Reply to Fairfax Co. teachers can’t afford to live near where they work, report finds

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]So this may be an unpopular opinion and I have many family members who are teachers and agree with me so this is in no way meant to not show support for teachers, but it is a reality.

Teacher contracts are based on a 195-day contract which is 39 weeks. This is 75% of a full year.

Conversely, I am a small govt worker and my contract is based off a 52 week calendar.  With more than 25 years of experience, I make about 2/3 of what a teacher with the same level of experience/education makes and receive about 1/2 of the market rate adjustment raises that teachers in FCPS receive each year.

So as a fellow government employee working in the same jurisdiction, I work more weeks, more hours (my job also requires me to work some nights and weekends) and get paid less and receive lower raises than teachers.

Teaching has become a very thankless job and many people like myself acknowledge the challenges and frustrations of being a teacher, but let's stop pretending that teachers are on an island when it comes to being underpaid and underappreciated.[/quote]

While teachers are only in the building 195 days, they are working more than that. I would say with all the overtime teachers have grading, planning, going to professional development and attending school events it actually is about the same.

This area as a whole is too expensive for most people unless you have two working families. So I agree that many professionals are being priced out of this area but please know teachers definitely work more than 195 days. [/quote]

I contributed some numbers up thread that nobody commented on.

[b]I work about 65 hours a week, putting in 2,600 hours(ish) in 10 months. [/b]

195 days of work without overtime amounts to 1,560 hours.

That difference of 1,040 hours is actually 26 full 40-hour weeks of overtime I’m cramming into my 10 months.

Summer is my one break all year, when I recharge before another 10-month marathon begins. [/quote]

This is definitely a "you" problem. [/quote]

Can you tell me how else to grade 140 essays when I don’t have time at work to do so? [/quote]

Well, I teach English, so yes, I could tell you how to do that. But I won't -- you figure it out. I suppose it's possible you just aren't smart enough. [/quote]

[b]I don’t believe you. [/b]

A high school English teacher with 130-150 students is going to spend a substantial amount of time at home leaving comments on essays.

The only way you’re an English teacher is if you don’t teach high school OR you don’t bother to teach writing. It’s easy to stay under 40 hours/week if you aren’t doing your job. [/quote]

Lol, ok.

You are right though -- I am NOT a high school English teacher. I teach college students (and the occasional grad seminar). [/quote]

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