Reply to Kamala Harris & 10-hour school days

Forum Index » Schools and Education General Discussion

Reply to "Kamala Harris & 10-hour school days "

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We already have a free after school program at my Title One school. They rotate classrooms that they use. I hate when they use mine because the aftercare teachers aren't usually actual teachers. They are more like babysitters. They don't pay much attention to the students and the kids end up ruining a lot of my stuff (books, school supplies, etc). My room is almost always messy when I come in the next morning so I have to spend a good 15 minutes cleaning and putting things back where they belong. It isn't just my classroom that is a mess.[/quote]

You need to talk to your principal and the staff at the after care about that.  I'd rather have a messy classroom and kids safe than kids going home alone at a very early age.[/quote]

NP and this also happens to me. My principal’s response is that it’s out of her jurisdiction since the aftercare is responsible. The aftercare won’t hold themselves responsible. They both said to just lock up anything I don’t want them to use. I’m not sure how to lock up open shelves of books and supply closets that don’t have locks and won’t fit an external lock. It’s a huge time and money issue and no one really cares because it only impacts me (the teacher who purchased most of the stuff they’re using out of my own pocket). 
[/quote]

I would get a lockable chest/locker like we had in college. And, some teachers put a heavy fabric and make it very hard to get to the open shelves. Be creative. Principal is wrong.[/quote]

Got it. So I should shell out more money to protect the stuff I've already bought with my money. How much of your own money do you spend on supplies just to be able to do your job? I know you're trying to be helpful but I shouldn't have to spend more of my own money to protect the stuff I've already bought with my own money. Do you know what a teacher's maximum annual deduction is? $250.

Should I be expected to lock up everything in students' desks as well? Think about how much time that would take every day to put it all away and then bring it back out in the morning. I don't have time to pack up and then set up the classroom every single day. But if I don't then I have to field parent complaints about their child's stuff being tampered with. And if I use communal supplies out on tables they'll get stolen and/or broken. It's a lose lose situation. [/quote]

This is a principal issue, not a teacher issue.  Your principal needs to go to the after-school program head and require that the classrooms be used appropriately.  When the classrooms are not used appropriately then the program loses the right to use that/those rooms.  We had this issue at our school as well until we got a new principal and she laid down the law with the after-school programs.  We had presented her with photos of our classrooms before we left at the end of our workday and the way the classrooms looked the next morning.  She was appalled, nearly apoplectic in fact.  Her take was/is that use of classroom materials without permission is stealing and leaving the classrooms in a mess was the equivalence of vandalism.  Behaviors by the children and the staff members of the after-school programs changed very quickly once she addressed the issue.  None of us have had a problem in our classrooms since then other than one or two occasional lapses that were immediately addressed once we informed our principal.

It is important to remember that while the after-school programs provide an important child-care service, the greater importance is what is happening in that classroom that day when good teaching and learning is supposed to occur.  It is hard to have good teaching and learning when classrooms are in disarray, and materials are broken, used inappropriately or flat out missing.  Your principal needs to work with teachers and staff to ensure that classrooms are clean, organized and ready to be used each day when students arrive for their education.  This includes ensuring that the after-school programs are doing what they are supposed to do and use the classrooms respectfully and appropriately.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics