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I keep reading posts about there not being any teacher unions in the south. I have known this for a while, still I am not sure exactly what that affects. I guess I take for granted what I have up here as a teacher through the unions, but what exactly do we have in the north that states without teacher unions don't?
Isn't mostly everything said in the contract with the school district that I would need to be concerned about throughout the year? Am I mistaken in this understanding?
I know there are pros and cons to teacher unions, but I do not know exactly what those pros and cons are.
Ok, this is what my wife sent to me in responce to your post, she is a 1st grade teacher in CCSD and a Tech specialist.
Well you can forget having free lunch time, planning time with no classes you .. Basically your time is not protected. That has been the biggest complaint of all the northern teachers that they are all in shock that they are responsible for so many things but the time isn't there. Our contract are basic pieces of paper with tons of loop holes.
Your responsibilites are basic but when you get to each school you will need to abide by the prinicipals expectations as well as all the state and district responisiblities. BE PREPARED TO BE OVER WORKED!
Meetings, meetings, and more meetings....lunch and recess w/the kids, sometimes no break at all (we've been told not to refer to it as "a break" , but rather a planning period - which means we might have to use it for meetings instead of to make phone calls, run papers, grade papers, use the restroom...all those "trivial things" ). Luckily my principal goes easy on us and understands our needs and concerns, but I've heard of principals who are downright tyrants and practically crack a whip. You can join NEA or SCEA and pay a yearly membership fee/dues, but they don't really do much good from what I understand.
So, as the mother of two terrific teachers(math,social studies) here is my question. What is the incentive to bring quality young teachers to SC? I've read on these boards that the school system in SC is not very highly ranked. Whats being done to improve the situation? Certainly overworking and underpaying your teachers is not the answer. My sons want to leave NY for many reasons and both would like to teach someplace where the kids really need help. Its not about the money for them because they are young and idealistic,but at the same time,they have to earn a living.
You don't go into teaching for the money, it truely is a calling. My wife always says that, and you see it in alot of the teachers, the young ones who truely want to make a difference so they work two extra jobs at night and weekends so that they can support themselves and buy stuff for the classroom. This state needs good teachers, as a Libertarian I believe in privatizing schools and school choice, but there has got to be a better way to entice good teachers here.
Most of us in the private sector work just as hard if not harder and we do not get 12 to 14 weeks off per year.
This is the Teacher's Union in Massachusetts:
-In Massachusetts, a teacher can retire after 23 years of service with full medical and pension paid for by the tax payer. That teacher has to be replaced with another teacher getting full benefits paid by the tax payer who can also retire in his/her mid forties. So, in theory the tax payers of MA could be on the hook for three different people who were or are filling a single position in the system.
-In the City of Boston it accounts for the biggest piece of the budgetary pie and it is destroying us.
-Bad teachers cannot be fired and all teachers regardless of quality get the same raises.
I just have one point to correct, teachers do not get 12 to 14 weeks off per year. They spend most of the summer planning for the next year, attending classes to keep there certification or to advance their degrees all of which is mandatory.
Everybody can take shots at teachers all they want, but the fact still remains that SC is among the lowest ranked states for education. So go ahead, complain about their benefits and retirement packages and keep discouraging our best and brightest from entering the profession.But just remember, you get what you pay for.
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