Posted on 01/11/2019 3:09:30 PM PST by george76
The United Teachers Los Angeles union is planning to call on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s 30,000 teachers to walk out on students over demands for higher pay and increased staff.
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LAUSD has offered a 6 percent raise over the first two years of a three-year contract, but officials contend totality of the union’s demands would bankrupt the district,
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LAUSD faces a projected half-billion dollar deficit this year that’s largely tied to obligations outlined in the current union contract, including generous pension payments and health coverage for retired teachers,.. .
LA teachers currently collect a salary of between $44,000 and $86,000 per year, with the average teacher salary at $75,000, though the UTLA contract spells out numerous other bonuses, incentives, salary credits, mileage payments, vacation buyouts, differentials, stipends, mentor pay and other payments for union educators.
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LAUSD says the staffing increases being demanded by the union would cost an estimated $786 million a year, further depleting a district already facing a $500 million deficit.”
Aside from the financial aspects, the union contract makes it especially difficult for district administrators to terminate tenured teachers, regardless of whether they’re a danger to students or staff.
Many parents and education activists argue the inability to terminate bad teachers is a major reason why 52 percent of LAUSD schools earned a D or F in English language arts, 50 percent earned a D or F in math, and just 40 percent of all students graduate college or career ready..
Until the Supreme Court clarified the law last year, public employees like teachers were required to contribute to unions whether they wanted to or not. The change served a massive blow to teachers unions that monopolize public schools, and many responded with rallies and protests to reassert union dominance.
(Excerpt) Read more at eagnews.org ...
Biology high school teachers with a masters degree in biology who like to teach biology to prepared high school students have a big mess when the incoming students can neither read nor write in English.
They become fifth grade math & english teachers.
Sorry, after teaching 30-plus years your daughter needs to move out of that state. 180 students should be the max.
Well, Algebra was a stupid class....to me.
I was in AP Mechanical Drafting and used Algebra but, I have zero use for things don’t solve a real problem or have no utility. Hence, while I received A+ in Mechanical Drafting, I was always a D or C in Algebra.
I was told that Algebra teaches you how to solve problems and think. My response was “It Doesn’t Solve Real World Problems” and explain my A’s in every single other class, that I work and go to school, while maintaining those grades and I am chess champion of the county?
Algebra is dumb....
Cept the Euclidian stuff. I can use that...
Excellent! Just raise property taxes.
Bet the teachers can’t even do the math.
“Can we just abolish government schools?”
Can we just abolish government?
I spent some time teaching public high school physics. And physics in my high school had a single prerequisite, at least a ‘B’ grade in Algebra II. Makes sense.
Then the school board decided that prerequisites were unfair, and stifling. So they were eliminated. You could now get into physics even if you never took Algebra I, let alone passed it.
A fellow physics teacher challenged the new rules at a faculty meeting. He was told that it would be no problem. Just teach the math along with the physics.
Well, you can teach either math or physics in the time allotted. You cannot do both. And so our physics scores dropped. To no one’s surprise, we teachers were blamed.
The only bright note is that no one got fired. And that’s only because it’s difficult to find replacement physics teachers.
“But I’d rather blame the administrators who allow those conditions to occur in the first place.”
That’s the problem...far too many “administrators” which are nothing but sinecures for a bunch of utterly useless bastards.
#12 I would say she deserves way more than a 6.5% raise, she needs at least a couple aids to help.
They need the money to pay for more administrators at 6 figure pay..... Just like universities. Top heavy with administrators.
The teachers I was referring to with the following had classes of twenty students or less.
I saw salaries for primary ed. (elementary school) during the early 2000s at over $40,000 per year in other states, too (including CO). Amazing. They have the money and time for funding political campaigns and other political activism for sure.
Obviously not everyone needs to know everything about everything - or anything.
In my line of work I use algebra fairly often.
In your drafting I’m guessing you used algebra to draw a line (y=mx+b). Even every day we use algebra. I forgot my wallet and have $20 buck in the glove box. How much gas can I get at $3.20 a gallon, and will that be enough to get me back home which is 150 miles at 18 miles per gallon?
Agreed on the “at home” stuff. Some of the teachers at our schools were terrible, and we spent a lot of time with the kids helping them with homework. And then hiring help when it got beyond our capability.
If this indicates that LA teachers have failed students who don’t do the work, good for those teachers.
Well, I'm an LAUSD teacher (15 years) and I can tell you: parents who are involved have kids who pass. Parents who buy the kid every electronic toy he wants just to shut him up, and don't even know when report cards come out, and basically act like the school is responsible for raising their kid... do not.
Me too. Worked as an accountant for about 35 years.
L.A. public schools are almost completely Hispanic.
Denver has 1 administrator for every 7.5 instructional staff .
The statewide average was one administrator for every 11.3 instructional staff members.
One implication of having more administrators is financial. The more money a district spends on administrators, who tend to earn higher salaries, the less money it has to pay teachers.
Sorry, but most music teachers are going to see 180 students per day very easily.
My high school marching band now has around 300 students, we were around 150 when I was in school. Just for Marching Band, the band is split in 3 separate class periods, and gets together one night per week. When I was in HS, the entire marching band practiced everyday all together, plus rehearsals on Monday nights at the HS Football Field for another 2 hours.
This does not include a possible jazz band around 20 students, if not more.
Some adult community bands can be anywhere from 25-80.
“Learned to read and write at 4.”
Taught myself to read and write at age 3.
What took you so long? ;-)
IN the 70’s in Los Angeles, when the immigration problem was no longer able to be hidden, the TEACHERS were the most vocal about NOT having to determine if a kid in the class was in the USA legally or illegally. THEY ALL SHOULD BE IN SCHOOL !!! Our taxes when I lived there reflected that, also.
They refused to acknowledge that if the classes were contaminated with “students’ that couldn’t speak/write/read English that failure would result.
I knew a couple of those most vocal on this topic at that time. No talking to any of them.
I have NO sympathy for any of them now.
I don’t put an aggressive dog with a meek dog.
I don’t put an aggressive horse of ANY age with a mild mannered horse.
I certainly would NOT expect to have ANY success teaching a class where no one can speak English.
Teachers created this problem....they can get hoisted on their own pitchforks.
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