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 hear the both of you ladies. I'm in the midst of my 2nd trip looking thru the NC,SC, Ga costal areas. Often I'll see a "All Walkins Welcome:" type sign on a realtors office and...often I do just that.....I can't tell you how many times I get a "oh my gosh..not another Jersey person ! when I introduce myself. It's become almost a routine. Quite a number of times I get the " what is going on with your state up there ??
I love it where I'm at..3 acres wooded lot..cedar& redwood ranch,very quite,no crime but...with the constant fees (taxes in disguise) and the ever expanding taxes I refuse to see an ever increasing portion of my earnings go to the school system and Trentons pocketbook. I hope to be outta here in 6 to 9 months.
NJmomof2 We are in the same situation high cost of everything in NJ. We are looking into SC. The only thing that I will miss is family and friends. Have two boys, and praying that everything falls into place and we hope Hope your plans work for you. What area of NC you looking at?
Hey Nancy
We are looking in Union County..Weddington, Marvin area..WE have 2 children my son is 11.5 and my daughter is 7.5...We like where we live and its sad that we are being forced out because we just cant afford the taxes here anymore..I started to look in SC but my husband can get a good paying job in NC and the salary isnt too bad, with that I started looking in NC since SC jobs for him werent there and honestly I liked NC better after doing my research with the schools...If you are looking for schools in SC or NC go to www.greatschools.net I looked at weddington and marvin and the test scores were really good since Im in a great school district now that is one of my main concerns....so I do as much homework and these boards have helped as well.....good luck to you..Where in NJ are you???
PS oh WE ARE ALSO LOOKING in Wesley Chapel...Schools are really good there too....
After reading all the posts, I emailed both Jim Gearhardt and The Jersey Guys with my letter. Don't know if it'll get any airtime, but at least they have it.
Thanks for reading the post and showing your support.
Allegedly, according to News 12 New Jersey, the Governor rescinded his letter to the legislature on Sunday quashing the reform...he sent another letter telling them to proceed. A victory for the people of New Jersey!
You have some good points in your letter (I am, by the way, a teacher who does think the NJEA has a bit too much power). However, I take issue with a few things. Number one, where did you come up with 22 weeks out of the year? I just sat here with my calendar and counted up 42 weeks- and yes, that was leaving out winter and spring break. Secondly, it is my understanding that voting was scheduled to begin on this issue today, making an NJEA protest two weeks from now illogical. Finally, one of the issues is that if you want to retain qualified personnel, you need to provide pay and benefits acccordingly. Anyone who is teaching now will not see a six-figure salary in his or her lifetime, despite a large number of teachers having masters and post-masters graduate work. That is not true for many in private industry, and I know many people who are getting signing bonuses, company cars and laptops, holiday bonuses, and yearly raises equal to or higher than those of teachers. As an NJ taxpayer, I do think that our taxes are high- but, you get what you pay for. NJ students fare near the top in the country for the graduation rate and the number continuing on to college and score high on our standardized state assessments, which are among the most rigorous in the country.
Quote:
Originally Posted by econtenor
What I find so appauling is that you find it necessary to continue kissing the posterior of the NJEA. God forbid these people who work 22 weeks out of the year should have to pay a portion of their salary to health insurance like the rest of us. You as the governor should be publicly denouncing the NJEA for allowing teachers to take off work (consequently causing some school districts to close, leaving thousands of parents only a few days to arrange day care for their children or force them to take off work right before the holidays) to protest. Especially since in a week, they will be off from school and could protest then. But instead of doing the right thing, you bend to their will.
Calculation is as follows. 180 days in the school year. Of that, most teachers get two weeks paid vacation (not first year teachers), 5 sick days, 5 personal days (at minimum). That leaves you with approximately 160 days. 160 days divided by 7 = 22.85 weeks. Sorry, I rounded down...I should have said 23 weeks.
I also have a graduate degree and I make no where near six figures. Everyone choses their profession. If you choose to be a teacher, that is absolultely fantastic - more power to you. But more than likely, you are not getting into it for the money and NJ tax payers should not be paying for the full insurance of the teacher and the husband and the family. That means, in essence, that I am paying for my insurance and yours, in theory...or at least some part of it.
In addition, NJ teachers are making comparable salaries to the average working class person these days. Yes, you may not get a $100K x-mas bonus, or make $150K a year (unless you are a principle or superintendant), however, you have your guaranteed salary increases each year that as a normal working person, I do not. You have job security, I do not. You have a union that can fight for you to get a higher pay increase if it is not sufficient, I do not. The normal person in this state does not have the benefit of collective bargaining.
Now, please do not get me wrong. If the world were perfect, I would want teachers, police, fire, and all medical personnel to get the highest salaries, because they educate, save, and heal us. However, that is not the case. My future wife is going to be a teacher/school psychologist and she and I got into a very heated debate over this the other night. I just feel that when people's hard earned money is at the mercy of a union, nothing good can come about. Yes, New Jersey has one of the best education systems in the US...but it is extremely inefficient and can be streamlined. My biggest gripe is when teachers (don't know you or how you feel, this is just a general comment) start screaming when asked for their insurance co-pay to go from $2 - $5. This would save a lot of money and is a nearly non-existant change in the overall scheme of things for teachers.
My other really big problem is closing the schools to go and protest. This is absolutely wrong no matter how you slice it. This was a power-play by the union to get their point across. Whether that was "explicit" or "implicit" with their directions to members, it was indeed the motive. You are right, if the vote was to take place today, a protest two weeks from now would have been useless. However, Saturday and Sunday also works to stage a protest. There was enough news covering that protest today to make it work even on a non-work day. Causing parents to look for last minute child care or to take time off of work right before the holidays was absolutely unforgivable.
I don't have anything against teachers directly. I have problems with people who believe they are entitled to things using someone else's money. The system needs to be revamped to allow a little more control over the spending and to reduce the power of the NJEA to a reasonable level. There needs to be a balance between collective bargaining power and extortion.
Calculation is as follows. 180 days in the school year. Of that, most teachers get two weeks paid vacation (not first year teachers), 5 sick days, 5 personal days (at minimum). That leaves you with approximately 160 days. 160 days divided by 7 = 22.85 weeks. Sorry, I rounded down...I should have said 23 weeks.
A little mathematics error there. If you're going to divide your 160 days by something, it should be 5 (the number of days worked per week), not 7, since your counting the number of school days, not weekend days as well. That would result in a 32-week schedule, not 22.
We are looking into Boiling Springs SC. The area is an up and coming place. We will be about 20-30 minutes from a city.. I did look into the schools before on the web site that you had sent me, they are above the state averages, I also called down there and did speak to a couple of Moms who have children in the area. Everything is coming back good or great. Nothing really standing out as alarm bells.. My husband will be able to find a job down there with his line of work, and I would have no problems working at something too. We have our house on the market, and hope to be down there before school starting in Aug. I have a 10 year old boy and a 7 year old boy. My 7 year old is very excited about the move, the 10 year old is good and bad. It is the age, afraid he will not have his friends. How is your 11.5 handling it. I looked on the map and you are about 1 1/2 hours away from Boiling Springs. Nancy
A little mathematics error there. If you're going to divide your 160 days by something, it should be 5 (the number of days worked per week), not 7, since your counting the number of school days, not weekend days as well. That would result in a 32-week schedule, not 22.
Bob
You are correct, Bob...thank you for pointing that out. If you read a couple of my other posts, I just went through a whole bunch of math and my brain fried for a second.
Still leaves 20 weeks unaccounted for though, right??? Just checking.
Thanks for the correction...I am never too humble to be corrected.
We are looking into Boiling Springs SC. The area is an up and coming place. We will be about 20-30 minutes from a city.. I did look into the schools before on the web site that you had sent me, they are above the state averages, I also called down there and did speak to a couple of Moms who have children in the area. Everything is coming back good or great. Nothing really standing out as alarm bells.. My husband will be able to find a job down there with his line of work, and I would have no problems working at something too. We have our house on the market, and hope to be down there before school starting in Aug. I have a 10 year old boy and a 7 year old boy. My 7 year old is very excited about the move, the 10 year old is good and bad. It is the age, afraid he will not have his friends. How is your 11.5 handling it. I looked on the map and you are about 1 1/2 hours away from Boiling Springs. Nancy
Nancy,
My son beileve it or not (11.5 yr old) wants to move and is excited...my daughter who is 7.5 yrs old doesnt want to move...but I will say this it is easier to move now when they are that age then when they are already in high school....I wish you guys all the luck and good luck selling your home..Where in Jersey are you?
Staci
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.
Re: The Latest and Greatest from Corruption, USA
