Unpopular opinion: DCPS teachers are super well paid!

[Anonymous]

You are WRONG.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I do not think DCPS teachers get pensions. I think they get what all DC employees get if they were hired after 2006, which is a 401K contribution of 5% of your salary. I know this because I was a teacher then, and my brother was also a teacher a year before my pension got converted to 401K. So the teacher that has pension has been there for 20+ years and I think they deserve all their pay if they can manage these kids for that long. My brother and I both left after 3 and 2 years respectively (enough to not owe money to the program I enrolled in)

This post is wrong and should be flagged as outright misinformation. Be better folks. You ain’t nothing but a troll, no different than Svetlana sitting in a cube farm in Moldova.

https://dcrb.dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/dcrb/publication/attachments/SPD_Teachers_Plan_2017_Final_6-5-2018.pdf

[Anonymous]

Yeah, I think Svetlana is thinking of pensiones, i.e., small houses that old people live in when they retire to cook borscht for their grandchildren all day.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, you say you're shocked at our views, but what are your views of the IRS and the DMV? Or service employees?

You want to be respectful but the parts where service wasn't what you hoped for are the parts you tend to remember. It's kind of human nature.

IRS and DMV employees are part of bureaucratic machinery that is debatably efficent. The correlary here is DCPS Central office employees (and federal agency employees).

i do agree that the unpaid summer person is not helping the cause. It's very annoying. When I was a teacher the vast majority of my colleagues took the summers off. Maybe they would do to a special training for a couple weeks. It's totally fine and it's fine to own up to that.

I'm a fed who has posted earlier, and people dump all over feds on this site, too. But I don't care because I like my job and what I do.

I do also agree the "summers off" vs. "summers unpaid" is really splitting hairs and just seems like gratuitous whining. I can't think what a luxury it would be for me to have *a choice* about whether to work or not in the summer. Maybe I would work most summers but take just one or two off during my kids' childhood so we could do extended travel. But I don't have that option because by the time I use my annual leave for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring break (which teachers all get off), I only have at most another week or two by summer.

Btw, we also pay contributions for our pensions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, you say you're shocked at our views, but what are your views of the IRS and the DMV? Or service employees?

You want to be respectful but the parts where service wasn't what you hoped for are the parts you tend to remember. It's kind of human nature.

IRS and DMV employees are part of bureaucratic machinery that is debatably efficent. The correlary here is DCPS Central office employees (and federal agency employees).

i do agree that the unpaid summer person is not helping the cause. It's very annoying. When I was a teacher the vast majority of my colleagues took the summers off. Maybe they would do to a special training for a couple weeks. It's totally fine and it's fine to own up to that.

I'm a fed who has posted earlier, and people dump all over feds on this site, too. But I don't care because I like my job and what I do.

I do also agree the "summers off" vs. "summers unpaid" is really splitting hairs and just seems like gratuitous whining. I can't think what a luxury it would be for me to have *a choice* about whether to work or not in the summer. Maybe I would work most summers but take just one or two off during my kids' childhood so we could do extended travel. But I don't have that option because by the time I use my annual leave for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring break (which teachers all get off), I only have at most another week or two by summer.

Btw, we also pay contributions for our pensions.

I’m one of the “unpaid summers” posters. What you are failing to acknowledge is that some of us can’t afford a summer off. When you make $70K and you’re a single mother, for example, summer isn’t the luxury you’re envisioning. For some, it’s a mad dash to summer employment (teaching summer school, working retail…).

So what you call “gratuitous whining” is actually a problem for some of us. I’d prefer year-round work for the stability it would provide. See how grass can be greener?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:(I don't think it was you who said it, but I can scroll through the last pages to find it, and provide an explanation for why it triggered me.)

Here's another quote: "The job simply can’t be done in 40 hours. It can’t. It isn’t set up to be sustainable. What other professional is expected to give 30-35 hours of presentations a week with absolutely no time at work dedicated to preparing these presentations or debriefing after them?"

Let's get real here. The school day is 6.5 hours. Teachers generally are expected to arrive 40 minutes early. Teachers also have a lunch period within this 6.5 hours and a dedicated planning period within this 6.5 hours.

So, at most, teachers are available to teach for 5 hours per day. So, that's at most 25 hours per week, yet the poster exclaims they're supposed to present for 30-35 hours per week.

In the private and public sector, lunch doesn't count as work time, by the way. And neither does commuting, in case people are including that in their calculations.

The day is 7.5 hours for teachers. It is 37.5 hours a week, if you leave on time and arrive on time.

I’m very much tired of posts that can’t simply look up work hours. It’s pathetic. Lunch for ES teachers is 45 minutes. Planning is work, why are you even mentioning that like it’s not work? So you’d like your child’s teacher to just make things up as they go? Sounds great to me! No differentiation, intentional planning/pacing, no looking at data? Sweet. I’ll just sit in front of the class a read from a standardized scripted lesson book. How are my students doing? Well who cares?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, you say you're shocked at our views, but what are your views of the IRS and the DMV? Or service employees?

You want to be respectful but the parts where service wasn't what you hoped for are the parts you tend to remember. It's kind of human nature.

IRS and DMV employees are part of bureaucratic machinery that is debatably efficent. The correlary here is DCPS Central office employees (and federal agency employees).

i do agree that the unpaid summer person is not helping the cause. It's very annoying. When I was a teacher the vast majority of my colleagues took the summers off. Maybe they would do to a special training for a couple weeks. It's totally fine and it's fine to own up to that.

I'm a fed who has posted earlier, and people dump all over feds on this site, too. But I don't care because I like my job and what I do.

I do also agree the "summers off" vs. "summers unpaid" is really splitting hairs and just seems like gratuitous whining. I can't think what a luxury it would be for me to have *a choice* about whether to work or not in the summer. Maybe I would work most summers but take just one or two off during my kids' childhood so we could do extended travel. But I don't have that option because by the time I use my annual leave for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring break (which teachers all get off), I only have at most another week or two by summer.

Btw, we also pay contributions for our pensions.

I’m one of the “unpaid summers” posters. What you are failing to acknowledge is that some of us can’t afford a summer off. When you make $70K and you’re a single mother, for example, summer isn’t the luxury you’re envisioning. For some, it’s a mad dash to summer employment (teaching summer school, working retail…).

So what you call “gratuitous whining” is actually a problem for some of us. I’d prefer year-round work for the stability it would provide. See how grass can be greener?

But you CAN work during the summer, if you want to, and that adds more to your yearly income.

I work all summer, just like the rest of the year, for the salary that you are comparing your 10-month salary to. Do you see how those things are not really comparable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(I don't think it was you who said it, but I can scroll through the last pages to find it, and provide an explanation for why it triggered me.)

Here's another quote: "The job simply can’t be done in 40 hours. It can’t. It isn’t set up to be sustainable. What other professional is expected to give 30-35 hours of presentations a week with absolutely no time at work dedicated to preparing these presentations or debriefing after them?"

Let's get real here. The school day is 6.5 hours. Teachers generally are expected to arrive 40 minutes early. Teachers also have a lunch period within this 6.5 hours and a dedicated planning period within this 6.5 hours.

So, at most, teachers are available to teach for 5 hours per day. So, that's at most 25 hours per week, yet the poster exclaims they're supposed to present for 30-35 hours per week.

In the private and public sector, lunch doesn't count as work time, by the way. And neither does commuting, in case people are including that in their calculations.

The day is 7.5 hours for teachers. It is 37.5 hours a week, if you leave on time and arrive on time.

I’m very much tired of posts that can’t simply look up work hours. It’s pathetic. Lunch for ES teachers is 45 minutes. Planning is work, why are you even mentioning that like it’s not work? So you’d like your child’s teacher to just make things up as they go? Sounds great to me! No differentiation, intentional planning/pacing, no looking at data? Sweet. I’ll just sit in front of the class a read from a standardized scripted lesson book. How are my students doing? Well who cares?

I saw that post and had to remind myself it was written by somebody who doesn’t know. I’m in front of students 28 hours a week. (I snorted when I saw “dedicated planning” above. That’s when I’m covering vacancies.) I do nearly all my grading and prep at home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OK, you say you're shocked at our views, but what are your views of the IRS and the DMV? Or service employees?

You want to be respectful but the parts where service wasn't what you hoped for are the parts you tend to remember. It's kind of human nature.

IRS and DMV employees are part of bureaucratic machinery that is debatably efficent. The correlary here is DCPS Central office employees (and federal agency employees).

i do agree that the unpaid summer person is not helping the cause. It's very annoying. When I was a teacher the vast majority of my colleagues took the summers off. Maybe they would do to a special training for a couple weeks. It's totally fine and it's fine to own up to that.

I'm a fed who has posted earlier, and people dump all over feds on this site, too. But I don't care because I like my job and what I do.

I do also agree the "summers off" vs. "summers unpaid" is really splitting hairs and just seems like gratuitous whining. I can't think what a luxury it would be for me to have *a choice* about whether to work or not in the summer. Maybe I would work most summers but take just one or two off during my kids' childhood so we could do extended travel. But I don't have that option because by the time I use my annual leave for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and spring break (which teachers all get off), I only have at most another week or two by summer.

Btw, we also pay contributions for our pensions.

I’m one of the “unpaid summers” posters. What you are failing to acknowledge is that some of us can’t afford a summer off. When you make $70K and you’re a single mother, for example, summer isn’t the luxury you’re envisioning. For some, it’s a mad dash to summer employment (teaching summer school, working retail…).

So what you call “gratuitous whining” is actually a problem for some of us. I’d prefer year-round work for the stability it would provide. See how grass can be greener?

But you CAN work during the summer, if you want to, and that adds more to your yearly income.

I work all summer, just like the rest of the year, for the salary that you are comparing your 10-month salary to. Do you see how those things are not really comparable?

And if it works for you, great! It must be since I don’t see you writing about leaving your job.

I’m saying my set-up doesn’t work for me. I’m tired of working 10 months at a backbreaking pace just to find additional employment because I need the money. So I’m doing what others are doing: I’m leaving teaching.

My reality doesn’t impact you at all. This thread is about teacher pay. Im saying it’s not enough. Plenty of others are also saying that, which is why we are facing major shortages. Telling us we should be grateful for our conditions doesn’t change that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again with the "woe is me" act. You're not alone. You're not special. This notion you have that the rest of us wake up, kick our heels up on our desks, and watch the clock until 5pm rolls around is mistaken.

Nasty, nasty, nasty.

If you hate teachers, home school.

No one said they hate teachers. They said DC teachers are well paid. And several DC teachers agreed with that.

Others that don't agree are explaining why teaching is apparently harder than any other job, even if they do get two months off, plus multiple other breaks.

I AM one of the teachers who agreed we are paid well. ‘Super well paid’ implies it’s too much, OPs replies have also been nasty.
Send me the posts that have said ‘teaching is harder than any job’

We have said it’s a hard job, thus a shortage is present even in DCPS where we are paid well.

Teachers work on average 196 days per year minimum or more. The average American works 260 so looks like those breaks in between do not make a difference. Yes we have 2 months of unpaid time where we can choose not to work- if we make enough.
I am not saying that is not a plus but sometimes it’s not if you want to make more money in your regular job.

Teachers in DCPS are allowed to say our jobs are hard, we do not need to be gaslit by random parents in a forum. You may say your job is hard too, no one to my knowledge has stated, ‘your job is easy compared to being a teacher.’ Your job may be harder. But until you work for DCPS for a few years at a title 1 school you will not know the toxic environment teachers may go through. I will not know the things you may go through but I’d never gaslight police officers for example and say ‘well you can get up to a month of paid leave and 2 weeks of holiday pay, also you get a 25k sign on bonus and can retire in only 25 years.’ That discredits how stressful their jobs could be, depending on their stations. It discredits the risks that come with their jobs that are obvious and the ones the average person may not know about.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again with the "woe is me" act. You're not alone. You're not special. This notion you have that the rest of us wake up, kick our heels up on our desks, and watch the clock until 5pm rolls around is mistaken.

Nasty, nasty, nasty.

If you hate teachers, home school.

No one said they hate teachers. They said DC teachers are well paid. And several DC teachers agreed with that.

Others that don't agree are explaining why teaching is apparently harder than any other job, even if they do get two months off, plus multiple other breaks.

I AM one of the teachers who agreed we are paid well. ‘Super well paid’ implies it’s too much, OPs replies have also been nasty.
Send me the posts that have said ‘teaching is harder than any job’

We have said it’s a hard job, thus a shortage is present even in DCPS where we are paid well.

Teachers work on average 196 days per year minimum or more. The average American works 260 so looks like those breaks in between do not make a difference. Yes we have 2 months of unpaid time where we can choose not to work- if we make enough.
I am not saying that is not a plus but sometimes it’s not if you want to make more money in your regular job.

Teachers in DCPS are allowed to say our jobs are hard, we do not need to be gaslit by random parents in a forum. You may say your job is hard too, no one to my knowledge has stated, ‘your job is easy compared to being a teacher.’ Your job may be harder. But until you work for DCPS for a few years at a title 1 school you will not know the toxic environment teachers may go through. I will not know the things you may go through but I’d never gaslight police officers for example and say ‘well you can get up to a month of paid leave and 2 weeks of holiday pay, also you get a 25k sign on bonus and can retire in only 25 years.’ That discredits how stressful their jobs could be, depending on their stations. It discredits the risks that come with their jobs that are obvious and the ones the average person may not know about.

Thank you! You are amazing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(I don't think it was you who said it, but I can scroll through the last pages to find it, and provide an explanation for why it triggered me.)

Here's another quote: "The job simply can’t be done in 40 hours. It can’t. It isn’t set up to be sustainable. What other professional is expected to give 30-35 hours of presentations a week with absolutely no time at work dedicated to preparing these presentations or debriefing after them?"

Let's get real here. The school day is 6.5 hours. Teachers generally are expected to arrive 40 minutes early. Teachers also have a lunch period within this 6.5 hours and a dedicated planning period within this 6.5 hours.

So, at most, teachers are available to teach for 5 hours per day. So, that's at most 25 hours per week, yet the poster exclaims they're supposed to present for 30-35 hours per week.

In the private and public sector, lunch doesn't count as work time, by the way. And neither does commuting, in case people are including that in their calculations.

The day is 7.5 hours for teachers. It is 37.5 hours a week, if you leave on time and arrive on time.

I’m very much tired of posts that can’t simply look up work hours. It’s pathetic. Lunch for ES teachers is 45 minutes. Planning is work, why are you even mentioning that like it’s not work? So you’d like your child’s teacher to just make things up as they go? Sounds great to me! No differentiation, intentional planning/pacing, no looking at data? Sweet. I’ll just sit in front of the class a read from a standardized scripted lesson book. How are my students doing? Well who cares? :roll:

I saw that post and had to remind myself it was written by somebody who doesn’t know. I’m in front of students 28 hours a week. (I snorted when I saw “dedicated planning” above. That’s when I’m covering vacancies.) I do nearly all my grading and prep at home.

As you admit, you’re in front of students 28 hours per week. Yet your fellow teacher implored us all that it is so hard to do 30-35 hours of presentations per week. Do you see how this is gaslighting parents?

[Anonymous]

The teachers I know generally get side work during the summer months. The women teachers I know work in restaurants and I know some male teachers that work construction during the summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Again with the "woe is me" act. You're not alone. You're not special. This notion you have that the rest of us wake up, kick our heels up on our desks, and watch the clock until 5pm rolls around is mistaken.

Nasty, nasty, nasty.

If you hate teachers, home school.

No one said they hate teachers. They said DC teachers are well paid. And several DC teachers agreed with that.

Others that don't agree are explaining why teaching is apparently harder than any other job, even if they do get two months off, plus multiple other breaks.

I AM one of the teachers who agreed we are paid well. ‘Super well paid’ implies it’s too much, OPs replies have also been nasty.
Send me the posts that have said ‘teaching is harder than any job’

We have said it’s a hard job, thus a shortage is present even in DCPS where we are paid well.

Teachers work on average 196 days per year minimum or more. The average American works 260 so looks like those breaks in between do not make a difference. Yes we have 2 months of unpaid time where we can choose not to work- if we make enough.
I am not saying that is not a plus but sometimes it’s not if you want to make more money in your regular job.

Teachers in DCPS are allowed to say our jobs are hard, we do not need to be gaslit by random parents in a forum. You may say your job is hard too, no one to my knowledge has stated, ‘your job is easy compared to being a teacher.’ Your job may be harder. But until you work for DCPS for a few years at a title 1 school you will not know the toxic environment teachers may go through. I will not know the things you may go through but I’d never gaslight police officers for example and say ‘well you can get up to a month of paid leave and 2 weeks of holiday pay, also you get a 25k sign on bonus and can retire in only 25 years.’ That discredits how stressful their jobs could be, depending on their stations. It discredits the risks that come with their jobs that are obvious and the ones the average person may not know about.

Thank you! You are amazing.

The question was whether DCPS teachers are paid well, and the bottom line is that comparing a 10-month salary to a 12-month salary is apples and oranges. If teachers want to make the point that their salaries are too low, it is disingenuous not to acknowledge that part of the reason they appear lower is because of the unpaid summers off.

To the question of whether DCPS teachers are paid relatively well compared to other locations, I think that has been established. Teachers may feel that it is still not enough, but objectively, yes, DCPS teachers are highly paid compared to their peers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:(I don't think it was you who said it, but I can scroll through the last pages to find it, and provide an explanation for why it triggered me.)

Here's another quote: "The job simply can’t be done in 40 hours. It can’t. It isn’t set up to be sustainable. What other professional is expected to give 30-35 hours of presentations a week with absolutely no time at work dedicated to preparing these presentations or debriefing after them?"

Let's get real here. The school day is 6.5 hours. Teachers generally are expected to arrive 40 minutes early. Teachers also have a lunch period within this 6.5 hours and a dedicated planning period within this 6.5 hours.

So, at most, teachers are available to teach for 5 hours per day. So, that's at most 25 hours per week, yet the poster exclaims they're supposed to present for 30-35 hours per week.

In the private and public sector, lunch doesn't count as work time, by the way. And neither does commuting, in case people are including that in their calculations.

The day is 7.5 hours for teachers. It is 37.5 hours a week, if you leave on time and arrive on time.

I’m very much tired of posts that can’t simply look up work hours. It’s pathetic. Lunch for ES teachers is 45 minutes. Planning is work, why are you even mentioning that like it’s not work? So you’d like your child’s teacher to just make things up as they go? Sounds great to me! No differentiation, intentional planning/pacing, no looking at data? Sweet. I’ll just sit in front of the class a read from a standardized scripted lesson book. How are my students doing? Well who cares?

I saw that post and had to remind myself it was written by somebody who doesn’t know. I’m in front of students 28 hours a week. (I snorted when I saw “dedicated planning” above. That’s when I’m covering vacancies.) I do nearly all my grading and prep at home.

As you admit, you’re in front of students 28 hours per week. Yet your fellow teacher implored us all that it is so hard to do 30-35 hours of presentations per week. Do you see how this is gaslighting parents?

I'm a DP and think it's really unnecessary to nitpick two hours for a win in a thread that you don't need to participate in