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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote] Point is to highlight the rate of compensation. That is not to say it is adequate or inadequate. When discussing compensation, information and perspective can be helpful. Also, when teachers are holding and making signs about their compensation rate, information may be helpful. There are some jobs that all the money in the world would not drive the person to do - NYC sanitation worker, mortician, Soldier, social worker etc. Is there some of that going on with teaching? [b]Is this a scenario where 10, 20, 30 thousand a year more would not be enough? [/b]And, if so, why?[/quote]

I think we are seeing exactly this and school boards try to throw money at the problem because the causes of teachers’ frustrations are not easily solved without the cooperation of national, state, and local education agencies along with fully funding the needs of students through improved staffing that realistically meets their needs.

I work in a very poor school with terrible test scores and we don’t have the mental health, social services, special education, or general education staffing to adequately meet our students’ needs. My ESOL teachers have 75 kids on their caseloads and can’t truly service them. The special education teachers are trying to teach and deal with behavioral disruptions that pull them from their caseload regularly.  To REALLY change the situation for teachers and students, you’d need to hire well over a dozen additional staff members to decrease class sizes and truly serve the mental and special education needs that are affecting their learning—and that would require changing the state’s SOQs so the district could justify the extra personnel. It’s far easier for my district to give everyone a $150 raise for the year with an $300 increase to our health insurance and say “we gave you a raise, why are you complaining?”[/quote]

I think this is such an astute point. Are teacher raises going to make the educational environment better not only for students but all in-school staff?  If not, what should the approach be?  As a parent, I don’t want to advocate for an expense that will not lead to measurable improvement to include teacher retention and a better education for our kids. [/quote]

In some parts of the country, raises are absolutely needed.  Dire need.  But everywhere, there needs to be changes to "working conditions".  First and foremost, there needs to be a way to deal with student behavior.  Students who are repeatedly physically aggressive need to be removed as well as those who throw out threats like candy.  What I've seen is months or years (yes, years) of "interventions" to avoid a full IEP.  Either the school doesn't want to give the student an IEP or they do and the parents don't want it.  There needs to be a way to fast track kids into an IEP and into a self contained room for kids who are too out of control or violent.  If that student responds to interventions within a self contained room, then and only then should a very slow process begin to return to a gen ed room with tons of support.  
Most kids with IEPs are not violent, but most violent kids need IEPs, if that makes sense.  We need many, many, many more sped teachers with skills to help such kids and more special schools that can attempt to help these kids until they are 18.[/quote]

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