NPR Article on Public Schools

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For professions outside of teaching, what happens to unused leave? Is it “use it or lose it” and if so, do you try to use up your leave before it is lost?

Bump.
Anyone?

Personally, I have to list my leave time as leave but I still have to work. So…yeah.

The pandemic means that my office still works 60 hours a weeks, and no one really gets weekends. Leave days are merely a hope.

+1, I have “unlimited” leave and have been working insane hours since the pandemic began with few days off (working most every holiday and weekend).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Something has to change with public education. Either we figure out a better way to align public school schedules and calendars with the usual work day, or we accept that full access to public education requires either extensive family help, a stay at home parent, or household employees. The current school calendar simply has too many stops and start, days off, early dismissals, and inclement weather days that strain families and contribute to bad feelings toward teachers.

On the flip side, teaching is a unique profession in that there is so little downtime during a school day that it takes a toll in the way that many other professions do not. A natural way to address teachers' overload might be to have longer breaks more frequently rather than so many stops and starts. However, this would require good faith on behalf of teachers' unions, meaning that if there are regular 1-2 week breaks built into the school calendar, person leave for non-essentials needs to be limited.

As a general observation, I continue to be put off by the tone of teachers' unions and their blackmail of administrators and families. This is what many of us thought (well, probably knew) would happen. Instead of being grateful that the safety of those who work in school buildings were protected at the expense of children, these union members are not strained by the natural consequences of that safety, including student misbehavior and problems adjusting, so they demand that they be allowed to give students If the pandemic justified giving children less, shouldn't there be a time when those who benefitted from having their safety assured step up to give more? That might have to be working the week of Thanksgiving.

In VA they don’t have teachers unions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For professions outside of teaching, what happens to unused leave? Is it “use it or lose it” and if so, do you try to use up your leave before it is lost?

Bump.
Anyone?

Personally, I have to list my leave time as leave but I still have to work. So…yeah.

The pandemic means that my office still works 60 hours a weeks, and no one really gets weekends. Leave days are merely a hope.

What is your job?

Are you able to take time for doctors appointments or if you are sick?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For professions outside of teaching, what happens to unused leave? Is it “use it or lose it” and if so, do you try to use up your leave before it is lost?

Bump.
Anyone?

Personally, I have to list my leave time as leave but I still have to work. So…yeah.

The pandemic means that my office still works 60 hours a weeks, and no one really gets weekends. Leave days are merely a hope.

What is your job?

Are you able to take time for doctors appointments or if you are sick?

I am a fed. I can book dr appts and other things as needed, but have been asked to reschedule more times then I can count. There are periods of time where no leave is approved due to pace of business. I get one day off per holiday ie, thanksgiving day and Christmas Day off, no extra. I usually try to take 2 days of personal leave during one holiday a year (meaning, I can probably get approval for some days off for Christmas or Thanksgiving but I will not get days off for both). I have never had excess leave as there was no maternity leave when I had my children ( now ages 5 and 7) so I used all leave then went without pay in order to stay home 12 weeks each time. My childless friends have some years accrued use or lose and they always lose as they cannot be out for as much as they’ve accrued. Often they try to donate it to our sick bank.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something has to change with public education. Either we figure out a better way to align public school schedules and calendars with the usual work day, or we accept that full access to public education requires either extensive family help, a stay at home parent, or household employees. The current school calendar simply has too many stops and start, days off, early dismissals, and inclement weather days that strain families and contribute to bad feelings toward teachers.

On the flip side, teaching is a unique profession in that there is so little downtime during a school day that it takes a toll in the way that many other professions do not. A natural way to address teachers' overload might be to have longer breaks more frequently rather than so many stops and starts. However, this would require good faith on behalf of teachers' unions, meaning that if there are regular 1-2 week breaks built into the school calendar, person leave for non-essentials needs to be limited.

As a general observation, I continue to be put off by the tone of teachers' unions and their blackmail of administrators and families. This is what many of us thought (well, probably knew) would happen. Instead of being grateful that the safety of those who work in school buildings were protected at the expense of children, these union members are not strained by the natural consequences of that safety, including student misbehavior and problems adjusting, so they demand that they be allowed to give students If the pandemic justified giving children less, shouldn't there be a time when those who benefitted from having their safety assured step up to give more? That might have to be working the week of Thanksgiving.

In VA they don’t have teachers unions.

Yes. The do. And the unions have begun the process of collective bargaining. I believe one NOVA jurisdictions has CB. Most should be under a CBA by next fall.

Please keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Something has to change with public education. Either we figure out a better way to align public school schedules and calendars with the usual work day, or we accept that full access to public education requires either extensive family help, a stay at home parent, or household employees. The current school calendar simply has too many stops and start, days off, early dismissals, and inclement weather days that strain families and contribute to bad feelings toward teachers.

On the flip side, teaching is a unique profession in that there is so little downtime during a school day that it takes a toll in the way that many other professions do not. A natural way to address teachers' overload might be to have longer breaks more frequently rather than so many stops and starts. However, this would require good faith on behalf of teachers' unions, meaning that if there are regular 1-2 week breaks built into the school calendar, person leave for non-essentials needs to be limited.

As a general observation, I continue to be put off by the tone of teachers' unions and their blackmail of administrators and families. This is what many of us thought (well, probably knew) would happen. Instead of being grateful that the safety of those who work in school buildings were protected at the expense of children, these union members are not strained by the natural consequences of that safety, including student misbehavior and problems adjusting, so they demand that they be allowed to give students If the pandemic justified giving children less, shouldn't there be a time when those who benefitted from having their safety assured step up to give more? That might have to be working the week of Thanksgiving.

In VA they don’t have teachers unions.

Yes. The do. And the unions have begun the process of collective bargaining. I believe one NOVA jurisdictions has CB. Most should be under a CBA by next fall.

Please keep up.

I have read on here people say that there are no teachers unions in VA, more times than I can count. They are only loose “associations” that really have no power. How many teachers in VA actually belong to a “union”? It’s not a large number.

Right now no district is under a CBA.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For professions outside of teaching, what happens to unused leave? Is it “use it or lose it” and if so, do you try to use up your leave before it is lost?

Each place is different. I can roll over 40 hours into next year, my husband can’t roll any over.

[Anonymous]

Hopefully if teachers are able to negotiate better terms of employment we will have happier, better trained, more empowered teachers. You know, just like in all of the areas with good schools.

And also hopefully fewer staffing issues.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For professions outside of teaching, what happens to unused leave? Is it “use it or lose it” and if so, do you try to use up your leave before it is lost?

Each place is different. I can roll over 40 hours into next year, my husband can’t roll any over.

Do you try to use your excess leave over 40 hours? Does your DH use his before he loses it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are NO SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS.

This is not about complaining teachers or philosophies or whatever. It’s about the job market. If you look around your office and imagine that for every single person who takes a day or two off for Thanksgiving you need to hire a temporary worker to fill their job, then you understand the situation the school systems are in.

The office manager would probably have to deny leave for some of them.

ES Teacher

Right? Not sure why this is so hard to understand.

So they call in sick. Teachers know schools can’t afford to fire them right now. Not sure why this is so hard to understand.

It's hard to understand for people who have careers in professions where people are . . . professional. And that includes accepting that there are time that work, staffing, or other demands require that leave not be used.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For professions outside of teaching, what happens to unused leave? Is it “use it or lose it” and if so, do you try to use up your leave before it is lost?

Each place is different. I can roll over 40 hours into next year, my husband can’t roll any over.

Do you try to use your excess leave over 40 hours? Does your DH use his before he loses it?

Not PP, but similar situation. If I took all of my hours, I would miss deadlines or I would have to ignore request from senior management who need a sign off before something goes out the door. Neither of those are options, so I lose hours every year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For professions outside of teaching, what happens to unused leave? Is it “use it or lose it” and if so, do you try to use up your leave before it is lost?

Each place is different. I can roll over 40 hours into next year, my husband can’t roll any over.

Do you try to use your excess leave over 40 hours? Does your DH use his before he loses it?

We both try to, but rarely happens, particularly in 2020 and 2021. We work more than we ever have. I get 4 weeks and gets 6 weeks. He gets all the bank/fed holidays off, I don’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For professions outside of teaching, what happens to unused leave? Is it “use it or lose it” and if so, do you try to use up your leave before it is lost?

Each place is different. I can roll over 40 hours into next year, my husband can’t roll any over.

Do you try to use your excess leave over 40 hours? Does your DH use his before he loses it?

Not PP, but similar situation. If I took all of my hours, I would miss deadlines or I would have to ignore request from senior management who need a sign off before something goes out the door. Neither of those are options, so I lose hours every year.

Another DP who works in state government. I have lost leave every year of my 15 plus years with the government. The leave was available, but the work demands were such that I wasn't able to use it. Yes, I can schedule doctors' appointments when I want, but as another poster said, I have rescheduled multiple times and have canceled vacations as well. This is something that teachers seem to not understand. This isn't even a matter of what's permitted, but what is required, as a professional, to do the work in a professional way that serves our stakeholders. Professionals don't just take off because they have the leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For professions outside of teaching, what happens to unused leave? Is it “use it or lose it” and if so, do you try to use up your leave before it is lost?

Each place is different. I can roll over 40 hours into next year, my husband can’t roll any over.

Do you try to use your excess leave over 40 hours? Does your DH use his before he loses it?

Not PP, but similar situation. If I took all of my hours, I would miss deadlines or I would have to ignore request from senior management who need a sign off before something goes out the door. Neither of those are options, so I lose hours every year.

Another DP who works in state government. I have lost leave every year of my 15 plus years with the government. The leave was available, but the work demands were such that I wasn't able to use it. Yes, I can schedule doctors' appointments when I want, but as another poster said, I have rescheduled multiple times and have canceled vacations as well. This is something that teachers seem to not understand. This isn't even a matter of what's permitted, but what is required, as a professional, to do the work in a professional way that serves our stakeholders. Professionals don't just take off because they have the leave.

When you say "leave" do you mean vacation days or sick leave? If you mean sick leave, then yeah, the great majority of teachers don't use all their sick leave. I'm in a different state where our sick days roll over and when we retire, we get paid out for those days and or they can be added to our total number of years of service to boost our pension. I understand most places don't work like that. I typically use about a third of my sick leave each year. This year, though, due to district requirements, we must stay home if we have any covid symptoms at all and get tested, so I've used more than normal. If by "leave" you mean vacation time, then leaving it on the table is just nuts. That's a problem with your employer, not a matter of being professional. You don't owe your employer or your customers your vacation time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For professions outside of teaching, what happens to unused leave? Is it “use it or lose it” and if so, do you try to use up your leave before it is lost?

Each place is different. I can roll over 40 hours into next year, my husband can’t roll any over.

Do you try to use your excess leave over 40 hours? Does your DH use his before he loses it?

Not PP, but similar situation. If I took all of my hours, I would miss deadlines or I would have to ignore request from senior management who need a sign off before something goes out the door. Neither of those are options, so I lose hours every year.

Another DP who works in state government. I have lost leave every year of my 15 plus years with the government. The leave was available, but the work demands were such that I wasn't able to use it. Yes, I can schedule doctors' appointments when I want, but as another poster said, I have rescheduled multiple times and have canceled vacations as well. This is something that teachers seem to not understand. This isn't even a matter of what's permitted, but what is required, as a professional, to do the work in a professional way that serves our stakeholders. Professionals don't just take off because they have the leave.

You have very unhealthy relationships with work