transplantbillsfan

Annnnnnnnnd @Chef Jim realizes one of 2 things: 1) He's lost an argument 2) He's been discovered trolling I'm going to assume the best of him and believe it's #1.

I'm in the classroom not getting paid for my endeavors trying to make the upcoming school year as enriching and beneficial to the students as possible. You're sitting here without kids of your own in a profession where you likely never even see kids complaining that all kids better get back to school full time while doing nothing at all productive in relation to those kids or your goal of getting kids fully back into class. And you call me a whiner.

Okay so I wasn't mistaken. You really are just being an idiot. I've been at school working multiple times this Summer, including 7 hours in my classroom yesterday. I've been going into school sporadically for awhile to prepare my online curriculum and online databases like Google Classroom. I've been doing this, as have MANY other teachers who I've also been seeing on campus, on my Summer vacation at a time I'm not being paid for that work. I'm doing it because I care about my students' education and want to be the best teacher I can be in the upcoming school year. Today I have a pile of 40 AP Lit papers I'm going to start giving feedback on and grading. I will be getting more in the upcoming weeks that I will be grading on my vacation. I'm a teacher, not someone who sits in a Board of Education, in Administration or on a School Board. These decisions are not mine to make. I might have my own feelings about those decisions, but teachers don't have that much pull when it's all said and done. Schools won't be going back full time in the Fall most places across the country. Since that seems to be unacceptable to you and you care so much about the kids AND you have managerial experience, you should really consider a career change and go into Administration to enact some real change. In the immediate future, go to your local school board meetings and give them your input on needing kids to go back fully and how you think that should happen. School boards and PTSAs across the country always welcome the input from concerned community members who care so much about the kids like yourself.

The inevitable "Oh crap! I made a huge mistake!" vote countdown is on! https://rvat.org/

And this is Ad Hominem at its worst.

Then why does our state's pay scale have "10 Month Employee" and "12 Month Employee" separately? Look it up bro it's easy for you to find for almost any state. Don't be lazy and make a baseless accusation without even an attempt to gain some knowledge. Teachers are 10 month employees. I don't have answers to all your questions. I'm a teacher, not an unemployment expert. But if you're smelling bullschiff maybe it's because you just schiffed your pants.

Get over yourself. My standards for my class are VERY different from what I view necessarily happening as a result of this Pandemic, at least to begin the school year. And I don't see my students every day in a NORMAL year. It's 3 times a week in a 5 day week and 2 times a week in a 4 day holiday week. You seem to be at an alternative High School where you see your kids every day. Most schools aren't like that.

Don't worry. Good Teacher = Good Actor I'm a good teacher. Parents like me. Even the ones who annoy the hell outta me. Not a clue what you're trying to accomplish saying this. Are you seriously trying to accuse me of messing around with students? Seems to be your implication otherwise I don't see the point of you tossing this word salad my way. You're going to have to explain this to me because I don't get what you're saying. Now teachers make substantial money with cradle to grave entitlements? How does this fit in with any overall point? So first of all, I don't have a clue to any of your NY references to teachers because that's not where I teach. But I do believe overall, as a whole, you get what you pay for. I will reveal more about myself by saying I graduated from one of the best High Schools in the region in the 90s: Webster High School. I really did have mostly excellent teachers. My Wind Ensemble (band) teacher was old and nearly retiring and I know she was making 6 figures. We were one of the better schools academically--public, charter or private. I teach in Hawai'i and we max out at a salary somewhere around $90,000 at this point. That might sound like a lot to you. If it does, you haven't been to Hawai'i, and more specifically, O'ahu. We don't have one of the best public school systems in the country. We're closer to the bottom than the top. Now I was fortunate enough to somehow be hired to a fantastic public school in the state that consistently ranks as the #1 or #2 public High School every year, but that was luck. We have a siphoning faculty where approaching half of it rotates in and out because our district has a military base we serve and so a lot of military spouses come to our school for 3 year stints. Other schools aren't nearly as lucky and suffer because they can't draw more teachers in. That felt unnecessarily revealing. We're teachers not Administration. I would NEVER want to be an Administrator of any sorts, period. If people hate teachers because of poor Administrations or Adminisrative choices, I view that as an unfair correlation. I don't know how many ESL students you have, but living in Hawai'i I see them all the time. I think those teachers can be unbelievably valuable to helping students assimilate rapidly into our country and culture by becoming extremely comfortable with the language. I've had students who were ESL I never would have guessed because they so quickly became fluent. If there are a lot of ESL students in your area and you value assimilating immigrants into our language and culture, ESL teachers are incredibly valuable. I don't disagree that money should be accounted for or allocated towards things like devices for distance learning in the Fall. I don't know why you think I take anything here personally. I don't.

Here I have a question for you because maybe I've misread you and we've been arguing about something we actually agree on. I really think deep down you understand that teachers working 17 hour days with ALL students in a school coming in at staggered times each an every day isn't feasible, isn't fair, and just plain isn't happening, so: Do you believe the only answer is to get ALL students back on campus each and every day for full, in-person instruction?

No every other industry HASN'T figured these things out, hence the explosion in cases across the country and some of these industries on the brink of a 2nd shutdown.

Yep. This is exactly what our school is doing. And we'll progress to 50% capacity if it's possible and so on. And our state opens the public school system in 3 weeks. We're the test subjects.

From page 4: You're right. You idiots probably would have been more appropriate

Ummm... No we aren't. This thread is just revealing so much ignorance with regards to teachers it's ridiculous. You brought up one of the most common misconceptions of how we're paid. We're 10 month employees who get paid over a span of 12 months because a percentage of our pay is withheld during the 10 months so we can be paid over the Summer. I've heard of some districts where you have the option to get your full pay through the 10 months, but then you aren't paid through the Summer. There are 12 month employees at schools like Registrars and Librarians who are paid more on the whole because they work 2 extra months, but their wage isn't higher.

Wow you must have had TERRIBLE teachers in grade school! I feel bad for you. All my best teachers were from elementary to High School, not college. That includes the teacher who inspired me to come into the profession. I've seen discount teachers come and go. They get swallowed and eaten up by the demands of the profession and often by the kids they teach themselves. Your extreme ignorance as it relates to the profession is so pathetic I hope all you're doing is playing some ridiculous Persona. If you are, you're doing it well. I have no clue what your situation, but 2 things: Sounds like your Confirmation bias of a comparatively minute number of teachers you've interacted with are what you are using as the foundational belief you clearly have of teachers. I will say that in my 16 years of experience teaching it is often the know-it-all parents who view their kids' teachers as "complete boobs" who are the biggest problems for that child and his/her learning. It just won't happen. Not the money to pay for this happening.

Well I've learned a lot about you in our dialogue in this thread. Unfortunately, none of it is good.

Nah. It's crazy. Biden looks like a brilliant choir boy when juxtaposed next to Trump, who will be looked at in the history books as one of the worst Presidents in US history.

Yes

Guessing you never got beyond that... Massive watering down of the education system is what you're essentially proposing. You realize that, right? Instead of mostly highly qualified teachers your asking for mostly semi-qualified teachers. And that's better to you because all those semi qualified teachers will have smaller classes? Man, you guys really are clueless.

"Adequate instructors at bargain barrel prices." Honestly you guys amaze me. With education as a whole, much like with everything else in life in general: You get what you pay for Bingo. This is what is and will happen. In other words: It's not students going fully back to school. And bigger schools like mine are staggering it so they come once every 4 classes rather than 2. Because you're using what happened in your workplace as an argument for why teachers need to go fully back to work.

You haven't heard this come up with publicly because it's not feasible. You're going to have to pay for these extra hours. You seem wildly clueless on this. Was waiting for it... there it is I'm still waiting on what you do for a living. I'm guessing you stand at your desk by choice because you have one of those standing desks since sitting is apparently the new smoking. You're full of so much goddamn hot air it's ridiculous. Then you clearly haven't been paying attention. If you think I'm being negative, maybe you should recognize the situation our Country is currently in. But I did NOT say don't open schools without a vaccine. If you appreciate a good honest debate, at least pay attention to what I've said. I'm so sick of the binary choices you guys limit yourselves to in this forum.

Ooooooohhhhh that'd be fantastic! Good idea. I'm willing to do it. Just pay me for my extra hours and extra work

Agreed, He has no clue, but I'll address it anyway. Nice thought. Again, if we could ignore parents and their complaints and wishes, believe me teachers would be much happier in their profession. Parents are often stupid, plain and simple. Unfortunately, as the previous poster stated... pigeon the sky brah. Wait, we're teachers. Now we're health providers and potential arts and crafts experts, too? Pie in the sky... This sounds like your job accommodated you and your coworkers quite well, maybe you should consider that teachers should be accommodated similarly. No every desk. Kids aren't immune and the moment there's a Coronavirus sickness, hospitalization or death, all hell breaks loose. And yes, kids get sick, too. Oooooooooohhhhhhhhh!!!! Yeah you're wonderful freedom has been lookin really promising. 362 deaths in a 4 day span that ended July 11th. Yeah, you're definitely living in the region the rest of the Country should be looking towards At least at this point you clearly establish you're either being sarcastic or you're a moron. And just to let you know, I sincerely think there's a 50/50 chance you're one of these 2 things and I truly hope it's the former. Sarcastic it is. No not excuses. Look back in this thread. I said I think my school has the right idea for a model of how to start school. However, much to the chagrin of you and others here, it involves a combination of in school learning and distance learning to start the year. This is especially a necessity for schools with larger student bodies. So whatever misery you're suffering under, I hope you can actually understand some of the complexities of this issue and that it's not teachers who have been the ones creating the plans, it's administrations and, unfortunately, politicians. I think I've placated you enough at this point.

I'm sure you're a smart man, but you seem relatively clueless about the massive beurocracies that schools are--Public, Charter AND private. You know how many interviews I've heard already from parents saying their kid has some underlying health condition that won't allow them to wear a mask all day? Some from private schools. And as much as you'd like to think if those private school kids won't wear masks, they're that much easier to kick out. Except they aren't. It all depends on who their parents are in many cases. "Provide them" is a wonderful idea if we're actually provided with those things to provide the students. That's the issue public schools run into more than Private schools. I've heard some private schools investing in the very things needed to get ALL teachers back. Pay for those things for Public schools--you willing to pay for that Mr. Taxpayer?--and you likely won't get nearly as much pushback. Again, what do you do? You said you work in an office. How many people are in your office at a time? How big is your office? Is it a cubicle like setup with walls between everyone working? Please describe it if you're willing. Where do you live? My Mom had to wait in a line for 20 minutes outside of Wegmans last week because they were doing just that. Yes, plexiglass/plastic partitions for every desk, hand sanitizer for every student and cleaning supplies for every teacher along with extra masks for an enforceable "every student must wear a mask in class" policy. Oh wait, but then you also mentioned the social distancing thing. How do you get your 6 ft apart for all 30+ students in anywhere from a 400-800 square foot box? No. Not 6 weeks. Students come back August 4th here. And it's not ultimately the teachers driving these decisions.

We have been demanding that dummy. Ya know what the problem we run into is? Parents who refuse to make their kids wear masks and a DOE that accepts 3 ft as acceptable social distancing. Among other things. Your 1st 2 sentences are completely at odds with each other. Teachers want to get back into the classroom. But safely. For everyone. May I ask what you do for a living? Is your username instructive as far as your profession goes? Every grocery store I've gone to for months limits occupancy in the store to 50% or below typical occupancy, provides every employee with sanitizer and clerks with cleansers to clean the conveyor belt after each customer along with a clear plastic shield between clerk and customer.