39k teacher salary at PVI

[Anonymous]

Something to consider with Catholic schools is the change in type of teacher over the past few generations.

When my grandfather attended Catholic school, 100% of his teachers were nuns.

When my dad attended Catholic school, about half of his teachers were nuns.

When I attended Catholic school, there were only three nuns at the school, two in their 70s and one in her 50s.

The Catholic schools were originally staffed by well-educated nuns who had no family obligations and devoted all of their free time to teaching. They had taken vows of poverty….but they still got free housing and “pensions”, if you consider the fact that they were housed and cared for in their religious community for life a pension.

Many Catholic schools of today pay peanuts because they have failed to recognise that their teachers have changed. What worked for nuns teaching several generations ago isn’t enough to attract the same level of dedication among laypeople today.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your kids can get free private school education.

NO THEY DO NOT.

You don't have to deal with the beaucracy/dumpster fire of a big school system (ie FCPS).

You know your teachers want to be there/love teaching bc clearly they're not doing it for the paycheck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In addition to the crappy salary, keep in mind that the mediocre Catholic health insurance does not cover contraception!

The real answer is that they don’t attract good teachers. They attract the teachers that were fired from other districts, or young people that don’t know better but will surely quit mid-year when something better comes along.

I suspect you have absolutely no experience with Catholic schools or Catholic school teachers. Rather trollish, actually.

Sadly I do. Not a troll. There are absolutely good teachers, but tenure is short. For good reasons.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In addition to the crappy salary, keep in mind that the mediocre Catholic health insurance does not cover contraception!

The real answer is that they don’t attract good teachers. They attract the teachers that were fired from other districts, or young people that don’t know better but will surely quit mid-year when something better comes along.

I suspect you have absolutely no experience with Catholic schools or Catholic school teachers. Rather trollish, actually.

Sadly I do. Not a troll. There are absolutely good teachers, but tenure is short. For good reasons.

I’m a Catholic school teacher. We have very low turnover, even in today’s teaching climate. I’m sorry you haven’t had a good experience, but I feel like I found teaching paradise. My pay isn’t that much lower than my former public job. I may have lost my pension in the transfer, but I gained a respectful admin, extra planning time, more support for my struggling students, more autonomy, and an appreciation for my professionalism. I have no plans to leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter makes almost 70 in Fairfax, with really good benefits. Why would anyone teach for 39K?

Half the number of students. A significantly better work environment.

Plus, the parochial schools can afford to be picky and selective about who they accept....and don't hesitate to kick you out if you're a problem. That alone can be priceless if you're a teacher.

Who cares? Half the number of students and a better work environment (more like 20% less, and debatable) don’t pay my bills.

At our private school max class size is 15, most are between 11 and 13. It's absolutely half of pubic class sizes.

Some people value other things, not just money

What school is this?! At the Diocese of Arlington school my kids attended in early elementary, class sizes were larger than they are at our FCPS public. Parochial schools really aren't known for their small class sizes, IME.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My daughter makes almost 70 in Fairfax, with really good benefits. Why would anyone teach for 39K?

Half the number of students. A significantly better work environment.

Plus, the parochial schools can afford to be picky and selective about who they accept....and don't hesitate to kick you out if you're a problem. That alone can be priceless if you're a teacher.

Who cares? Half the number of students and a better work environment (more like 20% less, and debatable) don’t pay my bills.

At our private school max class size is 15, most are between 11 and 13. It's absolutely half of pubic class sizes.

Some people value other things, not just money

What school is this?! At the Diocese of Arlington school my kids attended in early elementary, class sizes were larger than they are at our FCPS public. Parochial schools really aren't known for their small class sizes, IME.

yeah I don't get these "small class size" comments either. not my experience with catholic schools at all. I wouldn't generalize on that front

[Anonymous]

A starting salary of 39k for 40 weeks a year is not a trash entry level salary. DCUM is not normal with salary expectations.
I teach in a catholic school after leaving a large county public system. I have no plans to leave. I do not have nearly the amount of kids on IEP-like accommodation plans. I don’t have the same behavior issues even though some classes are more tough than others.
So many reasons to work where you feel comfortable. I have my Masters and I’m happy which is much different than most of the jaded and disgruntled public school teachers I know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A starting salary of 39k for 40 weeks a year is not a trash entry level salary. DCUM is not normal with salary expectations.
I teach in a catholic school after leaving a large county public system. I have no plans to leave. I do not have nearly the amount of kids on IEP-like accommodation plans. I don’t have the same behavior issues even though some classes are more tough than others.
So many reasons to work where you feel comfortable. I have my Masters and I’m happy which is much different than most of the jaded and disgruntled public school teachers I know.

So if you're someone who doesn't want to work as hard as public school teachers do and don't want to have to teach all students, not just the easy ones, and you either have a subsidy from family or low expenses, teaching in a parochial school may be right for you.

Honestly, all of us could probably doing a more-virtuous or less-virtuous job. I'm not teaching any longer. When I did teach, I was teaching mostly motivated middle-class kids. I still got tired and changed careers.

[Anonymous]

The teachers are often moms who live in the neighborhood and who wants the same schedule as the kids (who probably get free or reduced tuition). That was the deal at the Catholic school my kid went to.

If it was a young teacher they were usually married and about to have kids or they were terrible teachers who were lazy and didn't want to deal with public school requirements.

Overall, we felt like the low-paid Catholic school teachers were fine for lower grades but we left because religion took up too much time and we wanted our child to be in a middle school where they emphasized academics more than religion. The religion teacher was also pretty off the wall and couldn't stop talking about aborted babies. My son was 9 and said he had to get away from that lunatic.

Money wasn't her priority. Yelling about her crazy belief that women shouldn't have equal rights was the most important thing in her life and in turn for making very little money, she got to do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
The teachers are often moms who live in the neighborhood and who wants the same schedule as the kids (who probably get free or reduced tuition). That was the deal at the Catholic school my kid went to.

If it was a young teacher they were usually married and about to have kids or they were terrible teachers who were lazy and didn't want to deal with public school requirements.

Overall, we felt like the low-paid Catholic school teachers were fine for lower grades but we left because religion took up too much time and we wanted our child to be in a middle school where they emphasized academics more than religion. The religion teacher was also pretty off the wall and couldn't stop talking about aborted babies. My son was 9 and said he had to get away from that lunatic.

Money wasn't her priority. Yelling about her crazy belief that women shouldn't have equal rights was the most important thing in her life and in turn for making very little money, she got to do that.

That seems very odd that a teacher was allowed to yell about abortion. That would not happen in our catholic school. Very strange.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A starting salary of 39k for 40 weeks a year is not a trash entry level salary. DCUM is not normal with salary expectations.
I teach in a catholic school after leaving a large county public system. I have no plans to leave. I do not have nearly the amount of kids on IEP-like accommodation plans. I don’t have the same behavior issues even though some classes are more tough than others.
So many reasons to work where you feel comfortable. I have my Masters and I’m happy which is much different than most of the jaded and disgruntled public school teachers I know.

So if you're someone who doesn't want to work as hard as public school teachers do and don't want to have to teach all students, not just the easy ones, and you either have a subsidy from family or low expenses, teaching in a parochial school may be right for you.

Honestly, all of us could probably doing a more-virtuous or less-virtuous job. I'm not teaching any longer. When I did teach, I was teaching mostly motivated middle-class kids. I still got tired and changed careers.

Why is this a bad thing? Admit as a teacher what type of job setting you would like? If I could get paid less but be happier because I don’t have the parts of public school teaching which make it so difficult, that’s my choice as a professional. If you value money more, that’s yours. Or you have priorities which differ. The post was asking why someone would take a job making 39k as an entry level teacher over more at a public school. I explained why I do and I’m happy.