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VA Public Schools other than FCPS
Reply to "buy your teacher a nice end of the school year gift please! "
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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Get a summer job and it won’t be a problem. I’d agree to make 30% less money if I had summers off. [/quote] Oh yes, the “summers off” statement. [b]When you work 60+ hours a week at a job that provides absolutely no down time and no flexibility[/b], those UNPAID summers become the only break you get. And many of us end up working job #2. It’s not like we are lazing around the pool. And on topic: please don’t get me anything. I’m a professional and I’m simply doing my job. [/quote] Sorry, this still doesn't fly. You have multiple long weekends, 1-2 week winter break, federal holidays, 1 week spring break -- all during your PAID months of the year. And while you will likely say you are still working during all of those days off, don't expect us to believe all or even most teachers are. For "no flexibility" and "no down time," there are an awful lot of teachers MIA the last weeks of the school year. Teachers don't seem to realize or acknowledge that there are a lot of other professions in which people work 60+ hours a week YEAR ROUND and don't get every Federal and religious holiday and two weeks around Christmas/New Year's. Paid leave benefits vary widely. Fed Gov't is very generous. Some private companies, extremely stingy - literally 5 vacation days and 5 personal days (which includes sick leave) even with 20+ years work experience.[/quote] PP is talking about a different kind of down time and flexibility. During the school day, teachers often don’t have breaks for several hours at a time. Getting a three minute break to take some deep breaths or go to the bathroom just isn’t possible during those hours. And spring break doesn’t = flexibility. My husband can sort of shuffle responsibilities around to leave work early if needed; I cannot. It’s easy to say “hey just get a substitute” if you want a day off, but imagine trying to get your projects done if it was a random person off the street covering for you. The detailed instructions you gave to leave take hours of preparation. It is very much not a flexible job. Also, very little work is being done right now. I am a teacher and desperately trying to get the kids focused and on task but it’s like herding cats. I wish academic expectations were higher (I cannot believe school goes beyond the deadline to input grades) but no teacher can make these days as academically valuable as other days. It’s much better for a teacher to use their leave at the end of the year, i promise! I am grateful for summer breaks and spring breaks, for sure. I’ll never downplay how great it is that I can be home with my kids during the summer. But that doesn’t mean that teaching is a flexible job with plenty of down time. [/quote] I get that about the limitations during the school day v. someone working in an office, for example. Though there are still many minimum wage jobs where people don't have limitless flexibility and must take a 15 minute break (no more, no less) at a specific time and no other time and a 30 minute meal break at a specific time. Bathroom use has to coincide with those breaks. Don't have the flexibility to leave and pick up a sick kid from school or go to a medical appointment, etc. And they work these jobs year round. I honestly am not trying to minimize the issues teachers face; but I really don't sympathize on these aspects that are part and parcel of the job and teachers know it going in. The real issues are all the non-teaching requirements teachers have to fulfill; the risk of offending someone by unknowingly using the wrong pronoun or saying something you didn't even know is offensive; having something you say or do misinterpreted and the ensuing accusations; the nasty parents; the disrespectful students; the unsupportive administration; the discipline and grading systems and lowered expectations that have to be adhered to regardless of a teacher's professional experience and opinion re any student; lack of demonstrated appreciation by superiors and admin; etc. As for little work getting done at the end of the year: this is nothing new. What is new is when that period begins - much earlier, once SOLs are done, leaving weeks of "we're done" attitude to remain for teachers as well as students. related to the above problems with the teaching as a profession above, the goal is to get kids through SOLs. Once that's done, most teachers are done as well. Everyone gets anxious for summer break to begin; but teachers taking off the last 3 weeks is not helpful. Nobody is saying every class needs to continue with lectures and tests until the last day of school. But a variety of "fun" projects and assignments could be given - rather than watching some stupid movie or literally telling students they aren't going to be there and therefore they don't need to come to class. (Obviously, I'm focusing more on high school here). And for the commenter suggesting parents give the gift of telling their kids to behave: guess what. Some kids misbehave anyway, especially when their parents aren't around. Some of us parents struggle with these kids, too and it isn't always a failure of parenting. So perhaps you should check the judgement from your end just as much as we parents need to check the judgement toward teachers.[/quote]
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