Teachers:
The time has come to start working to the rule, refusing to do college recs, refusing to sponsor clubs etc.
Year after year, we are told that there is not enough money to give us raises and COLAS. Year after year, we are given more students in our classrooms. Year after year, we are asked to waste our time in more and more meeting discussin "data" instead of planning.
We are not repected by our employers, and we are not respected by the communitees that we serve and live in. Oh sure, the Board and the community pays lipservice to us, and tries to say the tight things to placate us- and we let them do it. We have GOT to say NO MORE and to put pressure thta makes politicians actually do something for us.
Tonight our apparently cash strapped county voted to push back high school start times- a move which is projected to cost five million and will almost certainly cost more. The money was spent predicated on the ludicrous idea that later start times will mean more sleep for students, when common sense says kids will just stay up later. In that front nothing will change. And, on our front, meaning getting the raises that will permit us to live comfortably in the community that we serve, nothing will change unless we actually DO something.
Our unions are weak and tooothless. Our please fall on deaf ears, yet when a group of noisy parents clamors to get their way, 5 million dollars magically surfaces. According to the website, FCPS has 23,447.3 full time employees. The expenditure of five million could have meant a pay raise of 213 dollars PER INDIVIDUAL. Granted, that's not much, but it is something and , obviously it was avaliable despite the bullshit that we get served.
If noisy parents can bully their way through, we can too, but we must actually DO something rather than thinking that reasoning will work. When has reasoning ever overcome the ability to procure cheap labor? We are not taken seriously, we are ridiculed, we are ignored, and we allow it to happen.
Even if you teach elementary school and are relatively unaffected by this, you should be incensed that there was 5 million out there and it wasn't used to help us, but instead used to placate a bunch of loudmouths.
Work to the rule, do NOTHING that doesn't pay, complain and don't write recs. Our diplomatic efforts have been ignored, and it is time to escalate

Your so right after all the jeans protest worked so well. Currently the school system gets more than 70% of the county budget the money goes to more administrative buildings and support staff than to schools. So answer me this work to the rule means you work 8 hours a day for 10 months with many teachers looking at that as a short coming to their year long salary.

So what are teachers really wanting, more respect for their chosen profession or more money for a job that is 10 months of the year, weekens, holidays and breaks off?

Maybe the 70% of the budge that the school system receives should be better managed.

Ha!!!
You should see the $$$ given away to contractors by the construction division.
Nip

I'm not sure I believe this was really written by a teacher... but -

I am a teacher, and while I agree with some of what you said, I work to the rule that you do what is necessary to do a good job for the kids - which includes writing recommendations. I will not punish a student for other people making bad decisions. I'm not sure that many teachers would - and the ones who won't don't have their heads in the right place.

Real Teacher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm not sure I believe this was really written by
> a teacher... but -
>
> I am a teacher, and while I agree with some of
> what you said, I work to the rule that you do what
> is necessary to do a good job for the kids - which
> includes writing recommendations. I will not
> punish a student for other people making bad
> decisions. I'm not sure that many teachers would
> - and the ones who won't don't have their heads in
> the right place.

I, too, wonder whether the initial post was written by a teacher. Your response is reasonable and measured

Real Teacher:
I am a teacher (also the OP), and, I am going to take a guess that you are young and idealistic. I was once too. I have written thousands and thousands of recs over the course of my career (including many this year), and I understand your point. However, FCPS will constantly, and HAS constantly , used the "but it's for the benefit of the kids" as a way to guilt teachers in to doing more work for less money. They go after teachers, especially younger ones, and get them to sponsor clubs, coach sports (granted their are stipends for this , but the money is not much), tutor, and stay way beyond what is required with the mantra "It's for the kids". Meanwhile, they load us up with more kids, belabor us with idiotic meetings, take away the twelve month pay option for their own economic benefit and cry poverty when we ask for raises after five years of not getting them. It sucks that kids will be affected if we work to the rule in order to try to get what's fair, but we have tried every other way, and we cannot expect our emotion to loosen any purse strings.

So you being a long term teacher with many recommendations under your belt. Did you take the job for money, Didn't think so. Also betting that your salary after so many years is 80-90k at this point. You tell me what do you think you deserve to be paid.

"I am going to take a guess that you are young and idealistic."


You would be incorrect on this assumption. I simply refuse to punish a student for something they do no have any control over. Most teachers, regardless of their career length, political stance, or emotional baggage would agree with me.

To Real Teacher:
Fine, I respect your position, and I understand. I personally feel like they use the students against us, and we will have no recourse , no way to force their hands, until there is a groundswell of parental support and political pressure. Pissed off parents and voters CAN make a difference, but our whining and trying to use our "unions" will have no effect.
I don't WANT to punish students for this either, but I have kids of my own, at what point do I worry about MY kids and stop worrying about someone else's?
Take high school sports for example. School is supposed to be about learning, high school sports , then aren't a necessity but they eat up a tremendous amount of the budget. Taxpayers pay for sports that only a select few kids can enjoy, and most of those sports now have little or no connection to college scholarships. Kids get those, in most sports, through their club teams. If the school system really wanted to , they could scrap sports, take that money, and reinvest it in teachers. Will they ever do that? No. I was a high school athelte, I loved it, but it is an enormous expense, has nothing to do with academics, and is paid for by all yet enjoyed by few.
Bottom line- the county that couldn't find money to give us raises for years just found five million dollars. If you are cool with that, great. I am not.

I have not yet made any statements that indicate that I'm cool or not cool with the use of the 5 million dollars. Do not equate my interest with doing what's right for the kids with my opinion on the budget. Those two things do not have to be tied together.

I also have always wondered how they can find money for sports but special educational programs and raises always seem to be on the chopping block. Sports are NOT curricular. How about making sports something to be funded entirely by the people involved? Make them all club.

Just to be clear -- I'm not defending the change made last night. I'm not in favor of it. But, it won't have any effect on how I choose to interact with my students.

The minimum teacher salary in Ffx co is $45,839 for 194 days,about $29.50 an hour. That's a pretty fucking good starting pay for a kid out of college with a liberal arts degree.

Fucking libs will bitch about anything. If you want more money you should've gotten into nuclear engineering or become an anesthesiologist.

Now shut the fuck up!

Are you Catholic?

Real Teacher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have not yet made any statements that indicate
> that I'm cool or not cool with the use of the 5
> million dollars. Do not equate my interest with
> doing what's right for the kids with my opinion on
> the budget. Those two things do not have to be
> tied together.




That's the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Don't you see that this 5 million materialized magically as a result of what's "doing right for the kids" after we were told time and time again thatthere was no money for us? Most of my kids are pissed off about the change- they can logically see that everything will just get pushed back time wise and they will end up getting no more sleep. Is it "best for the kids" to cap AP classes at 32? Is it "best for the kids" to spend untold amounts of money on turf fields? Is it "best for the kids" to pour money into sports and waste money carting SOME kids around to them at the expense of all, all the while shortchanging your teachers monetarliy?
We are pawns in their game. If you don't want to change what you do, as I said, I respect your opinion. But don't pretend that the kids aren't used against us to screw us financially. There is nothing in my contract which says I need to spend my time writing recs, or sponsoring clubs- those are services that I have thrown in for free for years. However, after being shown , consistently, how much I am NOT valued, I don't feel like working for free anymore and taking time away from my OWN family to do so.

To Real Teacher: Bravo! Kids first. We need more like you. It is a shame that the FCPS school board got suckered into spending $5.9 million so that teens could sleep 20 minutes later in the morning, and that they hid the true cost by allocating this year's money for 20 of the extra buses needed. It's also a shame that there is no real auditor position looking for waste and abuse.

To OP: Your call to work less to expect more pay will not work. Your peers and bosses have little tolerance for that approach. With 40+ applicants for every open teaching position, the supply exceeds demand. JMU is pumping out teachers from their quality masters program faster than they can be absorbed by the schools. Sounds like you are older and more tired, but not wiser despite your classroom time. Maybe you should finish out your career away from the classroom, where you can take more time for yourself.

Want a raise kick out all do the undocumented students and put that money into your pay check. Problem solved.

I see your point, but I will not finish my career elsewhere. I love my students and, to be honest, they love me (well mos ;-)) .
You have kind of made my point. They CAN keep screwig us because there is more supply than demand. However, it is also hard to get rid of us if we are doing our jobs. Our jobs do NOT include writing recs, sponsoring clubs, etc.
I am not calling for teachers to put less effort into their jobs, nor will I. I am calling for us to do only what is required by our contracts , however. You see, the county has gotten used to us acquiescing because most of us are, in the end, empathetic to our students. I am too. However, my empathy has limits, and i have personally reached mine. It would be great if we could unite and turn the screws on the county, but we won't so I wouldn't worry. There will be a lot of grumbling, but teachers by and large would rather talk than act in these situations, so we can continue to expect the same treatment. I just can't wait to see what happens when they tell us there will be no money for raises again next year, and they will.

To OP: I would suggest that if you can post on Fairfax Underground at 10:15 pm and again at 8:58 am the next morning that you are already putting in less time than your fellow teachers, and they probably know and resent that you do.

I have never said that I think the use of that money is what's right for kids. I also understand that we get taken advantage of because we're willing to "do what's right for the kids". Do I like that? No. Do I still think that kids need those services I provide regardless? Yes. Am I going to deny them reasonable things they need? No. Does my stance simply promote the status quo? Probably Yes. What the kids need from me will not change regardless of any of these other decisions being made.

I only said that I am going to do what I think is right for kids when I am interacting with them. I know what will be impacted by the use of that money. I know where it's coming from (or not going to). I don't like that, nor do I want to be taken advantage of. I am unwilling to have the students be the victim in this though. I will bear that burden before they do.

23,440 teachers in the county?

That seems like a reasonably-sized voting bloc.

Maybe if you could at least agree on a school board candidate, and Board of Supervisors candidate that would look out for your interests you could get them elected.

The county school budget is horribly non-transparent, I'd like an easier way to understand what money goes where, and how $5M appeared for the buses.

Final thought, and then I'm done.

One big difference I see here is that you don't see recommendations, etc being part of your job because it's not in your contract. I don't feel like it needs to be written down anywhere official for me to feel like it's a reasonable and appropriate obligation for me to do those things as part of my role.

Real Teacher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have never said that I think the use of that
> money is what's right for kids. I also understand
> that we get taken advantage of because we're
> willing to "do what's right for the kids". Do I
> like that? No. Do I still think that kids need
> those services I provide regardless? Yes. Am I
> going to deny them reasonable things they need?
> No. Does my stance simply promote the status quo?
> Probably Yes. What the kids need from me will not
> change regardless of any of these other decisions
> being made.
>
> I only said that I am going to do what I think is
> right for kids when I am interacting with them. I
> know what will be impacted by the use of that
> money. I know where it's coming from (or not
> going to). I don't like that, nor do I want to be
> taken advantage of. I am unwilling to have the
> students be the victim in this though. I will
> bear that burden before they do.


Ok, well, I hope your martyrdom doesn't negatively impact your own family financially. This is year seventeen for me, and other people's kids will feel the burden before my own do for sure.

Not a Real Teacher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To OP: I would suggest that if you can post on
> Fairfax Underground at 10:15 pm and again at 8:58
> am the next morning that you are already putting
> in less time than your fellow teachers, and they
> probably know and resent that you do.


Ok. And I surmise that you are a busybody housemom without a job who gets to sit around and make judgment calls about the lives of people who do work.I also surmise that you may be one of the know it alls who endorses the later start times and the 5 million dollar price tag that it comes with.

May I point out that your "hero", "Real Teacher" ,is responding to me during school hours? Do you think his/her students resent him/her too? I mean, what I do at 10:15 is my business, so your only reasonable objection would be to me writing during the school day right?

Something tells me what is reasonable eludes you frequently, so take your spouses credi card and head to the mall !

I'm actually home today sick

Real Teacher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I'm actually home today sick


Probably from being overworked lol! Hey I hope you feel better. Seriously, I respect your opinion and hear what you are saying, and I am open to ways to send the message differently, but I don't think anything will change in our favor unless we do something dramatic.

If you ARE a teacher, your post reaffirms my excellent decision to pull my kid out of FCPS. So many teachers already show up every day with the same lousy, "kids? What kids?" attitude and list of excuses that you keep in arms reach at all times. Do the kids a favor & get the hell out of the classroom.

If the board had not waisted money in closing CES purely and solely for political reasons there would be more money in the budget for the teachers.

StoptheWhining Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you ARE a teacher, your post reaffirms my
> excellent decision to pull my kid out of FCPS. So
> many teachers already show up every day with the
> same lousy, "kids? What kids?" attitude and list
> of excuses that you keep in arms reach at all
> times. Do the kids a favor & get the hell out of
> the classroom.


Ah shut up. You know, a lot of your outstanding porperty value COMES from the fact that the schools in the county, which are staffed by the people you denigrate, are so good. I am SURE we all miss your kid!

Will teachers ever stop the incessant bitching?

YOU chose this profession - one that happens to give you an entire fucking summer off. Imagine if everyone in the world bitched about their jobs as much as you do.

Reopen Clifton School now! Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If the board had not waisted money in closing CES
> purely and solely for political reasons there
> would be more money in the budget for the
> teachers.

Waisted? jesus christ...

To TO not a real teacher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Ok. And I surmise that you are a busybody housemom
> without a job who gets to sit around and make
> judgment calls about the lives of people who do
> work.

Correct. Except my non-real teaching job is evening classes for people who want to be certified in various technologies. They (or their employer) pay a lot of money to listen to me talk for three hours, but the pay raise once they pass the cert tests is worth it to them. Great part-time job for me, and has led to several good consulting gigs.


I also surmise that you may be one of the
> know it alls who endorses the later start times
> and the 5 million dollar price tag that it comes
> with.

Wrong. Exactly opposite.

>
> May I point out that your "hero", "Real Teacher"
> ,is responding to me during school hours? Do you
> think his/her students resent him/her too? I mean,
> what I do at 10:15 is my business, so your only
> reasonable objection would be to me writing during
> the school day right?

I doubt that she is taking a "sick" day like you.

>
> Something tells me what is reasonable eludes you
> frequently, so take your spouses credit card and
> head to the mall !

Usually to the Apple store. But enough about me, what keeps you in a job that makes you unhappy and sick?

influence peddler Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 23,440 teachers in the county?
>
> That seems like a reasonably-sized voting bloc.
>


It is, but their votes are wasted voting for the "union approved" (almost always Dem) candidates who then ignore them because they are a "reliable" voting group.

Bitch, moan, repeat.

teachers are predictable Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Bitch, moan, repeat.


You are right. We are predictable. And next year, when they announce there is no money for a raise, we will hem and haw and make our case as though somebody cares without REALLy doing anything

Not a Real Teacher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To TO not a real teacher Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> >
> > Ok. And I surmise that you are a busybody
> housemom
> > without a job who gets to sit around and make
> > judgment calls about the lives of people who do
> > work.
>
> Correct. Except my non-real teaching job is
> evening classes for people who want to be
> certified in various technologies. They (or their
> employer) pay a lot of money to listen to me talk
> for three hours, but the pay raise once they pass
> the cert tests is worth it to them. Great
> part-time job for me, and has led to several good
> consulting gigs.
>
>
> I also surmise that you may be one of the
> > know it alls who endorses the later start times
> > and the 5 million dollar price tag that it
> comes
> > with.
>
> Wrong. Exactly opposite.
>
> >
> > May I point out that your "hero", "Real
> Teacher"
> > ,is responding to me during school hours? Do
> you
> > think his/her students resent him/her too? I
> mean,
> > what I do at 10:15 is my business, so your only
> > reasonable objection would be to me writing
> during
> > the school day right?
>
> I doubt that she is taking a "sick" day like you.
>
> >
> > Something tells me what is reasonable eludes
> you
> > frequently, so take your spouses credit card
> and
> > head to the mall !
>
> Usually to the Apple store. But enough about me,
> what keeps you in a job that makes you unhappy and
> sick?


You've confused who you're talking to honey

To Real Teacher Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Real Teacher:
> I am a teacher (also the OP), and, I am going
> to take a guess that you are young and idealistic.
> I was once too. I have written thousands and
> thousands of recs over the course of my career
> (including many this year), and I understand your
> point. However, FCPS will constantly, and HAS
> constantly , used the "but it's for the benefit of
> the kids" as a way to guilt teachers in to doing
> more work for less money. They go after teachers,
> especially younger ones, and get them to sponsor
> clubs, coach sports (granted their are stipends
> for this , but the money is not much), tutor, and
> stay way beyond what is required with the mantra
> "It's for the kids". Meanwhile, they load us up
> with more kids, belabor us with idiotic meetings,
> take away the twelve month pay option for their
> own economic benefit and cry poverty when we ask
> for raises after five years of not getting them.
> It sucks that kids will be affected if we work to
> the rule in order to try to get what's fair, but
> we have tried every other way, and we cannot
> expect our emotion to loosen any purse strings.

I’m a real parent and I don’t think you belong in the school and should go find another job. I DO respect teachers VERY MUCH and its not JUST lip service and it IS important to say. Whatever you have to do, you have to do. I just hope you take it somewhere else and get what you want and don’t stay in school!!!!

Mom

You can tell them how much you appreciate them and respect them , and they turn it on you and flip out. I am overworked and under appreciated at my job, too.

They are psycho Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You can tell them how much you appreciate them and
> respect them , and they turn it on you and flip
> out. I am overworked and under appreciated at my
> job, too.


Get of FU and back to work

causeican Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To Real Teacher Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Real Teacher:
> > I am a teacher (also the OP), and, I am
> going
> > to take a guess that you are young and
> idealistic.
> > I was once too. I have written thousands and
> > thousands of recs over the course of my career
> > (including many this year), and I understand
> your
> > point. However, FCPS will constantly, and HAS
> > constantly , used the "but it's for the benefit
> of
> > the kids" as a way to guilt teachers in to
> doing
> > more work for less money. They go after
> teachers,
> > especially younger ones, and get them to
> sponsor
> > clubs, coach sports (granted their are stipends
> > for this , but the money is not much), tutor,
> and
> > stay way beyond what is required with the
> mantra
> > "It's for the kids". Meanwhile, they load us up
> > with more kids, belabor us with idiotic
> meetings,
> > take away the twelve month pay option for their
> > own economic benefit and cry poverty when we
> ask
> > for raises after five years of not getting
> them.
> > It sucks that kids will be affected if we work
> to
> > the rule in order to try to get what's fair,
> but
> > we have tried every other way, and we cannot
> > expect our emotion to loosen any purse strings.
>
> I’m a real parent and I don’t think you belong
> in the school and should go find another job. I
> DO respect teachers VERY MUCH and its not JUST lip
> service and it IS important to say. Whatever you
> have to do, you have to do. I just hope you take
> it somewhere else and get what you want and
> don’t stay in school!!!!
>
> Mom


Dear Mom:
I don't blame you for how you feel. You , obviously, want what is best for your kids. What is best for your kids, undoubtedly, comes from the fact that teachers will donate their time to write recs, sponsor clubs, etc. FOr the first twelve years of my career I felt the same way.
I have kids too. I want what's best for them too. For twelve years, i poured in hours way beyond what was expected in order to help other people's kids. Then, they froze my pay- told me they couldn't find the money. Ok, I understood. However, after five years of it, I, and many of my colleagues, started to wonder what the deal was. Still, we went to the the board meeting spoke our minds, and we did end up coming away with a "gradual" pay raise this year. My problem is , if the county is so cash strapped that they haven't been able to give us a raise for five years and could only give us a "gradual" one this year, how do they come up with 5 million? Where did it come from? Now, politicians are mocking the board saying "Don't you dare come asking for money next year" because they just blew 5 mill on a useless idea.That means no money for teachers next year.
The public wants us , as teachers, to keep doing the work we have always done, and I get that. Hell, I would like to do it too. I don't want kids to get in the middle of this either. My kids go to school in Fairfax County as well- I want them to have the opportunities I did and those that have been afforded to kids in this county for years. And, as someone accurately stated above, i knew coming in that I would never be rich from this job. However, much of the work that we , as teachers, have always done, has been done for free. Why should we keep oing extra work for free when the county that hasn't given us a raise for years turns around and blows 5 million on something as stupid as this? I am not saying that we should stop trying to provide kids with an excellent education- as I said, my kids go to school here too. What I am saying is that we have got to find a way to make these irresponsible louts realize that they can't lie to us over and over and not expect repercussions. Parents aren't likely to support us until those free services disappear- then political pressure can be applied to make changes and get things back on track.
Also, can ANYONE give me a good reason why school sports shouldn't be cut to provide additional revenue to the schools? If the schools are all about education, and sports have nothing to do with that education, and the teachers are bitching, why not cut the sports programs?

Show me the money.

Where is it up coming from to give you ungrateful employee a raise?

> Maybe the 70% of the budge that the school system receives should be better managed.

Couldn't the county simply raise the taxes so that the 30% portion is bigger?

I like the part about SHUT UP.

Thank you for 40 extra minutes. So worth the money.....too bad my kids graduate this year.