by County Grand Juries as being derelict in duties. I saw Board Members elected who do not have a clue about education and who barely have a high school education running districts with high poverty and high multicultural populations. I personally know of one Board Member who worked very hard to get elected and who then focused all available attention on one teacher to get that individual fired. Why? Because the teacher had to send that Board Member's child home several times because the child would come to school with head lice!
I see a District which had two Superintendents on the payroll at the same time because one Sup had to be bought out of his contract. That Supe brought crony-ism into the District and that crony took off with half a million in cash from the District.
I see a District which forces teachers to use programs which do not meet all of the Standards of the State. We used to be given 150 minutes a day to teach a literacy program that the publisher requires a commitment of 180 minutes a day. That was last year. This year we have 120 minutes for the same program, and we are expected to march lock-step to the scripted program. Woe to the teacher who leaves something out because there is not enough time to cover all the material!
The math program (according to the publisher) requires 180 minutes daily including extensive use of manipulatives. We are actually given between 45 to 50 minutes dail;y to cover everything in the lessons.
State law requires 100 minutes per week (20 minutes daily) of PE. Our principal has mandated that we teach Social Studies, Science and PE all during that block of 20 minutes per day.
I see a District which buys programs to be taught in the classrooms which have little relevance to the standards or to the needs of the students. I sometimes think that someone is receiving a kickback somewhere for these purchases. Although our contract says that we have academic freedom in the classroom, we are all expected to be on the same page, on the same day. We cannot have posters on our walls other than what is recommended by the authors of the packaged curriculum.
On top of that, or under it, depending on your point of view, wages are low compared to the wages industry and business pays in this area. Many times the children of teachers go into jobs fresh out of high school and earn almost as much as the parent who is teaching. In my district, a teacher with 20 years of experience will earn about 65,000 per year. A teacher who works at my grade level just saw her son get a job a year out of high school making 50,000 a year. It is disheartening to see how low teacher pay is compared to the prevailing earning rates in an area. By the way, in the county where I work you can buy someone's garage for about 300K. Seriously, median houses costs about 600K and we are not talking about Cupertino or Los Altos Hieghts.
The problem is multifaceted. Raising teachers salaries would certainly make meeting ends easier, but it will not solve the other problems. Yes, raise teacher salaries. Yes, pay bonuses to teachers who work in low performing districts and schools and get programs that are research based and are proven to work. Yes, find a way to get parents involved. Yes, hire district office people who who have a clue. Yes, find a way to get highly qualified Board Members to take the reigns and manage districts properly. Let's make school work for our future breadwinners and taxpayers.
One last thing, and I hope you forgive me for the length of this letter: We are a PI school. Every year we meet all of our mandated goals except for one. Last year we met our API goals but missed the every devastating AYP. We passed 21 out of 22 categories and had better than expected growth. The one category we missed was in the subgroup for Special Education. This has happened three years in a row. Our school is now in danger of being taken over by the state because our special ed students cannot meet the requirements of the NCLB regulations! Can you fathom this? We have about 15 to 20 students in special ed out of a population of 600+. That very small subgroup is endangering the future of the school. I love these kids! They are trying very hard! We are not alone! Many schools which service special ed students are in the same boat. When is this inequity going to be addressed and solved?
Did I effectively show that this is a complex issue?