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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
I have a PhD and was offered a position with DCPS a year ago and the salary was 65k. [/quote]

😱 This is tragic. WTF is wrong with this country. [/quote]

A
Lot, but not because a phd is getting paid what every other teacher in dcps is getting paid. The problem is that someone is getting a PhD to work in k-12
 Do you also expect your manicurist to get paid the same as your neurologist? [/quote]

I work at another DC private. Several of my fellow teachers have PhDs. Why would it be unusual to you that someone highly educated would wish to work in education? Are you suggesting that K-12 teaching isn’t “worth” a PhD? I have a Masters, as do almost all of my colleagues, and most of us are continuing education in various ways. It is not unusual for educators to be highly educated. Instead of saying PhDs don’t belong in K-12 education, perhaps we should value education more and pay accordingly so additional highly-educated people consider the field. [/quote]

Colleges and universities produce far more PhDs than they need to replenish their teaching ranks, so private education is a great field for those people to apply their knowledge and skills to educating someone.

The problem is that we pay a lawyer $400 an hour to shuffle papers correctly, but we think paying a teacher $50 an hour is some kind of unwarranted luxury.

It's all about social values.[/quote]

Teachers get paid 50 dollars an hour roughly. If you factor in 13 weeks PTO- they work around 1500 hours a year, so at a salary of 75k that’s about 50 an hour. [/quote]

Your math is accurate, but it is important to note teachers don’t get 13 weeks PTO. I get 2 weeks. I am between contracts during the summer months. I don’t get a ton of leave during the year for appointments, illness, etc. If I need to take 2 hours off, I have to put in for a full day. Saying I get 13 weeks off suggests far more flexibility than I actually have.

Also… 75K isn’t nearly enough considering the challenge of the job and the importance of the work. [/quote]

This isn't accurate at all -- and really depends on the school you are at. My wife is a teacher at an independent school. Her Contract runs from August - August, and gets paid on a 12 month cycle for 10 months of work -- however you slice it, in this example you'd make 75k in a year for 1500 hours of actual work.... (if you worked year round at your rate it would be equal to about a 100k job, which is still low -- I get that). You also get a lot more then 2 weeks paid time off -- I just looked at her calendar and during the school year in addition to actual holidays she had 17 days off (2 weeks during Christmas, 1 week for spring break).

I'm not saying that teachers are paid incredibly well -- but I am saying its a flexible work schedule that provides a better way of life then most jobs, which is the allure. My wife is home with my kids during the summer (which saves us a ton on camp bills), gets home by 4pm everyday (which saves us on aftercare costs) and I'm sorry to hear that your school isn't flexible for taking days off -- but my wife always takes off when the kids are sick or gets a sub for one class so she can run to a dentist appointment.[/quote]

Your wife has a great set-up. Good for her, and I mean that sincerely. I have worked for two schools. My contract is always a 10-month contract. I had 14 days of leave at one and 12 days at the other. At both schools, there are days I couldn’t take off, like Fridays before breaks. Neither school allows for hourly leave, so an appointment takes a whole day. Leaving at 4? I am required to lead after-school activities or provide office hours so I am usually there later. I worked in a corporate environment before switching to teaching. I could come in late, leave early, take leave without providing a plan or finding a replacement, go out to lunch, visit the bathroom whenever I wanted, etc. None of that occurs now because my schedule is so rigid. I like my job, but I laugh at the idea of calling it flexible.

[/quote]

That's what most teachers experience.  Combine that with a paycheck that is half or less of what your peers make in other professions, and the teaching pool is limited to those who can afford it anyway for other reasons and really care about teaching. I switched to teaching as a third career only after I had covered all of my funding and retirement needs.

Imagine what the hiring pool would look like with a salary band at $100-150K instead of $50-75K.[/quote]

I worked in independent schools, boarding and day, for 38 years. Two of my sisters and one brother-in-law worked in public schools. They were paid better and had wonderful retirement and health plans compared to mine. My vacations were longer, and my freedom in the classroom and access to resources was greater. Plus my teaching environment was idyllic compared to what they dealt with — and all three were in either wealthy suburbs or quiet rural schools. The private school kids were still kids, but the culture was pro-learning, and students with serious learning or behavior issues weren’t admitted as we couldn’t help them; we weren’t staffed for them. I loved teaching there, and the biggest benefit I received was that my own kids got free independent school educations. But the commitment expected was intense. I worked until 5:00 or 6:00 most days, coaching after school. There were weekend games and evening commitments; dances, musicals, parent events, trips, all which had to be chaperoned. Because you were getting free tuition, you really felt like you had to pitch in; they never let you forget what a huge benefit it was, especially if there was a waitlist in your kids’ grade and he was taking the place of a “paying customer,” as a board member once said to me. You were continually thanked by the parents and board members sincerely, but never compensated financially at a level on par with public school colleagues. Our school paid 3% of our salary into our retirement; when I retired I had worked my way up to $69,000. You can do the math on my retirement portfolio. Because my husband makes a decent salary, I was able to keep this job, but it isn’t economically feasible at many schools without an income-earning partner. Some urban schools pay much better; some boarding schools do better still if you don’t mind living on campus full-time. And administrators can do very well, but I remained a humble teacher, so that was my choice.

I know of very few teachers who are hired without any teaching credentials. That might have happened 30 years ago, but those days are long gone. You can substitute teach without experience, though, and that would be a good way to get a feel for the classroom. I believe that passion for one’s subject and expertise are incredibly important for success in the classroom; independent school teachers are famous for that. But without good classroom management skills and empathy for the kids, it’s likely to be wasted, in my experience.[/quote]

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