erieangel
Posts: 2237
Joined: 6/19/2011 Status: offline
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Servant, what you seem to not get is that the average teacher doesn't follow the standard school calendar. Most teachers are in the classroom days or even weeks before his/her students to complete lesson plans, ensure the classroom is stocked and everything in order. They are getting their books from central supply, going shopping for those things the district can't or won't provide them and doing all sorts of menial tasks to prepare for the first day of school. When school starts, the teacher is often in the building 1/2 hour to 1 hour before students arrive and many don't leave for an hour after school, some not until early to late evening. They are called upon to be there for those "open house" events, to volunteer to coach sports teams and drama clubs, to advise debate teams and the year book staff and all manner of extra curricular activities. In my city, teachers get paid for participating in the extra curriculars, which is how they reach the $50,000-$75,000 annual salaries. However, the starting salary for a teacher in my district is only $17,000. 17 Grand for somebody with a 4 year degree in education, a mountain of debt and an expectation to incur more debt by continuing their education with a show of a certain number of credit hours per year in order to maintain not only employment but PA teaching credentials and licensure. I would suggest though, that you look into what some superintendents earn. Talk about taking the taxpayers to the cleaners. The former superintendent of my school district, the year before he left, in salary, home, car, and other perks, earned nearly $1 million annually. Luckily, his replacement took a substantial pay reduction--the assistant superintendent moved into the superintendent position and since he owns his own home, we tax payers are not on the hook for that, nor is he putting us on the hook to keep him in a late model car, pay for his kids to go to expensive private schools, or any of the other awful greedy things his boss had done to us tax payers. There is a superintendent in a small town in NY state who oversees a little more than 1,000 students. And she earns 2X a year than NY city's school chancellor who must oversee over 1 million students. All over the country, there are school superintendents making $200,000; $400,000 and more while teachers are taking the blame for the state of district coffers. And these superintendents often have the backing of the school boards who will vote them raises whenever the superintendents want one so that the supers don't leave for "greener" pastures.
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