APorIBMom Wrote:
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> One reason classroom teachers earn much less than
> former teachers at central headquarters is
> contract length. Generally, classroom teachers
> are paid for 194 days per year. In contrast,
> former teachers at central headquarters are paid
> for 260 days per year.
>
> Classroom teachers I know frequently work extra
> days for which they are not paid. Some chaperone
> events on weekends. Some work extra days after
> school ends to organize their classroom. Some go
> to school mid-summer to set up their classrooms
> for the next year. And on days when their
> students are in the building, some stay for hours
> after the school day ends. Others go home, then
> answer their students' emails until late at
> night.
>
> So, why not give classroom teachers 198-day or
> 200-day contracts? That's one way to compensate
> them fairly for the extra time they spend on our
> children.
>
> FCPS can pay for longer contracts for classroom
> teachers by reducing the contract lengths for the
> former teachers at Gatehouse and its outposts,
> like Fairfax Ridge. Do we really need to pay
> former teachers to sit around in meetings during
> July - or to use that time to take a paid
> vacation? Why not give them an unpaid vacation -
> just like their former colleagues who work nonstop
> with our children during the school year? For
> that matter, do we need to maintain a 12-person PR
> department on expensive 12-month contracts?
>
> Reducing contract lengths probably does not make
> sense for central staff who perform essential
> functions during the summer, like the people who
> work on renovations. But the entire Department of
> Instructional Services could take a one-month
> unpaid vacation in July, and I'd be surprised if
> many classroom teachers or students complained.
>
More importantly, I think it's time for a spending efficiency review in FCPS. Does the district really need all the layers of administrative expense with it's current structure?
Even the Dems studied this a a means to make spending go further:
http://www.dlc.org/ndol_ci.cfm?kaid=139&subid=273&contentid=252606
Now that the Republicans are running things they should be able to find a lot of fat to trim.
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