Principal Contract Raise and Bonus, Nothing for Teachers

[Anonymous]

Kind of agree. Administrators are a dime a dozen. My kids' school has tons of folks applying for the ever-expanding admin team but can't get enough candidates to staff up classrooms. A couple of years of teaching + M.Ed = principal. It's far harder to find excellent teachers, and I'd argue they're far more valuable.

Good leadership is important, as our good teachers (and support staff, custodians, etc.). School leadership had been without a contract since 2020 -- and their union just negotiated a decent contract for them with retroactive pay to try to make up for the fact that they were without a contract for the last two years. Good for the negotiation team and the members of the bargaining unit! The teachers' union can and will negotiate for them as well. This idea that only one group is deserving of decent pay is ridiculous - there is enough District money to go around so that *ALL* school employees can get the salaries they deserve.

[Anonymous]

School administrators had to manage so many additional tasks during the peak of Covid. In addition to being deemed essential workers in Spring 2020 and dealing with whiny demanding parents. Not to mention that the rumor is that central office staff is quitting left and right undoubtedly putting a burden on administrators. Plus there’s a teacher shortage which makes their day to day more challenging. They deserve a raise for all they put up with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:School administrators had to manage so many additional tasks during the peak of Covid. In addition to being deemed essential workers in Spring 2020 and dealing with whiny demanding parents. Not to mention that the rumor is that central office staff is quitting left and right undoubtedly putting a burden on administrators. Plus there’s a teacher shortage which makes their day to day more challenging. They deserve a raise for all they put up with.

Everybody — including students and parents — dealt with a lit beyond their normal responsibilities during the pandemic. No one else is getting paid for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Kind of agree. Administrators are a dime a dozen. My kids' school has tons of folks applying for the ever-expanding admin team but can't get enough candidates to staff up classrooms. A couple of years of teaching + M.Ed = principal. It's far harder to find excellent teachers, and I'd argue they're far more valuable.

Good leadership is important, as our good teachers (and support staff, custodians, etc.). School leadership had been without a contract since 2020 -- and their union just negotiated a decent contract for them with retroactive pay to try to make up for the fact that they were without a contract for the last two years. Good for the negotiation team and the members of the bargaining unit! The teachers' union can and will negotiate for them as well. This idea that only one group is deserving of decent pay is ridiculous - there is enough District money to go around so that *ALL* school employees can get the salaries they deserve.

School budgets have been cut, reducing teacher numbers at a bunch of schools. That is where extra money needs to be directed!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School administrators had to manage so many additional tasks during the peak of Covid. In addition to being deemed essential workers in Spring 2020 and dealing with whiny demanding parents. Not to mention that the rumor is that central office staff is quitting left and right undoubtedly putting a burden on administrators. Plus there’s a teacher shortage which makes their day to day more challenging. They deserve a raise for all they put up with.

Everybody — including students and parents — dealt with a lit beyond their normal responsibilities during the pandemic. No one else is getting paid for it.

Well obviously students wouldn’t get paid. And I do believe parents should have been allowed flexibilities with regard to reducing workload during the peak of the pandemic… for those who were fortunate to be able to work from home. Essential workers should’ve had childcare options or government assistance so they could care for their children. Now obviously those things didn’t happen, but it doesn’t mean school administrators shouldn’t be appreciated for how they have -and continue to- go above and beyond their job descriptions just because “no one else is getting paid for it”. Because the system is broken on one end doesn’t mean everyone needs to face a broken system.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you feel about the principals getting a bonus and 12% (overall) raise and a $5000 bonus for their performance during the pandemic while there has been no movement for teachers? Do you support something similar for teachers who actually instruct and work with students? Teachers’ contracts expired three years ago.

Please no virtual learning bashing. Let’s stick to the topic please.

Isn't it 12% over four years for principals? An average 3% a year raise doesn't make me feel any way at all. Part of it is retroactive to 2021 and part is not effective until 2024. I assume that something similar will be negotiated for teachers -- a retroactive increase that goes back to reflect prior years. At least that has happened in the past but I suppose it is dependent on the current negotiators.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School administrators had to manage so many additional tasks during the peak of Covid. In addition to being deemed essential workers in Spring 2020 and dealing with whiny demanding parents. Not to mention that the rumor is that central office staff is quitting left and right undoubtedly putting a burden on administrators. Plus there’s a teacher shortage which makes their day to day more challenging. They deserve a raise for all they put up with.

Everybody — including students and parents — dealt with a lit beyond their normal responsibilities during the pandemic. No one else is getting paid for it.

Well obviously students wouldn’t get paid. And I do believe parents should have been allowed flexibilities with regard to reducing workload during the peak of the pandemic… for those who were fortunate to be able to work from home. Essential workers should’ve had childcare options or government assistance so they could care for their children. Now obviously those things didn’t happen, but it doesn’t mean school administrators shouldn’t be appreciated for how they have -and continue to- go above and beyond their job descriptions just because “no one else is getting paid for it”. Because the system is broken on one end doesn’t mean everyone needs to face a broken system.

I appreciate them, but I don’t think they should be paid “pandemic bonuses.” You realize our taxpayer dollars are a fixed pot, right? Schools have been having budgets cut. Dollars don’t need to shift to admins!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School administrators had to manage so many additional tasks during the peak of Covid. In addition to being deemed essential workers in Spring 2020 and dealing with whiny demanding parents. Not to mention that the rumor is that central office staff is quitting left and right undoubtedly putting a burden on administrators. Plus there’s a teacher shortage which makes their day to day more challenging. They deserve a raise for all they put up with.

Everybody — including students and parents — dealt with a lit beyond their normal responsibilities during the pandemic. No one else is getting paid for it.

Well obviously students wouldn’t get paid. And I do believe parents should have been allowed flexibilities with regard to reducing workload during the peak of the pandemic… for those who were fortunate to be able to work from home. Essential workers should’ve had childcare options or government assistance so they could care for their children. Now obviously those things didn’t happen, but it doesn’t mean school administrators shouldn’t be appreciated for how they have -and continue to- go above and beyond their job descriptions just because “no one else is getting paid for it”. Because the system is broken on one end doesn’t mean everyone needs to face a broken system.

I appreciate them, but I don’t think they should be paid “pandemic bonuses.” You realize our taxpayer dollars are a fixed pot, right? Schools have been having budgets cut. Dollars don’t need to shift to admins!

Excellent point.

DCPS needs to start by

1. Funding schools. Instead they cut the budgets of many schools who had growing enrolment - eg Hardy

2. Once they have funded schools then teachers and administrators should get raises. I'm in favor of raises etc but first more positions need to be allocated to the schools.

[Anonymous]

They deserve every penny.They have to be on location all the time and deal with a myriad of issues that no one else sees. Know hopefully the teachers can get taken care of also.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How do you feel about the principals getting a bonus and 12% (overall) raise and a $5000 bonus for their performance during the pandemic while there has been no movement for teachers? Do you support something similar for teachers who actually instruct and work with students? Teachers’ contracts expired three years ago.

Please no virtual learning bashing. Let’s stick to the topic please.

How much do they get now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Kind of agree. Administrators are a dime a dozen. My kids' school has tons of folks applying for the ever-expanding admin team but can't get enough candidates to staff up classrooms. A couple of years of teaching + M.Ed = principal. It's far harder to find excellent teachers, and I'd argue they're far more valuable.

Good leadership is important, as our good teachers (and support staff, custodians, etc.). School leadership had been without a contract since 2020 -- and their union just negotiated a decent contract for them with retroactive pay to try to make up for the fact that they were without a contract for the last two years. Good for the negotiation team and the members of the bargaining unit! The teachers' union can and will negotiate for them as well. This idea that only one group is deserving of decent pay is ridiculous - there is enough District money to go around so that *ALL* school employees can get the salaries they deserve.

School budgets have been cut, reducing teacher numbers at a bunch of schools. That is where extra money needs to be directed!

Yes. Students show up for the teachers, not the admin. And teachers show up for the students and each other. Admin is a far smaller piece of the equation than they realize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Kind of agree. Administrators are a dime a dozen. My kids' school has tons of folks applying for the ever-expanding admin team but can't get enough candidates to staff up classrooms. A couple of years of teaching + M.Ed = principal. It's far harder to find excellent teachers, and I'd argue they're far more valuable.

Good leadership is important, as our good teachers (and support staff, custodians, etc.). School leadership had been without a contract since 2020 -- and their union just negotiated a decent contract for them with retroactive pay to try to make up for the fact that they were without a contract for the last two years. Good for the negotiation team and the members of the bargaining unit! The teachers' union can and will negotiate for them as well. This idea that only one group is deserving of decent pay is ridiculous - there is enough District money to go around so that *ALL* school employees can get the salaries they deserve.

School budgets have been cut, reducing teacher numbers at a bunch of schools. That is where extra money needs to be directed!

Yes. Students show up for the teachers, not the admin. And teachers show up for the students and each other. Admin is a far smaller piece of the equation than they realize.

Ehhhhh....I've been at schools were the admin's incompetence overcame the teachers' skills. Admins can really ruin a good school.

[Anonymous]

I don’t think all admin should receive a pandemic bonus. A bonus should be based on the insight survey teachers take for their admin. That data seems to be ignored, but bonuses should be based on how well you managed your staff and school. Not just for showing up.