MOCO parents - how much are we willing to put up with??

[Anonymous]

Doesn't Weast get paid some ungodly amount? What will the next superintendent get paid? I bet the BOE thinks they need to pay the next person the same amount. That position shouldn't be a means to accumulate great wealth, but that's what it is for Weast.

[Anonymous]

Weast is on the way out...he doesn't care. The problem is linked to that stat about 83% of the budget going to salaries and benefits. That's what you gotta cut. We pay all these taxes so kids sit in trailers. The kids can't vote. The parents vote and the union candidates win.

Anonymous wrote:Doesn't Weast get paid some ungodly amount? What will the next superintendent get paid? I bet the BOE thinks they need to pay the next person the same amount. That position shouldn't be a means to accumulate great wealth, but that's what it is for Weast.

[Anonymous]

The entire reason why I pay my taxes is to have a good school system. I wouldn't mind a teacher making 200K if he/she is providing an excellent, engaging, conceptual learning experience for my child. I would say that is money very well spent indeed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The entire reason why I pay my taxes is to have a good school system. I wouldn't mind a teacher making 200K if he/she is providing an excellent, engaging, conceptual learning experience for my child. I would say that is money very well spent indeed.

And where would you find money to hire enough teachers if you are paying some of them 200K? I think teachers should be well compensated also, but 200K for a 10 month job would be an annual salary of $240K. That's really over the top, PP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:20:09 - I agree completely. What is MoCo: lala land? Newsflash: the state of Maryland employees have had *four* years of furloughs. Where is the leadership in the school system?

Example: The highest paid employees - those earning more than $100,000 a year (and probably don't provide direct instruction) could lose two weeks' pay. Lowest-paid workers would be docked for three days. Salaries would return to current levels the next year.

Or "reduction in service days" DURING THE SUMMER WHEN KIDS ARE OUT OF SCHOOL.

There are no service days in the summer for teachers. Teachers have nine-month contracts, are paid for their work during the school year, and receive no pay for the summer months.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entire reason why I pay my taxes is to have a good school system. I wouldn't mind a teacher making 200K if he/she is providing an excellent, engaging, conceptual learning experience for my child. I would say that is money very well spent indeed.

And where would you find money to hire enough teachers if you are paying some of them 200K? I think teachers should be well compensated also, but 200K for a 10 month job would be an annual salary of $240K. That's really over the top, PP.

That is so illogical. We're paid for 10 months. We receive NO pay over the summer break. So if you're not good at budgeting, you're one unhappy jobless person for about 5 weeks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:83 % of the money goes to salaries and benefits of the employees- what do you think needs to happen?

go ahead say it, they need to scale those back- but the teachers, you know the ones that are in it for the kids refuse to do so.

Do you know what the average teacher makes in Montgomery County? $76,483
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XQdBajgEN60/S3VirOCMSnI/AAAAAAAACwc/hGPFshvQGIc/s1600-h/Teacher+Salaries+FY+2010.jpg

What is going to give?

Wow, PP! a whopping $76K! Lord help us all when those greedy teachers start taking over the McMansions in Bethesda!

funny you say that, I live there and I can tell you there are no les than 10 teachers living in my neighborhood.

married to whom? another teacher? I doubt it! most likely to a lawyer or a doctor or a business person

Who taught you how to think?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:83 % of the money goes to salaries and benefits of the employees- what do you think needs to happen?

go ahead say it, they need to scale those back- but the teachers, you know the ones that are in it for the kids refuse to do so.

Do you know what the average teacher makes in Montgomery County? $76,483
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_XQdBajgEN60/S3VirOCMSnI/AAAAAAAACwc/hGPFshvQGIc/s1600-h/Teacher+Salaries+FY+2010.jpg

What is going to give?

Wow, PP! a whopping $76K! Lord help us all when those greedy teachers start taking over the McMansions in Bethesda!

funny you say that, I live there and I can tell you there are no les than 10 teachers living in my neighborhood.

I bet they are not married to teachers.

Some are, you know you could buy a house in Bethesda before the prices increased.

[Anonymous]

It is inevitable. Quality of public education will go down. But MCPS will not fall apart. We will all make adjustments. The teachers will have to as well, sooner or later. Some people will also move to cheaper areas and send kids to private schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is inevitable. Quality of public education will go down. But MCPS will not fall apart. We will all make adjustments. The teachers will have to as well, sooner or later. Some people will also move to cheaper areas and send kids to private schools.

That is part of the problem, at our school alone there at 3-7 kids in our grade that came into the school from private this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entire reason why I pay my taxes is to have a good school system. I wouldn't mind a teacher making 200K if he/she is providing an excellent, engaging, conceptual learning experience for my child. I would say that is money very well spent indeed.

And where would you find money to hire enough teachers if you are paying some of them 200K? I think teachers should be well compensated also, but 200K for a 10 month job would be an annual salary of $240K. That's really over the top, PP.

That is so illogical. We're paid for 10 months. We receive NO pay over the summer break. So if you're not good at budgeting, you're one unhappy jobless person for about 5 weeks.

That's exactly what I'm saying. You're paid for TEN months. If you need more money, work 12 months like everybody else.

[Anonymous]

I get it. You're jealous, as are many others, that we have summers off. If you examine the number of hours we put in overtime during the 10 months, we are working a 12-month schedule.

I deal, as does my husband, who's also a teacher. I'm grateful, howeer, knowing that my children are with me during that break - and not in some camp.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entire reason why I pay my taxes is to have a good school system. I wouldn't mind a teacher making 200K if he/she is providing an excellent, engaging, conceptual learning experience for my child. I would say that is money very well spent indeed.

And where would you find money to hire enough teachers if you are paying some of them 200K? I think teachers should be well compensated also, but 200K for a 10 month job would be an annual salary of $240K. That's really over the top, PP.

That is so illogical. We're paid for 10 months. We receive NO pay over the summer break. So if you're not good at budgeting, you're one unhappy jobless person for about 5 weeks.

That's exactly what I'm saying. You're paid for TEN months. If you need more money, work 12 months like everybody else.

[Anonymous]

You would believe the great teachers one can find in developing countries that are willing to come here and provide great services for half of what teachers today get paid. It is time to start a orderly imigration process directed at certain professions. Teachers, medical doctors, dentists, nannies, nurses and others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get it. You're jealous, as are many others, that we have summers off. If you examine the number of hours we put in overtime during the 10 months, we are working a 12-month schedule.

I deal, as does my husband, who's also a teacher. I'm grateful, howeer, knowing that my children are with me during that break - and not in some camp.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The entire reason why I pay my taxes is to have a good school system. I wouldn't mind a teacher making 200K if he/she is providing an excellent, engaging, conceptual learning experience for my child. I would say that is money very well spent indeed.

And where would you find money to hire enough teachers if you are paying some of them 200K? I think teachers should be well compensated also, but 200K for a 10 month job would be an annual salary of $240K. That's really over the top, PP.

That is so illogical. We're paid for 10 months. We receive NO pay over the summer break. So if you're not good at budgeting, you're one unhappy jobless person for about 5 weeks.

That's exactly what I'm saying. You're paid for TEN months. If you need more money, work 12 months like everybody else.

Ridicluous! Guess what, many of the rest of us regularly work until 10pm or much, much later during a big project. Guess what else, in the real working world, our bosses do not give us the ENTIRE SUMMER off to spend with our children just because we worked long hours during the rest of the year. I swear, maybe teachers should take a private sector job during the summer just to realize how hard everyone out there really works.

[Anonymous]

Ridicluous! Guess what, many of the rest of us regularly work until 10pm or much, much later during a big project. Guess what else, in the real working world, our bosses do not give us the ENTIRE SUMMER off to spend with our children just because we worked long hours during the rest of the year. I swear, maybe teachers should take a private sector job during the summer just to realize how hard everyone out there really works. [/quote

When reading some of these comments I am reminded, once again, what the biggest issues in public education are. In many places in the world teachers are held in high respect and paid on the same scale as other professionals. Here, it is viewed as a "cushy" job with summers off and this outrageous pay/benefit system. I am not a teacher but I am a person that would love to see a change in the way all teachers are viewed. Sadly, studies are showing that very few of the top 5% of graduates are going into education. Why? Perhaps it has to do with the disrespect of the community. Pay them well....yes even better than they are being paid and you will attract the top of the line professionals to teach our children. Doctors make what they do for a reason....you want the best and brightest in the OR, why should our classrooms be any less? These teachers spend more time with our children on an average weekday than we do.