Anonymous
01/22/2012 17:47
Subject: why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
Anonymous
01/22/2012 17:37
Subject: why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
First, the bell may ring at 3:15, but it takes 30 to 45 minutes to get all of the kids out to the busses, etc. Teachers then often have staff meetings, parent meetings, etc. My wife doesn't usually leave her elementary school until 4:30 - 4:45. So on average, she is at school from 8 to 4:30 - 4:45, even though her contract calls for her to work from 8:30 to 4:00.
As for supervising recess, well, she tutors children who are behind in math and reading three days a week during that time.
Teachers are also called upon to fill in gaps for their students. Each year we spend hundreds of dollars on classroom supplies -- everything from tissues to pencils. Then more is spent on food for children in her class that come from families who don't receive FARMS, but come to school so hungry they are falling asleep or have headaches. Still more money is spent on winter coats, hats and mittens for children who come to school without. Yesterday my wife bought pants for a little girl who only owns pants she has out grown because her family can't afford to buy her new clothes.
Finally, we know many teachers who need to work second jobs to make ends meet. This idea that teachers are rolling in the dough is crazy. After 15 years of teaching she makes about $75k -- and without her Masters Degree she would make less. First year attorneys at my firm, with zero experience, make $135k. It is just sad that people don't have more respect for all that public school teachers do.
As for supervising recess, well, she tutors children who are behind in math and reading three days a week during that time.
Teachers are also called upon to fill in gaps for their students. Each year we spend hundreds of dollars on classroom supplies -- everything from tissues to pencils. Then more is spent on food for children in her class that come from families who don't receive FARMS, but come to school so hungry they are falling asleep or have headaches. Still more money is spent on winter coats, hats and mittens for children who come to school without. Yesterday my wife bought pants for a little girl who only owns pants she has out grown because her family can't afford to buy her new clothes.
Finally, we know many teachers who need to work second jobs to make ends meet. This idea that teachers are rolling in the dough is crazy. After 15 years of teaching she makes about $75k -- and without her Masters Degree she would make less. First year attorneys at my firm, with zero experience, make $135k. It is just sad that people don't have more respect for all that public school teachers do.
Anonymous
01/22/2012 17:03
Subject: why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Bitter and nasty, no. Is it YOUR fault that there is no money in the budget? YES! Your teachers union has pushed for benefits packages that are breaking the budget and breaking the backs of the taxpayers! Right now, the vast majority of my tax dollars to to pay retired-teachers-pensions.
Raising taxes for things like adequate supervision? I'd be thrilled to. But guess what? That money would be funneled to pay for teacher's benefits packages rather than aides. You teachers should be ashamed. Act like a professional and do what we all do at our jobs - pitch in and make sure the job is done right.
Wow. Great way to show appreciation for the hard work, and long hours teachers put in every day, some at very minimal wages. FWIW, I'm a teacher in DC, but have a child who attends K in MD. At our school, we don't have any time set aside for lunch breaks or planning during the day. We accompany the children to recess, and lunch, and provide all the supervision for them. Our planning time happens at the end of the day, once the children have gone home or to aftercare. As teachers, we would love even 10mins of time on our own, but that is a luxury we do not have. I know my child's K teacher works as hard as I do, and for someone to begrudge her and other teachers the right to take a 30min lunch break is pathetic. I'd like to see you step into the shoes of a teacher, and do what we do to ensure that YOUR child/children are well taken care of. Teachers in MoCo should be ashamed? No. Try pointing the finger at yourself and your ungrateful and judgmental attitude.
1) I, and many other workers, don't get a guaranteed, union enforced lunch break each day, not sure why teachers would require this as a right. Please remember that kids go to specials for 1 hour per day - why isn't this the teacher's lunch time?
2) Teachers in MOCO do not make anything near "minimal wages." Once pensions and benefits are included, the already reasonable salary becomes inarguably generous.
3) Why, when the children leave school at 3:15pm, can't teachers plan for the next day at that point. That would give them 1 hour and 45 minutes of planning time assuming they leave at 5pm (which is a luxury that, again, many parent's do not have).
Why are we even pitting the safety/supervision of kids against teacher benefits anyway. By that I mean, why aren't there some minimal standards which dictate that the kids need to be properly supervised at All Times during the school day. From there, one could carve out appropriate break/lunch/planning times for the teachers. I don't buy into the idea that these things must be mutually exclusive. After all, we would all be appalled if, say, a hospital let all of the nurses and doctors take a union enforced lunch break at the same time, leaving no professional staff in charge of the patients. In this scenario, I doubt the community would simply throw its hands in the air and say, oh well, health care costs are rising, what else can we do. Look, every industry deals with budget issues. It is not reasonable to jeopardize the safety of children in the name of budget issues. Particularly, when the teachers unions demands are the main reason the schools budgets have been broken.
1. You may not get a "guaranteed, union enforced lunch break" but I bet that you take an hour and disappear somewhere. What if the kids go to their "special" at 9am? Should the teacher eat their lunch then?
2. for the amount of education that is required (advanced degree) teachers are underpaid in comparison with the private sector.
3. At 3:15 the teachers have already been in the building for almost eight hours. They don't magically appear at 9:14am when the children walk in the door. Their contract calls for them to have an eight hour work day just like most other people. Nurses working in a hospital are guaranteed an uninterupted lunchtime. They don't eat all at once. That is a silly argument.
I am more than a little tired of hearing about "teachers unions demands". The union is there to get the best for their membership in order to attract the best talent available. Would you rather have the DC public school teacher workforce swap teachers with those at your school? I doubt it.
Anonymous
01/22/2012 15:16
Subject: why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Bitter and nasty, no. Is it YOUR fault that there is no money in the budget? YES! Your teachers union has pushed for benefits packages that are breaking the budget and breaking the backs of the taxpayers! Right now, the vast majority of my tax dollars to to pay retired-teachers-pensions.
Raising taxes for things like adequate supervision? I'd be thrilled to. But guess what? That money would be funneled to pay for teacher's benefits packages rather than aides. You teachers should be ashamed. Act like a professional and do what we all do at our jobs - pitch in and make sure the job is done right.
Wow. Great way to show appreciation for the hard work, and long hours teachers put in every day, some at very minimal wages. FWIW, I'm a teacher in DC, but have a child who attends K in MD. At our school, we don't have any time set aside for lunch breaks or planning during the day. We accompany the children to recess, and lunch, and provide all the supervision for them. Our planning time happens at the end of the day, once the children have gone home or to aftercare. As teachers, we would love even 10mins of time on our own, but that is a luxury we do not have. I know my child's K teacher works as hard as I do, and for someone to begrudge her and other teachers the right to take a 30min lunch break is pathetic. I'd like to see you step into the shoes of a teacher, and do what we do to ensure that YOUR child/children are well taken care of. Teachers in MoCo should be ashamed? No. Try pointing the finger at yourself and your ungrateful and judgmental attitude.
1) I, and many other workers, don't get a guaranteed, union enforced lunch break each day, not sure why teachers would require this as a right. Please remember that kids go to specials for 1 hour per day - why isn't this the teacher's lunch time?
2) Teachers in MOCO do not make anything near "minimal wages." Once pensions and benefits are included, the already reasonable salary becomes inarguably generous.
3) Why, when the children leave school at 3:15pm, can't teachers plan for the next day at that point. That would give them 1 hour and 45 minutes of planning time assuming they leave at 5pm (which is a luxury that, again, many parent's do not have).
Why are we even pitting the safety/supervision of kids against teacher benefits anyway. By that I mean, why aren't there some minimal standards which dictate that the kids need to be properly supervised at All Times during the school day. From there, one could carve out appropriate break/lunch/planning times for the teachers. I don't buy into the idea that these things must be mutually exclusive. After all, we would all be appalled if, say, a hospital let all of the nurses and doctors take a union enforced lunch break at the same time, leaving no professional staff in charge of the patients. In this scenario, I doubt the community would simply throw its hands in the air and say, oh well, health care costs are rising, what else can we do. Look, every industry deals with budget issues. It is not reasonable to jeopardize the safety of children in the name of budget issues. Particularly, when the teachers unions demands are the main reason the schools budgets have been broken.
Anonymous
01/21/2012 23:13
Subject: why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
Anonymous wrote:Bitter and nasty, no. Is it YOUR fault that there is no money in the budget? YES! Your teachers union has pushed for benefits packages that are breaking the budget and breaking the backs of the taxpayers! Right now, the vast majority of my tax dollars to to pay retired-teachers-pensions.
Raising taxes for things like adequate supervision? I'd be thrilled to. But guess what? That money would be funneled to pay for teacher's benefits packages rather than aides. You teachers should be ashamed. Act like a professional and do what we all do at our jobs - pitch in and make sure the job is done right.
So teachers should not get pensions after thirty years of putting up with spoiled brats, animals, and helicopter parents?
Anonymous
01/21/2012 20:49
Subject: why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
Anonymous wrote:Bitter and nasty, no. Is it YOUR fault that there is no money in the budget? YES! Your teachers union has pushed for benefits packages that are breaking the budget and breaking the backs of the taxpayers! Right now, the vast majority of my tax dollars to to pay retired-teachers-pensions.
Raising taxes for things like adequate supervision? I'd be thrilled to. But guess what? That money would be funneled to pay for teacher's benefits packages rather than aides. You teachers should be ashamed. Act like a professional and do what we all do at our jobs - pitch in and make sure the job is done right.
Wow. Great way to show appreciation for the hard work, and long hours teachers put in every day, some at very minimal wages. FWIW, I'm a teacher in DC, but have a child who attends K in MD. At our school, we don't have any time set aside for lunch breaks or planning during the day. We accompany the children to recess, and lunch, and provide all the supervision for them. Our planning time happens at the end of the day, once the children have gone home or to aftercare. As teachers, we would love even 10mins of time on our own, but that is a luxury we do not have. I know my child's K teacher works as hard as I do, and for someone to begrudge her and other teachers the right to take a 30min lunch break is pathetic. I'd like to see you step into the shoes of a teacher, and do what we do to ensure that YOUR child/children are well taken care of. Teachers in MoCo should be ashamed? No. Try pointing the finger at yourself and your ungrateful and judgmental attitude.
Anonymous
01/21/2012 20:31
Subject: Re:why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:NP here. I think OP is raising a valid issue. As for the idea that it's not the principal's job to ensure there is sufficient staffing to cover recess/lunch, I disagree. At our elem, the assistant principal has always been responsible. So at elems that don't have an assistant, wouldn't it be the principal's job, or his/her designee? More lunch supervision is needed for the younger kids, especially kindergarten, so I can see not having much coverage for the 4-5th graders. On the playground, though, that's another issue. If a child is seriously injured on the playground, the county would certainly be sued, so it only makes sense to provide sufficient coverage. At our elem, also, we hear constantly of the need for more lunch/recess supervision. I can understand that it's always nice to have more, but the tone of these requests makes it sound as though the supervision is lacking. It's a concern of mine, too, but I can't be up there frequently since I work FT, just as many parents do. I think it's something to ask Starr about. I don't think our elem had a very difficult time finding people to take those jobs, but all their hours were reduced to nothing.
Principals have meetings they are required to attend. So oftentimes, they are out at odd times, leaving - in most cases at the elementary level - ONE AP to run the school. Should the AP leave the school to do recess duty?
That is NOT a reasonable long-term solution.
Furthermore, any teacher forced to step in can grieve that demand and win. This isn't to say that teachers are selfish (although Lord knows that the public thinks so). It means that this is their time for lunch and/or planning. Sadly, the planning period for elementary school teachers is limited. So they need to make the most of the time given.
Allocations from central office ARE TO BE USED specifically for X, Y, and Z. So if a principal tries to use an academic intervention allocation to pay for an aide, it may not fly. So they are restricted in how many aides they can hire.
Again, put your money where your mouth is and agree to pay more taxes to support YOUR public school. And I highly doubt, based on your post, that your school is overcrowded if your principal can remedy the problem this easily.
So until you know how the system works from the inside out, you can't begin to offer suggestions on this forum.
Frankly, screw you. People like you are the reason I have developed a poor impression of MCPS. I am not required to know all about how the system works from the inside to ask a simple question about who supervises recess. Your lack of professionalism on this forum does not reflect well on you or your fellow teachers. You need to GROW UP.
Anonymous
01/21/2012 20:03
Subject: why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
Who, exactly, is looking out for the kids here?
Anonymous
01/21/2012 20:03
Subject: why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
Bitter and nasty, no. Is it YOUR fault that there is no money in the budget? YES! Your teachers union has pushed for benefits packages that are breaking the budget and breaking the backs of the taxpayers! Right now, the vast majority of my tax dollars to to pay retired-teachers-pensions.
Raising taxes for things like adequate supervision? I'd be thrilled to. But guess what? That money would be funneled to pay for teacher's benefits packages rather than aides. You teachers should be ashamed. Act like a professional and do what we all do at our jobs - pitch in and make sure the job is done right.
Raising taxes for things like adequate supervision? I'd be thrilled to. But guess what? That money would be funneled to pay for teacher's benefits packages rather than aides. You teachers should be ashamed. Act like a professional and do what we all do at our jobs - pitch in and make sure the job is done right.
Anonymous
01/21/2012 18:59
Subject: why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
Anonymous wrote:Why isn't there some minimum standard that compels a certain # of adults on duty per X number of children at lunch/recess?
The teacher's unions have negotiated plenty of "protections" for teachers, where are the negotiated "protections" for our kids compelling adult supervision during these times?
Why so bitter and nasty?
So it's now OUR fault that there's no money in the budget to fund aide positions?
Gee - sorry that our union is looking out for us, by the way. no thanks to people like you . . .
Anonymous
01/21/2012 18:03
Subject: Re:why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
I do question some people's ability. I do see moms who are super rude to kids. I don't think training is the answer but it would be nice to have a process for getting rid of volunteers who have no business being around kids. Also they should be banned from talking about kids afterwards. There shoulkd be some code of conduct.
Anonymous
01/21/2012 18:03
Subject: why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Do parent volunteers receive any training?
Why in the world would a parent need training to stand and watch 75 kids chasing each other around or playing on monkey bars? If they can raise their own child why would it be necessary to be train to watch 74 more?
Are you kidding? Supervising a large group of children is a lot different than supervising your OWN children. There are so many variables, especially on a playground.
Anonymous
01/21/2012 17:55
Subject: Re:why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
There isn't any training for one-on-one aides for special need students so there sure isn't any training to supervise recess or lunch.
Anonymous
01/21/2012 17:29
Subject: why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
Anonymous wrote:Do parent volunteers receive any training?
Why in the world would a parent need training to stand and watch 75 kids chasing each other around or playing on monkey bars? If they can raise their own child why would it be necessary to be train to watch 74 more?
Anonymous
01/21/2012 16:10
Subject: Re:why do parents NEED to volunteer at recess and lunch
I just want to weigh in here with more MoCo experience. My child is in kindergarten and I sometimes volunteer at recess and lunch. When I don't and there aren't any other parent volunteers, there are over a hundred kids and one or two paid aides there. I'm not saying this is awesome, but I really don't think you need to raise the specter of children dying. After all, there can be dozens of kids on one school bus and there's only one driver and no paid aides. And he's attending to the road. So really, large groups of kids can congregate for a while with limited supervision. If no parents volunteer, which is the case most days at my son's school, life does go on.