Posted on 03/16/2011 5:56:11 AM PDT by MichCapCon
The Grand Rapids Press recently interviewed public school teachers who asserted that their profession is losing respect and they are treated like scapegoats.
Michigan Capitol Confidential looked at some of the comments made by the teachers and then examined what the typical compensation and benefits are for educators in their district with similar years of experience.
Caledonia Public Schools:
Quote to newspaper:
“It used to be that teachers were treated with respect,” said Pat Gillies, a physical education teacher and coach at Caledonia High School. “I've been doing this 15 years, and I've seen a lot of changes. I just don't think people treat the profession with the same amount of respect, and I have to think that comes from the home.”
Caledonia Public Schools pays 100 percent of the premium for teachers who choose the MESSA Choices II health care plan. Private-sector employees in Michigan that are covered by their employer’s health care plan contribute (on average) 20 percent of the cost of the plan.
A teacher with 15 years of experience in Caledonia and a bachelor’s degree would earn $63,620 per year. An assistant varsity football coach could earn up to $4,923 for the 4 ½ month season. The district would contribute about $13,700 to the teacher’s retirement account in the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement System to cover their pension.
Allendale Public Schools:
Quote to newspaper:
"People say to me, 'What are you whining about? You get summers off.' They don't understand that we don't get paid during the summer unless we elect to stretch out those payments. We're actually unemployed in the summer." -- Tamika Henry, New Options Alternative School (Allendale Public Schools)
Allendale Public Schools pays 100 percent of the premium for teachers who select the MESSA Choices II health care plan. (The district does require an annual co-pay that is capped at $250 for individuals and $500 per family for medical expenses incurred.) A teacher with a bachelor’s degree with 10 years of teaching experience would earn $51,754. The district would contribute about $10,350 annually to the teacher’s retirement plan in MPSERS to cover their pension.
Teachers in Allendale are allowed to extend their pay to the summer months, still are covered by their health insurance during summer vacation and have a job waiting for them when they return in the fall.
Grandville Public Schools:
Quote to newspaper:
“Teaching is an awesome career, and I wouldn't trade what I've done for anything in the world,” said Grandville teacher Sandy Bajema, a 25-year veteran. “Now, would I encourage my kids to head into the field? I'd have to think about that.”
Grandville pays 100 percent of health care premiums for teachers who select the MESSA Choices II health care plan. A teacher with 25 years of experience and a bachelor’s degree would earn an annual salary of $66,260. A teacher with 25 years experience and a master’s degree would earn $74,463. The district would contribute about $13,252 to the teacher's retirement plan in MPSERS to cover their pension.
Who’s fault is it teachers are losing respect? Politics corrupts everything it touches.
Pray for America
To paraphrase the left after 9/11.... did you ever ask yourselves why you’re hated?
Yeah well when millions of “amateur” parents are doing a better job than “professional” teachers? We lose respect for the class.
-—“It used to be that teachers were treated with respect,” said Pat Gillies-—
It used to be that teachers deserved respect.
I treated my teachers with respect but my teachers weren’t marxist indoctrination instructors.
Last I checked Michigan schools were number 37 in the country. I don’t respect failure. Instead I would rather home school so my kids have a future.
I think they are right the respect does not come from the home. Do your job and quit complaining then maybe we can talk about respect.
Are homeschool teachers treated with respect? They cost the taxpayer nothing, and deliver a good product. But are they treated with respect?
Just posing the question....
Grossly over paid and under worked. 99% of public school teachers give the others a bad name.
Respect is earned, it is not an entitlement.
Taken as a whole, their product has been shown to have an 82% failure rate. That does not earn respect.
DUMMIES!!!!
OPEN YOUR DICTIONARIES (union version, of course).
“Gimmie respect” is defined in standard english means “give me a lot MORE money than you already give me and promise to give me A LOT MORE next year and the years following.”
Onec you speak the language, all is clear.
If their spouses obey the word of God, they “rise up and call her blessed” - can’t get much more respect than that. :-)
I stood up and said that this was a bad idea, and that teaching kids to actually do math was a better idea.
She explained to me that I was wrong about that.
A second parent stood up and said that I was right, the school was wrong, and that calculators were inappropriate in a second grade classroom.
The teacher chuckled a bit and said that she had years of experience in the field and she knew that she was right.
A third parent stood up ...
The Principal stepped forward, said we had a lot of ground to cover and introduced the head of the English department.
They don't respect the parents. Why should parents respect them?
The secular humanist/marxist worldview, of course, denigrates homeschoolers.
The funny thing is, all their “surface” issues with homeschoolers (academic quality, “socialization”, etc) have all been proven to be false.
The real issue is that the children are not being “properly” indoctrinated in the worldview of the left, as they would if they were attending public school. We have a [lib] relative that is constantly commenting how our children “belong in school”. We’ve shown her that her concerns about their education are unfounded. I’m about to the point of outright saying
“I know what your problem is with homeschooling - they’re not being indoctrinated with secular humanist/marxist doctrine. Let me tell you right now that is EXACTLY why they will never be in a public school. Any questions?”
It’s simply an elitist attitude - “I’m the expert, you’re just a parent.”
Elitism is so much a part of liberalism that they aren’t even ashamed when you point out their arrogance to them.
I would think the year-after-year abysmal educational results might have something to do with any lack of respect they perceive.
Wow. That sort of attitude would make me blind with rage.
Fortunately I’ll be the one to decide when my daughter can use a calculator, whether to use phonics, when to teach sex ed. No education school graduate is going to pass stupid theories off on my kid!
I know some grade school teachers...personally. They are some of the stupidest, most arrogant people around. One would think a teacher of all people would at the very least know the proper uses of the words: there, their, they’re, your, you’re, yore, ware, where, were, then, than, our, are, its, it’s, possessive vs plural, and how not to use prepositions in a proper sentence. Reading the facebook pages of these so called teachers is nauseating. I don’t know what the hell kind of criteria they use to hire teachers these days but the three Rs sure ain’t it. What is it with these numbskulls that think if they are atheists they are automatically superior in science/math to any and all non atheists? Jeeze, the stupidity and arrogance is just mind boggling.
I’ll have to say, my sister in law is a conservative and worked at our local school as an aide for many years. She said that many of the parents seemed to believe their children could do no wrong, it was always the teachers fault.
Only teachers make the unions what they are. The **majority** of TEACHERS do that! Teachers elect their union representatives. Legislators don't. Parents and voters have no control over the unions and their policies. Children are voiceless.
Government schools are what they are, because the majority **teachers** agree to make them that way and take a big fat pay check for it.
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