Why does no one acknowledge how overworked teachers are?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the teacher that has three hours of planning time per week, you are lucky. In our school, we are pulled from our planning time to go cover other classrooms where teachers is out, no sub is available

That is outrageous. Can administrators cover these duties? There has to be a better way.

DP
I’m surprised that you’re surprised.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the teacher that has three hours of planning time per week, you are lucky. In our school, we are pulled from our planning time to go cover other classrooms where teachers is out, no sub is available

That happens in our school district, but teachers do get paid for the time the spend subbing/covering. $18/hour

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To me there are two questions: are teachers overworked and should they be paid more. The answers are not the same. No I do not think overworked. Certainly some are but most no. Should they be paid more -- yes -- a lot more. Probably start at 80 and with a Masters and 5-7 years should be 100-125k. Exceptional should be 150k. That would be fair.

OMG! You have this so backwards. In what planet would anyone pay 150k for an BA or MA degree? I mean cashiers are on their feet all day, have to deal with horrible customers, and were forced to work as essential workers during the pandemic. Should we pay them 6 figures too? 6 figures for everyone!!

Yes, teachers are overworked. They have to deal with a lot of things that previous generations didn’t have to. We should remove non- teaching functions from teachers’ workloads. We should encourage more recorded lessons and enhance teaching software to encourage more independent learning. Maybe we should decrease teaching staff (since teachers are doing that anyway) and hire more behavior experts and learning coaches. Teachers can record lessons and computer software can teach and grade preset assignments. Teachers would make themselves available during set office hours for those that need extra help. Maybe the answer is to redefine schools and adjust what teaching looks like in our increasingly digital world.

Basically the equivalent of self checkout at the grocery store. This is the direction many charter school are taking - they are calling it "blended learning".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the teacher that has three hours of planning time per week, you are lucky. In our school, we are pulled from our planning time to go cover other classrooms where teachers is out, no sub is available

That happens in our school district, but teachers do get paid for the time the spend subbing/covering. $18/hour

DP. My district also pays us for the time we cover for coworkers. The rub is that you're volun-told to do it and admin gets mad if you say no. I don't mind covering in a pinch but it happens 1-2 times per week and eats up most of my planning time. The pay isn't enough to offset the time I then I have to spend after school or on weekends to do the work I didn't get done during my planning time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the teacher that has three hours of planning time per week, you are lucky. In our school, we are pulled from our planning time to go cover other classrooms where teachers is out, no sub is available

That happens in our school district, but teachers do get paid for the time the spend subbing/covering. $18/hour

My teenage gets paid more than that and he’s in high school!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the teacher that has three hours of planning time per week, you are lucky. In our school, we are pulled from our planning time to go cover other classrooms where teachers is out, no sub is available

That happens in our school district, but teachers do get paid for the time the spend subbing/covering. $18/hour

My teenage gets paid more than that and he’s in high school!

Does he want a job as a sub? we are hiring!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the teacher that has three hours of planning time per week, you are lucky. In our school, we are pulled from our planning time to go cover other classrooms where teachers is out, no sub is available

That happens in our school district, but teachers do get paid for the time the spend subbing/covering. $18/hour

My teenage gets paid more than that and he’s in high school!

I'm wrong - it used to be $18 an hour, but our union negotiated a significant raise in rate for providing coverage. Now it is $30/hour.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the teacher that has three hours of planning time per week, you are lucky. In our school, we are pulled from our planning time to go cover other classrooms where teachers is out, no sub is available

That happens in our school district, but teachers do get paid for the time the spend subbing/covering. $18/hour

My teenage gets paid more than that and he’s in high school!

Does he want a job as a sub? we are hiring!

Nope. I’m a teacher and he knows better then to do anything involved in education.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the teacher that has three hours of planning time per week, you are lucky. In our school, we are pulled from our planning time to go cover other classrooms where teachers is out, no sub is available

That happens in our school district, but teachers do get paid for the time the spend subbing/covering. $18/hour

My teenage gets paid more than that and he’s in high school!

I'm wrong - it used to be $18 an hour, but our union negotiated a significant raise in rate for providing coverage. Now it is $30/hour.

It’s $15 an hour in my district, but I’d rather have my planning time back. I still have to do that planning at home when my time is more valuable to me than $15/hr. My own family needs at least some of my evening.

I’ve had days where I covered two classes or had a meeting and coverage and then ran an afterschool club. I couldn’t start planning until 4:30 at the earliest and normally, I have hours of grading and emails each evening anyway.

[Anonymous]

If anyone is interested in one of these teaching jobs with summers off and great benefits, there's a teacher recruitment event coming up early January in my school district:

Join #TeamPGCPS for an in-person recruitment event on Saturday, January 7 at Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

We have immediate openings available for: Classroom Teachers, Dedicated Aides (DA), Itinerant Special Education Assistants, Paraprofessionals, School Based Secretaries, and Substitute Teachers.

Learn about eligibility requirements and apply onsite.

http://tinyurl.com/PGCPSWinterRecruitmentEvent

For more information visit us online at: https://www.pgcps.org/offices/humanresources/careers/teachers?fbclid=IwAR2VB-M9gHV_3fZpIMczbkIXEaKIB9z9enU28OHpOrh_JF585l7S3x5ndhI

FYI from what I understand, the school district will place teachers on the salary scale according to years of experience, with 20 or 21 years being the cap.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If anyone is interested in one of these teaching jobs with summers off and great benefits, there's a teacher recruitment event coming up early January in my school district:

Join #TeamPGCPS for an in-person recruitment event on Saturday, January 7 at Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

We have immediate openings available for: Classroom Teachers, Dedicated Aides (DA), Itinerant Special Education Assistants, Paraprofessionals, School Based Secretaries, and Substitute Teachers.

Learn about eligibility requirements and apply onsite.

http://tinyurl.com/PGCPSWinterRecruitmentEvent

For more information visit us online at: https://www.pgcps.org/offices/humanresources/careers/teachers?fbclid=IwAR2VB-M9gHV_3fZpIMczbkIXEaKIB9z9enU28OHpOrh_JF585l7S3x5ndhI

FYI from what I understand, the school district will place teachers on the salary scale according to years of experience, with 20 or 21 years being the cap.

That’s pretty good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If anyone is interested in one of these teaching jobs with summers off and great benefits, there's a teacher recruitment event coming up early January in my school district:

Join #TeamPGCPS for an in-person recruitment event on Saturday, January 7 at Dr. Henry A. Wise, Jr. High School from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm.

We have immediate openings available for: Classroom Teachers, Dedicated Aides (DA), Itinerant Special Education Assistants, Paraprofessionals, School Based Secretaries, and Substitute Teachers.

Learn about eligibility requirements and apply onsite.

http://tinyurl.com/PGCPSWinterRecruitmentEvent

For more information visit us online at: https://www.pgcps.org/offices/humanresources/careers/teachers?fbclid=IwAR2VB-M9gHV_3fZpIMczbkIXEaKIB9z9enU28OHpOrh_JF585l7S3x5ndhI

FYI from what I understand, the school district will place teachers on the salary scale according to years of experience, with 20 or 21 years being the cap.

That’s pretty good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the teacher that has three hours of planning time per week, you are lucky. In our school, we are pulled from our planning time to go cover other classrooms where teachers is out, no sub is available

I’m in an elementary school and we’ve been pretty much covered this SY. I think teachers in HS get pulled more often for coverage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the teacher that has three hours of planning time per week, you are lucky. In our school, we are pulled from our planning time to go cover other classrooms where teachers is out, no sub is available

I’m in an elementary school and we’ve been pretty much covered this SY. I think teachers in HS get pulled more often for coverage.

High school teacher here. It really depends on the circumstances at my school. If we have a lot of teachers out sick, I can expect to be pulled every day during my planning. If we don’t, it’s usually 2-3 times a week.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the teacher that has three hours of planning time per week, you are lucky. In our school, we are pulled from our planning time to go cover other classrooms where teachers is out, no sub is available

I’m in an elementary school and we’ve been pretty much covered this SY. I think teachers in HS get pulled more often for coverage.

I am at a MCPS elementary school and our ESL teachers get pulled to cover at least 2-3 days a week for absent teachers. Paras (including those hired as Spec Ed paras) get pulled to sub for grade level teachers every single day. Admin is not approving personal leave days, so many people end up calling out sick if they had a doctors appointment, which obviously results in increased staffing shortages. We can’t get subs (mini behavior issues at our school) and admin, staff devl teacher and reading specialist have yet to cover a single class this year. Every year the behaviors become more and more challenging with additional to do items added to our daily responsibilities but this year‘s pace has become unsustainable. Many of us have burned out and it is only December. If they increased the salary for teachers, it would be possible to occasionally outsource things like cleaning or food delivery, which would allow us to spend quality time with our own children in the evenings. As it is, I feel my students get the best, most positive, caring, energetic, etc. version of me and I am completely drained by the time I get home. I consider myself to be an extremely dedicated teacher but I am looking into changing careers.