Question for MS and HS teachers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Independent school, not DC area.

I'm required to sponsor an activity, one day per week. I teach in the upper school, and was assigned a lower school activity for the next quarter. I'm not pleased about this: if I wanted to work with little children, I wouldn't have completed a graduate degree in my subject, plus certification for secondary.

In the private my DD attended, even the lower school teachers had these qualifications. They didn’t confuse that with being too good to work with young children after school. The math teacher did really challenging STEAM activities with the girls. An English teacher taught them screenwriting and they made scripts. Put your attitude aside and use your brains to come up with something amazing. If you can’t, you’re really limited despite your credentials.

oh - and Happy Thanksgiving . . .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach middle school math. At my school you are virtually required (by pressure from admin) to stay after at least 2 days a week for free tutoring. You also are virtually required (by pressure from admin) to sponsor a club. None of the tutoring or club sponsorship is paid and the club actually ends up costing money for most teachers because none of the reasonable expenses (board games for the board game club, chess set for the chess club, sewing supplies for the sewing club) are reimbursable.

By pressure from admin I mean that if you don't do what they want suddenly you find yourself: getting observed once a week, your lesson plans (filed jointly with your colleagues) are torn apart and you alone are required to resubmit them multiple times against conflicting directions, you are written up if you aren't in the hallway on the 1 time in 100 that you miss it because you're in your classroom helping a kid pick up after a binder spill, and your classes begin to get filled with the worst behaved kids. I'm watching it in action right now at my school. It is brutal for this poor teacher who really can't stay after and who would if s/he could.

People need to stand up for themselves. I had a similar issue about 12 years ago. My own child was in elementary school in another county and I had to pick him up from after school care by 4:30. There was no way I could stay an hour after school and discussing this with admin fell on deaf ears. It was obvious the screws were being tightened more than for others, so I went to the union local about it. Long story short, the pressure lessened. Years later I'm now at a different school and a teacher's time is better respected, so it varies by building I think.

We're in Virginia. Virginia doesn't have teacher unions.

21:55 here. I'm also in VA.

Join your local union.

[Anonymous]

Virginia is a non-union state for teachers. Virginia does have the VEA (with local organizations) but the VEA is NOT a union and it does NOT conduct any collective bargaining or other traditional union activities.

[Anonymous]

Anyone dumb enough to live and teach in a state without a union deserves everything they get.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virginia is a non-union state for teachers. Virginia does have the VEA (with local organizations) but the VEA is NOT a union and it does NOT conduct any collective bargaining or other traditional union activities.

And AFT locals. AFT is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

It’s a Right To Work State, but that doesn’t mean unions are prohibited. Agreed that they don’t have collective bargaining, but they did back me up and I know a teacher now who is dealing with an issue and the union and its attorneys have been very helpful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia is a non-union state for teachers. Virginia does have the VEA (with local organizations) but the VEA is NOT a union and it does NOT conduct any collective bargaining or other traditional union activities.

And AFT locals. AFT is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

It’s a Right To Work State, but that doesn’t mean unions are prohibited. Agreed that they don’t have collective bargaining, but they did back me up and I know a teacher now who is dealing with an issue and the union and its attorneys have been very helpful.

Neither AFT nor AFT locals are active in any of the Northern Virginia school districts. I am glad that you are finding AFT a helpful group for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia is a non-union state for teachers. Virginia does have the VEA (with local organizations) but the VEA is NOT a union and it does NOT conduct any collective bargaining or other traditional union activities.

And AFT locals. AFT is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

It’s a Right To Work State, but that doesn’t mean unions are prohibited. Agreed that they don’t have collective bargaining, but they did back me up and I know a teacher now who is dealing with an issue and the union and its attorneys have been very helpful.

Neither AFT nor AFT locals are active in any of the Northern Virginia school districts. I am glad that you are finding AFT a helpful group for you.

Most people consider Fairfax County a Northern Virginia district.

https://www.fcft.org

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Virginia is a non-union state for teachers. Virginia does have the VEA (with local organizations) but the VEA is NOT a union and it does NOT conduct any collective bargaining or other traditional union activities.

And AFT locals. AFT is affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

It’s a Right To Work State, but that doesn’t mean unions are prohibited. Agreed that they don’t have collective bargaining, but they did back me up and I know a teacher now who is dealing with an issue and the union and its attorneys have been very helpful.

Neither AFT nor AFT locals are active in any of the Northern Virginia school districts. I am glad that you are finding AFT a helpful group for you.

Are you a teacher in NoVA?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Independent school, not DC area.

I'm required to sponsor an activity, one day per week. I teach in the upper school, and was assigned a lower school activity for the next quarter. I'm not pleased about this: if I wanted to work with little children, I wouldn't have completed a graduate degree in my subject, plus certification for secondary.

In the private my DD attended, even the lower school teachers had these qualifications. They didn’t confuse that with being too good to work with young children after school. The math teacher did really challenging STEAM activities with the girls. An English teacher taught them screenwriting and they made scripts. Put your attitude aside and use your brains to come up with something amazing. If you can’t, you’re really limited despite your credentials.

oh - and Happy Thanksgiving . . .

You don’t think it’s condescending to claim that you’re too good to work with young children because of your degrees?

[Anonymous]

Our private pays teachers to sponsor clubs and coach.

[Anonymous]

A stipend is paid if you sponsor a club after school at my public MS in FCPS.

[Anonymous]

There are other school districts in NoVa other than FCPS. Please consider that fact in your response. My NoVa school system does not pay stipends for after-school tutoring and it does not pay stipends for after-school clubs. My NoVa school system does not reimburse expenses for after-school clubs. We also do not have an AFT or AFT local affiliate in our jurisdiction.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are other school districts in NoVa other than FCPS. Please consider that fact in your response. My NoVa school system does not pay stipends for after-school tutoring and it does not pay stipends for after-school clubs. My NoVa school system does not reimburse expenses for after-school clubs. We also do not have an AFT or AFT local affiliate in our jurisdiction.

Of course there are other districts. That goes without saying. That doesn’t mean district specific or even school specific examples should be avoided.

My PP was simply an example in response to the OP. I stated “FCPS” so that anyone who read it would know the district being referenced.

A PP stated that there are no active AFT locals “in any Northern Virginia districts”. The post at 09:17 was made to demonstrate that statement is not accurate.

[Anonymous]

I was at a FCPS MS and Secondary School. As a newer teacher, I was never pressured to sponsor a club.

[Anonymous]

High school teacher. I’ve never been required to sponsor a club or coach. I’m not required to stay beyond contract hours BUT every teacher I knows stays after school or comes before school to help students. Most do not every day but have certain days per week that they are available.