Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I know many teachers in my area whose salaries are in the neighborhood of $100K. Some of them are married to teachers whose salary is also in the neighborhood of $100K. These are elementary and middle school teachers. They live in really nice homes in really nice neighborhoods and drive really nice cars.
They are not at school working all kinds of crazy hours every night. The majority of the time they are gone by 3 - 3:30 pm. I'm sure they bring work home, but so what. At least it can be done in the comfort of your home while cooking dinner and helping the kids with HW. And they have summers off, 2 days off in Sept for Jewish holiday, off in October for Columbus, 2 1/2 days for Thanksgiving, 1.2 -1.5 weeks off for Christmas, 1 week off for winter break. 1.2 - 1.5 weeks off for Easter long Memorial Day Weekend, snow days, personal days, sick days. Great health benefits and contribute much less than someone in private sector, pension plan.
Sorry, but I am not feeling sorry for teachers
Where is this? It's not like that everywhere. I live in an area outside of DC with one of the highest costs of living in the country and with 19 years I'm nowhere near that salary. With 28 years and a PhD the salary scale is still well under $100k. Yes, I'm off from the fourth week of June until the last week of August, but those other breaks seem longer. A winter break in addition to time off at Christmas?
Where is this? It's not like that everywhere. I live in an area outside of DC with one of the highest costs of living in the country and with 19 years I'm nowhere near that salary. With 28 years and a PhD the salary scale is still well under $100k. Yes, I'm off from the fourth week of June until the last week of August, but those other breaks seem longer. A winter break in addition to time off at Christmas?
Long Island.
Yes, Depending on what day Christmas falls, schools are closed a week to a week and a half. Winter break is the week of President's Day and another week for Easter. Memorial Day weekend break usually runs from Thursday prior until Monday, unless they used a lot of snow days like last year. Teachers also have similar summer vacation as you.
My God, that's low. I realize cost of living in OK is less than many other states, but these are slave wages for what we do. I'm sorry it's so low. You'd be making twice that in CA.
I know visiting teachers in California.... teachers who were going to spend only one or two years in exchange programs from Spain and other countries... in SF and LA, ADULT people had to share rooms because their paycheck did not allow them even to have their own room in a shared apartment in those cities.
Teachers spend many unpaid hours working outside the regular schedule. My wife was in a running club and she had to stop going because most afternoons she was working in the classroom. All the 9 to 5ers from downtown were there almost everyday.
AND you see how much attention this thread is getting. Not that it's MINE, but that people just refuse to look at the truth. They would rather go on believing Glen Beck.
Why would'nt they? This man is the Albert Einstein of stupidity
Still not the teacher's problem... not their decision how many days they work. Most districts are set up on a system that was instituted in the 1800's when kids had to be at home in the summer to help out on the farm. That's why we continue to have summers off. Most teachers would agree that we would prefer to work year-round, but getting the general public to part with tradition is another story all together. You can't have it both ways.
Not me for sure. I do not like the idea of becoming a babysitter as some politicians wants us to be. Now the trend is to convert school in day cares.
When I came to the States in 2000 it was "tests for everybody", but lately is "blame the teacher" for everything.
Did you factor in the medical, dental, vision plan? How about the district paying into your retirement plan? How about the 10-12 sick days you get paid for without having to work? Teachers work 1/2 a year and have a work schedule from 8-3. The cost of a house in Oklahoma is about $75,000. The cost of a house in CA is around $400,000 depending on the area. Apple to orange. Why not privatize the teaching profession and have administrators with business degrees? I am a teacher and am very grateful for my job, but to continue to cry poverty is wrong. I knew the salary schedule when I was hired. I sign a contract every year knowing what I get paid.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob's Burgers
Where are you getting this information?
A teacher's work day can be up to 12 hours. My friend who teaches kindergarten has even longer hours.
The teacher's contract states the hours I need to be at school. If your friend spends that much time at school, she probably is talking to the janitor or an administrator. It does not take a genius to do a lesson plan. Contract date: Labor day to June 17 = 183 days ; from 8AM to 2:39 PM in my district with a 45 minute lunch, 6 minute passing periods, and a 15 minute break. Do the math....12 hours is foolish, that is her choice to be there.
If you are a teacher I am a flying pig. No teacher would ever claim they work 1/2 year because, if for no other reason, it isn't true. Your 183 days is even over 1/2 a year if you count every day of the year but.... the average number of days a person works in the US is 245 (you know, 5 days a week, two weeks vacation, and 5 holidays off - and most professionals get more) so those 183 days are almost 75% of a year.
Next, given the minimum standard is that teachers will arrive at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the instructional day and stay at least 15 minutes after - where in the heck do you supposedly work that they have at most a 6 hour instructional day (6 hours, 39 minutes minus the extra 45 minutes beyond instructional day that is in most contract)? I don't know any teacher who has been given a 45 minute lunch, but let's pretend that one is right because I suppose it is conceivable. However, what have passing periods got to do with your contract? I'm not even sure what you are referring to. Are you talking about when the kids move from one class to another, when every school I know requires staff to monitor the students? The 6-8 of them that last between 4-7 minutes in duration depending on the size of your school?
Which leaves me with my favorite part of your argument, and the one that makes it clear you are not a teacher - no teacher gets a break. Not even a 5 minute pee break, let alone an entire 15 minutes. They do have planning periods, but that is not a break, and no teacher would refer to it as such. Most schools require teachers to be specific places (meetings with administrators, conferences, learning communities, special ed meetings, training, etc.) during that planning period about 3 times a week - so you don't even get that all the time. None of what you claim is your contract includes "voluntary" tutoring, club sponsorship, parent conferences, or professional development, which teachers have to do under the other duties as required.
Why not have people with business degrees be administrators? Because they know nothing about how a school works (as your posts reflect) or what is needed to actually teach the kids - you know, that little minor detail and the whole purpose of the school. Arne Duncan is a prefect example of why it just doesn't work.
Yes, Depending on what day Christmas falls, schools are closed a week to a week and a half. Winter break is the week of President's Day and another week for Easter. Memorial Day weekend break usually runs from Thursday prior until Monday, unless they used a lot of snow days like last year. Teachers also have similar summer vacation as you.
As far as the days off, the number of contract days for teachers depends on the state, but most are around the 185 day area. So getting off a week for Christmas, a week for Easter, blah, blah, blah....is really irrelevant. Districts set their own schedules, but they have to comply with the "185ish" day law. Less breaks during the year means starting school later in the fall or ending earlier in the spring. More breaks, less summer time off. It is an easy concept to follow.
Now, I just did a very quick calculation. I am not talking at all about the salary, just hours worked for teachers compared to 40 hr/wk employees at any job.
40 hrs/wk = 2080 hrs/yr.
Averaging out that teachers work about 10 hrs/day each contract day (some work more, some less....some work on weekends, too....this is at school & at home) to make calculations easy, that would = 1850 hrs/yr.
The difference would be 230 hrs/yr, equaling 28-29 8 hr. days.
Vacation time for 40 hr/wk employees varies greatly, depending on the type of job, the employer, etc. At first glance it looks like, by my calculations, 40 hr/wk employees would need to get over 5 wks/yr off to be comparable to what teachers gets. However, that does not count paid holidays.....assuming the best benefits package, figure 8 holidays a year. That brings the total down to about 3 or so wks/yr vacation.
Are you following me? Of course you can't compare apples to apples....this is just a rough estimate.
Now you have to consider that teachers have to take continuing education classes OUTSIDE of their contract days. Not every year necessarily, but there are obligations that must be met. Also, most teachers spend approx. one week minimum during the summer to get their room ready for the new school year and at least a few days after school is out cleaning things up. That doesn't count those teachers who get transferred to another room or building, where they have to put in even more hours doing their own moving, unpacking, etc. I am not even going to go into detail about the # of teachers who work a 2nd job after school, weekends, or during the summer so they can make ends meet due to low paying teaching jobs. Pay varies greatly across the country. That is another story!
When it comes right down to it, many teachers do work as much during a calendar year as those who are in other professions. I think a lot of people just see the "3 months off during the summer" as a great deal (and don't get me wrong, I really do appreciate my summer breaks!) and don't consider the whole picture. There are times that I would love to have off during the rest of the year for certain things but I can't take off because I only get 2 personal days a year. For instance, I would love to go on a winter time vacation, cruise, etc., but that isn't possible unless it is during Christmas time, and I personally choose to spend time with my grandkids then. We do make some sacrifices for having the summer vacation. Some may say "oh, poor lady....can't take a winter vacation, booohooo", and I understand their thinking that...I am just giving some examples to open the eyes of those who don't see that whole picture.
Regardless of days off, hours worked, money, etc. I love what I do. I did not go into education because of the schedule. As has been said earlier in this thread, that is how the system works.
185 days seems on the low end to me. Don't most student calendars have almost that many days?
We have 183 student days and 194 teacher contract days. At 194 days we are one of the lowest around my area and many districts in VA have standard 200 day contracts.
In NY, there are a minimum of 180 days for students. In my county teachers have between 182 to 184 days required of them depending on district. Teacher salaries top out in the $120,000s in my county.
In NY, there are a minimum of 180 days for students. In my county teachers have between 182 to 184 days required of them depending on district. Teacher salaries top out in the $120,000s in my county.
So the teachers only have 2 to 4 days more than the students? It's surprising to me because, as I noted above, we have 11 more.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You'd be making twice that in CA.
