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 can't argue with anything you said there, but it is a bit of a straw man's stance. My point was, in this economy, things are not the same. I work closely with many teachers and they are frustrated to be offered one year contracts, year after year. The contracts are geared to make sure the teacher is loyal to the school and fully intends to finish the year, while the school can fire them at any time.
I even know a few teachers who have worked for the same school 4 years now. Not only were they not given a permanent deal this year, they had to sign a contract stating that their position was not even assured for the entire year! That if more budget cuts were needed, they understood they might be let go during the middle of the year.!? I say the heck with that! I would not even sign a deal like that if I were a teacher and would be looking for another job yesterday if I found myself in that position.
I feel sorry for all those young folks out there going to school right now with the intention of being educators. I do not see many new positions in primary education coming open for the next several years. So many states on the brink of financial disaster.
I can go you one better. My contract has a clause that says if the school runs out of money, they don't have to pay me for all the time I worked . We have no choice but to take our pay over 12 months. The way the contract is written, they could give us our paycheck on May 31st (so we don't walk out en masse before the end of the year) then tell us on the last day of school "Oops, we ran out of money. Sorry, no more paychecks.). They can, literally, keep 1/4 of my pay for the year that I've already worked for.
I'm hoping that's an unenforcable clause. We weren't given time to have a lawyer look it over and we had no negotiating power as to what the contract said. It was sign or you're out of work so I'm guessing it's not enforcable.
I can go you one better. My contract has a clause that says if the school runs out of money, they don't have to pay me for all the time I worked . We have no choice but to take our pay over 12 months. The way the contract is written, they could give us our paycheck on May 31st (so we don't walk out en masse before the end of the year) then tell us on the last day of school "Oops, we ran out of money. Sorry, no more paychecks.). They can, literally, keep 1/4 of my pay for the year that I've already worked for.
I'm hoping that's an unenforcable clause. We weren't given time to have a lawyer look it over and we had no negotiating power as to what the contract said. It was sign or you're out of work so I'm guessing it's not enforcable.
And I'm supposed to feel guilty if I leave .
If they are a charter school and out of money the source that will pay you is?
If they are a charter school and out of money the source that will pay you is?
Possibly the owner or it could come out of liquidated assets. I would hope they can't really do this. They are holding our wages and give us no choice to be paid over 10 months. You'd think they'd have some responsibility.
It's very shortsighted to downplay the importance of consistency when discussing youth and education. But, you know, whatever makes you feel more justified.
But consistency isn't found in the form of one particular teacher since kids switch teachers all the time. What's consistent are policies and procedures not the particular people. Schools think nothing of moving teachers from building to building or within a building to accomodate schedules and, sometimes, they do it after the school year starts.
When my dd was in 5th grade, she had a teacher leave in late September then in December, when another teacher left in another room, they shuffled teachers to get a best fit which resulted in my dd's room getting their third teacher that year. The only real issue, as I've said before, was how the school handled the first teacher leaving. In villifying her, they made it a bad transition for the kids. Since they wanted to play musical teachers the next time, they played it off as a good thing.
Ya, but many teachers are not being offered contracts due to the economy. The schools are playing it year by year. They offer a contract that expects you to be loyal to them, but they show no loyalty in return.
I say hell yes, if you get a better job offer, take it! It's a dog eat dog world out there right now and school districts across this country are play games with people's lives that would make the big corporations look like a walk in the park.
Got a better, more secure job..........TAKE IT! Cause next year when the cuts come in (and they will) they won't think twice about moving you along!
Yup. They wouldn't think twice about firing me if they found something better. I have no idea why I'm supposed to show more loyalty than they do. I have a feeling, I'll be let go in the spring. Rumor has it they don't like to keep masters level teachers any longer than they have to because they pay us more. The pay is still pathetic. It would be pathetic if I had only a bachelors. But they do pay more. I've heard they, routinely, replace masters level teachers with bachelors level teachers to cut costs.
But consistency isn't found in the form of one particular teacher since kids switch teachers all the time. What's consistent are policies and procedures not the particular people. Schools think nothing of moving teachers from building to building or within a building to accomodate schedules and, sometimes, they do it after the school year starts.
When my dd was in 5th grade, she had a teacher leave in late September then in December, when another teacher left in another room, they shuffled teachers to get a best fit which resulted in my dd's room getting their third teacher that year. The only real issue, as I've said before, was how the school handled the first teacher leaving. In villifying her, they made it a bad transition for the kids. Since they wanted to play musical teachers the next time, they played it off as a good thing.
My children.
My money.
My situation.
My experience.
Nobody else's experiences have any bearing on what really happens. Ignore all those kids from the poll - they don't really know what happened to them, but *I* do!
They just think their education was disrupted. Hah! What do they know? I know better. It could not have bothered them as much as they say, because I know better.
So did you do the interview yet? If not when is it going to happen? Well good luck and I hope you get the job. You need to do what is best for you. I think you already know that but like to get people all rattled.
Hm.... I didn't read all 16 pages, but I have a little something to add. There's this person at my school who holds the same title as I. They just quit last week. As a matter of fact, this person has quit soon after the beginning of the school year, every year, for the past four years. A couple of weeks go by, and that person is back again. I've had many conversations with this person about this and they had valid reasons for wanting to quit. But I do believe they could have done more to help their situation, and I think they were VERY LUCKY to have been taken back three times! This time around, this person has already secured a new job. Unfortunately, they fail to see how big of a wrench they throw into the flow of things by leaving in a huff the way they do.
I do see this as unethical.
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.
. We have no choice but to take our pay over 12 months. The way the contract is written, they could give us our paycheck on May 31st (so we don't walk out en masse before the end of the year) then tell us on the last day of school "Oops, we ran out of money. Sorry, no more paychecks.). They can, literally, keep 1/4 of my pay for the year that I've already worked for. 
.
