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What a mess! Certainly highlights the dysfunction in the system -- esp with the Board of Education -- more proof that one of the largest school systems in the country should NOT be governed by part-time non-educators. Honestly, doesn't seem to matter democrat / republican / independent -- they just.cannot.get.their.act.together.
As others have pointed out, the district is entirely too big to have a one-size-fits-all snow day determination. My kids too sat at home -- alone since DH and I both had to work -- when they could have easily been in school -- maybe with a 2 hour delay but in school nonetheless.
I understand that roads were icy in certain parts etcetcetc but it looks like these changing weather patterns are here to stay. The entire area needs a comprehensive plan to deal with weather. period. I can't imagine the economic impact over the past 2 weeks with businesses closing, schools shut down etc. 24/7 coverage of the impending doom only stoked peoples fears -- and puts more pressure on the schools to close.
And the the BOE decides well maybe we did set aside some days as makeup days but hey, let's mess things up just a bit more and schedule them for a major religious holiday AND for when we had planned our spring break. Surely everyone can comply with that right?
SMH -- this is one of those times I ask myself "wasn't there one adult in the room who thought, hmmm, maybe this isn't such a great idea?"
Shouldn't they be doing that anyway? What other job would make you pay for someone to cover you when you use leave you've earned??
oh, and this -- I may have my head buried in the sand but you mean to tell me that if a teacher takes off they have to PAY to have someone cover for them?
that is really something!
oh, and this -- I may have my head buried in the sand but you mean to tell me that if a teacher takes off they have to PAY to have someone cover for them?
that is really something!
In Johnston County, if you take a personal day, you are required to pay a certain amount to cover for a substitute. I am not sure if this a state thing or not. I have only taught in Johnston County but have never taken a personal day.
Our daughter's tutor had plans to fly out for the week to visit family and has to take the 3 days unpaid because she's out of leave. She has to pay $50 per day for the sub.
oh, and this -- I may have my head buried in the sand but you mean to tell me that if a teacher takes off they have to PAY to have someone cover for them?
that is really something!
Yes, and when my mother was teaching, they had to leave lesson plans for the sub. When my grandfather died in the middle of the night, I had to call and wake up my boyfriend to go by our house and pick up the lesson plans to take to the school. That was in the old days, before home computers and the internet!
(And my boyfriend STILL married me after all that! lol)
Back to the OP.... my kids are out of school now. I simply don't understand why the BOE didn't use the make-up dates that were on the calendar and STUCK to them! Sounds like they caved to the parents who demanded they not touch Spring Break, only to cave to the parents who couldn't possibly send their kids on Good Friday and Saturdays! WCPSS parents are an interesting group of people. I'm glad I don't have to deal with them.
As far as GF goes, I'm a preacher's kid (protestant, of course), but the day wasn't as important as the night. Back in the olden days, our Spring Break always seemed to coincide with Holy Week. We didn't get a break, because there were always Holy Week services to attend. Easter Monday was a state holiday because of a baseball game! With a preacher father and a teacher mother, we never went anywhere anyway! No money!
Shouldn't they be doing that anyway? What other job would make you pay for someone to cover you when you use leave you've earned??
Teachers are prohibited from taking leave when students are there. If they do, they must pay.
You'll also be interested to learn that non-certified staff has to make up every single minute of time they "had off" during those weather days. That's in addition to working spring break. It's 37.5 hours that must be made up outside of normal working hours.
Teachers are prohibited from taking leave when students are there. If they do, they must pay.
You'll also be interested to learn that non-certified staff has to make up every single minute of time they "had off" during those weather days. That's in addition to working spring break. It's 37.5 hours that must be made up outside of normal working hours.
Gotta love a 'right to work' state with no real union voice.
I am totally astonished by this. You were told not to come to work -- not your choice b/c maybe you could have easily gotten there -- and now YOU have to make up these hours? And, also, since you do work in a school you just need to 'clock in' those lost hours? I am assuming the kids won't be there so what is the point? You have to work the makeup days PLUS the hours you missed?
And I still don't understand teachers paying for subs -- if they have personal days they may take they still have to 'pay' for the sub? So they don't really have any paid time off?
The fact that teachers must pay for their own subs is just so odd to me. My son's teacher missed two days last week because her grandmother died. It infuriates me that she had to pay $100 to WCPSS so she could go to her grandmothers funeral. Completely ridiculous!
Gotta love a 'right to work' state with no real union voice.
I am totally astonished by this. You were told not to come to work -- not your choice b/c maybe you could have easily gotten there -- and now YOU have to make up these hours? And, also, since you do work in a school you just need to 'clock in' those lost hours? I am assuming the kids won't be there so what is the point? You have to work the makeup days PLUS the hours you missed?
And I still don't understand teachers paying for subs -- if they have personal days they may take they still have to 'pay' for the sub? So they don't really have any paid time off?
You're correct on all counts. Non-certified staff must go in now at all kinds of odd hours when there are no students to make up the time. Makes you wonder exactly what people like cafeteria staff are doing to "make up time".
Teachers paid time off is vacations like Christmas break and spring break, which is taken out of their annual leave bank. But since they can't use part of spring break this year they are in effect losing paid time off. Same with non-certified staff. And as I noted, you can cash out those days if you don't use them, so that's just more time that people can now bank to take as a cash payment when they leave. And I can assure you that this is the straw that's breaking the camel's back as far as people deciding to leave. A couple of days may not seem like a big deal, but if we continue to have these weather days, and the board keeps making uninformed decisions, staff could continue to accrue these days. Jim Merrill is putting a good face on, but once the dust settles and we see how much this costs the county, I'm sure he'll be having some words with the clueless board.
At my school in joco, if you take a day off you call it in as a sick day and you don't get charged any $$ . You accumulate 1 sick day per month, and 1 annual leave day every few months( annual,leave days are for when kids are not in school/ workdays). It's normally never questioned.
It gets sticky when you take off consecutive days. If you don't have a dr. Note, or it's not a death in the family, that is when they sometimes charge the $50.00 per day for personal. Days.....particularly if the principal gets wind that you took off to go on vacation. Which I understand since we get so much time off over the course of the year.
As a side note....as a teacher and parent, I dont schedule trips during spring break for this exact reason. It says on our calendar each year that inclement weather days could be made up,during spring break....so that's set in my head at the beg. Of each school year. Travel,plans are scheduled for christmas, summers or thanksgiving, and we sometimes go away on spring break, but it's usually closeby and reservations are made a few weeks prior....not months in advance.
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