"One man with courage makes a majority." ~ Andrew Jackson
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Posted on 05/14/2014 6:47:00 AM PDT by blam
Public School Teacher To North Carolina Senate: 'I Am Embarrassed To Confess: I Am A Teacher'
Caroline Moss
“I am embarrassed to confess: I am a teacher.”
That was the subject line of an email Sarah Wiles, a science teacher in Charlotte, North Carolina, sent to all 170 members of the North Carolina General Assembly last week.
Wiles talked about her concerns that teachers were not being paid enough. She says she personally has only seen a pay increase once in six years, even though she says she loves her students and has always gone above and beyond to do her job well.
"I am also sick and tired of politicians making my profession the center of attention and paying it lip-service by visiting a school, kneeling next to a child, shaking my hand and thanking me, telling the nightly news that I deserve a raise," she wrote.
In short, she feels like the state doesn't care about educators like herself, and is embarrassed for and by her politicians. (You can read her full email below.)
On Monday morning, North Carolina Sen. David Curtis (R) hit "reply all" and sent a message back.
The email basically says since she's so ashamed to be a teacher, she might as well get a new job.
In his email, he offers Wiles four suggestions for what she should tell her potential new private sector employer, including asking for eight weeks paid vacation per year because that's what taxpayers gave her. (He is misinformed, as teachers are not paid for the summer months when school is not in session, leaving many teachers working summer jobs to make ends meet.)
Though he does say at the end of his email that he supports pay raises for teachers, it was a pretty harsh reply.
(snip)
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
So I noticed you took it on yourself to add the part about not being paid 8 weeks vacation every year. First, you are wrong….they are paid an annual salary, it just all comes in 44 weeks not 52. They are then allowed 8-9 weeks a year where they can supplement their income, which is fine.
But i sense a liberal agenda on your part….wondering what it was.
Perhaps school districts in NC don’t pay their teachers through the summer months but here in Ohio, they get paid every month of the year. Yes, some teachers do get summer jobs to supplement their income, but get that check every two weeks year round and I am related to several who like to brag about getting that check while laying around their own in ground pools.
"One man with courage makes a majority." ~ Andrew Jackson
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I’m not a teacher but I’m embarrassed that I’m not being paid enough money too.
I’d be interested to know what the pay scale is for teachers in NC.
Here in PA, they have nothing to complain about (but they do anyway). In some districts locally, even some music and PE teachers make upward of $90K for their 9-months of work, depending on their level of tenure and education.
Second, I wonder if this teacher has any idea how much her school superintendent and other administrative employees make.
It’s real easy to see if teachers are over paid, under paid, or paid about the right amount.
Simply find out if there is a waiting list to be hired, or a waiting list of unfilled positions. We all know the answer……teachers are way over paid by market principles.
But, there was a lot of B.S. that she had to put up with. Why, because education in this country has lost its way.
I used to tell her, when she was exacerbated that any organization is only as good as its leadership is good, and the people in it can only be as good as the leadership allows them to be good.
IMHO. Leadership is the problem. Look at our government and its leaders. A sorry bunch that has created a sorry mess.
Where I live, I believe the teachers are given the option of collecting their annual salary during the 9 months of school, or having it broken up into equal payments all year. Either way, good luck telling a private employer you don’t want to work during the summer months...
Considering the quality of the ‘product’ teachers produce; I would argue that they are way OVERPAID.
another problem is the whole concept of a government run school sytem to begin with. There’s a lot of other ways to do this, and they are all better than a government system.
In Texas the average teacher salary is well over 40K per year BUT as a teacher they only have to work about 9 months to earn that salary. They also get retirement benefits far in excess of nearly anything in the private sector. Most in the private sector can't imagine having a "pension" of any kind.
I sick of hearing this poor teacher crap. try getting a job in the real world where they tax your income away to pay for people who complain about having to work 9 months out of the year.
We need to get rid of government run education. Move all schools to the private sector.
No disrespect, but is she working hard now? I imagine shes still being paid. And how hard did she work in June and July?
Just sayin…...
They also get 2 or 3 hours off each day compared to other workers.
They also get full benefits, as if they worked full hours.
They are also employees for life in many jurisdictions, as long as they can manage not to disrobe around their students - a stricture that seems increasingly difficult for teachers to handle.
And, yes, we've all heard "But I work extra hours on my lesson plans!" and "I went out and bought markers and construction paper for my kids because the mean taxpayers don't want learning to be fun!" etc., etc.
99% of teachers are time serving robots by the time they get tenure.
I’m a public HS baseball coach who, maybe, gets a new fungo bat every season.
‘Greatest job I ever had.
I’m embarrassed that you are a teacher, as well...............
When I was in HS, we had sports equipment that dated back to the 30’s..................No one complained................
BTW, what's a 'Fungo Bat'? a new species?..................
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